A house, a mare and... Flutterponies?!

by Bandana The Reaper

Chapter two: Just what are you?

“-gy-”

“uggh.”

“Biggy?”

“Uggggh.”

“Wake up Biggy, please wake up!”

'I'm not fat- wait, Sweet Tooth?' Shimmering though, opening her eyes- 'and she's really close to my face again!'

“You're awake!” Sweet Tooth cried out happily, “you were not-snorey-sleeping forever.”

Shimmering pulled her head back in reflex only to hit the back of her head against the floor, 'oww! son of a- why am I on the floor?' Shimmering wondered as she turned her gaze on the flutterpony in front of her to the clock on the wall.

'Only a few minutes since I came in her to get the box... THE BOX!' Shimmering was on her hooves in mere seconds, turning her head left and right, finally finding the box on the coffee table, bits spilling over.

Gold bits.

Shimmering's eye twitched, and her breath grew rapid and heavy.

“Biggy?” Sweet Tooth said with a bit of worry in her voice, “are you–”

Shimmering held up a hoof, “H-hold that thought” she said without looking at the flutterpony before bolting out into the hallway, seeing the broken mirror and the note on the flo- 'Note!' Shimmering snatched it up and quickly made her way back into the living room, 'other note, other no- There!' she picked that one up as well and compared them, looking if they written with the same penmareship.

'Exactly the same,' Shimmering thought, 'every letter is the same, like written on a typewriter.'

“Biggy?” Sweet Tooth tried again to get the unicorns attention.

“In a minute.” Shimmering's eye twitched a bit more, turning her gaze to the bits, 'are they...' she cast a spell that would cause them to start blackening if they weren't made of gold, she'd learned that spell working as a clerk in a pawn shop… and hightailed it out of there faster than you can say 'master race’ when she found out the shop owner held unicorn supremacy meetings in the back.

With the spell cast Shimmering watched for the bits to start blackening.

After casting the spell a few more times with not so much as a blemish, Shimmering had to face facts; the bits were real.

Which meant whoever sent them had more to spare.

Which meant they could very likely get away with a lot of things.

Which meant she'd be in deep manure if she screwed up this job.

Which considering her track record with jobs meant it was bound to happen sooner or later... if it hadn't already.

'No... no no no, this can't be happening!' Shimmering thought, her legs buckling under her, 'Dad kept saying I'd get into trouble doing things on my own, yet I did just that. Mom kept saying I should let her find me a good stallion instead of trying to make a career, yet I bounce from job to job just to prove I'm a independent mare, why must everything go wrong with my life?!'

“Biggy?” Sweet Tooth made her presence known to the unicorn again.

'And my current predicament calls me fat', Shimmering thought as she turned her head to the flutterpony, “What Sweet Tooth?”

Sweet Tooth fluttered in front of Shimmering, “Biggy, are you... okay?”

All the stress of the past month along with her current problem proved too much for Shimmering.

“No, no I'm not!” she broke down crying, “Nothing is okay, everything just keeps going wrong, my parent think I'm a screw-up, I was fired from a job again, I'm close to being broke and now I'm being watched for who knows what reasons and I- and I-” Shimmering felt something soft press against her cheek.

“Don't cry Biggy,” Shimmering heard Sweet Tooth say as the flutterpony hugged her, “I'm sorry that your pair-of-ants think you're a screw and that you were on fire again a-and that you almost broke something an-and that watching you makes you s-s-sad,” Sweet Tooth sounded close to tears herself as she nuzzled Shimmering's cheek, “I-I'll not-watch you if it makes you feel better, just please don't cry Biggy.”

'You don't have anything to do with this, do you Sweet Tooth? no, you're too innocent for that,' Shimmering thought as the flutterpony kept nuzzling her cheek, 'that or I'm the biggest sucker in Equestrian history,' she took a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself “I'm okay, I'm fine.”

“Y-you're sure?” Sweet Tooth asked, still hugging her.

“Yeah, I... I'm sure,” Shimmering answered, keeping her breathing calm.

“Sure, sure?”

“Yes Sweet Tooth, I'm sure.”

“...I'll not-watch you if you want.”

Shimmering chuckled a bit, “You can watch me Sweet Tooth,” 'as long as its not in a creepy way...' “but, if I tell you not to you'll listen, okay?”

“Okay,” Sweet Tooth let go and fluttered in front of Shimmering as she got up, “um... Biggy, are you... angry at me?” she asked, rubbing the tips of her hooves against each other.

Shimmering blinked at that, “No?” 'I was, but that was mostly do to lack of coffee,' “what made you think that?”

“'Cus I touched you a-and you said not to touch anything,” Sweet Tooth said while rubbing her hooves together, “b-but you were sad and I-”

“No Sweet Tooth, I'm not angry at you for touching me,” Shimmering said, shaking her head slightly “ponies aren't things.”

“Oh, okay,” Sweet Tooth tilted her head sideways, “...what's a 'ponies'?”

Shimmering rubbed herself between the eyes, 'I swear, if Sweet Tooth turns out to be the mastermind behind this I'll put together a 'Shimmering Sparks is a sucker' parade...' she thought before addressing the flutterpony, “I'm a pony.”

“You are?” Sweet Tooth said, looking confused.

“Yes, I'm a pony,” Shimmering said as she absentmindedly picked up some bits that had ended up on the floor with her magic, “what did you think I was?”

“I thought you were a big.”

“...a big?” Shimmering said after a while, “why a 'big'?”

“'Cus you're big Biggy, Biggy the big!” Sweet Tooth nodded, a proud smile adorning her face.

To Shimmering there wasn't any malice or hidden meaning to be seen in Sweet Tooth's eyes, 'she's just like a foal, she's not calling me 'Biggy' to be hurtful, it just made sense to her,' she thought rolling her eyes, “well I'm a pony and my name is Shimmering Sparks.”

“I thought you said it was Biggy?” Sweet Tooth said, scratching her head.

“No, you said Biggy, but its Shimmering.”

“Shi-ma?”

“Shimmering.”

“Shim-cha?”

“Shim-mer-ing.”

“...Chimichanga?”

Shimmering face-hoofed.

“...Biggy is easier to say anyway,” Sweet Tooth said while scratching her cheek.

“Okay fine, you can call me Biggy then,” Shimmering said, lowering her hoof from her face.

“Yay, thanks Biggy!” Sweet Tooth exclaimed before hugging Shimmering again.

Shimmering smiled a bit at the affection, 'she's really like a little filly with the way she acts,' she thought as Sweet Tooth once again nuzzled her cheek, 'I wonder how o-'

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud growling.

“Um... Biggy?” Sweet Tooth said, letting go and fluttering in front of Shimmering again, “could I... maybe... sorta... kinda... have... a tastie?”

Shimmering couldn't believe her ears, “you're still hungry?!”

“I can't help it, I just am,” Sweet Tooth fluttered back a bit.

'Well, I guess I better feed her then,' Shimmering thought, 'unless I want to face whatever punishment these 'Watchers' will apply next,' she rolled her eyes as she began to walk towards the kitchen, “Well come along then, lets get you something more to eat.”

“R-really?” Sweet Tooth asked, slowly fluttering after Shimmering, “really really?”

“Yes Sweet Tooth, really,” Shimmering said, turning her head to look at the flutterpony, “what kind of host would I be if I let you starve?”

Sweet Tooth's eyes went bigger than Shimmering had so far seen them, “THANK YOU!” the flutterpony shouted as she rammed into Shimmering's face, tightly hugging the unicorn's snout while blurring out a couple more rapid ‘thank yous’, “you're the bestest pony in the whole wide everyplace!”

'T-this is... kinda nice,' Shimmering thought after a few seconds, the first genuine smile on her face in a long time, 'not being criticized and judged by everypony about everything and make somepony happy for such a little thing is... well, nice... maybe this won't be so bad.'

~ ~ ~

After giving Sweet Tooth a bowl of fruit to snack on, Shimmering quickly brought a bunch of her books from her living room to the kitchen in order to figure out just What Sweet Tooth was. Asking her had only gotten her 'I'm me', 'Sweet Tooth' and '...a not-big?'

'Lets see, 'History of the three tribes' no,' Shimmering put it in the discard pile along with 'Canterlot Etiquette' and 'Electricity and its uses'.

Some of the hopefully useful books were 'The Wide, Wide World' and 'Zebrican Legends'.

'A guide to fine art' no, that won't work' Shimmering thought as she put it in the discard pile, 'Aerodynamics' not likely... 'Underwater basket weaving: a foal's guide'…why do I even have this?!' they all ended up in the discard pile.

“What'cha doing Biggy?” Sweet Tooth asked between taking bites out of a pear.

“I'm looking to see if I can find anything about what you are,” Shimmering answered as she checked the index of 'The Wide, Wide World', it didn't cover anything about creatures.

“Ooh, okay,” Sweet Tooth went back to eating.

Shimmering closed the book and grabbed 'Zebrican Legends', “aren't you curious?”

“No, I'm Sweet Tooth.”

Shimmering rubbed herself between the eyes, “I mean don't you wonder what you are?”

“Nope, I know what I am,” Sweet Tooth said as she grabbed a celery stalk.

“Oh, and what might that be?”

“Sweet Tooth,” the flutterpony answered, looking up from the celery at the unicorn, “your really bad at remembering my name Biggy.”

'Says the pony who can't pronounce 'Shimmering', the tan unicorn rolled her eyes and looked over 'Zebrican Legends'.

Sweet Tooth nibbled on the celery.

After fifteen minutes of checking stories that might have fit in description Shimmering declared the book didn't have what she was looking for, 'well, that was a bust,' she thought, looking over at Sweet Tooth.

She was still nibbling on the celery stalk, in fact Sweet Tooth hadn't eaten more than an inch if it (and considering her eating habit so far had been to shove as much food she could into her mouth before chewing it said something).

“Sweet Tooth,” Shimmering said, drawing Sweet Tooth's attention.

“Mmh?” *nibble nibble*

“If you don't like it you don't have to eat it.”

“Mmhmh!” *nibble nibble nibble nibble*

Sweet Tooth's cheeks started to bulge a bit.

Shimmering gave her a deadpan look, “your full, aren't you,” 'please let it be yes.'

“...mh” … … …*nibble*

Shimmering sighed, “you don't need to force it down if your full Sweet Tooth,” she said, putting the book in the discard pile, “we can put it away for now.”

“B-but Biggy, what if the tastie gets eaten by not-me,” Sweet Tooth said as she hugged the celery stalk like it was her most precious possession.

'That... is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen,' Shimmering thought, resisting the urge to d'aw, “it won't,” she levitated a bowl and lid over to them, “just put in here and leave it for later, okay?”

Sweet Tooth looked at the bowl, then to Shimmering, then back to the bowl before slowly putting the celery stalk in it, letting Shimmering put the lid on... only to lift it the very next second to make sure it was still there. Then again just to be safe.

Shimmering just blinked before rolling her eyes, 'huh, maybe its her size, but when she does things like this she's ridiculously cute,' “You don't need to check in it Sweet Tooth, it will still be there,” she said, gathering up the books, “now come along, lets find something else for you to do,” 'and see if I missed any useful books'.

They made their way back to the living room where Shimmering began putting back the books while checking over the ones left there -she'd just grabbed a bunch of them on a whim- while Sweet Tooth zipped back to the kitchen to check on her 'tastie' one more time.

“Novel, novel, romance, adventure, giant sudoku book, romance-” Shimmering mumbled to herself as she looked over the remaining books she owned.

“Hi Biggy, how did you get in there?” Shimmering heard Sweet Tooth say from somewhere behind her, “Who's that, how did you get so not-big?” looking over her shoulder Shimmering saw Sweet Tooth talking to a picture of her and a pegasus mare, “Why are you being all not-move-y? ...Biggy?”

“What are you doing Sweet Tooth?”

Sweet Tooth spun around, looking at Shimmering, “Biggy, your big-big again!” she exclaimed before pointing to the picture, “You were in this thingy with another big and- hey, your in there again!” she was once again talking to the picture.

Shimmering shook her head slowly, 'I can't tell if shes like this because shes young, stupid or both,' she thought as she levitated the picture to her.

When Sweet Tooth saw the picture floating next to Shimmering the flutterpony got a confused look in her eyes.

'Well, that got her qui-'

“You barfed up new ones!” Sweet Tooth exclaimed happily.

“WHAT?!” Shimmering almost dropped the picture, “why is- how- I don't... what?!”

“You barfed up new once,” Sweet Tooth said again, pointing at the picture, “but they're all not-move-y and stuck in that thingy.”

“Its a picture of me and my friend,” Shimmering said, running a hoof over her eyes.

“Whats a pic-tur?”

“Its...” Shimmering stopped to think it over, 'how does one explain a picture?' she thought before continuing, “a picture is... like a memory that you can show others.”

“Ooh, okay,” Sweet Tooth was looking at the picture again, “whos the other big?”

“Thats Star Strike, she’s a friend of mine,” in the picture with Shimmering was a green eyed, blue coated pegasus with a yellow and red mane, both of them were grinning like crazy.

“You two look like you have fun,” Sweet Tooth pointed out.

“Yeah, we were having fun,” Shimmering said smiling a bit, they had had fun... then she winched, 'and then it got weird...'

Las Pegasus, five years ago

Shimmering groaned, her head hurt.

'Ugh, my head hurts... why do I get a deka veue... desha viue... deska v- feel like I thought that already?' Shimmering thought as she slowly opened her ey- 'Pain! Light is Pain!'

Rolling away from the light of doom Shimmering bumped into something, giving sight a second chance she slowly opened them– 'OHSWEETFAUSTCLOWNVERYCOLSETOFACE!' she jerked back in fright... and regretted it instantly.

Once Shimmering's head stopped spinning she got a better look at her surroundings... and wish she hadn't.

She was in a hotel room on a bed dressed as a bridesmaid, next to her was an unconscious Earth pony stallion with a juggling cutie mark, somepony had written something on it, ('Prupety of Shimri Spanks') he was dressed in a sad clown outfit, make-up and all.

He was also hoofcuffed to the bedpost.

The rest of the room wasn't much better, there were radishes tied to the ceiling-fan, somepony had written the lyrics to the Equestrian anthem (the dirty version) on the hotel room door, the room smelled like mustard, there was an unconscious griffin covered in bodypaint in the colors of the Trottingham Trotters with her head in the mini-fridge.

There were bottles everywhere, on the table, on the floor, on the nightstand, the bed, there was even a bottle shoved up the stallions b-

Aaand Shimmering really needed to pee.

Stumbling out of bed, slipping on bottles, tripping on the hem of the dress and stepping on the griffins hind leg (and getting a muffled squack and purr out of the fridge) Shimmering made it to the bathroom.

It wasn't much better in there.

The bathtub was filled with gravy, a bunch of dogs were playing poker around a small table, a goat with its back glued to the ceiling and somepony had painted a smiley face on the mirror with toothpaste.

Oh and there was a duck in the sink... in a gimp-suit.

Shimmering's eye twitched.

Present day

Shimmering's eye twitched, 'first and only time I ever drink something called Triple Tequila Hot Tub,' she thought, rubbing the side of her head, 'I can't believe it took me two days to find Star... and stuck in a birdfeeder of all places.'

*nibble nibble*

Looking up from the picture Shimmering saw Sweet Tooth fluttering in front of her, munching on the celery stalk again.

*nibble nibble* “...what?” Sweet Tooth stopped nibbling, “You got all quiet and twitchy eyed and I got bored.”

Shimmering just stared for a while before sighing, 'well I can't really blame her for getting bored,' she thought while putting the picture back on the wall.

“So, what are we gonna do now Biggy?” Sweet Tooth asked as she fluttered next to Shimmering.

“Well... I'd really like to get at least a little bit more sleep,” Shimmering said as she turned to leave the living room, “after that things mi- what are you doing?”

Sweet Tooth had wrapped her tail around the base of Shimmering's left ear with her tail and was now hanging with her back against the unicorn's face.

“I got tired of flying,” Sweet Tooth answered while nibbling a bit more on her food, “you smell nice.”

“Um, thanks?” Shimmering hadn't expected her to say that (not that Shimmering smelled bad, but she had just gotten out of bed).

Walking into the hallway Shimmering was reminded why Sweet Tooth was a problem, 'No, shes not,' she corrected herself, 'unless I'm proven otherwise Sweet Tooth is in this with me'.

The reminder was her now broken hallway mirror.

'Well this is annoying,' Shimmering thought while eying the multiple fractures all over its surface, 'looks like one good jolt and I'll have splitter all over the floor... how did that one spell go now again?' she began focusing magic into the desired spell.

“What'cha doing?” Sweet Tooth asked, almost causing Shimmering to lose concentration.

“Give me a moment you'll see,” Shimmering said with a irritated sounding grunt before letting the spell flow into the mirror.

As the magic beam made contact with the glass it flowed over its surface, coating it in a light teal veil, then the cracks began to melt together.

The spell, known as 'Glass Mend', was meant to softly melt glass together. Shimmering had learned it while working in a glassware shop, it had gone well... up until she got overconfident and tried to fix a crystal vase and ended up blowing up a third of the store, (crystal and glass mend spells apparently don't mix... good thing the store owner insisted on everypony to wear goggles whenever somepony used that spell).

She also forgot that when doing mirrors your suppose to do them while they lay down.

“Oh, crud,” Shimmering muttered, killing the spell.

“Hey, its not-broken again!” Sweet Tooth said happily before tilting her head, “it looks weirder.”

The reason you're suppose to let them them lay down is do to the wax-effect, meaning that the glass gets like melting wax and begins to run a bit, making the surface all wobbly and odd.

“Yeah, it does,” Shimmering answered, sighing, 'well, its not gonna fall apart now at least,' she thought, running a hoof through her mane, 'I'll just put it in the work room and I'll fix it later.'

As Shimmering began lifting it with her magic the frame broke at several points and fell apart, leaving the mirror in the magic grasp.

In an instant Sweet Tooth had let go of Shimmering's ear and fluttered a bit from her, “I didn't touch it!” she called out, hugging the celery stalk close to herself.

Shimmering pulled in a big breath, held it, then slowly exhaled, “I know Sweet Tooth, its not your fault,” she told the flutterpony, 'I forgot about the frame also being cracked'.

“I'm going to put this away and then I-” Shimmering began before her stomach gave of a grumble, “...I'm going to make breakfast.,” she sighed, moving towards the stairs before looking back at Sweet Tooth, “go wait in the kitchen, I'll be down in a minute.”

“Okay Biggy,” Sweet Tooth said before heading into the kitchen while Shimmering went up the stairs and opening the door opposite to her bedroom.

Shimmering's workroom was what most ponies -especially her parents- would call a disaster zone, all kinds of knick-knacks of all kinds of materials were clogging the table, shelves and corners, half-finished projects lie among the stuff, hoping to one day be completed... that is, if they would think, (which Shimmering really hoped they couldn't or she'd feel guilty about it).

She leaned the mirror against a wall before closing the door and heading back down into the kitchen, finding Sweet Tooth sitting on the table nibbling away on the celery stalk, of which there was perhaps an inch left to eat.

“Biggy!” Sweet Tooth shouted happily, zipping over and hugging the unicorns snout, “your back!”

“I wasn't gone for more than a minute,” Shimmering said with a light chuckle.

“But you were not-here.”

Shimmering rolled her eyes at that, “yeah and now I'm back,” she said as her stomach growled again, “and I really need to eat something.”

“You can have my tastie if you want,” Sweet Tooth said as she brought her tail into view, showing Shimmering the little piece of celery left with the end of the tail wrapped around it.

“Uh, thats okay Sweet Tooth, I'll just get me something else.”

“Oh, okay!” Sweet Tooth gave Shimmering a smile and fluttered around the room, nibbling away on her food.

Since there was no coffee to be had ('ugh') Shimmering settled for some flakes of corn serial... after finding out that there really wasn't that much else to eat.

'I need to buy groceries... and if Sweet Tooth eats that much every meal, lets see... three times a day... plus what I eat per day... times seven days... that's about as much as two ponies need!' Shimmering groaned inwardly, shoving another spoonful of flakes into her mouth (and idly watching Sweet Tooth sniff a flake that had fallen out of the bowl before eating it).

'Well thats just great, this is going to take a chunk out of my meager savings,' Shimmering thought, before remembering an important detail, 'oh wait, the pile of bits!' whoever these 'watchers' were they had provided her with founds.

'Okay, that solves the food bill,' Shimmering leaned back while she thought it over a bit more, '... you know, with that amount of bits I could also pay of some of those bills that have been piling up... I should probably count just how much I got, sum up what a months food bill would be... add the cost of the oldest bills...' she smiled a bit, 'hay, I might be able to pay all of them and still have bits over for other stuff… I should make a list-' her thoughts were interrupted by a wet sound.

*drip patter patter drip drip*

Turning her head towards the sound Shimmering saw Sweet Tooth... and what she had just done.

“D-did you just PEE on my floor?!” Shimmering asked the little flutterpony, eyes shifting between the offending spot and its maker.

“Yup!” Sweet Tooth answered, fluttering away from the mess she made.

Shimmering eye twitched a little, “why?”

Sweet Tooth landed on the table, “'Cus I needed to pee.”

“I have a bathroom!”

“…”

“…”

“…whats a bathroom?”

Shimmering face-desked, ‘why me?!’

First thing on the list: Teach Sweet Tooth what indoor plumbing was.

Author's Note:

Well, this took longer than I wanted. (real life has been... difficult.)
Next chapter will hopefully not take as long since its more or less done, just got to let my co-writer and my editor to point out I'm an idiot and rip my hard work a new one go over it one more time.