//------------------------------// // 61 // Story: Yonder Wandered Fluttershy // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// “Ugh, I can still taste the soap even now.” Spitting on the steps as she trudge up them, Bonnie looked around warily. They were at a hover train station and needed to go halfway around the planet to steal a good cargo ship that could survive going through the atmosphere of Planet Z as well as its defenses on the way out. Fluttershy had been silent so far and had been a little bit worried about how badly Bonnie had understated things were on this planet. Sure it was a grand economically driven place and had lots of good in it and it was fairly obvious if Bonnie wasn’t here she’d be attacked for little more reason than just existing. The thugs Bonnie beat up on the way thought her to be an easy target because of her size and they were horribly wrong to think that. The pony had never seen such efficient brutality from something so small against another living thing, while she logically knew Bonnie was dangerous she didn’t and wouldn’t fear her. She had yet to kill anyone personally and would only come close to it. “Then you shouldn’t have said such a horrible word.” Fluttershy didn’t think she would ever tell anyone what Belgium translated to; it was a very bad word in her native language. She was stopped by a yellow spot in the palm of a green hand raised to her face, making her suit create a bubble around her head protectively. After a moment she brought the bubble back down and looked over the side of the railing Bonnie was standing on as she pointed towards something from the overpass they were one. “Look Sweet Cheeks; I’m going to level with you. If we don’t catch that cargo train there we’re not getting off this planet. At least not without trouble, getting filled full of holes or getting caught by the Space Rangers. None of those situations really helps us get to Planet Z.” Looking around the hover train yard she didn’t see any deadly armed assassins casing the crowds going for the civilian rides coming into and out of the station. “Though it is good to know you’re willing to work with me on this, ever stolen a cargo vessel before?” “Well actually, sort of. I’ve been on three stolen ships; only two of the times were really my fault though. The first time was to save a bunch of people from being tortured, the second time because I was curious and actually ended up saving someone’s life and the third time was because I didn’t want to be trapped in the bowels of a ship for the rest of my life.” Stealing was okay if it was to save a life or if you needed to survive, at least that’s how Fluttershy looked at it and she knew Bonnie didn’t need to steal to live. Bonnie was far too intelligent to need to steal for a living. The pony preferred to ignore the fact that Bonnie stole a lot of things from the thugs she beat up and that she was making her carry the stuff. This made the pony an accessory to the crime of stealing from criminals who were attempting to do the same to them in the first place. “Huh two out of three isn’t bad, quiet down and come over here. That’s the hover train we need to board, we need to do so discreetly since it’s a cargo train and it’s guarded.” There was a good reason it was guarded, Bonnie wanted to steal something from it and it was ironically the only train going their way towards the cargo vessel she wanted to steal. “I would spring for a passenger train, but they ID you on those and I haven’t made a fresh fake one in while and I’m not about to go to a supplier who would squeal on my location.” “Um… are you sure there isn’t any other trains going our way?” Far be it for Fluttershy to question a thief who has a deep long running history of stealing things, much less that she was leading her straight into danger and had promised to already be her friend. If she was a good friend, then Bonnie would be one in turn too… eventually. “You know that makes me feel good, I like to have my plans questioned. Almost makes me wish you were someone else Sweet Cheeks. Now come on, we need to sneak by those guards.” Bonnie had already told Fluttershy why the cargo vessel she was stealing was necessary, not much could go through the stormy atmosphere of Planet Z without taking some damage unless it was well armored. The cargo ship Bonnie was set on stealing was perfect for that job being a heavily armored piece of work; the reason why they were taking the train was because it was faster and stealthier than stealing a civilian vehicle and hotwiring it. Sure she could steal a spaceship to fly there much faster, but she was trying to lay low while keeping Fluttershy safe. Even one sign of vehicular theft would acquire them a lot of heat they didn’t need, so they hoofed it to the hover train station. Bonnie’s MO was rather highly traceable, so she only stole from the muggers who tried to accost them along the way which happened often enough that Fluttershy was spooked and quivering with fright. The reason why Fluttershy didn’t fly them to the train station was very much the same reason that a bright, pink, green and yellow suit was highly noticeable. It would have been especially more noticeable had Fluttershy carried Bonnie with her. Again they were trying to lie low, though Fluttershy still attracted trouble by sticking out like a sore thumb and she looked like a real pansy in every sense of the word. Shivering in her plant based suit, Fluttershy watched as Bonnie stood at the top of the stairs that led downwards towards the guarded train rubbing her chin. Looking at the magnificent silver train at the front of a long line of flatbeds with large containers of varying sizes and shapes bound by energy beams, she could tell that the cargo train was likely never parked under an overpass so sneaking aboard wouldn’t be as easy as jumping down on top of it. Having seen other hover trains enter and leave the station, they were much faster than the trains back home and Fluttershy didn’t like the idea of being on one. “Um… I could fly us there?” Fluttershy suggested as she watched the patrolling guards with the rifles pace around the cargo train protectively. Bonnie never asked questions about why she had a fang pony out of her lips, the mismatched wings that would make her incapable of flying or even mentioned her bat like ears seemed a little odd. Thinking back on it, Veritas didn’t ask much about it either aside from the fact that she was not exactly the norm for her species. “Can you do it silently without them hearing us?” It was a simple idea, but something was wrong with the idea and Bonnie could already see it coming. She was already panicking slightly by what she saw “Never mind, you’ve got to get on the train. I have someone to draw off; don’t worry about me I’ll catch up!” Looking behind her to see what had got Bonnie so worked up that she scampered off Fluttershy’s eye dilated at the sight of fifty Torque’s converging on the train station in the distance from the sky and some were even already firing on it and the noise of shattering glass could be heard along with a lot of screams as several explosions went off in the station. Looking down the stairs Fluttershy saw that the guards were reacting immediately to the danger and one was motioning towards the train and a noise was heard it lifted up and started to slide forward slightly. Then almost every guard ran towards the invading clones past the stairs, Fluttershy quickly made her suit sprout the two false wings and she made them flap lifting her into the air. She quickly flew towards the train and she heard an explosion behind her, she looked back as she landed on the rear pallet of the train and saw people everywhere running scared. Managing to get onto the train without getting spotted Fluttershy crouched down and mentally made the suit cling to the surface of the bed of the pallet she was standing in. Her bubble helmet would come up automatically once the train started picking up speed. - “Where are you Bonnie, I know you took her… so tell me where the mark is and come play with the big boys.” Torque had quickly figured out that Bonnie had betrayed him and didn’t care why she took the ambassador alive. Now he wanted both her and the first contact dead, maybe stuffed to be mounted as well if he leaves enough chunks of them left for it. His five eyes were looking in all direction, the muggers Bonnie mugged had been very helpful in telling him where the flower suited pony and the little thief went. They muggers were quite willing to talk after he stabbed a guy in throat in front of them; he liked how quickly they squealed. “I might even let you live too.” The gruff voiced alien was hovering above the station. He watched as his clones were busy taking out the stations security while all them little civvies’ ran around scared, he even chuckled when one of his clones shot a civilian in the back for the fun of it. About thirteen civilians died before they all made it to safety, some had even taken cover inside the nearby trains. “Yeah, yeah, blow it out your tailpipe!” A blaster shot struck the back end of his bike sending him spinning slightly and he glared at Bonnie. “You shouldn’t of done that you little trog, scratching the paint of my baby is a one way ticket to a plasma enema!” Seeing the look on from the experiment as he dodged several wild and anger driven shots, Torque chuckled as his lower two arms pressed the metal plate on his belly. Two cloned bikes with riders appeared next to him. They immediately started firing and sent Bonnie running. “Yeah that’s right little Bonnie, come to papa and I’ll show you a real good time!” As all three hover bikes fired an endless stream of energy that followed Bonnie, she miraculously blurred out the way of every single shot with a roll, a jump or just running a random path along the walls and ceilings of the station. All the while she was firing back with both blasters randomly holstering and unsheathing them as she went to keep up her maneuverability. She managed to nail only three of the clones in all her dodging, but there were still more flooding the station where those came from. They all were soon focusing their fire at her as she dodged her way into the passenger train by shooting her way through a window. “*Boshtaret Tikapatari Belgium*, you’d have to hit me first you psychopath!” Bonnie only stopped moving to catch her breath; she could only dodge rapid firing guns like that for so long before her ability to evade almost everything made her tired. She didn’t have a limitless capacity to dodge like that forever or keep moving at those insane speeds, she wasn’t built for stamina like most of her brothers were. “Aw, you always knew how to sweet talk me Bonnie, here’s a present for you!” Laughing wildly as he pulled a rocket launcher from his a built in holster in his hover bike, Torque immediately fire a shot at the train. “Everyone get down and stay down, move to the rear of the train while you’re at it!” A rocket slammed into the side of the hovering train putting a large dent in the wall and sending several people to the floor crying out in pain from the stunning shockwave that passed through the wall. Bonnie didn’t bother to stop and help anyone as she made her way for the trains controls while under fire from all the swarming clones. The fact that Torque had concussive rockets was a bad thing for her health in an enclosed space as this train was, even more concerning with all the bolts of energy punching through the windows. - From the backend of the caboose flatbed cargo holder, Fluttershy saw the train station becoming a dot in the distance and frowned. Hopefully Bonnie would be able to catch up with the cargo train and she didn’t rightly know how that would be possible given the speeds it was starting to move at, she turned around and started moving forward to hide under the strapped down containers. Carefully the pony put herself in the space between two large red containers with one stacked on top of it, she watched the back end of the train and the sky for any threats. She was shivering at all the pain and suffering that went on behind her, her heart went out to all those people that she couldn’t help. She reached into her right saddlebag with her feathered wing and started rummaging through the random things Bonnie had her carrying, she quickly found what she had been looking for. She pulled out the Memory Stone and quickly tossed into one of her ears after lowering her suits protective bubble for a second. “Discord, are you there?” There was a moment of silence on the other end and this made Fluttershy worry. “I’m so sorry Fluttershy; I should have stayed with you!” The immediate blubbering of Pinkie could be heard on the other end. “It’s okay Pinkie, Ponyville needs you more than it does me at the moment. There are a lot of animal caretakers in Ponyville and there are plenty of ponies who can fill in for me, so I’m not as important.” The reason why Fluttershy was calling was so that she could talk to Discord, but she wanted to say this while she wasn’t busy doing anything. “Don’t worry about me, I’m going to still try and come home though. Um, whose horn am I on this time and are you with Discord?” “Yes I’m with him and he’s watching two different things at the moment and your new friend isn’t doing so well. Also don’t say you’re not important Fluttershy, no one could replace you and your hugs!” After a moment there was a sound of scuffling and Pinkie then sounded a little less sad. “So what did you need Fluttershy?” “Can you tell me what my friend is currently doing?” Fluttershy poked her head out from under the cargo containers and looked around the back end of the train as the city passed by at high speeds. “Hey Fluttershy your friend is awesome, those flying bicycles she’s fighting off are really cool looking too. How fast do you think you guys are going on those trains?” After a moment of hearing Rainbow’s voice, there was a slapping sound and she gasped. “Oh right, a lot of ponies here in Ponyville miss you, so don’t put yourself down like that! Don’t let those aliens push you around either; you can definitely kick their plots because we believe in you!” “I agree with what Rainbow Dash said! All this space stuff is cool.” Scootaloo must have been watching whatever was going on with Bonnie as well, because she made a comment on it. “Whoa, how is she even doing that?” Fluttershy saw a passenger train slowly approaching on a parallel track while being swarmed with clones of that mean alien constantly bombarding the train with concussive rockets and blasts of energy. None of the attacking clones had a metal plate on their belly that the primary Torque had. From her position Fluttershy could see Bonnie standing atop the train and shooting back while deftly dodging around all the incoming fire. A concussive rocket slammed into the top of the train behind Bonnie and blasted her towards the back causing her to bounce across two cars until she came to a stop when she grabbed hold of the third car with a single hand. She clung to it stopping her momentum and fired the pistol still held with a death grip in her other one taking out two clones and their rides. Holding her hooves up to the face trying to put them to her mouth, Fluttershy only ended up smacking the protective oxygen bubble her suit made. She thought Bonnie looked okay, for someone who was repeatedly hit by shockwaves from exploding rockets and was obviously tired from moving around at insane speeds on a moment’s notice. Something shook the hovering platform she was sitting on with a loud bang and she ducked into the shadows. Looking behind her to see something at the other end of the containers, she froze. It came up to her quickly and started rubbing up against her side while purring like an engine. “Roller, where have you been? I was so worried about you… even though you’re the one that’s supposed to be worried about me.” It took Fluttershy’s attention off the situation in front of her and on the wheel creature that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and joined her in the shadow of the large container at the caboose of the cargo train. Roller jumped up and down revving loudly and motioned its carapace upwards slightly; Fluttershy looked up in time to see a laser rip through a few of the Torque clones. Apparently Roller had been clinging to the hull of several different star cruisers and hitched a ride to end up here. It was Star Cruiser Forty Two and it quickly strafed past and started to swing around to really start laying into the clones being produced constantly, half the clones now had other things to worry about as the star cruiser matched its pace to that of the passenger train and started firing on the Torque clones at random. None of the shots had been aimed at Bonnie who holstered her weapons and was quickly running on all fours for the front of the train, while dodging the fire from the clones still focusing on her. The Torque clones only needed one hand to drive and fire their vehicles weapons, the other three arms were armed with rifles or pistols of varying wildly varying strength. This meant at any given time there was approximately three hundred or more weapons constantly discharging in Bonnie’s general direction, most of it was still dangerous to be hit by even for her resilient hide. The damage all this was doing to the train was adding up. Fluttershy trotted in place feeling useless and rather helpless at the moment as she watched Bonnie get knocked to the side of the second car by a concussive rocket. Frowning she just didn’t know what to do. “Come on Fluttershy, do something! Don’t just stand there, that’s your friend right?” Even Spike was there watching this… well it wasn’t quite a train wreck yet and one could hope neither one would wreck. Gulping slightly at the idea that just popped up into her head, Fluttershy figured it wouldn’t be bad to ask if he could do it. She didn’t like the idea of putting Roller in danger. “Roller, fetch!” Flutterhsy pointed to Bonnie and Roller nodded to her and shot off the back end of the cargo train. While Roller was busy doing this she generated a pod grenade with her suit and looked up at all the clones attacking her friend. She bit her bottom lip and pulled back her hoof; she closed her eyes and threw it as hard as she could. - “Booster, XR, any sign of ambassador Fluttershy?” Buzz hoped she wasn’t on that train. “There are a lot of life signs in the rear of the passenger train Buzz, one of them might be her.” Booster was one scanners and looking around frantically for the specific level of life signs Fluttershy gave off. “And the passenger train is out of control.” XR was at a console of his own looking over the damage the train had sustained. “Why of course it is, nothing is ever easy for us!” There was a loud plinking noise as something bounced off the glass and Mira’s eyes widened as she knew what that familiar green sphere was. “Uh, Buzz…” Mira didn’t get to say much when steering the ship became that much harder when half their thrusters died and the other half powered up to compensate for it. - The sound of explosion going off caused Fluttershy eyes to open and she looked on aghast that she had accidentally hit the low flying Forty Two, its back end was covered in red vines sending into a horizontal death spiral. Its spin caused it to cut through the mass of clones burning them all. Only the original Torque had managed to get out of the conflagration. His hover bike wasn’t as lucky having taken too much damage. He ditched it while jumping onto the train and started producing more clones. Two tubes popped up on the cruiser and four figures launched out them before it slammed into the ground. It rolled for a few second before exploding against a building. Torque immediately turned to the Space Rangers itching for a fight. He completely forgot the lightly injured Bonnie lining up a shot on his back from atop the engine of the passenger train, only to miss her shot because she was swiftly accosted by Roller. “Oh dear…” It would be in Fluttershy’s best interest to mention that this was a complete accident the next time she saw the Space Rangers. After all the stories she’s heard about them losing their cruisers from Mira, they were certainly going to be really mad at her for that. “Whoa, nice throw Sweet Cheeks, didn’t know you had it in you! Say… wasn’t that one of those pea things?” After a moment Bonnie had a suddenly ill look on her face as Roller let her off. “Wait a minute… those things explode!” Fluttershy sorely hoped that Mira, Booster, XR and Buzz would be okay fighting that multiplying monster, a minute or two later the passenger train veered away from the cargo train as the rail led it off in a different direction.