After parting ways with Pinkamena, Fluttershy had decided to take her time in returning to the cottage. It really was a beautiful day, after all, and despite all the drama and high emotions she found herself feeling optimistic. Pinkamena was a strong pony, Fluttershy was sure of that. Whatever she was planning to do, Fluttershy was sure Pinkamena would come back feeling much better about herself.
And so Fluttershy found herself meandering around Ponyville and enjoying the sunshine. She wandered the back roads, smiling at the few ponies she passed by, and then she wandered the more populated roads, filled with houses and far more ponies. On these streets she had to actively move aside so as to not block the path of the other ponies enjoying their days, but she didn’t mind. Mostly, she was just thankful that none of them stopped her to try and talk.
Finally, as she followed her hooves wherever they carried her, she turned off of one of these streets and found herself in Ponyville’s marketplace. It was a wide plaza, lined on the outside with specialty shops, but the inside of the space was far from open. It was filled with rows upon rows of booths and stalls providing anything and everything an inquiring pony may want.
The afternoon was just turning to evening as she walked into the market, which was perfect for her. The market was always busiest right when it opened, when ponies would show up hoping to get the first shot at the day’s goods, but Fluttershy had no interest in being part of that bustle. She’d much rather show up at the end of the day, when the rows were clear and salesponies were just beginning to pack up.
Fluttershy walked into the lines of tables with a smile on her face. Ponies who recognized her waved and said hello, and she did so back. She glanced over the wares still on display as she trotted along, but she didn’t linger at any one stall. If nothing caught her eye by the time she was past it, she just took that to mean that she didn’t need anything there.
What finally got her to stop wasn’t any stall or store, but actually a pony. As she turned a corner, she glanced towards the edge of the plaza and saw a familiar face sitting on one of the benches, talking excitedly to somepony she didn’t recognize.
The unknown pony, a unicorn with light green fur and a blazing orange mane, gave her pause, but it had been so long since Fluttershy had last spoken to Twilight that she decided to go over and say hello anyway.
Twilight didn’t even notice Fluttershy walk up, enraptured as she was in her conversation. Fluttershy stood beside her for a moment, giving her a chance to notice, but was eventually forced to clear her throat to get Twilight’s attention.
“Um, Twilight?”
Twilight and the other pony looked up at her, and a massive smile grew on Twilight’s face. The other pony smiled, too, although much more subtly.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight hopped up and pulled her friend into a tight hug. “It’s been so long! I didn’t know you were back in town.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Mhm. Sorry I didn’t come see you sooner, things have just been kind of hectic.”
“Hectic?” The unknown pony raised an eyebrow curiously.
“Um…” Fluttershy pursed her lips, unsure at first about talking in front of this stranger, but didn’t want to miss the chance to catch up with her friend. “Yes, well, something kind of… Strange happened to Pinkie Pie.”
“Oh no, is she okay?” Twilight asked anxiously.
“She’s alright,” Fluttershy said, “just stressed, and um… Well, it’s complicated.”
Twilight sat back on the bench, pressed up far closer to the other pony than Fluttershy would have been comfortable with doing herself, and patted the seat for Fluttershy to join her. “Well, come on, tell us about it.”
“Um…” Fluttershy looked back and forth between Twilight and the other pony a few times. “Not to be rude, Twilight, but… I don’t really think I should talk about Pinkie’s personal life in front of somepony we don’t know.”
“What?” Twilight wrinkled her brow in confusion, then followed Fluttershy’s gaze and slapped her own forehead. “Oh. Duh. Fluttershy, this is just Chrysalis.”
“Oh!” Fluttershy blushed deeply. “I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you like that.”
Chrysalis laughed. “I was wondering how long it’d take Twilight to realize that.”
Twilight huffed. “That’s mean.”
Chrysalis grinned, showing a mouth full of sharp, pointed teeth, and bopped Twilight on the nose. “If you don’t want me to be mean, you should stop being so fun to be mean to.”
Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. “Anyway.” She patted the seat again. “C’mon, join us.”
Fluttershy smiled and nodded, then got comfortable beside her friend. “It’s really nice to see you two. Why is Chrysalis disguised, though?”
Twilight shrugged. “She just said she wanted to be a pony today.”
“I just figured,” Chrysalis added in a haughty voice, “that there should be two good-looking ponies in Ponyville today. Call it a public service.”
Fluttershy chuckled softly. “Fair enough.”
“I do love the new look, by the way,” Chrysalis told her. “You look less like a pony every time I see you.”
“Um… Thank you?” Fluttershy replied hesitantly. “I guess that’s a good thing coming from you, at least.”
“So, what’s all this about Pinkie?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, right. Well, she fell in the mirror pool—”
Twilight groaned.
“—and it sort of took the bits of her that come out when she’s upset and made a second pony out of them.”
“Like a half-Pinkie?” Chrysalis asked.
“Sort of?” Fluttershy shrugged. “Neither of them seems to be entirely ‘Pinkie,’ at least how she was before. The, um… ‘New’ one is going by Pinkamena.”
“Does she need to be zapped?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy shook her head fervently. “No, she’s… They’re both real ponies. We can’t do that, it would be like we killed her!”
“Okay, okay, we won’t zap her,” Twilight said. “What’s the plan, then?”
“I don’t think there is one,” Fluttershy replied. “We’re just trying to figure things out.”
“Well, let us know if there’s anything we can do to help,” Twilight said. “Either of us.”
Chrysalis sighed. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”
“Actually, Chrysalis might not be a bad idea,” Fluttershy said. “If anyone was going to know about becoming someone new, it would be you.”
“That’s a great idea,” Twilight said. “Bring her by the castle tomorrow, alright?”
“Late tomorrow,” Chrysalis added. “We’re going to be up late tonight.”
“Oh? What are you two up to?”
“We’re going to a party,” Twilight said.
“Oh! Do you think maybe Pinkie and Pinkamena would—”
“No!” Twilight blurted out. “Er, um… No, don’t bring them. It’s not really a Pinkie party.”
Fluttershy tilted her head. “Should I be worried?”
“Probab—” Chrysalis started, but Twilight jabbed her in the side.
“Not at all,” Twilight said. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Okay…” Fluttershy hummed hesitantly. “Well, just stay safe.”
“Of course,” Twilight said. She hopped up from the bench, and Chrysalis followed suit. “Well, we should go get ready. See you tomorrow?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Mm-hm. See you then.”
Twilight smiled and waved, and then the two of them vanished in a bright flash of magic.
Fluttershy was alone again, left to ponder things. She got up from the bench slowly and started walking absentmindedly towards her cottage as thoughts ran through her mind.
“Not a Pinkie party…” She mumbled under her breath as she walked.
She thought about what that could mean, but came up with nothing. Pinkie was up for just about everything she could think of, and anything else that came to mind was dangerous or otherwise taboo enough that she couldn’t possibly imagine Twilight there. Of course, she could be wrong, it could be that being with Chrysalis had emboldened Twilight more than she thought, but that much? Fluttershy found it hard to believe.
The thoughts stuck in her head, though, until she found herself taking the final few steps up to her cabin. By this point the sun was starting to set, and Fluttershy suddenly realized how late she’d stayed out on her own. She couldn’t help but imagine Pinkamena, having gotten home before her, crushed by disappointment and worry so badly that it outweighed whatever she had gone to do.
When she opened the door, though, there was no sign of Pinkamena. The lights were all off, the house was quiet, and the only sign of life was Pinkie Pie, who was curled up and asleep in an armchair.
Fluttershy let out a breath of relief. She turned the lights on and walked quietly over to Pinkie to shake her gently awake.
“Hmm?” Pinkie yawned and pried her eyes open. “Oh, Fluttershy!” Her voice was excited but quiet, making her sound exhausted. She held out her legs to offer a hug. “Welcome home!”
Fluttershy smiled and pulled Pinkie up into her lap as she joined her on the chair. “Thank you, sweetie. I’m sorry I was out all day.”
Pinkie nuzzled into Fluttershy’s chest. “It’s okay. You don’t have to take care of me all the time, I’m a grown-up.”
Fluttershy wrapped her legs around Pinkie and held her close. “I know that, but I still worry about you. Did you at least have a good day?”
“I’unno. I guess.”
Fluttershy tilted her head. “Well, what did you do?”
“Uh… Napped.”
“Anything else?”
“I ate some snacks.”
Fluttershy pursed her lips. “Pinkie, did you sleep all day?”
“I guess,” Pinkie said. “I just didn’t feel like getting up.”
Fluttershy frowned and kissed Pinkie’s forehead. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I mean…” Pinkie thought for a moment. “I don’t feel like I’m getting sad or anything. I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine.”
“I am, though!” Pinkie pouted. “If anything, I’m just bored.”
“Well, that’s probably because you slept all day,” Fluttershy told her.
“I guess, but… I just couldn’t think of anything I felt like doing.” Pinkie rested her chin on Fluttershy’s chest pitifully. “Everything just seemed… Boring.”
“Hmm… Well, we should do something,” Fluttershy decided. “Does anything interesting happen in Ponyville after dark that we could go do after Pinkamena gets back?”
“Not really.”
“Well, I know there’s at least one party happening,” Fluttershy said. “Twilight and Chrysalis are going, but they said it’s ‘not a Pinkie party,’ whatever that means.”
Pinkie looked confused. “I’m the party pony, though. Everything’s a Pinkie party.”
“That’s what I thought,” Fluttershy said, “but they seemed to think taking you would be a bad idea.”
“That’s just silly.” Pinkie pouted. “Now I really wanna go.”
“Well, they didn’t actually say where it was,” Fluttershy said, “so I don’t think we can anyway.”
“Nah, I can just ask Vinyl. She’ll know for sure.” Pinkie nuzzled Fluttershy again, then hopped up out of the chair. “C’mon, let’s get ready.”
Fluttershy grinned. “So now you feel like going out?”
“Yeah, there’s a party that I don’t know about. I can’t sleep though—”
There was a knock at the door.
They both turned to look at it, and Fluttershy pushed herself out of the chair. “I told Pinkamena she didn’t have to knock,” she said as she walked over, “why won’t she just—”
When she opened the door, she stopped talking. It wasn’t Pinkamena standing there, but rather a very flustered-looking Rainbow Dash, who stepped in past Fluttershy as soon as the door was open.
“Woah,” she said when she saw Pinkie, “so there really are two of you now. Wild.”
“Pinkamena was with you?” Fluttershy asked. “Where is she now?”
“Uhh, that’s kinda why I’m here,” Rainbow Dash said. “I think you might need to go find her.”