[Fleur’s POV, 5:30 p.m.]

The sound of many water bottles falling to the floor silenced the room, leaving Ozzy staring blankly at the girl named Claire. Seeing how Ozzy reacted to the girl’s entrance created an uneasy feeling inside me.

“Uh, do you two… know each other?” Spitfire finally asked.

“Oh oh oh!” Surprise, the white pegasus with the messy curly blonde mane called while waving her hand in the air. “Maybe they’re siblings! No wait! Long lost siblings! Cousins! In-laws?! Wait, I got it! Ozzy’s the good twin of Claire’s late husband!”

“Surprise? I think we should let one of them explain instead of jumping to any answers,” Misty said.

“Claire and I… were classmates in elementary school back on Earth,” Ozzy answered.

“That’s… right. We were classmates,” Claire said, filling the room with “Oooh’s” from the ponies besides me and the humans in response.

Wait, classmates in elementary school… Don’t tell me this girl is the same as—

“Um, Fleur? This is my old classmate back on Earth, Claire Hackings,” Ozzy introduced. “Claire? This is Fleur de Lis, a supermodel I’m working for as her secretary, and a close friend of mine.”

“It’s… a pleasure to meet you,” I greeted as I held my hand up towards Claire.

“Likewise.” She took my hand and gave a small shake.

“Well, I guess both of our worlds are smaller than I thought,” Spitfire said with a smile as she stood between Ozzy and Claire with one hand on each of their shoulders. “I got an idea. We’re going to a restaurant later tonight once we get cleaned up. Why don’t you two come and join us? I’m sure we’ve got a lot to catch up on, and I’m sure our human friends here would like to do the same.”

“Oh oh! Bring Shining too!” Surprise exclaimed. The stallions in the room got shaken up once Shiny’s name was mentioned. “We haven’t seen her in a while either!”

“I… suppose I’m alright with it if Fleur’s okay,” Ozzy said as he looked towards me.

“Um. Sure, we can do that. We were actually going back to clean ourselves up for dinner too.”

“Then it’s settled!” Spitfire said. “We’re holding dinner at the usual place at 8:00. Claire, you mind giving Ozzy here our numbers?”

“H-huh? Oh, not at all.” Claire walked over to a black purse to pull out her wallet and took out a few business cards before giving them to Ozzy.

“Well, we should get going then,” Spitfire said. “We’ll see you three there. Come on, guys!” The other Wonderbolts started leaving the room while Ozzy, Claire and I waited until the last pony left.

“I… guess I’ll see you later then, Ozzy,” Claire said.

“Y-yeah, sure. See you there,” Ozzy said before he and I left the room and went to the opposite direction of the Wonderbolts’ path.

The walk was quiet since the noise from the crowd earlier died down, but that just left me more tense about what had just transpired in that room.

“Uh, I’ve gotta use the bathroom. Should I just meet you out front?” Ozzy asked.

“S-sure, I’ve gotta make a call to Shiny anyways.” The two of us went to the respective bathrooms and I closed the doors in one of the stalls before I sat down. I quickly took out my cell phone and called Shiny.

“Hello?”

“Shiny? It’s Fleur.”

“Oh hey, I was wondering how your date was going. What’s up?”

“I think we might have an emergency.”

“Huh? What’s wrong? Is it not going well?”

“Oh no, it’s been going just great until we somehow ran into a very close friend of Ozzy’s from Earth.”

“Wait, how’s that a problem? Isn’t it better for Ozzy to finally talk with someone from his home planet? Especially someone he knew?”

“It probably would be if it wasn’t the same person who gave him his first kiss back in elementary school!”

There was a pause from Shiny’s end for a moment. “What,” she deadpanned.

“I haven’t confirmed it with Ozzy yet, but from how those two behaved with each other in the room, I think it’s safe to assume that’s the case.”

“Wait, how come I don’t know about Ozzy’s first kiss, and you do?”

“Oh, uh, he and I talked a little about it in the early morning of my interview with Vogue when I couldn’t sleep from the nervousness.”

“SON OF A BITCH!” I could hear a loud thump from her end of the line. I assumed she might have punched something really hard. “How did this happen?!”

“I offered Ozzy to meet with the Wonderbolts after watching their show, and it turns out his friend, Claire Hackings, was their new secretary for the past month and a half.”

“Wait, they have a human secretary too? What happened to Pepper?”

“They fired her for almost exploiting Misty’s drunk exploits during a party.”

“Dear Luna, please tell me it’s not because of the pineapple and yo-yo trick?”

“I only heard about the pineapple, but if she likes to carry around a yo-yo, I can only assume that would be the case.”

“Dammit. How the heck could anypony even pull something like that off?”

“I’ll never know, Shiny, I’ll never know.” I shook my head. “But that’s not the point. Spitfire invited the three of us to join them for dinner tonight so we can catch up on current events.”

“Count me in. I don’t know about you, but I’m not planning to let Ozzy out of my sight for some human girl I’ve never met. What’s she even like?”

“She’s pretty attractive. Long brown hair, brown eyes, skin that’s slightly more pale than Ozzy’s, but still has some color, and I couldn’t make out her figure because she was wearing business attire like yours, but she seemed pretty thin.”

“Alright, so we just need to wear something that will catch Ozzy’s attention more than Claire’s, right?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet. Those two haven’t seen each other for a long time, and from what I’ve heard of their relationship, I’m sure Ozzy has a lot of questions to ask of her from their time apart. I’ll give you the details later, but I think right now we should give him our support as his dear friends since this seems to be as much of a shock to him as it is to us. We can’t make this into a competition and get Ozzy suspicious.”

A pause was in the air before I heard her sigh. “I really wish he’d see us as more than friends, but I’ll have to agree with you there. So are we meeting them at the usual place?”

“Yes, at 8:00. We’ll be back momentarily to freshen ourselves up before we get there.”

“Copy that. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Will do.” I hung up the phone before I sighed and rubbed my eyes.

Oh Ozzy… What is on your mind right now?

[6:00 p.m.]

I met up with Ozzy out front after I did my business in the bathroom and called Silver Wheel to pick us up. The ride was quiet as Ozzy only gazed out the window, which only got me more worried than back at the stadium. I decided to start the conversation off to break the silence.

“So… Claire’s someone you know from elementary school on Earth?”

“Yeah.” He still looked out the window.

“Is she…”

“Yeah.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Sort of. This is just a lot to take in. I thought I had forgotten her enough to not remember any of her features or name. I… wanted to forget about her, but when I saw those eyes of hers, everything just… clicked.” He sighed, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. “There’s just a lot of things going on in my head that I can’t explain.”

I gently held his hand, and shivered from how cold it was.

“I just have so many questions I want to ask her,” he continued. “Maybe that’s part of why I haven’t forgotten about her completely. It looks like she hasn’t forgotten about me either, but I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.”

We came to a stop at our house, and Silver Wheel opened the door. Ozzy stood up first and stepped out. Once I followed suit, he spoke without turning to me. “You mind if I have some time to myself for a bit? I got a lot of stuff to think about.”

“No, of course not,” I said before he walked over to the house while I watched, concerned for how much was going on with him as he rubbed his arm.

“Is everything alright, Ms. De Lis?” Silver Wheel asked.

“I don’t know, and that’s what I’m worried about the most,” I answered.

“You have grown very fond of Mr. Shore, haven’t you?”

“You have no idea. Shiny too.”

“Do you mind if I give you a word of advice?”

“Please.”

“My late brother and I have served your family for quite some time. Along the way, both of us have seen some less than fortunate bouts between your parents. They’ve mostly been about the lack of trust between the two of them, and I’m not entirely sure if that has ever been resolved when my brother and they got into that accident.”

It’s true. Thinking back, it’s quite perplexing to see they were as strict with each other as they were with Fancy and me.

“If there’s one thing my brother and I learned from watching them bicker, it’s that a relationship of any kind must have trust between both parties,” Silver continued. “I’ve seen how you and Ms. Star have grown since Mr. Shore joined us, and I can say for certain he puts quite a lot of trust into you girls. Would your friendship with him be as strong if you don’t return that trust?”

I looked down with deep thought, taking in every word Silver spoke to me. “… No, I don’t think it would.”

“Mr. Shore… Oz, seems to be an intelligent young fellow, so I’m sure he’ll resolve his dilemma to the best of his abilities,” he said. “The best we can do is remind him that we’re available for assistance whenever possible, and have faith that he will do the right thing while we stand by at the ready to help. It’s the best we can do as his friends, and I’m sure he appreciates you to put that much trust in him. Does that make sense?”

“I suppose,” I turned to Silver while forcing a small smile. “Thank you, Silver. I think I needed that.”

“Anytime, Ms. De Lis,” he responded with a smile. “Now you best get ready for the evening. I’ll be back at 7:30 to pick you up.”

“Thank you, Silver. I’ll see you later.” I walked back to my house while I heard the carriage roll away.

Silver may be right, but I just hope I’m doing the right thing in putting that much faith in him.

[Shining’s POV, 6:30 p.m.]

I went to Fleur’s house almost right after the phone call with my change of clothes and essentials I needed for the evening. When I saw Ozzy walk inside, his mood hard to read, like he was drawing as many blanks in his head as there were on his face. We only exchanged a few words before he went upstairs to his room with a slower, more sluggish pace than I’ve usually seen.

When Fleur came by, we sat down and she gave me the details on Ozzy’s relationship with this Claire person. It sounded like they became good friends before they got to that kiss, and I thought I was going to lose it when she pretty much ditched him after the kids laughed at them. I was both frustrated and sad since I was in a similar situation with him. Sure, I may not have gotten my first kiss until later, but I knew what it was like to be made fun of. It sounded like Ozzy did pretty well just shrugging it off until after the kiss. It’s no wonder why he wasn’t so confident in seeing other girls after that.

“If that bitch thinks she can take him back after seeing how handsome he’s become since elementary school, she’s got another thing coming,” I said before I let out a small chuckle. “Listen to me. It wasn’t too long ago that I wanted to get rid of Ozzy, and now I don’t want to let him go while calling him handsome on top of it.”

“I understand how you feel, Shiny, but we can’t interfere with Ozzy’s personal business,” Fleur said. “We wouldn’t be good friends if we don’t trust in his decisions.”

“That’s just it though, Fleur, we’re friends of his, not marefriends. What if he starts to have feelings for her again while he never see us anymore than good friends?”

Fleur gazed down to the floor with folded ears. “I don’t know, Shiny, but I just want to trust in him. It doesn’t matter if I’m his marefriend or not. I just… want to trust him.”

I sighed while scratching my head. “Good grief, I don’t think I heard reasoning that vague before, but I guess I can see what you’re trying to tell me. Alright, I’ll play along, but I think we should have a personal talk with this Claire at some point too, and see what we’re dealing with ourselves.”

“Might as well. I mean if this is an old friend of Ozzy’s, then we should at least give her a chance to hear her side of the story.”

“Agreed.” With the plan in mind, we went up to Fleur’s room to prepare ourselves for the evening ahead.

[8:00 p.m.]

I ended up wearing a long-sleeved, cyan colored cotton top with jeans while Fleur went with a purple short-sleeved top, designer jeans, and a light coat. I think the both of us can agree that we shouldn’t look intimidatingly sexy as it could get Ozzy less comfortable than he already is, and we don’t want to have Claire get any wrong ideas (no matter how much I want to slap that bitch). Plus, the restaurant wasn’t all that fancy either, so there isn’t much worry to dress casually. Ozzy went with a gray polo shirt, zip-up cotton jacket, and jeans as well.

We were right on time as Silver dropped us off at the Wonderbolts’ choice of the restaurant that we all usually like to go: El Burrito Gordo.

“Mexican food, huh?” Ozzy asked before correcting himself. “Or is it Maneican in this world? Reignican?”

“That’s the one,” I answered. “This place is pretty good with large groups visiting, and their enchiladas are to die for.”

“Guess I’ll have to see what they’ve got I suppose.” The three of us went into the restaurant and checked in with the hostess up front. We followed her to the back where there was a large room made specifically for large gatherings. Tables were lined up while small baskets of tortilla chips and bowls of salsa and guacamole were spread out. The ponies that were sitting around the arrangement turned to us and cheered at our arrival.

“Good to see you three made it!” Spitfire said. “Shining, glad you came along as well.”

“Thanks Spitfire,” I said.

“Well go on and have a seat! Claire should be with us soon.” We did as Spitfire said and sat in three empty chairs that were on her left.

I sat on Ozzy’s left side while Fleur took the other. With Spitfire and Fleetfoot on each end of the table arrangement, the three of us on one side were with Misty Fly and Surprise (the mare I was sitting next to) while Rapidfire, Wave Chill, Soarin, High Winds, and an empty chair next to Spitfire were across from us.

I noticed the stallions in the table looked down on the table as soon as I glanced toward them. I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at their strange behavior.

What’s up with them? It’s not like I… Oh wait, right. I scared off those three like I did with the other stallions before Ozzy came along.

“So what have you been up to, Shining?” Fleetfoot asked. “I can’t help but think there’s something different about you.”

“I’ve been through some interesting things, I’ll say that much,” I replied. “Let’s just say it’s because of them that I decided to start treating stallions better. So long as they don’t do anything stupid or rub me the wrong way.” Everypony besides Fleur and Ozzy had their eyes and jaws open wide, the stallions more so than the mares.

“Wow… what the heck did I miss?” High Winds asked while scratching her head.

“Are you even the real Shining Star?” Fleetfoot asked.

“Psst, you think what Soarin did to Ozzy earlier counts as being stupid?” Surprise whispered to Misty that I easily heard.

I turned my attention to Soarin with a furrowed brow, making him shrink down in his seat.

“Don’t worry, Shining, we already got it taken care of,” Spitfire said with a wave. “He already apologized to Ozzy, and will do ten laps tomorrow as penalty. Isn’t that right, Soarin?”

“Y-Yes, Cap,” Soarin stammered.

For his sake, it better be worth it.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone,” an unfamiliar, female voice said.

We turned to the source, and my eyes widened. Standing at the entrance to the back room was a human girl with long brown hair, brown eyes, and white skin that had a slight rosy tint to it. She had a light blue, short-sleeved top with a scoop neckline that hugged what models called the “lollipop” figure, where she had slightly wider shoulders than her hips, and a pretty good bust. Even with her small hips though, her black straight-legged pants, matching coat, shoes (I think the humans called them flats) and purse added a certain finesse to her seemingly casual look.

Dear Luna, if this is who I think it is, then the situation is worse than I thought.

“No problem, Claire, our guests came not too long before you did,” Spitfire said. “Let me introduce you to Fleur and Ozzy’s manager, Shining Star. Shining? This is our new secretary, Claire Hackings.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Shining,” Claire greeted while holding out her hand.

“Same goes to you.” I stood up and took her handshake while sporting my business smile as much as I could while I hid my annoyance.

Claire then made her way to the last open seat that was between Spitfire and High Winds. “You look nice tonight, Ozzy,” she said.

Ozzy blinked a few times before he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Uh, thanks. You look nice too.”

I had to resist the urge to twitch from that small exchange of words, and from how Fleur’s tail flicked, she was having as much of a hard time keeping herself together as I was.

Two servers came in the room and took our orders of drinks before we started a conversation. “So Claire, tell us a little about yourself,” Fleur said while forcing small smile. “It’s not often we personally meet other humans around here, especially if one of them is an acquaintance of Ozzy’s.”

“Well, like Ozzy and I mentioned earlier, we were classmates in elementary school back on Earth,” Claire said. Ozzy paid close attention while he ate guacamole dipped tortilla chips. “He and I hung out from time to time, but I went to a different junior high than he did.”

“I see, and have you still made contact with Ozzy since then?” Fleur asked.

“We… kind of drifted apart before then. I haven’t talked or seen him ever since.”

Okay, so she’s partially honest, but she’s not telling why they drifted apart. Probably doesn’t want to make a scene in the restaurant.

“So what got you to move into Equestria?” I asked.

“I was honestly at a standstill for what I was going to do with my life after I graduated college with a major in Liberal Studies. There weren’t many available jobs besides the one I had as an office cleric, and I just didn’t see myself doing something so sedentary for a living. When news broke out about a new world discovered, I was open to the thought of seeing what it was like myself. So when I found a job posting to be a certain flight team’s secretary, I had to get in as soon as I could. I promised some of my friends and family that I’d come back to visit, and when I arrived, I was overwhelmed by how different this culture was.”

“All of us can relate to that when we started out in this group,” Spitfire said. “When we went to different cities and countries for shows, we definitely had to adapt pretty quickly. Claire here adjusted very well, and it wasn’t long before she was like part of the team.”

“And oh my gosh can she bake,” Surprise added in with a large smile and licked her lips. “These brownies she makes not only taste fantastilicious, but they’re better for you than regular ones!”

“I lived with some health freaks back on Earth,” Claire said. “I learned to cook a lot of healthier meals of any kind, and it certainly helped getting through college with it.”

Well that certainly explains her figure, though I can’t help but think some more fat in her body will make her look healthier. Fleur’s doing that quite well thanks to Ozzy’s own cooking.

“It’s been quite an adventure working for the Wonderbolts as their secretary,” Claire continued. “But I’m sure being a supermodel’s secretary has its own benefits. Right, Ozzy?”

Ozzy paused with a salsa dipped chip close to his mouth. I looked to the nearest basket, and saw it was empty like the bowl of guacamole.

Shit, did he even know how much he ate?

“Uh, yeah. It certainly has its crazy moments,” he answered before eating the last chip.

The drinks finally came along before we gave the servers our orders.

“You know, now that you mention it,” Misty said while looking up. “I notice how Claire was paying more attention to the news lately.”

“Huh? What brought that up?” Surprise asked.

“She wasn’t really into the news until a few weeks ago,” Misty explained as she rubbed her chin. “I think it was after that one ‘What is up?’ time in Canterlot News. What was it?”

“You mean the carriage incident, right?” High Winds asked.

Soarin snapped his fingers. “That’s right! Fleur and Ozzy were on the news, and Claire was practically glued to the screen ever since!”

My eyes widened as I glanced in Fleur’s direction. She took a large sip of her piña colada while Ozzy just stared at Claire.

This is definitely not going so well.

“Excuse me. I gotta use the restroom,” Ozzy said before he got up and left the room. The table suddenly went quiet with only the noise of activity outside filling the air.

“Was it something I said?” Soarin asked.

“I’m sure Ozzy’s just not used to getting a lot of attention like we do,” Fleetfoot said before she turned to Fleur. “How about it, Fleur?”

“Oh, uh, yes. Ozzy was really nervous before he got on T.V. that day,” Fleur answered. “With that plus how he was featured in the latest news yesterday, I’m sure he’s trying to handle it the best he can.”

Soon, the servers were in and out of the room passing around everypony’s dinner for the evening while Soarin stepped out of the room during that time. It wasn’t until a couple minutes later that Soarin came back and started eating his own meal before Ozzy followed sometime after. He was quiet as he ate while everypony else was chatting amongst themselves. Fleur would sometimes glance between Ozzy and Claire, who also looked up from her food from time to time, but more subtly. When Spitfire asked one of us a question, Ozzy gave short answers while Fleur and I responded as happily as we could despite the concern that was on our minds. The alcohol helped numbing it a little, but it was still there regardless.

After we had our desserts, we paid our bills up front before we stepped out of the restaurant.

“Ahh~, there’s nothing like a good cheese-filled dish that leaves me all warm and full inside,” Surprise said as she rubbed her stomach. “What time is it, anyway?”

“Fifteen ‘til ten,” I answered as I checked my phone.

“Alright guys, besides Soarin’s run, we’ve got a few days off starting tomorrow,” Spitfire said to the team. “After that, we practice and get ready for our next show in Fillydelphia that’s a month from now. So rest easy while you can, ‘cause we’ll be having a lot of work to do after that. Everypony here understand?”

“Yes, Captain!” the team answered.

“Alright. Soarin, I’ll see you at the usual time tomorrow. We’ll be getting back to training on Thursday. You’re dismissed,” Spitfire finished before she turned to the three of us with a smile. “It was good to see you two again, girls.”

“Same here. We’ll have to get together again sometime,” Fleur said while she gave a small smile.

“It was nice getting to know you guys too,” Ozzy added in.

“It’s a pleasure. You take it easy, alright? And if you wanna chat, you got our numbers.”

“Will do. We’ll see you later Spitfire,” I said before she nodded, unfurled her wings, and took off. Soarin, for some reason, took his bid with Ozzy more personal by patting him on the back before he and the other Wonderbolts said their goodnights as well, and followed their Captain’s lead. There was only Ozzy, Fleur, Claire, and me left once the pegasi were in the sky.

“Well, I guess we should prepare for tomorrow too,” I said while Fleur called Silver to pick us up.

“Silver said he’ll be around in fifteen,” Fleur said before turning to Claire. “Do you need a ride?”

“My place is actually a ten minute walk from here. I should be fine.”

Good. I know we’re trying to act all nice with Claire, but I’d rather not spend another minute with her in the same room for the rest of the evening.

“Ozzy, it was good seeing you again,” Claire said with a smile.

Ozzy stood and looked down silently for what seemed like minutes.

“Ozzy?” Fleur asked with her ears folded. “Is there something wrong?”

He looked up and exchanged glances between Fleur and me. What he said next was something neither Fleur and I expected.

“Do you two mind if you went ahead without me?”

Author's Notes:

Whoa, anyone saw that coming? What does Ozzy have in store with Claire, and how will the girls handle the situation? Will their friendship stay the same?

I'll try to get the next chapter updated quicker, but I've got a lot on my plate right now, so I apologize in advance if I take too long. Thanks guys for being patient. Until next time,

This is Dudeler, signing off.