[Note]  As I'm sure some of you have noticed I've been using the titles of songs as titles for my chapters (Specifically: Three Little Birds, Lights Are Many, and this one: Another Stranger Me.).  I wanted to just say to any readers that I do not claim copyrights to these songs, and if anything are promoting them because they are all wonderful songs!  They belong to their respective bands and other such logical nonsense.

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"So... You're telling me that you hear voices in your head?"  Twilight opens after a short, and very awkward explanation from the bashful pegasus.  

"No, not voices, just one..."  Fluttershy replies, ashamed of the fact but still trying to defend her reputation as a sane pony.  

"Does it tell you to hurt other ponies?"  Twilight then asks, her face contorting to a worried and curious gaze as she sits down in her room.  Fluttershy sits across from her and keeps very still, almost as if facing some kind of trial.

"No, nothing like that... She mostly just makes fun of me,"  Fluttershy looks away as she says that, feeling stupid for even letting it affect her in such a way.

"It... she makes fun of you?"  Twilight asks, recoiling just a little bit in the neck from taking this all in, "How does she make fun of you?"

"W-well..." Fluttershy stutters a little bit, still not sure if Twilight even believes her, "she calls me names, she laughs when I make mistakes.  She's just... Not very nice to me.  She seems to want me to be happy, but she doesn't make it easy,"  The yellow mare mimes her hoof along the floor as if drawing a circle in some dirt.

"Hmm... Do you remember when you first started hearing her?"  Twilight seems to be taking the mare seriously now, especially after seeing her reaction to telling her about the voice.

"Well...  I couldn't tell you exactly, but I think she started out as an imaginary friend I used to have,"  Fluttershy still doesn't make eye contact and mumbles a bit, speaking only loudly enough through the embarrassing confession for the purple unicorn to hear her.

My ears are burning, why are you trying to explain our relationship to Twilight?  'Courage' speaks up, and Fluttershy tries her best to ignore the pest.

"An imaginary friend huh?  No offense but I can definitely see that happening with you... What was she like?"

"Well she was strong and courageous, charismatic, and she never needed anybody to reassure her.  You could say I wanted to be her..."  Fluttershy looks back up to Twilight, still avoiding eye contact but pretending at least; she stares directly at her horn.

Oh come now, it'll break her heart if she finds out you've already got a mare like me so close to your heart,  Courage takes her usual stance of bothering the poor pegasus as she tries to open her heart to the intently listening Twilight Sparkle.  

"I think you might be right about wanting to be this imaginary friend.  Hmm... I've never heard of anypony having an imaginary friend becoming a voice in their head though... you're sure she's a voice?"

"I'm sure, Twilight... She talks to me, I respond... I don't even feel like I'm thinking about what she's thinking about.  It's kind of... Scary,"

Oh now you're afraid of me? Tch, I thought we were friends!  

What kind of friends hurt each others' feelings?  Fluttershy asks, taking her motherly tone of voice in her head as it's the 'meanest' one she can conjure up right now.

Pfft, Applejack and Rainbow Dash beat each other to a pulp over that silly iron pony competition!  

Nevertheless... You're just... You're just mean,  

"Well it sounds like you have a pretty big problem here... Is she talking to you right now?"

Say no,

"Yeah, she is... She told me to say no,"

Tattle-tale,

You're not real, I didn't tattle on you,

I'm real enough to have my feelings hurt!

"So why didn't you say no?"

"She doesn't control my life... she just tries to convince me of things.  Sometimes I let her and sometimes I don't... Right now she's just being... silly,"

You don't have feelings... Your feelings are my feelings,

Yeah, and I'm hurting your feelings right now, therefore you're hurting my feelings,

"Well have you ever listened to her and done something you regret?"

I kissed your horn, 'Courage' tries to take control of Fluttershy's awareness, hoping to inadvertently make her say something that could embarrass her,

"N-No!  I think about whatever it is I'm about to do before I listen to her...  She's courageous and helps me get over things sometimes... b-but I can't let her run my life or I will do something I regret,"

Pfft, you're no fun,

You keep saying that, why?

Because it's true... duh?

"D-did she tell you to kiss me?"

Things just got interesting!

Shut up!

"Uhm... she uh, she... mmn..."  Fluttershy stumbles over her words a little bit, not really knowing what to say in this situation.

Come on Co-pilot... Say yes.  You're not gonna lie to your marefriend are you?

"She uhm... may have had a hoof in the decision..."  Fluttershy blushes and looks away, afraid that she may have hurt Twilight's feelings.

"Well then she can't be that bad can she?"  The lavender unicorn says with a smile, sensing that Fluttershy was having second thoughts about what she was about to say.

Finally I get some respect, you should stick with this one Co-pilot,

I plan to, provided you stop trying to screw up everything I do...

Oh please... Twilight thinks you're adorable, especially when you screw up... Everypony loves to see you screw up... Blushing is cute, stumbling over your words is adorable, and shyness is attractive.  You're everything that Twilight... heck, you're everything that everypony wants, but you're too shy to see it and you're too silly to admit it,

"Hah, uhm, uhh... eek,"  Fluttershy can't do anything but squeak, both Twilight and courage had left her almost speechless from their remarks toward her.  The yellow pony goes red in the ears and tries to hide her face, to which both the beautiful mare in front of her as well as the invisible mare in her mind giggle at in tandem.  

"You know, Fluttershy, you really are cute when you're blushing like that... " Twilight herself turns a little red as she states this.

Told ya,

You're still a meanie...

But I'm a smart meanie... and I'm you anyway... That's how silly you are, I'm the only way that you can get yourself to admit something that you don't really wanna hear.  You've got some problems Co-pilot,

This coming from the voice in my head,

I rest my case.  Speaking of which, I'm gonna head back into your mind for a little bit, you've got some dirty thoughts that won't surface unless I give them a little push for you... There's always work to be done in this place...  Now, would you prefer Twilight or Applejack?

E-Excuse me!?

Twilight or Applejack? You've got a few inappropriate fantasies down here about both of 'em, and it's my never ending quest to make you uncomfortable around a cute pony, so what'll it be?  At least I'm giving you a choice this time,

Fluttershy hesitates and looks at Twilight's forelegs as they sit patiently in front of her, Twilight, please...

Attagirl, be right back!

"T-Twilight?"  Unbeknownst to Fluttershy, the pair had been sitting in a slightly awkward silence, staring at each other just like when they first met.  She speaks up a little and looks her in the eyes; her nose still tinted red from the embarrassment.

"Yes, Fluttershy?"  Twilight responds and cocks her head to the side, listening intently once more.

"I-Is this still just an experiment?"  Fluttershy feels she has to ask in the absence of her courageous counterpart.  Still thinking the idea to be very impersonal, but wanting some kind of closure from the unicorn.

Twilight just giggles into her hoof and trots over to stand next to Fluttershy, "Well... I don't see any notes around, do you?"  

"I guess n-not..."  Fluttershy feels herself turn dark red once more as Twilight brushes against her and nuzzles her face into her neck.

"Then I guess the experiment is over, and I'd have to say that the results I observed point to a wonderful reaction,"

Fluttershy can't help but grin shyly at the chemistry pun.  She turns her head to look Twilight in the eyes and then gives her a kiss on the bridge of her nose.  The unicorn promptly pulls away from the nuzzling and locks gazes with Fluttershy, kissing her lightly on the lips to respond.  

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Rainbow Dash trudges through her work, feeling somewhat depressed about her rejection; as usual, however, twisting it to stimulate her self-image.

Bah, she just couldn't handle me, she's too down to earth anyhow.  I don't need anypony like that crampin' my style,  

Dash goes about her duties setting up the soft snow-producing clouds above Ponyville.  The weather team is a few hours late but not because of Rainbow this time.  The workers in Cloudsdale were short a few hooves and couldn't finish producing all of the clouds before sunrise, so a light afternoon snowfall was scheduled instead.  

Rainbow flies through the puffy white things, accidentally ramming into one or two from time to time and claiming it was to "test their durability" as she put it.  She lazily hovers over the clouds, checking for any holes and promptly closing them up.  The pegasus continually runs over thoughts of Applejack in her head, feeling mortified for not getting what she wanted.  Dash would never admit it, even to herself, but she was almost jealous of AJ; she could spend her whole life single and still be happy and seemingly carefree.  Applejack has a family, and that's what matters to her.  The rainbow-maned pegasus knows this but still tries to block the thoughts out of her mind; her own family never supported her.

Feeling herself start to well up inside, she decides that she really needs to call it a day.  The cyan pony flies up to her foremare and lets her know that she'll be leaving early due to some 'family troubles'.  The dark green pony in charge of the operation gives Dash a funny look, but can clearly see the sadness lying behind her purple eyes.  Understanding what the prideful pegasus is trying to tell her, she waves Dash off and lets her know that she'll still be paid for a full day's work.  

Rainbow thanks her with a hug and flies off, hiding her eyes behind one of her forelegs to try and dispel any rumors that somepony had seen her crying before they formed.

As Dash reaches her home she begins to slow down, making sure nopony is around and quietly stepping toward her front door.  As far as homes go, hers is fairly nice: a good sized house made of clouds, rainbow fountains, doorway into a large foyer with all the amenities, though it always feels like it's missing something.  The miserable pony looks around her home, berating herself for almost crying in public,

"When did I get so weak?  Just thinking about family d--"  She chokes up in the middle of her sentence as her heart wrenches a little inside.  Every time she thinks of family ties she's brought back to her own home life.  

"I don't need them... I never needed them!"  Dash kicks one of the ornate pillars holding up the inside of her room; a piece of it is obliterated in a barely audible 'poof'.  

"Just like they didn't need me..."  She tries her best to suppress the sadness inside of her with anger, though as one might expect, conflicting strong emotions with others doesn't do too much good.  Rainbow puts a grimace on her face and sobs heavily into her foreleg, sitting in the middle of her home with nopony there to console her.

You are family, sugar-cube...  Rainbow tries to calm herself down and remembers what Applejack said that day.  She is family.  The mare brings her head up away from her foreleg and shakily walks toward her bedroom, not worrying about her messy mane in the slightest.  She enters the arching doorway into the far larger than necessary room, looking onto a small shelf next to her bed.  Sitting gently upon that shelf is a framed photograph of all six close friends.  They stand frozen on the parchment, each in a perpetual group hug with the next, not a single frown amongst them.

I do have a real family...  The pegasus smiles and closes her eyes, laughing softly at herself for having done all of this for nothing.  She picks up the picture and holds it between her hooves, staring at it and thinking about all the wonderful times she's had with all of her friends.  

After a minute of reminiscing, Dash's purple eyes wander to a certain yellow pegasus on the edge of the photo, smiling with the rest of them but still retaining a very shy demeanor.

Maybe I should go talk to her... make sure things are alright with her and Twilight,  Dash cheers herself up and looks in the mirror, promptly using her hooves to fix her hair back into its usual windswept style.  Satisfied, the pegasus stands up and trots toward her doorway.  She sighs and gathers her nerves, not taking long to forget about her past and taking off into the noontime skies.  

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Back at the Library, Twilight and Fluttershy keep themselves sequestered up in Twilight's room, continuing their moment of passion in the form of a very deep kiss.  Twilight keeps her forelegs wrapped around Fluttershy's back, gently toying with her wings every now and then.  Fluttershy, laying prostrate on her back with wings spread to the furthest reaches of the bed, holds Twilight's shoulders gingerly, returning every single motion that the unicorn's tongue makes with one of her own.  

As all of this goes on, Spike sits patiently down in the library proper, reading a book "A Farewell to Hooves" while munching on his most recent batch of cookies; completely unaware of the shenanigans going on upstairs.  

Fluttershy gently tilts her head away from the kiss, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a soft squeak.  Twilight responds to the broken kiss by tilting her muzzle down and gently nibbling along Fluttershy's shoulder, being extra sure to only bite softly.  The yellow pegasus, already a deep shade of red across the nose, manages to blush even more intensely, shivering just a little from the motions and gripping onto Twilight's shoulders as firmly as she can manage.

"I... I love you, Twilight!"  Fluttershy manages to squeak out through her heavy breathing.  The unicorn pulls her head up to look Fluttershy in the eye and smiles,

"I love you too, Fluttershy,"  

The two of them simply stare into each others eyes for a second before meeting lips once more, each one burning up with the intensity of their blushing cheeks.

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Rainbow Dash quickly bursts through the low-hanging snow clouds, feeling the chill of frost between her feathers as she escapes the light of the sun.  The pegaus shivers a little from the frosty air, not having prepared for any kind of real cold before leaving.  She lands on the wet, slightly snowy walkway to Fluttershy's home and skids, nearly ramming into the door as she tries her best to stop.  It's a shame nopony was around to see the most skilled flier in all of Equestria, for all intents and purposes, land on her face.  

I meant to do that...  Dash thinks to herself, checking around to be sure nopony witnessed the embarrassing event, especially peering into Fluttershy's windows to see if that specific pegasus had seen.  Dash doesn't find anypony inside, and all of her candles had been blown out; the only movement in the whole place was Angel Bunny rocking back and forth in the fetal position on the sofa.  

She must have gone over to talk to Twilight... You go girl! I'll just drop in and say hello,  Dash, still in a good mood, glances around to be sure nopony is watching, then takes off quickly.  She flies low to the ground and streamlines her body to move nice and quick through the frigid air, flying gracefully between buildings and leaving the rainbow trail behind her that she's known for.  

Weaving through the various spires and gabled rooftops of the multitudes of Ponyville's businesses always brings a little rush to the adventurous pegasus; she purposely takes the long way to Twilight's library on the edge of town in order to get a fix for the day.  

Dash slows herself down and repeats the fundamentals that she learned in flight school for landing in slick weather; not wanting to make a jackass out of herself in a slightly more populated area.  As she slows down and trots along the ground lightly before letting her weight off of her wings she kicks up water and snow from the ground, making a spectacle of the landing for most of the passersby to see.  In usual Rainbow Dash fashion, she bows her head and thanks the crowd, following up the mini-performance by walking toward the library door and giving it a few hard knocks.  

Spike comes to the door after a short delay, opening it and welcoming the pegasus inside from the cold.  

"Heya, Dash, what brings you all the way out here?"  Spike says with a touch of lethargy in his voice; as a cold-blooded dragon, chilly weather always leaves him feeling sleepy.

"Hey, Spike, ooh cookies, mind if I steal one?"  She doesn't wait for permission and just takes one, Spike tries to object but doesn't even have time to, "Anyway... mmn these are good.  Anyway I just dropped by to see if Fluttershy came over, she's not home,"  She speaks with her mouth full and gets crumbs everywhere, crumbs that poor Spike will have to be responsible for; he's less than satisfied.

"Yeah, she came over... Twilight and her are upstairs right now; Twilight said they wanted to talk in private for a while.  I dunno what it's about but it sounded kinda serious,"

"Alright, thanks bud!  I'll see you later,"  Dash says and begins prancing upstairs, completely disregarding Spikes haphazard plea for her to respect their privacy.  

Dash walks up to the bedroom door and opens it up, not knocking or giving any consideration to the noises coming from behind it.  She very quickly notices the two ponies up the ladder in Twilight's bed.  

"Woah!"  Dash yells in surprise, reeling from having walked in on them and only expecting some kind of conversation,

"Woah!"  Twilight and Fluttershy yell in unison as a response to Rainbow Dash.  Fluttershy promptly grabs the sheet and hides herself.

Woah! Haha! Didn't see that one coming didja Co-pilot? This got interesting,  Courage makes her presence known as Fluttershy hides very sheepishly behind the star-studded sheets of Twilight's bed.

"Rainbow! G-Get out of here!"  Twilight says, using her magic to pick the sheet up and cover herself as well, both ponies blushing very intensely,  "Don't you know to knock?"  

"Hah, haha, uhhm, sorry about that... I guess I misheard something.  Spike said you were just having a conversation and I only wanted to check in to see if you two ended up kissing and making up...  Looks like it was a little better than that huh?"  She recoils a little bit, embarrassed at having walked in on her friends.  She gives a few nervous chuckles and rubs the back of her neck, trying to look away but feeling almost fixed on the angry scowl across Twilight's countenance.  

"Get out!"  Twilight yells, using her magic to physically shove Rainbow out the door and slam it in her face, breathing heavily and blushing a very bright shade of red.  

Guess that means the mood's dead huh?  Courage asks mockingly, she'd probably be poking Fluttershy's ribs if she were real, You'd think she would have known from all the noises you were making...

You get out too!  Fluttershy snaps, not having to say anything else because the voice actually listens for once.  

"Uhm... Twilight?"  Fluttershy gently rests her hoof on the mare's shoulder, gaining her attention and calming her down a little bit.

"Yeah?"  She says with a sigh, trying to calm down and go back to being sweet for her marefriend beneath her.

"You don't think Rainbow's gonna make a habit of catching us like this, do you?  That's twice now..."  Fluttershy fights a smile on her face as she says this, still embarrassed but trying to lighten the mood with a joke.  Twilight eventually caves and smiles a bit as well, tickling Fluttershy under her wings and responding to her joke.

"We really need to get her a marefriend to keep her occupied..."