The normal life of Nitpick Bittersweet

by Ryusun

Chapter 25- You are horrible!

It was Friday. The hour of lunch was at hand and I was in my favorite spot on the back gardens. The first hours of classes were unexpectedly quiet. None of the girls, not even Twilight, said something to me. It was like if they were avoiding me, trying to distance themselves from me. It was strange, it was lonely, it was-

“ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!” I said with great triumph.

Now I could enjoy lunch at peace. Being by my self was for the best. If Twilight had continued to keep getting closer to me, she would have ended in a lot of troubles with her friends, and if she had to choose between them or me, the right choice would be them. And I didn't see a problem with that.

I took a quick glimpse from the corner of the wall to see if nobody was coming. Nothing, meaning a great dawn of peace to my student life.

The wind blew, it almost sounded like if someone was talking to me. I took a look from the corner again, and there was nobody at sight. My imagination must be playing me tricks.

‘mumble’

That was not the wind. I took a long look now to the street, but nobody was there… then!

“Uhm, excuse me?”

The weak voice came from my left.

“Hi!”

“How the hell did you get here?”

“Well, I came from the other side.”

Now that was a stupid question from my part.

“Look, if you came here to talk about your friends or the soccer team-“

“No! I came to… well. I want to ask you, um…”

This isn't going nowhere, if you want to tell me something, you better- Ah, what's this?

“A rabbit?”

“Angel! I told you to wait with the rest of the girls!”

This rabbit… he looked annoyed. The way he was tapping the floor with his foot was insanely fast.

“You are hungry?”

Are you actually talking to a rabbit? And did the rabbit nodded his head? What the hell is this place, exactly? Only weird things happened here!

“Sorry, I have nothing with me right now!”

Did the rabbit just cross his arms? Well, he looks like a smart-ass fellow.

“Here, rabbit. Since I brought lunch thanks to my lack of funds, I have a shiny, fresh apple just for you.”

This rabbit just smiled while he grabbed my offering… the apples today must have a drug in them that were making me have hallucinations.

“OH! I knew you were a good hearted guy!”

For a moment, your flattery made me feel like if I were an evil man before this event.

“What do you want? I want to eat lunch.”

“I came here to ask you help with something.”

“Excuse me?”

You suddenly took a casual approach to me, way different from your original mood of a few moments ago.

“There is a rat infestation in the suburbs and the shelter can't handle the problem with its current staff. So we are asking for volunteers to help all personnel in the capture of the little pretties.”

Rats… little pretties? I have a bad memory from those pest.

“Why do you think I could help you with this? According to your friends I am an ass, remember?”

“My goodness, such language! And that has nothing to do with your ability to help someone. Please, help me.”

“Why?”

“Because with this you can show everyone that you are not the mean guy they think you are!”

Pfffft, I don't give a crap as long as they leave me in peace. And why all of you keep using ‘everybody’? Who is ‘everybody’?

“No, I am fine the way things are.”

“I know you would be able to make a difference.”

Fishy…

“Ask your friends to help you in this.”

“Oh, they will help me! They are already assigned to other posts. Please, join us! We shy people must stick together. It will be fun!”

Shy, me? And your cheerful smile gave my Sixth Sense a tingle of danger, whatever you want, I must ignore this quickly.

“What makes you say that I am shy?”

“Because I paid attention to your attitude, and I have noticed what is your real problem with the people of the school.”

“Oh yeah, and what is that?”

Curiosity got the better of me. Let’s see what kind of answer I get from Fluttershy.

“You dislike when people comes to you like vultures, you want to be at peace thinking about your own personal issues or enjoying the beautiful panorama in your surroundings! Always reflecting if there is something more important we can do in our lives!”

I was absolutely impressed with you.

“Also, you like to work alone because sometimes people don’t understand your intentions!”

That’s a half-truth because there are people who work great with me but I am impressed still with your perception.

“For you, being the center of attention is absolutely awful! Everyone staring at you, judging you, furiously noting how could you be way better than before!”

Uh… are you reflecting your frustrations on me? You are stressing yourself all of the sudden.

“Why aren't you more open? Why aren't you more assertive? And then, when you make a mistake, they'll turn on you, shunning you with their evil and twisted laughs of mockery, ending horribly humiliated, never able to show your face on middle school again! Guh! AAAHHHHH!!!”

“Fluttershy!? FLUTTERSHY!”

She was panting scared! Like if she just remembered a really bad memory.

“Yes?”

“I'll help! I'll help! Just calm down! Breathe deeply and exhale slowly”

This girl had serious problems.

“You will help me, for real?”

“Yes, Promise.”

Just don't scream again.

“Wonderful! Since our History teacher will not come today either, we can go straight to the shelter after school! Don’t worry, we aren't going to get dirty, the traps will do the work for us!”

“Today!? But-“

“This is going to be great! I’ll see you in the bus stop after classes! Come, Angel, let’s give you a proper breakfast!”

Did the rabbit just give me a thumb up? Suddenly, I didn't want to eat my lunch anymore.

Classes ended, and I was on the bus stop. It seems that some students were into this mess too. Everybody talking about grouping and such. As for me, I was keeping my distance. Lightbulb and Dancer won't participate so I was on my own. I hate it when I make promises so easily. Now I can't get out of here. Flutteshy said that I wouldn't get dirty, but I was glad that my tac-shirt was safeguarded in its box, I couldn't bear to dirt it after its cleaning process.

“All right, everyone! The special bus from the Town's Hall is coming! please get in line and group with your partners!”

That will be easy, I had no partner still.

“Ready to do some captures, Nitpick?”

I forgot about you, Twilight.

“Let me guess, we are teaming up?”

“Sadly, not this time.” She said this somewhat disappointed. “But I am going to be teamed up with Sunset Shimmer!” But she said this completely delighted.

“Good.”

“…hey, can we talk for a bit?”

“Eh, sure.”

“I was meaning to ask you the question that I was going to say that day.”

Oh yeah, I interrupted her that time during our gossip incident. But I don't think this was a good idea.

“Whatever it is, just forget about it. If you want to keep your fri-“

“Everyone on-board!”

The bus! Good timing.

“Better go with Sunset now if you don’t want to lose your seat beside her.”

“Alright… well talk another day, ok?”

“Eh, sure.”

Sure not.

We got on-board, all the best places in the back were filled. But today I didn't mind that. The driver of the bus was someone I could get along really fine with.

“It's been a while, Turnip”

“Fancy meeting again like this, Nitpick! No longer a city bumpkin?”

“Nope. Can you do this trip shorter like usual?”

“Hold your trousers, partner, and let’s get rollin’!”

I believe no one from the bus expected this sudden burst of speed. I could see their frightful faces of despair from the bus' mirror. It was funny. With this, we arrived in the suburbs in thirty minutes. We stopped at the shelter. It was a pretty place, to say the least. A vet station was next door of it, and what I think were our new bosses were in front of us.

“Alright everyone! Gather in peace around us.”

She looked unreliable.

“Radical to meet you. I'm Tree Hugger, and I am the vet chief of this sanctuary. We'll help the critters of mother nature to find peace with us!”

This task was doomed to fail with her as our leader. She had an air of a hippie from the seventies, but civilized and professionally dressed. I have nothing against them, but she just gives me a weird mojo.

“The animals just, like, feel our groove, when we get near them. If we get close to them with fright, they will run from us. If we come with love, they will come to us, you know?"

“Oh, that makes so much sense!”

“That’s why my birds never leave my side!”

Random voices of agreement sprouted around me. I am the only one who was sane here? Or I am the one who was actually crazy?

“Go with peace with each team leader and come back with the little ones. If what people in the neighborhoods say is true, there are just eighteen of them. Working in harmony we will catch them before sunset. Blessings and happy captures!”

"Nitpick!"

"What, Fluttershy?"

"Good luck, I know you can catch one! Enjoy yourself at it!"

And she left with her friends, leaving me on my own.

We were in our respective teams, and we were given tools to capture those rats, some of them being small cages. I don’t think these will be useful to catch those ruffians. Not only that, I didn't have teammates or leader for some reason but I didn't mind that. They gave me a sheet with detailed instructions of how my tools worked, including my designated area to search. How lucky of me, it’s just nearby the shelter in a lively neighborhood.

But how I was supposed to catch a stupid rat in a place like this? I feel like I was doing a stupid fetch quest in a sandbox game. Let's see what I must do in my wanna-be mission log: Put the cages on the less populated spots of your area. Then put the cheese inside each cage. Activate the mechanism and happily wait for your critter to be captured. The mechanism will do a strong noise when the sly critter is captured.

This will take a while…

After putting the cages in what I believed were the best places, I started to wait for the rats to fall in the traps.

‘Clink’

I inspected all the cages to see which one had activated and when I found the closed cage it was-

“Empty?”

Ugh! Maybe the mechanism didn’t activate as fast as it should. No! I must try again; maybe it was a lucky shot. I put more cheese in it and once again I waited for-

‘Clink’

Now it was from the other side of the street. Your luck has been-

“EMPTY AGAIN!?”

Again!

‘Clink’

Again!

‘Clink’

Aga- There is the little fucker! I stealthy hid behind a bush and approached it as close as I could. I observed how it does it and tried to discover its secret. It carefully got near the cheese outside the cage, turning it's back from it; it did a quick tail grabbing and started running with all its might with the cheese at its possession.

‘Clink’

Clever fucker…

“That rat is nothing but trouble!” Said an angered, old woman from behind. “I have seen that trick of it succeed too many times already!”

“These cages are the only thing I have to work with. I can do no more than wait for the best.”

“Well, kid! That rat’s days are numbered! Take a look at this!”

A Glue trap?

“I don’t think this will be accepted with Chief Hugger's plan!”

“Chief Hugger is a nice kid. She takes good care of the pets in the neighborhood, but her ways are too idealistic. If we let those vermin go, they will spread faster again. They carry fleas, diseases and eat chunks of our food, leaving it poisoned. The most reasonable approach is kill it.”

She speaks the truth. Last year, there was a rat on my house that ate cereal from an open box. My sister didn't notice and after eating the cereal she ended in the hospital for several weeks because she was diagnosed with Salmonellosis. She nearly died of extreme dehydration but I gave many, many thanks to the Truth that rules everything when she recovered from it. I was scared for her and I could understand this granny's reason to use the trap.

“Alright, how many of those you have?”

“Only one, it's hard to come with these since the Chief got into action a few years ago!”

“We only need to catch this rat. We don’t want it to teach it's technique the rest of this plague.”

“I am glad you can use reason, kid. You’ll go far thinking like this.”

I prepared the trap while reading the instructive carefully. I placed all the cheese in the middle so it couldn’t escape once the glue took effect on it.

“Now you won't escape this time...” I said to myself with confidence.

The granny and I got into hidden, waited for a few moments and finally the little shit got nearby the trap. It started to sniff the plastic and thought carefully his next move. THIS LITTLE FUCKER WON'T-! Wait, it took the bait! Come on, come on. YES! It was trapped in the glue!

“SUCCESS!”

I laughed triumphantly as I got nearby it.

“Not feeling smart now, right, little vermin?” Said the granny happily while I carefully raised the trap stick. “Good job, kid. Now, we must put it in this bag and kill it quickly.“

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

An inhuman scream of horror soon followed while I was being dragged with great force. We quickly arrived to the vet station; the trap with the rat removed from my hand with great care and put on the treatment desk. An enraged, human being that resembled Fluttershy walked towards me.

“What. Have. You. Done?”

I was scared.

“D-doing my task.”

“I’ll ask again. What have you done?”

I must regain my composure.

“I caught the rat.”

Her eyes started to twitch menacingly.

“You caught the rat?” She said with an ominous, forced, big smile.

“Yes.”

“You… caught the rat?” She put her hands on my shoulders, her grip wasn't as strong as before. But the intensity! Those void eyes!

“Yes.”

A sudden silence appeared before the storm.

“WHY IN THE WORLD YOU USED THAT ABOMINABLE, MONSTRUOS THING ON THE POOR ANIMAL?”

“Because it was a rat problem! As long as we dispose of them through any means necessary, it’s a job done, isn't it?”

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?”

She quickly walked to where the rat was. She was looking thoroughly for something in it.

“Thank goodness this glue is of cheap quality.” She mumbled to herself. “Don't worry, my pretty! I will save you right away!”

She searched through the medical drawers for something and when she found a certain bottle, she quickly put its contents around the glue.

“Shh, relax, Mr. Mouse. The glue will degrade in half an hour or so. Just be patient.” Said Fluttershy while comforting the rat.

That is not human or a common pet, you know?

“YOU!”

Here we go again.

“Why did you do this?”

“As I said, it was a pest we needed to deal with. Is this not the purpose of why we are doing this?”

“No! We are capturing rats so we can relocate them to the wild again!”

“That rat was a problem to those neighbors, you know?”

“That is not a rat, it’s a mouse?”

“What’s the difference? Both are kinds of vermin we need to deal with!”

“There is a great difference in species traits even if they look similar in some aspects! And we will deal with them, but not like savage barbarians!”

“It's not savage if we think about the dangers of setting them free! They carry diseases and other kind of shit that endangers common people lifestyles”

“We are the ones who endanger them in the first place, Nitpick! They are lovely and pretty as the rest of nature”

“Some of them must be removed for our sake!”

“You mean genocide!?”

“NO! I mean only the ones that are harmful to us in our settlements!”

“All animals deserve to live like we do!”

“Not all! When there is a plague that comes and endanger us by spreading to us their diseases, especially to a point where it can kill us, then we must hunt them down, and if its necessary, kill the little fuckers and-“

‘SLAP’

Did she… bitch-slapped me?

She dragged me again where the mouse was and pull me from the shirt so I could be near it.

“Look at him…”

“Why?”

“LOOK AT HIM” Said Fluttershy with great force.

‘Sigh’ What are you trying to-

The mouse was wheezing and panting at an alarming rate, it tried to escape from its imprisonment with all his might, lingering every second to the life it had. What appeared to be tears near his eyeballs started to pour in the mix of glue and the compound that will release it shortly.

“Look at me”

I won’t.

“Please… Look. At. Me!” Said Fluttershy with a tone of great disappointment.

And so, I look at her, locking my eyes with hers. Her eyes... full of sadness.

“Nitpick, they may be simple animals to everyone. But for me, they are as great and beautiful like the rest of us. You say that we must protect ourselves when they endanger us, so they will do too when they feel in danger. Not only that, even if it’s on a base instinct level, there is blood running in their hearts, they breath, they eat, they run, they fear, they enjoy, they love, and they weep! They weep, Nitpick! Just as we do!”

I…

She released me from her grip and put all her attention to the rat. She may be right, but… sometimes that kind of thinking is wrong.

“Please, leave this place. I don't want to see you anytime soon.”

“…okay, I’ll leave”

As I open the door, she spoke to me for the last time in this day.

“I thought you would understand… Angel doesn’t receive things or take a liking to people that easy, especially to guys… he hates them in fact.”

Is that rabbit the same deal as Pinkamena’s cupcakes?

Silence engulfed the vet room. I should have obeyed my Sixth Sense in the morning. The sun was bright and warm today, but for some reason, as I left that place and went forward to the bus station, leaving behind another disappointed person behind me, today felt really cold and shadowy.

Author's Note:

Chapter rewrote on 31/08/2016

Fanart update on 12/10/2016. I tried to make it a serious matter for Fluttershy. There has been several episodes where she loses her mind when a creature is hurt. Here is the original drawing.

Comments

[Guy With No Name]

He's going to crack sooner or later...

[Powerfull3000]

Por un momento, tus halagos me hicieron sentir como si fuera un hombre malvado antes de este evento.

XD