((This is only a 'What if...' scenario. It is not canon to the actual story.))
The day had finally come. The replacement book had finally come in, and Twilight was here to perform the counter spell to change AJ back. Fluttershy couldn’t have been anymore sad. Ever since AJ started calling her his mommy three days ago, she couldn’t help but think of him as her son. The thought of him turning back and losing that connection between the two of them broke her heart. It didn’t take long for her friends to notice this, so when it was time they were all there to make this easier for her. “Are you ready Fluttershy?” Twilight asked in a soft voice.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she shook her head. Rarity was there with a big hug. “I know it’s hard darling, but this is for the best. This isn’t who he is.”
“B-b-b-but I’m his mommy. H-h-he’d be lost without me,” she said as she cried into Rarity’s shoulder.
“Mommy? Why awe you cwying?” Fluttershy gasped and pulled away from Rarity. Looking down she saw AJ standing there, looking up at her with sad eyes. “Pwease don’t cwy mommy. I don’t want you to be sad.”
Fluttershy felt a pain shoot through her chest as more tears forced their way out. She turned to Twilight. “C-c-can I at least have some time alone with him b-b-before you do it?”
Twilight understood what she was feeling and nodded her head. “Take all the time you need.”
Fluttershy grabbed up AJ in her forelegs and flew upstairs, closing the door behind her. She placed him on her bed and started running her hoof through his mane. “Mommy? Is something wwong?”
Fluttershy swallowed the lump in her throat. She didn’t know how to put this to him, nor did she want to. “I-I’m afraid that we won’t be able to be together.”
AJ’s eyes got wide. “W-w-what?”
“After today, I won’t be your mommy anymore.”
At that moment, AJ looked like his entire world had just gone up in flames. His breathing became uneven as hot tears flowed down his cheeks. “B-b-b-but I wuv you mommy! W-w-why won’t you be my mommy anymowe?”
Tears were flowing down Fluttershy’s cheeks too. “I-it’s just how it has to be. Just know, that no matter what happens, your mommy always loves you.”
AJ began shaking from his heavy sobs. “N-n-n-no! You can’t weave me! I don’t want you too! I wuv you mommy!” AJ ran to Fluttershy and started crying into her coat.
She cradled him in her legs and started rocking him back and forth. At this moment she just wanted to sneak out of the house with AJ, and live a happy life with just the two of them. But she knew she couldn’t. As much as she hated it, this is what had to be done. As she continued to rock AJ back and forth, she started singing to him. She had done this a lot during her time with him. If at anytime he was sad, or couldn’t sleep, a simple song and all was right again. As she sang, AJ’s sobs became slower. It wasn’t long before, for the final…
‘No. It can’t end here. I won’t let it,’ thought Fluttershy as she looked down at the foal.
********************
“I wonder what’s taking her so long,” asked Rainbow as she finished another slow lap around the house. It had been about an hour since Fluttershy had taken AJ upstairs, and the mares were beginning to wonder what was going on.
“Well, this is hard for her Rainbow. To her, it must feel like we’re forcing her to give up her very own son,” reasoned Twilight. “We need to give her some time.”
“It has been mighty quiet up there. Maybe she fell asleep or somethin’,” Applejack reasoned.
“Maybe a party will cheer her up!” Pinkie said as she bounced around. She stopped mid bounce when she saw everypony giving her a blank stare. “Ooor maybe it can wait.”
“I’m going to go check on her. To see if she’s okay,” Rarity said as she began walking up the stairs. She knocked on the door to Fluttershy’s room. “Fluttershy? Is everything alright in there?” Not getting an answer she knocked again. “Darling I know this is hard, but please just answer me.” No answer. Getting worried, Rarity tried the door. It was still unlocked, so she slowly opened it and poked her head in. “Fluttershy, are you…” She gasped when she saw that the room was empty. Drawers were hanging open, and bed sheets were gone. Her saddle bags were also missing. The last thing Rarity noticed was the open window next to her bed.
Everypony looked over when they saw Rarity rushing down the stairs. “Rarity, what’s wrong?” asked Twilight.
“Fluttershy’s gone! She flew out a window in her room!”
“What?!” shouted everypony in the room. They all blew past Rarity to see if she was right.
Everypony was aghast as they looked around. The room was a mess. It looked like Fluttershy hastily packed up her things and just fled. “Fluttershy, why did you do it?” Twilight asked to nopony in particular.
“She couldn’t have gotten too far, if we leave now, we should be able to catch her!” said Rainbow Dash.
“We don’t know that. We don’t know how long ago it was that she left,” Twilight said with a hoof to her chin.
“No, Rainbow’s right,” interjected Applejack. “Not only is she caryin’ full bags, but she’s also caryin’ AJ. That’s goin’ ta slow’er down.”
“Okay, but where do you think she went?” asked Rarity. “None of us were watching her, she could have gone anywhere.”
Twilight thought for a moment. “There’s only one place she could go if she was trying to run.”
********************
For probably the hundredth time since leaving the house Fluttershy looked over her shoulder to make sure nopony was following her yet. She knew it was inevitable, but she had to try. She continued to hold onto AJ’s sleeping form as she flew through the forest. ‘I won’t let them take you away from me.’ She had been flying for the past forty minutes, trying to get as much distance between her and the house as she could.
Unfortunately, she was starting to get tired. Unlike Rainbow, she wasn’t built for long distance flying. She needed to find a safe place for the two of them to rest. As she continued to fly, she ended up coming across a small clearing. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to rest in. She set AJ down and lay down next to him.
Now that she was resting, she had time to finally think of what she was going to do. She had no plans. She couldn’t go to her family. AJ couldn’t survive up in Cloudsdale. Rainbow would no doubt check there anyway. Zecora would probably just talk her into giving AJ up, and she wasn’t going to let that happen. She couldn’t risk going back to Ponyville for any reason.
Her best option was to flee to another city and start a new life. At least then nopony would know who she was. Having that out of the way, there was one more problem that needed to be taken care of. Her friends. She knew they would be after her, and would probably go out of their way to find her. She needed to think of some way to trick them, some way to make sure they won’t be able to follow her.
Her eyes got wide as an idea hit her. She didn’t know why something like that came to her. She had never thought about doing that kind of thing before…but would it work? That’s the question that ran through her head. She looked around the clearing for anything she could use. She looked up and noticed a dangling branch that could be used. She quickly flew up and broke it off. With the branch, she started digging into the ground. After a few minutes, she had managed to make many scratches in the dirt around the clearing. She even managed to scrap some of the bark off some of the trees. She backed up and looked at it. The ground was littered with gouges that looked like timber wolf claw marks. The trees looked like something had clawed off the bark.
She moved to her bags and pulled out the pair of scissors she brought in case she needed to cut something; placing them on the ground. She looked over at AJ to make sure he was still sleeping, she unfurled her wing. Bending her head back, she bit down on some of the feathers and pulled them out. She did the same for the other wing, before scattering them around the area. She left just enough feathers to be able to continue flying.
She looked back at AJ once more before picking him up and moving him out of the clearing along with her bags. She didn’t want him to see this. She walked over to the pair of scissors on the ground and picked them up in her mouth; opening them as she did. She extended her left foreleg out and just stared at it. She began to shake as tears started to roll down her cheeks. Losing her will to do the deed, she was about to drop the scissors. “Mommy.” Her eyes widened as she whipped her head around. She looked back at the foal, afraid that he had seen her. He was still sleeping. He was just talking in his sleep.
She turned and looked at her extended leg once again. ‘It’s the only way,’ she thought to herself. She took a deep breath before lowering the blade to her leg. Using the scissors, she made a long, deep cut on her leg; cringing the entire time. She tossed the scissors off to the side and pressed down on the wound, making it bleed even more. She slowly moved around the clearing; saturating the area with her blood. When she was happy with the look of the clearing, she walked over to the bags and pulled out one of the bed sheets. Using her mouth, she tore off a big chunk to use as a bandage. She didn’t have any real medical supplies since her first aid kit was in the downstairs bathroom.
After wrapping her leg in the sheet, she began to feel light headed. She had used a lot of blood to make the scene as convincing as possible. She collected the scissors and placed them back in the bags before placing them on her back. She lifted AJ off the ground; ignoring the pain in her leg and battling the dizziness as she lifted off the ground.
********************
“Do you see anything yet?” asked Twilight as she turned her head.
“Not a thing,” said Rainbow.
“Nnope,” drawled the big red stallion. Before going into the Everfree Forest they stopped off at the farm to pick up Big Mac. If anypony would be able to talk Fluttershy out of this, it would be him. Upon entering they split into two teams. Twilight, Rainbow, and Big Mac were team one, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie were team two.
“Keep searching. We have to find her.” As Twilight looked back at the other two ponies, she saw the look of worry on Big Mac’s face. “Big Mac? Are you okay?”
He shook his head. “Ah can’t believe she’d do somethin’ like this. Ah can’t believe she’d just…”
Rainbow landed in front of Big Mac. “Come on big guy, cheer up. We’ll find her in no time and get this all sorted out.”
Twilight put on a warm smile. “Rainbow’s right. So come on, we must be...” Twilight was cut off when a loud, shrill shriek rang through the air. “That sounded like Rarity! Come on!”
********************
When Twilight’s group reached the other, they saw Pinkie on the ground. Her mane and tail were lying flat as she cried into her legs. Rarity had her head buried into Applejack’s shoulder as Applejack was trying to be strong for the three of them as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Applejack, what happened?!” Twilight asked as she stopped in front of them.
“I-I-It’s Fluttershy. She’s…”
“What about Fluttershy?! What happened?!” asked Rainbow
“SHE’S DEAD!!!” wailed out Pinkie before burying her head in her hooves once again.
“W-w-what?!” Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Big Mac fell to his haunches as tears began welling up in his eyes.
Rainbow violently shook her head. “No! It’s not true! It just can’t be!” She saw Applejack point a hoof towards the clearing. Rainbow immediately dashed over to the clearing. She didn’t like what she saw. “N-n-n-no…it can’t be true. I…I wasn’t fast enough.”
Twilight wasn’t far behind Rainbow. She took in the scene with a heavy heart. “Fluttershy…no.”
********************
Ditzy trotted to the door after hearing the knock. “Just a second!” She opened the door to find Twilight standing there. She looked absolutely miserable. Her mane was a mess, the hair on her face was matted down, and her coat was covered in dirt. “Twilight? What’s wrong?”
Twilight took a deep, haggard breath. “C-can I come in?”
“Of course.” Ditzy stepped to the side to let Twilight in. She leads Twilight to the couch so she could sit down. “Is everything alright?”
Twilight slowly shook her head. She was voted to go give the news about AJ to Ditzy. As if loosing Fluttershy wasn’t enough, she had to go break another pony’s heart. Today was turning out to be one of the worst days in her life. “Ditzy…I have some bad news.” Ditzy waited for an answer. “It’s about AJ.”
Ditzy’s face became grim. “What about him?”
Twilight took another deep breath. “Fluttershy…couldn’t let go. After we came to turn him back, she ran.”
Ditzy became angry. “What?! Well what are we waiting for?! Let’s go after them!”
Twilight shook her head. “We can’t.”
“Why not?!”
Tears started welling up in Twilight’s eyes once more. “They…They never made it out of the forest.” Ditzy’s eyes got wide. “They were…they were killed.”
“W-w-what?” Ditzy stared at Twilight who became silent except her soft sobs. “N-no, you’re lying. He can’t be dead! He just can’t!” Ditzy kept glaring at Twilight until the tears started to flow. It wasn’t long before she collapsed on the couch; wailing into her forelegs.
Twilight drew her up into a big hug. “I’m sorry.”
********************
Beep…beep…beep
As Fluttershy finally started coming to, her ears were being assaulted by a constant beeping noise. She tried opening her eyes to no avail. They just felt too heavy. As her senses slowly began coming to her, she began to notice things about her surroundings. Where ever she was, it smelled of anesthetics. The only sounds she could hear were that annoying beeping noise and a light breathing next to her. She also noted that whatever she was lying on was much softer than the ground.
She tried once again to open her eyes; having marginal success. She managed to open her eyes about half way before it became too difficult. Even though her eyes were open, she could barley see a thing due to the deep haze that filled her vision. She slowly blinked her eyes, trying to remove the haze. After a little while she was at least somewhat successful. Now that she could see, she looked at her surroundings. She was in a hospital room. Next to her bed sat a heart monitor which explained the annoying beeping sound. She had an IV going into her bandaged leg leading to an almost empty bag of blood.
She saw the door slowly open as a purple pegasus stallion with stethoscope cutie mark walked in. “You’re awake, that’s good. Looks like the blood transfusion was a success.” He started scribbling something down on a clip board as he walked over to the bed. “We weren’t sure if you were going to make it for a while there. You lost a lot of blood.”
“W-w-where am I?” Fluttershy asked in a weak voice.
“You are in Park View Hospital in Fillydelphia,” came a voice from the door. Both Fluttershy and the doctor looked over. In the doorway stood a zebra mare. Her eyes were green, and her cutie mark looked like it was a plant of some kind. “It is good to see that you are alright.”
“Ah Vrede, I was wondering when you would come to visit again,” the doctor said. Looking over he saw the slight confusion on Fluttershy’s face. “Vrede here is the one who brought you in.”
“He is correct. Though the thanks should go to the little one there.” Vrede pointed to the side of Fluttershy. Looking down she saw AJ’s sleeping form curled up next to her. He was using Mr. Bun Bun as a pillow as he hugged it against his body. “If it was not for him, I would have never found you.”
********************
Vrede was on her way back home from Manehattan. She had a cart full of veterinary supplies and couldn’t wait to return to Fillydelphia. “Dier will be happy to finally receive these supplies. I will just be happy to be home,” she grunted to nopony in particular. Climbing the hill normally wouldn’t have been a problem for her, but the cart she was hauling made it a bit harder. As she crested the hill she saw the city in the distance.
As she reached the bottom of the hill a smile formed on her face. It was smooth sailing from here on out. Knowing this she quickened her pace. Her ear twitched as she heard something odd in the distance. She stopped all movement and listened. It sounded like…crying? She turned her head; trying to determine what direction it was coming from. After pulling the cart over to the side of the road, she unhooked herself from it.
It didn’t take long for her to pin down where the crying was coming from. She quickly trotted off road towards a hill. As she neared the hill, she could hear the crying getting closer. She crested the hill and gasped. At the bottom of the other side, laying on her side, was a butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane. She had a blood soaked cloth wrapped around her left fore leg, and many of her feathers looked as if they had been torn out. Next to her, crying over her form, was a small, indigo unicorn foal with a brown mane. “Wake up mommy! Pwease wake up!”
Vrede quickly made her way to the bottom of the hill. She saw the foal look over to her as she made her way over to them. “What happened?!”
“You have to hewp mommy! Pwease hewp hew!”
Noting just how matted down the hair on the foals face was, Vrede figured he must have been crying for awhile now. She tested for a pulse. As she did, she took note of how cold the body seemed. She leaned her head down, placing her ear next to the pegasus’s mouth. “She is still breathing!” She lifted the pegasus, thanking Celestia that pegasi were naturally light, and the foal on her back; taking them back to the cart. She quickly adjusted the supplies and placed her and the foal in the back. After hooking herself back up she turned her head to look at the foal. “Hang on! I will get her some help!”
********************
“If I had not heard him crying, I fear the worst,” Vrede said in a grim voice.
A small smile grew on Fluttershy’s face. She lifted her un-bandaged leg and began stroking AJ’s mane. “He loves his mommy.”
Reacting to the petting, AJ started to stir. He let out a big yawn as he stretched his legs in the air. As he opened his eyes he looked over to see Fluttershy smiling at him. His eyes got wide. “Mommy! You’we okay!” He leapt up and wrapped his tiny legs around her neck as best as he could, hugging her for all he was worth.
The doctor smiled at the scene in front of him. It would have been hard to have to tell a foal so little that his mother had died, but right now he had a job to do. He cleared his throat to get Fluttershy’s attention. “My apologies for interrupting, but if I may ask, I would like to know what happened.”
Fluttershy’s expression got grim as she ran the events through her head.
********************
About an hour after faking her death, Fluttershy had finally made it out of the Everfree Forest. Since then she just flew forward. She had no specific direction, she just flew. At some point AJ had woken up, happy to see that he was still with Fluttershy. “Mommy? I’m hungwy.”
She looked down at the foal in her legs and gave a tired smiled. “Alright, we’ll stop here and rest.” Fluttershy really needed to rest. She was beginning to feel nauseous.
She set down in an open field and took off her bags. A frown grew on her face when she looked inside. She was able to grab a small amount of food before fleeing her home. She just didn’t realize how small that amount was. There was only one small package of crackers, just barley enough to sate the foals hunger. She thought she had grabbed more. She looked over to AJ who was playing with Mr. Bun Bun, he had taken him out of her bags the instant they landed. Ignoring her growing hunger pains, she took out the food and passed it to AJ. “Here you go, eat up.”
AJ took the food with a bright smile. He was about to start filling his belly, but stopped. He looked at Fluttershy, then back down to the food before offering the package to her. “Do you want some mommy?”
Fluttershy had to fight the urge to grab some of the crackers. She couldn’t let AJ go hungry. She put the best smile she could muster in her current state. “No, it’s okay. I’m not that hungry. Go ahead and eat.” She watched as AJ dug into the crackers. When he was done, she took the wrapper and stuck it in her bags. Putting the bags back on, she grabbed AJ up in her legs and began flying once more.
********************
Everything after that was a blur. She can only imagine that she must have passed out from the blood loss at some point. She knew she couldn’t tell them what happened. She couldn’t tell them everything she had done. “I…I don’t remember.”
“Well, I guess it’s not important. What is important, is that you’re going to make a full recovery,” said the doctor.
“Do you have someplace to stay? Any family or friends nearby?” asked Vrede. The concern in her voice was clear to everypony in the room.
Fluttershy knew she had to lie. She had to think of lies to go with her new life. “No,” She said as she shook her head. “My parents died a few years ago, and my husband left after he was born.” She motioned to the foal who was still affectionately nuzzling up to her. “I have nowhere to go.”
The room was silent for a minute. The only sound came from the heart monitor. “Then you can live with Dier and I.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she looked at Vrede. “What?”
“My husband Dier and I live above the veterinary clinic he runs. We have plenty of room to accommodate you and your son.”
Fluttershy smiled once again. “Thank you.”
“Would I be able to get your name?”
“Huh?” Fluttershy looked over to the doctor.
“Your name. Could I get your name please?”
“My name?” The doctor nodded. She looked down. Of all the things she had thought of as she was flying, this was the one thing that hadn’t ran through her mind. She was silent for a minute. She said the first thing that came to mind. “Posey. My name is Posey.”
The doctor smiled and started writing it down on the clipboard. “And what about your son?”
She looked down at AJ and smiled. “His name is…Lavender Bud.”
After he finished writing the information down, he looked back to Fluttershy. “It will be a few days before you’ll be cleared to leave. Until then just rest.” He nodded to Vrede before leaving the room.
Vrede smiled as she turned to leave. “I will talk to Dier. I am sure when I tell him the situation he will be more than happy to let you live with us.”
********************
Twelve years have passed since Fluttershy had taken the name of Posey. After she got out of the hospital, she moved in with Vrede and Dier and started helping out in the clinic. Dier was pleasantly surprised when he found out just how good she was with animals, and jumped at the opportunity to hire her on full time. Working with animals made Posey happy and made this change all the more bearable. After he grew up a bit, Dier started showing Lavender Bud a thing or two about making homemade herbal medicine for animals which eventually lead to him earning his cutie mark.
Lavender Bud was enrolled in school as early as possible. Posey wanted him to make sure he got a good education. Things were hard for him at first. All throughout kindergarten and first grade he kept to himself and seemingly refused to talk to the other kids. In the second grade, he met the two children who ended up being his best friends. A magenta Earth pony filly with a purple mane named Jasmine. Her cutie mark was a black belt. She was a bit of a tom colt. Being a unicorn, her dad was happy to teach Lavender Bud the basics of magic. The other was a male blue and white griffin named Roc. The three of them were inseparable.
At this moment Bud and Vrede were out grocery shopping while Dier and Posey tended the clinic. “Hey Vrede, did we need any more apples?”
Vrede put a hoof to her chin. “I am not sure. Grab some just in case.” Smiling, Bud levitated a bunch of apples into his basket. “Alright, this looks good. Let us go pay and get this home.”
After paying for the groceries, they trotted out of the store and started home. “Hey, Buddy!” came a young, feminine voice. Buddy turned his head to see Jasmine and Roc coming towards them.
Buddy smiled and waved at them. “Jaz, Rocky, what’s up!” Rocky stopped directly in front of him and shoved something in his face. He focused on the items in Rocky's claws. Three movie tickets for the midnight showing of The Zombie Yard; one of the most anticipated movies coming out this year. His eyes got wide. “You got the tickets?!”
“He got the tickets!” squealed Jaz.
“I may have had to do a lot of extra chores around the house, but it was worth it!” Rocky said with a cocky grin.
“Oh man, this is going to be soo awesome!” Buddy said as he pumped his leg.
“Are you sure your mom’s okay with this? You know how she can be when it comes to violence; real or not,” Jaz asked Buddy with a questioning look.
“I already okayed it with her,” Buddy said with a smile. “She said as long as we could get the tickets ourselves I can go.”
“Alright! Come on, we can wait at my house 'till it’s time to go,” Rocky said.
“I’ll meet two there. Have to take these groceries back home first.” Buddy felt the weight of his bags lift from his back. “Huh?”
“Do not worry about that. I will take the groceries home,” Vrede said with a smile. “You go have fun with your friends.”
A bright smile grew on Buddy’s face. He jumped up and gave her a hug. “Thanks Vrede! You’re awesome!” Vrede waved as the three of them ran off.
“I’m going to beat you guys there!” Rocky said as he unfurled his wings and took off into the air.
“Hey, no fair! You can’t use your wings in a race!” shouted Jaz as she kicked it into overtime.
Rolling his eyes, Buddy took off after them. He was easily the slowest of the three, so he already knew he was going to lose. The three of them continued to race down the sidewalk until they reached the post office. As they passed, the door opened and a bluish grey pegasus with a blond mane walked out. Her cutie mark was seven bubbles. Not really paying attention to what was ahead of her, Jaz didn’t notice the pegasus until it was too late.
Rocky turned around when he heard the collision and landed as Buddy got there. Rocky extended a claw and helped up Jaz as Buddy went to help up the mare. The mare's eyes were still spinning as she accepted the help. After she was standing, she shook her head. “I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention to where I was…” As Ditzy opened her eyes, her mouth dropped as she looked at the pony in front of her. An indigo coat, brown mane and tail, blue eyes with glasses. The only difference was the size, the cutie mark, and the lack of an earring. She was speechless.
“Miss? Are you okay?” asked Buddy.
“Everything alright Buddy?” asked Rocky.
They watched as Ditzy slowly nodded her head. “I…I gotta go.” Ditzy quickly leapt into the air and bolted away.
“I wonder what was up with her,” asked Rocky.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to beat you!” Jaz said as she took off down the sidewalk again.
“Oh no you won’t!” Rocky jumped into the air and was off. Buddy sighed before following his friends.
********************
“Twilight, open up!” Ditzy cried as she hammered on the library door. “Twilight!”
A few seconds later the door opened to show an annoyed looking Twilight. “You don’t have to pound on the door Ditzy. A simple knock will…”
Ditzy flew forward and grabbed Twilight by the shoulders. “Twilight, I saw AJ!”
Twilight was taken aback at what Ditzy had just said. “I’m sorry what? I’m sorry Ditzy, that’s impossible.”
“I know what I saw!”
“Look, I know you miss him. I do too. I miss both of them, but there’s no way you could have seen him.” Twilight saw the look of desperation in Ditzy’s eyes, and sighed. “Alright. Tell me where you saw him.”
“It was in Fillydelphia.” Twilight was obviously confused so Ditzy continued. “I had just finished with my delivery to the Fillydelphia post office and left the building. Suddenly some filly ran into me. While some griffon boy helped the filly up, AJ helped me up. They must have been friends because the griffon called him Buddy, but I know it was him! I just know it!”
“Maybe it was just a coincidence? I’m sure there are more ponies out there with an indigo coat and brown hair.”
Ditzy shook her head. “He may have changed, but that look in his eyes hasn’t.”
Twilight sighed. “Alright, I can see you’re adamant about this. Tomorrow I’ll make preparations to go to Fillydelphia. I’ll see for myself if it’s true.”
Ditzy smiled. “Thanks Twilight.”
Twilight waved to Ditzy as she flew back home. ‘I hope you’re not just getting your hopes up Ditzy. I’d hate to see you go back to that dark place.’
********************
After getting off the train, Twilight had no idea where to start looking. After searching for hours, she decided to ask somepony if they knew. She walked into the grocery store and walked up to the counter. “Excuse me?”
An older pegasus stallion, came up to the counter. “Hello maam. What can I do for ya?”
“I was wondering; do you know a pony by the name of Buddy? Indigo coat, brown mane, blue eyes.”
“Buddy, eh?” The stallion put a hoof to his chin and thought for a minute. He suddenly clapped his hooves together. “Oh, you must be talking about Posey’s kid, Lavender Bud. Good lad that one.”
“Do you know where I could find him?”
“Well, right now he’d probably be in school. Other wise, he lives over at the veterinary clinic.”
Twilight smiled. “Thank you very much sir. But I have one more question. Where’s the vet clinic?”
********************
Posey was busy cleaning up the clinic. Nopony had come in with a sick animal yet today, and she wanted to do something to pass the time. Vrede and Dier had gone on vacation for the week, and left her in charge while they were gone.
She looked over as she heard somepony walk in. “Oh, it looks like somepony needs some help.” She happily trotted out of the back room and into the waiting room. “Hello, how may I…” Her eyes got wide and her jaw dropped when she saw none other than Twilight standing there. Her jaw began moving wordlessly.
Twilight stared at the yellow pegasus in front of her in shock. Fluttershy was alive. She was standing right in front of her. And if Fluttershy was alive, then so was AJ. The shock slowly dropped off of Twilight’s face and was replaced with a light glare. “You must be Posey, or should I say Fluttershy.”
“H-h-how…”
“Ditzy saw AJ the other day,” said Twilight.
“She was here?!”
“She had to deliver a package to the Fillydelphia post office. It just so happens that she saw somepony very familiar on her way out.” Fluttershy slowly started backing away from Twilight. “You know, everypony really did believe that you had died. We grieved for months. Some of us still haven’t gotten over it. Rarity can’t find her inspiration anymore. She always seems out of it when we talk. Ever since she lost her best friend.”
“B-but…”
“Rainbow gave up on her dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt. She just doesn’t see the point anymore. How can she be good enough for the Wonderbolts, if she couldn’t even save her oldest friend.”
“I…”
“Ditzy took it worse than everypony else. She cried herself to sleep more nights than I can count, just wishing AJ would come back to her. She was just so torn up. She even tried killing herself, just so she could be with him once again. We’re just lucky Carrot Top found her in time.” Twilight shook her head. “You’ve hurt so many ponies with this stunt you’ve pulled Fluttershy, so I have to ask you...was it worth it? Was living this lie worth all this?” Fluttershy stayed silent. “Answer me!”
“…Why couldn’t you just let me be happy?” Fluttershy said as a tear hit the floor.
Twilight looked aghast. “You ruined other ponies lives Fluttershy! What makes you think you deserve this happy little life of yours?!”
“I was happy. He was happy. I didn’t want it to end. I couldn’t let it end. Not like that.”
“It was the right thing to do! He had a great life that you just tore him away from! He had a job, he had friends, he had a fillyfriend that he loved! You took that all away from him to sate your own selfish needs! You should have just let him live his life. I should have just changed him back when I had the chance. Maybe I should just change him back the first chance I get.” Fluttershy flinched at those words. “What, you don’t like that? I think I’ll do just that then. Maybe then you’ll know just how the rest of us felt.”
“WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?!?!?!” screamed Fluttershy. “Why can’t you just let us live in peace?!”
“Mom?” Both mares looked over to the door. Standing in the door way, a look of worry on his face, was AJ. “Mom, is everything alright?”
Fluttershy looked between Twilight and AJ. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “O-oh, hello honey. How was school today?”
“It was fine. Who’s this?”
Fluttershy looked at Twilight once more. “She’s nopony special. In fact, she was just about to leave.”
Twilight glared at Fluttershy. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d like for me to just leave, and let you keep living this lie.”
“Lie?” Fluttershy’s eyes lit up with worry. “What does she mean by ‘living this lie?”
Twilight smiled at Fluttershy. “Yes Fluttershy, what do I mean? Why don’t you tell him.” Fluttershy stayed silent. She couldn’t believe that everything she had worked so hard to preserve was crumbling before her. “Alright. I guess I’ll just tell him everything myself.”
“No…If anypony’s going to tell him, it should be me,” Fluttershy said with a sad look on her face.
“Mom?”
“Let’s go into the other room. We have a lot to talk about.” Fluttershy said as she led them upstairs.
********************
AJ sat there in his chair, blown away by the story he was just told. He looked between both Fluttershy and Twilight. “Is this…is this all true?”
Fluttershy slowly nodded her head. “Every word of it.”
He leaned back in his seat, just letting all the information settle in his mind. He turned to Twilight who had a smug smile on her face. “What about you? What are you going to do?”
“Well, I guess I’ll take you back to Ponyville. Once there I’ll change you back to normal so you can get on with your life.”
He looked back to Fluttershy. “And what about Po…I mean Fluttershy? What do you plan to do with her?”
Twilight looked over at Fluttershy and sighed. “To be frank, I really don’t care what she does. If she’d like, she can stay here for the rest of her life. All I know is the sooner I can forget about her, the better.” She stood up from her chair. “Well, we should get going. I’m sure you’re egger to go back to the way things were.” She started walking towards the stairs. She stopped once she reached them and turned her head. AJ hadn’t moved from his chair. “Aren’t you coming?”
AJ looked over to Fluttershy and shook his head. “Why?”
Twilight looked at him as if he had just asked the stupidest question in the world. “We’re going to get you back your life of course. It won’t be hard at all. Just one little spell and everything will be right again.”
“…What if I don’t want to leave?”
“What?!” both Twilight and Fluttershy said.
“What if I’m happy with how things are? So what if she’s not my real mother? For twelve years she’s treated me as if I was her own. Never once has she steered me wrong. As far as I’m concerned, she is, always was, and always will be my mother.” He looked over and smiled at Fluttershy who’s look of shock was slowly turning into a smile.
Twilight was baffled by what she was hearing. She thought he would have jumped at the chance to get his life back. “B-b-but…”
“But nothing. What gives you the right to tell me what I should do? I’m happy with everything I have in my life. I’ve learned so much from Vrede and Dier. If not for them, I wouldn’t have gotten my cutie mark. I have great friends who I wouldn’t give up for the world.” A slight blush grew on his face as he started to smile. “I’m actually thinking of asking out Jaz tomorrow.”
“But…but what about your old life, all your old friends? Don’t you want to see them again?”
AJ sighed. “I’m sorry, but if they’re all like you, maybe it’s best I just forget about them all together.” Twilight was appalled. “I think it would be best if you just left now.”
Twilight just stood there mouth agape. She tried to think of something, anything to say, but nothing came to her. After about a minute, she lowered her head in defeat. “I…I can see that I’m not wanted here. I apologize for…wasting your time. I’ll see myself out.” Twilight slowly turned and walked down the stairs.
They heard the front door open and close. “AJ, did you really mean everything you said?”
AJ got up and hugged Fluttershy. “Please, my name’s Lavender Bud, and it always will be.”
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My little pony © Hasbro
Friendship is magic © Lauren Faust