“Once a year, the planets align to form a racetrack. Some parts of the race course can be deadly such as sharp icicles dropping from above or has horrible worm monsters show up on some sandy road to swallow the contestants, only the bravest of the brave would really want to join in this event. This is the Galactic Conjunction Six Thousand!” The announcer received a cheer from the crowd that was watching as the racers stretched out at the starting line. “Now for the rules, each contestant has to be riding or pulled by something. Robots with souls can only be in the event as riders, it is unfair to the biological contestants that they never tire if they are the mount. Objects that are pulled are allowed so long as they have no self propulsion capabilities. If your mount can fly it is only allowed to do so in an emergency, but you will be disqualified. Hovering mounts are viable as long as they don’t hover too high off the track as to be considered flying.”
“This year we have beaten the number of contestants from the previous Galactic Conjunctions as we have over four thousand competitors this time bashing and crashing their way along the course! While attacking other racers is allowed, it is not highly recommended. Who knows what the race course will look like this year, who knows what obstacles there will be? All we need to know is who will survive to finish and who will take home the grand prize!” There was a roar of approval as the announcer finished working up the crowd into an excited frenzy.
At the front of a lot of other aliens was a nervously shaking Fluttershy who was biting her bottom lip, she was standing next to an excited looking Roller who was both happy and ready to race. The pony smiled meekly at Roller’s passion of going fast and excelling at it and here were a lot of animals and beings that were going to be going really fast. This is something Roller really wanted to do, he passed inspection and was recognized as a biological creature and Fluttershy was still wearing her Rhizome suit for protection as usual. The suit had become like a second skin for her and a comfort during trying times.
“Now let’s take a look at some of the contestants and it looks like we have some previous winners here folks! It’s the friendliest face you’ll ever see in space and his faithful loving loyal companion and an aggressive femme fatale of a Zbornak that is one tough ride. It’s Wander and Sylvia the Time Bomb! Hopefully Wander can keep Sylvia from attempting to rip someone apart this time.” A spotlight shined down on the two named individuals, while a lot of the audience chuckled.
One of the individuals was orange bipedal furry guy with a big green floppy hat with a black band and yellow five pointed star on it, the only other thing he was wearing was blue shoes and white sock with some colored stripes. He stood up on top of Sylvia’s saddle and smiled brightly while waving gaily at everyone in good cheer.
Sylvia was a blue round bodied creature with a long neck; snout and tail which made her look like a walking noodle. Her arms ended in three stubby but strong looking fingers and her legs had small thick muscles and ended in two large toes making her look to be built for running. She was simply wearing a bridle around her nose and mouth, along with a blanket and the saddle that Wander stood upon. She also had scruffy looking red dorsal fins on her head and the end of her tail. She stood tall and waved to the crowd and threw two punches before she started stretching out.
Fluttershy was staring at them; after the race was over with she was going to have a word with Wander, since he was one of the beings she had been looking for. A real Star Nomad, he looked rather silly, goofy and friendly as Janet had described him and Sylvia definitely looked tough, but not nearly enough to survive two halves of an entire planet crushing down on her. She fiddled nervously with the second translation device she had Slippy make for her before he and the rest of Fox’s team set off for the Lylat System, they were going to make sure no one else found blueprints to any other Venom based super weapons. The translation device was in the form of a collar or choker, this meant Fluttershy now had a spare translation device just in case she lost the one she was wearing around her neck that she was less likely to lose.
“Now let’s look at another of the contestants. One of the most interesting ones I see here today is a new race to the Galactic Alliance that are called ‘ponies’. She’s an adorable ambassador that befriends everyone she meets while melting their hearts with her loving nature and she helped the people of Janet Rhizome in their time of need by assisting in repelling an invasion force. With her is a biological wheel creature that’s just as strange as any of the other wacky mounts here, he even looks to be quite sporty and he eats things with his tire.” The spotlight shined down on Fluttershy and Roller, causing the pony to squeak and cower while Roller looked up at the light in interest. “Let’s welcome the friendly, noticeably shy and also incredibly brave ambassador, Flutter ‘Felicity’ Shy and her companion Mr. Roller Wheel!”
Roller revved in excitement at being recognized while Fluttershy cowered in his shadow looking around at everyone staring at her and began hyperventilating slightly at all the attention. Why oh why did Fluttershy ever agree to do this? Oh right, she was looking for a star nomad, which she had finally found after so long. She needed to win the grand prize and she had to spend some time while the LGMs finished getting the Head Hunter in a condition that was likely to be better than the state it was in when she stole it.
Fluttershy knew where her next destination was, but not where she needed to go exactly once she got there and she should have asked Veritas when she had the chance. That is why she was here at the Galactic Conjunction and cowering behind her companion with a simple mentality and a strong sense of loyalty that even Rainbow Dash was proud of. She just had to win the grand prize, she wasn’t about to make the trip to the planet Earth on the Head Hunter without someone whose been there and knows where to go.
Oh how Fluttershy wished her friends or even Discord would respond to her, she hadn’t heard back from them in a while. At least Katrina has been nice to talk to about all of her troubles, that Aldebaran was a miracle worker when it came to listening to her woes and dispensing wisdom that made her feel better. It was nice to hear from the old cat lady who helped calm Fluttershy’s nerves when she couldn’t get in touch with any of her friends back on Equus.
Fluttershy thought back to how she even got signed up for this event as she was surrounded by a madhouse of aliens and animals aplenty of the likes she had never seen before. The biological thing that looked like a doghouse with the four crab claws for legs and multiple eyes was a particularly odd one to stare at. She had plenty of time to recall how all this came to pass, as it would be ten or so minutes before the race officially started. She could hopefully ask Wander for help after it was over and that he’d be able to find her home world.
-
“They lost of thirteen cruisers on planet Z alone, many Star Command personnel are heavily injured, people died in Torque’s attack on the train station and in general things have been unpleasant recently. You also were personally involved in uncovering dangerous black market materials on a cargo train and helped cause the collapse of an empire. Are you sure you won’t press charges after everything she caused to happen?” The Grand Councilwoman asked of Fluttershy just to confirm things. “Bonnie is under arrest for the many crimes she had committed before you were kidnapped or foal nabbed as you prefer to call it. Even if she is a hero, she still has to accept the punishment for her actions. You on the other ‘hoof’ as it were, have diplomatic immunity in this case.”
“No ma’am, I won’t.” Fluttershy abruptly answered without a second though with a smile on her face, before she returned to looking at the document in front of her with a frown. “She’s my friend, I promised I would be her friend and I will not break my Pinkie Promise. I have already satisfied the other conditions of the promise, but being her friend is the one thing I will never take away from her.”
“Fine, then that has been decided at least. Now then, I think you need something to get your mind off of this mess. As such I have already arranged an escort to the Galactic Conjunction for you. Take note of what the grand prize is, since I know it will be of some interest to you. Do not forget you are looking for a star nomad while you’re there.” Veritas slid a piece of paper over to Fluttershy next to the documents she was looking at. She was actually smiling for once as Fluttershy realized why she pointed out the grand prize; the pony looked up and nodded in acknowledgment of what she could do at the Galactic Conjunction. After a moment Veritas’s smile disappeared and she went back to business. “Be thankful that I got away with setting the bail as low as I did, it is not often I bend the rules. You are quite the exception and the friendship you have formed with Bonnie makes me think you can do her a world of good with your presence, instead of allowing her to fester in a prison. She is doing well medically and should make a full recovery, even then she is quite horribly depressed and I have her under constant watch just in case she tries to hurt herself. I must ask, what became of her brother Clyde Jookiba? Aside from that I have sent out expeditions to help find the planet of Equus. Should you be incapable of finding a star nomad or should the star nomad prove incapable of finding your planet if you do see one, I will continue to expend what resources I can to your cause Fluttershy.”
“Thank you very much Veritas, for having people out there looking for my home planet. As for Clyde…” A depressed look came across Fluttershy’s face; she moved her feathered wing and reached it into the right hand bag at her side. It came out holding a small sphere that was familiar to Veritas; the grey splotch was almost encompassing the five on it entirely and parts of the one and zero were covered as well. “He’s dying… Bonnie asked me to hold on to him for her, even if he dies she wants me to hold on to it until she’s released from jail. I think she believes her brother will die while she’s in jail with how she acted by putting him in my hooves.”
Fluttershy explained what Bonnie told her about Death Knell; it was definitely a dire protocol that Jumba had instilled into every one of his children and Veritas didn’t look too pleased with it. They were currently on the Luxmea in a meeting room and had been in the middle of a debriefing of everything Fluttershy went through.
“Is there any chance he can be saved?” Veritas actually showed Fluttershy a little more emotion than she would most people, she didn’t think any of the six hundred and twenty six experiments were truly evil. She was saddened to think of actually killing any of the annoyingly adorable trouble causers now. That was aside from the fact that she watched Jumba euthanize experiment ‘Leroy’ and all of his clones, all the while telling Lilo a lie that they just sent them all to an asteroid prison with Dr. Hamsterviel where they were having a dance parties all the time. All six hundred and twenty six experiments knew of the truth though and it would be up to one of them to eventually break it to Lilo, it would most likely be up to her best friend Stitch.
“Yes, but it requires that I find her father Jumba and even then, what she said about Clyde not coming back the same.” Huffing sadly Fluttershy looked away from Veritas. “It’s a bit worrying; if I try to save him, does he lose all his memories? Does he come back missing parts of his body? I have no idea what she meant exactly, he could even have an entirely different personality from the one he had before. I wouldn’t even know the difference if he did have a different personality, but Bonnie would. All Bonnie said that was for certain is that he lost something from entering this state and will continue to lose more as time passes. The more that time passes, the less chance he’ll be able to come back at all even if it does make him different.”
“It is worrying to me as well; I understand only a little of what Jumba actually does when he creates his children. He’s the most infuriatingly brilliant member of his species, knowing that you will eventually go to meet him to save Clyde you are to never tell him I ever said that.” Veritas stood up and put her arms behind her back and started pacing in thought while Fluttershy watched her. “Bonnie must trust you implicitly to give you her brother for safekeeping. Clyde obviously means more to her than anything she could ever hope to possibly steal, I even suspect that you mean just as much to her.”
“…” Fluttershy made a noncommittal soft neighing sound and quietly looked at the sphere in her hoof; she slowly put it back. Veritas knelt down and pulled her into a hug since she must have looked like she needed it. She recalled what Bonnie had said about the word ‘Ohana’ before she collapsed on the ground from exhaustion and the blood loss.
A beeping noise was heard and Veritas stood back up at full attention. She was quickly back to looking impassive and cold like she always did, but Fluttershy knew better now that she was like Princess Celestia in having to make hard decisions all the time. The tall alien made her way for the door to the room and hit the intercom on the doorway.
“What is it?” Veritas spoke evenly and got directly to the point as if she hadn’t just given the sad little pony a nice friendly hug a few seconds ago.
“I’m here to escort Fluttershy to the Galactic Conjunction ma’am; I can wait if you still have pressing matters with her.” A familiar voice to the pony was heard, but she didn’t react to it too much.
“A few more questions and then we’ll be right out.” With that Veritas went back to sitting down with Fluttershy. “I know you intend on going to the Galactic Conjunction, but do you intend to enter the race?”
“Well it would be nice if I won it and it might be fun for Roller. Then I can take Bonnie with me to earth and she can actually introduce me to her family.” Fluttershy wasn’t a very competitive being, winning it would mean that she would be able to effectively buy Bonnie’s freedom. She was going there to find a star nomad originally, she might as well try as she had nothing to lose if she didn’t win and it couldn’t possibly be that dangerous right? Now that she thought of it, she had a question to ask. “I forgot to ask this, but what will happen to the three DOKs, Lucky Day, Lead Affront and Absolute Resolve?”
“Nobody has any reason to hold those three and as sapient machine they are free to go wherever they please and do whatever they want now within the bounds of our laws. I haven’t heard much about them and they disappeared as soon as they were released from custody after giving us all the information of what happened during the time they were activated to the time you left planet Z with the defectors.” A certain look of concern crossed Veritas’s face as she pulled out and slid a strange data pad to Fluttershy. “They were last seen riding a shuttle down to Capital Planet, I hope they don’t become an issue later. They did however leave this behind; I believe it is meant for you.”
“I’m sure they won’t cause too much trouble.” At least Fluttershy hoped the three different sized floating barrel robots didn’t do anything problematic, she was sure they would only use their weapons in self defense. After having assisted in the wrecking of planet Z, they no longer had a reason to stick around and they apparently didn’t.
Fluttershy looked down at the pad and tapped her hoof onto the screen, a light showed up underneath her hoof and a second later a few pictures appeared on the screen. The three DOKs were wielding the weapons they were designed to work best with and they were saluting at the camera. Below that there was Fluttershy, Roller and Bonnie with hearts above their heads. Touching the screen with a hoof with a warm feeling in her chest, Fluttershy caused it to move upwards slightly. Blinking she pushed forward on the screen and the pictures scrolled upwards leading into some writing.
“The first one is from Lucky, it reads ‘New Mission: Find planet Equus’. The second one is from Lead; she says ‘See you pony, someday, somewhere’. The last one is from Absolute; it says ‘Happy to serve’.” Veritas read it for Fluttershy’s benefit since she couldn’t read the language. “I believe that answers any question I might have had about them and their current motives, anything you would like to ask before you leave Fluttershy?”
“Do you think Zurg will ever be able to use his arm again?” It was hard to be upset with someone who doesn’t like seeing anyone get hurt and Fluttershy was just that sweet to ask about how the tyrannical bastard was doing. Zurg was still in a catatonic state even now and even though she was worried about his health, Fluttershy didn’t exactly feel sorry for him. She knew he was a ruthless, even with his own people from what she saw in Bonnie’s dream of all those dead Grubs. She still hoped that Zurg at least had a chance of being a better person in the future or in another life.
“I’m sure he’ll live.” Flatly responded Veritas who personally thought that Bonnie should have killed him, but that was just her cold analytical side talking. Fluttershy still showing compassion even for someone who likely hated or feared her to his core was something incredible to see and it gave her hope for future interactions with the intelligent beings of Equus. She knew that not everyone could be like Fluttershy; she could only hope that enough of them were near enough.
Opening the door, they came face to face with Betina waiting for them. She was out of her ranger armor with her dark blue hair up in a ponytail and was flicking her ears back in a shy manner. The one eyed centaur seemed particularly shy out of her armor and at the hip of her upper humanoid torso was a holster with a blaster in it. She was also wearing an ‘I love vegetables shirt’ to cover her upper torso and had a purse slung over one shoulder.
-
“I’ve needed this vacation for some time now Fluttershy, most of team Plasma got injuries escaping to another cruiser and I had nothing better to do so they put me on light duty as your bodyguard.” Betina ‘Betsy’ Bucks-a-ton looked worn out though she was smiling at Fluttershy in a slightly cheery mood. Her beautifully cared for tail flicked back and forth nervously on the seat and her lower body sat in the seat in the same manner Fluttershy was sitting next to her. “You know it’s kind of weird knowing that there are more four legged beings out there aside from us Cyclocentaurians. It’s not often you see a fully sentient four legged beings like us.”
“There’s a lot of intelligent four legged species on my planet like me Betina, I’m sure you would love it there. There are centaurs that look like you except they have two eyes, sometimes horns and they actually have noses. My world had a particular problem with one named Tirek, he was draining all the life and beauty out of the world until me and my friends stopped him.”At the moment Fluttershy was safely riding on a space bus heading to the Galactic Conjunction with her minder acting as a low key chaperone. “Sorry if hearing that makes you uncomfortable, but not all centaurs or four legged beings on my world are nasty like he was. Um… so have you tried talking to Booster recently? I noticed you’re tail um… yes… well, if it means the same thing as it does for my species.”
“I kind of get tongue tied around him. Sure I can speak plainly as a friend, but to ask the biggest and sweetest guy I know out on a date. Yeah, hard to do that when you liked him back when he was still a big goofy loveable janitor working towards a dream he now lives, that was before he was promoted to a full on rookie ranger for saving our part of the universe.” She looked away while rubbing the side of her head sheepishly with her right hand as she blushed. “Now he’s up there in the ranks with the likes of Buzz ‘freaking’ Lightyear, one of the most decorated Space Rangers out there.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to ask him out some day, I know he’s open to the idea at least. Um… do you know what’s going on with Mira and Buzz? They always seem rather tense around one another and who’s Sally? I heard you mention her and something called Cosmo’s?” The conversation led Fluttershy into getting to know Betsy better and she learned about how oblivious Buzz Lightyear was by being so thoroughly married to his job.