At the End of the Tunnel

"You want me to do what!?"

It was less than a week after Time Turner and Ditzy's first date, and they had set up a second one. However, there was a bit of a snag. And Time Turner had hit me with it first thing in the morning.

"We just need to find a foalsitter for Dinky," Time Turner explained, "You were the first pon- person I thought of."

"I repeat my question, you want me to do what!? Foalsit. Me. No, no, no, no, no. I don't know the first thing about kids, let alone foals."

"Oh come on, it would only be a couple of hours, three at the most."

"It would only be three if you got lucky," I snapped.

"Are you insinuating that Ditzy doesn't want to do that with me?"

"I'm not insinuating anything. Why can't Golden Harvest foalsit, she did last time."

"She in Apploosa this weekend for a 'Grower's Convention' whatever the hay that is."

"I think it has to do with agriculture. What about Amethyst Star?"

"In Manehattan visiting relatives."

"What about Pinkie Pie? She foalsits for the Cakes all the time."

"And that's precisely what's she's doing tonight."

"Celestia dammit, Time Turner, you're not going to talk me into it."

"What if I promised you something, some kind of payment."

"You still owe me a watch for setting you two up in the first place, you want to be in debt to me more, be my guest."

"How about this? You do this for me tonight, and you can have the rest of the weekend off, with pay?"

Now I took notice. My boss was offering me two days off, with pay, for putting up with a foal whom I had met before for a few hours. This deserved some contemplation, which I was done with in about three seconds.

"OK, Time Turner, I'll do it."

"Thank you," he sighed in relief, "I didn't know who I would have turned to if you had said 'no'."

"And I'm sorry for acting like such an ass. I should have just said 'yes' in the beginning. You don't have to give me the two days off."

"No, no, I promised, and you'll get it."

**************************************************

That evening, the two of us went to Ditzy's house together. He to pick up his date, and me to take over foalwatching. Turner knocked on the door and Ditzy soon answered.

"There you two are," she said, as if she was expecting me all along, "come inside."

The house that Ditzy Doo shared with Golden Harvest was a very modest two-story, not unlike most of the houses in town. The front door opened to the living room in which sat a simple navy blue couch in front of a modestly-sized coffee table. The floor was covered in white shag carpet.

"Weeeeeeeee!" A voice wailed coming down the hall. The voice was that of Dinky Doo, Ditzy's unicorn filly. However, when she came into view, she wasn't running, she was flying.

Or, more correctly, she was being carried through the air by a pegasus pony. And, more specifically than that, the pegasus turned out to be Fluttershy. The pastel pegasus put Dinky down on the couch and sat next to her. The five of us all looked at one another for a moment in a state of confusion.

"Ditzy, darling," Time Turner said, "I told you I had the foalsitting problem under control."

"I know you did," Ditzy replied, "but I also knew that by 'under control' you were going to ask Guy to do it, and I knew that he might say 'no'." Well she certainly had me pegged. "So when I ran into Fluttershy and we were talking about our plans tonight, and I told her about our date, and she offered to foalsit Dinky since she knew I didn't have anypony else to do it."

"Oh, um," Fluttershy stuttered from the couch, "if you want Guy to foalsit instead, I'll just go home."

"Hold on, Fluttershy," I said, "Time Turner had to bribe me to agree to foalsit tonight. Perhaps it's better if somepony who actually wants to do it, not to mention somepony who is actually good with foals, watches Dinky instead."

"You don't want to stay and have fun tonight Guy," it was Dinky, almost lost in the shuffle among all the grown-ups in the room. She had a very sad expression on her face. Looking back on it, considering how much of an effect a little filly could have on me, no wonder a certain mare would almost adorable me to death.

"OK, OK, I'll stay," I said in a mock-upset tone with a twinkle in my eye. I took the two or three steps necessary to stand in front where Dinky was on the couch, "Do you want Fluttershy to stay too?"

"Could she," the little unicorn gasped, "can you stay, Fluttershy, can you?"

"Of course I can," the pegasus responded, "as long your mom says so."

"Of course she can," Ditzy replied, beginning to head toward the door, "you three have fun, and Dinky, remember your bedtime."

"Yes, mom," Dinky called, still sitting on the couch.

Fluttershy, Dinky, and I waved good-bye to Time Turner and Ditzy as they headed out the door on their date. It was hardly closed before Dinky started up again.

"Let's play a game, let's play a game," she cried out.

"OK, Dinky," Fluttershy said gently and motherly, "what game do you want to play?"

"Ummm, hide-and-seek."

"Oh, boy," I said, "I think it's going to be hard for me to hide anywhere in this house."

"Awww, in that case...NOT IT!"

"Not it," Fluttershy quickly and quietly said.

What the-," I reacted to being out-witted by the girls, "OK, if that's how you want to play, then you better find a good hiding spot, I'm only counting to 10. 1..."

Dinky quickly bounced off the couch and ran off somewhere, I had already closed my eyes and sat down by the time Fluttershy flew off.

There wasn't anyway I was going to be able to hear where Fluttershy was going, but I might be able to hear Dinky's hoofsteps, so I tried to concentrate on that while I counted, determined to find her first. By the time I got to a count of six, all the other sounds had stopped. I quickly finished counting.

"...and 10! Ready or not, here I come!"

I walked quickly to the laundry room where I believed Dinky to be. I opened both the washer and dryer to find them empty. Perhaps I was in the wrong room. But then I noticed a basket over-flowing with clothing, and decided to pull out a little trick. You see, when I was a kid, I was terrible at hide-and-seek, particularly the hiding part. I could find good spots, but when the seeker was around and seemed stumped, I would always giggle and give myself away. I wondered if Dinky was susceptible to the same mistake.

"Well," I said fully aloud, "it doesn't seem like Dinky's in this room.

And there it was, the faintest, muffled, stifled giggle of a filly. I took a step backward to get closer to the basket, still acting stumped. Quickly, I turned around and reached both my hands into the laundry basket, fishing Dinky out from underneath all the clothes.

"Gotcha," I cried aloud.

"Aww, you found me," Dinky giggled.

"That means you're 'It' next round," I said, still holding the filly in both of my hands, "now you have to help me find Fluttershy."

"OK! She's upstairs, probably in mommy's room."

"Oh really? Well let's go see."

The two of us trudged up the stairs, or, more correctly, I trudged up the stairs while carrying Dinky. She would have to show me around Ditzy's and Golden Harvest's rooms, since I had never been in them before.

"How are we going to find Fluttershy," Dinky asked, "she's so quiet, she'll never make a sound."

"That's true," I replied, "but she's a full-grown pegasus, there are only so many places she can hide. Have you ever played hide-and-seek with her before?"

"No."

"Oh well, no matter, we'll find her one way or another. And we'll start like this," I cleared my throat, "Hey Fluttershy, it's Guy. I already found Dinky, so if you're tired of hiding and just want to give up, we'll understand.

A whoosing sound came from what I would later learn was indeed Ditzy's room. Soon a very wide-eyed Fluttershy was standing in front of us.

"Found you," I smirked.

"Awww," Dinky complained, "that's no fun."

"Sorry, Dinky," Fluttershy timidly apologized, "but it was kind of dark and scary in there. And I was feeling a little bit afraid."

"And besides," I continued, "it's a good way to keep a good hiding place a secret. If you give yourself up, you can always use the hiding spot again."

"I guess that makes sense," Dinky said, still a little peeved that Fluttershy had just given up.

"Well in any case, your 'It' Dinky. Go downstairs to the couch and count to ten."

"OK, Guy!"

The little filly bounded down the stairs. Fluttershy was about to follow her, but I stopped the pegasus.

"Now where do you think you're going," I asked slyly.

"Ju-just looking for a place to hide," Fluttershy replied meekly.

"I have an idea that'll get us both a good hiding spot, where Dinky will never look."

"Five," we could hear Dinky count from downstairs.

"Quick," I said, "go into Ditzy's room, I'll be along in a moment."

Fluttershy darted into the bedroom while I bounded down the stairs and back up, trying to use the noise to throw Dinky off our trail. I soon entered Ditzy's room as promised. Fluttershy was making a move toward a closet, which happened to be a rather large walk-in.

"This is where I was hiding last time," she said quietly.

"Eight..."

When I stepped inside the closet, I could see that it had a higher shelf where some clothing was piled, but not so much that a klutzy pegasus like Ditzy couldn't reach it. But there was also plenty of empty space, enough room, not only for Fluttershy, but me as well.

"You think you could fly me up there?"

"Nine..."

"I could try," the buttery pegasus meekly gulped.

"Ten! Ready or not, here I come!"

Fluttershy flew behind me and wrapped her forehooves under my arms and around the barrel of my chest. She had to strain a little bit to get me off the ground, but fortunately, it wasn't a very far flight. When we landed, I was on my stomach, and Fluttershy was still clung onto my back. After unlacing her forehooves from me, she made a move to get off, but I stopped her.

"You'll make too much noise," I whispered as quietly as possible, "just stay put for a minute, I think I hear Dinky coming."

"You're right," Fluttershy responded in a level of volume that I was surprised I could even hear. She sure had this "meek and shy" thing down to a science.

We could soon hear Dinky enter her mother's room and search it high and low, or at least as high and low as she could manage. As she made her way over to the walk-in closet, I could feel Fluttershy try to back away as far from the edge as possible. I did similarly, ducking my head and reaching my hands behind me. Of course, this had the effect of wrapping my arms around the barrel of the pastel pegasus in a kind of reverse hug. This, in turn, had the unwanted consequence of causing Fluttershy to let out a squeak just as Dinky entered the closet. At first, she didn't say anything, but instead peered around, as if she was wondering where the strange sound could have come from. The two of us in hiding held our collective breath.

"Awww," Dinky whined, "that's not fair, how am I supposed to tag you 'It' if you're way up there."

I was surprised that Dinky heard us, so I did the gentlemanly thing and peered over the edge of the shelving and looked down at the little gray unicorn.

"Well, you can use magic, can't you? You figure out a way," I said, sticking my tongue out.

"Um...I-I'm up here too," it was Fluttershy, peeking her head over my shoulder.

"Ah-ha," Dinky cried out, "that explains how Guy got up there."

"Aww, c'mon Fluttershy," I said defeatedly, "I was going to give myself up. You could have hid up here for a long time."

"But I would have gotten lonely again."

I facepalmed. Dinky laughed.

After Fluttershy and I got down off the shelving, we played a few more rounds of hide-and-seek. Interestingly, Fluttershy was never "It." I suppose Dinky and I were just adamant about finding each other every time. On the positive side of things, these games had the effect of making Dinky tired, to where she was asking to go to bed early. Fluttershy and I had no problem with this request, of course, but as the three of us made our way upstairs to Dinky's room, she made a second request.

"Hey Guy, do you know any fairy tales from your world," Dinky asked, which surprised me to say the least.

"Sure Dinky," I responded, "there are fairy tales in my world just like there are here I presume."

"Do you think you could tell me one before I go to bed?"

"I think that can be arranged."

"Yay, story time."

Once in the bedroom, Dinky bounded onto the bed and quickly got under the covers. She beckoned Fluttershy to sit next to her as I stood on the other side of the bed and told the story.

"Let's see," I began, what's a good story, "Oh, I know, how about the story of the Princess and the Pea."

"I've never heard of that one," Dinky said, already yawning.

"Well, once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. She was so beautiful that princes from far and wide came to ask for her hand in marriage. But none of them seemed suitable, so the princess' father would send them all away. Having seemingly seen every suitor in the entire country, the father went to a fortune-teller for advice on what to do. The fortune-teller told him to have his daughter sleep on not one, but ten mattresses, placing a feather under the very bottom one. If the delicate princess' sleep was bothered by the feather in her sleep, then that meant that the suitor she had met that day should be her husband."

By this point, both Dinky and Fluttershy were quite engrossed in the story. I had to admit to myself that I wasn't even sure if I was telling it correctly, but it didn't matter to these two.

"One day," I continued, "months later, a very unusual thing happened. Another suitor came calling, but this was not some prince or noble, but a simple street musician. Although not of any kind of breeding, the princess was quite smitten with him, for he played the most wondrous music that her ears had ever heard. However, her father would not take a proclamation of love from her as proof, not without the indication of the wondrous feather under the mattresses. That night, before the princess went to bed, she heard a rapping at her window. It was the musician, who said that he had a great idea of how to win the approval of her father. He held out one of his hands, which held a single green pea, 'Take this pea, and place it under your mattresses,' he said, 'I hate to cause unrest to the sleep of such a beautiful damsel, but I love you, and if you love me in return, you will do this one simple task.'"

My audience didn't take their eyes off of me as I reached the climax of the story.

"And so, that night, the princess tossed and turned something fierce. Even though it was only a little pea, the princess was so delicate that she could feel it right in the middle of her back, and it kept her from getting any sleep that night. The next morning, her mother saw her with bags under her eyes, and her hair all a mess, quite a change from her usual appearance. 'How did you sleep last night, darling,' the princess' mother questioned. 'Horribly,' came the answer, 'I didn't get a wink all night.' Upon hearing how her daughter's sleep had indeed been disrupted, the mother almost fainted. However, she regained her composure and called for her husband to see the sight and hear the same words. The princess repeated the explanation of her horrid palor to her father, who reacted similarly to his wife. Then he remembered the fortune-teller and the suitor who had been there yesterday, the musician. Immediately, he called the musician to return to the castle. And thus, the musician and the princess were soon wed, and they lived happily every after. The End."

"Yeah," Dinky clapped her hooves together, "a happy ending."

"Well yeah," I laughed, "what kind of story did you think I was going tell, one where the princess--," I stopped myself before I could say what I was thinking, "OK, time for bed."

Fluttershy finished tucking Dinky into the bed, and even gave her a little kiss on the forehead. I turned off the bedroom light and followed the yellow pegasus back downstairs to where our night had started: the living room couch. I flopped onto one far side while Fluttershy delicately placed herself on the far other side. I looked up to the only clock in the room, an old clock which I had been told originally belonged to Golden's grandfather. It read eight-thirty, before Dinky's bedtime, and the couple weren't expected home for another half-hour at least.

"So," I started, relaxing and turning my head toward Fluttershy, "how are we going to pass the time."

"I don't know," my co-foalsitter answered.

"It's pretty dark out," I commented, looking out the decent-sized window in the room which brought in a good amount of natural sunshine during the day, "You could leave now, if you want. Dinky's in bed, there's nothing else to do, really. Nothing to do except wait for Time Turner to bring Ditzy home. Assuming she doesn't fall asleep in his bed or something."

This bit of mature subject material made Fluttershy blush quite nicely. I swear, I wasn't doing it on purpose, but I had to admit that causing Fluttershy embarrassment was quite fun.

"You-you don't think they would actually be...doing that, do you?"

"Why not? Their adults, they can do whatever they please as far as I'm concerned."

"But, what is this, their second date?"

"He told me he hit a double on their first date."

"A double?"

"Made it to second base," I could tell Fluttershy was still confused, as I was using terminology that didn't apply to this world, "He touched one, if not both, of her teats. I think that counts as making it to second. Wouldn't be surprised if he got all the way home on the second date."

The look on Fluttershy's face was adorable. It was a perfect combination of shock and embarrassment, and almost her entire body went flush at this point. Her jaw hung open, as if she wanted to say something, but no words would come out. It was just precious.

"Guy...don't...don't talk...like that," she finally stuttered out. All this did was make the smile on my face grow wider.

"What's wrong Fluttershy? Didn't your mother ever teach you about the birds and bees?"

"Oh I know plenty about birds and bees," the animal-lover responded, obviously we weren't on the same page.

"Not like that," I said, chortling, "Like, the relationship between mare and stallion."

"Oh...OH!" now I was making progress, though she was still completely blushed, "Well...well, my mother was very...um...conservative, you might say. She believed only in mare-stallion relations during marriage."

"Do you agree with that?"

"I, um, I don't know," came the response, "I mean, I know my friends have had coltfriends and such, but I don't think about that. It's none of my business."

"You ever said that to your mother," I raised my eyebrows.

"We don't talk about that. She'd be perfectly happy if I never got married."

"She doesn't want any grandchildren?"

"Well of course she wants me to have foals, but she doesn't pressure me about it. We don't see each other a lot since my parents both live in Cloudsdale and I don't travel there often."

"Sorry if I'm prying, Fluttershy," I apologized, realizing that this was probably a touchy subject for the shy pegasus.

"Oh, that's OK."

An awkward silence followed, where neither of us knew what to do or say next. Fortunately, we were saved by the sound of the front door opening. It was Time Turner and Ditzy, both smiling.

"How was Dinky," Ditzy asked the two of us on the couch.

"She was great," Fluttershy said, her regular palor having returned to her, obviously happy that there was somepony else in the house.

"Couldn't have been better," I answered, "in fact, she's already asleep."

"Really," Ditzy said with some shock, "usually it's a chore to get her to go to bed."

"Oh, well, Guy told a very good bedtime story and she fell right asleep."

"Really, Guy," now it was Time Turner's turn to be shocked, "you don't strike me as a story-telling type."

"You learn something new everyday," I responded, "now since both of you are here, I think I'll be going home."

"Me too," Fluttershy said immediately behind me, "goodnight Time Turner and Ditzy."

"Goodnight, you two," I followed.

"Goodnight," they responded at the same time.

Fluttershy and I left the house at the same time, though we were going in two different directions. As Fluttershy flew off in the semi-darkness of the streetlamp-lit streets, I just watched, laughing to myself about our little conversation.