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.