The day goes by in the blink of an eye… If the eye belonged to Tank, that is.
Still, being the first day meant no real work, something that I-alongside practically everyone here- really enjoy. I mean, I only got Mr. C-pffft-Clop, angry once today, that's a good day on its own.
“Pat!” my name is shouted, I turn to face the caller and see their familiar pink form running towards me with a panicked look on her face.
“Pat!” says the person shouting once again… The pink person being Pinkie, of course. I mean, seriously, no other pink person calls me that. “Pat! Pat! Pat! Pat! Pat! Pat! Pat!” she ravages me continuously with her words once she reaches me in an effort to get my attention.
“Who?”
“Pat!”
“Fat? I am no such thing!”
“Pat?”
“Yes, I‘m jok-”
“Pat!”
…
Seeing how her barrage won’t stop, I decide for her to let it out of her system, and after a solid minute of silence with her simply staring at my pretty face, I allow the conversation to continue.
“Yes, Pi-”
“Pat! Come with me!” she interrupts, suddenly grabbing my arm and dragging me… I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that her cutie mark here would be kidnapping… I wonder if this world has butt tattoos as well… I wonder if Pinkie has a butt tattoo…
After a few quick turns, we finally arrive at our apparent destination; Celestia’s office? We barge right in, and I‘m quickly placed neatly on a chair, staring at Celestia who simply looks flabbergasted. I have the feeling she is as surprised to see me as I am being here.
“Pinkie Pie reporting for duty, ma’am!” Pinkie recites, closing the door behind her and saluting Celestia in the most mocking form of salute. My military friends would have a field day with that one.
“Um… Yes, thank you, Pinkie…” Celestia thanks Pinkie, turning her attention to me and clearing her throat in an obvious attempt to get normalcy into the room. “I’m going to guess that you have no idea what you are doing here, do you, Lemon?”
“Not the slightest clue,” I reply amused. “But I take it I’m needed in some way, I‘m all ears.”
“Thank you, now…” Celestia sighs, eyeing the empty seat besides me. “Fluttershy, come on out, it was just Pinkie Pie.”
From the corner of my eye, I notice Fluttershy’s pink, flowing hair, she walks to the seat next to me and sits down, giving me a wary look.
“I-if you say so…” she says, holding her arm awkwardly.
“I‘ll make this quick Lemon. Fluttershy requires help at the rescue centre, there was an emergency and the place was left in her charge, normally, this wouldn‘t be something I allow, but she insisted on doing so, and I trust her. In any case, she couldn’t find any help so Pinkie went to get you, and that’s why you are here in a nutshell,” she finishes, leaning back on her chair.
“So let me get this straight… I have to work? Does this pay?” I ask quickly. One can’t have too much money.
“Well, yawn,” Luna’s voice starts, suddenly popping out from the next room over with a folder in her hands. “This is good for community hours that you need, whi-”
“Not interested,” I simply say, getting off the seat and making my way to the exit. I am NOT dealing with this… And the animals don’t sound good either.
“Oh, come on Lemon, please?” Pinkie pops in front of me, giving me the most adorable puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen.
To her misfortune, I like ponies. I can take cute. “Pinkie, I just c-”
“Oh, pretty please! Think of those poor animals alone!” Fluttershy says, joining Pinkie on her puppy-like endeavors… No!
“Can’t… Resist… Two… C- Fine!” I groan annoyed. “I’ll help, but I better get something!”
“You‘ll get hours,” replies Luna simply, pointing at the folder.
“I’ll get triple the hours!” I barter, giving Luna a mischievous smile.
“Normal hours,” she simply retorts with a flat look.
“Double! That’s my final offer!”
“Normal hours and no detention for bartering with the vice-principal,” she says with a grin.
“Deal!” Damn it.
“Then it’s settled,” Celestia states satisfied, she reaches into her desk and brings out a sort of credential without a photo, which she promptly hands over to me. “This’ll show your position in the place, not that you need it, but just in case,” I half-heartedly grab the thing and shove it into my pocket, this’ll be useful. NOT.
“I still don’t get why someone else couldn’t do it…” I groan.
“Well!” Pinkie jumps in. “AJ has to pick apples after-school, Dash helps coach the elementary school teams, Rarity hates any animal that isn‘t her cat, and I have to work at Sugarcube Corner! Which by the way, I am late to! Bye guys!” Pinkie shouts, rushing out the door, leaving behind a trail of smoke shaped as letters spelling ‘bye’… Oh, sure, figures that she just came back and now we don’t get to hang out.
“Bye Pinkie! I‘ll see you tomorrow,” Fluttershy says, with a weak wave to boot.
“Well, now that that’s settled too, I suppose it’s time for you guys to go,” Celestia says, pointing us towards the door. I have the slight feeling she wants us out.
“Oh, yes! The poor animals await!” I groan sarcastically as Fluttershy and I exit the office and we head out the building, by this point is as empty as it can be, leaving only Fluttershy and I without any distractions to keep me from focusing on her.
. “So, only you and I will be doing this?” I ask.
“Oh, no, actually, someone else volunteered,” she explains as we reach the exit towards the parking lot, I notice a few cars, and … I’m going to assume the car with the ‘save the animals’ sticker is owned by Fluttershy.
“Who is it?” I ask curious, maybe I can get them to do all the work for me.
“I don’t know… But the Principal said that he would be waiting at the shelter, so we won’t be doing this alone… Thankfully,” she says relieved.
“What? You don’t think I can handle it? Could it be that you are still mad at me?” I ask in faux annoyance.
“O-of course not! I actually wanted to apologize to you for a while now, but I was to-”
“Too scared, I know,” I finish for her. She nods in agreement. It figures.
“Yes… There is usually two workers with one volunteer helping out, nothing personal… W-well, are you ready?” she changes the subject, quickly getting in the car. I simply nod, getting into the passenger‘s seat while she fumbles with the wheel awkwardly.
Let’s hope she gets me killed on the way there.
~~~~~
The drive doesn’t take too long, and we arrive ten minutes after our departure, we park on the far end of the building, and get out of the car, ready for a terrible day with animals… For me, at least.
“Oh, I can’t wait to see Angel again!” Fluttershy says while skipping, I gotta give her credit, she certainly is uplifting when it comes to animals. “Oh, is someone here?” she notices when we reach the entrance, easily opening the door.
Ring!
We make our entrance into the building, the first thing that comes to view is a simple looking front desk, which is nothing more than, well, a simple desk glued to the ground with a small door leading inside it, the desk is easily dwarfed by the high amount of space inside, and for some reason there is a HUGE hamster spot that literally encompasses an entire room.
“Interesting place?” I comment, looking around. “Looks better than any rescue center I’ve ever seen.”
“I know, right? We have our benefactor to thank for that! That is him on the wall over there,” she says excited, pointing to the far wall. “Hello? Anyone here?” she calls as she leaves her coat on a chair.
“Oh, really? Cool,” I reply, not even bothering to give the picture a glance.
“Oh, Fluttershy, you are here!” I hear a familiar voice calling her. We go towards the next room to meet the second person an- What the fuck!?
“You!” I shout once I take a good look at his face.
“Lemon!?” he asks just as surprised as me.
“O-oh… You two know each other?” Fluttershy asks stupidly.
“After a very unfortunate fashion,” I reply, my palms now folded into neat fists, scanning the guy to make sure, but there is no mistake; that’s Flash Sentry. With me. In a closed environment without anyone else outside Fluttershy.
“Lemon, calm down, there is no need for violence,” the coward says already knowing my plan.
“Sure there is! And soon, you are gonna be blue and blue all over!” I threaten him.
“I know what you are implying but that was terrible,” Flash groans, rolling his eyes, quickly getting off his seat and backing away.
“Coward! Why are you running away?”
“Because I’m holding you back, please, PLEASE stop!” Fluttershy begs, her hands around my waist as I stand with my fist raised. How did I not catch that? “You are here to help with the shelter!”
“I… Guess you do have a point…” I say disappointed. I wanted fisticuffs. “Sorry.”
“You do not apologize to me! You apologize to poor Flash for scaring him!” she reprimands me, pointing at that little s- “Lemon!”
“Yes ma’am!” what can I say? She made a compelling argument. “Um… Sorry, Flash…” I begrudgingly apologize, even thought he was a jerk first, but hey! She doesn’t know that! THANKS FOR ASKING.
“… It’s alright, no harm done,“ Flash finishes, waving it off. “But let’s not get sidetracked, we have a shelter to run, don’t we?” he says, looking towards Fluttershy. “We all already know each other so there is no need for introductions. Fluttershy, what do you have in mind for us?” Flash asks, turning his attention to her.
“Um…” she starts as expected, the argument quickly falling to the back of their minds… Not mine, of course, I’m not quite done with it yet.
Fluttershy takes a deep breath, looking behind us at a door, her eyes giving gleaming as something probably comes to mind.
“Come with me!” she orders us, rushing past us and going through the next door over.
With similar shrugs, we follow, making our way into the next room over, passing through another room before making our way into the shelter itself, where I can already see the animals and... Smell them.
“Holy fuck! That smells bad!”
“Lemon! Language!” Fluttershy shouts, giving me a disapproving look. “The animals don’t appreciate it!” she says, pointing to the numerous cages around, I simply stare amazed at the sheer number of them, to my surprise, everything looks relatively clean, the cages themselves looking reasonably well kept, and for some reason… All the animals are eerily quiet. To my side, only a table is placed by the entrance, with two picture frames and some keys placed upon it.
“Right…” I hear Flash say as he approaches Fluttershy. “Well, I do have to admit, this place smells rather bad,“ he agrees.
“It’s not that bad!” Fluttershy points out, taking a deep whiff of the place, the smile never leaving her face. “Is just animals doing what they think is natural in a place they aren‘t used to!”
Is safe to say that both Flash and I just gave each other an incredulous look.
Flash quickly intervenes. “Right… So what did you want us to do?” he proceeds, mercifully advancing the conversation.
“Oh! Well, since I’ll have to take care of the front, you two will clean the cages! Isn’t that fun?” she says with a rather overly cheerful vigor.
Hey, look! Flash and I are sharing that look again.
I clear my throat and continue for Flash. “It sure is… So how do you want us to go by that, exactly?” I ask tentatively. Whatever she answers with, I will probably hate it.
“Well, you simply ask the ani-” she suddenly stops, quickly covering her own mouth to stop herself from continuing. “I-I mean, you just need to take out one at a time and put them on a different cage we have for this in the meantime… They are nice critters, so you won’t have much trouble…” she finishes in a quiet voice, looking defectively to the side as she holds her elbow again. What is up with that?
“Well, don’t you worry, Fluttershy, ‘Brash' and I have this covered!” I say in an attempt to cheer her up.
“Wait, did you just call me Brash?” Flash asks confused.
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I reply before I turn back to Fluttershy and continue. “Anyway, Clash and I have this covered, so you don’t have to worry!”
“My name isn’t C-”
“Oh, that’s great! Let me show you how to do it,” Fluttershy interrupts, the sudden mood swing taking me by surprise.
Ten minutes later, we have learned what we are to do, but for some reason, I got the feeling something was up with Fluttershy as she explained… Or maybe it’s the burrito I ate. It honestly could be one or the other.
“And that’s about it! Remember, be mindful of the animal’s feel- I mean, good luck! I have to go! Keys are on the table!” and like a flash, she runs past us, practically slamming the door shut right behind her, leaving us in a confused state over whatever that was supposed to be.
“Well… That was weird,” I point out.
“You can say that again.”
“Well… That was weird.”
“It’s a figure of speech, Lemon,” Flash groans.
“Yeah, whatever, Trash, come on, let’s get to work,” I say, waving his comment away.
“Ugh… Okay, seriously, are you going to continue that name thing?” Flash asks annoyed.
“Oh, I’m sorry, is it bothering you?” I asks, giving him a look of guilt.
“Well… Yes, a bit, actually, can you stop?” he explains, his face mimicking the tone of his words. Basically, frustrated.
“Depends… Have I forgiven you enough for what you were trying to do to Pinkie last summer?”
“Seriousl- Okay, I guess somewhat? I mean, you are talking to me.”
“Trick question, I haven’t. Now shut up and let’s get this over with,” he groans, but to his credit, does as he is told. Needless to say; the next hour was pure hell. Fluttershy is a liar.
“This is terrible… How did Fluttershy clean this place herself?” I hear Flash mumble as he attempts to put a dog back in his cage..
“Through hard work and perseverance, clearly something you are missing, ‘For‘,” I shout an uninvited comment.
“That doesn‘t even rhyme… That‘s not even a name!” he nearly shouts, barely holding it in.
“Your face isn’t a name.”
“You are unbelievable…” I hear him complaint, sounding more annoyed than ever before.
“No, want to know what’s unbelievable?” I say, realizing something. “The fact that I didn’t call my mom before coming here, she‘s gonna kill me, so I’ll be right back,” I excuse myself, walking out of the room.
As I close the door, I managed to hear Flash’s voice..
“No one told me this would be hard…”
I know I shouldn’t, but I’m going to anyway.
“That’s what she said!” I shout through a small opening in the door before completely closing it. I’m surprised I can hear Flash’s cry of exasperation through it… As well as the sound of animals for some reason… Eh, it’ll be fine.
After that bit of satisfaction, I reach for my phone on my pocket to c-
“Ah, ah, aaaah~”
What the hell was that? Eh, whatever. Anyway, I reach for my phone a-
“I just want to-~”
“Okay, what the hell?” I ask, hearing the voice through the closed door. My curiosity piqued, I decide to investigate the source, opening the door to glance outside, just to find myself staring at an interesting sight; Fluttershy is singing, her arms opened wide as she reaches a high note, a couple of birds gliding over her as she seems to be finishing a song.
“Who. I. Rea-lly. Aaaaaaam~” she finishes, her eyes still closed, taking deep breaths in an attempt to recover her breath, her face red at her lack of breath.
“Fluttershy?” I call to get her attention, causing her to jump at the suddenness of my voice.
“Ah, Lemon!?” she yelps, looking frantically to the side and shooing away the birds over her shoulders. “H-hi! What are you doing here? Are you d-done?” she manages to stutter out, sweating like there is no tomorrow.
“Fluttershy? Are you o- Gah!” the words are cut short, as I feel a pain, an INCREDIBLE pain just under the belt, and before I know it, I collapse to the floor as the numbing pain reaches my entire body. With a wistful stare, I look up to the ceiling, imagining the sky right above me, the clouds gently floating over without a care... How lucky for them. I shake my head slowly and, with a high pitched tone, I cry out.
“God. Is. Dead…”
Looking to the side, I notice a familiar white rabbit, he gives me single glance, and proceeds to do some odd motions, pointing from me, to Fluttershy, to the door, and back to me again.
“Lemon, oh my goodness!” Shy says, looking at me terrified. “Angel! I am not running! And he is a friend, that wasn’t nice of you! You do NOT hit people! Especially there!” she carefully walks over to me and kneels down, reaching to help me up. “Can you give me your h-”
“No…” I stop her.
“B-but.”
“No, just… Leave me be for a few minutes. I must… Meditate.”
“Um… O-okay.”
And so, I do.
~~~~~
So! After that terrible event in my life is over, Fluttershy and I are sitting in the other room, all while I hold a bag of ice in my shineless spot.
“Again, I’m so sorry! I don’t know why Angel did that, please, don’t be mad, he is usually really nice!” she apologizes again while I deliver the occasional glare to the dumb rabbit. Excuse me for not believing you, sister.
“It’s alright,” I lie. “Just, what were you surprised about? And that song?” I ask, interested.
She gives me a thoughtful look, her eyes questioning my words for some reason. “Wait, so you didn’t think it was strange?” she asks confused.
“Um.. What was strange exactly?”
“Well, you know…” she starts, putting her face close to my ear. “Talking to Angel!”
“Why would that be w-oooooh…” I say out loud, coming to a realization.
Pony Fluttershy can talk to animals in a world of magic where it isn’t weird.
Human Fluttershy can ALSO talk to animals, in a world WITHOUT magic.
Meaning that if she were to be seen, she would be thought as…
“I don’t think you are weird, or crazy for that matter,” I assure her, knowing full well that the words would come from her mouth.
“Wait, really? But I talk to animals! That must be really strange!” she whispers, attempting to hide the conversation from the next room, where Flash is possibly still struggling with the animals, if the sounds tell me something.
“Well, I guess it is,” I reply honestly. “But come on, it’s pretty cool! Why would you NOT want people to know?” I ask, very curious of her answer.
“Well… It all goes back to whenI was little… It’s a dumb story, you probably don’t want to h-”
“Just spit it out, lady. Ouch!” I look down at my hand, noticing Angel finishing a barrage of kicks to my hand. “You little…”
“I’ll tell you my story!” Shy interrupts. “Just leave Angel, please, he doesn‘t know better, he can tell expressions but not what you say!” she explains. Not that I really care, I’m pretty sure he does know better.
“Fine… That’s a fair trade. Go on,” I accept, my eyes focused on the little shit in case something else comes from h- DID HE JUST TOSS ME A RASPBERRY, YOU LITTLE F-
“I was home schooled until I was seven,” she starts. “But because of some issues, I had to go to public school, and well, I didn’t have any friends… and one time at lunch, I talked to a squirrel, and… Here we are.”
“I see,” I comment, taking note of the ‘strange’ event. “So, did the squirrel talk back to you then?”
“Probably…”
“Huh?” I ask puzzled. “I thought you could talk to them.”
“Well, yes, I can talk to them and they actually understand me, but, I can’t really understand them… It’s like I got half of an ability,” she says with quite some sadness imbued in her words. “Anyway, kids saw me do it and made fun of me, saying stuff like ‘you are weird’ or ‘watch out, she is crazy!’ it was just awful.”
I can‘t help but wonder about it. Admittedly, it’s weird to hear the abilities their pony personas are able to do would bring issues to their human counterparts… I’m more surprised by the fact she has an ability to begin with.
“And so, I hid what I could do, but that didn’t stop them from teasing me…” she continued, but for some reason, a smile stays on her face.
“Is that… Good for some reason?” I ask noticing.
“Well… That’s how I met Rainbow Dash! Oh. Sorry, the girl at the pep rally,” she points out. “She stood up for me, and we became friends. So I can’t say I’m angry about being picked on… It allowed me to meet the rest of the girls!” she finishes with a cheerier tone.
“Wait, does that mean the others know about it?” I continue.
“Oh… No, actually. You are the first one who knows,” she says ashamed. “Don’t tell the others! If you do, I-I might lose them, and then they’ll make fun of me, a-” I stop her, pushing my hand against her mouth.
I feel Angel’s paw hitting my hand again, but with a quick swipe, I grab the little furball and put him in front of me. “No, she is going to listen to this, and you are going to let me tell her this, okay?” Angel simply gives me a doubtful look, and with a shrug, apparently accepts my terms (?). “Thank you.”
I turn my attention back to Fluttershy, and after a gulp of breath, I tactfully lay it on her. “You are an idiot.”
“W-well, I’m not the smartest, but, I’m not that bad, am I?” she asks, visually hurt by my words.
“No, listen. I didn’t meant it that way, you are smart! And you are a sweet and kind pony-”
“Pony?” she interrupts, giving me and odd look.
“T-that‘s what I call friends sometimes! It‘s a work in progress. Anyway! You are kind and a little shy… Okay, INCREDIBLY shy, but they like you! I mean, Pinkie likes me, and even Trixie too! We are good friends, and I’m a punk! Heck, I managed to get AJ to call me ‘sugarcube’! That‘s an achievement!” I rant rather easily… Who said I couldn’t make an argument? Okay, probably no one, NOT THE POINT.
“You really think so?” she asks carefully.
“Fluttershy, at the risk of sounding cliché; I fucking know so,” I reply, giving her a sincere smile. “And I’m pretty sure the animals would appreciate the kindness you can give them by not treating them the way you did when people show up, you know?”
“… It was really rude, wasn't it?” she looks to the side where the earlier pair of birds simply stare at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be mean,” she apologizes to them, causing the pair to fly to Shy’s shoulders and nuzzle her affectionately, the view actually warms my heart. “Thank you, Lemon.”
“Don’t mention, just… Don’t tell AJ about the ‘sugarcube’ thing, please?” I approach her ear and whisper it to her. “She’ll kill me.”
“We wouldn‘t want that! Don’t worry, that’s a Pinkie promise,” she says, doing the motions without fail.
Ring!
“And I guess there is someone out there, you should go check it out,” I say at the sound of the bell. “I should get back to work myself.”
“What sound?” she asks puzzled. “I didn’t he- Ring! Oh! I didn’t hear! Oh, I’ll see you later!” she says in a rush, leaving the room and going back to the front, leaving me completely alone.
“Phew” I sigh once the door is closed. “What a d-”
“Again, thank you!” she comes back out of nowhere.
“Go!”
“Sorry!” slam!
:”Phew!” I sigh again. “What a day… And for some reason it feels like I forgot something…” I pull out my phone to check for messages and… Oh, oh… thirty messages from mom…
“Crap.”
~~~~~
“Wooh! Finally!” I shout as I wait in the chilly night air. Time passes quickly when you are doing terrible work with no real pay.
“I’m sorry, was it bad?” Shy asks me, looking a bit hurt, all while Angel hangs from her shoulder giving me the evil eye.
“Nothing personal… Just animals not being my thing and all, you know?” I explain.
“I understand, but you two did good! Thank you so much for helping me!” she thanks me at least, jumping for a very unexpected hug and clinging to my body, which she notices right away. “Oh, sorry! Was that too much!”
“N-nugh,” I mumble incoherently. “I was just surprised, is all…A-anyway! How exactly were you allowed to take care of this place? Isn’t this supposed to be a job for a qualified adult?” I ask in a very obvious shift in topic.
“But I am a qualified adult… I mean, I took the test, and I did turn eighteen last week, and well… I guess having a sister with connections certainly helps the process.”
So Fluttershy has a sister… And wait, eighteen? Does that mean that she is legal... Oh, boy. “Happy late birthday, then,” I congratulate her, trying to get rid of the sick thoughts currently going through my head.
I am terrible.
“Thank you… Oh no!” she gasps very suddenly. “I just realized you don’t have a ride home, um, if you don’t mind, would you like me to take you?” she offers sincerely.
“Let’s see… Walking, or ride? I think I’ll take the ride,” with that settled, we proceed to the small parking lot, which by all accounts should be empty, but knowing my luck, that one last car there should belong to…
“Hey, Lemon! Want a ride?” … Flash Sentry.
“Um, no, it’s okay, Flash,” I attempt to wriggle my way out of it, I feel he has a revenge plan in store. “Shy is-”
“Oh, Flash, thank you so much for the help here! I really appreciate it, and of course, he needs a ride, h-he was going to walk, the poor dear!” Fluttershy lies..
Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Fluttershy?
“Fluttershy? You know my history with him,” I hiss in a low voice.
“Go with him, mister, you two need to bury the hatchet, it’ll be better once you do!” she tries to reason, while Angel seems to be snickering. I officially hate this rabbit.
“Look, I know what you are trying to do, b---ut I just don‘t… Think,” I look around, suddenly noticing I’m inside Flash’s car. “Flash?”
“Yeah?”
“How did I get in here?”
“You got in… She just looked at you silently for a second and you got it,” Flash simply explains as if it were obvious.
“Bye, guys!” Fluttershy calls, waving goodbye before running to her car.
What the hell just… Wait… Did she use the stare on me? WHAT THE HELL.
“Well, time to go, right?” Flash says, beginning the drive before I can argue. Damn it..
“Fine… Thank you,” I sigh in defeat. “But let me give you directions, otherwise you’ll just get lost…”
“Yep,” he says, listening to my directions and setting them on his GPS thingamajig before driving into the street.
Well, at last, time for home, I do feel kinda bummed out that I didn’t get to hang out with Pinkie, or heck, even Trixie, but maybe we can do that tomorrow, and maybe... Huh? ”Flash?” I call him, suddenly noticing him turning into an alleyway for no reason, driving to the far end of it and stopping once we are deep enough.
Click! I hear the sound of the lock. I knew it! He wanted revenge!
“Good, we are alone now,” he says with a serious tone.
“I-I think I need an adult…”
“It‘s all good, and Lemon?”
“Gah! Yes!?” I nearly shout, this is the complete opposite of good!
“Do you believe in magic?” he asks, the question comes in a sultry tone, as if the question itself were forbidden… Or maybe he is just insane.
“Um… No. Gah!” I yelp, noticing his hand suddenly on my shoulder.
“Don’t lie to me, Lemon…Or should I call you by your real name, huh? Patrick?”
“What are you...”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure you know very well what I mean, 'pony boy'.”