Mission to the Pony Planet

by ersmiller

24 Fluttershy: "Nice Doggy?"

09:40 AM

Lost.

Fluttershy trotted around the thick woods as best as she could with the uneven terrain and natural objects.

She knew she had flown away from the rising sun, so she had to move toward it now. That would be easier if she could see it.

She had already tried to fly above the canopy but the trees grew so thick here that it was more like jumping from branch to branch than flying and her coordination with pony jumps and flight still wasn’t up to the task.

So she trotted, and walked, and crawled as the need may be.

“I hope the others are doing better than I am,” she kept herself company. “I found out Twi is in Canterlot. I’m not sure where that is if we’re actually in Ponyville, not actually Canterville. Sunset said geography between the two worlds is similar, but there’s no Ponyville in our world so that doesn’t help. And if the others also know Twi isn’t in town then what are they doing now? Are they trying to meet up? Or … Oh, no! They didn’t leave without me, did they?”

Before she could freak out over that thought, Fluttershy heard rustling in the distance.

And then she smelled a foul odor.

And then heard something growl.

And then she felt her fur stand up.

And then there was nothing stopping her from freaking out.

*** *** ***

09:45 AM

After the thankfully short-lived freak out, Fluttershy came to her senses back a few yards, and up a few branches. This gave her a slightly better view of the origin of the rustling, odor, and growl.

Not far ahead of where she was, right where she would have been if she had not been warned off, was a small clearing in the trees and a cave slightly hidden by some bushes.

She couldn’t see what was in the cave, but it sounded BIG.

Fluttershy decided to find a new route.

The branch that broke under her weight didn’t give her that option.

“Eeeeeek!” she shouted all the way down to the thankfully soft patch of snow on the ground.

Good news: she wasn’t hurt.

Good news: she got a better look at what was in that cave.

Bad news: it got a better look at her in return.

At nearly twice her size, it looked a bit like a wolf if wolves were made out of trees and scary, glowing, green eyes.

“Um, hi?” Fluttershy tried as meek and nonthreatening as she could. Which didn’t require any acting.

The wood wolf stood, a threatening gleam in its eye and a more threatening growl from its mouth.

Fluttershy righted herself and began to back away as the lumbering wolf approached.

“Eek!” Fluttershy turned to run only to find herself trapped by trees and rocks on all sides not containing a snarling wolf whose bark was its bite.

She faced the creature and tried to fly but her wings seemed glued to her sides.

It took another step.

A loud crack sounded and the creature whimpered, falling back on three legs.

Fluttershy gasped, her veterinarian’s instincts directing her gaze to a split log in the tree wolf’s front right leg.

“Oh, my! You’re hurt!”

The creature retreated back into its cave.

Fluttershy kept her eyes on that bad log wondering if such a creature would heal.

And if she could help.

*** *** ***

10:00 AM

Fluttershy smiled at the creature slowly walking around the cave, testing the vine bandage she made for it.

It still limped but seemed to bark happily. Though even a happy bark from this creature sounded like a hungry animal moving in for the kill.

That thought struck Fluttershy at just the wrong time as the creature came right for her.

She chuckled nervously as it came close, taking a tentative step back toward the mouth of the cave.

The creature gave no reaction and closed the distance.

Fluttershy, no longer having the option of escape, looked up at the creature’s jaws coming down to meet her.

She braced herself.

And was gently knocked by a wooden muzzle as the creature nuzzled the side of her head, panting happily.

“Aw, you’re just a cute little baby puppy, aren’t you?” She giggled back at it when it licked her face with what appeared to be a green vine instead of a tongue.

Her giggling turned to coughing when the full extent of the creature’s stench hit her.

“A cute puppy who really needs a breath mint. Maybe a toothbrush, or maybe … wood polish? Something pine-scented maybe?”

Almost as if it understood her, or perhaps it did, the creature stopped licking her and sniffed her instead.

It stopped, looking confused.

And then a collection of logs, which may have been a stomach, rumbled against each other making a loud percussion. Though the result was far from musical.

“Oh, poor thing. You sound hungry.”

Fluttershy looked up at the creature’s eyes. “What kinds of things do you eat?”

The creature looked back to her, its stomach rumbling louder and its teeth seeming to moisten as if salivating tree sap.

Fluttershy’s face darkened. “Oh.”

She began backing out of the cave. “I’m sure you have friends who will help you find food … other than me, right?”

The creature seemed content with letting her leave until its stomach rumbled again and it stepped forward, howling.

“Eek!” Fluttershy ran out and around the cave, keeping away from the thicker forest she had already passed through. The forest behind the cave was much thinner, allowing for easier trotting and, thankfully, galloping.

She took off at her fastest pony run, hearing the creature following behind her and howling again.

After rounding a large pile of rocks, Fluttershy heard another howl answering the first. And then another. And another.

And then a whole chorus.

“Eep.”

It wasn’t long before she could also hear rustling in the bushes, see trees being pushed around by large creatures, and smell that horrible breath from much more than one source.

Suddenly a tree to her side seemed to get ripped from its roots and tossed aside. Fluttershy looked over and saw a much larger version of the creature. Her first reaction was elation. “Aw, I bet that’s his mom coming to help him find food.”

Then she remembered what “food” was to them and ran faster.

Finally coming to what appeared to be a hoof path in the forest, Fluttershy had to make a decision, but still wasn’t sure which way would lead to town.

It was at that moment that a loud boom rang out followed shortly after by a bright ring of rainbow light. The ring passed through the trees, causing them to shake and get pushed back slightly, almost as if it was a physical object or at least accompanied by a very strong wind.

The creatures behind her crouched down and hid as the ring passed over.

She did the same.

Once it had passed, she made her decision and ran down the path heading for the origin of the ring hoping it wasn’t a larger, hungrier creature.

She took flight, the pathway being mostly clear up to several pony heights.

She risked a glance behind her to see several of the creatures behind her, not just the two from before. Some were running away, most seemed confused and not going anywhere, but three were still chasing her.

*** *** ***

10:10 AM

LIGHT!

Fluttershy saw light!

The creatures were still behind her, and it sounded like some of the confused ones had eventually decided to rejoin in the chase, but she was almost out of the forest.

She could see green fields and pony houses in the distance between the trees.

The creatures behind her roared.

Running short of breath, Fluttershy finally cleared the tree line.

“Woohoo!”

But a quick look behind her showed that the creatures followed her out.

She didn’t have much time to worry about that, however, as she very quickly needed to dodge a long trail of rainbow light, like a laser, behind a pony-sized object.

There was no telling what the thing was or what it was doing other than using the laser to spell the words, “HECK YEAH!” above the field.

Fluttershy managed to dodge the first loop the object made near her and kept going. As the object swung around, presumably for another exclamation point, she heard it say, “OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY—WHAT WAS THAT?!”

She kept flying as fast as she could, veering off to the side away from the object.

Her new heading brought her face to face with her pony’s cottage.

There were still animals outside.

A squirrel waved a tiny pitchfork at her.

She veered off in a different direction.

She heard a screech and then, “OH CRAP! LOOK OUT! MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE!”

She paid it no mind and kept going, flying aimlessly away from the forest.

She passed over a bridge and turned, seeing Twi’s palace come into view, and made directly for it.

She had to veer around again when a pony in a hazmat suit pointed at her and screamed.

“It’s a Fluttershy!”

Two more hazmat ponies joined in.

“Run!”

“She’ll eat our souls!”

She flapped harder, aiming directly for the front doors of the palace.

The wood wolves screamed.

She heard a series of thuds behind her.

The rainbow laser passed overhead twice more in an erratic pattern.

There was a loud crash.

The hazmat ponies screamed again.

She flew straight for the doors, but her wings gave out, causing her to skid along the ground, stopping just before the palace stairs.

As quick as she could, she got to her hooves, stumbling up the steps to the doors, and slammed them open with all her freaked out might, continuing to stumble forward.

“”Fluttershy?!”” Applejack and Rarity yelled.

Fluttershy looked at the pair, took a deep breath, and yelled back.

“WE ARE SO BUCKING SCREWED!”

Comments

[FrostTheWolf]

Something tells me that the pack followed her... I got a bad feeling of what this will lead too

[Efadd]

Fluttershy righted herself and began to back away as the lumbering wolf approached.

That got me... howling!

[Efadd]

It still limped but seemed to bark happily. Though even a happy bark from this creature sounded like a hungry animal moving in for the kill.

...i just realized... Timberwolf... barking... yes!

[Eroraf86]

Ah. Timberwolves. Well. That’s not good.

[Scyphi]

And then a collection of logs, which may have been a stomach, rumbled against each other making a loud percussion.

Huh. Hadn't really ever thought about that before...but now the idea of a timberwolf having a sort of "stomach" intrigues me. For some reason.

[Rokas]

This story really should be titled: "Murphy's Law: A Case Study."

This train wreck will be glorious and horrendous; I can hardly wait.