Playing Their Game

This sucks. No TV, home internet, they even had to take away your PC and Gamesphere. At least they left you with your phone. Not much that you could do with it, except play throwaway games and watch attention whores put plastic bags over their heads. And your car? They already know that you won't be going anywhere. Still, at least you have five days all to yourself. Just as you were getting comfy on the couch, your phone rings. It must be your parents checking on you, since this clearly isn't their phone number and they must be using the stationed phones at their workplace. You choose to pick it up since, you're already here and there is nothing else to do. "Hello?"

"What are you doing?" Whoever it is, that isn't either of your parents. But it certainly isn't any one of those girls you defended against yesterday.

"Who are you, and how did you get my number?"

"You can't even recognize your own bullies voice, Anon." It had to be...

"Buttershy?"

"It's Fluttershy, you j-jerk!" You pull your phone away as she almost yells through your speaker. "I asked Twilight for your number just so that I could keep in touch with you. So, I've overheard that you made a commotion yesterday, and I wanted to check on my favorite chump."

"Okay then. I'm not doing much, that's all I can say." You casually say.

"Good, because what I need from you is more than a few dollars."

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm short by a hand and I need you to get here." You have an idea to what she's hinting at, but you're not completely sure if you want to do it. You don't have to worry about homework right now and you could use some fresh air.

"Fine, I'll be there."

"Thanks. I'll text you the address. The sooner that you can get your sorry b-butt here is the sooner we can all go home."

"I get ya." She hangs up, followed with a text message sent to your phone. You get up and grab your car keys before heading out the door.

You park down the street, since the rest is cluttered with cars, leaving no parking space anywhere. When you get out and lock your car door, you realize that all of these cars seem familiar. They must have been from the school parking lot that you would usually see from. You walk down the street to enter a local animal shelter. The walls are patted with paw prints over a green background. Right beside the wall is a row of cages, sized for dogs or birds. What is scattered across the floor is miniature bathtubs with used and unused towels everywhere. A crowd of students around, all of which are working on something. Some are washing the animals, while others are feeding them.

"No, no, no! She needs to be pampered on the tail as well!" Fluttershy shouts at the female student. The student slowly backs away from her and drops the brush. "You like it when your tail is touched, don't you?" The pomeranian wags their tail as she speaks to them. "Do it again. From head to tail." Fluttershy commands the same student. The student picks up the brush and starts her repeated task. Screw it, you are better off being yelled at by her, rather than by your parents that are still butthurt on yesterday's fiasco. One of the students notices your presence and backs away.

"What?" That causes the rest to look over, casing most of them to be alarmed.

"Holy crap." One male student slips out.

"Oh God, I don't want my spine to be broken!" A feminine voice panics.

"Why is he doing here?" Another girl questions. Fluttershy walks past them and stand right in front of you.

"I asked for his help." She still has the jacket and hair due that Sunset gave her.

"Well forget this." The female student that questioned your presence announces. She drops her towel and gets up. Fluttershy moves over to stop her in their path.

"Oh no. We need all the help we can get to finish this early. We all want to spend our Saturday's doing something other than being here, don't we?"

"Not when I have to share it with this psycho." She rubs in.

"Hey! If you have a problem with him or me, you can forget about all the hours that you made here." Fluttershy boldly states. The female student scrunches her face and bends down to grab the towel she dropped. "Good. As long that no one causes any trouble, me or Anon won't have to bring it any further, understand?" All but one of the students nods. Fluttershy takes notice of the one student that didn't not and walks towards them. "Understand?!" She tries to yell at them. The student backs away and almost hits his head on one of the metal doors to the cages.

"Yes, yes!" He cries out. Fluttershy grabs the clean towel that he was holding and gives it to you.

"Here. We're short by one and need someone to dry off the cats."

"Sure, no problem." You automatically say.

"Great. See here? At least someone can follow orders." She proclaims. Goddamn, what the fuck happened? Did she actually stole fear into these students? You kind of wanted to fuck the school over, but not like this. But this does seem entertaining on how they bought the fact that she's sort of a bully. Fluttershy really is selling it now. "Okay everyone, let's get this done! We have to wash through the stray cats before we can scrape off the crud on the bird cages."

That. Sucked. Three cats clawed you and the last one just ran around the place. And the bird cages were no cakewalk, shit was harder than peeling an old sticker off of a 57 Chevy bumper. At least you're home, you can now get a decent bath for yourself without-- You see that two cars are parked in your driveway, meaning that your parents are home. Goddamn, this day is getting worse by the hour. You can only wish that they could understand. That is, if they bother to listen.

You park in front of the house and leave your car. As you’re locking your car and walking on the path leading to your front door, you expect the worst from them. As you pick out your key, the door swings open. ”Son, get in.” Your father commands.

“Shit.”

”What did we say about that tone of voice, mister?” Your mother almost shouts out.

“I’m an adult, there is no reason for the two of you to worry about where I’ve been and about my language.”

”No, we have every right to be concerned about you. Suspended, fighting with girls, running off to God knows where without telling us!?” Your mom is now shouting at you.

“So?”

”So!? You are our son! We have every right to be concerned about you, especially if you’re going to live in this house.” Your father yells out. You take a load off on the couch as they stand directly in front of you. ”Why do you look like as if you went through hell? Did you get into another fight!?” He furiously asks you.

“Relax. I just went to the local animal shelter to wash a few cats.”

”Don’t you lie to me, young man!” Your mom barks at you. You sigh when bringing out your phone and pressing the screen a few times.

”Hey! Pay attention when we’re talking to—“ You put the phone on speaker and waive it in front of you.

”Hello?”

“Hey Fluttershy, it’s me.”

”Yes? What is it?” Your parents look at each other as you’re having this conversation.

“Tell them that I was at the animal shelter today, because the think otherwise.”

”Oh, y-yeah. Not a problem.” Your mother takes the phone and puts her off speaker.

”Hello? Yes, I’m his mother. It’s nice to meet you too, Fluttershy. Mmhmm… ah, he did? Okay, that’s great. You know, my husband and me have been trying to get him under control. I’m surprised he cared for animals. Uh-huh. Thank you and have a good night yourself.” She presses a finger down on your screen before handing it back to you.

”What did she say?” Your father asks.

”Apparently Anon wasn’t lying.”

”Huh, I guess you’re off the hook.” Your father clears you up. That was easy. ”But,--” Ah, fuck. ”--for the next four days, you will be helping her out. No exceptions.” Your father finishes.

“Or what?”

”We’ll simply keep everything that we have taken from you for the rest of the school year.”

“But that just started!” You point out, thinking that they've gone completely insane.

”Exactly.” He comfortably says. You swear under your breath.

”What was that?” Your mother quickly jumps.

“I’ll do it.” You uncomfortably state to them.

”Good, now go and take a shower. You smell like you just rolled around at a subway all day.”

What a terrible day. A fucking snake bit you, but it’s cool, Fluttershy said they weren’t poisonous. It is still fucking itchy, but like any other bite, you ignore the bite and pour cold water on it the moment you get home. You're not completely sure if any of this is worth it. You can only wish that she won't need you to do much for the next three days. Just as you prepare to take a shower, your phone goes off from a new number. “Hello?”

”You’ll pay for what you did.” That’s just great, it’s Rarity that called you.

“The four of you tried and really did fuck it up.”

”We have unfinished business, do you hear me?!”

“I hear you, and I still don’t care.” You hang up and throw the phone aside. Just as you’re taking off your clothes, you receive another call. It’s a different number, so you choose to ignore it. When it ends they send a text message. As you read it over, you get an idea to who sent it.

”Ur dead. Watch ur back nxt tme.” You received another message.

”You don’t know what true pain is until we meet again.” Once you finished reading it, someone calls you.

“Leave me alone.” You announce when answering the phone.

”Not with what you’ve done.”

“Applejack, right?”

”Yeah, and you’re gonna have to go through my brother eventually.”

“Go fuck an apple pie, you’ll have a better chance doing that.” You hang up ~~ignoring the fact that she had you on speaker.~~

”Now you see why this hooligan needs a lesson, brother?” As you put your phone away, you look up to view your brother irritated by the simple phone call.

”Eeyup.”

“And you’ll make sure he won’t walk away without a bruise?”

”Eeyup.” You nod. Anon will be more than surprised once Bic Mac visits the school later this week.