Different Approach

by armid

Resolving Intersection

The warm afternoon was giving its place to the silent night. However, the pet shop was filled with various barks and mews and even chips. But even with their disharmonic melody, Flutershy was mulling over today.

She kept wondering what she had to do about her project now. Could she possibly finish a drawing that she hadn’t even begun between the next day’s classes? Even if she could, she still needed a model.

Fluttershy sighed and dropped her face on the reception desk, staring at the green wall. The chores were done. The dogs have been showered, the birds have been fed, and the cats have been petted. All there was left to do was for her to wait for her shift to end and go home.

Only thirty more minutes.

Just when her vision was getting hazy by staring too much at the wall, Angel hopped in front of her and locked his black eyes with Fluttershy’s. With a squeak, she touched the cheek of her owner.

“No Angel, I’m not,” Fluttershy responded.

The little bunny crossed her arms and stood up onto her two legs and frowned at Fluttershy, letting out another squeak.

“Fine.” Fluttershy sat straight once again. “I… I am a bit sad.”

The snow bunny hopped its way onto Fluttershy’s hand, allowing his back to touch the palm of Fluttershy’s hand. Before she knew it, Fluttershy had started petting Angel.

“Ow. You sweet little snowball.” Fluttershy picked Angel up with care and snuggled Angel’s nose.

Despite the little rabbit’s expression, deep down, she liked it.

“Thank you. I’m feeling a lot better now.” Fluttershy followed up by hugging her pet.

And then the door swung open with a little jingle, interrupting them.

“Coming through.” Someone stepped inside with a large bird cage.

“HELLO! HELLO!” squawked the scarlet macaw inside.

It wasn’t after they put down the cage that Fluttershy recognised their face.

“Flaming Star?” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.

“Yes?” Flaming Star turned his head to face Fluttershy. His eyes widened, seeing Fluttershy. “Oh, Hi uhm…” He narrowed his eyes and thought for a second. “Fluffyshy?”

“It’s Fluttershy.” Fluttershy corrected him with a soft smile.

“Oh, sorry I—” Flaming Star let out a chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s alright.”

“You work here? Flaming Star raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

The shop was bigger than what Flaming Star expected.

In every direction that he looked, many types of animals could be seen, from cats to dogs, from snakes to mice, and an aquarium full of fishes. Cages of canaries and parrots covered the ceiling, along with a lonely lory. Puppies and kitties were up front by the window so that they would be seen, while snakes were all the way at the corner together with the rest of their reptilian kin.

“It’s really beautiful isn’t it?” Fluttershy noticed Flaming Star staring around, clearly amazed by the shop.

“Yeah, this place is… wonderful.” He shook his head and recalled what he came here for. “Hey, I saw a poster in school. It said that you take care of pets too.”

“We do.” Fluttershy nodded. “We wash them, feed them, play with them and most importantly, pet them all.”

Flaming Star smiled in fascination. He didn’t know why, but this place was just super mega amazing. “I guess, this is a safe place to leave Beaky.” He picked up the cage and handed it to Fluttershy. “Recently, I haven’t been paying her much attention and I… I haven’t let her out of the cage either.”

Fluttershy got closer to the cage. “I suppose you’d like to fly around a little then.” She opened Beaky’s cage and let her out.

The scarlet macaw jumped out and flew around like a blaze of fire until she finally sat on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“FREEDOM, FREEDOM.” Beaky squawked.

“Wow, she’s already sitting on your shoulder?” Flaming Star looked at his parrot, surprised. “Just, be careful, Beaky likes to bite strangers.”

“You wouldn't bite me would you?” Fluttershy looked at the parrot on her shoulder.

Beaky let out another squawk and tilted her head.

Fluttershy laughed. “Don’t worry, I won’t forget to feed you.”

Beaky then flapped her wings. “WALNUTS, WALNUTS.”

“I’ll make sure to give you all the walnuts and seeds you want.” Fluttershy rubbed her cheek against Beaky.

On the other side, Flaming Star was standing with his jaw open, wondering how she was able to form such a bond with his pet so quickly.

Beaky squawked loudly a couple of times and looked at Flaming Star.

“Oh, I’m sure he has good reasons for not giving you the treats you wanted.” Fluttershy said softly.

“What?” Flaming Star asked, confused.

Fluttershy stopped looking at Beaky and faced him one again. “She’s nagging about how you haven’t been giving her treats lately.”

“How do yo—” Flaming Star eyes widened. “You can talk to them?”

Fluttershy tickled Beaky and nodded back at Flaming Star.

“Wait, like, you can just talk to animals? Is that your powe—I mean, magic?” Flaming Star stepped forward.

Fluttershy nodded, but didn’t look back and kept tickling Beaky’s neck. After letting out a chuckle, Fluttershy paused and realised she’s still in the middle of a conversation.

“Sorry, I get carried away sometimes.”

“It’s alright. I just wanted to know how it… feels. Talking to animals and all.” Flaming Star walked around the shop and looked at the hamsters casually. “It must feel nice,” he said stoically.

Fluttershy noticed the tone and walked up to him. “It was a little hard at first to get used to.”

“I kinda envy you right now.” Flaming Star looked at his hands. “You don’t have much to worry about. On the other hand, everytime I take these off, I worry I start a fire accidentally or worse…” He shook his head at the thought.

“Is that why you're bringing your pet here?” Fluttershy stood closer to Flaming Star.

Flaming Star nodded.

“I can imagine that,” Fluttershy said sympathetically. “But don’t worry, I’ll take good care of Beaky.”

Flaming Star smiled in response to Fluttershy, but just then, a thought crossed his mind.

“What do they usually say?”

“Well, it’s uhm… you wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Fluttershy looked down.

“Try me. I doubt it can be that crazy.” Flaming Star leaned his back on the wall.

“OK. So uhm… you see those hamsters that are near each other?” She pointed at the containment glass.

“Yeah, what about ‘em?”

Fluttershy hesitated for a second. “They… are talking about who they should be voting to be their next president.”

Flaming Star stared at Fluttershy for a while. Speechless, he simply blinked twice. “OK, that is crazy.”

Fluttershy let out a small laugh. “They don’t always say this kind ofodd stuff. It’s mostly about food and wanting to be petted.” Fluttershy looked at the puppy's bowl in front of the pet shop window. “At least that’s what the puppies usually say. Those furry little bundles of joy.” Fluttershy paused for a second to enjoy watching the little puppies in their sleep. “But…” Suddenly, she remembered how her day went and looked away. “Sometimes I feel like they're the only ones I can talk to.”

“What do you mean?” Flaming Star switched his look from the hamsters to her.

“Sometimes I feel like others don’t hear me or I can’t really speak up when near others. I… don’t want to come off as rude or… offensive. And not to…” Fluttershy kept going for a while and Flaming Star remained silent. He was listening. Something about Fluttershy felt familiar but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

With a sudden motion, Fluttershy turned back to face Flaming Star. “Sorry. I-I… got a bit lost there.” She covered her face with her hair.

“It’s ok, don't worry.” Flaming Star brought his hands up to comfort Fluttershy. “You know, I… I never really had that sort of issue with people. I always say what I want to say but… these days I feel like everything is too complicated, to a point where I don’t even know what I should be doing.” He looked at his hands once again before continuing. “But If there is something you want to say to someone, do it. Spill it out. It’s better to be upfront about what you feel. At least that’s how I see it.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Anyway,” Flaming Star rubbed the back of his head. “I gotta go so—”

“Oh, right, good night.” Fluttershy said with a soft smile.

“Bye.” Flaming Star waved his hand as he pulled the door open. “Take care.”

The door closed. Fluttershy was left alone with all the pets in the shop again. However, after taking a glance at the clock, she realised that she too had to leave. Fluttershy gently picked Beaky up from her shoulder.

“I have to go now. But don’t worry, here you have tons of friends for the night. Now go join them.” Fluttershy rubbed her nose on Beaky’s beak and allowed her to fly to the ceiling. There, Beaky perched next to a cockatiel and soon closed her eyes.

After changing her clothes, Fluttershy locked everything up and left. On the way to her home, she wondered about Flaming Star’s suggestion. Now that she was thinking about it, maybe if she had mentioned it to Rarity and Rainbow Dash they would have stopped arguing so much. But alas, she still had a drawing to do.

---

Meanwhile, Flaming Star was calling Steely one last time, anticipating for Steely’s voice to cut off the buzzing noise ringing in his ears, but nothing. Clenching his teeth, he looked through his chats hoping for a response, but he quickly realised that they hadn't even been read.

“Fine,” Flaming Star said silently to himself, as he put his phone back in his pocket. “If you don’t wanna talk via phone, I’m coming to you in person.”

After approximately two minutes, he was standing in front of Steely’s place. After what had happened earlier that day, he knew better than to knock and ask to come in. Besides, there was a far better way to get to Steely’s room: the window!

Even though his room was on the second floor, getting to it was a piece of cake for Flaming Star. With a hop he grabbed hold of the balcony and pulled himself up, carefully crawling up to the window.

The lights were off, but Flaming Star just knew Steely wasn’t sleeping. Once he reached onto the side of the window, he could see his buddy sitting behind his desk. As the fingers of one hand held onto the little gaps of the rooftop, Flaming Star brought the other hand up and knocked on the window.

Steely Armor jerked up and turned his head to the window. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw his friend waving his hand at him. With a shake of his head and letting out a sigh he stood up from his desk, he walked up to his window and pulled it up, allowing Flaming Star drag himself inside as soon as he could.

“What are you doing here?” Steely Armor asked, frowning.

“Sheesh. Way to greet a friend.” Flaming Star dusted his jacket off. “And I think I’m the one who should be asking questions here.”

“Steely put his hand in front of Flaming Star’s mouth. “Shhh. Keep it down.” He threw a glance back at his door.

Flaming Star frowned, but decided to listen and lowered his voice. “OK. First off, what was the deal about your dad today? I mean, I know he doesn’t like me and all but he literally threw me out.” Flaming Star threw his hands to the side, “And secondly, why haven’t you been answering your phone this whole damn time?”

“I—” Steely stepped back. He slowly walked back to his desk. “Look, Flame,” after taking a deep breath he turned back to face Flaming Star again. “Last night's argument wasn’t the usual. At least not most of it. It st—”

“It was about me,” Flaming Star interrupted Steely. “Already figured that out.” He crossed his arms.

“T-then what do yo—”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Flaming Star jumped in once again and stepped closer. “Why were you hiding it? I thought we shared these things with one another like we always did. What’s happening?”

Steely clenched his teeth as Flaming Star stepped closer and closer. “You never listen!” He raised his tone a little but made sure he wasn’t yelling.

Flaming Star jerked back and stayed silent.

“I’ve been trying to tell you about what the girls told me multiple times today. I stayed up the whole night so I could wrap my head around it and explain it all to you.” Steely pointed at him and took a step forward. “But you didn’t wanna hear it.” He sat on his bed and looked down. “Sometimes I feel like you don’t listen to me.”

Flaming Star’s eyes widened. Steely’s last words kept repeating in his mind, gliding over his conversation with Fluttershy earlier. He was seeing it now.

“You’re right.” Flaming Star sat next to Steely. “I haven’t been listening to anybody lately.” His gaze switched from staring at the wooden planks of Steely’s floor to his ceiling. “Not even myself.”

Steely turned his head to look at his friend but Flaming Star kept staring at the ceiling.

“Everything has been,” Flaming Star shook his head and continued, “So complicated and I just don’t really know what I’m doing, what I should be doing or…argh, I don’t know it’s just that I feel—”

“Lost.”

Flaming Star turned his head and stared back at Steely’s golden eyes. “Yeah.”

Silence filled the room afterwards.
“I’m sorry. If there is something you wanna tell me, I’m all ears now.”

Steely nodded and smiled. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

Flaming Star let out a half chuckle and punched Steely’s shoulder.

“Ow!” Steely growled in pain and held his shoulder.

“Don’t try to fool me, the burn is on the right side, not the left.”

“OK but it still hurts.”

They both chuckled, enjoying the truce.

Suddenly, from down the hall, footsteps were heard. Coming upstairs.

“Son? Are you talking to somebody?”

Steely stood up and pushed Flaming Star near the window as soon as he heard his head walking upstairs. “OK. I think you gotta leave. NOW!”

Flaming Star’s eyes widened as no matter how hard he tried, his feet were sliding on the floor as Steely pushed him. “B-but what about that whole thing about the girls you wanted to tell me?”

Steely Armor glanced back at his door and then pushed Flaming Star out the window. “We’ll talk later.”

Flaming Star almost slipped off the edge of the rooftop, barely avoiding the fall. “Heh, see? Now who is refusing to ta—”

Steely closed the window and pulled the curtains right before Flaming Star could finish his sentence and his father opened the door.

“Son?” Mr. Papers opened the door half way and leaned forward.

“Yes?”

Mr. Papers scanned the room with his eyes. He took his time looking up and down the room. “Nothing,” he said as he narrowed his eyes and closed the door.

Steely stood motionless, and stared at the door till his father opened the door instantly again and stared at him. Yet, nothing had changed and this time, Mr. Papers closed the door and went downstairs for good.

When Steely pulled the curtains aside and opened the window to look around, Flaming Star was already gone.

It seemed they had to talk later.

---

The next morning, Fluttershy woke up in her bed, staring at the ceiling of her room. She got out of bed and rubbed her eyes. After a little stretching, she started packing for the day. It was then that she saw her drawing equipment again. Would it matter anyways? She barely had any time left to finish up the drawing.

Not long after she got to school, Rarity and Rainbow Dash showed up again.

“Heeeey Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash waved her hand with a forced smile on her face. “We uhm, we want—”

“Girls.” Fluttershy said, Interrupting Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry to say this but,” She looked away for a brief moment before continuing. “I’m not picking either of you.”

Rarity and Rainbow Dash exchanged a look and before they could say anything, Fluttershy beat them to it.

“I shouldn’t have been suggesting drawing both of you either. But, seeing you two fight all the time—I just wanted to put a stop to it. But I think maybe the best way to settle it is this.”

“Oh darling, we wanted to say the same thing.” Rarity jumped in before Fluttershy could walk away.

“What?” Fluttershy asked softly looking at both of them.

“Well,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “We both realised that you lost all your time yesterday because we fought each other like kids.”

“And we are sorry,” Rarity added, looking down in shame. Suddenly, she grabbed Fluttershy “PLEASE FORGIVE US!”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in shock. But the moment she saw other students looking at them, she covered her face with her hair. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash pulled Rarity back to her feet.

“I-it’s alright. I guess I shouldn’t have been so indecisive in the first place. I don’t have anything against you.” Fluttershy smiled. “If you promise to never fight and argue like that.”

Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at one another and nodded at each other.

“We won’t,” Rainbow Dash said. “But, what are you gonna do about your drawing project?”

“I-i don’t know.” Fluttershy looked down. “I was thinking about trying to draw something in between the breaks so I have at least something to give Ms. Colourful Brush but, I don’t have a model and whoever I pick should also be fine with spending their breaks standing somewhere.”

They all three started to ponder. And it was then that Twilight joined them. “Hi girls. What are you all doing?”

“Oh, hi, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. “We are just trying to figure out a way to help Fluttershy. How about you?”

“I just heard that some students blew up something in the lab yesterday and now all my break times for today are cancelled.” Twilight crossed her arms. “So, what do you wanna help Fluttershy with? Is this about her drawing project?”

Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all looked at one another. Instead of finding a model for Fluttershy, the model had come straight to them.

Comments

[blurryimage]

Coming to the end of the story, I felt as if I've been cheated a little. Don't get me wrong, your writing was decent and flowed okay, I just felt as if it was rocky here and there and the flow could use some work too.

Characterization was flawed, but that's what I like about some writers. Letting their characters shine through characterization that haven't been used before is a thing I want to see more, but this story did not deliver well on that.

All in all, I was able to read the story well enough, but I was not able to enjoy it. But it's not up to me to dictate what you should write! If you enjoy writing such stories, by all means, keep going! I see potential in you, and you might go to great heights if you tried something new.

[armid]

11152562
Perhaps the next one will be an improvement on my end.

Thanks for taking your time to read this rocky story. And a special thanks, for commenting and sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate it.