The Center of Her World

by SaintChoc

Chapter 6: Socializing

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, a soft smile on her face. She peered out the window of Rainbow's home, seeing the bright sun a fair distance above the horizon.

She shifted, feeling only a blanket covering her. She looked around, then bolted up, her eyes rapidly scanning the room. Unfurling her wings, she sailed through the adjoining rooms, searching the house.

She landed back in the lounge and sat on the ground, trembling for a brief moment before composing herself. She looked outside once more and launched through the patio door, sailing towards Ponyville proper.

Fluttershy circled the town once, looking in every direction for the telltale multi-coloured mane. When she found nothing, she swooped in closer, checking the ground level. A few early risers waved to her, and she waved back.

Finding nothing, she flew to Twilight's castle and knocked on the front door. After a few moments, Spike opened it up, clad in a blue robe and carrying a cup of coffee. He rubbed one eye with a fist. "Mmn. Hey, Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy smiled. "Hello, Spike. That's a very cute robe."

Spike deflated a touch. "S'posed to be debonair…" he said quietly. "Anyway, what's up? Twilight's not around. She went to the human world with Rainbow for… something."

"Well, I was just wondering if she'd…" Fluttershy's eyes widened with a snap. "D-did you say with Rainbow!?"

"Yup. Not that long ago. I think, like… that world's Fluttershy is with that world's Pinkie Pie, and I guess Rainbow Dash wanted to go there and talk to someone, for some reason… I dunno. I was kinda zonked out." Spike was moving his hands around to demonstrate the various interpersonal connections, spilling coffee on the floor.

Fluttershy blinked, absorbing the information. "...The other Fluttershy is in a relationship with Pinkie? That's…" A small smile started to form on her face, but it quickly faded. "Oh, goodness, Rainbow… oh, Rainbow. I need to talk to her before… Oh, I don't know what might happen!"

"Well, you could always have your own adventures in humanland." Spike took a sip of his coffee.

Fluttershy looked at the ground, thinking, then nodded intently. "I'll do it. This can't wait." She moved past Spike and began walking up the stairs.

"Woah, really? I'll come with you!" Spike said, following behind. "You'll need someone to teach you how to walk on two legs, and I do that all the time!"

"Two legs…?" Fluttershy said quietly. She swallowed.

The pair made their way to the library and stood in front of the portal, still sparkling with magic. Spike scribbled out a note, chugged the last of his coffee and tossed his robe to his side. “It's fun, don't worry about it. It's also really weird, but focus on the fun part!” He ran for the portal and jumped. “Come through when you’re ready!” he said just before his form disappeared into the swirls of light.

Fluttershy stared wide-eyed, then looked around the now-empty room. “Well… here goes… nothing…” She closed her eyes and ran through, yelping as wind rushed all around her and a blinding light filled her vision despite her closed eyes; at the moment, she wasn’t sure she even had eyelids. A sense of terror and regret overtook her.

As suddenly as it started, the wind simmered down to a gentle breeze. She heard the chirping of birds and started to relax.

She heard Spike’s voice. “Awesome! So, two legs isn’t that hard. The first step is to just…”

Fluttershy opened her eyes to see that the words emanated from a purple dog with green fur atop his head. He balanced on his back two legs, wobbling back and forth for a moment before falling forward back on all fours.

An awkward silence passed between them.

“Gonna be honest here,” he said, tight-lipped. “I have had better-thought-out plans than this one.”

"Spike…? Spike!" A voice rang out that Fluttershy recognized to be Twilight's immediately. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the groomer's!"

Fluttershy turned around, standing on all fours. "Twilight! Is that you? I'm so glad I found you!" She wobbled. She sensed something about her position was off, but her mind was more focused on Twilight's appearance, standing in front of her with a proper-looking school uniform and carrying a schoolbag over her shoulder. "Goodness… you look so different in this world. Your hair's done up, and you have… glasses?" She frowned. Twilight stared at Fluttershy, then at Spike, her eyes growing wide.

Spike nodded. "Yup. Other Spike here. How've you been?" He motioned at Fluttershy with a paw. "And this is the other Fluttershy! Fluttershy, Twilight. Twilight, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy took a few moments to process the information. "So.. you're not the Twilight I know? Oh! I'm… I'm sorry. How rude of me! ...I think." Her face twisted up.

Twilight blinked. "Um… don't worry about it…!" She hesitated before reaching a hand out. "For now, let's just get you on your feet. Of course, I guess you don't have those back home, huh? Feet."

Fluttershy took Twilight's hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. For the first time, she took a good look at her new form, seeing a large green skirt and a white tank top. She lifted one leg out, getting a glimpse of a large green boot before she began to shake, her stance uneasy, and she placed her leg back on the ground. "No…" she finally replied. "No, this is all quite new to me…"

"Here, let's…" Twilight brought Fluttershy over to the side of the statue she had emerged from, letting her lean on it and figure out her balance. "What brings you two over here?"

"Well… I heard Twilight and Rainbow Dash had come over here, and I need to… I wanted to find them." Fluttershy looked at the ground for a moment, but then met Twilight's eyes. "Have you seen them?"

Twilight shook her head, and looked towards the school. "No, but I haven't been here at all today. I transferred here at a pretty weird time, so I only have a few credits left to finish—which means I don't have many classes." She smiled. "But I always come here for lunch to see my friends."

"Lunch?" Fluttershy said. It was at that moment that the school bell rang.

Twilight chuckled. "Lunch. I guess we should get you inside? Normally I'd say we need to keep you hidden so no one sees double—or, at least, that's what the other Twilight decided and it seems like a good idea to me—But! Luckily, I'm pretty sure our Fluttershy is still at home with a cold. We can just say you got better." She smiled. "So, um…" She awkwardly offered her arm for Fluttershy to hold on to.

Fluttershy smiled back and gently grabbed hold. Twilight slowly led her to the school's entrance and guided her up the stairs. The school became more alive as they approached, students rushing to and fro on the way to their lockers and to the lunchroom.

Fluttershy looked down at Spike, who walked beside her. "Um… are dogs allowed in here…?"

Twilight giggled softly. "Principal Celestia made an exception for me and my Spike... kind of bending the 'service dogs' rules. As long as he's away when it's actually class time." She opened the front entrance door and the group walked in.

"Hi, Fluttershy! Feeling better?" one unfamiliar student said as she passed.

Fluttershy was caught off-guard. "Oh! Um, yes, thank you! Hello! B-bye. Thank you!"

"Heyy, Spike!" Another student said, bending down to Spike a scratch under the chin. "Who's a good boy? Whosagoodboy?" Spike replied with a bark and wagged his tail.

The sound of the bark drew many more eyes towards them, and more students approached to pet Spike or greet the girls. "Wow, there's… a lot of students here…" Fluttershy said, swallowing nervously.

Twilight looked sidelong at Fluttershy's expression and studied it for a moment. "Do you want to go meet the others? They should be in the lunchroom now. Maybe they've seen the other Twilight or Rainbow."

Fluttershy's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, goodness, um, I do, but… in this new body, and this new place, and the new versions of my friends, I… um..." Her eyes darted around the room.

"Alright. Spike! C'mon, boy!" Twilight guided Fluttershy towards the stairs. Spike followed, pulling himself out from underneath the mass of hands and eliciting a few good-natured cries of 'Awww!' The group traveled up the stairs, Fluttershy slowly growing more confident with her footing.

At the top of the stairs, Twilight lead the group forwards down a hallway and around the corner of a T-intersection. One direction stretched far into the distance, but the direction Twilight brought the group down only had a few lockers' worth of space before ending in another stairwell. This area was quiet, with only a few students remaining in sight.

"Just a little spot I found for when I need a second to myself. We can spend some time here and go searching again once it's calmed down a little," Twilight said, smiling. She let Fluttershy lean on the wall before slipping out from under her arm. She opened up her schoolbag and pulled out a plastic bag of nuts. "My snack of choice. Hungry?" she said, offering Fluttershy the open bag. "It'll be good practice for these crazy things we call fingers." She grinned.

Fluttershy smiled back. "You're very kind. But I guess I should have known that, huh?" They both giggled.

Fluttershy took a long look at her hand before reaching into the bag and clumsily grasping a few nuts. She lifted them about an inch before all but one tumbled to the floor. "Oop!" Twilight laughed, causing Fluttershy to laugh as well.

Spike scurried about, eating the fallen nuts off the floor. "Five-second rule! ...Of course, with dogs, I think that's more like five days. Or years. Either way." He crunched down on the last nut.

Fluttershy blinked. "You really get into the spirit, huh?"

Twilight giggled. "You have no idea." She reached into her bag. "Speaking of which, I think I still have a few extras…"

Spike's ears perked up. "Ooh! Is it the bacon-flavored stuff again?"

Twilight pulled out a bag of bone-shaped dog treats. "Nope! Just normal stuff."

"Booo," Spike grumbled. "Well, c'mon. Gimmee!" He grinned and stuck his tongue out, panting. He looked at Fluttershy. "Hey, they're pretty good! Don't knock it 'till you've tried it."

Twilight smirked. "Y'know, my Spike actually does tricks and works for them." She tossed a treat towards him anyway. "You're lucky you're so cute."

Spike eagerly caught and ate the treat, then haphazardly rolled around on the floor. "I'm willing to give it a shot! I'll just do stuff I've seen Winona do."

Twilight laughed and tossed him another treat before leaning against the wall and slinking down to the ground. Fluttershy did the same, sitting beside her. For a time, they sat silently, with only the sounds of Twilight giggling as Spike made more clumsy attempts at tricks. Fluttershy alternated sets of fingers attempting to pick nuts out of the bag.

Twilight tossed one more treat to Spike before looking over at Fluttershy. "Do you want to start looking again?"

"Um… maybe just a little bit longer," Fluttershy replied.

Twilight frowned slightly. After a moment, she spoke. "I'm sorry. About earlier."

"Hmm?" Fluttershy said. She pressed her fingers too tightly and shot a nut across the hallway. "Oop."

"I mean for thrusting you into a big new environment like that. I should have known to ease you into it."

"Oh, that's perfectly alright." Fluttershy smiled brightly. "I know it must be confusing, trying to remember to treat me like the Fluttershy you know… but as if she didn't already know these students, and this place."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it. "...Yeah. Right."

Fluttershy cocked her head. "What is it?"

Twilight stuttered for a moment. "It's… Well, it's not just that. The Fluttershy I know probably, uh… she would have… hmmm."

Fluttershy stayed silent, waiting patiently.

"It's just… ever since she and Pinkie got together, she's been, well… really good at meeting new people. She can't keep it up forever, but she's way better than she used to be. And since she and Pinkie got together shortly after I showed up, that's the Fluttershy I've mostly known."

Fluttershy stared through Twilight. "...Huh," she said quietly.

"...But I don't know you, or what you've been through. I'm sorry for assuming. And…" Twilight slapped her forehead with her hand. "Ergh! I sound so dumb right now. I don't mean to talk about how much your counterpart is—I mean—nngh!" She grasped her hair and tucked her head in between her legs, covering herself with her arms.

"...I-it's okay," Fluttershy said. She stayed silent for a moment before continuing. "I can tell you more about myself, if you'd like." She forced out a smile.

Twilight peeked at Fluttershy from beneath her arms, then relaxed. "I'd like that."

Fluttershy breathed out. "Well… to start, though I love Pinkie Pie very much, we're not anything more than friends on my side. But—"

"Hey! There's Applejack!" Spike interrupted, looking down the hallway the group had come through.

"Oh! The gang must be done their lunch. Do you want to go meet her? One-on-one?" Twilight said.

Fluttershy nodded. "That sounds good."

Twilight stood up and rushed ahead to make sure Applejack didn't get away. Spike walked over to Fluttershy. "The teachers are okay with me being here, but they'd still rather I was being carried and stuff. Pick me up?"

Fluttershy opened her arms, letting Spike leap in, and stood up to walk down the hall after Twilight. She smiled. "Finally something that feels familiar... Carrying a small animal."

"Thought it might help," Spike said, looking up at her. Fluttershy felt his tail wag. "This place can be pretty scary, but everyone's pretty nice. And you got me! I know I'm furrier than normal, but it's still the same soothing voice." He grinned.

Fluttershy giggled. "Thank you, Spike."

"Oh! Hi, Rainbow! Not practicing today?" Twilight's voice came from just around the corner in front of them.

Fluttershy froze.

Spike perked up. "Wonder which Rainbow it is. Are you gonna be able to tell?"

Fluttershy hurried forward and walked around the corner. Her eyes met Rainbow's, standing at the top of the stairwell, and Rainbow stopped in mid-sentence. Fluttershy saw only familiarity in Rainbow's eyes; only the same pony she knew. Though she had never met the other Rainbow, she couldn't possibly fathom how she could see so much history in any being she didn't know so intimately.

"R-Rainbow?" Fluttershy said quietly. Twilight turned to her, confused, but realization spread across her face as she turned back to Rainbow.

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy. Fluttershy stood paralyzed, not certain what was going to happen next.

Finally, Rainbow gritted her teeth, clenched her hands, and shot down the stairwell. "Rainbow! Rainbow!" Twilight called after her.

When Rainbow made no move to return, Twilight's hand flew to her forehead. "I—I totally blanked! I'm so sorry! I forgot that you were looking for Rainbow, and I didn't even consider that could be…" She paused. "...Why didn't you stop her?"

Fluttershy said nothing, watching as Rainbow disappeared down the stairs at a full sprint. She had a deep and sad frown.

Suddenly, another student looking much like Twilight came running through. "Hey, have you guys seen—" Her familiar voice was cut off as her eyes fell on her twin. "Woah! Aah!" She tried to cover her face and looked around wildly. She spotted a student looking confusedly between the two of them. "Uhh, twin sister! You're seeing things! Weather balloon!" She ran down the stairs, still yelling excuses.

The student that Fluttershy figured must be Applejack began to speak. "This is one of those weird days, isn't it?" she said in her familiar country drawl.

Behind Applejack was a long row of windows. Though all of them were closed, the group of them heard an angry cry pierce through: "Rainbow!"

Applejack moved to the window and peered down. "Hoo, nelly… I think I'd better get down there." She moved to the stairwell and started to descend. Fluttershy and Twilight walked up to the window to see one Rainbow angrily stomping over to the other—within moments, they were tangled up in a shoving match.

"What's gotten into her!?" Twilight said. She turned to Fluttershy—Spike had on a look of alarm, but Fluttershy showed no surprise.

As the other Twilight ran to Rainbow and pulled her off, this world's Twilight clutched her head. "This is insane. Shouldn't you go down there? I know it's scary, but if you can talk to her—"

"I'm not scared," Fluttershy said quietly. "I'm just letting things go wrong." Twilight blinked, confused.

The situation finally started to de-escalate. Sunset and Applejack were speaking to the crowd as the pony Twilight and Rainbow sat down against the statue on both sides of the portal. Twilight stared ahead angrily, while Rainbow's eyes traveled upwards to the second-floor windows. They met Fluttershy's eyes once again. For a moment, Fluttershy just looked back at her.

Fluttershy moved away from the window, still carrying Spike, who only looked lost. Twilight followed. "She's who you're with on the other side, isn't she? Instead of Pinkie." She moved back briefly to peek out the window. "What do you want to do now? You found them. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I could go to her and tell her that she doesn't need to worry," Fluttershy said, without turning around. "That it doesn't matter what any other Fluttershy would do. That it only matters what I would do, and I would never think she wasn't good enough. But… I know that wouldn't be enough."

She turned to face Twilight. "I want to talk to Fluttershy," she said. "The other Fluttershy. I need… I need to learn more."

Twilight stared back and nodded hesitantly.