"Mits?" I called, walking further into the flat. I supposed it was possible Mits was asleep, but normally she was always awake for my return. Apparently the sound of my bike woke her up or something. Peeping my head into the kitchen doorway revealed Mits wasn't in there, or in her cat bed. I continued into the living room, but couldn't see her there either.

"Mits?" I called again, making my way towards the bedroom.

"Is something wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

"Probably not. It's just that Mits always runs for the door, and this time she hasn't." I explained, looking around my bedroom. Nothing.

"Oh no. Do you think something happened? M-maybe it was…" Fluttershy stuttered, trailing off.

"Donovan?" I asked, kneeling on the floor and peering under the bed. I thought back to earlier this evening. Was it possible that Donovan had gone through with his threats? No, that was ridiculous; surely he didn't know where I lived?

I swung open the wardrobe doors in case Mits had scrambled in there, but it was empty of any feline creatures.

"Check your room Shy. She might be in there." I suggested. I was starting to get worried: Mits was never like this. Even when she was hiding I could always see just a little bit of her. Her tail, a paw. It was like a sort of sense that you got if you owned a cat. And said sense said I couldn't find her.

I jogged back into the living room and gave it another look over. Sofa, no. Coffee table, no. Armchair, no. I heard Fluttershy walk in behind.

"She isn't in my room." she told me, clearly worried.

"Okay, thanks for looking." I said. A small movement caught my eye, to the right of the room. The window?

I stepped up and pulled the curtain open, but there was no Mits. Just the window, pushed open slightly to keep the room cool. The movement I saw must have been the breeze, blowing the curtain.

The window was open enough for Mits to crawl through. I threw it fully open and peered down. My flat was on the top floor of the building, five storeys up. Not even Mits would be able to jump from that height, and I'm fairly sure she was at least half made of rubber. There was a tiny ledge along the front of the building at the same height as the window, but only an inch wide. Surely Mits couldn't manage to walk along that? Then again, this was Mits.

Fluttershy joined me at the window and looked out, but seemed spooked. "Oh my, it's very high up." She searched down and around the front of the building, and noticed the mess of plants coming from the window two storeys down. "Do you think she went down there?" She asked, pointing timidly at the vivd array of foliage.

I hadn't even considered it, but Fluttershy was right. Mits probably could have jumped down to there, then to the ground. If she had then she could be anywhere by now.

"Most likely." I nodded, then turned and walked into the kitchen to grab a torch.

"What will we do?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm going to go look for her. You stay here." I told her, and grabbed the torch from the cupboard. "I'll be back soon."

I hurried to the door and threw it open. I hadn't even had time to take my jacket off. I turned to see Fluttershy watching me, worried, from the kitchen doorway.

"Don't worry Shy. I'll find her."

She just nodded. I turned back to the door, unlocked it and walked out, closing it behind me. As I made my way down the stairs, my brain started running through a checklist of places where Mits could be. She was a lazy cat, not fat, but definitely not the overly active type, so she couldn't have gone too far. Normally she just stayed in the building when I let her out of my flat; the furthest she had ever gone before was to sit on the wall on the other side of the car park, behind the building.

I unlocked the back door of the building and swung it open. I looked at the back wall; no Mits.

'Okay', I thought to myself. 'Where else would she be?'

Honestly, I had no idea. So, deciding to get searching as soon as possible, I flicked the torch on and swung the beam of light around the car park, making sure Mits wasn't here. I kneeled down again, looking under the cars, but still saw no sign of her.

After a few minutes I'd done a loop of the car park and had confirmed there was no Mits here. Where in the hell had she gotten to?

I made my way to the front of the building and looked up, to see if I could gain any clues as to where the pesky cat had run off to. I saw Fluttershy looking down and I gave a small wave, followed by a shrug to show I hadn't found Mits. I looked down to the plants below her, but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then again, what had I been expecting? The plants were thick. But…

I pointed the torch at the ground; sure enough there were leaves all over the path, obviously having come from above. So Mits had come down that way. But where had she gone afterwards? Down the road? Towards town? Who knew how long ago she had gotten out? Hopefully, though, she would have stayed nearby. It was just a matter of searching for her.

I looked back up at Fluttershy one last time before walking down the road, looking for places Mits could be. I started checking behind and between wheelie bins and behind fences, making sure to keep the torch aimed low so it didn't shine in anyone's window, and occasionally calling out Mits' name.

As I searched, I tried once again to think about where she could be. I thought back to the garden in the flats, hoping to come up with a train of thought that could lead me to an idea, but instead I just thought back a few seconds earlier to Fluttershy, looking down at me from my flat. I didn't know why I did, and shook my head to concentrate on finding Mits.

I came to the end of my road, and thought about what to do next. Deciding to go with the logic that Mits wouldn't have gone far, I crossed the road and started walking back to my flat on the other side of the road, repeating my search tactics.

When I reached my building I stopped again, looked around, and carried on down another road, the one opposite my home. Once again, I got to the end without finding any sign of Mits, crossed the road and started heading back again.

I reached my flat without finding her, and continued down the last road. It was incredibly dark now. I couldn't see the moon, so my torch and the streetlights were all the light there was.

Speaking of my torch, the beam of light ahead of me faltered, so I shook the torch back and forth, trying to force power into the bulb. It came back strong, but it was obvious the battery was dying.

"Sod it, this better not fail now." I muttered, continuing on my with search. After a minute there was a flash of light, and a few seconds later a loud rumble. Oh good, a thunder storm. Just what I needed.

Once again I reached the end of the road without seeing head or tail of Mits. I was about to turn around when I spotted a tail shooting behind a car.

"Mits?" I called out quietly, trying not to get my hopes up. I crouched and pointed the torch under the car, but there was no Mits. Just a fox. They were harmless as long as you didn't provoke them, but I still never understood why they came into big places like Lincoln at night.

I got up and turned around to cross the road and leave the fox alone, getting more and more worried about Mits, but the torch beam faltered again and died. Cursing under my breath, I shook it and tapped the side, hoping to get it working. It wouldn't.

"Isn't that just bloody perfect." I asked aloud, to no-one at all.

As if someone in a position of cosmic power had some personal grudge against me, the heavens chose that exact moment to open up, the first drops of rain pattering onto the ground and my head, and quickly becoming a downpour.

"And there's the icing on the cake of utter crap." I muttered. I looked around one last time before jogging back towards my flat, a hand shielding my eyes from the deluge. I couldn't search without light, and I knew if I hadn't found her yet I never would in the rain. Hopefully the storm would be enough to convince her to return home thought.

It took longer than I remembered to get back to my flat. Probably because I was getting absolutely soaked. I finally arrived at the back of my building and gave a final, exasperated look around, hoping I would see Mits. I didn't, so I walked into the dry and shook myself off. Well, as best I could anyway. Taking my jacket off and turning it inside out, I trudged up the stairs, disheartened at my failure of a search.

When I finally opened the door to my flat I was soaked to the skin, and my shoes were full of water. Stupid England and its constant rain. It had been perfect weather earlier, and now this.

Fluttershy was waiting for me.

"Did you find her?" she asked, but when she saw the state I was in her faced changed completely. "Oh my, you're soaked. Are you okay? Please, let me help." Fluttershy walked over to me and took my jacket before I could protest and quickly walked into the bathroom and brought me out a towel.

"Thanks Fluttershy." I nodded in gratitude and wrapped the towel around me.

"So, did you find her?" Fluttershy asked again, hanging up the dripping jacket on the coat stand.

I simply shook my head.

"Oh." Fluttershy looked down sadly.

"The torch ran out of battery. I'll look again in the morning. Who knows, maybe the rain will bring her back?" I said, smiling hopefully at Fluttershy.

I saw a glimmer of a smile on her lips as she nodded. "Okay. But are you alright? You look cold."

I realized I was shivering. "Yeah, I just need to get out of these wet clothes. Thanks for getting me this towel." I shrugged my shoulders gratefully.

"That's okay." Fluttershy said. "Do you want me to get you some clothes?"

"No, it's alright. Thanks though." I smiled at her and walked off towards my bedroom. As I took off my wet clothes and got some pyjama's out of the wardrobe, my mind started wandering again. I was worrying about Mits, then I thought of Fluttershy, then about how I would help her get back to Equestria, then about what I had to do to do so. It probably didn't help that I was tired, and that beer I had at the party wasn't doing anything good either.

In short, my mind was a bit of a mess.

It took longer than it should have to get changed, even if I had to dry myself while doing so. I wrapped the towel around my soaked clothes and sniffed. Wonderful, I was getting a blocked nose. I heard another crack of thunder outside, and another within seconds. I looked out the window and hoped Mits would be alright.

I picked up the bundle of wet clothes and dumped them in the clothes hamper next to the wardrobe. I could dry them off and clean them later. I opened my bedroom door and stepped out to the smell of something cooking. Was Fluttershy making something?

"Fluttershy?" I called, heading towards the kitchen. Before I could reach it, though, Fluttershy stepped out holding a steaming bowl of red liquid.

"Hello Jamie." she smiled warmly at me. "I just thought that, since you were out in the rain, you could use something warm to eat." Hesitantly, she held the bowl out to me.

"You made this?" I asked, taking the bowl and spoon from her. I dipped it in and took a sip: tomato soup, delicious and wonderfully hot.

"Mm-hm." Fluttershy nodded. "Is that okay?" she asked timidly.

I nodded vigorously, eating another spoonful. "No no, it's fine. This is wonderful."

She blushed modestly. "Thank you. It's my own recipe."

"It's good." I complimented, sitting down at the table to eat. Fluttershy sat opposite me and propped her head up with her hands, looking thoughtful.

"Don't you want anything to eat?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I'm not really hungry."

I nodded and ate another spoonful of soup. I wasn't normally partial to soup, but Fluttershy had been right about me wanting something hot to eat after being caught in the rain, and this soup was delicious. I didn't know how she made something like this with the ingredients I had left in the kitchen.

Another lightning strike drew my attention to the window, and I thought of Mits again, out, lost and alone in the rain. At least it was some consolation that Mits was the most indestructible cat known to man. Hell, if she got hit by lightning she'd probably just deflect it.

Actually, on second thoughts, probably best not to think about Mits getting hit by lightning.

Anyway, if she hadn't shown up by morning I'd go out looking for her again, when it was light. Maybe Fluttershy could help.

I looked over at her. She was blinking tiredly.

"Tired?" I asked. She nodded. "You can go to sleep whenever you want." I said.

She nodded. "I think I might."

"Okay. Good night. And thanks again for the soup." I smiled at her, raising a spoonful of the red liquid.

She smiled back at me then went walked off to her room while I finished my meal. Once again, my thoughts strayed between Mits being lost, and the woman slash human pony in my flat.

Certainly a lot to think about.

After a few more minutes I'd finished and put the bowl into the sink. Like the clothes, I'd clean it tomorrow. I just needed to sleep right now.

I poured myself a glass of water and downed it in one gulp before deciding to check my email before I went to bed. I sat on the sofa and listened to the rain pattering against the window while I waited for the laptop to start up. When it did, I went straight to Hotmail and opened my inbox. Other than a few pieces of spam that had missed the spam box there were just three emails of interest. One from the art gallery with an attachment, no doubt my work briefing, and two from Steven.

I skim read the first one. It was just him telling me he had taken it upon himself to contact the professor about Fluttershy, and was now waiting for a reply. At least he was more organised than me. The second one had been sent this evening, just a few minutes ago, in fact. It was full of spelling errors and most of the text was illegible, as most things written when drunk were, but I gathered he had remembered Fluttershy liked the song Fireflies, and he had sent a link to a fan cover of it that he'd asked me to show her. I'd show Fluttershy in the morning, when I would be able to properly explain the fact she had fans. That was sure to be fun.

I shut the lid of the laptop, letting it power itself down, then brushed my teeth and retired to my room. I fell back onto my bed with a sigh and looked out the window behind the bed, watching the raindrops roll down the window and listening to the rolling thunder. I shivered and crawled under the cover so I could get warm after being caught out in the rain. I got myself comfortable, and it wasn't long until I felt sleep overwhelming me.

There was a quiet knock at the door, and I almost didn't hear it in my semi-conscious state. It came again, marginally louder I thought, though that was probably just me coming to.

"Uh, come in?" I called, lifting my head off the pillow and looking round at the door.

The door slowly creaked open, and Fluttershy meekly stepped in, now in her pyjama's. "Hello Jamie." she whispered.

"What is it Shy?" I asked, blinking tiredly.

"Well, it's just, the l-lightning…" Fluttershy stammered.

"What about it?" I asked kindly. I sat up properly, propping myself up with my elbows behind me.

"Well, i-it… frightens me." She admitted.

"Okay… uh, is there anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"Well…" Fluttershy said, looking away and twiddling her fingers together. "I-if it's okay with you, that is, c-could I… sleep in here with you?" she added quickly. It sounded like she was cringing, but I couldn't see.

I didn't see anything wrong with that. "Alright. Do you want me to bring your bed in?"

"W-well, I was hoping I could sleep in your bed, with you" she clarified.

That threw me. "Well, I don't know Fluttershy…" I trailed off, leaving my unease apparent.

"O-okay. I-it's alright. I'm sorry." Fluttershy apologized. Before she could leave, though, there was a terrific crack of thunder, louder than the others, and it lit up the entire room. In the brief second of light, I saw Fluttershy's face, and how truly terrified she was. She physically jumped, and I saw her eyes go wide.

Now I felt bad for saying no. I sighed inwardly as I realized the only option I had – without hating myself – was to let her sleep in here.

"Alright Fluttershy. You can sleep in here tonight." I relented. "But only tonight, though."

She nodded avidly and quickly crawled under the covers on the other side of the bed. "T-thank you Jamie." she stammered.

"It's okay Shy. Uh, good night." I said. I laid back down and on my side, facing away from her. It wasn't the first time I'd shared a bed with a friend. Knowing that didn't really help ease the awkwardness of the situation, but whatever. I was still tired, and it didn't take long for me to drift off.

I felt myself stirring, but was reluctant, as always, to actually open my eyes and get up. I could smell something nice, a sort of nature-y smell, like a forest with a lot of flowers. It smelt soft, too. Could something smell soft? No, it felt soft, but my sleepy mind was failing to work properly. Was it the pillow? No, there was no pressure on my face.

As I came to, my other senses woke up. My right arm was numb, under the pillow, my fingers against the wall like always. I felt warm too, warmer than normal.

I prised my eyes slowly open, blinking rapidly in the sunlight. All I could see, though, was pink. I sleepily realised it was Fluttershy's hair.

Wait...

I stifled a gasp. She had her back to me, and I saw I was lying right next to her. I even had one arm over her. I must have rolled over in my sleep without realising. Carefully, so as not to wake her, I tried to move my arm, but I couldn't. I wriggled my fingers, and found Fluttershy was holding my hand. That seemed sweet, but I just wanted to get out of this awkward situation.

Being granted some mercy for once, Fluttershy gently let go and mumbled something in her sleep that I couldn't hear. I shuffled back carefully and got up, still bleary eyed. As I made my way to the door, Fluttershy stirred behind me.

"Good morning Jamie." she said quietly. I looked back and saw her hugging the quilt, smiling softly.

"Morning Shy." I replied, smiling. I walked out into my flat, trying to get over the awkwardness that I just had to go through. I thought back to last night, wondering if anything had happened. I didn't feel hung over. I quickly remembered though, and was glad nothing like that had occurred, but I got instantly saddened when I realised Mits was still lost.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned around to see Fluttershy standing there.

"Thank you for letting me sleep with you Jamie." She smiled gratefully.

"It's alright Shy. Do you want some breakfast before I go look for Mits again?" I asked.

She nodded. "Okay."

Before I got the chance to get anything, though, there was a knock on the door. I looked at the clock on the wall: 7:37. Who would be knocking that early?

I walked over to the front door, unlocked it and swung it open. Standing there was a postman. The postman Mits had attacked a while ago.

And there, cradled in his arms, was Mits. Soaked, scratched, a little bloody, and unmoving.

Translations:

Torch – Flashlight, or lantern

Thanks as usual to ChancellorPuddinghead/jikilola913 for editing