My Little Pony: The Portal

Chapter 14: Rainy Days

It was another early morning, only coming up on about 8 am. Fluttershy was the first to get up again, and was coming out of the shower. After the past week or so, she was becoming more accustomed to her new human body, as were her friends.

She stepped out of the bathroom dressed in her casual clothes, shorts and a bigger T-shirt. She stepped out into the hallway with bare feet and a towel wrapped around her head. She was surprised to see Alex sitting there at the counter with a bottle of water.

"Oh, good morning, Alex." Fluttershy greeted him with a soft smile.

However, Alex did not respond. As she stepped closer to him, she could see that he wasn't focused on her; he didn't appear to be focused on anything. His eyes were simply blank, and his expression bore a look of solemn contemplation and deep sadness.

"Alex? Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked with concern, bending forward a little bit and placing a hand on his shoulder. He flinched a bit, looking up at her.

"Huh?" He managed, not saying anything else. Closer still to him, now Fluttershy could see that there was mist in his eyes, even a stray tear or two. This only heightened her concern.

"What's wrong, Alex?" She asked again, her eyebrows furrowing and her frown deepening.

"Nothing, nothing. I'm fine." Alex answered, squinting a bit. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing his answer. Alex shook his head.

"I was just lost in thought is all." Alex said, rubbing his eyes. He looked down at his wet fingers, seemingly now noticing the tears that he had shed.

"What were you thinking about?" She asked, sitting down in the seat next to his.

"Um...just personal stuff is all." Alex said, trying to dismiss it. However, Fluttershy seemed to insist.

"You can tell me. It's alright." She said. Alex seemed very hesitant, looking for a way to phrase his next words.

"Okay... Have you ever heard the saying, 'Hindsight is 20/20'?" Alex asked. Fluttershy shook her head.

"Not really. What does it mean?"

"Well, 20/20 vision is perfect vision. It's basically saying that when you look back on something that's already happened, it's a lot easier to see what mistakes you made, what you could have done better, all that kind of stuff." Alex explained.

"I understand that." Fluttershy nodded.

"Yeah. So, um, sometimes I think back to times like that. Things I could've done better, things I could've avoided, mistakes that I made that made a huge difference, like in work or just in general or whatever. There's not exactly a shortage of things that I wish I could change." Alex summarized.

"I see... We all make mistakes. There's nothing wrong with that, so long as you learn from them and move on." Fluttershy said. Alex, however, shook his head.

"Not mistakes like these." He said solemnly, his voice quieting. He looked down at his folded arms, seemingly beginning to trail off again.

"You seem like you could use a hug." Fluttershy said, offering one to him. Alex sighed, and shook his head after some silence.

"That's alright. I'll be okay." He turned her down, even though a part of him wanted to accept it.

Despite this, Fluttershy got up anyways, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hugging him from the side, laying her head down gently atop his. Alex sighed, closing his eyes. It wasn't long before his body loosened, as if falling asleep again. Fluttershy stepped back.