For the first time she could remember, Fluttershy didn't pay attention in class. Regardless of how she tried to force herself to focus or take notes, Fluttershy couldn't steer her thoughts away from her nervousness. Eventually, her phone would ring and she would have to speak with Twilight. Fluttershy kept playing out the fantasy version of that conversation in her head, where Twilight would be so relieved that Spike was alright and how eager she would be to meet Fluttershy and all of her friends.
As the morning marched forward, the cell phone remained ominously silent, and Fluttershy decided that Twilight must be just as involved with her own classes as she was. The registrar at the Gifted and Talented Academy of Canterlot had confirmed that Twilight was a student there and had promised to forward the message. All Fluttershy could do now was wait.
Eventually, the school bell indicating lunch period sounded and Fluttershy headed to the cafeteria. She knew her friends would be waiting, eager to hear what she had found out. Fluttershy hoped they wouldn't be too upset with her when she told them she had nothing to report.
As Fluttershy entered the noisy cafeteria, her phone suddenly jingled to life. The sound of it startled Fluttershy and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Ducking quickly back into the hallway where it was quieter, Fluttershy lifted the phone with a trembling hand to her face and thumbed the "Answer" button.
"H..Hello?" Fluttershy said shakily.
"Hello, I'm trying to reach Fluttershy. I was given this number to call," came the calm, collected voice on the other end of the line. Her voice. The voice Fluttershy had been so eager to hear again.
"This is Fluttershy...is this...Twilight Sparkle?" Fluttershy asked politely, trying to get her nerves under control.
"Yes, I understand you are with the Canterlot Animal Shelter? I was told you've found my dog?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, well...I..I'm actually just a volunteer at the shelter," Fluttershy answered honestly. "I just wanted to make sure that Spike was cared for over the weekend." Fluttershy paused a moment, then added, "I knew you'd be worried about him and want to bring him home, so we had to find you as quickly as we could."
There was a long moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then Twilight spoke again, her voice sounding a little frostier than at first. "I see. So tell me...just how did you know that was my dog?"
Fluttershy swallowed nervously, the question catching her a little off-guard. She should have thought of that, how could she explain to Twilight how she knew her?
"I, uhm...well, I had friends over for the weekend, and one of them recognized Spike. She said she'd seen you in the city." Fluttershy lied, hoping to sound convincing.
"Oh really?" Twilight countered. "And who exactly is this 'friend' of yours?" Twilight's voice had started to turn decidedly suspicious.
"Her name is Pinkie Pie, and..." Fluttershy stopped herself, realizing that it wouldn't be familiar to Twilight in the least. She decided to try a different approach.
"Twilight, I just...I really just want to see Spike back home safely, that's all. I know how odd that sounds, but really, that's what matters the most." Fluttershy said sincerely.
Another pause followed, then finally what sounded like a little sigh of acquiescence.
"That's very kind of you," Twilight said at last. "I'm guessing Spike isn't at the shelter currently?"
"N...No, he's at my place." Fluttershy admitted. "I didn't want him to be lonely over the weekend."
"Well...thank you, Fluttershy." Twilight said, her voice softening a little. "I'd like to come by tonight and pick him up, will you be home around 7:00 PM?"
"Oh...oh yes!" Fluttershy replied, her own voice brightening. "My friends and I will..."
"Hold on." Twilight interrupted. "No friends, just you. I'm really not in the mood to meet a bunch of people tonight, I have a test to study for and I just want to get Spike and go home." Almost as an afterthought, Twilight added, "I should offer you a reward, though, for caring for Spike this weekend."
"Oh goodness no, I couldn't!" Fluttershy said. "I'll do as you said, Twilight. It will just be myself and Spike at the apartment tonight." Fluttershy gave Twilight her address and apartment number and promised to have Spike ready when Twilight would arrive.
"Thank you, Fluttershy." Twlight said. "I'll see you this evening. Good-bye." With that, the call ended and Fluttershy stared at the phone, feeling both thrilled at getting to see Twilight again and sad that Twilight wasn't the same girl that she'd come to be so close with. Worse yet, Fluttershy had to go and tell all of her friends about Twilight's conditions. She knew they'd be crushed they couldn't see Twilight or say goodbye to Spike.
Sliding her phone back into her pocket, Fluttershy walked back into the cafeteria to give her friends the bad news.
As Fluttershy had expected, her friends didn't take the news of Twilight's decision well at all. Rainbow Dash sat in a huff with her arms crossed, Pinkie Pie seemed deflated, and Rarity was on the verge of tears. Fluttershy just sat staring at her hands in her lap, feeling terribly guilty.
Finally, Applejack broke the somber silence. "Well, if Twilight ain't interested in seeing us all, then that's how it's gotta be. I'm right disappointed, but I understand it. This all must seem purty odd to her, I reckon. An' we have to remember, she's not our Twilight, she's the Twilight that was already here."
The others begrudgingly agreed in time, and after all, their Twilight had warned them that the Twilight from this world might not be destined to be their friend. Still, it stung each of them to think about.
The rest of lunch was quiet, none of the girls were in much of a mood to talk. As the final lunch bell sounded, they all gathered up their things to head back to class, each saying to Fluttershy to give Spike their goodbyes. Fluttershy promised each of them she would and then headed off to her English class.
The rest of the school day passed without much fanfare, and as she rode the bus back home to her apartment, Fluttershy tried to keep her spirits up. This was about Spike, not herself, nor her friends. She could do this.
As Fluttershy walked in the door to her apartment, Spike came bounding up, yipping happily and nuzzled against her leg. Fluttershy knelt down and scratched behind Spike's ears and said gently "Spike, I spoke to Twilight today. She's coming to get you tonight to take you home. She'll..." Fluttershy's voice broke a little and she paused to wipe away a tear that had trickled down her cheek. "She'll be here in just a couple of hours."
Spike looked up at Fluttershy, his eyes a little wider, as if he'd understood the words. He gently licked at Fluttershy's fingers, pressing closer to her. Fluttershy smiled through misty eyes and rubbed her hand under Spike's chin.
The moment was interrupted by a sudden crash of noise from the kitchen and Fluttershy jumped up to see what had fallen. Angel Bunny was standing in the middle of the kitchen, Spike's food bowl overturned. As Fluttershy entered, he glared at her and pointed a paw at the bowl, then back to himself.
"Oh Angel, I'm so so sorry. You must be starving," Fluttershy apologized and hurried to get the angry rabbit something to eat. Once Angel had been appeased, Fluttershy got Spike some food, then prepared herself a simple dinner before cleaning up the apartment some. She wanted to make a good first impression for her guest.
Eventually, the clock in the dining room struck 7:00 and Fluttershy sat with Spike curled up beside her on the couch. She kept telling herself not to panic, it would all be fine and Spike would be happy to get home.
*Knock* *knock* *knock*
Fluttershy flinched a little at the sound, then stood up and walked to the door. The moment had arrived.
Putting on her kindest smile, Fluttershy opened the door.
"Good evening, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked politely. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, it's nice to meet you."
"Hello, Twilight." Fluttershy replied with a smile, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. "Please, come in." She stood aside and let Twilight enter. "Spike's right over here on the couch."
As Twilight offered her thanks and walked over to Spike, who had bounded off the couch, happy to be reunited with his owner, Fluttershy noticed that Twilight had one arm in a sling and was walking with a slight limp.
"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed, her voice filled with concern. "What happened Twilight? Are you ok? Can I get you anything?"
Twilight turned back to Fluttershy and said "Well, this is the reason I got separated from Spike. It's only a sprained elbow, fortunately."
"Oh dear, what happened?" Fluttershy asked gently. Realizing that Twilight probably didn't want to talk about it, she cast her eyes down and added shyly, "if you want to say that is, I shouldn't pry."
"No, it's fine, I don't mind," Twilight said, giving Fluttershy a smile. "I had gone to attend an astronomy presentation at Canterlot Community College and it ran later than I'd expected. When I was walking back home, I foolishly decided to take a shortcut that led through a not-so-nice neighborhood."
Fluttershy motioned for Twilight to sit, and said "Let me get us some tea. Please go on." Fluttershy headed to the kitchen to put the kettle on.
"Thanks, that's very kind," Twilight said and sat down on the couch. When Fluttershy had returned and sat down as well, Twilight continued. "It was a bad idea, I didn't realize I'd wandered into Diamond Dog territory."
Fluttershy paled a bit at the mention of the gang. They had a notorious reputation for mugging people for jewelry.
"I was jumped by three guys, they shoved me down pretty hard and grabbed my pack." Twilight said with a hint of anger building in her voice. "I don't know what else they were planning, but Spike fought back for me and chased them off. He ran after them and I tried to call him back, but my arm was really hurting, I think I blacked out for a little bit."
The kettle sounded and Fluttershy quickly got up to pour the tea, bringing Twilight a cup that she took gratefully.
"When I came to, Spike wasn't anywhere to be found." Twilight continued. "They'd taken my pack, so I didn't have my phone or wallet or keys." Twilight took a sip of tea, trying to calm her anger at the memory. "Fortunately, my big brother is a Canterlot policeman and I was able to get in touch with him and he took me to the ER."
Twilight paused to sip again at her tea as Fluttershy sat spellbound, her expression one of concern and sympathy.
"Fortunately, I wasn't seriously hurt. Shining Armor has a spare key to my place, so he was able to get me inside. Once I got home, I was still woozy from the painkillers, so I just passed out on the couch. It didn't even dawn on me that Spike was missing." Twilight blushed guilty as she admitted it.
"The next morning, I realized what had happened and that Spike was gone. I still didn't have a phone, so I couldn't call around looking for him. Then there was the hassle of filing the police report, reporting my ID and credit card stolen, doing the same for my phone, getting the locks on my doors at home replaced...it turned out to be a very long list."
"I can only imagine," Fluttershy said gently.
"But in the end, after I'd taken care of all of that, I wanted to start looking for Spike. But I couldn't drive, I couldn't call anyone. It was very frustrating!" Twilight said, her voice taking on a bit of an edge again. "Eventually, I thought of the shelter, but my brother was on-duty all weekend and he couldn't take me. I had planned to go there tonight, but then you called the school and I was just so glad that Spike was safe and I'd get him back."
Twilight looked over to Fluttershy and gave a genuine smile of thanks. "Thank you so much, Fluttershy. I really can't thank you enough for helping us. I'm so glad your friend recognized Spike."
Before Fluttershy could speak, Twilight stood up and walked over to the entertainment center, looking at the picture frames on the shelves. "These must be your friends. Which one was it that told you about me?" Twilight asked curiously.
Fluttershy gulped a little, and said "Oh, well...that was Pinkie Pie. She's...no, not that one, she's...yes, the one there with the pinkish hair." Twilight took a long look at the picture, her face showing that she clearly didn't recognize the person in the photograph.
"Oh, this must be one from a school dance," Twilight said, looking over the other pictures. "You all wear costumes at your dances? The wings are fun, but I don't..." Twilight's voice trailed off, and she stared at the picture in silence.
Fluttershy knew at once which picture Twilight was looking at so intently. The picture Photo Finish had taken at the Fall Formal. The picture taken after the final confrontation with Sunset Shimmer. The picture right before pony Twilight had returned to Equestria.
"How...How can..." Twilight sputtered. "That's...that's....ME!"
Twilight spun around, her expression very puzzled and her eyes wary. "I...I don't think you've been fully truthful with me, Fluttershy" Twilight somehow managed to say through her shock.
Fluttershy bowed her head, took a deep breath, then finally looked up at Twilight and said, "No. No, I haven't. That's why I wanted you to meet my friends. There's something you should know and they will want to be there when we talk about it."
Twilight just nodded, as if in a daze. Finally, she said, "Not now. I can't handle this right now, and my brother's waiting outside in the car for me. I...I need to think about this, Fluttershy. I'll call you, tomorrow."
Fluttershy nodded and without another word, walked to open the door for Twilight and Spike. Twilight took a moment to compose herself, and with Spike on her heels, turned and walked out of the apartment. Fluttershy closed the door gently behind her and then sat back down and gazed back up at the picture. For good or ill, the die had been cast.