Sentry for Hire

by daOtterGuy

Baddie Breakdown

Flash slammed his bat into the side of Timber’s head. It did nothing to slow down his momentum as he rammed into Flash. Flash crashed into a stall, breaking the wood on the front. Using the stall as leverage, Flash planted his feet against Timber’s chest and activated his boosts, blasting Timber away from him.

The werewolf went skidding across the pavement. He latched onto the ground, and pulled himself into a crouch, snarling at Flash.

“Knock it off with the cheap tricks!” Timber roared.

“Sorry, Timber, but as much as I want to save you, I also don’t want to be on the business end of those teeth,” Flash replied.

Timber roared in response and lunged toward Flash again. He rolled out of the way. Timber crashed into the stall, getting entangled in the broken pieces. While he tried to free himself, Flash slipped around the corner searching for something he could use to his advantage.

Before him was a swing carousel. As the name implied, it was a round carousel with swings instead of horses. It was currently in motion and going way faster than it should. The operator and riders were ensnared in vines, and the speed lever had been accidentally pushed to the max. He was interrupted from his observations by a tackle from behind.

Flash slammed into the ground. Timber grabbed the back of his head and roughly smashed it against the ground. The visor in his helmet cracked. He felt dazed, but, thankfully, the inner padding kept him conscious.

Thinking quickly, he turned the electricity on in his gloves and, as Timber brought him back up, he shoved his palm into his chest. The shock caused him to drop Flash.

He rolled back into the carousel and grabbed onto one of the swings. He zipped off, just in time to avoid Timber’s follow-up swipe. He came around the bend and clocked Timber in the head with his bat and managed an encore on his second go-around.

On the third, after Flash hit him again, Timber grabbed the chains of the swing Flash was holding onto and yanked, tearing the bolts out of the roof. Flash dropped to the ground and rolled away. Timber pounced on the last spot he was in mere seconds before.

As he came up, Flash slammed Timber’s chin with his bat on an upswing then again horizontally. He kept up the pressure, swinging repeatedly as he continued to dodge Timber’s claw swipes.

Timber nicked Flash along the arm, cutting his suit and causing him to overshoot on his swing. As he tried to course correct, all Flash thought was, Guess I can’t make fun of Applejack for that mistake again.

He banged his bat ineffectively against his hide with no power behind the swing. Timber took the opportunity. He grabbed Flash’s face and slammed it into the ground behind him, cracking the pavement and the back of his helmet once more causing Flash to thank his past self for the forethought of extra protection.

“Can’t keep up, Warden?” Timber growled. “I thought you were the best in the field.”

“I’m competent in the field,” Flash corrected, his words slurring together as the world spun. “Also, you’re a werewolf. You kind of have an unfair advantage over me with that.”

Timber roared, grabbed Flash by his suit, and threw him. He skidded along the cobblestones and was stopped by the central fountain on Equestria Land Main Street. The mascot, a cute, chubby dragon, happily sprayed water on him in mockery.

“That’s just insult to injury,” Flash muttered.

He staggered to his feet. Timber stalked toward him, towering well above him with eyes filled with anger. Flash swung his bat in an arc, brought it up, and swung. Timber grabbed the weapon, ripped it out of Flash’s grasp, crushed it, and tossed it away.

Flash turned his gloves on and punched Timber in the face. He staggered him momentarily, enough to follow up with another and another after that. He got into a rhythm of punching that he hoped would manage to topple the giant.

Timber grabbed Flash’s fist and squeezed, hard. Flash cried out in pain. Timber grabbed him by the throat and then smashed him against the edge of the fountain, breaking the wall and causing water to spill from the central bowl. Timber squeezed Flash’s throat, his suit cracking from the pressure. Flash thought to electrify the water, but Timber had managed to damage the controls.

“You just needed to be on my side, but you never wanted to, did you?!” Timber yelled, leaning in close. “You were just saying that so I’d do what you want!”

Flash struggled against Timber’s grip, already feeling lightheaded from the lack of air. “I wasn’t just saying that. I want to be with you. I like being with you.”

“No, you don’t! If you did, you would have—!”

“Allowed you to become a monster?” Flash chuckled weakly. “No, I couldn’t let you ruin your life.”

“I’m choosing this!”

“Your insecurities are choosing this.”

“No, they aren’t! This is my best option!”

“How can you know that?” The edges of Flash’s vision became blurry.

“B-Because there isn’t any other option, I’ve tried!” A single tear rolled down Timber’s face. “I’m stuck, and this is the only thing left that I get to choose.”

“Timber, that’s not true.”

“You can’t know that!”

“I can’t, but we can try, and even if it turns out there really aren’t any other options… I’d do everything to make sure you still had one available to you.”

“Don’t say that! Not when you don’t care!”

“Now who’s telling lies?”

“You! You’re still—!”

Timber was stopped by Flash gently touching his face. He smiled. “I care about you, Timber. More than anyone else in a long while. This isn’t some act.”

The colour in Timber’s eyes flashed, back and forth from eerie dark green to his usual forest green.

“Come on, bud,” Flash begged. “You gotta snap out of this. We still need to have that… real date.”

Flash’s hand dropped to the ground as his consciousness faded further. Timber’s eyes widened in panic, fully human, tears gathered in the corners.

“No!” Timber shouted.

He released Flash. Flash sucked in lungfuls of air as he recovered. Timber stepped back, clutching the sides of his head. He growled, whipping back and forth as he tried to shake whatever had a hold of him.

“Get out!” Timber roared. “Get out, get out, Get out, Get Out, GET OUT!”

Green mist drained out of Timber in droves, from both inside and out. The green hue of his bark skin became bleached white. The green coalesced into the shape of a wolf, snarling down at Timber. Timber collapsed onto his knees, his werewolf form dissipating.

“F-Flash,” Timber cried out weakly.

Flash tried to pull himself off the ground, desperately reaching for Timber. Exhaustion, however, still had hold of him, and desperation couldn’t overcome it. He watched helplessly as the wolf’s maw opened, ready to snap, willing his body to push past its current limits.

“Heel,” A voice commanded.

Pink flashed across the green mist in the form of chains. The wolf yelped and drew back. It turned toward the voice and snarled. Fluttershy stepped into view, flanked by her animal compatriots. She glared, one eye bearing the full intensity of a wrathful mother chastising a child.

“I said, heel,” Fluttershy said, power elevating her voice with a deep bass that echoed off the cobblestones.

Arcs of pink burst across the wolf. It yelped in pain and then whimpered, thoroughly cowed by Fluttershy. It snarled one last time at both Timber and Flash then ran off, dissipating into nothingness.

Flash crawled forward and brought himself up enough to catch Timber as he collapsed. He pulled him protectively to his chest, glaring back at Fluttershy with a defiant expression.

“... Take him somewhere safe,” Fluttershy said softly.

“You’re not gonna turn us in?” Flash asked.

“He was obviously under the influence of a corruptive force and… this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve let a previously possessed person go free. Besides, I can guess the expression you have right now under that helmet and I don’t want to know what a desperate Warden is capable of.”

Flash waited to see if Fluttershy would make a move. After he confirmed that, at least for the time being, she wasn’t going to make any more moves, he maneuvered Timber onto his back and stood up. His body screamed in protest, angry at both the abuse he’d already been through and that Timber wasn’t exactly a small guy, but he ignored it. Willing for his body to last until he could reach his car in the parking lot.

He began to walk toward the park entrance.

“I better not see you again as some villain’s minion… Flash,” Fluttershy called after him.

He stopped. “... You heard Timber?”

“Yes… and I had my suspicions before this.”

“Well, you’re in luck, this was going to be my last job anyways. I’m officially retired.”

“Congratulations… don’t do it again.”

With a weak chuckle, Flash walked away.

Comments

[Ri2]

Good job, Flutters.

[Moproblems Moharmoney]

Scary flutters is best flutters