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// Spring Break: Saturday 
// Story: The Roommate 
// by totallynotabrony 
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	Rainbow and I got up in the morning and my parents dropped us off at the doorway terminal.  Mom and dad gave me some money and I hugged them both.  “See you next week!”
After going through security with my luggage, I followed Rainbow to the doorway.  I had been on daytrips to Equestria before, so the metal dimensional portal glowing with energy was nothing new.  It was still a little unnerving to pass through it, but better than flying in an airplane.
The two of us emerged in the Ponyville doorway complex.  The building had the same purposefulness of the Earth side, but with a completely different style.  It was distinctly Equestrian.  That was really just a fancy term I picked up in an architectural elective I had taken once, but it was true.  Pony buildings just had a different feel than anything built on Earth.
Other doorways to other places were set up inside the building.  They had little signs that indicated where they went.  Fast travel from one place to another on Earth was almost as easy as going to Equestria.  All I had to do in order to go to, say, Tokyo, was just turn around and walk through a different doorway.
Actually, my passport had only been cleared for Equestria, but assuming the paperwork was on file, I could quickly travel from one place on Earth to another via Equestria.  I suppose it worked the same way for Equestria-Equestria travel via Earth.
After going through arrival security, we exited the building.  The weather was perfect and I saw a few pegasi pushing clouds around to keep it that way.  Rainbow glanced up at them, perhaps recognizing a few familiar faces.  Not that she ever seemed depressed at college, but just by her expression I could tell she was happier than she’d been in ages.  This was her home.
Five ponies were waiting for us and Rainbow dropped her bags to dive into a group hug with them.  I recognized one, Twilight Sparkle.  Rainbow introduced me to the rest.
Bending over politely to get at their eye level, I doled out the now-familiar fist to hoof bump.  The yellow one, Fluttershy, seemed rather timid and was last in line for salutations.  Pinkie Pie, a mare with a fitting name, zoomed away immediately after greeting me while giggling something about a party.  The well groomed white unicorn named Rarity rolled her eyes and made off after her in a resigned manner.  The cowboy-hatted Applejack said with a voice of country charm that it was real nice to meet me, but she had to get back to work.
“It’s good to see you again, Denise,” said Twilight.  She indicated her full saddlebags.  “I’m afraid that I’m headed the other direction.  I have some business to take care of, and it’s unfortunate that it happened to be during this week.”
“Have a good time,” I told her.  She smiled and trotted into the doorway building.
“Now that I’m back, I need to go file some paperwork,” Rainbow said.  “The foreign student management office closes early on Saturday so I have to get going.”
She flew away, looking happy that there were no altitude restrictions here like those that could be found over an Earth city.
I glanced around, suddenly finding myself alone in the middle of the street.  Ponyville was not a big city, and Rainbow had previously told me where there was an inn with rooms available.  It was still disconcerting to be by myself in a strange place.
Actually, Fluttershy was still there.  Not only was she quiet, but my vision had gone right over her head when I was looking around.  I was only average height for a human female, but in comparison to ponies, I was apparently the tallest in town.
Fluttershy ducked her head a little behind her mane when I looked at her.  With a light tone, I said, “I guess they all left us.”
She made a noise that may have been agreement.  In contrast to Rainbow, Fluttershy was almost freakishly meek.
It felt awkward to just leave the conversation like that.  I hunted for something to say.  “So…what do you like to do, Fluttershy?”
I’d noticed her cutie mark was three butterflies, so I wasn’t surprised when she answered, “I take care of animals.”  The actually-surprising thing was how she was suddenly smiling and enthusiastic.  
Pleased to have hit on something Fluttershy liked to talk about, I replied, “That’s great.  I’m studying to be a veterinarian.”
Fluttershy was happy to keep talking about that.  I found myself walking with her.  As long as we remained in sight of town I figured it would be all right.  After crossing a small stream, Fluttershy led me to a moss-covered cottage that I assumed was hers.
The inside of the house was filled with animals.  Various birds perched in the rafters, while squirrels and other small creatures skittered across the floor.  Somehow, they all must have been cleaning up after themselves because there was none of the mess I would have expected from such cohabitation.
It was like a waiverless petting zoo and I was more than happy to stay for a while and help Fluttershy.  The animals were all so friendly and well trained.  Sitting on the couch, I soon had a couple of birds gathering on my shoulders and singing happily like a miniature choir.
Then a rabbit kicked me in the shin.
It didn’t hurt—it was a fluffy bunny after all—but his attitude was not friendly.  Fluttershy scooped him up and rocked him gently as she hovered over the floor.  “Oh, Angel, be nice!”
“He doesn’t like people?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy responded thoughtfully.  “I don’t think he’s ever met a person before.”
She put the bunny down and I swear he gave me a dirty look.  I hadn’t realized rabbit faces were so expressive.  I went back to feeding the birds and Fluttershy busied herself doing something across the room.  I was more than a little surprised when Angel shot up the couch, grabbed onto my hair, and continued up the side of my face.  Upon reaching the top of my head, he thumped his feet a few times as if claiming territory for all bunnykind.  My hand grabbed for him before he realized that his time as king of the mountain was already over.
I made sure to get my fingers in the right place so as not to hurt him.  Still, when I brought our faces together eye to eye, he was struggling mightily to escape.
“Where I come from, rabbits are a viable source of protein.”  I kept my voice low, but made sure to show off my canines. Angel gulped.
I put him down on the floor.  While I felt a little bad about being a bully and threatening a bunny, I was confident that Angel wouldn’t try anything else.  Then I felt a heavy paw come down on my shoulder.  It was covered in brown fur and had wicked-looking claws.  Angel smirked.
The bear that was currently leaning over my shoulder looked more curious than hostile, but being nose to nose with him just about ruined my whole day.  Why does Fluttershy have a bear in her house?!
The pegasus in question turned around just then.  “Oh, I see you’re making friends, Denise.”
At the sound of Fluttershy’s voice, the bear glanced in her direction.  More importantly, he took his razor sharp claws away from my body.  Fluttershy came over and hummed a little as she stroked the bear’s head.  I started to relax.  Then I suddenly tensed up again, realizing that Angel had slipped out of sight.
With Fluttershy so close, however, Angel didn’t seem like he would do anything.  I had just gone back to caring for the birds when my cell phone rang.  I don’t know why I was surprised that it got reception in Ponyville—after all, it wasn’t like we had been keeping cell technology from the ponies.
I answered the phone to get hit with a quick string of words from Twilight.  “Denise, this is really important.  I need to know about Earth’s International Bureau of Weights and Measures.”
This was about as left-field as anything I could imagine.  With everything else that was going on today, it was just more surprise piling up.  I replied, “Why are you asking me?”
“Well, I had your phone number, but also I know that you’re pursing a degree in a field related to science so you would hopefully know something about the Bureau.”
“Uh, I think it’s in Paris?  They’re the people who run the metric system.”  I shrugged, even though Twilight couldn’t see me through the phone.  “Couldn’t you look this up on the internet?”
“Touchscreen smartphones and hooves don’t really work that well,” she grumbled.  “I’m kind of in a hurry and couldn’t find a computer.”
“Okay.”  I thought for a moment.  “So what’s so important about the International Bureau of Weights and Measures?”
“I need to make sure the kilogram is safe.  Thanks for telling me about Paris.  I’ll have to go there so—”
“Hang on, what kilogram?”
“The kilogram,” Twilight replied.  “The prototype kilogram unit that the International Bureau of Weights and Measures keeps to measure periodically and make sure that all other kilograms around the world have the mass of exactly a kilogram.”
“Uh…good luck with that.”
“Thanks!” she replied brightly.  “I’ll try to call you back and tell you how it went.”
I ended the call with all sorts of confusion running through my head.  It got worse, though.  There was a loud bang from outside and the windows of Fluttershy’s house were bombarded with confetti.
“What was that?” I asked, alarmed.
Fluttershy peeped out the window.  “It’s Pinkie.  I think she’s come to invite you to a party.”
Well, it wasn’t like anything more surprising could happen.