Chapter 1
With an annoyed sigh, Normal Norman pushed the button for the elevator a fifth time. The Canterlot Mall was one of the few buildings in town with that 'one' elevator that was notoriously slow. Tired of waiting, he turned to make his way to a stairwell and slammed into a soft squishy chest, the jolt caused him to drop his belongings.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-," he stopped and met Flutterbat's amused eyes.
"Excuses, excuses," she sighed. "Norman, if you wanted to grope my luscious breasts and butt, all you have to do is ask nicely," She smirked at him.
He rolled his eyes at her dismissively and knelt to pick up his things which were now on his their feet. "What the heck are you doing in my realm anyway?"
She crouched down to help him with his stuff, "I'm looking for an Apple shop run by... Granny Smith is it, I heard her apples were the sweetest in all of Canterlot, so I figured that I'd stop by and pay her a visit."
"Yeah, but you don't have any of our money, how will you buy apples?" Norman asked, he just wanted her to leave and not cause a disturbance.
"There's always free samples, and besides. I'm beginning to like this realm, despite some geeky lame humans, like yourself" She giggled, licking her fangs, Norman blushed and squirmed a little bit.
"What are you doing here?"
Norman tucked the printer ink in his bag before meeting her eyes. "Research."
"What kind of research?" She asked while making a cute head tilt.
He sighed, "I'm doing a research on human behavior." He said smiling, Flutterbat giggled, "And the geek of the year goes to!" She mocked.
Norman shook his head and tried to ignore her rude remarks, he had taken pride on getting straight A's and being an outstanding student in Canterlot High.
The ancient elevator dinged to announce its arrival inside.
"Wait? You have wings, why did you take the stairs?" Norman questioned, raising an eyebrow, Flutterbat looked at him.
"I don't want people to freak out or anything, I just tell people it’s a costume, humans can believe anything." She said, simply shrugging her shoulders, he hurried inside. jabbing at the door close button. The doors were about to close, when suddenly... A hand shot between him and pulled them open, Norman dropped his jaw.
"That eager to get away from me huh? If I had feelings, they might be hurt," She smiled at him, and hit the button for the third floor.
Those pierced red eyes leveled him and Norman fought the urge to fidget. "I'm not in the mood to play with you Flutterbat,” he stated flatly.
"That means two things..." Flutterbat said softly, giving him a cheeky grin while flashing her fangs, Norman choked on his own saliva.
He had softened feelings towards her for a couple months now ever since she saved him from the Diamond boy gang who were looking to rob and beat him to a pulp.
Ever since that day, they begun to hang out more frequently. Once or twice a week he even had caught himself admiring the way her leotard made her hips so delicious, and just how unbelievably cute her whole figure was.
It was utterly impossible not to notice how attractive she was. He was so conflicted by these errant thoughts; he refused to acknowledge them at all, even though Flutterbat flirts and pulled pranks on him all the time, like embarrassing him during his class presentations. There was almost no chance that they'll ever be together.
Suddenly the elevator shifted violently and Flutterbat was thrown off balance, Norman caught her easily and steadied her. "Are you okay?" he asked, his hands were on her upper arms.
"Yes. What the hell just happened?" Flutterbat's winged fluttered around, looking for an answer. The elevator had stopped and the overhead had gone out, leaving them in advanced darkness...
"The elevator stopped. And I think we're stuck."
Norman tried to look for the control panel. "Flutterbat, you can still see, can't you?" Which one is the emergency button?"
"The power's out. That button won't work."
"How do you know the power's out." He turned to face her and she could see his narrowed eyes glaring in her direction.
She released an exasperated sigh and rubbed her temple in frustration.
"Um, duh. I'm Princess Flutterbat! I can hear electrical currents, there are no light bulbs humming, no computers beeping, and that rhymed so you should start running." Flutterbat grinned, trying to amuse him. She could see that he wasn't amused, he just gave her a plain look.
"Really... At a time like this!?" Norman was fumed with anger, Flutterbat rolled her eyes, Norman shook his head and just forgot about that moment.
"I guess we'll just have to wait here then?" Norman said putting his stuff aside.
"Mmmhmmm." She was widely, thankful for his inferior vision. This could be fun. She sat down opposite from him and stretched her legs out. She enjoyed the gift of staring at him, she watched his eyes as they tried to adjust to the darkness; the blindness was obviously making him feel vulnerable.
Fifteen minutes passed in relative silence and Flutterbat had used her time to scrutinize his features and gestures, she categorized how he stared at her, the way he breathed, the nervous way he moved his legs, and how he gulped while beads of sweat were pouring down from his skin.
Flutterbat stopped observing him and decided to do something brazen, Norman could hear her stand up. He froze, sensing the movement but not knowing what she was doing. "Relax Normy, I'm just taking off my heels, the rest of me doesn't come out unless I lose a bet of strip poker, or you take me out to a gorgeous restaurant and buy me dark red champagne, I am the Princess after all."
He shook his head and tried not to smile. She was a cocky, manipulative, and bitchy at times. But she could only distract him from his problems and inner turmoil in a way that nobody seemed to be able to. Realizing that she could see him, she quickly wiped the amusement from his face.
It was too late, she'd seen it. She was grinning at him when she asked, "So... How should we pass the time, twenty questions? Or..." Her voice dropped seductively, "Truth or Dare?"
Intrigued and curious to break the silence that was making him feel uncomfortable, he sat up, "Why not?" He was confident that he could dodge any questions that were too personal and ignore any dares that were inappropriate. But knowing Flutterbat, they would all be. Truthfully, there were some things he wanted to know and she had just offered him the perfect opportunity to get some answers.
Her wings fluttered up at his response, she had clearly been joking. This was unexpected, he was always surprising her.
"Well um, humans first. Truth or Dare Norman?"
"Truth." That's safe right?"
Her mind was scrolling for various questions, anxious enough to make him squirm, seeing him blush. It was almost too easy to embarrass him. Glaring at him, she saw that he was already on guard and in a defensive stance, switching tactics, she asked him something she honestly wanted an answer to. "Do you hate me?" she asked in a soft voice.
He flinched slightly and immediately responded, "I don't hate you Flutterbat, how can I hate you. You saved me from the Diamond Boys." He paused, searching for the right words. "I just don't... understand you. Sometimes, you're absolutely horrible to people, remember that old lady that you scared that night. Other times... you can be very kind." He smiled a half smile before continuing.
"You're kind of like an anti-heroine or something like that."
Flutterbat's eyes were glued to his face; she hadn't moved a muscle, her wings simply stopped moving while listening to him speak. It wasn't exactly praising her, but she relaxed at his words, smirking slightly.
"Okay, your turn. Truth or Dare?" she asked.
"Truth." She was curious to see what he wanted to know about her.
"Why were you and Lucifer so... different? You both liked each other and ended up in complete opposites. How did that, um happen?" he asked hesitantly, worried about her reaction.
Flutterbat sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "That’s quite the question. Lucifer wasn't always the nice bad boy I thought he was, when he eats apples, he's violent, uncontrollable, and just an asshole." Her expression shifted from calmness to anger in a quick second.
Norman's voice was soft when he said, "That didn't really answer my question..."
Exhaling heavily, he answered abruptly. "Simple answer, he fights his nature and I was calm and collected." Her voice was thick with false pleasantness when she spoke again, but she began to calm down, "Your turn, truth or dare."
Wanting to break the tension, Norman smiled. "Dare."
Flutterbat twiddled her thumbs, "Come sit next to me."
"And...?" His head was tilted toward her, poised to hear the rest of the dare, bracing himself for whatever perverted suggestion she was going to throw at him.
Chuckling lowly, she said, "That was the suggestion. Come sit next to me." She needed to see if he trusted her enough to be close to him physically. Also, on a purely selfish level, she just wanted to sit next to him. Wanted to watch him come to her, even if it was just a child's game of dare.
"Okay..." Quietly, he got to his feet and crossed the scant distance that separated them, his arms were stretched in front of him and Flutterbat caught his hand, letting him know where he was. He left his hand in hers as he sat down against the wall next to her. "Thanks," he whispered as he pulled his hand away, palm and fingers brushing hers in a pleasant way.
He was right next to her, his body heat warming her left side, things were getting a little more personal...
She saw him grin widely as he turned to her. "I want to see your scariest face."
Flutterbat burst out laughing. "What!"
His face lit up with amusement, "Come on, I know you hiss and stuff, but show me the most scariest face that you could make, even though I won't see it, I'm still curious about the noise. C'mon, that's the dare." He fixed her a stern look in her direction.
She sighed and fulfilled his request, Her fangs lengthened and her eyes began to darken.
"F-flutterbat...?"
Her head turned in his direction, and the fear level was increasing. "Well, I'm doing it, but you can't see it," she mocked with a nod of her head.
"Oh wait wait wait!" He dug in his backpack and pulled out his forgotten smartphone, he pressed the on button and pointed it in her direction. "Whoa..." He leaned in to get a closer look, completely unafraid. Her veins weren't so intimidating when viewed up close, without simple reasoning, he traced his hand on the raised line with his fingertip.
To say that she was enjoying his gentle focused attention was a low understatement. She concentrated on taking unneeded breaths, keeping still. His lips were parted as he studied her, Flutterbat blushed, wanting nothing more than to pull her soft lower lip into his mouth and lave it with the tip of her tongue.
Fixated on his exploration, Norman's hand slid down her cheek and he tapped her jawline gently. "Teeth?" he asked quietly, his eyes flipping to hers.
A dare was a dare, Flutterbat smiled widely, Norman heard her inhale sharply, he hesitated for a moment before curiosity got the better of him, he leaned even closer, practically climbing into her lap. Noticing his position, he pulled back. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. That was really rude of me."
Snapping his phone shut, he relaxed against the wall. "Thanks for showing me."
"Mmmhmm, so the veins and stare don't bother you."
Norman shrugged lightly. "Nope, but might answer might be different if they was someone else in your species, but you... no." Norman couldn't pinpoint exactly when the change had occurred, but her features was not a source of fear anymore, he had been far too comfortable touching them, it had a natural effect on him.
Norman was riveted to her profile as they stared at each other, her cheeks were tinged pink and breaths were a bit deeper then they had been before. He could swear that he could sense the faintest stirrings of arousal within her. It was a delicious thought, once he mulled it over in his mind leisurely.
Dropping his voice, he tipped his head in her direction and spoke directly into her ear, eyes narrowing in predatory fashion when he felt her shiver and his lowly, "It's my turn again!" He said taking the lead.
"Oh, yeah um... truth or dare?" Turning her head she was startled by his closeness, she could feel his warm breath on her cheek, he wrapped his hands around her side, her undead heart stuttered in her chest, her eyes were blinking chaotically. Yep, he was definitely having an effect on her. Grateful for the cloak of darkness, he inched closer, his mouth only mere millimeters away from hers and whispered, "Dare."