Fluttershy took deep breaths as she lay on the table, straps being secured over her hooves and forehead. A purpleish solution sat in a jar on a machine that was connected to her by a small tube. Another tube was strung across to a filtration machine that would clean her blood as the solution was pumped into her, hopefully curing her of this monster that had ailed her for so long. After these long years, she would finally be rid of that thing.
"Now remember," Trotmier said. "I can't guarantee this will work. It's not like this has been done before."
"I need to do this," Fluttershy said.
"Your call," he replied, levitating a small piece of rubber over to her. "You're going to want to bite down on this."
Fluttershy nodded and bit carefully on the rubber, preparing for what was going to come next. There was only one shot at this, especially since if it didn't work, Trotmier probably wouldn't make it out of this. It was a huge risk, but it needed to be done.
He approached with a wishbone-shaped device and put the sides by her head, activating it when the sides were around her temples. An electric shock ran through her body and her heart rate jumped, blood running faster and faster as the transformation began to take hold. She bit down hard, pain sopiking as bones shifted and skin stretched. Her coat began to change from yellow to a mottled green, but the other machines were already working. The purple liquid was cooling her blood as it flowed into her system and the streams of red that were being directed out were quickly being purified of the radiation inside. The table below her strained under the change in weight and started to bend down, tubes being pulled tight. The strap around her head gasve way from the drastic change in size and the buckle flew off and broke through the window.
The serum took hold, though. Bones shifted back, the transformation fading away. Everything calmed down, Fluttershy panting from exhaustion after the experience. The mechanical whirring slowed down, eventually going silent as she closed her eyes in contentment. It was done. She couldn't even feel the presence any more like she had for years. It was gone and she could finally be at peace.
"Thank you so much for this," she said as Trotmier unstrapped her.
"It's not quite done yet," he replied. "It's almost there, though. As long as you can go a few hours without turning, it'll take full effect and you'll be done with that thing for the rest of your life."
"I think I can make it a few hours," Fluttershy replied.
"I hope so," he responded. "Because I don't know if it'll work a second time, and I'm not sure I want to try."
"I don't want to have to try again," she replied, sirens in the distance and getting closer with the rumble of trucks. She walked over to the window and looked out, watching as a military convoy approached. A light in the sky slowly grew bigger as it approached, probably an aerial escort. "I think that's my ride."
"Then you shouldn't keep them waiting," Trotmier said.
"Make sure to destroy my blood," Fluttershy repeated, looking at him carfeully. "You've seen a small part of what it turned me into. Please keep that from happening to anypony else."
"I'll take care of it as soon as they leave," he replied.
Hoofsteps sounded on the stairs as soldiers ran up them, but for once, Fluttershy wasn't scared. Her heart pounded steadily in her chest as they broke through the door and surrounded her. That zebra she had encountered watched her carefully as he moved, weapons trained on her and ready to fire. "You've been a pain in my flank," the zebra said. "General's been trying to get you for a while, so I hope he gets what he deserves from this."
"I think he just might," Fluttershy said as the others restrained her and led her out of the room.
Outside, he was waiting for her. "You look calm for somepony who's been running away for years."
"I don't have a reason to run anymore," she commented.
Thunderbolt looked at her in mild shock and frustration. "You better not've taken it from me."
All Fluttershy did in response was grin.
*******************************
"I'll finish up here," Brown Sky said, motioning for the others to leave the room. They nodded and filed out as he turned towards Trotmier. "You know what she was."
"I can keep my mouth shut," the scientist said nervously. "I'll destroy everything I have and-"
Sky shot out his hoof and knocked Trotmier back a ways, hitting him in the throat to shut him up. "I want what she had."
Trotmier coughed, looking shocked. "I think you have a little something already," he choked out between coughs. "I'd have to study what you have before I do anything else or the result could be... an abomination."
Sky glanced around before picking up a small metal object and crushing it between his hooves.
"On the other hoof, this could turn out great and it could be a great experiment."
Sky watched as the machines were set up differently and the liquids changed out before laying down on the table and waiting for everything to be attached to him. Once it was, mechanical whirring and buzzing filled the room. He felt something soupy enter his bloodstream and let out a heavy breath of minor pain. It wasn't too bad, though he had expected something else.
When it hit his heart, he could tell. It felt as if it had stopped for a few seconds only to start hammering in his chest, trying to burst its way out. He let out a scream as he felt bones and muscles shifting and changing. His coat started to mottle before falling off completely. His front legs and hooves changed, molding into the limbs of a primate with hands and fingers. His hind legs shifted to accompany a bipedal creature, some of the bones not shifting properly and breaking out of the toughened hide in sharp spurs at the joints. His snout shrunk, not quite able to keep up with the massive transformation.
Soon enough, the pain subsided and disappeared, leaving Sky in a larger form that could only be described as a monster. All of the changes left him feeling one thing, though.
He felt the raw power of being in this form and knew what he could do with it. He was a god with this kind of strength, he knew what he had to do with that kind of power.
He had to use it.
*******************************
Fluttershy sat calmly in the helicopter as it took off. There was nothing more to do, nothing more to worry about. Her time to run was finally over and she could be at peace.
It was a short-lived peace, though, when the radio let out a burst of static only five minutes into the flight. "We need backup down here!"
Thunderbolt looked at the radio in shock before replying. "What are you talking about?"
"The Hulk is loose! I repeat, the Hulk is loose!"
"That's not possible!" Thunderbolt said. "Fluttershy's right here. Are you sure?"
"See for yourself!" One of the walls of the helicopter shifted and turned around to reveal a small screen receiving live video feed. On it, a monstrous thing was attacking the city, and it looked like a giant mass of muscle. It turned to look at the pony recording it and threw something at it, but thankfully missed. It gave the soldiers there time to launch a rocket at the thing, but it swiped a chunk of metal at it and brushed off the explosion like it was nothing.
The second thing thrown at the ponies wasn't as poorly aimed as the first, though, smashing into the camera and causing the feed to cut to static.
"We need to get out of here!" Thunderbolt barked at the pilot. "How fast can this thing fly?"
"No," Fluttershy whispered.
"What?!" he screamed as he turned around to face her. "I'd think you'd be the first one to try to get out of here with that thing running around."
"Not if it means leaving innocent ponies to die out there," she said, her voice slowly gaining volume and confidence. "I have to go back out there."
"It took me too long to catch you before, I'm not letting you go out there now!"
"You don't have to," she said, bumping a button at the back and opening the drop door. "It's my choice."
Thunderbolt leapt for her, but only caught air as Fluttershy pushed off the floor and fell out of the helicopter. She had her eyes closed, ready for it to take over. She used the techniques she had learned to speed up her heart rate and bring out the creature inside her. When she opened them,, though, she didn't feel the presence of it. She couldn't feel it at all. It was truly gone, and there was nothing she could do about it.
She flared out her wings, trying desperately to stop, but she was falling too fast and she hadn't been flying enough. She didn't have the strength to stop her fall or even slow it enough.
She felt the impact with the ground for a moment before something happened. She broke through the ground, punching a hole right through the concrete and dirt. Her bones shifted around, but this time, it felt more natural. Her skin stretched, but she could barely feel a thing.
The most surprising part was when she punched back through the ground going up. Her hooves found solid ground and pulled her out of the hole she had just been buried under and she shook off the rubble, her larger form giving her a much better view than dirt and darkness. And as she looked around, as she spotted the thing rampaging through the streets, she felt it. She felt the power and the strength to use it. She felt the other pony in her head working with her instead of against her, and she felt alive.
But most of all, after years of living in the light, too scared of the dark, too scared of herself, she wasn't afraid.
She let out a roar of confidence as she looked at the other creature, knowing she could fight it. She looked at it as it was, a threat to everypony in the city. She knew what she had to do.
So as it turned around, she moved. Her powerful legs pushed her forward and she started galloping at the two-legged beast in front of her. Her wings flapped by her sides, pushing air and giving her more speed and power behind her charge. She tensed and launched herself into the air, becoming a living projectile and slamming into the beast that was tearing apart the city.
The impact shook her to her very core, but the surprising part was how easily the monster took the blow and threw her down the road and into a nearby building. It took a moment for her to realize just what had happened, and that was all the time it needed to get up and get close enough to fight her.
"I thought you'd have a little more punch," the thing said in a disjointed deep voice. "I guess I was wrong to think you truly deserved the name Hulk."
Hulk could barely keep up with what he was saying under the constant assault from the taller creature. But she knew enough as it was. She took a few more hits so she could get up and throw a punch herself, knocking the thing off balance from its two legs and onto the ground. She stood up and let out another roar of frustration as that thing looked back at her with a foallike gleam in its eyes.
It launched at her again, only this time, she was ready for it. She shifted her weight and took the hit, but rose up to he hind hooves before it finished and threw it off of her back. She spun around and charged again, pushing everything she had into it and ramming the other creature into a nearby building, causing rubble to fall on top of it as the barreled through.
They crashed through the other side to land in a heap in the middle of some local ruins. Tourists scattered, screaming in alarm and fear. The sound of a helicopter hovered above them and the other creature glared at both it and Hulk.
"What are you going to do, Flutter Hulk?" it asked her. "You can't just kick me out of the way this time. You can't beat me. And neither can they." It looked up and leapt into the air, reaching for the flying box. Hulk shook her head and leapt as well, hitting the creature low and throwing off its aim, causing it to land on top of her, slightly dazing her. It rolled off and swung one of its huge hands around, gripping a chain designed to keep ponies in line while they went through the ruins. He ripped it up and took concrete barriers with it, lifting it into the air. "What can you do to stop me?"
That moment of speech was all she needed. she stood there, watching as the stones started to spin around in his grip and how he swung up to land a finishing blow before stepping forward. "HULK," she screamed at the top of her lungs, lifting her forehooves into the air and surprising everyone there. "SMASH!" She brought down her hooves in a swift motion, hitting the ground with all the force she could muster.
And that was just enough force for the ground to crack.
A large crevasse in the ground quickly spread to the feet of the creature n front of her, causing it to fall into it and lose its grip on the improvised whip. The stones held it in the air for a few brief seconds before it fell down on top of it, hitting it in the head and laying the chain around its neck. Hulk launched forward, her wings giving her just enough speed to grab the chains before it could and she wrapped them up tight around the thing struggling inside. Limbs flew everywhere and she could barely keep a grip with her hooves and wings as it struggled and swung at her. It even tried to stab one of the protruding bones into her, but missed everything important and only caused the struggle to be a little longer.
Its struggle slowly faded until it simply didn't have the air in its lungs to keep going. Fluttershy looked down at it as it went limp in her hooves and let go of the chains that were killing it. She had done what she needed to and didn't need to do any more, no matter how much Hulk wanted to. Fluttershy was the one in control now.
She et out one final roar of triumph before leaping off into the streets and towards open ground. It was back to running for her, though maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought. Maybe she could get through like this. Maybe she could control it entirely and this wouldn't be a one-time thing.
No matter the outcome, though, the future was definitely looking green.