//------------------------------//
// Ch 3: Gifted and Talented 
// Story: Doggone it, Fluttershy! 
// by Scantrel 
//------------------------------//

Sunday was usually quiet, and Fluttershy welcomed the respite from the week's chores. She had gotten up a little earlier than usual to check on Spike and make sure he was adjusting alright to his new surroundings. The little lavender dog was currently curled up sleeping peacefully on the towel Fluttershy had set out for him next to her bed. The sight of him brought a little smile to Fluttershy's face and she hummed a happy tune to herself as she made her way to the kitchen.

There was one face in the apartment, however, that wasn't smiling that morning. Angel Bunny peered through the bedroom door at the bundle lying on the towel and sized up his competition for his human's attention. Angel had seen other animals come and go and he understood that it was part of his human's kind nature to care for them. But this one seemed to be different, and Angel wasn't comfortable with how much attention she was giving him. 

Angel stomped his way into the kitchen, putting the glare on his face that he knew would get him his way, as it always did. To his surprise, his human didn't stop what she was doing to acknowledge him and he thumped his hind foot loudly again on the tile floor. 

Finally, his human turned away from the counter-top and noticed Angel standing there looking at her crossly. "Oh, good morning Angel Bunny!" his human said with a happy lilt to her voice. Angel waited for her to see his look and apologize, to fetch his breakfast, or do something to win her way back into his good graces. To his surprise, she turned away from the counter-top carrying a large bowl and said, "I'll be back in just a minute, let me give Spike his breakfast!" Angel's expression changed to disbelief as his human walked right past him and into her bedroom carrying a bowl of food.

The angry rabbit turned and followed, his look shooting daggers through the doorway at the newcomer, who had just started to wake up at the smell of the food Angel's human had put down for the small dog. Angel's eyes narrowed, and he thought to himself, "You realize of course, this means war!" 

Once his human left the room to see to the rest of breakfast, Angel marched up to Spike, staring him down over the bowl of food. Spike paused his eating to give Angel a curious look, but Angel didn't bother to notice. With a little sneer, Angel reached a paw into the bowl, making a little ball of food, then flicked it right between Spike's eyes. Spike just blinked in surprise, and shied back a little. Angel glared again to make sure the dog knew who was boss, then turned on his hind foot and hopped into the kitchen so that his human could attend to HIS breakfast.





Fluttershy spent the rest of the morning reading, she had recently started Learn to Love Me by Sinead MacDughlas, and Fluttershy had become quite drawn into the main character Emily's story. She didn't hear the knock on her door at first, and only when it became more insistent did Fluttershy sigh and mark her place to set the novel aside. Gathering her robe around her, she went to the door, wondering who would be interrupting her Sunday.

As Fluttershy opened the door, she recoiled as a huge single eye peered back at her, then realized it was Pinkie Pie standing there looking at the door through a large magnifying glass. "Pinkie? Wh...what are you doing here? I wasn't expecting anyone," Fluttershy squeaked as she found her voice again.

Pinkie tilted her head as if she was letting Fluttershy in on some sort of secret, then whispered in an overly loud stage whisper, "The game is afoot! We're going to solve the mystery of the missing Twilight!" Fluttershy blinked, but opened the door farther for Pinkie Pie to enter. 

Pinkie strode into the room with a dramatic air, and from nowhere produced a deerstalker cap that she fitted somehow over her pink curls and declared, "Some tea, my dear Fluttershy!" With that, Pinkie began to walk around the room, peering through her magnifying glass as if searching for some microscopic clues.

Fluttershy acquiesced, and went to the kitchen to put on a kettle to heat. Once that had been started, Fluttershy walked back to the living room and said hesitantly, "Pinkie, I'm not sure this is the best way to..."

Pinkie turned and interrupted Fluttershy with a grin. "Oh but it is! We have a super-duper mystery on our hands, and the longer we wait, the colder the trail gets." she said. "Now then, where's Spike? I thought we could start by checking for fingerprints. Or maybe paw prints?"

Hearing his name, Spike trotted out of Fluttershy's bedroom and gave a happy little yip when he saw Pinkie Pie. Pinkie bent down low, her face almost touching Spike's and asked with a horrible parody of a British accent, "I say, old chap! Where did you leave your lady? Where's Twilight Sparkle?" For his answer, Spike only stared back playfully, apparently thinking this was some sort of game.

The kettle started to whistle and Fluttershy excused herself to the kitchen to pour the tea, bringing out two cups. Pinkie took her cup, and then seated herself in the large easy chair where Fluttershy had been reading previously. Pinkie then took out a curved pipe from somewhere, and chewed on the end, occassionally blowing a little bubble from it as her face contorted in what appeared to be deep thought.

Fluttershy took a seat on the couch across from Pinkie and blew on her tea to cool it slightly. Just as she was about to take her first sip, Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, "By Jove, I've got it!!" The sudden outburst startled Fluttershy, who nearly dumped the tea into her lap. Setting the cup down on the low table in front of the couch, Fluttershy asked eagerly, "Oh my...what is it Pinkie? Do you think you might know where to find Twilight?"

Pinkie's turned a serious gaze on Fluttershy, and pronounced with absolute certainty. "No. But I just remembered where I left my bottle of bubble bath back home!"

Fluttershy sighed again, it was going to be a long afternoon.





By the time Pinkie Pie had left, it was already early evening. Fluttershy resigned herself to the necessity of homework, any chance of relaxing further with her mystery novel gone for the day. Fluttershy really hadn't intended to spend the day listening to Pinkie's antics, but in the end she just let Pinkie ramble on. Now that she had time to herself again, Fluttershy went to get dinner for Angel and Spike before heating a frozen dinner for herself. It wasn't the most tasty of choices, but it was quick and simple.

After everyone was fed, Fluttershy found her backpack and dug out her notebook with her assignments due the following day. She put the Geometry homework aside for now, electing to work on her Social Studies homework first. The assignment was basically reading through a chapter and then filling out answers on a worksheet. It wasn't especially difficult, especially with the book at her fingertips. 

Fluttershy worked through the exercise quickly, then turned to her Geometry assignment. Figures and calculations weren't her favorite subject, but she tackled them anyway with diligence. As she worked, Spike came over and curled up on the couch beside her and Fluttershy reached down to unconsciously scratch behind his ears. Tomorrow would be a challenge, Fluttershy decided, she'd have to call the shelter and admit what she'd done. She hoped they would be as forgiving as they'd been when she'd taken home other animals to nurse them back to health.

Frowning through a question on quadrilaterals, Fluttershy pondered what would she do with Spike during the school day tomorrow. She could take him with her, in her pack, though she'd have to suffer Angel's ire if she didn't take him with her also. Fluttershy shot a nervous glance across the room at the bunny, who had been giving her the cold shoulder all afternoon.

Still, Fluttershy reasoned, Twilight had carried Spike around in her pack at school, and no one had been the wiser. If she could do it, then...

Suddenly, Fluttershy's head snapped up as it hit her. Twilight wasn't a student at Canterlot High. That meant she had to be attending another school. Fluttershy felt her heart racing a little as she remembered that Pinkie had accused the pony Twilight of having a twin sister in the city. Even though Pinkie had later admitted it was just her Pinkie Sense going off, if Twilight attended a different school in Canterlot City, then she had to be at one of the other two high schools! All Fluttershy had to do was call the registrar's office for each, and ask if Twilight was enrolled at the campus. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of this earlier. She couldn't wait to share her idea with the other girls in the morning. But for tonight, she had to finish her homework and try to get some sleep.





The next day, Fluttershy arrived at school and headed quickly to the cafeteria, where the girls usually spent the morning before first period class started. When she got there, she saw that everyone had already gathered around a table, chatting about their weekend. Fluttershy sat down next to Rarity, and said "Good morning everyone. I...I think I know how we can find Twilight."

The other girls stopped talking and turned to face Fluttershy, eager and hopeful looks on their faces. "Now that's the best news I've heard in a while!" Applejack said happily. "What did ya come up with, Fluttershy?"

"Well..." Fluttershy said meekly, not entirely comfortable with all the stares pointed her direction. "I just thought that if Twilight isn't here at CHS, then she has to be at another school in the city. And that means we could just call the other two high schools to find out if she's a student there."

"Awesome, Shy, that's brilliant!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, and reached for her cell phone. "I'll call Rock Ridge, we just played a tournament there recently, and I have the number still."

"And I will call Whitetail High School," Rarity offered. "Pinkie, dear, would you go to the Canterlot ISD website and look up their number for me?" 

"Okie dokie!" Pinked said eagerly, pulling out her laptop and opening a browser. Winking over at Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie said in her dramatic British accent, "Well done, my dear Fluttershy. I daresay finding Twilight will be elementary now!"

Fluttershy merely blushed at the praise, and waited for Rainbow Dash and Rarity to get off the phone. Her enthusiasm faltered though as she watched each of her friend's faces curl in a frown as they hung up their phones. 

"She's not enrolled at Rock Ridge." Rainbow Dash said a little dejectedly.

"She's not a student at Whitetail either," Rarity added. "But she has to be attending school somewhere in the city."

"Hold on y'all." Applejack said. "Rainbow, remember when we were drivin' around through downtown lookin' for that sportin' goods store a couple a weeks ago? Wasn't there some sort of private school 'round there?"

Rainbow Dash thought about that for a moment, then said "Oh yeah! It was some fancy academy or something, I think it said Gifted and Talented something-or-other." 

The girls all looked at each other, then finally Applejack broke the silence. "Well, that sounds a mite like a place Twilight would be, doesn't it? All we need to do is check with them an' I bet she's there."

Just then, the bell for first period rang, cutting Applejack off. Fluttershy knew this was their best chance, and since she was the one with Spike, it was up to her to overcome her shyness and make the call. Swallowing a bit, Fluttershy said "Well...I...I guess I can call and find out, I can be a little late to Journalism class. I'll see what they say and let you all know during lunch." She lowered her hands into her lap and added, "If that's alright with all of you that is."

The other girls nodded their agreement and started to grab their things to get to class. Fluttershy gathered up her pack and then made her way to the school registrar's office to get the number to the other school. As she looked down at the piece of paper with the phone number to the Gifted and Talented Academy of Canterlot, she trembled a little with uncertainty. What would she actually say to Twilight? What would Twilight say about Spike?

The thought of Spike steeled Fluttershy's resolve, and she dialed the number into her cell phone. After a couple of rings, a polite, proper voice answered "Good morning, Canterlot Academy Registrar's office. How may I help you?"

Fluttershy steadied her voice as best as she could, and said "Hello, my name is Fluttershy, I'm calling on behalf of the Canterlot Animal Shelter. I'm trying to reach Twilight Sparkle. I believe I have her dog."