OCD or why Minuette wants to strangle Flitter

The dinning room door blasted open. Thunderlane and Rumble turned their heads in surprise. Minuette was standing on the doorway, visibly angry.

"Where is Flitter?" she growled.

"Obviously not here." Rumble said. Minuette's horn cracked with energy. Thunderlane shot Rumble a glare. using his wings, he pointed to the window, signaling that they she had gone outside. The piece of information calmed Minuette, making the magic around her horn dispel.

"Where did she go?"

"That I don't know I'm afraid." Thudnerlane answered. "I think she went to the market, but I'm not sure."

Minuette thanked him and quickly left the house. She had to find Flitter. She had to find her paper.

"Okay...If I was Flitter, where would I go?" Minuette thought. Her mind racked itself with possible answers, none them satisfying. She could be anywhere! How was she supposed to find where a single pony was supposed to be, let alone a pony who-

"Who likes to help..." she muttered to herself. "Thats it!"

Flitter was a pony who liked to help others. It was very generous of her. It also made her easy to find, since she would most like head out to help her friends first. The only question that remained was. Who would she help first?

"Step by step Minuette, thats the only way to get things done around here." she sat on the ground, deep in thought. "Flitter likes helping ponies. My friends are ponies that need said help. The who would actually need help would be..."

The Sweeping Pony was open for all ponies to walk through the doors and quench their thirst. Berry made a point of opening exactly after lunch, mostly because the business, though slow starting, would slowly pick up speed through out the day. It was the perfect balance of time and drinking.

"Berry, have you seen Flitter?" Minuette asked as soon as she entered the bar.

"You just missed her. She came by asking for paper. Why would she ask me for paper, of all ponies." Berry served  mug of cider, passing it to a stallion. "She seemed really excited though. Like when Octavia finally got her cello. You should have seen her. She was crazy about it. Anyways, Flitter was so excited. She was all 'hey, I'm doing so really cool, can you help? I almost felt bad about saying no..."

Minuette tuned out the rest of the talk, instead opting to leave the tavern. She was in no mood to hear Berry ranting about. She had to find Flitter.

"If Flitter was asking for paper, then the only logical step would be somepony who used a lot of paper...like a writer!"

Her hopes were dashed as soon as she reached Fleur's home. There was sign on the doorway.

Closed for lunch. Back in three hours.

Who the heck takes three hours for lunch?"

So Berry and Fleur were out of the question. That would leave only one pony who would be accepting Flitter's help at the moment.

Almost as if on cue, a calm, beautiful melody reached Minuette's ears. It was sweet, slow and and caring, almost to the point of tenderness. Minuette could feel some of her irritation just ebb away.

The tree house had attracted a small flock of birds with the lovely music that flowed from the window. They chirped along as well. At least until Hugin came out and scared them away. Thats when he spotted Minuette walking to the house.

"Hello Minuette. What are you doing around here?"

"Looking for Flitter. Have you seen her?" Minuette asked.

"She came by earlier. She was rather happy too." Hugin landed on a branch. "She asked for some paper and ink."

Irritation turned into worry once Minuette realized just what was it that Flitter intended. She left without a word, running towards the house. If Flitter had already passed through here, then she would probably woud have gone back to her house to do what she wanted with the papers.

She had to stop her.

She ran inside, climbing the stairs, our would have, had she not bumped into Cloudchaser almost as soon as she entered the house. Cloudchaser merely used her wings to float over the running unicorn. Minuette realized in a passing thought that Cloudchaser probably hadn't noticed her to begin with.

"Focus Minuette..." the voice inside her head repeated.

Minuette stopped running once she reached the second floor. No use in running now that she was right besides the room. She could even hear some shuffling coming from inside. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. As predicted, Flitter was there, carefully trying to slip something in the stacks of designs.

"What are you doing?" Minuette asked. Flitter turned around in shock, nearly sending down the stack of designs. Minuette's timely magic was the only thing that stopped them. Flitter looked at the window, but Minuette closed it with a flick of her magic.

"Well?" Minuette insisted. Flitter gulped loudly.

"I, I just...I just wanted to-"

"To what?" Minuette cut her off. "To once again wreck my stuff? My work?" she walked in, making Flitter back away from the desk.

"No! I just wanted to help!" she defended herself.

"Thats why you took my paper right? Without even telling me." Minuette calmly fixed the stack. There was no sign of the old paper, something that did not escape the unicorn.

"And apparently, you destroyed it. Just like my house." she growled.

"No, I-"

"What?! You what?!" Minuette shouted. "All I wanted was to work. I didn't need your help! But you insisted, so I let you help me. And what do you and Cloudchaser do?!" She slammed her hoof on the table, sending the stack to the floor in a mess.

"You wreck my room! And now you take my work and ruin it too?!"

Flitter tried to stammer an answer, but she couldn't. Minuette pressed forward, making Flitter bump against a wall.

"I don't like having my things touched Flitter. I really don't." she growled. "Where is it?"

"Wha..what?" Flitter stammered.

"The old design that you took! Where is it?!"

Flitter would have answered, but Minuette's hard stare, combined with her own nervousness stopped her from managing any coherent answer. She pointed a trembling hoof at the table. Minuette turned and faced where she was pointing. And her anger vanished in a second.

After falling down to the floor, only a few remaining designs had remained on the table. One of them caught her attention. Lying right in the middle of the table, was a particular design. A rather mechanical pony, with some lines, scribbles and light drawings on top. While it was rather srcuffy looking, there was no mistaking what it was.

"This..you did this?" Minuette asked. Flitter approached her, now less afraid than before.

"I noticed it when you left for lunch." she answered. "I thought that it was weird, considering that you are always so clean and stuff, so I decided to fix it for you."

"What happened to the original?"

"Its back in my room." Flitter grinned. "You didn't let me answer."

Flitter left the room, only to return in less than a minute, this time carrying the old design in her mouth. She carefully placed in on the table, right besides the new one. They were identical, save for the obvious difference in the quality of the drawing and writing.

Minuette placed the old version back in the case, with almost tender care.

"Thanks..." she mumbled.

"You treat it with so much care. Flitter asked. "Why?"

Minuette locked the case and pushed it underneath the table. She then proceeded to, once again, put the designs back in their place.

"It was my first design." Minuette turned to face Flitter. "I was just finished with my studies and I was just...full of ideas. So naturally I went for a big project. Something that would change Equestria forever." her face grew brighter, recalling the memory with fondness. "I wanted to build a mechanical pony. One that would move by itself. Act by itself. No unicorn to be constantly supplying magic. The first self operating machine. So I started working on the design."

"Thats awesome! Why didn't you build it or something?"

"I didn't have much money back then. So I presented my project to different companies and investors, hoping to get some funding." Minuette's face grew somber. "All I got was laughs and jeers. Nopony liked my idea, calling it childish, and I was forced back down or face further humiliation."

"Wha?! Thats nor right!" Flitter said. Minuette gave her a sad smile. "What happened to the idea?!"

"Life happened. Between working and setting my shop here, my project just...faded into the background."

"But thats not right at all!" Flitter shook Minuette by the shoulders. "You should finish it! Build it! it would be awesome!"

"How? I still don't have the money for all the parts, and even if I did, I don't have the time to work on something like that." Minuette replied. "It was just an idea anyways."

"No! Its more than that!" Flitter smiled. "Its a dream. Your dream. And you can do it. I'll help you even!" Minuette shot her a glare. "I'll be careful this time."

Minuette looked at the table. The design was there, unmoved, new and practically calling her to finish what she started. She looked back at the rest of the stack. All that work wouldn't finish itself.

"But my workshop is not finished yet..."

"Then when its finished! You'll make the greatest self operating thing ever!"

Minuette hesitated for a few moments, but smiled eventually.

"Alright. Help me build my project."

It would be a week before Minuette's house was finished. During those days, Minuette would spend her time working away, either fixing the designs or building some of the clocks. In her own way of course. But occasionally, Flitter would pop in front of her, offering some help.

Sometimes she agreed to let her carry some stuff, or accompany her while she worked. It was nice to not be alone during the night, even if all Flitter would do then was sleep.

And others she would refuse. She liked her space. She had her way of doings things and thats how she liked it. For now at least.

Things may change once she they start working together for real.