Fluttershy and Me: Without You

by BioBoy619

First published 16th of September, 2013

In this alternate reality, Matthew is forced to let Fluttershy go. Both Matthew and Fluttershy must try to continue on with their lives, even without each other. Will their love be able to survive across two different worlds?

Six years pass from the day that a human named Matthew finds Fluttershy on Earth. The two form a powerful bond, which spouts into true love. But, when the day comes that Fluttershy must return to Equestria, Matthew has no choice but to let her go. Now, alone and falling into a state of depression, Matthew must somehow continue on without the love of his life. And, the same can be said for Fluttershy. The two are haunted by their memories of each other, and all they wish for is to be together again. But, even without each other, they both fight on to keep their love for one another alive. Will their love be able to survive? This is their story. Their story without each other.

This is the second alternate story to Fluttershy and Me, the first alternate story being Fluttershy and Me: Tortured Love. And be sure to check out the remastered Fluttershy and Me here!

This story is greatly inspired by My Little Dashie, and more specifically, My Little Dashie: A Sequel, written by ROBCakeran53 and ty500600, respectively.

Even though the cover art is just some picture, I might as well say I take no credit for it so I don't get in trouble or something.

This is rated teen for scenes involving serious and heavy themes. Keep in mind, this story will be much darker than the other two Fluttershy and Me stories.

Prologue

Author’s Note: The story begins from a third person perspective. It begins at the end of Chapter Nine of Fluttershy and Me. It is recommended that you read Act One of Fluttershy and Me, or at least Chapter Nine. At the end of this Prologue, the perspective will change. You’ll know when. Let the story begin.

“So, um, what happens now?” Fluttershy asked. Matthew was looking at the ground, but at that question, his eyes beamed open, and he looked at Princess Celestia. She seemed rather collected of herself, and Matthew knew what her answer would be.

“Well, now we will take you home Fluttershy, back to Equestria,” the Princess answered. She answered as calmly and collectively as she looked. Matthew could feel the tears coming on. He didn’t want to hold them back, so he didn’t. He started to cry like a fountain. They were going to take her away. Fluttershy, the one person… the one pony that managed to turn Matthew’s life around, and she was going to be taken from him.

But, deep down, Matthew knew this was right. It had to be done.

“B-But, why?” Fluttershy asked. “Why can’t I stay with him? I love him! I don’t want to leave him!” Fluttershy started to shed tears, even more so than Matthew. He turned his head to her as she threw herself into his arms. She didn’t want to let him go.

“Fluttershy, you are not meant to be in this world. You merely came here by mistake. This world is not meant for our kind. Please, try to understand that,” Celestia said. Matthew couldn’t speak. He could only hold Fluttershy in his arms as they both wept. But, then he did something neither of them thought he would do. He let go of her and pushed her away.

“Matthew?” Fluttershy said, surprised by what he had done.

“Fluttershy… she’s right. You’re not meant to be here. You have to go home. You have to be with your friends, where you belong, in Equestria.”

“I’m meant to be here with you Matthew! I don’t want to leave you!” Fluttershy tried to throw herself into his arms again, but he denied her. She looked into his eyes with her own, tear filled ones.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, but you can’t be with me anymore.” Matthew spoke the words, but he didn’t want to believe them. The other ponies in the room were crying just as hard as Matthew and Fluttershy. Matthew turned to see them all in tears. Even the Princess was crying.

“Fluttershy, try to understand that this is not something I do lightly. I’ve seen what you and Matthew have been through. I know what you both mean to each other. But you simply cannot be here with him. When was the last time you were able to walk about freely? To talk to anypony other than Matthew? To fly freely in the open skies of this world? You just can’t do those things here,” Celestia said with a heavy heart.

“I don’t care! All I need is him! Please, don’t make me leave!” Fluttershy cried out, covering her face with her hooves. She cried hard into them, and she showed no signs of stopping. But, she then felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to Matthew.

“Fluttershy, just because you have to leave doesn’t mean I won’t love you anymore. I’ll always love you, and that’s something that will never change,” Matthew said, still crying.

“Please Matthew. Don’t let them take me from you,” Fluttershy said, crying just as much as him. Matthew couldn’t help but pull her into his arms again. He held her tightly, tighter than ever before. He never wanted to let her go, and she never wanted to let him go. They both felt tears running down their backs as they wept onto each other. Matthew then kissed her on her cheek. They then looked into each other’s eyes.

“Hey, listen to me, alright? These past six years have been the greatest years of my life. I owe that all to you. Yeah, we won’t be together anymore, but at least we met each other. I wish I didn’t have to let you go Fluttershy, I really do. But, you just weren’t meant to be here with me,” Matthew spoke. Fluttershy stopped him before he could continue by putting her hoof to his mouth.

“Shh, that’s enough. I understand.”

“You… you do?”

“Yes. I know I came here by mistake, and that I shouldn’t really be here. But, I’m thankful that I’m here now, and that I have been here for these past six years. Everything we’ve done together, all the time we’ve spent together, all the moments we shared… I wouldn’t take back one second of any of it. I love you Matthew, and I always will. We both promised that to each other after all. And… who knows… maybe someday, we’ll meet again.” Fluttershy was trying to stop herself from choking up, but her tears got the better of her yet again. She found herself in Matthew’s arms yet again. After that little speech of hers, he really didn’t want to let her go now.

“I love you too Fluttershy…” Matthew couldn’t say anything else. He was trying so hard to come up with words at the moment, but he just couldn’t say anything. He was too heart broken. He and Fluttershy let each other go, and they turned to the Princess. Looking past her, they both saw that each and every other pony in the room was crying. It was as if a dam had broken almost. Even Rainbow Dash was crying. Fluttershy took a great notice of that.

“Please Dashie, don’t cry,” Fluttershy said.

“I’m not crying… oh buck it, yes I am!” Rainbow said, running over to her friend and wrapping her in a hug. The two Pegasi cried like little children as Matthew watched them. He tried to breathe normally and get his tears under control. He took a deep breath and looked to the Princess.

“Is this really how it has to be?” Matthew asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry Matthew,” Celestia answered. She was crying even more than before now, and rightfully so. The little scene that had just transpired could break the heart of even the toughest man around. It was truly a sad moment. Matthew then found himself running his hand through Fluttershy’s hair, just as he did so very often.

“Matthew, please stop,” she said. Matthew pulled his hand back.

“Sorry,” he said. It just wasn’t the right time for that. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash released each other from their hug. Fluttershy then turned to the Princess.

“Can’t he come with us?” she asked. Matthew felt his lip quivering now as he tried so desperately to hold back his tears. She wanted him to go with her. She wanted him in Equestria. She really didn’t want to let him go.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, but he can’t. Much as this world is not meant for us, our world is not meant for him. He would be out of place. There is simply too much trouble with him coming to Equestria. I’m terribly sorry,” the Princess answered. Matthew could understand her reasoning behind that. He wasn’t meant to be in Equestria, even if it meant being with Fluttershy. The shy Pegasus nodded her head and looked back to Matthew.

“Well, I… I guess this is goodbye then Matthew,” she spoke, driving Matthew to burst out into tears again and wrap her in his arms.

“I… I love you so much Fluttershy,” Matthew said, his voice cracking multiple times.

“I love you too Matthew,” Fluttershy said. Matthew slowly let her go, and they kissed each other one more time. Fluttershy slowly stepped down from the couch she and Matthew were sitting on, and she walked over to Twilight Sparkle. The Unicorn pony was crying just as hard as every other pony in the room.

“I… I’m so sorry Fluttershy,” she said.

“It’s okay Twilight,” Fluttershy responded. She then turned back to the Princess. “Will I at least be allowed to remember him?” Matthew literally felt his heart shatter. He wanted so dearly for her to be able to remember him, yet at the same time, he knew how much it would hurt her for her to remember.

“If you wish to remember him, then you may keep your memories of your time here. If you wish to forget everything, the spell will wipe your memories of your experiences with Matthew,” Celestia answered. Fluttershy looked to Matthew.

“I want to remember him,” Fluttershy said. She managed to let out a little smile, which Matthew returned. He stood up and walked over to her. He knelt down, looked into her eyes, and kissed her on the lips one more time.

“I love you Fluttershy.”

“I love you too Matthew.”

Matthew stepped back from the ponies in the room, as they gathered around each other. Fluttershy and Matthew locked eyes one more time as Twilight charged her magic. At the same time, they both spoke softly to each other.

“I love you…”

In a flash, the ponies were gone, and Matthew was left alone in his apartment. Where the ponies once stood, they were all gone now.

Just a little while ago, it had just been Fluttershy and me. We had each other, which was more than enough for the both of us. But, somewhere, deep down inside, I knew that this day would come, and that I would have to let her go. I just never wanted to accept it. I lulled myself into the false sense that this was going to last forever, and that she would never have to go. I wish I could have realized sooner how wrong I truly was.

There was something that I used to think… that I used to know. That it was, is, and forever would be, Fluttershy and Me. But now, I realize it.

That it was, no longer is, and never will be again…

“Fluttershy and me…”

Author's Notes:

Here it is! Fluttershy and Me: Without You. This is yet again an alternate reality story, which is my take on what would happen if Fluttershy had to leave Matthew. This is basically my version of the My Little Dashie sequel. I hope you all enjoy reading it. Comment and criticize!

Also, as stated in the story description and the author's note at the beginning, this story changes perspective. When I say dedicated chapters for either Matthew or Fluttershy, I mean that the chapters will only be for one or the other. The perspective won't change during the chapters themselves.

Chapter 1

As realization kicked in that Fluttershy was no longer with me, I looked away from where she and the other ponies were standing moments ago. I couldn’t believe that she was gone… just like that. It all happened too quick, which made it even harder for me to accept it all. We’d been through so much together. For her to be taken like that…

“So is that it for me then?” I spoke aloud. “Yeah, I guess so,” I answered myself. I wanted to keep crying, but I had literally run out of tears. I let my head hang low as I walked into the bathroom. I turned on the water and splashed two handfuls in my face, then turned it off. As my face dripped with water, I looked into the mirror at myself. My eyes were red from all the crying, and I looked like a wreck. I stared into the mirror for what seemed like an eternity. Then, out of pure rage, I slammed my fist into the mirror. Shards of glass lodged themselves into my hand.

“Ah shit!” I cursed. I held my wrist as I clenched my right hand in pain. I started to pull out the pieces of glass as my hand bled out. I threw the shards onto the floor along with the other pieces of the broken mirror. I turned the water back on, even with a few shards of glass in the sink. I ran my hand under the water, then I went to grab some medical gauze from the cabinet. I wrapped up my hand, put the rest of the gauze away, then walked back to the living room.

I plopped down on the couch and unstrapped my hidden blade from my left arm. I threw it on the table and held my injured hand. I let out a sigh.

“Why would I fucking do that?” I asked myself. I let out another sigh as I quickly decided to get back up and walk to our, or rather, my room. There was another mirror in there. I didn’t intend to break that one. I looked at myself in the full body mirror. I continued to hold my hand as I looked at myself. Whereas earlier that day, I could have looked into that mirror and said to myself, ‘I look like the happiest and luckiest guy on Earth.’ Now, looking into that mirror, all I could have said was, ‘Fuck my life.’

I let my body find comfort on my bed as I lounged out. I looked up to the ceiling and remained silent. That is, until I started talking again.

“Why? Why would I let her go like that? Was it really right for her?” I asked myself. I had no answers for myself. All I did was look up at the ceiling. On certain nights, I would do such a thing with Fluttershy while we talked about whatever came to mind. We would always talk about the craziest things that came to mind.

“I’ve sure got a lot of memories on this bed,” I spoke to myself. The one I never got was one of Fluttershy and I having sex, but we always agreed that us doing it as we were was kind of weird. I mean, a human fucking a pony from another world? I just couldn’t do it, and neither could Fluttershy. But we didn’t have a problem with it.

I wiped my eyes with my left hand and sighed again. I sat up in bed after a while of lying there and doing nothing. I figured I might as well eat something. I got up and headed for the kitchen. I held my right hand to my body, as it was still bleeding a bit, as my left hand worked its way through the refrigerator and freezer.

“I need a fuckin bagel.” I took a bag of bagels out from the freezer and set them on the counter. Then, I got the butter out of the fridge, and placed that on the counter. With my bagel already cut into two slices, I popped it in the toaster. I decided to watch some TV while I waited. I threw myself back onto the couch and turned the TV on. As the TV turned on, the newest episode of The Walking Dead came on. I had already watched it, and I wasn’t exactly in a mood for the dark, depressing world of that show. And so began the channel surfing.

But, I just so happened to flip the channel to the Hub Network. And wouldn’t you know it, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was on. The one thing that I didn’t want to watch more so than The Walking Dead, and I had to flip to it. But, as I went to change the channel, I found that I was unable to do so. It was one of the episodes from Season Two, where Fluttershy tried to be more assertive. It was the moment where she had just completed her little performance on the stage at the Assertiveness Seminar (or whatever the fuck it was called). As Iron Will held her up, she made that dorky face that would always make me laugh. Even when Fluttershy saw her face when I showed her the episode, she couldn’t help but laugh with me.

But, this time, seeing that face didn’t bring a smile to my face. Hell, it didn’t even bring the slightest smirk. I just looked at the screen, focusing strongly on her eyes. Her beautiful eyes. I was lost in them, as I always would be when she was here with me. I felt my lower lip quivering, and my eyes starting to water. I turned the TV off as the scene changed and got up. I headed back into the bathroom and looked to where the broken mirror frame was. Then, my eyes panned down to all the broken shards of glass.

I started to rummage through the glass, looking for the biggest piece I could possibly find. I cut myself a few times in doing so, but for some reason, I didn’t care. Once I found the biggest piece of glass, I picked it up in my left hand and held it there. I felt it a bit to see how sharp it was.

“Hmm, maybe you can help me.” I pressed my index finger against the glass, to find that it was indeed very sharp. I chuckled a bit. I then raised the glass up and looked at myself in the reflection.

“Look at yourself. You’ve really got nothing left. She’s gone. Why continue on?” I lowered the shard momentarily, then raised it back up to the right side of my throat.

“One clean cut should do it,” I said, gripping the glass a bit tighter. As I pressed the glass gently against my neck, I felt its coldness run through my body.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy.” But, as I spoke those words, I heard her voice, quite distinctly in fact.

“Matthew… please… don’t…” she spoke. I lowered the glass again and looked into it. In the glass, I saw Fluttershy. She was softly smiling at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back. My eyes started to tear up, but I nodded my head to her.

“Okay Fluttershy… you win.” I dropped the glass to the floor. But, as it hit the ground, I realized something.

I couldn’t just end it like this. I had no right to do so. I had to stay alive to keep the love between Fluttershy and me alive. If I ended it all here, that love would be gone. I couldn’t do that. Knowing that, I had no intentions of killing myself any longer. I stood up and looked at the glass shards. I had to get all this crap out of here as soon as I could.

The ringing of the toaster snapped me out of my suicidal trance. My bagel was ready. I sucked on my finger, as I had cut it a little bit. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a butter knife, and spread the butter on my bagel. With my food ready, I got myself a drink, and sat back down on the couch. I turned the TV back on to find the episode of My Little Pony still running. I watched it for a moment, but decided that it would be better if I didn’t. I turned back to The Walking Dead as I continued to eat. As I ate and watched, I thought to myself, as if I was speaking with Fluttershy.

‘Don’t worry Fluttershy. I won’t be checking out anytime soon.’

Author's Notes:

I originally planned for this to be Chapter 1: Matthew. The next chapter would have been Chapter 1: Fluttershy. But, I found that that didn't really make a lot of sense. It did in my head, but not when I looked at it if it was going to be up on the actual story. Basically, these chapters are going to just be numbered normally. Simple enough.

So, this chapter basically shows that Matthew is already losing it. I don't feel like I'm going to fast with this though. I feel like it's right for him to feel this way. He did, after all, just lose the love of his life. The next chapter will be for Fluttershy, and will most likely occur at the same time as this one. Think of it as though every two chapters will be occurring at the same time or something.

Chapter 2

I felt a small tingle as Twilight lowered her horn to my head. As Matthew and I spoke those three words one last time, everything went white with a large flash. I closed my eyes, and in seconds, my friends, the Princess and I were all back in Equestria. I looked around to find that we were in the library in Ponyville. I lowered my head and sniffled.

“Fluttershy, are you alright darling?” Rarity asked me.

“What do you think, smart pony?! She was just taken away from the one guy she ever loved!” Rainbow blurted out before I could answer. I looked to her to see her being pulled to the side by Twilight’s magic.

“Not helping,” she whispered. Everypony looked at me, including the Princess. I kept most of my face behind my mane as I started to whimper. I then realized that remembering Matthew probably wasn’t the best thing to ask for. Just the mere thought of him smiling at me brought me to tears. I fell to the floor crying.

I then felt the soft touch of a hoof on my back. I looked up to see the Princess.

“Fluttershy… I’m sorry that things had to be this way. If I could do anything different, I would… but I simply can’t. Perhaps in time you will grow to forget him,” she said, trying to comfort me.

“But… I-I don’t w-want to forget h-him,” I said through my tears.

“Well, if you ever wish for Twilight or myself to take away your memories of him, we’d be more than happy to do so.” I let her words sink in for a moment. It was as if she wanted me to forget. Was it dangerous for me to have these memories?

“Princess, if I may,” Twilight cut in. “I would recommend that maybe Fluttershy could go home and relax a little bit. She’s been through a lot, and I think it best for her to just be alone for a while.” I looked over to Twilight as she looked at me with a comforting smile.

“Hmm, yes. Perhaps that is best,” Celestia said. “I will leave you ponies to help your friend. And, once again Fluttershy, I am deeply sorry. For everything.” As Celestia spoke those last few words, she teleported herself out of the library, most likely back to Canterlot. I was left alone with my friends. They all looked at me concernedly.

“Well… now what?” Applejack stuttered.

“We take her home,” Twilight answered. “We’ll let her get reacquainted with her old living space and all that. Like I said, she’s been through a lot.” I looked at them all as they discussed what to do. But, they spoke as if I wasn’t even there. They were practically treating me like a lost filly… but then again, maybe I was.

“Maybe some of my good old Pinkie Pie cupcakes will cheer her up!” Pinkie Pie said.

“Ah don’t think she needs cupcakes Pinkie,” Applejack jumped in.

“Why not? They always lighten up my days.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never lost somepony you’ve loved a whole lot,” Rainbow added.

“Um, girls,” I whispered, trying to get their attention. None of them answered.

“I say before we even take her home we take her to the spa. She hasn’t been there in so long, and I feel that it might help her relax a little better,” Rarity said.

“Nuts to that! I say that I take her for a quick fly through the skies again,” Rainbow suggested.

“Girls,” I said again. Still nothing.

“Please! Girls, I think what’s best is that she just goes home now. She needs to be alone. She needs to get readjusted to living in Equestria. After living with Matthew for so long, I’d think that getting her life back to normal would be best,” Twilight jumped in.

“Ah think Twilight’s right. She’s been through a lot. She needs some space to breathe right now,” Applejack added.

“Girls!” I said again, shouting this time. I was now standing up and staring at all of them. They all looked to me in surprise. “What about what I think is best for me?!” The question left them all looking at each other in silence. “All I want right now is to go home and be with my friends. I don’t want to be alone, not now. I want…” As I tried to continue, I started to cry again. “I want Matthew here with me.” I fell to the floor again in tears. I then felt another hoof on my back. I looked up to see Dashie.

“Hey, if you want us to stay with you for a while, we can do that. We love you Shy. You’re our friend, and we’ll do anything for you,” she said. I never really knew Rainbow to be so compassionate like that. But, in this case, I wasn’t as surprised as I might have been otherwise. She was one of my closest friends after all. Of course she cared for me.

“Then please… just stay with me,” I said, still crying. Rainbow then got down on the floor next to me and gave me a warm hug.

“Deal,” she said. I sniffled once again as I stood up. The rest of the girls joined Rainbow in hugging me. They were trying to comfort me so much, yet the only comfort I wanted right then was the comfort of being with Matthew.

As the girls separated from the hug, they all looked at me with soft smiles.

“Thanks girls. We can go now,” I said softly. They all nodded as we made our way for the door.

The walk back to my home was rather quick. The girls kept me hidden from the other ponies that might recognize me. I didn’t need to be reunited with everypony right now. I just needed my friends. As we arrived at my cottage, I was greeted by an oh-so-familiar face. It was my little Angel Bunny. He hopped up to me with a hug.

“Oh, I missed you too Angel,” I said to him, planting a soft kiss on his head. With Angel in my hoofs, we entered my cottage. It was just the way I had left it. All of my things were in the exact same positions as they were six years ago. Or perhaps it was six days ago. I had no way of knowing which it truly was. It felt like years to me, but in reality, here in Equestria, it was a mere six days.

“Well, what shall we do first?” Rarity asked.

“Well, maybe Pinkie and Ah could cook somethin up to eat,” Applejack suggested.

“Oh, that sounds great! What do you think Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked.

“That… that sounds nice. You girls can make whatever you like,” I said, smiling at them both. They smiled back as they made their way into the kitchen. “If the rest of you will excuse me for a moment, I just want to go clean up real quick.”

“No problem. We’re not goin anywhere Fluttershy,” Rainbow said assuredly.

“Thanks Dashie.” I placed Angel down on his favorite spot on the couch and headed into the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and softly sighed.

‘All my friends are here for me. All except for the one I care about the most,’ I thought to myself. It had only been a while since I had returned to Equestria, and already I missed Matthew this badly. It’s as if we had been separated for years. I couldn’t imagine living without him. He meant everything to me, and I meant everything to him. We changed each other. I needed to be with him. But sadly, that could no longer be.

I looked into my mirror as I started to fix up my messy mane. With everything that had been happening, my mane was a mess. I filled the sink with water, got my mane wet, then grabbed a brush from one of my cabinets. As I began to brush out my mane though, it seemed as though the image in the mirror was changing.

Suddenly, I saw Matthew! He was sitting on the floor of our… his bathroom in his apartment. Around him were shards of broken glass. He was holding a large piece of the glass in his hand. It must have been from the mirror. Had he broken it? I then noticed that he was pressing his fingers firmly against the glass. He let out a chuckle. How could I hear him though?

“Maybe you can help me,” he spoke to the shard. He continued to press his fingers against the glass, as if to see how sharp it was. He then looked at himself in that little shard.

“Look at yourself. You’ve really got nothing left. She’s gone. Why continue on?” He lowered the glass for a moment, and then raised it back up to his throat. I looked on in shock. He couldn’t do this!

“Matthew!” I tried to call to him, but I was just speaking to the mirror. I realized that I spoke out pretty loudly, and I hoped my friends didn’t hear me.

“One clean cut should do it,” he continued.

“Matthew, stop!” I tried to call to him again.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy.” I started to tear up again.

“Matthew… please… don’t…” Something must have happened, because it was as if he heard me. Matthew lowered the shard and looked into it. Suddenly, I was looking right into his eyes. How was all of this happening? Did he know he was really looking at me through this mirror, or did he think it was just a dream? Had he really just tried to commit suicide? The questions kept spinning through my head, but it all stopped when I saw his eyes tear up a bit, and he spoke to his little shard of glass.

“Okay Fluttershy… you win,” he said. He dropped the shard to the floor, and my mirror once again showed my reflection.

‘Oh Matthew… this is just as hard on you as it is on me isn’t it? Oh what am I thinking? Of course it is. We loved each other. Oh if only you knew that it was really me you were looking at.’ As my thoughts continued on, I heard a knocking on the door.

“Fluttershy, are you alright? We heard your voice? You okay in there?” Twilight asked.

“I’m fine Twilight. I’ll be out in a moment,” I responded. I heard Twilight’s hoofsteps as she walked away from the bathroom door. I continued to stare at myself in the mirror.

‘Please Matthew… stay alive… for me.’

Author's Notes:

Wow, look at me! I've already got two chapters out for this, and a prologue. I'm on fire!

Anyway, the only thing I can say for this chapter is that it felt weird having to write for Fluttershy. I've written stuff for her before, but never from her perspective. Doing this, I have to write this as if she was saying it. Yet, I still feel like I'm writing as if it's not really her. I dunno. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of this.

Aside from that, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Hopefully this doesn't seem too forced. Hey, she lost the love of her life. She has every right to be sad.

Chapter 3

As I finished up my bagel, I turned off the TV as the episode of The Walking Dead came to an end. I got up, put my plate in the sink in the kitchen, then walked back into the bathroom. I wasn’t planning to cut my throat open anymore, I just needed to get a few bandages for the minor cuts I received from the rummaging in the glass that I did. I opened the cabinet with my left hand and pulled out the band-aids. I managed to clean and patch up my wounds rather quickly. But, after I finished that, I found myself staring at the shard that I almost killed myself with.

“Man, I must be going really nuts if I’m already seeing visions of Fluttershy. And in a glass shard too,” I spoke out loud. I knelt down and picked up the shard. I was in a bit of amazement that I actually managed to figure out which one it was. Although, the amount of blood on it from my finger cuts was a good indicator. But, as I stared at the shard, a thought came across my mind.

“Maybe that wasn’t just a vision. Maybe that was actually her!” The mere thought of what I saw actually being Fluttershy uplifted my heart so much. But, as I thought about that, another thought crossed my mind.

“Wait, that couldn’t be. We couldn’t be in the same moment. If the time difference between our worlds is what I think it is – a day there is a year here – then there’s no real way that we could share a moment like that.” I pondered for a moment on the matter at hand. I’m pretty sure my math was correct, and Princess Celestia confirmed that time difference while she was here. So, if it all added up correctly, that couldn’t have really been Fluttershy that I saw.

“But what if it was really her?” I asked myself. My mind started to hurt over all the thinking I had to do. A few more thoughts started to enter my mind though. Maybe Fluttershy being back in Equestria caused something to change, or possibly correct even, the time difference that was in place. Maybe the time there was really the time here after all, but Fluttershy coming to Earth somehow messed that up. Or, maybe the time difference was a year here to a day there, and Fluttershy going home had made it that a day here was also a day there.

“Ow…” I said to myself. “My head… Too much thinking. Maybe I’m overcomplicating this. But still…” I sighed out of frustration. “Whatever. It doesn’t really matter anyway. I guess what really matters is that I got to see her face again. Hell, I got to hear her voice again.” I found myself smiling at that little shard. I nodded to myself and headed for my bedroom. I placed the glass shard on top of my dresser.

“I’ll keep you there from now on.” With those few words spoken, I grabbed my vacuum cleaner out from my closet. I brought out into the hallway, hooked it up, and then led the vacuum hose into the bathroom. Thankfully, the glass pieces weren’t big enough to cause a real problem with the vacuum. I could easily clean them all up.

And so, I did. Within about ten minutes, all the glass was gone. I ran my hand across the floor to make sure I didn’t miss any small fragments. Luckily, no such fragments were to be found on this floor. I had completely cleaned out the glass. Now, I just needed to get a new mirror for the bathroom.

“Hmm… I bet Target or Wal-Mart might have some good mirrors,” I said to myself. I started to realize that I had been talking to myself, out loud, a little too much in the past while. I guess I had stopped doing that when Fluttershy came into my life. “Oh Fluttershy… I hope this isn’t as hard on you as it is on me, cause I’m a fuckin train wreck without you already.”

With the bathroom cleaned up, and the moon starting to rise in the sky, I decided it was time for a good old shower. I needed this even more than I needed that bagel. I got my towel from my room and headed back into the bathroom. I turned on the water and set it to the right temperature as I got myself undressed. I stepped in and let myself fall into a calm state of relaxation.

The patter of the water against my face and skin felt so good. I felt completely relaxed, which was a little hard for me to believe at the time. I never really knew a shower could be this relaxing. I let the water overtake me, and I found myself almost in a whole other world.

Weird how much a simple shower can do for you huh?

I started to run some shampoo through my hair. I then started to massage my entire head. My brain needed some rest. I cleaned out my hair and leaned up against the wall. It was a little cold, but I didn’t mind it so much. I then decided to unwrap the gauze from around my right hand. I was amazed to find that it had healed up pretty good so far. I let the warm water run over the wounds, allowing it to be cleaned off.

What I did next, however, brought me back into the reality of everything that was going on. I turned my head around, looking down slightly. It was as if I was looking for Fluttershy to be behind me, entering the shower. We had showered together on numerous occasions, and we were completely fine with it. To our own surprise, we never did anything sexual during those showers. If anything, we would just make out as the water fell over us both. But now, Fluttershy wasn’t there when I expected her to be. I sighed and let myself slide down to the floor of bathtub.

“Damn it all,” I said softly to myself. I sat there for a few minutes before I managed to regain myself. I slowly got to my feet and finished cleaning myself off. With that, I got out of the shower and dried myself off. I got out of the bathroom, went back into my room, and threw on a pair of boxers. After that, I turned on my air conditioning and threw myself onto my bed.

“Time to see what dreamland has in store for me,” I spoke softly, as I let sleep overtake me.

Now, on some nights, I would really be able to feel as if I was in my dreams. Hell, when Fluttershy was with me, I would always feel as though I was in my dreams, and most of those dreams were really good. But tonight, I knew I was in my dream. I didn’t feel like I was in my dream. I was literally in my dream. It didn’t even feel like a dream to me.

I found myself completed surrounded by nothing but darkness. I could see myself, but there was nothing else around me. It was just a bunch of black darkness. I stupidly decided to look down to see that I was standing on a bunch of nothing.

“Oh well that’s just great,” I said to myself. I looked forward, or at least what I considered forward. I figured I might as well start walking. As I walked through this empty abyss, I started to look around, hoping not to start walking in circles. I shook my head a few times to make sure I was really in the moment of it all. I was.

“Am I dreaming right now?” I asked myself. “God I don’t even know anymore. Then again, I didn’t know to begin with. And hey, look at that, I’m talking to myself even more now.” I gave myself a slap on the head to stop myself from talking. I just continued to walk on.

But, after a while of just walking, I started to see a small dot of light. I didn’t know what it was, but it stopped me in my tracks. But, while I had stopped walking, it still advanced towards me. As it did, the light grew in intensity, and it was almost as if I was looking at a little dying star. When it was right in front of me, the light died down a bit so I could look at it. It was literally just a ball of light.

“What are you?” I asked the bright object. Of course, I didn’t get an answer. I then found myself moving my hand towards it. And in another moment, I tapped the ball of light. Or rather, I would have tapped it, if my hand hadn’t just passed through it.

“Hmm…” But, as I started to ponder, the ball of light started to circle around me. I kept my eyes on it as best I could. In another moment, the ball of light shot up into the sky. Well, maybe not the sky so much. I don’t know if I could call the space above me the sky, so I’ll just say that the ball of light shot itself high above me.

Suddenly, in a bright flash, what was once a dark abyss of nothingness became a full-fledged nighttime sky, filled with billions of little, shining stars. It was absolutely beautiful. What made it so great was that I was practically in the center of it all. There weren’t any stars close to me, just ones that seemed so far away from me.

“What is all this?” I asked myself. My answer came in the form of another ball of light. However, this light wasn’t a bright white light, but instead a bluish light. The light seemed to flow freely in and of itself as it moved closer to me. But, as the light approached me, it flashed a beautiful light. As the light died down, I gazed upon the sight before me.

What was once a ball of blue light was now Princess Luna.

Author's Notes:

I bet those of you that have read Fluttershy and Me thought that the whole dream sequence was going to lead to a different outcome. I won't say what to avoid spoilers for those of you that haven't read it. All I will say is that that character is not in this story. As much as he would fit in, I'm a little tired of him screwing with Matthew (not in a sexual way for those of you with sick minds).

But yeah, look at me getting this stuff out so quickly. I think it's because of how easy and fun it is to write this story. The chapters don't have to necessarily be overflowing with details. I mean, Matthew's chapters will generally be shorter due to him not having much interaction with anyone, but aside from that, these chapters are definitely shorter than the chapters of my other stories. I can tell that this story will probably get finished in good time.

Chapter 4

I walked out of the bathroom, my mane and coat now fully cleaned. I was greeted with concerned looks from Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Rainbow walked up to me and put her hoof on my shoulder.

“You okay Fluttershy?” she asked me.

“Yes… I’m fine,” I answered.

“Who were you talking to in there? We heard you speaking to somepony,” Twilight jumped in.

“Oh, um, I was just talking to myself. I’m sorry if I scared you girls.”

“Oh it’s fine Fluttershy, you were just talking quite loudly for a moment,” Rarity said. I tried to hide myself behind my mane, but Rainbow pushed it aside and looked at me.

“Flutters, who were you talking to?” she asked me. I started to whimper a little bit.

“Was it Matthew?” Rarity asked. I nodded shyly, then found myself crying once again. Rainbow wrapped me in a warm hug, which I quickly returned. I cried like that for about one minute before I managed to calm down. Rainbow brought me over to the cough, where we sat down together.

“Why, or how rather, were you talking to him?” Twilight asked.

“I… I don’t know. I was looking at myself in my mirror, then all of a sudden, I saw him in his bathroom. There was glass all around him, and then he picked up one piece and held it to his throat. He was going to…” but I trailed off and started to cry again. Rainbow quickly wrapped her hooves around me in a hug once again. All of the comforting that Rainbow was doing for me was quite surprising. I guess that’s why she was probably my best friend. She’d always look out for me, no matter what.

“We understand Fluttershy. You needn’t speak another word of the matter,” Rarity said, trying to be as comforting as possible. I nodded my head and sniffled a few times. Rainbow used her wings to dry the tears from my eyes. I smiled at her and gave her a hug.

“Thanks Dashie,” I said, as she returned the hug.

“Hey, anything for my best friend,” she replied. Our little moment was interrupted when Applejack and Pinkie Pie reentered the room.

“Hey y’all, we got everythin ready for supper. You ponies hungry yit?” Applejack asked. Twilight and Rarity both nodded silently. Rainbow looked over to Applejack, and then back to me.

“I think dinner would be great,” I said. Both Applejack and Pinkie smiled at that. The six of us sat down around my dining table. Oh how I loved eating at this table, I had nearly forgotten. Well, actually, I had forgotten that hadn’t I?

As we all began to eat, we remained in silence. The girls all looked at me with looks of concern and worry. I tried to assure them that I was alright, but they kept looking at me with those worried looks.

“Girls, can you please stop looking at me that way?” I asked them shyly. They all looked to their plates. I didn’t want to make them feel guilty, but I couldn’t just let them keep staring at me that way. It made me feel as if I was acting a little out of the ordinary. Although, I guess I might have been acting as such anyway.

“So, uh, Fluttershy, what was it like living with Matthew?” Rarity asked. “That is, of course, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“It’s alright Rarity. Living with him was… different, from living here. Most of the time we’d be inside. I couldn’t roam about freely in his world of course. He taught me a lot of things though. He’d take me out to places where nopony, or no one rather, would find us. He taught me how to fly, helped me regain my cutie mark, and a ton of other things. There was actually this one night that he… well, I shouldn’t say.”

“What happened? He didn’t violate you did he?!” Rarity asked with concern.

“Oh no, he would never do that. We actually both agreed that… um, doing it, would be weird. He’s a human, and I’m a Pegasus pony. It didn’t seem right to us, so we never did it. No, what I was saying was that… well… if I tell you, please don’t think of him as a bad person. He did it out of love, for me.” They all looked to each other, and then back to me, and nodded.

“Well, one night, these two men broke into this warehouse that I was living in. It became too dangerous for me to live with Matthew, with the risk of other people finding me, so he found me a nice place to live not far from him. But, like I said, two men broke into the warehouse. I pretended to be a ragdoll, but they wound up tossing me aside and hurting me. When Matthew found out, he decided to wait in the warehouse until the men returned. When they did… he killed them.” As I uttered those last words, the girls all looked at me in shock.

“He… killed two people?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, you think he’s terrible now don’t you?!” I said, lowering my head.

“No, no, of course not dear! We’re just surprised that he’d do that for you is all. Didn’t he think that it was a tad too much though?” Rarity asked.

“Well, after he did it, he started to cry, and he said he was no good for me. I reassured him that he was more than good for me. I loved him, and he loved me. That was all that mattered. But, aside from that, and a few other mistakes while we were together, Matthew was perfect. Even if we were from two different species, we loved each other. I just wish I didn’t have to leave him.” I held back the tears that were forming in my eyes. I had to get my mind off of him.

“Well, enough about all that. We’re glad yer back Fluttershy,” Applejack quickly jumped in. I nodded my head.

“Well, what did I miss while I was gone?” I asked.

“Well, not much. From the moment you were sent to Matthew’s world, we spent our time finding a way to bring you back,” Twilight answered. I nodded my head again.

“Yeah, but boy were those six days a bunch of fun. We rummaged through every book in the library that we could find to get a spell to bring you back! We even used the Canterlot library!” Pinkie added. And as she said that, I realized something, something that broke my heart. It brought me to tears.

“Oh Fluttershy darling, what is it?” Rarity asked me, walking over and putting a hoof on my shoulder.

“It’s just that… if the time difference between our worlds is true… then in a few hours, I would have spent one whole day without Matthew…”

“Hey, it’s just one day Fluttershy. Everything will be fine,” Rainbow said, trying to comfort me.

“And Matthew would have spent one whole year without me…” As I said those words, the girls went dead silent. They couldn’t think of anything to say. I quickly got up and ran to my room. I shut the door behind me and locked it. I fell on my bed and cried into my pillow.

“Fluttershy?” I heard Rainbow Dash call to me from behind the door. I didn’t answer. “Shy?” I remained silent. “Well… alright… we’ll stay here for tonight, if it makes you feel better. We won’t leave, we promise.” I still said nothing. I could make out her sighs as she walked away. I continued to cry until there was nothing left, and I was exhausted.

‘No… don’t fall asleep Fluttershy. You can’t… not now…’ I thought to myself. It didn’t help. I was coaxed into a state or relaxation, and I fell asleep just like that.

I found myself running in my dream. I wasn’t running from something though. I was running to find something. Matthew. I could hear his voice all around me, calling to me. I couldn’t find him anywhere though. Everything was black and dark, but his voice was still calling to me.

“Fluttershy, where are you?!” he called out.

“Matthew! I’m here!” I called back to him, but it’s as if he didn’t hear me.

“Fluttershy, please, where are you?!”

“Matthew!” I kept running as fast as I could in the direction his voice came from. But, that direction kept on changing, and I soon found myself running in circles. The voices started to just fill my ears, and I stopped running. I fell to the floor crying, trying to hide my face. But then, the voices stopped all together. I looked up and saw a blue light in the distance. I got back up and walked towards it. But, as I extended my hoof to touch it, it shot up high above me. All the darkness became the nighttime sky.

“Fear not child. I am here,” a voice said to me.

“Who’s there?” I called back. My answer came when Princess Luna appeared before me.

Author's Notes:

BANG BANG! Man, it's been a while since I was able to write consecutive chapters like this. So yeah, here's chapter four! I hope this doesn't seem rushed or anything like that. I think it's all good for the most part. But, of course, if you guys have any criticism to give, please give it.

Also, keep in mind that Matthew never called out to Fluttershy in his dream sequence. Just something to keep in mind. It's not necessarily important, I just felt like saying that.

Chapter 5

“Princess Luna?” I spoke.

“Yes,” she answered me. “You are the one known as Matthew, correct?” she asked me. I nodded in response. “Excellent. We have much to discuss Matthew.”

“Like what? Wait a minute, how are you even here? How are you in my mind right now? What’s going on?!” I asked. My mind was now swimming with questions. I was about to start asking about Fluttershy and how she was doing, but Luna began to speak again.

“As I said, we have much to discuss. To begin with, I wish to inform you that Fluttershy is doing alright. Although, I should say she is doing alright physically. Mentally, Fluttershy has done nothing but weep over losing you. She wishes to be with you again, much as you wish to be with her again.” After Luna had finished, I started to ponder on something. That Luna was in my dreams was weird enough, but for her to be in my dreams, it would have to be nighttime. It couldn’t have been nighttime in Equestria too.

“Luna, what time is it in Equestria?”

“The same time as it is in your world, Matthew. I’m sure you are wondering about the time difference between our worlds. You see, when Fluttershy was sent to your world, it caused a dramatic time change in the worlds. A day in our world became a year in your world. But, with Fluttershy returned to Equestria, that time difference has been fixed. Our worlds no longer have a time difference,” Luna explained. I realized that one of my theories was actually right. With that confirmed, I let out a soft sigh.

“So, is Fluttershy asleep right now?” I asked.

“Yes, she is. In fact, I have already spoken with her in her dreams.”

“What?! What did she say?!” I asked hurriedly.

“As I said before, she misses you, and wants to be with you. She wished for me to tell you that she still loves you.” Hearing Luna say that brought a smile to my face. “But Matthew, you must understand that you and Fluttershy can no longer be together.” The smile that had formed on my face disappeared.

“I get that. I just wish it didn’t have to be true. I’m already regretting the fact that I let her go. Hell, just a little while ago, I nearly slit my throat open. I’m afraid of what I might do now. I… I need her,” I said, my voice cracking a few times.

“I understand Matthew, but there is simply nothing that can be done. It is a miracle that my sister allowed me to do this. She informed me on Fluttershy’s condition, and once I understood how bad it was, I had to intervene. This is the most I can do. I have been allowed by my sister to connect with yours and Fluttershy’s dreams. Doing this allows me to act as a messenger for you both,” Luna explained.

“Well… I guess that’s fine for now. You have my thanks. But, did Fluttershy say anything else when you spoke with her?” I asked.

“She wishes to know how you are faring with all of this. She wishes to know how you yourself are. And, as I’ve said, she wishes for you to know that she loves you,” Luna said. I nodded my head in contentment.

“Well, I guess I’d have to say that I’m not faring well at all. In one day, I managed to break my bathroom mirror and nearly committed suicide. But, something tells me that she might know that already,” I replied. Luna gave me a concerned look. “What?”

“Well, you see Matthew, something has happened in Equestria. It seems as though that you and Fluttershy share a special connection. This bond does not wish to be broken. It is a bond like none other,” Luna started.

“Let me guess. Love?” I said. She nodded. “Well isn’t that just cliché.”

“Be that as it may, the bond between you and Fluttershy is strong. This connection has allowed Fluttershy to see into your world. She told me what she saw. That you nearly committed suicide.” I turned my head away from her. “Matthew, I understand what it is you are dealing with, but…”

“No you don’t!” I cut her off, staring into her eyes. “You have never lost as much as I have! Tell me a time when you lost the one closest to you, and I’ll believe you!” Luna remained silent. “That’s what I thought.”

“Be that as it may, Matthew, your condition is not unheard of. You have every right to feel this way. But I, along with Fluttershy, believe that what you tried to do is not the way. She tells me that she nearly started to cry after what she saw. How could you do such a thing to her?” Once again, I turned away from her. She sighed.

“Understand that I do not wish to mock or insult you. I merely wish to inform you on what Fluttershy believes. She doesn’t want this for you. She wants you to live, for her,” Luna said.

“And I will,” I replied. “I’m not going to end it all just like that. If I die, then the love between us would be meaningless. All I want is for us to be together again. Yet, at the same time, I know well enough that that can’t be,” I finished.

“I am sorry Matthew. But, it may please you to know that, because of Fluttershy, I shall soon begin trying to persuade my sister in allowing you to come to Equestria, or vice versa. All that Fluttershy wants is to be with you, no matter what. She says that she would leave her friends and Equestria behind in a heartbeat if it meant being with you. She wonders if you can say the same.” What Luna had just told me was surprising. I knew Fluttershy wanted to be with me, but I didn’t realize she wanted it that much. I wasn’t entirely sure I could say the same.

“Well… I don’t know. If you’re going to be telling her everything I’ve said, just tell her that I’m unsure. Tell her that I love her too, and that I miss her. And, tell her that I’m sorry,” I said.

“For what?” Luna asked.

“For scaring her the way I did.” Luna simply nodded in acknowledgment. She turned and started to walk away. But, just as her image began to fade, she turned to me and spoke one more time.

“Do not lose hope Matthew,” she said. She faded away, along with the night sky that accompanied her. I was left alone with my dreams.

Author's Notes:

Eh... it is what it is. Did this feel a little rushed to anyone else? To me, it did... kind of. I dunno. Luna invaded Matthew's dreams! Guess what the next chapter is for a prize! The prize... a high five?

Chapter 6

“Fear not Fluttershy,” Princess Luna spoke. She approached me with a warm smile on her face.

“Princess Luna? What’s going on? Why are you here?” I asked her.

“It is my duty to watch over my subjects during the night. That includes their dreams. While there are many ponies that require my watchful eye, you seem to require it the most on this night. My sister has informed me of what has happened to you. I am deeply sorry.” I lowered my head and started to think of Matthew again.

“I need to be with him,” I said softly.

“I understand your desire to be with him, but it simply cannot be done. You belong here in Equestria, Fluttershy,” Luna said.

“But… can’t you all see that I miss him? Can’t you see that I need to be with him?!” I was starting to raise my voice a little, something I didn’t do very often. I was frustrated and sad at the same time.

“We do see that Fluttershy, believe me. What you have lost is irreplaceable, but you simply cannot cling to Matthew anymore.” Luna was trying to be comforting, but all she was doing was hurting me even more. I began to cry. I then felt Luna’s hoof on my shoulder.

“Do not weep Fluttershy,” she said.

“How can I not? I’ve lost the one person closest to me. You said it yourself. He’s irreplaceable. He means so much to me, yet none of you wish for us to be together,” I said through my tears. I started to think about the time difference between Equestria and Matthew’s world. Now that I was asleep, that meant that Matthew had spent one whole year without me. It tore my heart to pieces, and it made me cry even harder.

“Shh, shh, it’s alright Fluttershy. Your friends are here for you. They all will do whatever it takes to make you feel loved again. Perhaps they can find somepony else for you to love,” Luna said.

“I don’t want to love somepony else! I already love Matthew!” I spoke with a little aggression in my voice that time as my tears kept flowing. “And what’s worse is that now, Matthew has spent one whole year without me! I’ve only spent a day without him! I have no way to know how he’s feeling now! For all I know…” I couldn’t say it. After seeing what he had attempted, I couldn’t possibly bring myself to saying it.

“Then perhaps it may ease your heart to know that the previous time difference between the two worlds has been rectified,” Luna replied. I looked up to her with tear filled eyes. “You see, when you were first sent to Matthew’s world, the spell that sent you there caused the time difference that my sister mentioned to you. Now that you are home in Equestria, that time difference has been fixed. Now, the two worlds have the same time. At this moment, I suspect that Matthew is sleeping in his own bed, dreaming of you.” Hearing Luna speak those words lifted my heart just a little.

“So, he’s only spent a day without me?” I asked. Luna nodded in response. A soft smile formed across my face, even though I was still crying.

“In fact, I believe I may be able to find a way to visit his own dreams. It may be rather tricky to do so, but I suspect that it is not impossible,” Luna said. My eyes beamed towards hers.

“You mean… you could speak with him?!” I asked in excitement.

“I cannot promise you anything, but I will most certainly try,” Luna replied. I jumped towards her and wrapped her in a warm hug.

“Oh thank you so much Princess Luna!” She smiled at me and ran her hoof through my mane once.

“Anything for one of my subjects,” she said. I let go of her and started to wipe off the tears from my face. The smile that had already formed on my face had only increased now.

“What would you like for me to ask Matthew?” Luna asked me.

“Oh, well… I guess you could ask him how he’s doing with everything that’s going on. Or, just how he is in general. Maybe how much he misses me. And, could you tell him that I still love him?”

“Of course I will,” Luna replied.

“Thank you,” I said. Luna nodded her head, turned away from me, and started to walk away.

“Wait!” I quickly said. She turned back around to look at me. “Do you think you could ask Princess Celestia to reconsider allowing Matthew to come to Equestria?” I asked.

“Fluttershy, you must understand that Matthew is not meant to live in our world. He would not fit in properly. Everypony would think wrongly of him, even though you and your friends know him for who he truly is. And you must think about what he has to lose. Do you think he would want to leave his family and friends?” Luna asked. I had never thought of that before. I had been so concerned with my own feelings that I never really considered what Matthew was thinking.

“Well… I guess you’re right. But, please, if you could just at least ask Princess Celestia. If she says no, then I can live with that. Just ask her. Please?” I asked, a tear running down my cheek. Luna let out a soft sigh and smiled at me.

“Very well Fluttershy. I will speak with my sister about allowing Matthew to enter Equestria. But, of course, I shall first try to visit Matthew’s dreams. The next time we speak, I will let you know how everything is going. And, if I am able to speak with Matthew, I shall relay anything he wishes for me to. Until next we speak Fluttershy,” Luna finished, turning and walking away once again.

“Thank you Princess Luna,” I said. She vanished from my vision, and the night sky she brought with her faded as well.

I started to dream of Matthew once again shortly after that. Only this time, I didn’t have to find him. He was right there beside me, smiling. He brushed my mane with his hand like he did all the time. I looked up to him with a warm smile as we continued to walk along a never-ending path.

Author's Notes:

And now we see what went on when Luna visited Fluttershy's dreams. As you can clearly tell, Fluttershy isn't handling things too well. But, a friendly visit from Luna managed to cheer her up a bit. What comes next? Well... STUFF!

Chapter 7

I awoke the next day feeling a little tired, yet at the same time, relaxed. Thankfully, it was a Sunday, so I didn’t have much work. I had to memorize a few lines for the show I was in, but nothing too difficult. Other than that, my day was going to be pretty empty. I tried to think of things to do, but nothing came to me.

“I’ll think of something later,” I said to myself. I sat up in bed and wiped my eyes out. They felt a little wet to me. I figured that I must have been crying a little during my sleep. And then I remembered my dream. Although, it wasn’t really a dream. Having Princess Luna visit me in my sleep was something I never expected. And she had said that she had spoken with Fluttershy in her dreams as well. I only hoped that Luna would visit my dreams again soon, and hopefully, that Celestia would listen to the offer Luna had in mind.

I got out of bed, went to the bathroom, got myself dressed, and made myself some breakfast. A simple bowl of cereal would be enough on this day. I sat down at my table and turned the TV on to the news. Nothing good was on the news, so I decided to flip through the channels to find something. I was lucky enough to find that My Little Pony was on. I decided I might as well watch it.

Yet, at the same time, I couldn’t bear to watch it. It just hurt too much to watch the ponies. The moment I saw Fluttershy, I started to cry. I turned off the TV and sat at the table in tears. After a minute of crying, I finished my breakfast and put the bowl in the sink. I grabbed my hoodie and headed outside. I needed to go on a parkour run.

Even though I was technically living in the city, I was only on the outskirts. The area I lived in had a good amount of places to do parkour. There were more than enough trees to use as well. I decided to go to my preferred spot in the area, which was a local skate park. Most of the time, I would find skaters there. But, the space was also used by other people that did parkour. And for a skate park, there was a good amount of trees.

I arrived to find the place being used by about twenty-or-so skaters. At this hour in the morning (10:30 a.m.), it was pretty common for that number of people to be there. I knew a few of the skaters in fact. I nodded my head to the ones I knew and ignored the ones I didn’t. I walked over to my preferred starting point in the park, threw my hood up, and went off on my run.

To start, I dove over two benches and finished with a classic parkour roll. I then ran over to the grind rails and hopped over a few of them. As I came to the skate ramps, I started to climb up the side of it. Once I reached the top, I slid down the ramp, gained some momentum, and used that momentum to climb back up on the other side.

From there, I hopped down and rolled my way over to a small collection of structures. They were each leveled differently, and it made for some good fun. There were large gaps in between most of them, which I would always conquer. I started hopping across the platforms with great ease, finishing off by jumping off a taller one and landing with a roll.

What came next was the most fun for me. I ran over to the area filled with trees. I climbed up the tallest one and started to run across the thick branches. I hopped my way from one tree to the next. I came to one branch and used it to swing around to another tree, landing with success. I hopped down from the mass of trees with another roll and continued running.

I kept going until I had reached the edge of the park. I looked behind me to see that I had conquered pretty much every piece of the park, which was something I didn’t normally do. I would usually take on one part of the park every day, but never the whole thing at once. It took me a moment to realize what I had actually done.

“Damn Matt. Never seen you run through the whole park like that. Respect,” one of the skaters said to me. I turned and smiled at him.

“I guess I wasn’t as focused on where I was as much as what I was doing,” I responded. “That felt good.” I felt like I had no energy left in me, but at the same time, I felt like I had all the energy I could ever need.

“Yeah, I bet. Next time you plan on doin that, let me know. I might wanna bet on how far… hey, where you goin?!” the skater shouted after me. I didn’t turn back to respond. I was already off for another run through the park.

I found myself at the entrance of the park once again after my sixth complete run through the entire park. Each time, I took different paths and used different tricks to get around. On about my third run, I had attracted an audience of about fifty skaters and parkour runners in total. I never imagined that I could do something like this. For me to run the park entirely once was astonishing, but the fact that I had done it six times was unbelievable.

As I stood at the entrance to the park, the audience behind me was cheering for me, asking for another run. I checked my phone to see that it was only about 1:30 in the afternoon. I pocketed my phone, turned to the audience, and bowed.

“Sorry ladies and gentlemen, but that’s all for today,” I said, now walking away. I could hear the displeased moans from everyone, but they quickly went back to doing their own stunts and tricks. I on the other hand needed a drink.

I found myself at one of the local bars. I sat at the counter and ordered a Rum and Cola. I quickly drank up the beverage and ordered another. And another and another and another. Before I knew it, I had gone through about eight drinks, and I didn’t have the slightest buzz. The bartender cut off my drinks when I finished the eighth one, but I desperately needed another.

“Come on, I’m literally begging for another. I’ll pay double for it,” I said, taking out the money.

“Sorry buddy, but I’m not gonna let you hurt yourself like this by drinking your troubles away,” he responded.

“What makes you think I’ve got troubles?” I asked.

“When a guy like you guzzles down eight Rum and Colas that quickly, and doesn’t get drunk from it, I know the guy’s got troubles. You are one of those guys.” I looked at the bartender with an unamused look. I ultimately gave up and decided to leave. Even as I walked out of the bar I didn’t feel any buzz from the alcohol now in my system. I was a little pissed by that.

At that point, it was only three o’clock, and I had little to nothing else to do. So, I figured I would just go for a walk. A nice, long walk.

Author's Notes:

Well, now you see how Matthew is dealing with everything as of the second day. He went boss on six different parkour runs and went through eight rum and colas. I've never had a full drink of that stuff, only a sip, and I loved it. I am looking forward to my first full one though. I have no idea if that stuff can really get you drunk, so if that seems like a problem in the story, let me know. But yeah, Matthew seems to be having a good day so far... kinda. And hey, he's still got a few more hours left in the day.

Chapter 8

I awoke from my dream with tear-filled eyes. My dream was so beautiful that I assumed it had led me to start crying. I didn’t care. I had every right to cry. But, at least Princess Luna was going to try to talk with Matthew. I dearly wished that she could. Had she already done so perhaps while I was still asleep? And had she spoken with Princess Celestia about bringing Matthew here, or letting me go back to him? I would have to wait for my answers.

I sat up in my bed when I heard a knocking at the door. I had forgotten that the girls had stayed with me that night.

“Fluttershy, you up yet?” I heard Rainbow Dash ask from behind the door.

“Y-Yes, I’m awake,” I replied.

“Can I come in?” It took a moment for me to reply, but I let her enter. “How you feeling?”

“Well… I guess with all things considered, I’m doing okay for now,” I answered.

“You sure?”

“Y-Yeah.” Rainbow shrugged and turned around.

“Well, Pinkie Pie and Applejack got breakfast ready. You wanna join us?” I nodded my head in response and got out of bed.

“Sure, let’s go.” As I said that, Rainbow started to walk back to the dining room. I followed to find my friends waiting for me at the table.

“Good morning Fluttershy. Sleep well?” Twilight greeted me. I nodded shyly as I sat down. Silence fell over the room.

“Have any good dreams?” Applejack asked. I nodded in response. Another silence came as nopony spoke again. I looked at my plate to see some hay pancakes, with some tea next to the plate.

“We thought we would treat you with breakfast dear,” Rarity spoke up. I looked over to her with a smile.

“Thanks girls,” I said. When I started to eat, the girls started soon after. We ate in silence. They were all being so defensive. I certainly did miss Matthew, but they acted as if I didn’t want to talk about him at all. It was the opposite in fact. I wanted to talk about him. I would almost say that I needed to talk about him. There was so much on my chest that I needed to get rid of, but none of the girls wanted to talk about it.

As we finished our breakfast, I stood up from the table.

“Thank you girls for the breakfast. I think I’m going to go out for a while. I might as well get reacquainted with Ponyville now,” I said. None of them said anything in response. But, as I turned to walk away, Rainbow got up and followed after me.

“You want some company?” she asked.

“Yes… please,” I answered. We walked out of the cottage together, leaving the rest of the girls to think of what to do next.

As Dashie and I entered Ponyville, I started to realize how long I had truly been gone. For all of the ponies, it was only six days. But, to me, it was six years. Seeing everything from my true home again felt rather uplifting. All of the places I loved to go to were still here. All of the ponies I remembered were still here. Everything was still here. And yet, it all felt so unfamiliar to me.

And, of course, there was still someone missing. That was Matthew. Being greeted by all the familiar faces that I knew didn’t help to comfort me either. Sure, all of these ponies knew me, but not all of them were my friends, and none of them certainly loved me the way Matthew did.

“So… you alright with everything?” Rainbow asked me.

“I guess so,” I answered. Rainbow wasn’t the best at helping others in respects such as this, but I could tell she was at least trying.

“Uh… hey, you wanna know what I tried to do after you got teleported to… uh, whatever that place was called?” she asked me.

“Earth,” I corrected. “What?”

“I asked if Twilight could repeat that spell so I could find you. I wasn’t about to leave my friend to fend for herself in some unknown world.” She wore a smile on her face, but it quickly disappeared.

“I didn’t have to fend for myself,” I said.

“Well… yeah, but we didn’t know that. Well, actually, Celestia knew that, but the rest of us didn’t.” It was obvious that Rainbow was having trouble with all of this, but I understood. She never was good at these sorts of things after all.

“It’s fine Rainbow, really. I just wish things didn’t turn out the way they did,” I said.

“You mean with you getting teleported?” Rainbow asked.

“No… with you all coming to get me.” When Rainbow stopped walking, I could tell she was surprised.

“What do you mean you didn’t want us to get you?” she asked, her tone a little more forceful now.

“I mean that I didn’t want you all to come get me! I didn’t even remember you all! I was fine where I was!” I responded. My words even surprised me a little.

“How could you say that?! We’re your friends!” Rainbow shouted.

“And I expected more from you all! You took me away from him! How can you call yourselves my friends after doing something like that to me?!” I covered up my mouth in shock. Did I really just say that? I could see tears starting to form in Rainbow’s eyes.

“We were worried about you Fluttershy. We wanted you back home. You think we don’t love you too? We love you just as much as Matthew did.” Much like Dashie, tears started to form in my eyes as well.

“You act as if he doesn’t love me anymore,” I responded. I could see the hurt look on Rainbow’s face.

“Well, I mean… okay, maybe he does still love you, but still. He’s doesn’t know you like we know you,” she said. Every word Dashie spoke seemed to hurt me in one way or another.

“How can you say that?! If anything, he knew me better than you all do,” I said in retaliation. At this point, both Rainbow and I were about to start crying outright.

“I… You know what? Who cares?! Who cares about him?! I don’t, the others don’t, and neither should you! He’s not here for you now, and he didn’t seem to mind letting you come back to Equestria! What does that tell you about him, huh?! It tells me that he doesn’t care so much about you as you thought he did! You need to get over him!” Rainbow was panting now. She said all of that straight to my face, and showed barely any remorse for it. I was now in tears. I turned away from her and started to cry. I could hear her hoofsteps as she walked next to me.

“Fluttershy, I… I didn’t mean that,” she said. She tried to place her hoof on my shoulder, but I smacked it away.

“Y-You’re a monster. You aren’t my friend. N-Not anymore,” I said, my voice cracking multiple times. I ran off in tears, leaving Rainbow to be with herself. I didn’t know where I was running to. All I knew was that I was running away from her.

Author's Notes:

Man, Rainbow Dash is a bitch ain't she. Well, while Matthew has been mostly able to cope with everything so far, Fluttershy is clearly still a wreck. Will they be able to stay strong without each other. At this rate, probably not. But hey, I'm the one writing this after all, so the ending is bound to be a happy one.
BUT THAT DOESN'T GUARTANTEE ANYTHING!

Chapter 9

I had no idea where I was walking to. I just kept walking to wherever my feet led me. Soon enough, I found myself at an old train yard, filled with trains (obviously). They were all broken down, rusted, and out of use. Just looking at all of the decrepit trains made me feel depressed. But hell, at that point, I was depressed. But keeping in line with my agenda, I decided to continue walking.

I started to follow an unused train track. It seemed to go pretty far, which would give me a good amount of time to think. That was something I really hadn’t done a lot of lately. I never had to think about anything, I just did everything. That was all because of Fluttershy.

‘Why did I let them take her away like that?’ I asked myself in thought, as I continued to walk. The question had been rattling inside my head for the past 24 hours, and it showed no signs of letting up. It was a tough question for me to answer too. The only thing I could come up with was that she didn’t belong here, and that she needed to go home.

‘They say home is where you belong… what a bunch of bullshit,’ I thought. Sure, home is where you belong, but it’s not just that. It’s where you belong and who you belong with. Sure, Fluttershy was where she belonged, but she wasn’t with whom she belonged. Well, maybe she was.

‘They’re her friends after all. They love her, and they need her. I had to let her go. I couldn’t just take Fluttershy away from them like that. That would make me no better than… well, somebody out there.’

Continuing along the tracks, I looked up into the sky. The day was still young, and the sky was still clear. A few clouds lingered here and there, but it wasn’t anything too bad. Looking up into that sky made me think of how fun it would have been to fly with Fluttershy.

‘If only…’ I looked back down to the ground with a heavy frown on my face. All I wanted was to be with her, yet at the same time, I knew that that wasn’t meant to be. When I first found Fluttershy six years ago, I told myself that this would eventually come to an end. Yet, over time, those thoughts became nonexistent. I had deleted them from my mind entirely. But, when Celestia and the rest of Fluttershy’s friends appeared at my doorstep, all of those crippling thoughts came right back to me.

“How could I have let my defenses down like that? How in the world did I ever come to think that she was going to be with me forever? I’m a fucking idiot!” I said. I realized I had spoken out loud, but I didn’t care at all. No one was around to hear me.

“She probably hates me now. Hell, I just gave her up with little to no resistance. What good does that make me to her?” I asked myself. I was beating myself up, and I deserved it. At least, to me, I deserved it. I had given up the one person… the one pony, who managed to turn my life around for the better. She loved me like no one else before, and I loved her. And I was stupid enough to throw it all away.

I stopped walking and let my head hang on my neck. I couldn’t forgive myself now that I was thinking about it all so much. I fell to my knees, hitting the train tracks with a hard thud. There was a bit of pain, but I didn’t care.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy… I’m so sorry,” I spoke. I started to cry, lifting my hands up to hide my face from no one. I cried into my palms like a little child. I had lost so much in just one day, and I already felt like my life was coming to an end. The thought crossed my mind again about opting out of the whole life thing, but I remembered what I told Fluttershy, or at least, what I told her image. I wasn’t going to give up so easily.

With that in mind, I wiped off my tears and stood up. I pulled up my hood and continued to walk. I didn’t think as to why I pulled up my hood, only that I needed it up. It was something I did very often when I was playing Assassin’s Creed or if I was feeling a little low. Other times I might just wear it to look good or feel cool, and that was most of the time. Even when I went on parkour runs, I had my hood up. But, I hadn’t had to wear my hood because I was feeling sad in a long time. Now was a very appropriate time to wear it.

With my hood up, my tears dried, my legs moving, and my mind swimming, I continued to walk down the track. I still had no idea where I was going, only that I was going somewhere.

I decided to look back up into the sky. At first, all I saw were clouds. I could even see some of them forming shapes. One looked like a sword, another looked like a shark, and another looked like a very deformed car. A turtle, an igloo, a turkey’s head, a baseball bat, an actual bat, Fluttershy…

“Wait, what?!” I looked clearly into the sky, and I was looking right into Fluttershy’s eyes. I was looking right at her entire face. I didn’t know if what I was looking at was just a vision or the real thing. I wiped my eyes and looked again. She was still there, only now, she was smiling at me. I saw a small tear roll down her cheek. Something told me I was just looking at a vision because I was going crazy. That was really Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy!” I shouted into the sky. As soon as I shouted her name, a smile spread across her face.

“Can she hear me?” I asked myself. When she nodded to me, a big, warm smile spread across my face. I started to laugh to myself out of pure joy and happiness. All the while, Fluttershy was still smiling at me. Yet, I wondered why she didn’t respond.

“Fluttershy? Why don’t you say anything?” I asked her. The smile on her face disappeared. She shook her head in response. My own smile vanished as well. I lowered my head for a moment, then looked back up to her.

“Well, if you really can hear me… I love you.” I smiled up to her as I spoke the words. She nodded her head and smiled right back to me as her image faded from the sky.

I looked down from the sky and stared straight ahead. There was a whole lot of track for me to still walk. Yet, at the same time, I had a nagging feeling in my head to go home. I decided to listen to that nag and turned around. I started to walk back home with my head held high and a soft smile on my face. The only thing out of place was the hood resting on my head.

I pulled my hood off and let the breeze fan over my head. I took in a deep breath as I let the wind wash over my body. The breeze helped me to relax my entire body. As an actor, I had been trained to relax my body entirely, but this breeze made it all the more easier for me to do so. I stared straight ahead again with that smile still on my face.

‘Time to go home,’ I thought to myself. With the image of Fluttershy’s smiling face in my mind, I started to make my way back home. Whatever had just happened was a true miracle. I didn’t care how it happened. All I cared about was that it did happen.

Author's Notes:

Now wasn't that a cute little moment?! Writing this chapter was pretty fun actually. It's such a simple chapter, yet at the same time, it has a heavy emotional feel to it. At least, I think so. But yeah, it seems as though Matthew is doing better than he believes. But, things can change. Will his state of happiness last? We'll just have to see where everything goes.

Chapter 10

I kept on running as fast as I could to get away from Rainbow Dash. I probably ran for about thirty minutes, but it felt like I had been running for hours. I had no idea where I was going, but I didn’t care. After what Rainbow had said to me, how could I possibly stay with her? She didn’t show any sign of concern for how I was. She treated Matthew like some kind of animal.

‘Why? Why would she say that?’ I thought to myself. She made it seem like she cared about everything. Back at my cottage, she showed so much concern and care towards me. Now, she only seemed to be thinking about herself. I couldn’t think of any reason why she would have such a drastic change in attitude, but it didn’t matter at the time. It already happened, and what’s done was done.

‘She’s not your friend Fluttershy. Anypony that would be so cruel to you couldn’t be,’ I told myself as I continued to run. I still wasn’t watching where I was going. My head was hidden behind my hair, and I was crying like a little foal.

When the ground started becoming a little more muddy, and the light from the sun started to dim, I stopped running and looked around. I found myself in the Everfree Forest. I started to shiver uncontrollably. I was so afraid. I was in the most dangerous forest in all of Equestria, alone, with nopony knowing that I was there. I was looking all around my position in fear, afraid of whatever could be watching me. But soon enough, I gave up. I fell to the floor and started to cry again.

But, a little after that, I heard a noise from behind some bushes. My head shot up and I started looking around. I didn’t know what, or who, it was. All I knew was to be afraid. My heart was pounding loud enough for anypony within a ten foot radius to hear. I waited anxiously for whatever or whoever it was to appear. Soon enough, out from the bushes came Zecora.

“Well, well, if it isn’t little miss Fluttershy. But something is wrong here. What causes you to cry and tear?” Zecora asked. I started to relax, knowing that it was only Zecora, but my tears continued to flow. I stood up as she walked over to me.

“Now, now, what causes you to weep? Surely it must be bad, for your tears continue to seep.” I was trying to talk, but I couldn’t form any words. I started mumbling behind my tears. Zecora put a hoof on my shoulder to calm me down a bit more.

“There, there, Zecora is here now. I wish to help you Fluttershy, but you must speak so I may know how,” Zecora continued. I looked at her with tears still in my eyes. I sniffled before gaining the strength to speak.

“I… I… it’s a l-long story Z-Zecora. C-Could we m-maybe go to y-your hut? I d-don’t l-like being out h-here,” I said shakily. Zecora nodded her head and led me back to her hut. As we entered, she gestured for me to sit around her table. She sat opposite of me as she prepared something for us to drink. She handed me a cup and gestured for me to drink. I drank whatever it was she had made, and I immediately felt much calmer. I let out a heavy sigh and gave her a soft smile.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Anything thing for a friend. Now then, let us see if we can cause your sadness to end,” she responded. “What is it that causes you pain. Crying and weeping brings nothing to gain.” I sighed yet again. I decided I might as well get comfortable where I was.

“As I said, it’s a long story. B-But, I wouldn’t want to bore you with everything,” I said.

“It is no trouble Fluttershy. I wish to help a friend, and help her not to cry.” I nodded my head softly. I started from the very beginning. I told her every little detail there was to tell. I told her how Matthew found me that fateful night. I told her how he helped keep me safe. I told her how he loved me, and how I loved him. I told her all of the mistakes we both made along the way. And finally, I told her of how I was taken from him.

Telling my entire story to her took quite some time. We had no real way to tell, we just felt it. It took at least two hours. Zecora listened to every word I said though. It felt good to let everything out as I did. It helped to calm me down much more. As I finished my story, Zecora got up from the table and walked over to her cauldron.

“What are you doing?” I asked. She didn’t respond. All she did was gather up ingredients from around her hut. She mixed everything together until what was left in the cauldron was a violet colored mixture. I didn’t know what it was, but unlike most other things that Zecora can make, this one didn’t smell as bad as I expected.

She gestured for me to go to her. I stood up and walked next to her and the cauldron. The smell wasn’t bad at all, but up close, it was much stronger. I looked at the mixture with concern and distaste. I wondered what it was. I looked to Zecora with a confused look, but she only gestured towards the cauldron.

“What is this?” I asked her.

“If relief is what you seek, then dip your head in and take a peek,” she answered. I had no idea what this was going to do, but I had no reason to doubt her. I was a little anxious, but, slowly but surely, I lowered my face into the cauldron’s contents. At first, I felt as if I was under water, and I couldn’t breathe. But then, in another moment, I felt as if I wasn’t in Zecora’s hut at all anymore.

I found myself high in the sky. I was looking down on a consistent line of trees, with a train track in the center of it all. I didn’t know what exactly I was looking at, but that quickly changed when I saw a man resting on his knees on the tracks. Taking a closer look, I discovered that it was Matthew.

“Matthew!” I called out to him. But he didn’t seem to hear me. I called out again. And again. And again. Every time, I called out louder and with more energy. But every time, the outcome was the same. Nothing. But, then I began to hear him speaking.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy… I’m so sorry,” he said. I noticed him starting to cry, which made me cry in return. But, I stopped myself as he stood up and pulled his hood over his head. I watched as he walked along the track. I didn’t know where he was going. It was much like me. I had been running to nowhere specifically. He was walking to wherever his feet took him. But, as he was walking, he looked up to the sky. He looked at the clouds for a while, and then he looked at me. It was as if he knew I was there.

“Wait, what?!” he spoke. He continued to look up. He wiped out his as, probably thinking that I was just a vision. But when he realized that it was really me, I smiled at him, and a tear rolled down my cheek.

“Fluttershy!” he called out to me. I was able to hear him. I didn’t know why he couldn’t hear me, but I decided not to argue with myself about it. All I wanted to do was look at him, as he looked right back at me.

“Can you hear me?” he asked. I nodded my head in response, and his smile grew even larger. He waited for a moment, as if waiting for me to say something.

“Fluttershy? Why don’t you say anything?” My smile disappeared. I shook my head in response. As I did, his smiled disappeared as well.

“Well, if you really can hear me… I love you,” he said. As his smile reformed on his face, so did mine. I nodded my head to him, and I felt myself returning to Equestria.

Raising my face out of the cauldron, my smile was still there. I looked over to Zecora, who was now sitting back at the table.

“Thank you Zecora,” I said. She looked at me and nodded. “I think I’m going to go home now.

“Allow me to escort you. It is certainly the least I can do,” she said. I nodded my head in response. We walked out of the hut and out to the exit of the forest. Zecora and I said our goodbyes as we started to go our separate ways. She headed back to her hut, while I returned to my cottage.

Chapter 11

Walking home, I realized how far I had truly walked. When I was initially walking, it didn’t seem very far. Walking home, it felt like I had been walking for one whole hour. And that was just the train track. Once I finally got back into the city, it took me about another thirty minutes to reach my apartment. The walking was better when I was in a depressed state.

Opening the door to my apartment, I looked around, expecting Fluttershy to greet me as I entered. And then a got a smack in the face from good old realization. She was gone. Hell, I just saw a vision of her in the sky. I plopped down on the couch and just stared into space. I had nothing to do, and nothing to care about. I wanted so badly to just start talking to someone. Anyone! But sadly, I was alone.

I figured that sitting around and sulking in my sorrow wouldn’t do me any good. I got up, got my laptop, and sat right back down. I opened it up, signed on, and turned on ITunes. I needed to listen to some music. I set it to play the songs in a random order, picked a song to start off with, and let the music start playing. The first few were kick ass rock songs. Following that, a few softer songs to calm me down a bit more. And then, a few more hard rock songs. But, when the song “Hymn for the Missing” came on, I immediately turned off the music. I shut the laptop and stared into space yet again.

“Why did I have to download that song after all?” I asked myself. I loved the song in all honesty, but in my current state, it would crush me. I didn’t know whether or not to get it originally because of its heavy emphasis on the orchestral music. There weren’t enough lyrics in the song to keep me wanting more. But, eventually, I wound up getting it. That was about three years ago. Now, I was regretting it.

With my flow of music disrupted, I needed something else to keep my mind off things. I figured that watching TV wouldn’t do it, and music was now a bust. So, to solve the problem, I turned on my Xbox, took out the disc for Assassin’s Creed 3, and put in the disc for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. Old as it was nowadays, it still had a great charm in my heart.

As I loaded up my game file, I was reintroduced to the charismatic Edward Kenway. When the game was being advertised, I had a heavy interest in the character. I loved him before the game came out. Playing the game fully, he became my second favorite assassin. Sure, the assassins of the games following were alright, but not quite as unique as Edward. So, as the nostalgia finished setting in, I went about playing the game.

About two hours had passed as I was finishing my gameplay. The sun was starting to set. I decided to turn off the game and make myself some dinner. Nothing too fancy, just some left over pizza. I was quick to eat my meal, for I was quite tired now. I hopped in the shower quickly, brushed my teeth, got dressed for sleeping, and collapsed on my bed. I didn’t know what to expect from my dreams tonight. But, a part of me hoped that Princess Luna would pay me another visit.

Low and behold, I awoke in my dreams to a starry night sky. It was much like the first time Luna had appeared in my dreams. I looked around the vivid sky, captivated by the millions of stars. I was curious, however, as to why Luna hadn’t showed up yet. I waited for the ball of light that preceded her arrival, but it was taking its sweet time. Eventually, it appeared in front of me, and soon was replaced by Princess Luna.

“Hello once again Matthew,” Luna greeted me. “How was your day?”

“I… I surprisingly can’t complain that much. It was better than I expected it to be,” I answered. “How’s Fluttershy doing?” I quickly asked.

“She is fine. Once again, I have already visited her. However, when I told that you still love her, she said that she already knew that. From what she told me, you two had yet another encounter, albeit across our two worlds. She tells me that the zebra Zecora aided her in this.” I face palmed out of pure stupidity. Why didn’t I figure that out?

“That makes sense. When it happened, I didn’t really care if it was real or not. Seeing as though it was real, I didn’t care how it was happening. I guess I know now.” Luna nodded her head and started to gaze through the stars.

“You know, the stars reveal quite a lot to me. While I was not focused on Fluttershy’s actions for the day, I was quite focused on you. I don’t mean to disturb you in any way, but I must say that you seemed to be handling everything quite well. How are you now?” Luna asked.

“Fine, I guess. Seeing Fluttershy earlier definitely lightened me up a bit. But this morning… everything I did felt better. Well, actually, it’s not that it felt better. It felt…” I didn’t know how to describe it all. I dug through my mind to find a proper way to describe it, but nothing came up.

“No need to continue. Clearly your loss has changed you. It remains to be seen whether or not this is for better or worse. I only hope that you may hold on to yourself for the time being. Fluttershy had quite a poor experience with Rainbow Dash this morning,” Luna said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Apparently, Rainbow Dash believes that Fluttershy should forget about you, and that she does not care for you. She claimed that the rest of her and Fluttershy’s friends also cared not for you. Surely, this was all said out of rage, but that does not make it less painful. Fluttershy ran off and wound up at Zecora’s hut in the Everfree Forest. You know what happened afterwards,” Luna explained.

I couldn’t believe what I had heard. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy’s closest and most loyal friend, uttering those words to Fluttershy’s face. I couldn’t wrap my head around it all.

“Why?” I asked. “Why would she do that?”

“I do not know. Fluttershy only told me what she said. She did not explain to me the aftermath of when she returned home. She didn’t even say if she had spoken to Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends again.” I felt a little pain in my heart just then. Those were Fluttershy’s closest friends. Something bad must have happened if she didn’t want to talk about them with the Princess. But, that was Fluttershy’s business. I had no say in the matter as it were anyway.

“Well… alright then. What about reuniting us? Have you spoken to Princess Celestia?” I asked.

“I proposed the idea to my sister. She quickly shot down anything I had to say with the same excuses she told you. I aim to persuade her further, but it may take some time. When she discovered that I have been communicating to you both, she was also highly displeased with me. I may not be visiting you in your dreams as often as I would like to soon enough. I am sorry Matthew,” Luna explained.

“It’s alright. You’re doing what you can, and I appreciate that. It’s more than I could really ask for. I guess if what you say is true, then there may be no reason for me to give you any messages for Fluttershy then,” I said, sighing heavily afterwards.

“Although I may not be able to visit her anytime soon, I surely have no troubles relaying any messages to her. While it may take time, I will tell her what you have to say regardless. She wished for me to tell you that she loves you too in fact.” I remembered back to before. I had shouted up to the sky that I loved her. She was responding to me. That thought in mind, a tear rolled down my cheek.

“You don’t know how much that means to me. Well, if you’re willing to take a message…” but I trailed off. I couldn’t think of anything. I sighed in defeat.

“I understand. I’ll be sure to visit you first next time. That way, if you think of anything, you may tell me. Now, I must go. If my sister discovers my current acts, she may become even more displeased than she is already. Until next time Matthew, this is goodbye,” Luna said, bowing her head to me.

“I hope to see you again soon Princess Luna. Thank you for everything you’ve done so far,” I responded, bowing my head as well. She smiled as she stepped towards me. Her horn lit up as bright as one of the stars in the sky. She lowered her horn to my head. At first, nothing happened. And a moment later, after she removed her horn, still nothing happened. I looked at her confusedly, but she simply turned around and walked away.

She disappeared, and I was left alone in the starry sky.

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Another visit from Luna finishes up Matthew's first full day without Fluttershy. What's been happening in Equestria? What happened when Luna visited Fluttershy's dreams? You'll find out in the next chapter.

Chapter 12

I entered my cottage and was met by the worried faces of my friends. They each looked at me in a different way, but the overall feeling they gave off was concern. I noticed that Rainbow Dash wasn’t even looking at me. She was looking down at the floor as she sat on the couch. Rarity glanced over to her and nudged her.

“Go on,” she said, giving Rainbow another shove. She slowly looked up at me with tear-filled eyes.

“Dashie?” Before I could say anything else, she jumped off the couch and held me in a warm hug. She started to cry down my back.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy. I didn’t mean anything of what I said. I was just mad. I didn’t know what else to say. I’m so sorry,” Rainbow cried. She managed to remain slightly composed through it all, but just barely.

“Rainbow, you don’t need to cry. I know you didn’t mean any of it. We were both upset with each other, and we both said things that we regret now. So I guess I owe you an apology too. I’m sorry,” I replied. She let me go and looked at me, still with tears in her eyes.

“Thanks Fluttershy. Can you ever forgive me?” she asked me. Even though I knew she didn’t mean any of what she said, it didn’t change the fact that she said it all.

“N… No. I can’t Dashie. I’m sorry, but what’s done is done. It doesn’t matter why you said the things you said. You said them, and sadly, that’s how it’s going to remain. I’m sorry, but I just can’t forgive you.” She looked shocked at my response. But, after a moment, she seemed to realize the gravity of what she has said. She nodded her head and walked out the door.

“And where da ya think yer goin?” Applejack asked.

“I’m going home,” Rainbow answered simply. She walked out the door, unfurled her wings, and took off for Cloudsdale, leaving me with the rest of the girls.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight chimed in.

“I’m fine Twilight,” I quickly replied.

“Are you sure you can’t forgive her Fluttershy?” Rarity asked.

“Did she tell you what she said?” I asked them all. They all nodded in response. “Then you should know why I can’t forgive her. It may sound bad just hearing about it, but if you were there for it, you’d think a whole lot differently.”

“Something’s up here! Where’s the Fluttershy that we know and love?!” Pinkie Pie called out.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity spoke up.

“No, she’s right Rarity. I’m not the same Fluttershy anymore. When I was with Matthew, he helped me overcome most of my shyness. He taught me to be more open with others, even though he was the only real person I ever spoke to. But, nonetheless, he helped me to change. I thought it would be for the better, but here, it seems like I’ve only been changed for worse,” I stated. I didn’t want to be so mean about it all, but it was the truth.

“We understand, don’t we girls?” Twilight said. They all nodded in unison.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“No need to apologize dear. You’ve been through a lot. We’re just glad that you’re home,” Rarity responded.

“It seems you’re the only ones who feel that way,” I said, walking passed them and heading into my room. I locked the door behind me and left them to be alone. I lied down in bed and stared at the ceiling. A few moments later, a knock came from the door.

“Fluttershy, do you want us to stay overnight again?” Twilight asked.

“No, you can all go home. I’ll be fine,” I answered.

“Alright. Sleep well Fluttershy. We’ll see you tomorrow,” Twilight finished. I heard her walk back to the others. When the door to the cottage closed, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

At first, I thought I was dreaming. Then, I realized that I was once again in the nighttime sky that came when Princess Luna had arrived in my dreams. It took a moment for me to realize it, but when I did, I felt a strong sense of security. The absence of Princess Luna was confusing, but it didn’t last. After about one minute, she appeared.

“Hello Fluttershy,” she greeted.

“Hello Princess Luna,” I replied.

“How was your first day back in Equestria?” she asked.

“I… I don’t really know,” I answered. “It was both terrible and joyful.”

“I see. As promised, I bring a message from Matthew. He wished for me to tell you that, all things considered, he is holding in. He also wished for me to tell you that he loves you.”

“Thank you, but I already knew the second part. He told me earlier today,” I said.

“He did? Explain.” I went on to tell Luna of how my argument with Rainbow Dash led me to run to the Everfree Forest, where I was greeted by Zecora. I told Luna of how Zecora made a concoction that allowed me to see into Matthew’s world, and that I was able to hear him speak to me. I noticed a small tear run down Princess Luna’s face as I finished with the events that happened when I returned home.

“It seems to me that your day was far more terrible than joyful,” Luna said.

“I think you may be right,” I responded. “I know Dashie didn’t mean any of it, but it was just so hurtful.”

“I understand. We tend to say things when we are angered, and most of those things are not good.”

“I just wish she hadn’t said any of it. I can’t forgive her for it, and therefore, I feel like I’ve lost a friend,” I said.

“You will never lose Rainbow Dash as a friend, remember that. She will always be your friend no matter what. You both just had a hard day,” Luna said, trying to comfort me.

“I know. Thank you for everything you’ve been doing,” I started. “Did you talk to Princess Celestia about allowing me to be with Matthew again?” I quickly asked afterwards. Luna sighed, but kept her head held high.

“I have, but she was quite clear with her reasoning to keep you two apart. It was the same as before, only now, she made her point even more apparent. When she discovered that I have been speaking to the two of you, she was greatly displeased,” Luna explained.

“Oh, I see…”

“Do not despair,” Luna continued. “I intend to keep negotiating with my sister about having you two reunited. It may take some time though. And, seeing as though she knows of my current activities, I may not be able to visit you as often. That being the case, I must go now. I intend to visit Matthew’s dreams before the night is out.”

“Please tell him that I love him too,” I said. I completely remembered what Matthew had said before, and I owed him a reply. The Princess smiled at me and nodded before turning around and walking away. As she disappeared, I closed my eyes yet again and returned to my dreams.

Author's Notes:

Did I leave something out? I feel like I might have. If anyone thinks of something to add, let me know. If I deem it important enough to add in, I'll be sure to do so.

But yeah, Fluttershy got a visit from Luna again. Stuff happened before that. Yeah...

Chapter 13

I was forced out of my comforting sleep by the sound of music. My iPod was playing my music to wake me up, and then I realized what day it was.

“Fuck Mondays,” I said to myself. I sat up in bed and wiped out my eyes. I looked at the clock. The time was 9:45, which meant I had to be at the theatre for rehearsal in about an hour and a half. I let out an aggravated sigh and got up out of bed. I went into the bathroom, did my normal shtick, and got dressed. I went into the kitchen and made myself some breakfast. I turned to the news, only to find the same stories were being rehashed from yesterday. When that was done, I finished up my morning routine, made myself some lunch for the day, packed everything else I needed, and headed out.

I headed for the subway, which took me straight to the theatre where I worked. Swiping my card to get in, I patiently waited for the train. As it arrived, I stepped on and found that I would have to be standing for the duration of the trip. It wasn’t packed, but every seat was taken. This was quite common, and I had gotten used to it, but sitting was always a blessing. Standing on the subway for ten long stops wasn’t fun.

As we arrived at the sixth station before my destination, a large portion of the crowd exited. I was about to take a seat, as all the others were already being filled up, but I was stopped when a mother and her daughter walked onto the train. The child couldn’t be any older than ten years old. But, my attention was demanded by her because of what she was holding. It was a small Fluttershy plushie.

“Oh, young man, you wouldn’t mind if my daughter and I took these seats would you?” the mother asked me. Her voice brought me out of my trance on the plushie. I looked at her for a moment, not saying anything. I quickly recollected myself though, and answered.

“Oh, uh, sure. No problem,” I said. She thanked me, and the two sat down. It was surprised, however, by the fact that she had asked me for the seat, instead of just taking it like most New Yorkers. Seriously, what’s up with that?

Well, only one stop had passed, and I was trying so hard not to fixate my vision on that plushie. But it was just calling out to me. I felt like I was hearing Fluttershy’s voice every second of the train ride. I was trying so hard not to look at the doll, and if I did, I did as subtly as possible. I almost wanted to reach out and grab the doll, but I knew if I did that, the mother would be attacking me for trying to rape her daughter.

One stop before my destination, the mother and daughter exited the train. As they got off, I focused my vision right on that Fluttershy plushie. I quietly said goodbye to it, making sure no one noticed. I sat in the seat before anyone else could take it and let my head hang from my neck.

‘Damn…’

As I entered the theatre, about half of the cast had already arrived before me. I looked at my phone to see I was about eight minutes late, which was common for me. There were some people in the cast that were always half an hour late. The director had worked it all out though, so there are no problems with anyone coming in late. The director’s name was Jake. He was nice enough of a guy, but could get really serious when we were rehearsing. Seriously, if you mess up a line, he could go on for minutes about what someone was doing wrong. That’s why everyone made sure that they had their shit together.

“Alright guys, let’s get started,” he said, followed by everyone getting on stage, myself included. Although, normally, I’m one of the first people up on that stage, roaring with energy and ready to perform, even if it was just rehearsing. But today, I was last up on that stage, and I had about as much energy as an old, decrepit man. No one seemed to take notice as we started doing some stretches.

As we began one of the scenes that needed serious work, I waited for my time to walk onto the stage. When that moment came, I walked out and started my line. But, as I was speaking, my words started to get jumbled. And suddenly, I blanked. Everyone was waiting for me to continue, but when nothing happened…

“Cut!” Jake shouted out. “Matt, come on man! You know this already. You shouldn’t be having any problems with it.”

“Sorry, I’ll fix it,” I responded.

“Make sure of it.” We started the scene over, and this time, I performed it without error. As my time on stage ended, I walked off and sat down offstage. One of the few girls in the cast (it was a more male heavy show) walked up to me.

“Hey, you alright Matt?” she asked me. Her name was Sophia. As girls went, she was… well, amazing. One of the prettiest girls I had ever met. She had wavy, dirty blonde hair, much like me. She was just about as tall as me, and she had a beautiful body. Her eyes were dark blue, and whenever she smiled, it was like someone had flashed a quick light at you. Basically, as women in New York City go, she was one of the beauties.

“Y-Yeah… I’m fine,” I answered.

“Really? You don’t look fine. Something wrong?” she asked.

“No, really, I’m fine,” I answered again, putting on a fake smile and nodding my head. She smiled back and nodded to me.

“Alright. If you need anything, just ask.” She walked back over to where she needed to be to enter onto the stage. She walked out, and I sighed. Truth be told, I was developing a thing for her. When we first met, she became my closest friend on the cast. Whenever we needed to work on something outside of rehearsals, she was my go-to-girl. I was still with Fluttershy, so obviously, nothing happened. But now… I felt like maybe I could start something with her.

But I couldn’t. I had a promise to keep to Fluttershy.

As the day progressed, I found myself continuing to fumble and screw up my parts. And every time, Jake would be furious with me. I knew everything to do. I knew what was going on. And yet, at the same time, I felt like I didn’t have a clue. And as my failures continued to pile up, I kept getting small little complaints from everyone else. And soon enough, rehearsal was over at 5:00 pm.

As everyone started packing up, Jake walked up to me.

“I have to say Matthew, I’ve never seen you perform as horribly as today.”

“I’m sorry Jake. I don’t know what happened.”

“I don’t mean to be hard on you Matt, but you can’t allow this to keep happening. If you do, I might have to kick you off the show. And we’re still early into rehearsals, so it won’t be a big loss. I’m sorry,” Jake said, trying to be as gentle as possible.

“I understand, and I’m sorry for my lackluster performance today,” I replied, feeling like complete trash. But sometimes, Jake just knew stuff. I tried to look away and back at my things, but he kept staring at me.

“Matthew, are you okay? You do seem a little off.”

“Like I told the others that asked, I’m fine,” I answered simply. I was getting annoyed by everyone asking me that. At least six other people had asked me, and while that may not seem like a big number, it was still just as annoying. Jake wasn’t about to give up though.

“No you’re not. You wouldn’t have performed like crap if you were alright. What’s up?” I let out a heavy sigh and looked at him.

“It’s personal,” I plainly answered.

“Oh… death in the family?”

“No, no, nothing like that… well, actually, you could almost call it that. My girlfriend… she had to leave me. I considered her to be family in a way, so yeah, you could almost call it a death in the family,” I said.

“I’m sorry Matt. And while my hopes are with you, I can’t allow anymore slip-ups. I need the best from you. You’ve got a heavy part in this play, and I need you. You think you’ll be alright the rest of the week?” he asked. I nodded my head. “Alright. Go home and get some rest.” On that note, I exited the theatre.

This was going to be a very, very long week.

Author's Notes:

Finally! Sorry this took so long. I've been getting lazy.

Anyway, for a few chapters now, nothing is going to happen where tons of cross-world stuff happens. Now, it'll be more of the specifics with what's going on for Matthew and Fluttershy. And as we can see, Matt ain't doin too good. How's Fluttershy you ask? I dunno.

Chapter 14

As I opened my eyes, I was looking up at my bedroom ceiling. I still felt very tired, perhaps because of my visit from Princess Luna. I didn’t want to move from where I was resting, but I couldn’t just stay there all day moping by myself. If I was going to have to get used to Matthew being gone, I would have to start getting used to my old life again. So, I got up, brushed out my messy mane, and headed for the kitchen.

“Angel?” I called out, wondering where my bunny friend was. Usually when I called him, he would always come straight to me. But now, nothing. I figured he must have been outside and didn’t hear me. My cottage just felt so empty. I was almost regretting telling the girls to go home. Yet at the same time, I felt like I really wanted to distance myself from them. I needed them, but I didn’t want them. It felt strange.

I made myself a quick breakfast and then stepped outside after cleaning up my dishes. I took a deep breath of fresh air and smiled to myself. It was a beautiful day, and the bright scenery was doing a great job of lifting my spirits. I then started looking around for Angel, but he still wasn’t around.

“Angel? Where are you?” Still nothing. I was getting a little worried about him. But he was always out and about, getting into all sorts of mischief. I assumed he would be home later. So, I decided to go for a little walk. But as I entered Ponyville, I was regretting that.

As I entered the normally active town, nopony was around. It felt like a ghost town. There was nopony in sight. I started to get scared and anxious at the same time. I decided to go to the library.

“Twilight should probably be up by now. I’ll see what she’s up to,” I told myself. But when I arrived, nopony was there. Twilight and Spike weren’t there. Even Owlicious was gone. It was so strange. I checked every corner of the library. Empty.

“Where is everypony?” I asked myself. I exited the library and headed for Rarity’s. The result was the same as the library. Empty. Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and even Opal were gone. Now I was just scared. I ran out of the Carousel Boutique and looked around frantically.

“Twilight! Rarity! Anypony!” I screamed out. The only response I was given was silence. I ran through the ghost town that Ponyville had become, hoping somepony would show up. But as my fear started to increase, I jumped up and flew into the skies.

“Rainbow Dash!” I called out, hoping she would be flying around. Still, nothing. “Where is everypony?!” I flew straight home, afraid beyond my imagination. But, as I came to the walkway to my cottage, my home seemed so far away. I ran to it, but I never seemed to get any closer. I started to whimper, on the brink of tears.

As the illusion ended, I leapt for the door to my cottage and opened it. I ran inside, slammed the door shut behind me, and started to breathe heavily. I looked out one of my windows to see if anypony was outside. Still nothing. Now I was shivering uncontrollably out of pure fear. Why was I all alone? Where was everypony? With everything that was happening, I felt fear that I had never felt before. And it was made even worse by what I saw when I turned around.

“Oh, there you are Fluttershy. I was wondering where you were,” Matthew said to me, in a totally calm and collective tone. He was sitting on my lounge chair, with a drink in his hand. He put the drink down and smiled at me.

“M-Matthew?!” I said, both in fear and shock.

“Where’ve you been? We were waiting for you.” He was acting like everything was normal. But, how had he gotten here?

“B-But… how?”

“That’s not important. I’m here now,” he responded. I ran up to him, wrapping him tightly in a warm hug. He returned the hug, gently caressing me in his arms. I felt safe with him, and I didn’t want him to leave me.

“Oh Matthew…

“Shh… shh… don’t say anything. I’m here. All we have to do is take care of a few problems.” I looked up to him in confusion. An evil smile spread across his face. He wrapped me in a tight hug, not letting me go. I could barely breathe it was so tight. He pulled me down to the ground, and then everything went black around me.

Now, I was falling. Everything around me was dark and black. I made contact with the ground, or whatever I could consider to be the ground, with a hard and painful thud.

“M-Matthew!” I cried out in pain. I had landed on my right wing the wrong way, and it felt like I had broken it. I looked up to see Matthew standing with that wicked smile on his face. Next to him were my friends, all chained up against an invisible wall. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were struggling, while Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight were all quivering with fear.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, everything’s going to be fine,” he said, pulling a gun out from behind his back. I heard the click of the gun as he turned off the safety. "Let’s see. Six rounds, five ponies. Perfect. Now, who’s first?” he said, walking down the line that my friends were in.

“Matthew!” I cried out to him, watching as my friends shook with fear, but said nothing. Even while Rainbow and Applejack were struggling, I could see the fear in their eyes. But, none of them cried out or said anything.

“Hmm, maybe Rarity. I never did like her that much, and she was pretty rude to me when she and the others came to Earth. Nah. Probably not Pinkie or AJ. They never did anything wrong. How about Twilight? It’s her fault that you were sent to Earth in the first place. If that never happened, we wouldn’t be here now. But then there’s Rainbow Dash.” Matthew walked right up to her. “You’ve been a bad pony from what I hear.” He put the gun up to her head.

“MATTHEW!” I cried out. He turned to me with that evil smile on his face, laughing madly.

“Don’t worry! This’ll fix everything!” He pulled the trigger.

Rainbow’s body fell limp, a bloody hole in her skull. Without even saying anything, Matthew backed up and pointed the gun at Rarity. He pulled the trigger, leaving a hole in her skull as well. And then Applejack. And then Pinkie Pie. And finally, Twilight. They were all dead.

“W-Why?!” I whimpered, now crying. Matthew’s only response was more laughter.

“One bullet left!” He pointed the gun at me. “Sweet dreams Fluttershy! I hope you have a fucking great life without me! Shouldn’t be that hard! After all, I did give you up to your friends!” As he finished, I waited for whatever end there was to this nightmare to come. I heard the gun being shot, but it wasn’t at me. I looked up to see that Matthew had shot himself.

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!”

I shot up in bed, panting heavily, with sweat flowing down my face and body. I was shaking madly, unable to control myself. I hugged myself in fear, whimpering to myself. I started to cry, rocking myself back and forth in bed. Soon enough, I fell back into bed, but I didn’t stop crying. But even though the nightmare was over, I still felt as if it had all happened. It was just so real and terrifying. Whereas I normally would love waking up in Matthew’s arms, all I wanted now was to get him out of my mind. I just wanted all the pain to go away. I just wanted it all to end…

“No… You’re not going to end it… You told Matthew to keep going, and so will you. It was just a dream. A terrible, terrible dream. It wasn’t real. Matthew would never do any of that. He loves you, and you know it. You just need to get it all out of your head and go back to sleep…” As I told myself all this, I noticed that it was still the middle of the night. I closed my eyes slowly, still crying and whimpering. As I fell asleep again, all thoughts of that awful nightmare escaped my mind, and I couldn’t have been more thankful for that.

Author's Notes:

Jesus that was dark. Yet for some reason, I always seem to get a kick out of writing dark things like this. Is that a bad thing?

So yeah, I guess Fluttershy's not doin to good. Just so everyone knows, this all happened on the same night that Luna visited her dreams again. Too bad she didn't stick around a bit longer huh? Let's just hope that Fluttershy doesn't go suicidal...

Chapter 15

Low and behold, it was a very, very long week. Every day of rehearsal was the same. I would come in to work, I would fuck up my scenes, and I would be scolded and reprimanded for my failures. It was nothing as bad as the first day, but I was still performing like an amateur. Jake told me that this week, if I did as poorly as I did the previous week, I would be fired. So, I decided to get my shit together. As much as I loved Fluttershy, and couldn’t get her off my mind, I had to try. I needed my focus back. So, I tried my hardest to just keep my focus off of her, and put it into what was real and in front of me. For the most part, it worked.

As Monday morning arrived, I woke up with a new invigoration. I felt like all of the mistakes I had made in the past week would be forgotten by everyone, on account of how well I was going to perform this week. I had let them all down once… okay, maybe not once… more like twenty or so times… but I wasn’t going to let them down again! I went through my daily routine of the morning and set off to the theatre, with my spirits lifted and my head held high!

As I arrived at the theatre after the not-so-bad subway ride, everyone looked at me with concern. They were all probably worried for how I was going to perform this week, but I was going to knock their socks off! Jake seemed to notice my heightened spirits as he approached me.

“You’re looking well today Matthew. You’re not going to disappoint me again right?” he asked.

“Jake, if I fuck up today, I give you permission to fire me… okay, maybe not if it’s a small thing. But clearly, me saying that should demonstrate how confident I am!” I said with, well, confidence.

“Well alright then. Show me that you’ve got your spunk back and get up on that stage!” Jake ordered. I smiled at him, got out what necessary items I would need, and headed backstage. Technically this was onstage… kind of. The scene we were starting with didn’t require me.

As the day went on, I didn’t make a single mistake. If anything, all the mistakes came from everyone else. And those weren’t even mistakes. If Jake stopped us, it was to tell us what we could do better with the performance, which was quite common of him to do. And by the time the work day was up, we had been able to run through the entire show. Of course, we stopped here and there, but we still got through the entire show. Jake rewarded us by letting us leave early in fact, which was a relief, especially on a Monday.

As everyone left the theatre, I said my goodbyes and headed for the subway. But as I was walking, I heard a voice calling out to me.

“Matthew! Wait up!” At first, I thought it was Fluttershy, but when I turned around, I found Sophia chasing after me. I smiled and waved to her. When she caught up to me, she seemed to be out of breath. I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit.

“You alright?” I asked her.

“Yeah… perfect…” she replied through her staggered breaths.

“Weird. For a girl so physically fit, you seem to lose your breath pretty easily,” I joked. She punched my arm playfully.

“Oh be quiet. I just stay slim is all, I don’t work out,” she said. “Anyway, I was just wondering…” she started, but she stopped out of hesitation.

“Hmm?”

“Are you doing anything tonight, or rather, right now?” she asked. I was surprised at first, but then it sunk in that she was basically asking me out. I smiled at her.

“Well, uh… nothing really. Why?”

“I was just wondering if maybe you’d like to go get some dinner or something.” Now, for the past six years, I had been dating Fluttershy. And before that, I wasn’t much of a womanizer. Well, I was kind of one. I was able to get girls, but I was usually the one to ask them out, not the other way around. And, I wasn’t sure if I liked Sophia. She was beautiful in every way, but I was saving my heart for Fluttershy. But then again, Fluttershy was gone.

“I… You know what, dinner would be great,” I answered. She smiled and nodded.

“Well, it’s only about five right now, so we’ve got a little while before it’s dinner time. Unless of course you don’t really care about that,” she said.

“Hey, it’s up to you. If you wanna go eat now, we can do that. Or, we can walk around for a while and then eat,” I responded.

“Then… how about we walk around for a bit?”

“That’s fine by me.” We smiled to each other and started walking. We weren’t going anywhere in particular. We were just walking and talking. Although we had been working together for a while now, we didn’t really know each other that well. Now, we had time to just chat. I had fun explaining to her why I always would have my hood on, even when it wasn’t that chilly out.

“Well, it’s mostly because of my love for Assassin’s Creed,” I explained.

“Ugh, you like that game too? My brother is obsessed with it. All the time, he jokes that he assassinated me by stabbing me with those wrist blades. It’s so annoying!” she said. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I didn’t know you had a brother. How old is he?” I asked.

“Eighteen. He’s going to be starting college pretty soon actually. He loves video games so much that he wants to go into graphic design as his major.”

“I was much the same way before I started acting. Your brother has made a wise choice in favoring the Creed though. Very good game series. You should try it sometime,” I joked.

“Yeah, right after I decide to start smoking pot,” she joked right back.

“Hey, don’t knock it till you try it.”

“You smoke?!”

“Absolutely not! That shit would crush my performance quality!” She pushed me playfully and we both continued to laugh.

“Thank God. Don’t scare me like that!” she said. We stopped laughing as we arrived at our destination. We were going to play it simple and eat at Five Guys. Hey, you can’t go wrong with Five Guys. Best burgers ever!

After we ordered our food and sat down, a quick question came to my mind for Sophia.

“Hey, how old are you?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Don’t you know that’s one of the questions you don’t ask a girl,” she replied playfully.

“Yes, I’m aware, but I’m curious. I don’t think you ever told anyone in the cast.”

“I’m 23, same age as you tough guy.”

“How’d you know my age?” I asked.

“I overheard you telling the others in the cast,” she answered. I rolled my eyes and smiled at her. When my number was called, I picked up our food and sat back down next to her. We ate silently for a few minutes, until she broke the silence with a very powerful question. At least, it was powerful to me.

“Are you dating anyone right now Matthew?” Sophia asked me. I looked up from my food in surprise for a moment. I didn’t know what to tell her. I obviously couldn’t tell her that I had been dating a yellow coated Pegasus with a pink mane from a cartoon show for six years, but I felt she should know I had been dating someone.

“Well, I had been dating a girl for a while, but we… just broke up. Or, rather, she had to leave New York, so we figured we would just stop dating.” Lying to Sophia like that hurt me. And it wasn’t even because I was telling her. It was because it wasn’t the truth. Yeah, Fluttershy had to leave me, but we didn’t necessarily break up. As far as Fluttershy knew, we were still together. But as for me… I couldn’t stand being alone anymore.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Sophia said.

“Oh no, don’t worry, its fine. I have to get over it eventually don’t I?” I said. I felt a stab in my gut just from saying that. How could I get over letting Fluttershy go? I felt like I would never get over it. Yet at the same time, I knew I would have to get over it sooner or later.

“Oh, okay. Well… if you’d like… would you like to date me?” Sophia asked. I looked at her with a surprised yet calm look. I took a moment to think over my options, which were quite simple. Either say no and keep being a lonely sap, or date her and try to find happiness again. I chose the latter.

“I would like that very much,” I answered. She smiled the biggest smile I had seen in a long time and hugged me. I didn’t know what to do at first, but soon enough, I hugged her back.

When we finished eating, we left the eating establishment and headed home. Sophia’s home specifically. Being a gentleman, I of course offered to walk her home. She accepted. She never took the train to work. She didn’t live far enough to need it, so walking was what she chose. I liked it actually. Being in the city, I would usually travel around by train. I hadn’t taken a good walk in a while. Well, actually, I did, but that walk was just a walk I took because I was sulking in my own sorrow.

I took down a mental note that I would soon need to take a walk just to think about life matters. And not heart-cripplingly depressing matters either. I mean like real, interesting life matters. And if not that, I needed to just take a walk to just get some fresh air. I figured any day that week would be good. If anything, it would be sometime that month.

As Sophia and I arrived at her apartment, we let each other’s hands go. In one moment during the walk, we were at a loss of things to talk about. So, I smoothly took her hand in my own. It was quite sweet actually. Sophia walked up the steps to the door and looked back to me.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said.

“Yep, bright and early. And maybe after work tomorrow we can do something like this again. This was a great night, believe me,” I told her. She smiled and nodded to me.

“I’d like that,” she replied. We took a moment to just smile at each other. “Well, goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” I replied. I started to walk away, only to be stopped one moment later by her.

“Matthew!” she called to me. I turned around and looked at her. “Would you like to stay with me tonight?” she asked. I didn’t hesitate to answer.

“I would like that very much,” I answered. I walked back to her and into her apartment with her, hand in hand. And while I could go into great detail about how her place looked and how we fell asleep in each other’s arms, I’m just going to tell you this. That was the best night’s sleep I had gotten since Fluttershy had gone.

Author's Notes:

I'm just going to say this: If you don't know what Five Guys is... kill yourself. You have not lived if you haven't eaten a Five Guys burger.

Chapter 16

As I sat in my home with my animal friends all around me, I felt warm and comfortable. I hadn’t been feeling very well lately, and the nightmares I was having kept getting worse. That first night was awful, no doubt about it. But, every nightmare I had after made that first nightmare look like a normal dream. Some mornings, I would wake up on the floor, twitching out of control and in a puddle of tears.

But I managed to carry on. I told the girls about everything. One night, they decided to stay over with me. I didn’t have any nightmares that night, and it was wonderful. It was the best sleep I had gotten in a while. I kept begging them to stay for the nights after, but they couldn’t. A few nights were fine, but soon enough, the nightmares came back.

On this particular night, Rainbow Dash was going to come over for a sleepover. I had gotten over what she had said to me about Matthew by now, but I still hadn’t fully forgiven her. But, I was once again able to call her my best friend. Honestly, she was always my best friend. That day she spoke ill of Matthew, I was just frustrated with her. Getting over it wasn’t easy, but I did it. And now, Rainbow and I could be together as friends again.

As the afternoon approached, I finished feeding my animal friends their dinner. Angel was quite picky as usual, but I managed to sate his appetite. I was going to feed him his favorite dish, but he decided to make a different selection. He was always so particular with his food choices. But that’s my Angle Bunny.

As I finished with my little friends, a knock came from the door. I left my animals to their own business and answered the door. Rainbow Dash had arrived a little early, but that was fine.

“Hey Fluttershy,” she greeted.

“Hello Rainbow Dash,” I replied, letting her enter. She had her two saddlebags on, carrying her things for the night. She put her things on the couch and sat down.

“So, what’s up ‘Shy?” she asked.

“Not much,” I answered, sitting next to her. “Since yesterday, I’ve just been relaxing.”

“Oh yeah. That party Pinkie threw was crazy! I can’t believe Spike ate all of those cupcakes.”

“How is he doing anyway?” I asked.

“Twilight says his stomach is, according to Spike, ready to explode,” Rainbow answered. We shared a laugh. Spike had eaten at least 75 cupcakes at the party, and right after he ate his last one, he ran outside and threw up. It was kind of gross, but kind of funny too. I didn’t have time to go visit Spike, but I certainly would have if I could.

“Did you see that one stallion trying to go after AJ?” Rainbow asked.

“No,” I answered, now curious. “What happened?”

“AJ blew the guy off, but he wouldn’t give up. So, once his persistence went too far, she bucked him in his… well, you know,” Rainbow said, stifling her own laughter. I couldn’t help but giggle as well.

“Gosh, how is he?”

“Well, I saw him today. He didn’t look too good. He was walking kind of funny, like this.” Rainbow then got up and demonstrated the walk, which was almost like a sort of waddling. Now I was laughing outright, and so was Dashie.

“That poor stallion. Did Applejack apologize?” I asked.

“I think so, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to check up with her tomorrow.” The room fell silent for a moment. It looked like she wanted to say something else.

“What?” I asked, wondering what she had to say.

“It got me thinking. Why don’t we find you a stallion?” she asked. I looked at her, a little shocked and a little curious. Rainbow knew that I only had room in my heart for Matthew. I didn’t care if I would never see him again. He was the only one I would ever love.

“Rainbow, you know how I feel about…” I started, but she cut me off.

“Yeah, I know, but just think about it. I mean this in a nice way, but don’t you think you should try to move on. I mean, you keep having these nightmares, right? Maybe it’s because you’re so attached to Matthew. Maybe you need to let him go.” I turned my head away from her as she said that, not wanting to listen.

“Dashie, I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t want to start a relationship with another stallion. The only love I have is Matthew. We might as well drop this discussion, because I don’t want it to end badly.” Rainbow didn’t try to say anything else and dropped it. We spoke a little longer about other things until we decided we would have dinner.

After dinner, Rainbow and I decided we would play a few games. It wouldn’t have been as fun if Angel didn’t keep messing everything up. While he was surely ruining our games, we couldn’t help but laugh at his antics. It certainly helped get my mind off of Matthew and the little argument Dashie and I had a while ago. After we finished the games, we had a little dessert. After that, it was time for bed.

Rainbow was a little unhappy about going to sleep so early, but she didn’t want to disappoint me. She was willing to do anything for a friend. We showered individually and then went to bed. She had brought a sleeping bag, but I had gotten out an extra mattress for her to sleep on. Yes, it was on the floor, but at least it was more comfortable for her. We said goodnight and went to sleep.

At least, Rainbow went to sleep. I was fidgeting in bed, with thoughts of Matthew swimming in my mind. It was strange. The whole night, other than when Rainbow had brought up finding a stallion, Matthew hadn't come up in any other of our conversations. But now, I couldn’t get him off my mind.

I kept hearing his voice. He kept telling me things. He didn’t love me. He had moved on and had forgotten about me. He wanted me out of his life. I hated hearing him say all of it, even though I knew it wasn’t real. I was screaming inside my head.

Rainbow Dash must have noticed, because she started shaking me to get me to wake up.

“Fluttershy, wake up!” she shouted. My eyes shot open and I shot up in bed, panting and sweating. I held my chest and tried to control my breathing. “Damn. You alright Fluttershy?” she asked.

“N-No…” I answered, still shaking in bed. “Oh Dashie, his insults… they were horrible.” Rainbow looked at me with concern.

“Do you want me to sleep with you?” she asked. I nodded and moved over. She got under the blankets, and I cuddled up with her. She held me close as I cried softly.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’m here Fluttershy.”

“Thank you Dashie.” We fell asleep together, with Rainbow holding me in her arms. It was so comforting to have her there. And as I fell asleep, any thoughts of Matthew disappeared. And it was all because of my best friend.

Author's Notes:

Okay, I'm just going to say this. I enjoy writing Matthew's chapters more than Fluttershy's. I feel like it's easier and more enjoyable for me to do. So, if the quality of the Fluttershy chapters is lacking, I am sincerely sorry. :(

Chapter 17

I spoke the last few lines of the play, and the curtain dropped on the stage. The audience erupted in applause at the tenth of twenty performances of our show. Every show just kept getting better, and this show, of course, was the best so far. What made this show even better was that I knew, right after the cast finished bowing and undressing, that Sophia and I were heading out for our one month anniversary.

Ever since I had started dating Sophia, my life had gone from being kinda suckish, to being amazing once again. After I lost Fluttershy, I didn’t think I would be able to love again. But Sophia showed me that everything wasn’t as hopeless as I had cracked it up to be. She actually loved me, and I loved her. Everything was, I dared to say, perfect.

Before Sophia and I could even leave the theatre, the cast was swarmed by fans of the show. We signed playbills and posters for the show, which was pretty fun actually. I never imagined people would actually want my autograph. How cool is that?! I guess it comes from being an actor. I picked a good field to work in.

After we finally signed as many people’s things as we could, Sophia and I went to the bathrooms to clean off our makeup and what not, and headed out to dinner. She wrapped her arms around my right arm and walked at my side as we headed to the restaurant we had reservations for.

That was something that felt different to me about this relationship. Being able to go out in public with my girlfriend. That was something I wasn’t able to do with Fluttershy, sadly. I hated thinking that. That my relationship with Fluttershy wasn’t like a relationship I could have with another human. I loved Fluttershy like no one else, but there were just things that we couldn’t do. Being with Sophia made me realize that being with a partner who is human is quite beneficial.

As Sophia and I arrived at the restaurant, which was one of the finer dining choices in the area, I gave the waiter my name and reservation time. We were seated and looked at our menus.

“So, what’s my big star getting tonight?” Sophia asked jokingly. She always joked that I was the big star of the show, even though my role wasn’t necessarily a major role in the show. Still, it was nice to be appreciated.

“I don’t know. Something’s telling me to go with the pasta with meatballs, but that seems too simple,” I answered.

“Well make sure it’s good. Whatever you get, I’m getting.”

“Why you gotta copy me like that?” I asked, chuckling.

“Why not?” she responded, smiling at me. I smiled back at her and took a sip of my water. Thankfully, the waiter came over and took our drink orders. I got a good old Rum and Cola, while Sophia got a bottle of Red Wine.

“A simple lady of simple tastes,” I said.

“Hey, I’m not simple. I just appreciate the simple things in life,” she replied, smiling and giggling.

“I didn’t know wine was a simple thing… actually, I take that comment back. It kind of is.” Our conversations continued as we were served our dinner orders. As simple as it was, we had the pasta and meatballs. Hey, nothing wrong with some simple Italian food. It was good pasta too.

As we finished dinner, I of course paid for the check like a gentleman, and we left for my apartment. Sophia had sort of moved in at this point. I say sort of because she wasn’t officially living with me. She just spent most of her time at my place and slept over a lot. And I know what you’re thinking. Sex? The answer: no. Actually, almost would be a better answer.

As Sophia and I arrived at my apartment, we plopped ourselves down on the couch. We laid our bodies across the couch, with her lying on top of me as I turned on the TV. Nothing good was on, so I just turned to a random channel with something good on. We watched it for a bit, but we finally wound up making out. And we were kissing like animals.

Sophia had her hands all over me, and I loved it. We rocked our bodies back and forth as we got more into the kiss. I couldn’t help but slide my tongue into her mouth, soliciting soft moans from her. As her hands moved over my body, she slid her hands under my shirt and up my chest. Before I knew it, my shirt was off. I wasn’t anything special. I sported a decent six pack, and my arms were alright. Like I said, nothing special. But for Sophia, that was more than enough.

As we continued to kiss, her hands felt all over my chest and torso. It felt so good, and so new. When I was with Fluttershy, we never really got this intimate. I was always gentle with her, on account of not wanting to hurt her. Plus, she never wanted to do things like this. I was fine with that, but doing all of this with Sophia was just so enjoyable that I couldn’t help but get more into the moment. And boy did I get into the moment.

I found myself taking her shirt off as well, leaving her only with her bra. And while I don’t like to talk about my girlfriends in too much of a revealing way, I guess I should tell you how amazing she looked. Her figure was slim and sexy, much to my liking. Her chest complimented her body so nicely, and I couldn’t help but slide my hands over them.

“Mmm… getting a little antsy aren’t we?” Sophia said, giggling.

“Heh, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” She pulled me in closer, rubbing her chest against mine. Feeling her breasts against my body like that… ohohohohoho! So good! Sorry, getting a little too explicit.

As we continued our little make out session, along with our chests rubbing together, and our tongues wrestling in each other’s mouths, I felt my hands sliding over her back and down south. Before I knew it, I had my hands on her ass. And holy shit did this girl have a nice (please excuse my use of shitty modern language) “cake” (I can’t believe I actually wrote that). She did a good job of concealing it on a daily basis too. And holy shit I am getting really explicit about this!

As we got further into the moment, I felt Sophia move her hands down towards my pants. I felt her undo my belt, unbuttoning the waist, and sliding the zipper open. I quickly broke the kiss and stopped her hands from doing anymore.

“Whoa! Wait, hold on! Sophia… are we going too fast?” I asked.

“Well… I guess not. I’m sorry, I guess I got too into the moment is all,” she apologized.

“It’s fine. I guess I got just as into it as you.” I looked down at her exposed self. She was so vulnerable. So innocent. So beautiful. She looked into my hazel eyes with her dark blue ones, and I found myself getting lost again. My eyes then fell over her beautiful pink hair… wait, what?!

I shook my head in surprise, but her hair was pink. When I looked back into her eyes, they were now light blue. I tried to act as natural as I could while looking over her, but there was no denying how odd I was acting as I was checking her.

“Matthew, are you alright?” she asked. But, it wasn’t her voice. It was…

‘Fluttershy?’ I thought to myself. I accidentally mouthed her name as well, which caught Sophia’s attention.

“What?” she asked, now a little concerned.

“Uh, nothing! Nothing! Sorry, just thinking about someone else… I mean…! Ugh, shit!” I realized that me saying that made it sound like I was being unfaithful.

“Someone else? Who? Matthew… you’re not cheating on me are you?” Sophia asked.

“No! Absolutely not! I’m sorry. Thoughts of my old girlfriend are coming back to me. I thought I heard her voice when you spoke just a second ago…” I must have sounded like such a creep right then and there. Sophia looked at me with heavy concern in her eyes. I looked away, trying to hide my own concerned look.

“Matthew… do you not want to be with me?” she asked.

“What?! No! I mean… yes! I mean… I want to be with you Sophia, honestly I do. I honestly don’t know why these thoughts are coming back to me all of a sudden. I want to be with you, honestly. I love you,” I said, kissing her. She looked a little disappointed with how things were turning out. What started as such an amazing night had taken a rather strange turn. But when she stood up and put on her clothes, I knew something was wrong.

“Sophia?”

“I’m sorry Matthew, I didn’t mean to do this to you.”

“What are you talking about? You didn’t do anything wrong. Come here,” I said, standing up and holding her in my arms. She embraced for a moment, then pushed me away.

“I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to work out anymore. If you can’t focus on me, then I don’t think we should be dating.”

“Sophia, I am focusing on you! I love you! Don’t do this to me! Not now!” My voice was cracking a bit, and I felt tears forming in my eyes. “I’ve finally found happiness again! Please, don’t make me go back to how it was when she left!”

“Who?! To this day, you still never told me who your last girlfriend was! You’ve only told me stories about her, and you never mentioned her name! What is so wrong with telling me about her?!” I could tell that Sophia was almost becoming impatient and angry with me. It was true what she said. I only told her stories about my time with Fluttershy, but never her name.

“I… I just can’t…” I fell to the floor and started crying. I could hear Sophia whimpering as well.

“Goodbye Matthew,” she said, walking for the door.

“Wait! Please don’t go!” But it was too late. She was already out the door. I was left alone, and all I could do was lie on the floor and cry.

Author's Notes:

I apologize with taking so long to get this chapter out. I've just been rather lazy recently. Along with that, I've been getting back into Skyrim. And we all should know the consequences of playing Skyrim. Oh well!

Also, keep in mind that in the last chapter, it was one month later. That goes for this chapter as well. If I write a time jump in a chapter for Fluttershy, that same amount of time has passed for Matthew as well. And vice versa. I forgot to write that down in the last chapter, so now you all know.

Chapter 18

Recently, I hadn’t suffered from any nightmares. That one night with Rainbow Dash seemed to cure me to a certain degree. I never would have thought that one night with my best friend would help me so much. I could only hope that all of those terrible nightmares wouldn’t come back. And for the most part, they didn’t. The past two weeks, I only had one bad dream. It wasn’t even a nightmare, just one of those bad dreams everypony gets once in a while.

I went about my days as best as I could. Memories of Matthew still sat in the back of my mind, and they always found ways to creep on me during the days. But, I always managed to get them off my mind. Anything I did would help. Whether it was being with my friends, finishing errands that I had, or doing whatever sprouted up in a moment’s notice, I was able to focus on what was real again. I didn’t necessarily have to worry about Matthew anymore. Being away from him for two months was hard, but I was finally getting over it.

Yet, at the same time, I didn’t want to. I wanted to remember him. I wanted him with me. I still loved him with all my heart. And I knew he felt the same way. All I wanted was to hear that he still felt that way. Within those two months, I hadn’t received another visit from Princess Luna. The only conclusion I came to was that Princess Celestia had forbidden her sister from contacting myself and Matthew the way she had. But I didn’t lose hope that Princess Luna would change Celestia’s mind.

With what control I now had on my life, I continued going through my day to day life in Equestria. On this particular day, Rarity needed my help at the Boutique. I had with me some materials and supplies for what Rarity was making. But, on my way over, I had started to zone out. I was looking up into the sky, hoping to see Matthew’s face again. I wanted him to look down to me and smile at me. But nothing happened.

In my state of mind, I didn’t notice the stallion coming my way. I bumped right into him and we both wound up falling to the floor, causing me to drop what I was carrying.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” the stallion apologized, standing up and extending his hoof to me. I took his hoof and he helped me up.

“Oh, it’s alright. It’s my fault really. I wasn’t paying attention,” I apologized. I hid behind my mane, but trying not to speak so quietly. From behind my mane though, I took a good look at the young stallion before me. He looked to be about the same age as me, maybe a little older. He had a dark green coat, with brown eyes and a dark blue mane and tail, with orange highlights in both. He smiled at me as I apologized.

“Well, regardless of whose fault it was, I apologize. Here, let me help you with that.” He started to help me pick up my bags. But, as we did so, I couldn’t help but stare into his eyes. There was just something about them that made them so captivating. I couldn’t look away. He must have noticed and looked over to me. He chuckled as I looked away.

“See something you like?” he asked, smiling at me. I let a small smile spread across my face as I looked back at him.

“Um… I’m sorry. I know it’s rude to stare,” I said, taking my things and looking directly into his eyes again. He looked right back into mine. The smile on his face hinted to me that he didn’t care that I was staring.

“Hey, no harm done. Again, sorry for bumping into you like that. I guess I’ll see you around. Hopefully, next time, we won’t be knocking each other over,” he said, chuckling. I couldn’t help but giggle as well. “Well, later.” He nodded his head to me and continued walking down the road. As my blush started to disappear, I took off for Rarity’s.

As I entered the Carousel Boutique, I was panting slightly from running the short distance. Rarity looked at me in surprise and confusion.

“Why Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” she asked. I calmed myself down, put my things down on a table, and sat on one of the couches.

“I just bumped into a… pretty cute stallion,” I said shyly. Rarity’s face lit up in an instant.

“Tell me everything darling! What was he like? How did he look? How cute was he? What did he say to you? What is his name? Tell me, tell me, tell me!” Rarity was so anxious to hear about my little meeting with the stallion, I just couldn’t help but giggle at her.

“Well, I didn’t catch his name, but he had a green coat, brown eyes, a nicely styled blue mane and tail, both with orange highlights, and he looked to be about the same age as me. I zoned out thinking about Matthew again and bumped into him on accident. It was just a silly accident, but could have sworn I felt myself blushing at one moment.” Again, Rarity’s face lit up.

“Fluttershy, I believe we have found the solution to your problem!” she said with confidence.

“Problem?” I questioned.

“Why, your nightmares darling. Fluttershy, you’re having all of these terrible dreams because you miss Matthew. You miss him deeply, and I understand that, but perhaps what you need is a new special somepony in your life,” Rarity said, sitting down next to me.

“But Rarity, I promised Matthew that I would love him forever. I can’t break that promise.”

“Fluttershy, while I truly do hate to say this, Matthew isn’t here now. You have to move on. All of this lingering on your memories of him isn’t going to help you get any better. The least you could do is think about talking to this stallion again.” I didn’t want to argue with Rarity. She was one of my closest friends, and everything she said made sense.

“Well… alright. I’ll think about it, but I’m not promising you that I’ll talk to him again,” I said, after a moment of silence.

“Thank you Fluttershy. Now then, why don’t we get to work, shall we?” she said, smiling. I nodded and smiled as well. We got up and started working on Rarity’s new design. But all the while, I couldn’t help but think about that stallion, whatever his name was. Perhaps a new special somepony was just what I needed after all…

‘No! Matthew is my special somebody. That’s never going to change. I’m sorry Rarity, but there’s no room in my heart for anypony else but him,’ I thought to myself. I didn’t say anything to Rarity as I left for the night, only that I would think on what she had told me. But I didn’t need to think about it anymore than I already had.

Author's Notes:

Ten cookies to the person that can guess who the stallion is.

In other news, so many conflicting relationships and thoughts keep spawning in this story! Who's responsible for this madness...? Oh wait a minute...

Chapter 19

Two weeks. Two whole weeks had gone by since Sophia left me. I was alone again, truly. Even after the final night of the show. None of us in the cast really stayed in contact, which surprised me greatly. I barely tried to stay in contact anyway. I was just so out of it. I had especially stayed out of contact with Sophia. We spoke during the shows, but nowhere else.

I had finally found happiness again, and just like that I lost it again. I hadn't realized how long Fluttershy had been gone. It had been two whole months. Without Sophia, it hit me like a wave of ocean water. Two fucking months! Only now did it come full circle. I wanted Fluttershy to be with me again. I needed Fluttershy to be with me again.

Fluttershy was my everything, and I practically threw her away. I gave her up so easily to her friends and Princess Celestia. I should have fought for her. I should have protected her. I should have loved her. But no, I gave up. But I wasn't being selfish, I was thinking about her. She had to go back to Equestria. It's her home after all. But then again, maybe it wasn't right.

What was killing me even more was that Princess Luna hadn't visited my dreams in so long. I assumed that Celestia had caught on quickly and forbidden her sister from doing such things completely. I just kept waiting for Luna to visit me, yet all I got every night was a bad dream. I was starting to have nightmares, most of which were the same thing. In the dream, Fluttershy is being dragged away from me by Celestia, and Fluttershy's friends simply watch it all happen.

On this particular Tuesday, I woke up from such a dream. I was sweating and crying. I lazily wiped my eyes out and simply laid there. Every morning I woke up like this, I just felt like a part of me had been taken away from me. And every morning, my mind was clouded with thoughts. Suicidal thoughts.

And on one particular occasion, I almost succeeded. It was on the night of the last show. Everyone went out to celebrate, except me. I went home and cried. I found myself pulling out one of my magnum revolvers, loaded one bullet, and held the gun to my head. But I remembered my promise to Fluttershy, and the gun went back in a briefcase with its twin. I didn't touch the gun again until this particular Tuesday.

I sat up in bed and looked at the clock. It was almost noon. I had nothing to do, as usual, so I just sat in my bed and felt the cool air from outside flow in through the window. It helped to cool me off, but I needed a shower. I got up and walked to the bathroom. I took off my pajama pants and boxers and stepped in the shower, letting the cool water wash over me. But all I did was stand there. I rested my hands against the wall, hanging my head down to let the water flow over my back. Anything that went through my mind was something suicidal.

'There's nothing left for me.'

'I'm nothing without Fluttershy.'

'Is there really anything left for me?'

'Why am I still here?'

'Just end it all.'

And today, I truthfully felt like ending it all. Not even my promise to Fluttershy was enough to stop it. But I decided that I should at least die after one last breakfast. I finished my shower, got dressed, and had a simple bowl of cereal. After that, I got the same revolver out as last time. That same bullet was still loaded. And there was one more thing I needed to do.

I walked over to my new piano that I had purchased in the past month, put my magnum down on top, turned on a recording of the song "Hymn for the Missing" by Red, and played along with the recording. And as soon as the lyrics started, I felt tears running down my cheeks.

The thing was that every line of lyrics matched up with what was happening in my life.

"Tried to walk together, but the night was growing dark," I sang. Thoughts were swimming through my head about how I was so lonely without Fluttershy. "Thought you were beside me, but I reached and you were gone," I continued. I kept playing and singing, as tears continued to flow down my face. However, during the song, there are moments where a female voice sings out like an angel. During the first one though, it sounded much more realistic. But, I payed no mind, and continued on.

"Where are you now? Are you lost? Will I find you again?" I sang. More tears. "Are you alone? Are you afraid? Are you searching for me?". I wondered if she was doing or felt all of these things. I was just too saddened, but I kept singing. The second time the angelic singing came in after the second verse, it sounded louder than usual. I still paid no mind to it. I was just too heartbroken. But during the second chorus, the angelic singing accompanies the chorus, and it sounded so clear to me. I listened to it intently as I sang my own part.

And as the chorus came to an end, I simply played the piano and cried. I looked to my gun. Now was the time to do it. I stopped playing the piano, picked up the gun, and cocked it. But just as I did, that angelic voice started singing again. I couldn't help but cry like a child for a moment, looking at the gun all the while. But during that moment, there came a part in the song where the male part sings along with the female part. So, I did just that. I sang the male voice part. And as my part came to an end, I realized why the angelic singing sounded so much more realistic.

I looked over to my left, and there, right in front of me was Fluttershy. She was singing the whole time, and even as I stared at her with tear-filled eyes, she continued to sing. I put the gun down and went down on my knees in front of her. I didn't care if I was hallucinating or dreaming. All I needed to know was that Fluttershy was standing right in front of me, in my apartment, in my world.

As the song ended, I slowly moved my hand to stroke her mane. It felt so smooth, and looked just as beautiful. It was just like how I used to stroke her mane when we were together. And finally, I spoke.

"Is it really you?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yes. I'm here Matthew. I'm here, and I love you. I never stopped, not even for a moment," she said. I now realized that she had been crying too. I don't know how long she was watching me, but I didn't care. Fluttershy was with me again. I couldn't believe it. So much so that I felt myself fading away. I fell to the floor and started to close my eyes.

"Matthew!" Fluttershy called out.

"Don't worry Fluttershy. We'll be waiting for him," another voice said. I recognized this voice. It was a voice I hadn't heard in a long time. It was Princess Luna. Just before I passed out, I saw her standing next to Fluttershy. And not just her, but Princess Celestia as well. And as I faded out, a smiled crept its way upon my face. Fluttershy would be waiting for me until I woke up. We were finally going to be together again. Finally. It would be Fluttershy and me once again.

Author's Notes:

Go me! I wrote this on my tablet while stuck in the Dominican Republic! Ima boss!

We're nearing the end now my friends. If you know me, you can expect a happy ending. And with what I have in mind, it's gonna be a good one.

Also, to avoid copyright crap, "Hymn for the Missing" was made by and is owned by the band Red. I take no credit for it. Hopefully that should save my ass from some trouble.

Chapter 20

My life was finally getting better. I wasn't having nightmares anymore, my friends weren't worrying about me as much, and it seemed like I was getting my life back. Yet, all the while, I still missed Matthew so much. Every night, I would think about him. As much as I did this however, I never came to tears or had any nightmares.

I couldn't help but feel that maybe Rarity was right. Maybe I did need a new special somepony. Maybe that would make me feel a little less empty. Yet every time I thought about this, I kept thinking about Matthew. He was the only person I needed in my life, even if he couldn't be with me. So, I remained faithful to him. And, it almost seemed like I was benefiting from doing so.

Today was one of those days that I just felt, well, happy. It was a normal Tuesday, yet it seemed much more than just normal to me. I opened my eyes as I rested in bed. I could see the morning sun peering into my room through the blinds. Judging by the sun, I assumed it was almost noon. I let out a soft yawn and sat up in bed. I was quickly greeted by Angel. He seemed quite happy to see me.

"Good morning Angel," I greeted him. He hopped up to me and gave me a warm hug. "You seem rather excited today." I giggled as he pulled out my cookbook. He showed me a fun breakfast dish that he wanted. I couldn't say no to the sweet little bunny. "Okay Angel, just let me get ready to go out. I'll need to go buy some of the ingredients I don't have.". He jumped into my mane and made himself comfortable there, making me giggle again.

I got out of bed and walked to the shower. To Angel's protest, I took him out of my mane and took a quick shower. As soon as I finished drying off, he hopped right back in. All of his energy seemed to have an effect on me, as I only felt myself getting more excited for what the day had in store. I had a quick breakfast before getting my saddle bags ready.

But, as I was about to leave, I heard a knock at the door.

"I wonder who that could be," I said to Angel. I walked to the door and opened it. I was greeted by the sight of Princess Celestia and Luna. I jumped a little at first sight, but quickly pulled myself together. "Oh, Princess Celestia. Princess Luna. What brings you here?" I asked them. I knew why they were at my cottage though, but I said nothing.

"May we come in?" Celestia asked.

"Oh, um, of course," I replied, stepping aside to let them enter. They both sat down on the carpet as I closed the door. As I walked over to the couch, Angel hopped out of my mane and went outside. I was glad he did that. I didn't want him to see me when I broke out in tears. I sat down on the couch and prepared myself for the worst.

"So, um..." I started, but I couldn't think of anything to say.

"Do you know why we are here Fluttershy?" Luna asked. I could feel the tears coming on. I hid behind my mane as I started to whimper.

"You... you won't let me be with Matthew... will you?" I stuttered, trying to hold back my tears. But I couldn't do it, and I buried my face in the cushions of my couch as I cried like a filly. But when I felt a hoof on my back, I looked up. Luna was looking at me with sincere eyes. She looked back at her sister.

"Go on little sister. Tell her," Celestia said. Luna looked back to me with a smile on her face.

"My sister has decided to allow Matthew to come here to Equestria to be with you." Luna's words didn't register in my mind at first, but when they did, I was practically speechless.

"R-Really?" I asked, Still whimpering a bit. Luna nodded, and when I looked at Celestia, she nodded as well. A smile quickly grew upon my face. I wrapped Princess Luna in a warm hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" I was just so overjoyed, I could barely speak.

"You shouldn't be thanking me Fluttershy," Luna insisted. She directed me to her sister. I got up and gave Celestia a hug as well, which she gladly returned.

"It was wrong of me to separate you from Matthew. Twilight has told me so much about how you've been feeling, so I decided that I would put an end to it. If Matthew chooses, he will be allowed to come to Equestria to be with you." I stopped hugging Celestia, stepped back, and sniffled.

"Thank you Princess Celestia. Thank you so..."

"However," she cut me off. "There are a two conditions that he must follow." I listened as she explained everything to me. "Firstly, if Matthew wishes to live here, he must become one of us. I want no trouble to come from him being human, so he must become a pony in order to stay here. Secondly, should Matthew bring any harm to my little ponies, or do anything that could put them in danger, he will be sent back to his world. Am I understood?"

"Yes Princess Celestia. You'll have nothing to worry about, I promise," I said. I felt so jittery standing next to the two sisters. "So, when can he come here?" I asked. The Princesses looked at each other and smiled.

"As soon as you'd like," Luna answered. I couldn't contain my joy and leaped at the two, wrapping them both in a big hug. They both laughed.

"We understand your joy Fluttershy, but please, try to contain yourself," Celestia joked. I let go and laughed with them.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so excited! Can we please go now?!" I asked excitedly. They both nodded and began to charge their horns. 'Ill be there soon Matthew!' I thought to myself, as the magic of the Princesses enveloped us all.

When the magic faded away, we found ourselves outside Matthew's apartment. I stared at the door intently, wanting to just run inside and hug Matthew. But from inside, I heard a familiar song being played. It was "Hymn for the Missing" by one of the bands Matthew loved. I couldn't forget the song. Matthew and I listened to it so much.

The Princesses gestured me to go in, so quietly, I opened the door. As I entered, I saw Matthew playing the piano along with an instrumental recording of the song. As I silently closed the door, Matthew started to sing.

"Tried to walk together, but the night was growing dark," he sang. I felt as if I was going to cry. Hearing his voice again... his beautiful, beautiful voice. "Thought you were beside me, but I reached and you were gone."

'Is he singing about me?' I thought. As he continued playing and singing, I remembered the moments in the song where it seemed like an angel would be singing. So when the first moment like that came, I sang. But Matthew didn't hear me. He just continued playing.

"Where are you now? Are you lost? Will I find you again?" he sang. I couldn't hold back my tears any longer, so I silently cried as he sang. And now I noticed that he was crying as well. "Are you alone? Are you afraid? Are you searching for me?" he continued. As he finished the first chorus, I just felt like jumping out and stopping him. I wanted him to hold me again in his arms, and I wanted to wrap him in my wings. But I let him continue.

Eventually, there came another moment where the angelic singing happens. It is normally quiet, So I sang it a little louder. Still Matthew didn't hear me. He just looked so sad. I felt so bad for him. And then, my eyes fell upon the gun that was resting on the piano.

'Why does he have that out?' I wondered, as he sang the second chorus. Along with that, I sang the angelic part during the second chorus, but Matthew seemed to drown me out with his singing.

As the chorus ended, Matthew just kept playing along with the recording as he cried. Then, he stopped playing and picked up his gun. I heard a click from the gun as he cocked it.

'No...' I thought to myself. As the recording continued, I sang the beautiful angelic part that comes in at the end of the song. And then, Matthew started to sing his own part along with mine. And finally, he looked over to me. I continued to sing as he put the gun down on the piano. He stared at me with his tear-filled eyes, and I stared right back with mine. He went down on his knees in front of me as I sang.

As the song ended, he stroked my mane, just like he did so long ago. And finally, he spoke to me.

"Is it really you?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yes. I'm here Matthew. I'm here, and I love you. I never stopped, not even for a moment," I said. Matthew looked like he couldn't believe it was me. Then, he fell to the floor and started closing his eyes.

"Matthew!" I called out to him.

"Don't worry Fluttershy. We'll be waiting for him," Princess Luna spoke from behind me. She and her sister had finally entered, just as Matthew and I had finished singing. And then, he passed out, with a warm smile on his face.

All I needed to know was that I was finally with Matthew again. It would finally be just the two of us again.

Author's Notes:

Bam! Another chapter written on the tablet! Being stuck in the Dominican Republic ain't all it's cracked up to be, but it does give me a great excuse to write chapters. Only two more chapters and an epilogue to go!

And no, I'm not afraid to do human to pony stuff. I did pony to human twice already. So yeah... WOOSH!

Chapter 21

I awoke with a light head and blurred vision. All I remembered was Fluttershy being in my apartment, and right before I passed out, I saw Princess Celestia and her sister Luna. I slowly sat up in bed, wondering how I had gotten there. I looked around my room, but I was the only one there. I looked at the clock. It was only about five o'clock.

I wondered if everything that happened was only a dream. Waking up in my bed like this led me to believe so, but I didn't lose hope that it was real. One sign that it was probably real was that I still had my clothes on. Hey, it was a sign for me at least.

I got out of bed and cracked my neck. Whoever put me in my bed did a bad job, cause my neck was killing me. I looked at myself in the mirror. Nothing had changed. I even seemed to look a little better than before. After finishing my self-inspection, I looked to the door. I didn't know what, or who for that matter, would be waiting for me. All I knew was that I needed answers, and I wasn't going to find them in my room.

I walked over to the door and slowly opened it. As I exited my room and looked into the living room, the first thing I saw was Fluttershy. She was sitting on the couch, drinking a cup of tea. I then noticed the Princesses sitting on the floor. They just sat there. All three of their attentions were drawn to me as I stepped out of my bedroom and into full view. My eyes locked with Fluttershy's immediately.

"M-Matthew?" she said. As I cracked a smile, so did she.

"Yeah... uh... hey," I replied. I chuckled and she giggled. I would have lunged for her if not for Princess Celestia interrupting our moment.

"How do you feel Matthew?" the Princess asked. I looked to her with a smile still on my face.

"Better than you could imagine," I answered.

"We assume that you know why we are here Matthew," Luna said. I looked to her, still smiling.

"I think I do. And I think I have you to thank for that, Princess Luna."

"I merely persuaded my sister to allow all of this, nothing more. You should really be thanking her." Then a thought came across my mind. Was Fluttershy staying here with me, or was I...

"What exactly am I thanking you for?" I asked.

"I have decided to allow you to come live in Equestria," Celestia said. My joy only seemed to increase when I heard her say that. "However," Celestia added, "there are a few conditions to which you must agree to in order to come to Equestria." I nodded my head, my smile fading away.

"Firstly, you must become one of us," Celestia started. Right off the bat, my eyes shot open.

"I have to become a pony?" I asked. Celestia nodded.

"I fear that a great deal of trouble may come from your... differences. That is why I wish for you to become one of my little ponies." I pondered for a moment.

"Do I get to decide what kind of pony I get to be?" I asked, to which Celestia responded with a nod. I didn't need to think about which race I wanted to be. "Then I'd like to become a Pegasus."

"Very well. My second term is that if you should cause any harm to any of my little ponies, or do anything that puts them in danger, you will be sent back here to your home immediately. Am I understood?" Celestia explained. I nodded my head.

"You have my word. All I want is to be with Fluttershy," I said, looking over to the beautiful mare sitting on the couch. She smiled at me, and I smiled right back.

"Well then, let us go sister," Celestia spoke to Luna. Fluttershy and I looked at the Princesses.

"Where are you going?" Fluttershy asked.

"My sister and I decided we would give you two some time to catch up. You both must certainly have a lot to tell each other," Luna explained. "Just fall asleep when you are both ready." And with that, the two Alicorns disappeared from the room. They had gone back to Equestria. Now, it was just Fluttershy and me.

"So, yeah... uh... hey," I said, trying to pick up from a few minutes ago. She didn't say a thing. She just smiled at me. Before I knew it, she had flown into my arms. I held her so tight, I never wanted to let go. I felt her soft fur brush against my skin. Her beautiful pink mane felt so smooth in my hands. And just like that, we were kissing.

"I love you so much Fluttershy," I said. What else needed to be said.

"I love you too Matthew," she replied, locking her eyes with mine. We had both simultaneously started to cry. We held each other close, as if we could never be torn apart.

After our beautiful reunion, we sat down and told our stories to each other. Fluttershy went first. Hearing everything she went through was heartbreaking. Her nightmares, the things she had seen, the things she had done. It was all just so sad to hear.

And then, I told my story. It was easy to tell for the most part, until the part where Sophia came in. I explained tediously that what went on between her and I was because I was desperate for love. Fluttershy understood completely, and thought nothing of it.

When we finished our stories, we just cuddled for a while. Then, Fluttershy asked me an important question.

"Matthew. Are you sure you're going to be able to leave everything you have here on Earth behind?" she asked. I hadn't thought about it. My family and friends. All my possessions. Truthfully, I didn't care about all of that. All I needed was Fluttershy.

"Hey, you heard my story. I don't need this world anymore to be happy. All I need is you," I said. As corny as it sounded, it was true, and it came from the heart. Fluttershy smiled and nodded.

"Okay. Then how about we get going?"

"Just... hold on." I got up and got out a piece of paper and a pen. I wrote out a long note to my family. My mother had started to come check up on me from time to time. The next time she came over, she would find the note. After that, I sat back down next to Fluttershy.

"Take a good last look. The next time you see me, I'll be a stallion. I wonder what it's gonna be like to be a pony. It'll probably take a while to get used to," I said.

"Don't worry. I'll be there to help you through everything. Now, let's go home," Fluttershy said, cuddling up to me. I lied down on my back, with Fluttershy resting on top of me, wrapped in my arms. Then, she wrapped me in her wings. We kissed once before speaking those three words to each other and falling asleep.

"I love you Matthew."

"I love you too Fluttershy."

And with those words being said, we fell asleep. When we woke up, we would be in the beautiful land of Equestria.

Author's Notes:

Wasn't that just beautiful. I would hope so, cause I wrote it on my tablet. It isn't as bad as I really thought it would be. Anyway, one chapter to go!

Chapter 22

As I started to wake up, I felt a cooling breeze wash over me. I was on my back, looking to the sky. The breeze was gentle and soothing, and it made we want to fall back to sleep. But I sat up and realized where I was. I was on a hill, just on the outskirts of Ponyville. I came here often during my two months without Matthew just to be alone.

And then it hit me.

"Matthew?" I said looking around. When I turned around, I saw a light brown coated Pegasus stallion lying on the grassy hill. When he made a groan, I jumped a bit.

"W-Wha..." he stuttered. I inched closer to him as he started to sit up.

"Matthew?" I said again. The stallion shook his head and then slowly turned to look at me.

"Well? H-How do I look?" he asked. I easily recognized the voice as belonging to Matthew and smiled at him.

"You look amazing," I said. His coat was almost the same color as his skin when he was human, very light, but now with a hint of brown in it. His hair was colored dirty blonde, and it looked almost like the mane of a lion. It made him look so handsome. His tail looked like Rainbow Dash's, but with more hair, and it seemed more masculine looking. His eyes were still their beautiful hazel color, and they seemed to stare right through me. The rest of his features were just perfect.

"Really?" he asked. I walked over and helped him to his feet. Or, his hooves, I should say.

As he tried to gain his balance, I giggled as I helped to steady him. He laughed along with me, realizing how clumsy he was.

"Man, I'm really gonna miss having fingers and toes," he joked. I continued to giggle as I kissed his cheek.

"You'll get used to it," I said, as he looked to me and smiled.

"Well, with you helping me, it shouldn't be that hard to do." Then, Matthew looked to his flank. "Aw man! I'm a blank flank!" He pouted his lips, making me laugh even more.

"Maybe you could join the Cutie Mark Crusaders," I said playfully. Matthew laughed.

"I just might have to," he said. "And that's not the only thing." As he said that, he opened his wings. They were beautiful, and complimented the rest of his body perfectly.

"You definitely won't have to worry about learning to fly. You'll have me and Rainbow Dash to help you with that." He smiled at me and then kissed me on the lips.

"You know, I think I'm really gonna like it here," he said.

"You will. Trust me," I said, kissing him again. "As long as we're together."

"And we'll always be together. I promise." As he said that, we kissed again. Nothing could ruin this moment. As we broke the kiss we locked eyes once again.

"Welcome home Matthew," I said.

"Thanks Fluttershy," he replied, kissing me once again.

As I helped Matthew back to my cottage, we kept laughing every time he stumbled. He was pretty clumsy, but we couldn't help but joke about it. As we arrived home, I helped Matthew to the couch. He laid himself on his back, and I lied down on top of him.

"You're cute when you're on top of me," Matthew said. I could feel a slight burn in my cheeks as I blushed, which made Matthew chuckle. "Look at us. We just got back together, I was turned into a pony, and we're already flirting."

"Well, you are quite handsome," I complimented. He smiled and kissed me again. I kissed back. And soon enough, we were making out. Matthew even managed to figure out how to wrap me in his wings. It was something I never thought would happen. We had our hooves all over each other, and I felt myself heating up even more.

But as we continued on, we heard a knock at the door. We stopped and looked at the door, then back to each other.

"Yo Fluttershy, you home?" Rainbow Dash called from the other side of the door. I was still looking at Matthew.

"What should we do?" I asked him.

"I say we introduce Rainbow Dash to your "new" boyfriend. Or should I say, coltfriend," Matthew said. He smiled at me, so I smiled in return.

"Alright," I said, getting up and opening the door.

"Oh, hey Flutters. We thought we would... wait, who's that?" Rainbow asked, looking at Matthew.

"Sup Dash," Matthew greeted her, chuckling. Rainbow looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"Is that...?" she started.

"Yes," I answered.

"How?"

"I think it'd be easier if I told you and the rest of the girls all together. Why don't you go get them and give Matthew and I some privacy," I said, making Rainbow's expression turn from confused to shocked.

"Uh... alright," she said, turning around and leaving to gather the rest of my friends.

"The look on her face!" Matthew shouted as I closed the door. I turned around to see him on the floor laughing. I couldn't help but laugh with him.

"Well, I guess we should get ready to entertain some guests," I said. Matthew got up and sat back down on the couch.

"I hope they take kindly to new arrivals."

"They're my friends. I know they will."

When the rest of the girls arrived, they all managed to figure out who this new stallion in my home was pretty quickly. All Matthew had to do was say hello and make one joke to them all. What made it even better was that they all accepted him. No harsh words were exchanged, no feelings of hate came between anypony, and the girls actually all thought Matthew was quite the looker. Both Matthew and I made it clear that we were never going to be separated, and they all agreed.

After a nice dinner, my friends all went home, leaving Matthew and I alone together. We took a lovely shower together, readied ourselves for bed, and then snuggled together under the blankets of my bed. Matthew wrapped me in his wings again, holding me close to him. I rested my head on the soft fur of his chest.

"I love you Fluttershy," he said, kissing me.

"I love you too Matthew," I replied, as we both closed our eyes and fell asleep.

Author's Notes:

Again, beautiful, if I do say so myself.

And yeah, I borrowed the lion mane thing from Eagle Eye. Hey, I like the hairstyle.

And now, all that's left is the epilogue.

Epilogue

Matthew and Fluttershy were finally together again. It took some time, but Matthew had finally perfected the art of being a pony. With the help of his lover and new best friend Rainbow Dash, he had even perfected his flying. While Matthew stayed with Fluttershy, he created new friendships with the ponies of Ponyville as well. And in time, he had made sort of a name for himself in the town.

Matthew had even earned his cutie mark. It didn't take him long to earn it. It happened when he was sitting on the beach with Fluttershy. As the sun set, all Matthew had to do was confess his true love to Fluttershy, for what felt like the hundredth time for the couple. When Matthew simply joked by mentioning his love for Assassin's Creed, his cutie mark appeared. It was the Assassin Crest, with a heart inside it.

At first, money was hard to come by for Matthew. But, with enough effort, he worked up enough money for something special. He had waited six years for this, and now was the time to ask his lover the magic question. And he knew just the time to do it.

On an ordinary night, Matthew, Fluttershy, and the rest of their friends gathered for a regular get together. They all sat outside Applejack's barn, gathered around a warm fire roasting marsh mellows. There was chatter, laughter, and for Matthew and Fluttershy, love. But, as the night started to fade away, Matthew gathered the attention of his friends.

"Hey girls, I have some things to say," Matthew announced, earning their attention. "I've only been here a month now, and I feel like I've achieved so much. I have all of you to thank for that. Each of you helped me in some way or another." He turned to Fluttershy. "But Fluttershy, you've been the greatest pony in my life. You've given me so much, and I wouldn't be the stallion I am today. I owe it all to you. And that is why, right now, in front of all of our friends, and under the beautiful night sky..."

Matthew knelt down and pulled out the ring from under his wings. He held it in front of Fluttershy by the tips of his wings. The ring was beautiful. It was in the shape of a butterfly, like Fluttershy's cutie mark, and it was a beautiful shade of pink. Fluttershy, along with the rest of the girls, began to tear up.

"Fluttershy, will you marry me?" Fluttershy didn't need to think twice.

"Yes! Yes, I will Matthew!" In an instant, the two were wrapped in each other's arms as they shared a beautiful kiss. And with their friends now in applause for the couple, nothing could ruin this moment. As the two broke their kiss, they locked eyes and shared those three beautiful words once again.

"I love you Matthew."

"I love you too Fluttershy."

For the time after Fluttershy left me, I had practically given up on life. I nearly killed myself about three or four times, had gotten into a false relationship, and practically screwed up every aspect of my life. But when I was finally reunited with Fluttershy... it was just perfect.

I gave up on this thought for a while, but now, I know it to be true. That it was, is, and always will be...

Author's Notes:

And so ends the third and final Fluttershy and Me story. It was very enjoyable for me to write this story, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone for putting up with my lazy habits, but I finally completed it. Thanks for reading!