Fluttershy, Crumble and Cookie stood outside of the vast school that was Las Pegasus State College. Under the shade of the trees, they remained inconspicuous. At least in the sea of unsuspecting students.
“Are you sure this is where you said he’d be?” Crumble asked.
“He said if I could get to Las Pegasus, he’d help me personally,” Fluttershy explained. “But I was always scared something was going to happen, so... I didn’t.”
Cookie kept her eyes surveying the area. She leaned on the long staff that she used as a crutch. She wasn’t walking yet, more of hobbling, but at least she could move on her own. The plants Fluttershy used on her had improved her leg significantly.
She was making sure that no pony would sneak up on them. Especially not Equestria’s finest. She was also keeping an eye out for any pony that would look their way. Making sure they weren’t suspicious. So far, everything was quiet. But there was still one problem.
“How will you recognize this pony you’re supposed to find? This Hot Rod Wheels?” Cookie asked.
Fluttershy’s eyes diverted to her feet. “I don’t know. I don’t know what he looks like. Or who he really is.”
Crumble shook his head and gave a deep sigh. “But you’re sure he’s here?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“He told me to come here I ever needed help. I’m certain of it,” Fluttershy convinced herself.
Crumble and Cookie again surveyed the campus, not sure what they were supposed to be looking for.
At one moment, they spotted a blue unicorn wheeling his way out of the building in his chair. The unicorn scanned the area around him as if he was expecting some pony. When his eyes finally focused on them, he continued to stare for some time.
“That pony is staring right at us.” Cookie pointed to the blue unicorn. Fluttershy and Crumble found the pony in question.
After a few moments, his gaze was starting to make Fluttershy uncomfortable.
“Why is he just glaring at me like that?” Fluttershy thought as she silently urged Cookie and Crumble to walk slowly down the sidewalk with her.
The group slowly turned away from him and walked down the campus. The blue pony turned his chair towards them and started to make his way their direction.
Fluttershy began to panic. “Do you think they’ve found me?”
“If they’ve found me, we have to get away. Before I become... before I get upset.”
Cookie turned around and saw the old unicorn was not a few yards from them. “Hey! Why are you following us?”
“I’m not following you. I’m following her,” the unicorn spoke pointing directly at Fluttershy. He wheeled his way in front of the group.
The trio eyed him very carefully. He wasn’t a very large pony. Crumble was bigger than he was. But he might have appeared shorter because of the chair he moved in. It didn’t look much like a threat, but then again, neither did Fluttershy.
Fluttershy started to back away. “W-w-who are you?” she finally asked.
The blue unicorn gave a slight smirk. “I’m Hot Rod Wheels. And you must be Lil’ Angel?”
Crumble and Cookie both gave Fluttershy a glance. They both seemed to want an explanation, something Fluttershy couldn’t give. She was just as surprised as they did.
She finally gathered her courage and asked, “How do you know who I am?”
“Because I knew your father, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. Hot Rod Wheels knows my father?!
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Fluttershy, Crumble, and Cookie had been led to the classroom of Professor Steel Smolder. The pony who had known and worked with her father intrigued Fluttershy. She didn’t know a lot about her father’s profession, but here was a chance to find out what exactly her father had been working on.
All she knew was that he was a scientist. She knew he created the growth serum that saved her when she was a child. She knew he was the smartest pony in the world. Other than that, she didn’t know whom he worked for or with. But, if this pony had been a friend to her father’s, he had to be trustworthy.
“Your father and I worked together on the growth hormone project,” Professor Smolder explained as he levitated three cups of tea to his three guests. Crumble and Fluttershy took theirs without a second thought. Cookie put her hoof up and shook her head, refusing Smolder’s charity.
Fluttershy took a sip of her light green liquid. It warmed her neck and chest as it flowed into her body. It felt good. She hadn’t had tea for a long time, but she liked it whenever she got the chance to drink it.
Her thoughts then wandered to her father. If this pony worked with him to achieve the growth hormone to save her life, then she owed this pony her life.
“When I was really little, I was really sick. My father...” she paused. She knew what she wanted to say, but it was just difficult. Speaking of her father, even praising him, was always difficult. “... saved my life. You both saved my life.”
Smolder gave a slight chuckle. “My dear, I wish I could have taken credit on that, but it was Brixy and only Brixy who saved your life.”
Crumble finally spoke, “That still doesn’t explain how you knew this was Fluttershy.”
Smolder turned to the desk and levitated a brown folder and placed it in Fluttershy’s hooves. “Her father’s notes. I recognized your father’s work. He was gathering data on the growth serum in your body. As soon as your friend sent these, I knew exactly who you were, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy was confused. Yes, her father had taken blood samples when she was little. She never understood why until she was older, only a few months before she... lost them. “But my father told me the serum was completely out of my system.”
Smolder held his hoof up. “Yes, but not the genes that it affected.”
Fluttershy turned her head to Crumble, who simply shrugged his shoulders.
Sensing their confusion, Smolder continued, “The genes that were altered to allow your heart to grow normally had been dormant since your recovery. Your father theorized they would, but without further tests he wasn’t able to confirm his theory. That is why your heart didn’t continue to grow at an expanded rate. If that had happened, you would have been dead long before now.”
Crumble then spoke, “What about the gamma? She took an intense amount of gamma radiation. How could she have survived?”
Smolder smiled. He wheeled his way to his computer and tapped on his keyboard. The screen flickered revealing several calculations. “It was all in the dormant genes within her. Her heart had been pumping irregular blood for years. That blood somehow altered her genetics. Somehow, those genes were able to absorb the massive radiation like a sponge.”
Fluttershy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She looked down at her cup of tea, hoping to distract her mind. But she couldn’t forget or ignore what she had just heard. The serum had altered her genes and allowed her to absorb the radiation from the gamma pulse. That’s how she became ... her. Fluttershy gave a deep swallow, “Can you get rid of it? Can you cure me?”
Smolder made his way to Fluttershy and placed his hoof on her’s. “My dear, I can cure you.”
Fluttershy eyes lit up and her smile widened across her face. Finally, at long last her prayers would be answered. She was finally going to be rid of the monster.
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Fluttershy was taken to a lab at the edge of the school. Professor Smolder insisted, due to his long hours of work there. Cookie, who hadn’t had a clue of what any pony was talking about as far as sciences go, still stuck by Fluttershy’s side. Saying she wanted to pay her debt to the end. For Fluttershy, the end couldn’t have been closer.
Fluttershy had taken to the table and laid flat on her back. Her wings stretched out over the sides of the table. It was uncomfortable. The most discomfort came in the form of the tube that centered around to a big machine and a needle that stuck in her arm. She had never liked needles, even when they were in the hooves of her father, but if she would finally be rid of the beast, a little discomfort would be bearable.
Smolder’s horn started to glow a dark blue hue as restraints wrapped themselves tightly around Fluttershy’s limbs. “These restraints will protect you from yourself if you have a violent reaction.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, they won’t.”
Smolder smiled at Fluttershy, examining her body once again. “Trust me, they’ll hold you.”
Crumble shot a look at the professor. “No, they won’t.”
Cookie, who remained next to the doorway, spoke, “No, they won’t, doc.” She would periodically scan down the hallways to see if any pony was coming by. Not that it would have done much good now, since they were so close to begin the injection.
Smolder scoffed. “You ponies are so paranoid, you’re starting to scare me.” The last restraint wrapped itself around Fluttershy. She was tied to the chair with very minimal room for movement.
Fluttershy started to take deep breaths. She was nervous, something Smolder caught on too rather quickly. He gently put his hoof on her head.
“Do not worry, my dear. You’ll experience some pain, but it will only be temporary,” Smolder explained. He then wheeled himself to the machine behind Fluttershy.
Crumble took Fluttershy’s hoof in his own. “You’re going to be okay,” he promised. He wasn’t sure why he said it. He just felt like he had to. He needed to be there for her.
Fluttershy smiled and nodded. Crumble then backed away and allowed room for Professor Smolder to appear next to her.
“Now, you said that your outburst is triggered by emotional stress.”
Fluttershy’s smile vanished, but she continued to nod.
“Perfect,” Smolder cheered as he wheeled his way to Fluttershy’s head. He then placed two electrodes on Fluttershy’s forehead. She started to breathe deeply as they stuck to her. “Now, Fluttershy, we’re going to send electricity into your body. Once the episode has reached its peak, the antidote will be introduced into your system.”
Fluttershy was hesitant. After all she had right to be, she was about to agree to allow ‘her’ to come out.
“What if the antidote doesn’t work?” Fluttershy worried. “What if I lose control? What if I... I mean, what if she ... does something horrible to every pony I cared about?”
She was about to shake her head. She then took a look at Crumble, who was only a few feet from her.
He was smiling. He had once called her monster, but now he was a friend. A very good friend. He had helped her so much to make it this far and all for the chance to rid the world of this monster. The chance for her to have a normal life.
She then took a look towards Cookie. She was also smiling. Cookie had made so many sacrifices. Without her, it would have never have been possible for Fluttershy to retrieve her father’s notes. Maybe she was doing it because of guilt. Maybe she was doing it because she really was her friend. Regardless, Fluttershy couldn’t have asked for two better friends.
They wanted to see this through to the end. Fluttershy knew it was a risk, but if they had faith that things would be okay, she knew she had to be brave too. She exhaled a deep breath and nodded her head.
Smolder gave a grin and wheeled himself to the machine. He then turned towards the tiny, trembling Pegasus, as if he was expecting her to back out. However, no such notion was given and with that, he threw the switch.
Fluttershy screeched as the electricity flowed throughout her body. Terrible, throbbing pain shook her entire body. She tried to resist the pain, but it was in vain. Her breathing became rapid and a second later her world went dark.
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Smolder just watched as the pony that was once Fluttershy struggle against her restraints, like a caged animal. Her yellow coat began to darken and turn into a shade of green. She also started to grow bigger. Much bigger. “Holy Faust!” Smolder exclaimed.
The restraints finally gave in the Fluttershy’s rage, tearing at the bases. Fluttershy gave a cry of anger as she flailed wildly. Her mane finally turned a dark red hue and reached the end of her growth. Smolder sat in his chair, speechless and motionless.
Crumble turned his head towards Smolder several times, but the professor wouldn’t move. “Professor Smolder, the cure!”
“No, I want to see this,” Smolder stated excitedly.
The table started to crumble under the intense weight of Fluttershy. She growled as she slowly rose to her feet. She looked to her side to see a long tube in her arm. She snarled as her hooves reached for it.
“Fluttershy! No! It’s okay!” Crumble cried out.
Cookie hobbled his way to the Professor. “Doc, the serum, dammit!”
“Wait!” Smolder shouted. He wanted to see more. He wanted to see what this creature could do.
Cookie grabbed the unicorn by his horn and pulled him towards her. “I said now!”
Smolder glared at the unicorn and pulled himself away from her grip. He then turned towards the machine and began the sequence.
Fluttershy continued to scream in rage. Then at if she had been struck a mighty blow, her screams began to die out. She tumbled onto some of the computer equipment, pulling the needle out of her body as she fell.
Crumble slowly made his way to the creature as it slowly began to shrink. The creature’s coat began to revert back to its original yellow base. Her dark red mane returned to light pink. Her growls slowly went silent.
Crumble kneeled down to the creature’s side, which had now returned to the form of Fluttershy. He gently lifted her head off the ground. “Fluttershy?” he whispered.
There was a deafening silence about the entire room. Even the humming of the machine was completely silent. Slowly, the mare opened her eyes. She moaned as she was aided to her feet by Crumble. Fluttershy looked around the room. She was no longer in the seat, the room was damaged, but every pony was alright. “What happened?” she asked.
“It’s over,” Crumble replied.
She turned her head to see his smile. She wanted to hear him say it. Say what she had always been waiting for.
“You’re cured.”
Tears came to Fluttershy’s eyes and for once, they were tears of joy.
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“Magnificent!” Smolder exclaimed. He was still in awe at Fluttershy’s transformation. He could hardly believe his eyes, much to the other’s annoyance. “I’ve heard the stories of the creature, but I never imagined. Such beauty, such power!”
Each time the professor praised the beast, Fluttershy’s gazed lowered. Cookie finally caught on to this and spoke, “Yo, doc! Mind shutting up for while?”
“You don’t have to say it like that, Cookie,” Fluttershy thought to herself, but she would have been lying if she said she didn’t agree.
Smolder glared at the limp pony. “You don’t understand?! This is exactly what I was working on all my years ago! That is exactly the result I wanted! Perhaps not exactly, there are still some concerns. However, that thing was what I had dreamed of creating.”
Crumble raised his eyebrow. “You dreamed of creating something like that?”
Fluttershy shook her head and closed her eyes. “How could anypony, let alone a good pony like Professor Smolder, want to create something like that?”
Smolder grinned. “It was always the dream of ponies to build the perfect being. It is the dream of all species. To evolve themselves beyond their limitations and become something extraordinary.”
Fluttershy smiled and shook her head. She wasn’t smiling at Smolder; she was smiling because she wasn’t extraordinary anymore. She wasn’t evolved. She wasn’t a monster. She was just... Fluttershy. Just Fluttershy. “Well, I’m happy that it’s finally over.”
Smolder took a glance at Fluttershy and smiled widely. “Or maybe, it’s just the beginning?”
Fluttershy looked back at Smolder. Her eyebrows were raised with a confused look on her face. “Beginning? Beginning of what?”
Smolder urged the others to follow him, stating something that concerned all of them.
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“Like you Fluttershy,” Smolder began. “I, too, had a growth serum injected into myself.”
He led them into the next room with row after row of vials, all containing a red liquid inside them. Fluttershy couldn’t help by eye them. She felt sick to her stomach being in this room. There was certainly something strange going on, she knew this much was certain.
“Mine, however, was more for weapons development than anything. Mine was brilliant. It increased my strength, agility, speed, reflexes.” Smolder trailed off. He was silent for a moment. He lowered his head. “But there were some... complications,” Smolder finished, a sadness emanating in his voice.
“What does this have to do with, Fluttershy?” Crumble finally asked. He, like Fluttershy, had been examining the vials. He felt unsettling about this whole situation. Something in his gut told him something was wrong.
The professor turned towards the trio. “This has everything to do with Fluttershy! Everything in this room has to do with you, my dear.”
Fluttershy looked around the room. “What is Professor Smolder talking about? What does he mean? He’s not thinking about... making more? Is he?”
Fluttershy took a deep swallow as she worked up the nerve to ask her question. “What do you mean, everything in this room has to do with me?”
Smolder scoffed. “Fluttershy, my dear. Every vial within this room contains a synthesized version of your blood.”
Fluttershy eyes fired open. “A synthesized version of my blood?”
She looked around her. There must have been hundreds of vials. Her thoughts then imagined hundreds of monsters, just like her, rampaging through Equestria. An unstoppable army of killers. All because of her.
“Celestia, no! Not that! Please say this is a cruel joke! He can’t be serious!”
“With your blood and more research, we could potentially save the entire pony race from all disease, all plague,” Smolder explained.
“Wait, you want to make more of those things?!” Cookie asked.
Smolder turned towards the mare, as she made her way to him. “Equestria is in desperate need of that power. The griffins, the diamond dogs, the ahuizotli, they would all tremble before the kind of power! Just imagine the cures we could create! The lives we would save!”
“And what happens when some freak gets a hold of that power?!” Cookie shouted.
Fluttershy’s ears perked up. She hadn’t even thought about that. “What if some thug, a murderer, or a psychopath becomes what I was? What if a pony gets the power I had? What if they have no problem losing control?”
Crumble interjected himself into the conversation, “Cookie’s right, it’s too dangerous.”
“Science is always dangerous! But the future is not won by the meek!” Smolder shouted.
Despite the loud tone of the other three, Fluttershy couldn’t hear any of them. The only noise that rang in her ears, were the screams of hundreds of rampaging beast.
“Hundreds of beasts. Hundreds of monsters. All just like me. Destroying, hurting and killing. How can Professor Smolder want this?”
The creatures toppled entire cities, killed millions in their rage, and brought entire civilizations to ruin. These horrors found themselves at her hooves. All because she had failed to stop it.
“You think you can contain this?!” Crumble shouted. “My father would-!”
“I know who your father is, boy!” Smolder interrupted. “He’s the pony that ruined my work before and I won’t let his spawn take it away from me!”
This caught Crumble off-guard. He was silent and that was Smolder’s opportunity to speak to Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, this is the future of pony-kind.” Smolder had toned his voice down to a friendly voice. He had hoped to win Fluttershy’s confidence. “This is what your father wanted for you.”
Fluttershy’s eyes turned towards the professor.
“This is what my father wanted for me?” she asked herself. “My father wanted me to... be that monster?”
“Your father had great plans for you. He knew you would someday be a boon to the world and now you can be.”
“A boon? Is that what I am? Can this thing really help every pony? Can I?”
“Fluttershy, this was your father’s dream. I beg you, make your father proud.”
Fluttershy lowered her head slowly. A single tear ran down her face. She quietly wiped it away and took a deep breath. She then turned herself towards the professor, who was smiling, waiting for Fluttershy’s response. “No,” she quietly whimpered. “I can’t.”
Smolder’s smile slowly vanished from his face. He gave the mare a confused look, as if he didn’t understand.
Fluttershy shook her head. “I can’t allow this. For my blood to be used like this.”
Smolder shook his head and leaned towards Fluttershy. “B-But you could make a difference in the world?!”
“You don’t understand how dangerous this thing is,” Fluttershy softly replied. “If I were to condone this and something were to happen. If ponies got hurt or worse...”
Her thoughts then wandered to her own sins. She couldn’t live with the blood on her own hooves. She couldn’t live with herself if another pony was affected by the same curse she went through. She couldn’t allow any pony to die because of her. She took a deep breath and continued, “I would never forgive myself.”
“The things I’ve gone through. The things I’ve been forced to do. The things I’ve lost or given up, just to keep everypony else safe. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
“We can fix this!” Smolder shouted. “Just let me have it!”
“Sorry, doc. Flyshy’s right on this,” Cookie finally said.
Fluttershy smiled at her friend. “Thank you, Cookie. So very much.”
She was glad that there was one pony that agreed with her. It made it easier to say no to Smolder. She didn’t like being assertive and Smolder had done so much for her. But what he was asking her to do was unthinkable.
“We have to destroy it. It’s the only way everypony can be safe,” Fluttershy declared.
Smolder growled under his breath and then shouted, “We have the power of the gods at our hooves!” The room was silent as all eyes went straight to Smolder. “And you would have me just... throw it away.”
Fluttershy gave a deep swallow. “I’m really sorry. But I could never live with myself if I allowed this to happen.”
Smolder’s head lowered and sighed. He then slowly raised his head and stared at the Pegasus with resentment in his eyes. “You can’t take this from me!” He then quickly wheeled himself towards Fluttershy.
Fluttershy, feeling frightened by Smolder’s change of persona, started to back away.
“I’ve worked my whole life for this!” Smolder shouted as he approached Fluttershy. “You can’t take it!” He was almost upon Fluttershy, but a hoof grabbed him from behind.
“Back off, doc!” Cookie shouted as she shoved the professor to the ground. The professor fell out of his chair and hit the ground hard.
“Fluttershy, are you alright?” Crumble rushed to the Pegasus’s side.
Fluttershy nodded in confirmation. She then took another look at Professor Smolder, who lay on the ground, crawling on the floor. His chair was only a few feet from him, lying on its side. But without the use of his hind legs, it might as well be miles. “I’m sorry, Professor Smolder.”
Smolder mumbled something under his breath; no pony could hear what it was. He then started laughing. The trio looked at each other with odd looks.
“You’re sorry?” Smolder whispered. He then unleashed another cackle in the air. “You’re sorry?!” he shouted. He crawled along the floor using his front limbs to move him.
“Sorry is what my wife said to me when she left me! Sorry is what the doctors said to me when they couldn’t save my son!” Smolder continued to crawl along the ground until he reached the far wall.
“Sorry is what Thunderbolt said to me when I lost my legs!” He then turned to face the group. “And now, you say you’re sorry, when you threaten to destroy everything I’ve worked my entire life for?!”
Fluttershy looked down at Smolder and noticed the horn atop his head. It was glowing. That meant he was using his magic for something. She panicked as she quickly glanced around the room for anything that was moving.
“Professor Smolder, what are you doing?” she panicked.
“Well, now, I’m sorry,” Smolder growled.
Fluttershy finally spotted what she was looking for. A small syringe was lifted off a nearby table and into the air. Inside the syringe was a red liquid. Fluttershy instantly knew exactly what was in the syringe. Her blood.
“He isn’t planning to inject himself with that, is he?” Fluttershy thought.
“Sorry, that you’ll all get to die here!” Smolder shouted.
Crumble leapt to his feet to stop the syringe, but as he tried to grab it, Smolder rushed it to his body. Smolder quickly dug the syringe into his arm and injected the blood into his body. Crumble rushed to Smolder, attempting to stop him, but it was too late.
The two struggle for a brief moment, Crumble trying to pull the syringe out of Smolder’s arm before the lasts drops could be injected. Smolder shoved the stallion several feet, causing him to crash into the stand. He fell to the ground in pain, vials of Fluttershy’s blood crashing around him.
“Crumble!” Fluttershy shouted in terror as she rushed to the stallion’s side. He slowly got up. He was in pain and shock. Smolder shouldn’t have been able to throw him that far. The blood must have already been affecting him. He and Fluttershy moved away from the blood samples before they could reach them.
Smolder grunted and growled as he attempted to move his hind legs. At first, nothing seemed to happen. But a few seconds later, his legs tingled. They felt life was entering them once more. He slowly rose to his feet. All four of them. For the first time in years, he was standing on all four of his legs. He smiled and even started giggling. “My legs! My legs!”
He pranced around a few steps, testing his legs. He stumbled some of his steps, nearly falling to the floor. They were hard to get use to, but they worked beautifully.
But his giggles of joy turned into sharp cries of pain, as he toppled to the floor. He shouted in agony and pain as his coat color changed from a dark blue to a sickly pale green. His teeth began to morph into large fang-like jaws, with two bottom teeth extending upwards to represent tusks. He also began to grow in size. His voice became bestial. The new creature gave a howl of pain as it completed its metamorphosis.
Fluttershy couldn’t believe what stood in front of her. It was a monster, not unlike herself. A beast of pure rage and anger. “Professor Smolder,” she said softly.
The creature turned its head and glared at Fluttershy. This monster terrified Fluttershy, but she had been told about Cookie and Crumble’s ability to just talk ‘her’ down in the past. Maybe she could do the same. “Professor, let us help you. You’re sick.”
The creature growled at Fluttershy. Fluttershy wasn’t sure if he understood him, but she still had to try. “Let us cure you.”
“Cure me!?” the beast shouted.
Fluttershy leapt back in fright. She hadn’t expected him to completely understand her, let alone speak to her.
The beast unleashed a cruel cackle. “No cure! Never cure me!” the beast growled as it used its front legs to pick up one of the desks. He then tossed it through the wall into the next room.
Fluttershy dove back in fright as the desk smashed through the wall with a loud crash.
“No cure! No pony takes this power from me!” Professor Smolder leaped through the opening, tearing most of the wall with him. He rampaged through the lab where Fluttershy’s beast was destroyed. “I’ll never be weak again!”
Smolder ripped out a large container off the ground. Fluttershy noticed that it was the same container that Smolder obtained the serum that cured her. “Please, Professor! Don’t do this!” Fluttershy pleaded.
“That’s your cure! Without it, we can’t save you! Please don’t!”
Smolder tossed the container at the nearby wall, sending it out into the streets below. As the container smashed into the ground, the sounds of metal crashing into concrete overpowered the sound of glass vials shatter upon impact.
Smolder then turned to the trio and gave a cruel smile. They were all back against the far wall of the first room. They were keeping their distance. Trembling.
“Look at you. Puny! Weak! And unable to do anything, but cower in fear,” Smolder shouted. He then turned to the opening he created. “I will ravage this world and take my place at its undisputed ruler!”
And with that, the professor leaped out into the streets. Sounds of screaming civilians, metal crashing and breaking, and a savage beast’s rage all filled the air.
However, Fluttershy couldn’t hear any of these sounds. The only sound that filled her ears repeated over and over. “What have I done?”
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Major Strawberry burst into the general’s office. “General, we’ve got them.”
General Thunderbolt’s eyes went straight to Strawberry as she entered the room. He stood up waiting for her to continue.
“They made their way to Las Pegasus. The vehicle was parked about a block from the State College.”
Thunderbolt’s ears perked up instantly. He had to be sure. He had to be damned sure. “You are certain it’s them?”
Major Strawberry nodded her head. “Yes, sir. We had a positive ID on the jeep.”
“Damn it. If I’m right, she’ll be heading to one of the school labs,” Thunderbolt thought to himself.
Thunderbolt nodded. “Get our teams down there immediately. I think I know where she’s going.”
Major Strawberry nodded and turned towards the exit to the office. Just before the major left, the general heard her cell phone ring. The major closed the door as she answered her phone.
Thunderbolt headed back to his desk and began to concoct a plan to take Fluttershy before she could ... get green.
Just as he sat down, Strawberry burst in once again.
“Sir, we’ve got a problem. That ... thing is in Las Pegasus.”
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Fluttershy had been staring at her hooves for what felt like hours. The truth was it had only been a couple of minutes since everything went wrong. Professor Smolder had injected himself with her blood. Her blood. To become... a monster. Just like her.
Crumble came to her side. “Fluttershy. We need to get out of here.”
“It’s all my fault,” Fluttershy whimpered.
Crumble tried to urge her to her hooves, but she wouldn’t budge. She wouldn’t even look at them. All she would do stare at her hooves.
“Come on, Flyshy. You can’t blame yourself. You’re not that thing,” Cookie explained.
Fluttershy simply shook her head, “I created it.”
Crumble spoke again, “No. No, you had nothing to do with that thing.”
“I should have never had trusted something so dangerous to anypony,” Fluttershy softly admitted.
“Fluttershy, listen to me you are not to blame for this,” Crumble tried to clarified.
Fluttershy, however, wasn’t listening. She simply shook her head. “If it wasn’t for me, none of this would have happened. It’s all my fault.”
She then looked up to the void in the wall. The one that Professor Smolder had vanished from. She put her hooves on the ground and lifted herself on her feet. “And I have to fix it.”
Crumble put his hooves on her shoulder and turned her to face him. “How? How are you going to fix this?”
Fluttershy lowered her head. “I hadn’t really thought about that. How do you stop an unstoppable beast?”
“Let me tell you,” Crumble continued. “Nothing. There is no cure left. There is no way you can stop him.”
Fluttershy then got an idea. The only way to stop him. The only chance to save the innocent lives he threatened.
“There’s one way.” She then gazed into Crumble’s eyes.
“The only way to stop an unstoppable beast is to be an unstoppable beast,” Fluttershy thought.
“I have to... I have to become her.”
Crumble and Cookie eyes shot open as Fluttershy uttered those words. Cookie was the first to speak, “Flyshy? You want to be that thing again?!”
Fluttershy turned her head to the mare behind her. “I don’t have a choice.”
Crumble turned her back towards him. “Fluttershy, you have a choice. This isn’t your responsibility.”
“You’re wrong,” Fluttershy uttered, her voice breaking off. “This is my responsibility... and... my choice.”
Cookie took a step forward. “Flyshy, all you’ve wanted was a cure. And now you want to be that thing again?”
Fluttershy lowered her head. “This isn’t about what I want. It’s about what I have to do,” she thought to herself.
Cookie started forward to Fluttershy. “Flyshy, are you sure you can control it?”
Fluttershy raised her head to Cookie. “For the past few weeks, I’ve... been able to feel her.”
Crumble’s eyebrows rose. “What do you mean... feel her?”
Fluttershy closed her eyes as if trying to evade the truth. However, she couldn’t deny it. She and ... that thing ... they were the same. “I’ve been able to remember what she remembered,” she started. “I’ve been able to feel what she felt. See what she saw. It's haunting, but... Cookie,” she paused as her gaze came to her friend. "You were right. She and I are the same."
Fluttershy paused as she raised her head back to face Crumble. “I know what she is now. If I can... guide her, we might have a chance.”
Cookie took a deep breath. “Are you sure about this?”
“No, I’m not sure of anything,” she thought to herself. She was terrified of ‘her’. Terrified of what ‘she’ could do. Terrified of what she could become. “For all I know, I could very well lose control and become the thing I’m trying to stop.”
Fluttershy turned her head to Cookie. “If I don’t try, those ponies will die.”
Crumble shook his head and put his hooves on her’s. “Fluttershy, you realize if you do this... you can’t go back.”
A small tear from Fluttershy’s eyes ran down her face. It answered Crumble’s question for her. She knew. She understood.
“Smolder’s cure is gone. The serum, the formula, the data. All gone.”
She knew exactly was she was giving up. But to her, she didn’t see another way she could live with herself.
“Please,” Fluttershy begged. “I have to do this.”
An eerie silence fell over the group. It was haunting. Foreboding. As if they were about to open Pandora’s Box, releasing with it all the evils of the world. But just as the legend itself, one thing of good came from that box. Hope.
Perhaps, this is what Fluttershy was. Hope.
Crumble exhaled deeply and nodded his head.
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Crumble had retrieved the vial of Fluttershy’s blood from the shelf and brought it before her. There was no use arguing with her. She had made up her mind. She wasn’t going back.
“Are you ready?” Crumble asked putting his hoof on Fluttershy’s.
She almost nodded, but she paused. “Cookie?” she asked.
The limp mare came over to her. “What is it, Flyshy?”
Fluttershy took a deep breath. “I need you to destroy all the vials of my blood here. I can’t let this fall into the wrong hooves.”
Crumble nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.”
Fluttershy smiled, but then spoke again, “I also need you to... destroy my father’s notes.”
Crumble’s eyes widened. “But... Fluttershy... Those notes might be your only chance at a cure.”
Fluttershy knew. But she also knew her father. “If my father knew how much pain and suffering his work would cause if it fell into the wrong hooves, he would have destroyed it himself.”
Crumble slowly shook his head. He couldn’t bring himself to destroy it.
Cookie put her hoof on Fluttershy and Crumble’s shoulders. “I’ll take care of it. I’ve been with those notes for five years. Least I can do.” Cookie took a look towards Crumble. “You just take care of the science-stuff.”
Crumble nodded as Cookie approached the shelves. He turned his attention back towards Fluttershy, whose arm was prepped for the injection. Crumble took a deep breath and picked up the syringe only a few inches away.