Fluttering emotions [ch1]

>Norman was walking to his house one day from school
>It was getting late, since he had a lunch with the girls before
>”Hey, a little help over here?”
>Norman turned around a saw a big guy, trying to carry a gigantic bag pack
Whoa man, hang on a sec
>”Thanks”
This is heavy, what’s in here?
>”My stuff. I just came back from studying in London. The name’s Joe by the way”
Norman Normal, a pleasure. Let me help you take this to your house, is it far away?
>”Pretty much”
>Norman didn’t complain. It was nice to meet people that didn’t call him a racist
>”Haven’t seen you before, are you new?”
Yeah, I just moved from Pennsylvania I couple of months ago
>”Pennsylvania? hmm, are you attending Canterlot high?”
Y-yeah?
>”Oh man, you are the racist guy”
God fucking dammit
>”One of my friends told me all about it online. Man, you are an unlucky fellow”
Wait, you don’t hate me?
>”Of course not. Our school is full of try hard leftists. One time, people got crazy because one dude said that he didn’t like dogs. They tried to prove that he killed dogs”
Damn
>”Chill out man, soon everybody will forget about it”
>Norman was so relieved, he had found a new friend
>For the rest of the walk, they enjoyed a nice chat
>”Come on Norman, hold the bag while I knock on the door”
*knock knock*
>Norman could see that the one that opened the door, was one of his teachers
>”I can’t believe it, Joey, you’re back!”
>”Nicholas, I’m home” Joe answered
>Nicholas and Joe Payne, brothers
>Nicholas, the big brother, just finished college and is taking some time before starting his master’s degree
>Joe is the quarterback of the Canterlot colts
>”Hey Joe? I think your friend needs help with your baggage”
>”Oh sorry sorry!”
>”Wait I know you, you are Norman, from my class”
Hy mr. Payne, I didn’t know you had a brother
>”Yeah, Joey. He is a good kid, but very stubborn” He said while hugging Joe with one hand
Well, it was nice knowing you Joe, see you tomorrow mr. Payne
>”Maybe you’d like to come here someday? you can bring your xbox, we both like to play”
Whenever you want, see you around
>”Thank you for the help Norman”
>Next day
>Twilight visits Normal before going to school
>Once again Norman’s mother glares at her
You should stop visiting so often
>”Why not?”
I, well, I’ll tell you another time, anyway, yesterday I met a new guy-
>”Hey guys, what’s up?”
>”Hello Dash”
Sup dash, I was just telling Twilight that I met a guy yesterday, he is a nice guy
>”Oh oh, Is Norman having a bromance?”
Goddammit Dash
>”So what’s his name? when’s the wedding happening?
Shut it Dash. His name is Joe
>”Wait. Joe? Joe Payne?”
Yeah, you met him before?
>RD stopped, with a worried expression on her face
Dash?
>”Norman, never, ever say that name around us. Please, never”
Huh? what are you talking about
>”Just promise! And don’t you ever bring him with us”
Dash you are scaring me
>”Just promise!”
Ok! I promise!
>RD didn’t say anything until they arrived to the school
psst, purple, do you know what is wrong?
>”I have no idea Norman”
>Rarity and AJ were waiting for them at the entrance
>Before they could greet the group, RD muttered something to them
>Their reaction was of surprise and disgust
Ar- Rarity? what is going on?
>”We, well, ok, we will tell you both of you, after class”
>”Rarity!”
>”No Rainbow Dash, they have the right to know. They are our friends, I’m sure they can help out”
>RD glared at Norman, but the soften her eyes
>”Ok, I’m sorry guys”
>AJ just had the same worried expression, as if something bad may happen at any minute
>Norman and Twilight looked at each other
>”We should go now, class are starting soon” Rarity spoke, trying to break the mood

>Norman was still thinking on everything that happened up until this point
>Joe, Rainbow Dash, this strange secret
>It was almost amusing
>He got very curious at it
>Norman glanced at Rarity
>She was uneasy
Rarity are you ok?
>”Yes Normie, I am wonderful, why are you asking?”
You look like if forgot to do your homework
>”You two, shut it”
Yes mr. Payne

>Lunch time
>This time, Twilight wasn’t with Norman
>She told him she had to go to speak with Principle Celestia
Ugh, I hate that woman. She thinks I am a bad influence for her. She IS the bad influence for me
>”Norman hey!”
What? Oh Joe! Hello!
>”Wanna hang out? I’m going to the library, I need a book for next class”
Of course. Hey, maybe you can meet purple
>”Keep calling people by their skin color and this school will never forget” Joe laughed
Yeah, sorry...
>Norman were walking to the library
>”So mr. racist, do you have some friends?”
Some, I have pur- Twilight
>”I said friends, not girlfriend”
She is not my girlfriend!
>”Yeah right”
Whatever dude. Anyway, Brad and Big Mac
>”Oh Brad, he is a cool guy. He still says Bradical?”
All the time
>”Someone should smack him out of it, he sounds dumb as hell”
He he, yeah
>”And Big Mac? well he is kind of quiet, never really talked with him before”
He is still good at videogames.
>Once they entered the library, Norman noticed Twilight
Come here Joe. Hey Twilight, I want you to meet Joe Payne
>”It is a pleasure to meet you! say, are you and mr. Payne-”
>”We’re brothers”
>”Wow, your brother knows a lot about human history, his classes are so interesting”
>Joe pulled Norman from the arm
>”Did she say “human” history?
Oh yeah. Don’t worry, you get used to it
>”Wait here, I’ll get that book”

So, wanna sit with us at the cafeteria?
>”Thank you Norman but I, I usually eat in the teacher’s room”
Really? you don’t look like a lonely guy whose only friends are the teachers
>”Well, I just like to spend time with my brother, that’s all”
Oh ok, maybe next time?
>”Well I was thinking, maybe you’d like to come with me?”
I’d love to but, *whisper* (is Principal Celestia going to be there?)
>”She is always there”
Goddammit. Maybe next time
>”She has you on her radar?”
Basically
>”What did you do now Norman?” Twilight asked
I didn’t do a thing! It was your fault!
>”So, I’ll see you guys later, nice meeting you Twilight”
>”Bye Joe!”
Well then, we still have to sit with the group

>The two teenagers sat on the table, where their friends were
>Norman noticed that Fluttershy was very talkative
Whoa Flutters, why are you so excited?
>”Oh Norman! I heard the most wonderful news! My-”
>”Fluttershy, for the last time, he is not here! He left long ago” RD shouted
>”But-”
>”No! Nothing but rumors!” The entire hall was looking at them
>Norman was used to feeling uncomfortable, but this was different
>He could sense something was not right
Girls, calm down, what’s going on?
>”Oh nothing Darling, we are just enjoying the most tasteful launch, please join us”
>No one talked for the rest of the meal
>The girls were visibly upset
>But Fluttershy, she had a small smile on her face
>Norman and Twilight nervously looked at each other
>The rest of the day went fast
>Yet a strange series of events happened before the classes ended
>You could call them bad omens
>The school’s chicken hut caught fire, luckily the janitor was near to turn it off. No culprits were found
>A bookcase in the teacher’s room fell down and crushed a coffee table
>A tremendous crack sound was heard on the hallways
>No teacher could explain what it was.
>The cider bottles in the cafeteria exploded
>Principal Celestia swore that she heard professor Nicholas Payne screaming outside her office
>Some students heard sobbings in the empty chemistry labs

Did you girls heard what happened?
>”Today has been such a horrible day, I just want to get home and take a nap” Rarity answered
I’m also getting the creeps, come on, let’s make this fast, what do you want to talk about?
>”Well you see boys” AJ told Norman “It is about Fluttershy and, Joe” She clenched her teeth and eyes when she said his name
What happened between those two?
>”It is, complicated, we wouldn’t know where to start” Rarity said “But you must know, Fluttershy is not the, best girl at making friends”
>Twilight and Norman nodded at the same time
>”She is a very delicate girl. In fact, she was bullied in the past. We are her only friends”
>”When we all met her, she was a difficult girl to talk too” AJ too a picture from her schoolbag
>”This is a picture we took days from knowing her”
>Twilight took the picture of a younger Fluttershy
>The girl looked anemic. Her face was covered by messy hair and it looked like she really didn’t want to have a picture taken of her
Whoa, why do you have this?
>”To remind me, that I can never fail her”
>”What about Joe? what does he have to do with this?” Twilight asked
>”He is a pathetic bugger, what else is there to know?!”
>”Rarity please” AJ tried to control Rarity “When high school started, Fluttershy was determined to change herself, to be more assertive. One day she comes to us and confessed that she found a boy she liked”
Joe?
>”Yep. For months she told us that she followed him everywhere, trying to find the perfect moment to tell him to be his girlfriend”
>”We all tried to help her. Dash gave her confidence advices and I told her how to approach a boy” Rarity added
>”Eventually she came one day, shouting in happiness, saying how she finally told him, and how he accepted” For a second, AJ changed her expression. A smile appeared on her face and her eyes filled with pride
>”They dated for three weeks. I’ve never seen Fluttershy this happy before. She told us she felt like a princess, that life was perfect” Rarity continued
>”But one day, she came to school and, she was a complete mess. Her clothes were dirty and torn apart, she was all wet, but with a smile on her face”
W-what happened?
>”She said”, Applejack had to pause for a moment, like if she had to swallow a bitter chunk of food “she said that Joe made a very cruel joke, but that everything was fine now”
>”What joke?” Twilight asked
>”At the time we didn’t know, nor Fluttershy wanted to tell us, but Joe broke with her”
>”Next day, she said that Joe didn’t want her to be near his house anymore. She told us that maybe she was being a nuisance” Rarity almost spitted those words
>”The next week was a the worst week of our life. She was getting worse everyday. It was, pathetic how she dialed every two minutes to his phone, yet he never answered”
>”We tried to tell her, that it was over between her and Joe. But she, she told us that we were just trying to separate them. We helped her, why would we do that?” Rarity began to weep
>Twilight grabbed Rarity’s hand, trying to calm her down
>”I found her notebooks. Every single one of the sheets had doodles. Joe & Fluttershy”
She was obsessed with Joe
>”We tried to talk with him. But he got scared when he saw us, pleading us to leave him alone, that coward”
>”Sugarcube please, he was as scared as we were”
>But! but...” Rarity sighed “I know I know, but, he could’ve done so much to help Fluttershy”
>”It’s ok Rarity, we are all here to help these time” Twilight said while rubbing her head
>”One day neither did Joe or Fluttershy came to class. After the first period started, mr. Payne received a call to his cell phone. We all heard Joe through the speaker. His fear was palpable” AJ once more stopped for a moment “She is here Nicholas! in my room! I’ve locked myself in the closet, please help me!” The girl repeated what she heard that day
>Norman and Twilight listened carefully. They never imagined that one of their friends was capable of this
And then?
>”Mr. Payne got out of the classroom. In the commotion, we got out too and tried to call Fluttershy” Applejack handed her cell phone to Norman “It is in there, please, listen it outside, we cannot listen to this again”

>”Fluttershy, where are you? You didn’t come to class today”
Oh Applejack! How are you doing? sorry, I had to skip classes today *giggle* Joe invited me to skip classes with him
>”Is Joe, with you?”
Yes, he is behind this closet. We are playing hide and seek! but the dummy still doesn’t know I’ve found him. *knocking* Joe, you can come out, I found you!
>”F-Fluttershy, d-do you have, something in your h-hands?”
Well, I was making us a sandwich just when he hid himself. *harder knocking* Joe? what do you want your sandwich with?
>”Please, Fluttershy please tell me you don’t have a k-knife with you”
Well then how else would I prepare these sandwiches? *slam* Joe, you’re scaring me, why don’t you answer?
>”Fluttershy! listen to me! Don’t go anywhere! We’ll be there soon!”
Don’t girls, you will ruin our date *slam* I still haven’t made the sandwiches *slam* Joe come out!

>Norman entered the classroom once the recording ended
>He looked at the crowd with a painful expression
And then?
>”We got there before anyone else. She was holding just a butter knife. You have no idea how relieved we were”
>”Rainbow Dash told her that the reason that Joe hid, was because he had a surprise for her”
>”She took her out, and some minutes later, we told him that Fluttershy was safe”
>”His face” Rarity said “It was pathetic. Seeing such a strong and tall man, almost weeping like a baby? We made him swear to never tell another soul what just happened”
>”Luckily, their relationship was never revealed outside of us, so only rumors ran through school” Rarity added “Fluttershy’s reputation was untouched”
So that’s why Joe went to study to London?
>”Most likely”
And Fluttershy...
>”She's been going to a psychiatrist 3 days per week, we wanted to believe it was working, but now that Joe came back"
You're worried that Fluttershy may suffer a relapse

>The group didn't say a thing
>They just let the silence of the school do the work
>How else could they react to such a difficult story
>Suddenly they heard a knocking on the door
>Norman stood up, opened it, but there was no one there
>Scared,  the kids got out of the classroom and went to their houses
>But Norman could swear he saw something
>Just after he let the girls exit the room first
>A sobbing of a girl coming out of the classroom they were just in
>And a silhouette of a girl from the corner of his eye