Playing Games

Twilight saw the girls chatting together by the Wondercolt statue before heading off to their next events. Only Fluttershy remained behind. She opened her backpack and began feeding treats to a little kitten she kept hidden there. She looked up to see Twilight watching her.

“Do you want to give her a treat?” she asked.

Twilight smiled shyly. “Guess I’m not the only one to smuggle her pet into school.”

Fluttershy laughed. “Not just one.” She unzipped her bag all the way, revealing a guinea pig, a bird, and a bunny in addition to the kitten.

“Oh wow,” cooed Twilight. “All I have is Spike.” She opened her backpack, and Spike stuck out his head.

Fluttershy could not resist. She scratched him under his chin and tickled his ears. “It really is uncanny,” she said. “Does he talk?”

Twilight looked at her as if she were insane. “Um. Not that I know of.”

“Congratulations on winning, by the way,” said Fluttershy. “Though it didn’t seem like anyone on your team was very excited about it.”

Twilight’s shoulders slumped. “No one at my school gets excited about anything they didn’t do themselves.” Tears welled up in her eyes.

“That sounds awful.” Fluttershy reached into her backpack. “Here. Hold this.” She handed Twilight her bunny, and Twilight held it awkwardly in her lap.

“Why?” asked Twilight, confused.

“Holding a bunny always makes me feel better,” Fluttershy explained.

“That’s ridiculous,” said Twilight. But the moment the bunny nuzzled her face, she began to grin. “It actually kind of works.”

Twilight patted the bunny, and Fluttershy sat happily beside her. It took Twilight a little while to realize how strange this was. “But I’m on the other team and you just lost. Why are you being so nice to me?”

“You looked like you needed it,” answered Fluttershy honestly. Fluttershy’s greatest joy was rescuing lost animals—and Twilight had seemed lost to her from the moment she had arrived at Canterlot High. Little acts of kindness always made Fluttershy happy. She was so happy, ears poked through her hair, her tail grew, and the shimmering purple aura sparkled around her.

Twilight was stunned. “What in the world is that?”

Twilight pulled out her device. The readings were going crazy. Streams of energy were emanating from Fluttershy. Nearby, strange ripples appeared in the grass, and a mythic jackalope appeared out of that other dimension and hopped toward them. Spike lunged for it, barking, and the jackalope retreated. Spike followed it, disappearing through the ripples. He was gone!

“Spike!” yelled the girls together.

Fluttershy dropped to the ground, stuck her hand right into the strange ripple, and started to fall into it. Twilight grabbed Fluttershy’s feet just in time and pulled her out, with Spike in her arms. The ripples dissolved and vanished.

Purple shimmers poured out of Fluttershy and into Twilight Sparkle’s device. Fluttershy looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. Her tail and her ears disappeared. Spike jumped out of her arms and back into Twilight’s.

“Spike, are you okay?” asked Twilight.

“I think so,” answered Spike. Something had happened to him! All of a sudden, he could talk.

Twilight was stunned. She couldn’t believe her ears. Was she going crazy? “AAAAAAHHHH!” she screamed, and ran off.

Poor Spike was freaked out, too, and he ran in the opposite direction.

“Bye,” said Fluttershy weakly.

Spike stopped, turned, and started running in the direction of Twilight. “Twilight, wait!” called the dog.