Chasing a Dream [Cancelled]

by KillerRobotQuote

...there are consequences.

“Goddamn, where the hell are my shoes?!”

Night frantically paced about the locker room. He was already changed into his running shorts and was ready to put on his running shoes. However, he was now scouring the room in his socks, trying to find his missing shoes. For some reason, they weren’t in his locker when he checked.

Night glanced at the clock on the wall that was protected by a mounted cage. It read 3:20. “Ah, fraggle,” he cursed. “The guys already left. I should really talk to Coach about letting us know the day before where we’re going next practice.”

Not sure what else to do, Night wandered into the adjacent bathroom. Even if he couldn’t run today, he might as well answer nature’s call since he was there. He started to pull down his pants as he pushed open a stall door, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw it.

Inside the toilet was a single black and silver shoe. A running shoe. His running shoe.

Night’s mind went blank. The water was clear and unused, so he reached in and removed the shoe from the bowl. It was completely waterlogged and started dripping water back into the toilet in a consistent stream.

Curious, Night exited the stall and opened the adjacent stall’s door, dripping water on the floor the whole time. Confirming his suspicions, the other running shoe was placed inside the second toilet. Night removed that one as well. They hadn’t been placed in there recently; the way every bit was soaked despite half of the shoe being above the water’s surface indicated that they had been there for a few hours.

Night slowly walked out of the bathroom and back into the locker room. The shoes were totally unusable. It would take days for his shoes to dry out, and he didn’t have a second pair. He couldn’t run in his tennis shoes, and his spikes were at home.

“GODDAMMIT!” Night screamed as he hurled his shoes at the lockers as hard as he could. The sound of the shoes hitting the lockers was like two bombs going off. Splatters of water decorated the doors where the shoes had connected.

Night let out a deep sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Throwing a tantrum wasn’t going to solve anything—he knew that better than anyone. Still, it was hard to control his urges, and he didn’t always succeed, especially in the face of such misfortune. Grumbling under his breath, Night went to the paper towel dispenser and got enough to stuff and wrap both of his shoes individually. Once he completed his task, he placed his shoes in his backpack and threw it on the bench. Staring at the exit, Night cracked his neck.

“Like hell if something like the wrong shoes are going to stop me from practicing today.”

---

The park was a place that rested on the outskirts of town. Since the school was toward the middle of the city, getting there required navigating the several winding streets and neighborhoods. Just getting there was a two-mile trek, and the path the team usually took wound around its perimeter, which was another four miles.

As Night crossed the last main street before reaching the suburban neighborhoods, he couldn’t help but think about everything that led to this situation he was currently in. He was only a mile in and already his feet were sore, so he was sure to have blisters by the end of the day.

“Of course, that’s all because of the shoes I’m wearing now,” Night said to himself as his feet pounded the pavement. “Now the question is, who would put my… nah, there’s really no question about it. I guess I was kinda rude to Ace today, but that doesn’t justify it at all. That’s just low.

“Then again, why even dignify his actions with a response? He’s being petty, and I don’t need to acknowledge him. He’d probably like it if I did. I don’t need to prove anything to him. ‘Course, if that were true, idiot, you wouldn’t be so worked up over beating him. Which I am going to do, no question. But if I don’t…

“No dude. That’s stupid. That’ll just increase the odds that you will lose. C’mon, man, 17:30. 17:30, that’s gonna be your time. 17:30. Ace will be dreaming he could be as good as you. 17:30. You’re not going to lose to some whiny brat who threw a tantrum by ruining your shoes. 17:30. Right. You’re going to beat that son of aaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Before Night could finish his undoubtedly vulgar sentence, he felt his left foot twist under his weight and slip out from beneath him. Caught off-balance, Night began to fall as his right leg came forward from his running rhythm. Unfortunately, because his left leg was no longer supporting him, the angle was completely wrong and he felt the top of his shoe scrape the sidewalk. There was no chance of recovering from this fall, and Night’s body knew it before his mind had even caught up. Squeezing his eyes shut, Night braced for the impact.

It hurt a lot more than he thought it would. The moment he made contact with the ground, Night heard the sickening sound of flesh scraping on stone. He could literally feel as little bits of himself were shredded off and left on the sidewalk. After sliding for what felt like a hundred feet, he finally skidded to a stop to the sound of loose gravel bouncing uncontrollably.

Night let out an agonized yell, trying his hardest to keep his profanity to a minimum. With a pained grunt, he managed to roll himself into the grass, where between shaky breaths with his teeth clenched shut, he inspected himself for any damage.

For the most part, he’d succeeded in protecting his face with his forearms. There was maybe only one or two nicks on his face, and his arms weren’t that bad either. The outermost layer of skin was scraped off his arms, and there were some pebbles lodged in his skin, but they were easy to brush off. The damage was mostly superficial.

The same could not be said for his knee, the source of the majority of his pain. One glance at his right leg, and Night knew he was in trouble. His entire knee had been scraped raw as generous amounts of blood was seeping from the wound. Trickles were quickly making their way to his sock and dyeing it red.

Dreading what he would see, Night looked at the sidewalk. He’d somehow not noticed an entire section that was poorly maintained and consisted mostly of loose gravel and pebbles. There was a human-sized imprint in the gravel that stretched about two or three feet and had a faint red trail running through it. It ended right in front of where Night sat.

Night tried his hardest to brush that whole ordeal off and either continue on his way or at least make his way back. However, as he tried to stand, he found that his leg was too weak and shaky to support his weight, and he fell back down. Groaning, he clawed at the grass, trying to alleviate his agony.

“Oh my goodness! You’re hurt!”

Night turned his head to face the direction of the voice. His eyes widened when he saw its source: a girl with a white top, a green skirt, and big, flowing pink hair.

It was the girl from yesterday.

She made her way over to Night’s side and knelt down, inspecting his knee closely. Night, unsure how to respond, didn’t move or say anything. He just stared at her, almost as if in a trance.

“This is pretty bad,” the girl concluded. “We need to get this treated right away.”

“W-what? No… no, no need, I’m fine,” Night insisted.

The girl glared at him. “You want to leave this gash uncovered and untreated? It’ll get infected, that’s for certain. No, just stay here and don’t move. My house is right across the street. I’ll just grab some supplies, and I’ll be right back.” She then turned and crossed the street, walking toward one of the houses’ entrances.

Night blinked a few times, stunned by the directness of the girl’s orders. This… this was the same girl that he’d tackled, right? The soft spoken and timid one? For some reason, this girl who’d just crossed the street carried herself differently, like she was confident and determined. In fact, she was a little intimidating when she gave her order.

Not willing to try his luck by disobeying, Night made no attempt to stand up. He did, however, notice a maple tree in the yard. After reasoning with himself that he wouldn’t be leaving the vicinity, Night crawled his way to the tree and propped himself against it, resting his back against the trunk. He leaned his head back and took some deep breaths, trying to get his breathing under control.

Out of the corner of his eye, Night saw the pink-haired girl exit one of the houses. Even at a distance, he could see that she carried a red first aid kit, a roll of paper towels, and two plastic bottles in her hands. Hurrying across the street, the girl got down next to Night and placed the supplies on the ground.

“So, did you fall on the sidewalk right there?” the girl asked.

Night stared at her, slightly baffled. “Um… uh… well, yeah. Yeah I did.” Night looked at the scrape more closely, and his eyes went wide with shock. Earlier he’d been distracted by the pain and the blood. Now that he was looking at it with full attention, he saw that it was caked in grass and dirt and even had bits of gravel and pebbles embedded in his flesh.

“It’s okay,” the girl soothed. “It looks worse than it actually is. This is pretty simple to treat. I first need to rinse it off.” She then grabbed one of the bottles, which was a plastic sports bottle, and aimed the nozzle at Night’s knee. Giving the bottle a squeeze, a moderately strong stream of water came shooting out. Night flinched slightly, but noticed that the dirt was coming loose and most of the pebbles were being swept away.

“So…” Night muttered. “You know what you’re doing?”

The girl looked him in the eye. “Of course. I’ve done this dozens of times with animals at the shelter, and plenty of times on other people as well. You’ve got nothing to worry about, Night.”

Night scratched the side of his face in embarrassment. “Well, thanks. This is going to sound really douchey, but… what was your name again?”

Fluttershy smiled gently as she unscrewed the top of the second bottle. “My name’s Fluttershy. Remember me from yesterday?”

Night chuckled. “Yeah, I definitely remember that.”

Fluttershy poured a small amount of the contents of the bottle onto a paper towel, then reached into the first aid kit and removed a pair of tweezers. She rubbed the tips with the towel, then proceeded to pick at Night’s wound. Night grimaced when the tweezers dug into his knee, trying to remove the smaller pebbles that hadn’t been dislodged. Rubbing alcohol, Night thought. That’s what the bottle is.

“So how long have you been at the school?” Fluttershy asked.

Night looked at her. “That’s… an odd question.”

Fluttershy suddenly flushed with embarrassment. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have asked something so personal. I just wanted to talk with you a little. It’s supposed to be relaxing for-”

“Hey, hold on a sec, it’s okay! I don’t mind answering at all. It just caught me a little off-guard is all.” Night looked up at the sky in contemplation. “Well, I’ve been at CHS since the beginning. If you haven’t seen me before, it’s because you hadn’t noticed me. The better—ow!—the better question is how long have I been here in Canterlot. My folks and I moved here when I was six. Before then, I lived in Manhattan and I just realized that I’m rambling since all you asked me was how long I’d been at our school and I ended up giving you my whole back story for some reason, so I’m going to shut up now. Right after I ask what you have in your hand.”

Fluttershy had already finished with the tweezers and now had a moist wipe of some kind in her fingers. “It’s an antiseptic. I need to sterilize the wound,” she said matter-of-factly. Her face then softened. “Just so you know, this is going to hurt a bit.”

“Thanks for the warning, but I’m sure I’ll be fiii-AAAAAAAGGGHH!” Night flinched violently as Fluttershy started wiping the scrape in a circle. “Oh… man that hurts more than I thought it would!”

“I’m so sorry!” Fluttershy squeaked. “But we need to do this. Just three more steps.” She then discarded the now bloody wipe and tore open a packet of ointment from the kit. Dabbing it gently on the wound, Night flinched a little, but managed to keep himself from squealing in pain.

“So…” Night stuttered through shaky breaths. “You’re really-! good at this-! huh? Gotta-! admit, I didn’t think you’d-! be so relaxed around blood.”

Fluttershy discarded the packet and reached for a gauze pad. “I don’t like it, but I have to be able to handle it for whenever an animal gets injured. I wouldn’t be a good vet if I can’t perform surgery. Now if you don’t mind, could you hold this in place for me?” Fluttershy was pressing the gauze against Night’s knee, which at this point had almost stopped bleeding. Night held it down with a free hand as Fluttershy produced a large bandage roll from the first aid kit.

“Geez, did you fit an ambulance in there?” Night joked, eliciting a slight smirk from Fluttershy. She shook her head in amusement, then started wrapping the bandage around the gauze and knee. “So, a vet, huh? Rainbow Dash said something about that, if I recall.”

“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I’ve wanted to be a vet for most of my life. I’ve always connected with animals easily, and what better to do than take care of them? They’re always so loving and appreciative, at least in the long run.”

“Oh, yeah? What about more difficult ones?”

Fluttershy paused with the bandage. “Actually, that almost never happens. Even the more restless ones that give the certified vets a hard time seem to calm down after I talk to them.”

Night smirked. “You know, I can see that. They’re responding not only to your tone, but the very energy you give off.”

Fluttershy pulled the bandage roll taught and revealed a pair of scissors. “Really? What makes you say that?”

“Well, for starters, you’re doing it to me right now.”

Fluttershy blinked a few times in surprise. “What?”

“Absolutely. There’s just something about you that’s just so… relaxing. You’d be great at calming down any patients, human or animal. Seems like you already found your calling.”

Fluttershy blushed slightly as she cut the bandage, then started securing it with some cloth tape from the kit. “Um… thank you,” she whispered.

Night glanced away. “And you didn’t even have to do this for me. I think this might be my comeuppance for yesterday.”

“That’s nonsense!” Fluttershy scolded. “What happened yesterday was an accident and nothing more.”She then dropped her voice and leaned closer. “I’m not mad about yesterday, and nobody deserves to get hurt like this. So I don’t want to hear you say that again.”

Night sighed with a sad smile on his face. “Thanks, but even so, I still feel bad about it.”

Fluttershy met his eyes. “Well, there’s no need for that because I forgive you. Now, I just finished up with your knee. How does it feel?”

Night turned his attention back to the injury, now covered securely by a white bandage. He tried bending it, but the bandage locked his leg in place. “Doesn’t hurt too bad anymore. I think I can stand up on it.” Night pushed against the trunk of the tree with his back and used it to slide himself onto his feet. This time, his leg didn’t give out, but a little pain still lingered.

Fluttershy nodded. “So long as you don’t put too much weight on it and do nothing other than light walking, it should heal very quickly.”

“Just light walking, huh?...Okay, yeah. Alright. Great. Wonderful. No problem. Super.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Well, um… it-it might come off as early as tomorrow,” she reassured him. “They need to be changed once a day anyway, so I’ll bring the kit to school tomorrow and take a look at it at the end of the day. Um, that is, if that’s alright with you…”

“Well, doctor’s orders,” Night joked. “Yeah, that, uh, that’d be great.” Suddenly Night found himself getting bashful. He glanced awkwardly to the side, blushing slightly. “Hey, listen,” he muttered. “I, um… I really appreciate this. Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

Fluttershy smiled warmly. “You’re welcome. Do you need to be somewhere now?”

Night looked up in thought. “Hmm… I’m obviously done training for today,” he muttered. “But I need to get back to the school before I go home…” He turned to Fluttershy. “Do you have a phone I could use?”

Fluttershy nodded and handed him her cell phone. Night punched a number into it and gave her an appreciative nod.

“Hey mom,” Night said into the phone. “Hi... Yes… Yes, I know it is… Well, I had a bit of an accident, so… No, not like that time in third grade… Mom, please… Seriously, please stop… Well, I fell and injured my knee, so if you could pick me up… Spruce Road… My stuff’s at the school, so if we could stop back there… It’s not that big a deal. I can’t run on it, but I can walk just fine… I’ll tell you the whole thing in the car, okay?... Alright, thanks. See you in fifteen… Love you too… Bye.” Night ended the call and handed the phone back to Fluttershy, grinning. “Thanks again. My mom’s coming soon, so I won’t be stranded here.”

Fluttershy giggled as she packed her supplies back into the kit. “Would you like me to wait with you?” she asked.

“Um… sure. If you want to,” Night said.

Fluttershy stood up next to him wordlessly as she held her hands behind her back. Night swayed awkwardly a bit since nothing to talk about was coming to mind. He glanced at the girl next to him, hoping she’d have something to say. Several minutes passed in uncomfortable silence. Fluttershy was swaying too, and her face looked… slightly distraught.

“Is something on your mind?” Night finally asked.

“Oh! I, um, well…” Fluttershy stuttered. “I… I guess, actually, yes.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Well, see, I was… maybe… wondering if you… perhaps…” Fluttershy took a deep breath and looked Night directly in the eye. “I was wondering if you were busy Saturday night.”

Night’s eyes shot wide open and his face heated up. He was pretty sure he could hear the snapping of electricity as his brain short circuited. Where the hell had this come from?!

Fluttershy realized after a moment what she had just implied, and a look of sheer panic crossed her face. “No no no! I didn’t mean it like that! I wasn’t trying to- oh my, that’s so embarrassing! What I meant was-” Fluttershy stopped to breathe and calm her nerves. She continued in a much more controlled voice. “Rainbow Dash and I were talking to our friends about you, and they decided to throw a bit of a… welcome party.”

“Wait, really?”

Fluttershy nodded. “We decided we’d just go out to dinner at Applebuzz as a group. Rainbow was probably going to invite you tomorrow at lunch, but since you’re here, I… decided I’d ask you. So, are you available Saturday at six?”

“Alright, that does it,” Night said, turning to face Fluttershy directly. The abruptness startled her a bit, but the friendly smile on Night’s face calmed her down. Night began counting off with his fingers. “You withstood a tackle from me, you bandaged my knee, and now you’re inviting me to dinner with your friends, which, yes, I’d be happy to go. I don’t care whether or not you forgive me, I want to pay you back somehow, if only to show my appreciation.”

Fluttershy stared at Night in awe, blinking a few times as she digested his words. Finally, she said, “well, um… okay. What did you have in mind?”

Night opened his mouth to answer, but got caught on the first words. He scrunched his face into a pout and glanced at the ground. “Good question,” he mumbled. After a moment, though, something came to him. “Wait, you work at the animal shelter, right?”

Fluttershy gave a nod, slightly confused.

“So then, by any chance… do you know if… the shelter maybe… possibly accepts… volunteers?”

Fluttershy’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes! The shelter always accepts volunteers, though they’ve been scarce lately. We’re always in need of an extra helping hand. Actually, I’m working tomorrow after school. We could go together and I could show you around. Um… unless you don’t want to, that is.”

Night laughed good-naturedly at her sudden shift in tone. “Yeah, actually, that’s perfect. I guess I’ll see you then.”

At just that moment, a familiar black car rounded the corner of the street. “Wow. Good timing,” Night commented. He turned to Fluttershy. “I guess I’m going now. So I’ll… see you tomorrow?”

“Okay then,” Fluttershy said softly, nodding. She picked her kit off of the ground and watched as the black car came to a stop in front of the two.

As Night started to open his door, he turned and called over his shoulder, “Hey Fluttershy. Thank you again. For everything.” He never heard her response, if she even gave one, because he slammed the door behind himself and let out a sigh.

“Who was that?”

Night glanced at the woman sitting in the driver’s seat of the car. She wore a business casual top with a thin, fashionable overcoat and long pants. Her fiery red hair flowed down to her shoulders, which contrasted her light, aqua-blue skin well.

“Hi mom. That was Fluttershy, a friend of mine.”

“Really?” Night’s mom asked, intrigued. “I’ve never seen you with her before. She’s awfully cute.”

Night looked out the window at the disappearing figure of Fluttershy walking away in the distance. “Um… yeah, I guess so,” Night admitted. He continued to watch her until she disappeared completely from view into her house. He sighed. “It’s weird though. I swear I’ve met her before, but I can’t for the life of me think where or when. Is that weird?”

“Maybe you have met her before. Why don’t you ask her the next time you see her?”

“Sure, maybe.”

“Now then,” his mother said, her tone suddenly becoming stern. “Do you mind explaining to me why you look like a soon-to-be amputee?”

---

After a tiring car ride of interrogations from his mother, Night managed to finish telling the whole story in the kitchen. Now that she would let him go, he glanced at the microwave’s clock and saw that it was 4:15. Plenty of time to get a short nap in before doing his homework. He could get up by 5:30 and finish before 7:00, provided there were no distractions between then.

Night’s eyes went wide as he remembered something important: Minuette was supposed to come over at 6:00. Sighing, he pulled out his phone as he approached the staircase leading to his bedroom.

Night: Hey Min. Sorry, but I had a bad day today and hurt my knee. I hate to do this, but could we reschedule for tomorrow maybe?

Night sent the text message and started heading to his room. He hadn’t even reached the top of the stairs before his phone buzzed in reply.

Min: What? What happened?

Night: Was running and fell and f***** up my knee. Taking care of it.

Min: Ill be right over

Night: What? No! It’s not a big deal. I don’t want to inconvenience you.

Min: Its not a problem. I can help you take care of it

Night: It’s already healing. Seriously, don’t waste your time.

Min: Are you sure?

Night: Yes. So what did you want to talk about? Can it be over the phone, or does it have to be in person?

Minuette didn’t reply right away. In fact, Night was staring at his phone for two whole minutes before he finally got her surprisingly short reply.

Min: Forget it

Night: What?

Min: Forget it

Night: Why?

Min: Doesnt matter

Night: Liar. You wanted to come over to talk about it. I know it’s a big deal.

Min: Just forget about it

Night: Are you sure?

Min: Yes. It doesnt matter anymore

Night: Well, okay. If you change your mind, please don’t hesitate to ask.

...

After a few more minutes of waiting with no reply, Night tossed his phone onto the bed. That had certainly been a strange conversation. Minuette had been oddly insistent on visiting him, even though he wouldn’t be able to hang out with her like they usually did. He’d tried to make that clear, but Minuette didn’t seem to care. Didn’t she get that he didn’t want to burden her with taking care of him? His knee will fix itself up soon anyway, so he didn’t want her to waste her time on him. Night felt guilty about postponing their discussion, but he knew it’d be lost by his injury. Minuette was the type of caring girl to focus on that type of thing, and he would hate to be the focus when the whole point of the meeting was about her.

“I just don’t get what she’s thinking,” Night mumbled to himself.

---

Minuette stared at the ceiling of her room with her head resting on her pillow. After Night’s last text, she’d placed her phone on the nightstand and stared off in disbelief for a solid ten minutes.

A soft knock on her door indicated someone about to enter, followed by the door gently opening. A middle-aged woman with light blue skin and sea foam color hair entered Minuette’s room. She wore a white lab coat over her scrubs and was slightly fatigued from a day of work.

“Hi, sweetie. How are you?”

Minuette sighed, her gaze never shifting from the ceiling. “Hi mom. Night’s being an idiot again.”

Author's Note:

So, how about that last episode? Wasn't Minuette so adorable?!

Comments

[ParkerThomas]

Awww. Minuette is in love. So it's gonna be one of those stories. The boy is sought after by two girls. When he picks one the other has her heart broken.

[BRyeMC]

The cover chapter!

And don't worry, Minuette. Every boy in these stories was an idiot at some point in their story.

[Lord Weesus Christ]

night is being an idioit for being so ignorant/oblivious to the fact that Minuette has feelings towards him and she wanted to talk about them. it make me wonder how/why I seem to be in the digital age and most of the male gender is in the f**king stone age when it come to dealing with women in some of the most basic of interactions

[Multiplex_24]

Is it bad I'm being more supportive of the MinuNight ship rather than NightShy?

Anyway, that was still a nice read. I would have expected Fluttershy to be a tad more shier, considering how they first met was from a tackle, but still, a good chapter all the same. Keep up the good work!

[Lord Weesus Christ]

6306549 I totally understand what you mean, and I proably should have done a better job of wording it too, reading back on it. and that was also from personal experience as well