A (Somewhat) Normal Life

It has been a few days for Joshua being at Canterlot High. During the course of today the students were talking to each other about the upcoming weekend, and what they were going to do with their weekend break. There was also some chatter about a store getting robbed a few nights back, but it was stopped by someone in a mask. Josh was looking through his locker to get out a notepad and some pencils before he had to head to his next class which was science.

He didn’t really mind said class. He always like mixing different chemicals together and seeing it mix into some nice colors. But it didn't get too crazy like in those old cartoons back in the day where the character mix two vials together, and resulting with it blowing up in their face. While he was walking, he heard some voices in the distance. He followed said voices and came across a group of students. It was two boys messing around with a girl. The girl had grey skin and blonde hair.

“Give it back you meanies.” The girl said in anger while trying to get back her book bag.

“And what are going to do about it, you retarded eye looking freak?” One of the boys said to the girl.

“Yeah, what are you going to do huh?” The other boy said.

The boys laughed at the girl trying to get her stuff back. “I told you, my eyes were like this since I was born, I can’t help it.” She said as tears form in her eyes.

Joshua was now pissed at what he was seeing. These boys were bullying her because of something she can’t help. Josh walked up to the boys until they notice him.

“What do you want jackass?” One of the boys asked.

“Give the girl back her book bag right now!” He said with a stern tone.

The boys started laughing. “And who are you, her friend?”

“I'll say this one more time, give that back to her… now!” Josh said while getting close to the bully's face.

“Beat it fucker, or else you're going to get a beating you’ll never forget.” The other boy said, getting face-to-face with Josh.

“I’m not going anywhere until you and your little butt-buddy here do what I told you do to.”

“Well then, I guess we are doing this the hard way.” He said while cracking his knuckles

Before the boy’s fist could make contact, Josh dodge at the last second and grabbed the boy’s arm. He twisted it, causing the boy to wince in pain. Josh pushed the boy into a row of lockers. Josh kept his attention on the boy that was lying on the ground, but he didn’t notice the other boy coming at him.

Before Josh knew it he was on the ground looking up at the ceiling. He saw the figure of the boy above him, and then he saw the boy’s foot come down on him. Before it could reach him, however, he rolled out of the way and got back on his feet. Josh quickly grabbed the boy’s leg and lifted it up ,causing the boy to hit on the ground on his back.

He then looked at the boys with a stern look on his face. “Now listen and listen good, if I see you two assholes bulling anyone else I’ll make sure to leave a black eye, got it?”

The boys nodded in response. They gave the girl back her book bag and ran down the hallway until they were out of view. Josh turned his head to the girl. “You okay?” he asked. The girl nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks for standing up for me back there, no one has ever done that for me.”

“No problem, so why do people pick on you?” Joshua asked her.

“Well it’s because of these.” The girl pointed to her eyes. They were crossed and went in two different directions. “My eyes have always been like this, it’s not my fault.”

“Well don’t worry,” Josh said as he put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I don’t think those guys will be bothering you anytime soon.”

“Again, thank you.” She extended her arm out. “I’m Derpina Hooves, but everybody calls me Derpy. What’s yours?"

“Joshua Tanner.” Josh shook Derpy’s hand. He looked at his phone and notice he only had three minutes before class started.

“Well I got to get to class, it was nice meeting you, Derpy.” Josh said as he started walking, but before he could get far Derpy wrapped her arms around him. “Uh, Derpy,” Josh said a little confused. “What are you doing?”

“Hugging my first friend.” Derpy looked up at Josh. “We are friends aren’t we?” She asked Josh.

“Derpy, I-” Josh stopped and looked into the girl’s eyes. He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t looking to make friends right now, but he did feel sorry for her. He too felt what it was like to be picked on by other students. So he decided to do what his parents asked him to. Try and make friends.

“-Yeah Derpy, were friends.” Derpy released her grip on Josh. "See you around best friend!” She said as she continued walking down the hallway.

Josh picked up his book bag and went to class. After class Josh returned to his locker to a book he got from science class away, while doing this a tapping was heard on his locker. When he closed the locker door he saw Sunset Shimmer standing in front of him.

“Hey, JT.” She greeted the boy while leaning on one of the lockers.

“Oh hey Sunset, what are you doing here?” He asked Sunset.

“Well, I heard what you did earlier today.” Sunset said with a smirk on her face.

“Oh, you heard about that?”

“Yep, and I think it was very nice of you to stand up for Derpy.”

“Well someone had to do it, I wasn’t going to let those punks keep bulling her. She also said that I'm her first friend she has ever had.”

“I’ll say, it’s sad seeing the students here treat her like a freak. Just because she was born like that doesn’t mean you can just pick on her. You shouldn’t just pick on someone just because their different, you should get to know someone before you judge them.”

Josh nodded in agreement. “Yeah well that’s how people are, they treat you different. They judge you on who you are or what skin color you have or a different thing that you believe in.”

“I know it just sickens me knowing that there are some people like that out there.”

Sunset looked at Josh with a comfort smile. “You know a lot of the students here think your another trouble maker, but after hearing what you did. I think you’re a pretty nice guy, Josh.” Sunset said as she put her hand on Josh's shoulder. “Thanks Sunset, but I really need to be going to my next class before I’m late. It was nice chatting with you.” Josh said as he started walking away. “Wait a minute, Josh.” Sunset said to get the boy’s attention. “I was wondering if, at lunch maybe you can sit with me and my friends?” Josh thought for a moment. “I don’t know about that, Sunset.”

“Come on, Josh. My friends like meeting new people.”

Josh then raised one of his eyebrows. “You mean like Pinkie Pie, the one who ran up to me yesterday?”

“Well I will say that what she did was not the right way to introduce yourself, but the others are a lot calmer than here. So what do say say?” Sunset asked.

Josh thought for a while. Over the past few days things didn't go so well. Some of the students here sometimes gave him some curious looks. When he tried to sit with other people they would just get up and sit somewhere else or they would whisper to one another about him. He thought to himself that 'what if she's just trying to be nice, and the moment he sits down at that table they'll pull some kind of prank on Joshua, to make him look like an idiot.' However, he thought back to what Sunset said. "You should get to know someone before you judge them.” So he decided to give it a chance. If it turns out bad, then he blames himself for doing it.

He then looked at Sunset who was still waiting for an answer. “Alright, Sunset. I’ll sit with you and your friends at lunch.”

“Great, I’ll see you at lunch time See you later, Josh.” Sunset said as she walked down the hallway. Josh soon started power walking to his next class before he was late. After a couple of classes it was lunch time. Josh had a bagged lunch his mother made for him. The bag contained a couple of leftover food from last night, a brownie and can of soda. When Josh entered the lunch room the students stopped what they were doing and looked at him for a while. Soon after, they either stared or quietly talked to each other.

“Well I guess they found out what happened today.” He said as he walked through the cafeteria. “Josh, over here!” He heard a voice calling for him. He looked around until he saw Sunset waving her hand. He saw that sunset was sitting with the same six girls from yesterday. He sat down on the spare seat of the table, and placed his bag. “So who are your friends, Sunset?” Josh asked.

“Well let me introduce them to you. This is Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle, and you already know Pinkie. Guys this is Joshua Tanner." Josh then waved at the six girls. All six girls waved at the boy as he was taking his food out of the bag.

“So you’re the one who whooped those guy’s asses today for picking on Derpy huh?" Rainbow asked. Joshua rubbed the back of his head. "Well, someone had to do something. No one was around so I stepped in and tried to stop it." He said as he took a drink of his soda.

"Yeah, but don’t you think you could have done it without being a little too harsh on them?” Twilight asked with a concerned look on her face. Josh then looked at her. “Well I couldn’t just stand there doing nothing and let them pick on her. I told them to give it back to her, but they didn’t listen. Besides, they attacked first, so what I did was self-defense.”

“Well, I still think you should have went and told someone instead of handling it in a harsh way, but at least you taught them a lesson.” Twilight said.

“Well I think that was mighty kind of you to do that, JT." Applejack said with a smile on her face.

“I think it was quite brave of you darling to stand up for her.” Rarity stated. “Poor girl, always having ruffians picking on her for just being different.” Rarity said with disgust in her voice.

“Yes… well I think it was, very kind of you.” Fluttershy said in low quiet voice but it just enough for Josh to hear her.

“YEAH!” Pinkie yelled with excitement. “It was super duper cool! I heard people say you gave them the old one-two.”

“Yeah, well thanks. But really, I was just trying to help, that’s all.” Josh said as he continued to eat his food. “Well you know, I had my suspicions about you for a while JT, but after what you did today I was wrong. Any other troublemaker would have just walked on by, but you didn't. You stood up for someone and showed those rotten boys what for, so I think you’re okay in my book.” Applejack said, nodding her head while the others did as well.

Josh did feel a little comfortable knowing that Sunset and her friends approved of what he did today. It was quite different here than in Las Angles. Most people that find out you had a fight in school would be afraid of you. After finishing his food and crumbling it up, Josh went about looking through his phone while the others were talking to one other. However, their conversations were cut short do to the sound of a voice over the intercom.

“Joshua Tanner, please report to Vice Principal Luna’s office at once!” Everyone looked at JT as he got up from his seat. He looked back at the girls.

“We’ll talk some other time, okay Josh?” Sunset said.

“Yeah, sure. It was nice meeting you guys.” Josh waved at the group of girls. They waved back as they watched the boy walk out the cafeteria. JT walked through the halls until he came across Luna’s office. He started to feel uneasy, standing in front of the office door. After a while he slowly opened the door and went inside. The room was dimly lit. The only thing that was lighting the room up was the rays of the sun coming through the window shades.

“Take a seat, Joshua.” Luna said while her back was facing Josh. He did as he was told and took a seat that was in front of the desk. She turned around to face Josh. “So Mr. Tanner, do you know why you were called to my office?” She asked.

“Well I don’t know, is it because I won something?”

“No, it’s because I was told that you started a fight earlier today in the hallway. Principal Celestia said that she was going to talk with you, but I told her that I would do it. So tell me, why did you do it?”

“Well for starters Vice Principal Luna, I didn’t start that fight.”

“Oh really? Well then, explain.”

“Well you see, I was walking to my next class when I heard a commotion going on. I went to go check it out and there were these two boys picking on the girl.”

“Who was this girl?” Luna asked.

“She said her name was Derpy Hooves.”

Luna placed one of her hands on her chin. “Hmm, go on.”

“Well, they called her names like ‘retard’ and ‘freak' so after a while I got a little mad by what they were doing to her.”

“So you thought it be best to just start a fight with them instead?”

“No, at first I asked them to give back her stuff, but they didn’t listen so asked again. And they told me ‘beat it loser’ and just continued messing with her. So I asked them one last time and they didn’t take that kindly, so they decide to beat me up instead. So what I did was clearly self-defense.”

“You know you could have went and got a teacher, me or Principal Celestia.”

“Well I wasn’t going to stand there and do nothing.”

“So you thought that harming the boys was the best course of action?"

“Like I said, it was self-defense. If I didn’t put my guard up, they would have beaten me up!”

“ENOUGH!” Luna shouted. She quickly calmed herself down before continuing. “I have heard enough. Since you didn’t do too much damage to the boys I’m going to give you a warning this time, but if you do it again it’s a one-way ticket to detention. Am I clear, Mr. Tanner?”

“Yes, Vice Principal Luna, I understand.” He replied, nodding his head with his eyes closed.

“Good, you may go now.” said Luna. Josh stood up from the seat and walked out of the office. Once outside he started heading for his locker. “Great, I did something good and I got in trouble for it. That’s what I can’t fucking understand.” Josh said to himself as he was continued walking through the halls. “You do something positive and something negative comes back to bite you in the ass.”

After a long and tedious day, it was time to head home. Josh thought about getting on the bus, but he decided to walk home this time. Sure it’ll take longer, but he didn’t bother to think about the details. Besides, this would give him some time to think. While he was walking, Josh started thinking back to the cafeteria when he met Sunset and her friends. While doing so, the sound of thunder could be heard and a drop of rain hit his head.

He sighed. "Great," He said as he looked up at the now dark grey sky. "Just my luck."

Josh zipped up his jacket and pulled the hood over his head to protect himself from the oncoming rain. Soon after it started to rain, the people on the street started to take out their umbrellas while others ran to get some shelter from the spit in the air. Josh took out his phone and soon after he started to text his mother.

Walking home from school, will be home later. Started raining though, but not too bad.

He soon got a reply back from her.

Okay, see you soon. And be careful.

Josh then put away his phone so that it wouldn’t get too wet and be destroyed by the rain. After a while, the rain slowly started to pour down. Josh put his hands in his pocket to keep them warm from the coldness of the weather. He returned back to his thoughts about Sunset and the others.

They were nice and all. And they did appreciate what he did today for Derpy. He thought that maybe he just needed a new group of friends that were happy for what he did. But, thoughts of his old life raced back to him. He shook those thoughts out of his head as best he could. "No, that life is over. You have a new one now." His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of shouting.

“STOP, THIEF!”

Josh ran around the corner to see what was going on. Soon after coming around the corner he saw a figure running out of a store. They were wearing a typical robber's mask, a black hoodie, and black pants. The figure then saw Josh and took off running.

“HEY YOU, STOP!” Josh shouted and started chasing after the masked figure. It took a while, but Josh managed to catch up with the thief. The thief looked back and noticed Josh gaining up on him, so they quickly took a left in to an alleyway. Josh soon followed suit and ran into the alleyway as well. He saw the thief push over some objects like trash bags and trash cans in Josh's way.

“You think that’s going to stop me?” He said as he jumped over said objects, but trampled on the last one. However, he quickly got back on his feet and continued to run after the thief. “Okay, maybe that one did.” Josh saw that his target was heading for the streets where cars were slowly driving by. “So you wanna play in traffic huh?”

After jumping on the hoods of the cars, Josh was able to get back on pace with his masked friend. The thief then made another turn into an alleyway. Once Josh was in the alleyway, he notice that his friend was gone. “Come on, you couldn’t have gotten far.” Josh said as he was looking around. He then heard a loud clanking noise from above. He saw his friend climbing up a ladder and onto the roof. “Got ya.”

Josh started climbing up the ladder and on to the roof, where he saw the thief. They started running to the other side the rooftop. “What the fuck is he doing?” The thief then jumped off the rooftop and onto another and continued running. “Whoa this guy’s got balls, but I’m not gonna let him get away.” Josh back up and quickly darting forwards. As he soon as he was going as fast as he could, Josh started to approach the edge of the rooftop. “Please for the love of god, don’t let me miss.”

Josh then jumped of the roof. Whilst in midair, it was as if time had slowed down. Shortly after, time got back on track as he rolled when his feet touch the roof. Josh continued to chase the thief as they jumped from roof to roof. Soon Josh saw that they were running out of rooftops. Noticing this, a smile grew on his face. “I got you now asshole.” He said as he was zeroing on his target.

As the thief made one last jump onto the final rooftop, Josh did the same. However, due to the rain Josh only managed to grab the ledge of the roof. He looked down at the ground and saw that he was two stories high. He tried to pull himself up, but because of the rain it was nearly impossible. As Josh was dangling from the ledge, he saw the figure of the masked thief above him. Without a moment's notice, the figure stomped on one of Josh's hands. He screamed in agony from the pain.

Suddenly Josh's hands slipped. Time slowed down again as he was falling to the ground. The last thing he saw was the masked thief walking away from the ledge. He then turned around to see he was falling face first to the ground. “So this how I’m going to die huh? By trying to do a good thing?” He then thought about Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Derpy, and finally his parents. Tears slowly ran down his face. Shortly after, he fell to the ground and all he saw was nothing, but darkness.