//------------------------------// // 43 // Story: Yonder Wandered Fluttershy // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// Fluttershy had heard mention of space hippies before, it was just unfortunate for her that she didn’t know how to get into contact with Fox and his crew. She at least knew she was somewhere near the Lylat System. After a moment she heard voice she didn’t understand trying to get her attention, oh right it was Mira that was trying to talk to her. “She wants to know when she can be safely moved to the city Dr. Shy.” With Janet as a translator it wasn’t hard to keep her as a go between; psychic powered planets were a rare oddity. Fluttershy was assuming cities like the main one on Aldebaran were the norm for more intelligent races, big and encompassing a large area with highly visible architecture. She was quickly done with checking over Mira and decided to move on to tending to Roller. “You likely wouldn’t Fluttershy, given what my children use as building material. Don’t worry I’ll give you directions on how to get there from here when you’re ready to go.” Turning her bulb back to the Tangean eating a tomato, Janet’s avatar relayed what Fluttershy told her. “Tomorrow at the soonest, you’re still recovering from your injuries and need more rest.” “Yeah no, that’s not okay. I need to get back out in the field; my team could be in danger!” Mira clutched at her chest while cringing slightly after having leaned forward abruptly, she went back to laying down not wanting to aggravate her injures. Looking around she saw the husk of her suit, definitely too damaged to call for any form of pickup or even able to fly. So she was going to need the ride she was being provided with in the form of that strange yellow furred alien tending to the strange wheel thing. “Your team wouldn’t want you to die before you could even get back in the fight. Whatever said fight happened to be anyway, how would you even get back into it if you don’t have a ride? They’d want you to recover some before getting back into the thick of it, besides that your suit is definitely out of order and I doubt you’ll be getting far without your armor so you’ll likely need to pick up a spare suit from Star Command.” Janet knew all about Mira’s team. Mira’s three friends were Booster the friendly if strong Jo-adian, XR the experimental ranger robot and one of the most highly decorated Space Rangers and leader of the team Buzz Lightyear. “Also you have much more to worry about with someone who qualifies for the First Contact Diplomatic Immunity law.” “Who would that be, you?” Mira hasn’t heard that one used in a while since they discovered Lylat, Star Command was discreetly keeping everyone away from that section of space to avoid getting dragged into whatever was happening there. Things needed to settle down completely first before they could truly open their borders for possible trade and commerce. “Nope, I’m already part of the Galactic Alliance… well given that I am Rhizome in a nutshell. My body is this planet. Sorry I’ve been quiet before, but giving birth tends to take a lot out of you and the people that live on me are my children that you’ve already helped several times before. What was that thing called that mister angry pants Buzz got a bunch of vines to destroy? Oh right, it was that hyper death ray thing! You all thought your hero was cracked when he was completely correct.” Pointing a leaf at the pony, Janet was making it clearly known who the first contact diplomat was. “Anyway, I’m talking about my little friend over there; her species isn’t exactly the best at space travel quite yet. They are certainly learning a lot about it though and she’s the first of her kind to get this far out. Very much to the point that she’s kind of lost, well she doesn’t exactly know how to get back to her home world. She’s at least in communication with them and darn it all if she isn’t trying to find her home planet the poor little dear.” “How is she still be in communication with her home and not be able to find it?” The blue skinned female thought it was simple if this sapient being could just follow the signal back home. She wasn’t about to question Rhizome being alive, she’s seen some pretty weird things being a Space Ranger. This wasn’t even worthy of putting on her top fifty of the weirdest things she’s ever seen list. “It’s not exactly simple, she can’t exactly trace it back to home and her method of communication puts her in touch with another race she met on the way to ending up on my body. She ran into a vessel full of killer robots before she got here, the end result of that little adventure ended up with her warping around the universe like a pinball and less hair.”It was nice to finally talk to a Space Ranger for the first time; Janet thought it was a novelty she wouldn’t let go to waste. “Even before that she was on an exploding planet and a vessel full of shoot first questions later types, they even shot at her just because of her appearance. She’s kind of a magnet for trouble and I think you’re trouble, so please don’t drag her into doing something she doesn’t want to do.” “What’s her race called?” It was a question that would allow Mira to think about the first contact scenario. That and to mull over the fact that her Dr. Shy was definitely a survivor of several dangerous sounding situations. She’s seen what going through several survival situations in a row can do to others. The little cuddly looking creature didn’t look too dangerous; then again Mira thought that the nearby spaceship did look slightly intimidating despite its general size. “She’s a pony and there are several types of her kind where she’s from. Her planet has a lot of intelligent races aside from ponies, but hers was the first race to get into space and it was by accident that she even ended up getting this far out.” The flower could just see the slightly intrigued look on Mira’s face. “Pony huh? Sounds cute and she looks it too. So I’m taking it the reason I can’t understand her is because the translator in both my ranger suit and my underclothing are completely shot.” Putting a hand to her head Mira tried to remember what blew her armor open, Space Ranger armor was tough stuff made for the comfort as well as the functionality of actually keeping the wearer alive over everything else. “Well what can you tell me about her? She’s obviously not native to any of the Galactic Alliance worlds. She’s now considered a diplomat and the closest Space Ranger she has to take care of her is me and I’m feeling pretty useless right now.” “Her species is primarily herbivorous, a lot of them are as small as her and like many people from your planet they have their special talents. The markings on their rear end is unique to each individual denoting specifically what their special talents are, it only looks like it does right now because she was slightly mutated in an accident after she got lost.” Looking back towards the pony Janet sighed staring at the twisted markings, one pink bat, one pink butterfly and the last one something twisted between in a warped circle. “She’s really been put through a lot since she got off her home planet, the fang and that one featherless wing isn’t exactly normal for her.” Yep Mira was right; this pony must have some really good survival instincts. A vessel full of killer robots wouldn’t scare Mira as it was the kind of a weekly basis thing for her. Doing it alone without any kind of advantage of her Space Ranger suit or Tangean powers? She hadn’t realized it, but she was getting tense just thinking about all the mental scars that Fluttershy might have had. Mira finally noted the pony didn’t seem to have any armor and was practically a civilian by all appearances. “Excuse me. I’m sorry to interrupt your talk with Officer Mira, but can you boil some water please? I don’t exactly have the equipment to do so and I want to make a beverage of boiled leaves that helps calm the nerves. Mira could use some, she seems a little tense.” Fluttershy was the very image of adorable despite her slightly twisted appearance, her ears splayed backwards and her eyes not meeting Janet’s avatar. “Of course I can help you with that Fluttershy; my children have boiled leaves for beverages too. Got any leaves in particular though?” After she was hoofed some of the tea leaves from the pony, Janet’s avatar ate them to get a grasp of their properties. The leaves were safe for most biological life, the calming properties weren’t bad and the slightly addictive quality was easily dealt with. Janet added a bit to the makeup of the mental blueprints she had of the plant. When she produced some with her own personal spin they would be much sweeter in flavor when boiled, Rhizome had a new sweet tea plant. A thicker pitcher plant came up from the ground along with what Rhizomian’s knew to be a power plant, a plant that produces energy from sunlight. Janet was a truly ‘green’ planet. The power plant stretched some tendrils towards the pitcher plant while slowly heating up, after a moment some water and crushed tea leaves were added to the pitcher. A few minutes later a soothing aroma filled the campsite. “What is that? It smells really good.” It was hard for Mira to relax. She was strapped to a couch made out of vines against her will, even if it was for her own good. She also just met a sapient possibly traumatized first contact diplomat and her armor was wrecked. That armor wasn’t particularly cheap, as a lot of Space Ranger armor was custom made. “Fluttershy figures you looked a bit antsy about being pinned down by me, so she suggested a soothing warm drink to calm your nerves. I have to say you are actually looking a little stir crazy, but you’re staying remarkably calm despite all this.” Janet received a simple smile for her comment. “Well, I’ve seen a lot of things in my line of work. If you want to know one interesting thing about me, I’m a Tangean that survived energy build up syndrome past the normal lethal level.” What followed Mira’s comment was a nice tea party getting to know her new charge that she was sworn to protect. Fluttershy not only dragged her out of the river, but was also from an undiscovered sapient alien race that has committed a first contact with a Space Ranger. Her hands were tied with protecting this pony; at the moment Fluttershy and Janet were more likely to be defending her in her current state. She would also need to register Rhizome as a living being and the paperwork for that was going to be horribly mind numbing. Their gathering went well into the evening with Mira telling many a tale of her adventures in space. Roller told them of the places he rolled through in a simplistic manner befitting his equally simplistic species. Fluttershy had a few happy tales of her own to tell about animals. Janet was mainly acting as the go between for all of them. The most surprising thing to Mira was the fact that Roller was a biological creature; many would assume him to be mechanical at first glance. Having finished their tea and the snacks provided by the living planet, they all settled in for the evening. Fluttershy was snuggled up to Mira who was idly scratching her behind the ear on the vine couch as they both slowly started dozing off. The pony was such a cuddly creature; Mira wished that she could have seen what Fluttershy looked like before all this happened, the pony was now sadly a diplomat by association of first contact. There were plenty of jerks out there that wanted to paint Star Command in a bad light and there would be many people after Fluttershy the moment they knew she was a first contact diplomat. There was a very good reason that a law was made about this and had Space Rangers following a first contact diplomat around for their own safety. It would be impossible to hide the fact that she was a diplomat; Fluttershy was rather unique in her appearance. An almost sleeping Mira Nova gripped the pony tighter and the pony nuzzled into her neck softly, Fluttershy was going to be constantly hounded the moment anyone aside from those on Rhizome found out about her existence. Janet watched the scene with a smile; Fluttershy had made a friend with a Space Ranger and was looking to be recovering slightly from all her ordeals. Now if only the pony would rest easy in her sleep. Janet didn’t need to be asleep to interact with the mares dreams, being a psychic planet helped a lot in that end with some aid from that maximum tomato Fluttershy brought along. She kept a vigil similar to that of the living biological wheel, the thing had a language that was hard to understand and Fluttershy made it look easy since her special talent was dealing with all forms of biological life in general. Though the less intelligent said life was, the better it likely went for Fluttershy. Further up north another avatar of Janet appeared as a Rhizomian was preparing for bed, he was a large being and he looked questioningly at the smiling flower of a variety he had never seen before. That’s when Janet first spoke to one of her children; this child was a fully grown Rhizomian who was peaceful in nature and could be assertive if he wanted to be. He was a good leader that had much in common with Fluttershy, though he lacked her shyness. This Rhizomian was given an intriguing task to do; he would be reminded about it tomorrow in case he forgot. The next day, Janet released Mira from her vines once Fluttershy gave her the okay to do so. Fluttershy thought she was okay enough to walk around, even if her ribs were still a bit off and mending. Mira took the time to stretch her legs and move around; she wasn’t wanting for anything at the moment and was waiting for Fluttershy to finish breakfast. She was good enough to take a few tumbles and to move around. Intense fighting was definitely not something she would be capable of, even so she’d still throw herself in the way of danger if it meant keeping the peace and brokering peaceful connections with Fluttershy and her race. Fluttershy was beginning to feel less jaded by all the things that have happened to her as she spent time on this planet, there was no danger and it was peaceful. The food was fantastic, she’s made some new friends and the best of all things was that there was absolutely nothing trying to kill her. It was with a heavy heart that Fluttershy knew it wouldn’t last and she had to leave eventually, she couldn’t abuse the hospitality of the planet or its native children forever. Janet wouldn’t cause detrimental side effect to Aldebaran and Equus. She had plenty of time to get better mentally and then she would be ready for further trauma inducing stuff, even if she didn’t want to be. “Mira I know I haven’t done this before, but I was too scared to do it after what happened to me the last time. Thank you for holding me last night; I didn’t have any nightmares thanks to you.” That Fluttershy had the courage to use her stare again at all to communicate with the Space Ranger was quite telling of just how much she trusted the blue skinned biped. Even Janet was a little shocked to see mild mental emissions coming from Fluttershy connecting herself temporarily to Mira Nova to actually talk in a manner that she would understand. “You can talk to me? Um… thanks, I would have done that for anyone who needed it. Helping others and keeping the peace is why I’m a Space Ranger in the first place. Why didn’t you talk to me before?” Despite the off putting feel of being stared at so hard, Mira managed to respond to those highly focused eyes. “Oh I can’t talk to you normally; it requires that I keep eye contact with you and this ability is the reason why I currently look like I do. I’ve been kind of afraid to use it and Janet makes me feel secure enough to try and bridge the gap on my own. You’re a good person and I’m glad you’re my friend.” After that Fluttershy broke eye contact feeling a bit shy at the moment as she bowed her head low and headed for the ship. She hadn’t used the stare in while; it was hard being reminded of the horrible things that have happened because of this particular ability. Mira was slightly shocked at actually seeing what could be described as a stare that could literally see into the soul, Fluttershy was an incredible being and there was a lot of hurt built up in there. She shivered a bit and crossed her arms, she had actually seen into Fluttershy as she had likely seen into her. The pony really deserved being on a peaceful planet like Janet Rhizome. Boarding the Head Hunter after having gotten directions from Janet, Fluttershy pointed the ship in the right direction and then pulled out her memory stone while concentrating. It was getting easier to use the stone and she was finally making that call into Katrina. “Katrina can you hear me?” The stone in Fluttershy’s hoof glowed. “Um, I’m fine… mostly. Has Katt been by Aldebaran or is she there right now?” It was hard question to ask as Fluttershy really didn’t want to know the answer. Did Katt eventually come back for her? “We did get some communications from her asking about you. We told her you were definitely still alive, but no longer on our planet. She has joined in on the Toad Wars as they are calling it here in the Aniverse systems; I think she may be searching for you. We have heard things have become quiet in the Lylat system and they’re likely in the midst of rebuilding. There are a few grim things happening in our systems personally. With more heroes like Bucky O’ Hare out there, things are actually looking up.” After a moment the wise old cat lady chuckled. “Enough about how I’m doing, is there something that you need of me aside from having a nice talk my dear friend?” “Yes, I need you to get a message to Ms. Munroe. I need her to ask Star Fox about the time they visited a planet called Rhizome and if they could go there. I think I’m on that planet and I need a little help from them.” Hearing a gasp, Fluttershy didn’t want them or Katrina to worry so she hastily added information of her situation. ”Oh, I’m not in any immediate grave danger or anything Katrina; I just need somebody who can repair stuff and if they aren’t too busy I’ll be on this planet for a while. I have friends here who are looking out for me.” “I’ll do what I can to get this information to Katt, though I doubt she’ll want to leave our systems while we are in the middle of a rather random war against the Toads. She has been aiding both the downtrodden and the injured, I heard she’s even flying with the Corsair Canards.” One could almost hear the smile in Katrina’s voice. “Ah, those ducks knew how to use all four of their arms and they were simply divine companions when I was younger. Ahem, anyway, I would like to hear from you again sometime soon Fluttershy. Felicia had recently gotten into quite a little pickle and I would like to regale you with that tale sometime later. I’ve just become rather busy. ” Fluttershy put the fading stone back into her battered and beaten Saddlebags, she looked out the view screen and resumed piloting the ship as they approached a large mass of huge plants, after a moment she realized that there were people moving among them. It was rather breathtaking once you realized what you were looking at; the city was colorful, vibrant and entirely made out of really big combination of alien plants. The pony spotted something that exploded like fireworks in the air and it directed her attention to the glowing circle of vines on the ground outside the city. It was one of Rhizome’s landing ports for visitors and she could already see the familiar avatar of Janet waiting for her with three other beings, the flower was waving her down. Mira stayed silent throughout the ride, she figured the stone was Fluttershy’s communication device and decided not to disturb her. She looked out over Rhizome; Janet certainly made for a beautiful world. All of Rhizomian technology was ecologically friendly to the planet and Janet was likely appreciative of her children treating her body with respect.