I dropped the little white bunny and headed out to Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy? Are you ok?" Fluttershy turned towards me and hid in her mane again.

"Oh... I-I'm fine Sharky... I just... I need to go on a little t-trip... Would you mind watching my animals while I'm gone? I shouldn't be m-more than an hour or t-two..."

"Sure. That shouldn't be too hard. Have fun on whatever trip this is." Fluttershy gave me a puzzled look.

"You... you aren't even g-going to ask where I'm heading?"

"Nope, that's your buisness. Besides, it seems only fair that I don't know where you go sometimes. After all, you never know where I'm going." Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but then she just smiled and shook her head.

"I s-see your point... Well... I guess I'd better get ready..." Within minutes, I was waving goodbye to Fluttershy from the front door. I breathed out sadly as she disappeared from sight. Now I was all alone... or at least there was nothing with me that could talk. I turned around to walk back into the living room... to find Unity flying around the room. Carried by a giant butterfly.

"Oh... Well, this doesn't seem dangerous I suppose..." Unity was screaming and giggling happily. I followed the butterfly cautiously for a while to make sure if it dropped Unity I could catch him. Right as the enormous butterfly put Unity on the ground, I heard knocking at the door. "Now who could that be?" I walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Sweetiebelle.

"Oh, hi Mr. Sharky! What're you doing here?" Sweetibelle asked innocently. Scootaloo and Applebloom popped up from directly behind her somehow.

"Hey Sharky! I'm glad to see you again!" Scootaloo waved at me. I quickly swung the door so that the girls couldn't see into the house, only I was visible. I put on a huge grin and prayed that Unity didn't choose now to do something chaotic.

"Hi girls! It's good to see you too!" I cheered in and overly-happy tone. "I live here now, that's why I'm here!"

"Well hold on! Mah sis told me ya lived in the library!" Applebloom pointed an accusing hoof at me.

"I used to, but I moved here very recently. Why are you girls here?"

"We came to see if we could hang out at Fluttershy's house! My sister is out with Pinkie Pie, Applebloom has the day off today, and Scootaloo thought that maybe we had animal related talents!" Sweetiebelle gushed. "Can you get Fluttershy so she can help us?"

"I'm sorry girls, Fluttershy left. It's just me, my son, and the animals right now." Sweetibelle and Applebloom started jumping up and down.

"Ohhh! Can Ah play with your son? Scoots said he was real fun!" Applebloom pleaded.

"Yeah! I wanna play with him too!" Sweetiebelle added. I almost said yes before I remembered that Unity wasn't wearing his disguise.

"Uhh... No, I'm sorry. He isn't feeling well and I don't want to upset him with too much activity..." The three girls looked crestfallen.

"Awwww...." They sighed together.

"Well... Sorry to bother you Sharky..." Sweetibelle mumbled.

"Yeah... Sorry girls, I'm sure Fluttershy will be back later." I closed the door as the CMC slowly trotted away. I sighed in relief at the close shave. "I need to find a better way to keep Unity hidden. He can't just wear the disguise all the time, it's getting too warm..." I sighed again and decided it was a problem for another day. I went back into the kitchen and got the eggs I had made for myself. Unity had already drank the bottle, so I put him down for an afternoon nap. With my pets out playing, my son asleep, and nothing to bother me, I decided to get a little extra sleep myself. I curled up in Fluttershy's bed and dozed off within minutes.

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I woke up to the sound of a large blast of water. I jumped out of the bed and rapidly looked around for some sort of water monster or flood that might have been caused by Unity. To my suprise, there was nothing wrong with the room. Unity was still sleeping in his crib. I walked out of the bedroom, but nothing was wrong with the living room either. I looked out the front door, and I saw a old-looking stallion with a brown coat, a little hat, and a small blanket draped over his back. He was sitting on the ground, clearly soaked and upset.

"Whoa! What happened to you?" I called to the old pony. He squinted at me, then seemed to realize who I was.

"Hey! You're that hero feller! You won't believe this, that little pegasus lady darn near blew up my hose!" I walked out of the house to him.

"What little pegasus lady?"

"The one that lives here. Fluttershy." I paused for a second before proceeding to laugh my ass off.

"HA HA HA HA! Look sir, I mean no disrespect, but there's no way Fluttershy did this!"

"I swear she did! I guess she was tired of me overwatering her garden..." I looked to the enormous puddle of water that had a few flowers in it.

"Well when you put it like that... I see why she might have done that. Well, I'm sorry sir. Can I help you in any way?"

"Nah, I'm fine sonny. Just a little wet." The stallion got to his hooves and shook himself off, splashing me with little bits of water. He slowly trudged away I scratched my head and shrugged. "Fluttershy... hmm..." I walked back into the house and sat down in the living room. I was happy to see that the animals were all out in the open, not hiding like before.

"You guys all used to me now?" I asked. A few animals nodded in response. I grinned and sat down in a small chair. I stretched out and relaxed until a familiar little white bunny hopped over to me. Angel held up a box to me. I grabbed it from him and looked at it. "Pet food pellets. You want me to feed you guys?"

The bunny nodded eagerly.

"Oh really? Will you eat it insted of trying to throw me out a window?"

Angel frowned and hung his head. He kicked his feet guiltily.

"Do you feel bad about what you did?"

Angel nodded.

"Ok, I guess I could give you food. How does Fluttershy do this?"

Angel grabbed my pants leg and pulled me to the center of the room. He guestured at me to tip the box over. I popped a tab open on the side and tipped the box over so that some of the contents spilled on the floor. A bunch of animals instantly jumped at the green cylinders, but Angel tapped his foot and gave me a disapproving look. He pointed to the box and back to the floor a few times. When all the animals cleared around the area I had poured the pellets in and looked at me hopefully, I understood.

"Oh! I didn't put enough food down!" I tipped the box over again and spilled a more generous amount of pellets on the ground. As I poured, a few animals jumped at the box, but they weren't strong enough to knock it out of my hand. As soon as there was a decent pile on the ground, I stopped pouring and took the box to the pantry. I put it next to the rest of the boxes and--

"I like you too!"

As the voice spoke, I felt a searing pain split through my head like a bolt. I grabbed my head and fell to the side in pain. In my fall my sword broke out of my makeshift holster and clattered against the ground. I found myself writhing on the ground in pain for a moment until it stopped. In a moment, the pain was gone as quickly as it had come. I stood up, still rubbing my throbbing head.

"W... was that... me?" The voice had sounded like my own, but there was no way that could be right! "What the hell is going on? Damn man, why the hell'd you do that?" I searched the house for a sign of the voice, but I couldn't find anything other than the animals chowing down in the living room and my son in his crib. I couldn't help but wonder where in the hell my pets were, but considering the fact that it was spring, I didn't have to think too hard to figure it out. I shrugged off the mysterious voice and went back to my son. He had been awake when I was searching the house, but I hadn't stopped my search for him at the time. I picked him up and carried him into the living room when I heard the sound of hooves and wheels from outside.

"Here you go ma'am! That'll be twenty bits, please." I heard a stallion call from outside.

"Twenty bits?! That's ridiculous!" I heard a voice that sounded oddly like Fluttershy yell back.

"I'm sorry ma'am, that's just the price!"

"I know what you're doing! You're trying to take advantage of me because you think I'm a pushover!!"

"What? N-no ma'am!"

"New Fluttershy won't have it!" Then some very rough cartoonish fighting sounds erupted from outside. My jaw dropped and I stared blankly at the door.

"Holy cow. There's no way that's Fluttershy. Damn, bitch got some balls." I heard the sound of hooves running as fast as they could into the distance, and soon Fluttershy opened the door. I quickly closed my jaw and rocked back in my chair.

"Hi Sharky!" She shouted cheerfully.

"H-hi Fluttershy... How are you?" Fluttershy gave me a cheerful smile.

"I feel great! I feel like a whole new me!"

"Right... good to hear I suppose..."

"Oh, it is great! I'm never going to be called a doormat by anypony again!"

"Fluttershy, who called you a doormat?" Fluttershy faltered and sat down on her hind legs.

"Just about everypony I bet... I learned today that everypony takes advantage of me because I didn't fight back..."

"What? That can't be right."

"It's true! Everypony pushes me out of the way in lines, I get over-charged at stalls, even my friends say I'm a doormat..." She let out a long shuddering sigh before standing up and walking towards me. "That's why I left today. I went to an assertiveness seminar so I'd never be a pushover again."

"... Oh dear god... assertive Fluttershy. This can only result in bad." Fluttershy frowned at me.

"Are you saying you don't like the new Fluttershy?"

"Uhhh... No, no I didn't say that..." I stuttered nervously, terrified of the apocalyptic implications of Fluttershy being assertive. Fluttershy seemed to sigh in relief.

"Good, I was hoping you'd like new Fluttershy..."

"Ok, well... Like is... a bit strong. Maybe I should get to know how this new Fluttershy acts before we say I like her." Fluttershy stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

"Aww... well, I think we should spend some time together then. Don't we have a date?"

"Yeah, I think we do..." Fluttershy was walking towards me quickly, an odd smile on her face.

"Well, let's get to it!" She cheered happily. I found myself leaning as far back in my chair as I could even though she was still a few feet away from me. Her new attitude sounded dangerous considering what I had heard earlier. First the gardener, now that fight outside. I was beginning to worry for her safety in my presence. I wasn't worried for me, just worried she'd hurt herself trying to fight me. She kept coming towards me, but she didn't look agressive so I let myself relax a little.

"Right, date it is."

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"Well, that wasn't terrible." Fluttershy and I had spent an hour cleaning and caring for all the animals. I had seen more rabbit dung then I ever needed, but the entire time Fluttershy had been supportive of my efforts and kind to the animals.

"Yeah... I had fun." Fluttershy held up the chicken we had just given first aid to. He had broken his wing trying to fly off the chicken coop. "Ok now, try not to hurt youself like this again..." She spoke softly to the chicken. He clucked cluelessly and tried to flap away from Fluttershy. We both laughed at him and Fluttershy put him back down on the floor. Unity had eaten dinner and gone to bed a while ago. Fluttershy hadn't left my side once since we had started caring for the animals. She was taking every chance she could to rub against my side or send me a smile. If she wasn't my friend, I might have thought she was flirting with me. I saw an enormous butterfly fall from the ceiling next to the front door, most likely dead. I didn't pause to think about it though.

"Well, I'll be honest. I was worried about the new Fluttershy, but this was really fun. I think I like her." Fluttershy beamed happily and hugged me.

"Well I like you too Sharky. In fact, if we could schedule another date..."

"What's wrong Twilight?"

I lurched away from Fluttershy and fell to the ground in pain. My head felt like it was on fire and being pounded by a hammer at the same time. The voice was mine again, but I didn't know how it was possible. I could vaugely tell that my mouth was open, and I could hear screaming. It sounded distant and unreal. Tears formed in my eyes and I rolled around in pain. I could vaguely tell Fluttershy was panicking in front of me, but I didn't care. Suddenly, the pain was gone and I was left laying on the floor gasping in shock.

"Sharky! Sharky what's going on?!" Fluttershy yelled fearfully. I slowly calmed myself down and stood up. The wings I had copied from Fluttershy flapped lamely as I regained my breath.

"I'm fine, I'm fine..." I assured her as I got to my feet.

"No you aren't! You were just screaming and flailing in pain! What happened?!"

"I... I don't know... I think I need to lay down. Normally I'd call you a pansy, but I think you're right. Something is very wrong with you, and I don't want you damaging my body!" Fluttershy quickly started pushing me towards the bedroom.

"Then get in bed! I don't want you to get hurt!" I laughed a little and walked to the bed. I laid down on the floor next to it and tried to get comfortable. "What are you doing?"

"Laying down." Fluttershy rolled her eyes and sighed.

"On the bed."

"But that's y--"

"I said on the bed!" I jumped up in suprise and crawled into the bed like she commanded. She proceeded to snuggle in next to me.

Fuck! Not spooning again! Damn these girls for teasing me like this! I thought to myself.

"Fluttershy, do you have t--"

"Yes." She even had the audacity to cut me off! I had to guess that the assertiveness seminar was sucessful. Maybe too sucessful. I let out a long sigh and resigned myself to sleeping with Fluttershy like this. On the bright side, at least they had cold showers here. It was a long and hard wait, but eventually I managed to make myself fall asleep.

"Ha, long and hard."