Becoming Fluttershy

by Hope

chapter 21. Being famous

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Julien is standing next to me, firearm pointed down but safety off and face a mask of cool fury over his face when I awake. I hear sirens in the distance, getting closer. For a moment I wonder if there is a fire somewhere before I remember that there was a very public discharge of a firearm.

I sit up and look over to the guardpony. “You okay?” I ask.

“I’m fine. Sort of upset I didn’t get to shoot them, but your element managed to knock them out or something. I’m not about to shoot an unconscious combatant, even if Shining wasn’t yelling in my ear not to.” He looks over to me with a great deal of worry. “Are you?”

I nod, getting carefully to my hooves to survey the situation.

Two police cars are pulling up next to my car, as Julien lowers my pistol down to rest on it’s case and raises his forehooves. Spread around us are four unconscious thugs, all wearing matching shirts and all uninjured besides being knocked out. My black and yellow mini me is sitting next to the one that had grabbed me, and I grab it to hug before the police get out of their vehicles.

“Please state your name and the name of your pony.” One of the police officers says.

They are staying back, likely to determine if we are a threat before advancing.

“Julien, and Shining Armor. This is Erica, and she is Fluttershy.” I really don’t think I should correct him about my name, since the police have enough to worry about already.

“We were assaulted, and we defended ourselves without use of my magic except to lift and fire this weapon.” He points at the pistol.

“I am going to approach you to secure the weapon.” One of the officers removes the magazine and clears the cartridge from the chamber. Another collects a lone casing from the ground and puts it into a small bag.

“I don’t see any wounds, who did you shoot?” The one in charge asks.

I raise my hoof.

“Yes... Erica?” He asks.

“He was going to shoot them but I stopped it. With this.” I point at the dent in my necklace.

“You stopped a bullet with a necklace.” He says dubiously.

“The necklace knocked them all out, too.” Julien points out, as a fourth officer is rolling the thugs over and handcuffing them, an ambulance showing up a few moments later.

“Okay, so you were going to shoot them, why?” The officer is holding his head as if to ward off a headache.

“They had grabbed her and were threatening to physically harm her. Those knives were theirs.” Julien explains.

“Okay, so they grabbed her, why didn’t you knock them out with your necklace?” He asks me wearily.

“I didn’t have it. It just showed up when I jumped in front of the gun.” I say, hugging Mrs. Buzzy tighter.

The officer takes a deep breath and sighs as the thugs are loaded into ambulances and another cop starts taking pictures of my necklace around my plushie.

“So. You were grabbed by those men, threatened with lethal force, he drew his weapon and then a magical necklace appeared which stopped a bullet and knocked out four people while leaving you two unharmed?” He clarifies.

“Well, she was knocked out for a short bit too. About a minute.” Julien says, shrugging.

The officer just covers his face with his hands.

“I’m going to take this off, okay sweetie? You’ll get it back after we take a few more pictures.” The female cop who has been taking pictures of it asks me.

I nod and move my arms as she tries to slide it off. After a few moments, I am dangling in midair by the necklace.

“Wow you are light. Sorry.” She puts me back down.

“I suppose it’s not coming off. That’s fine, just hold still.” She takes a few more pictures and I am pretty sure the boss policeman is sobbing into his hands and looking over the shattered wreckage of his day in dismay, wondering where it all went wrong.

“Are we free to go?” I ask timidly.

“I can’t arrest you, since those four were wearing shirts with the logo of a suspected terrorist organization that is anti-pony. I could bring you in for questioning but I don’t want to cause an incident. We have to confiscate the firearm and you may or may not get it back, depending on how the investigation goes, but in the end I just need a way to contact you two.”

We give him all our information and within a few minutes we are standing next to my car, bewildered and a little confused.

“Lettuce?” Julien floats the green ball over to me.

I nod eagerly and consume half of it before giving it back. Lettuce is amazing. Right about then, news vans start to pull into the Walmart parking lot, and we rush into our car and take off. Only a few end up following us, and they seem persistent. We decide we need a bit of down time before we start driving again, so we make our way to a Starbucks and park outside, connecting to the internet as Julien sips a root beer. The news vans park a safe distance away and seem to watch us like wild animals stalking prey.

I rest my laptop on my legs and lean it against the steering wheel before logging onto facebook to a friend request and a big stack of messages.

The friend request is from “Danielle Derpy” Which is interesting, I hadn’t thought about other ponies besides the mane six contacting me.

I go to her message first.
“Hello,
I heard that you are going to new York, I was wondering if me and my good friend Octavia/Ethan could join you. ~ Derpy/Danielle”

I chuckle, Derpy is my favorite pony incidentally, and reply.

“Certainly! Though we are headed towards Kansas City, and not likely to be here too much longer. You will probably have to catch a flight or train to get here before Thorsday night. I am really tempted to call it Tuesday just to spite Discord.”

I send it off and hope they make it in time to travel with us, before we have to leave Kansas City.

Next up are the cosplayers.

“Ginny: You really think so? YAY! I didn't do the dress but Jacqueline (my friend) did it and I got the wings and the hair dye and oh my gosh I just can't believe it's really you! *Internet huggles* “

I chuckle at the series of “yay” pictures she attaches to the message, and type up a quick message back. “Can’t wait to see you all. Hoping to be in Kansas City tonight.”

“Linda: Good to know! But seriously, I know how hard it is to leave your friends and family. I hear you're traveling with Shining Armor now, and that begs the question: since you're both ponies, is he hot?"

This one I have to think over. I don't feel inclined to address the first bit, but for the second... Part of me thinks that Shining Armor is pretty attractive but married, the other part is a lesbian. “You’ll be able to judge that for yourself when you meet him. Don’t flirt though, I’m pretty sure Shining is still in there somewhere and he’s a married man.”

“Ian: This is Reid's brother. I just thought you'd like to know he bought a pair of foam Hulk gloves while giggling like a maniac. Just so you aren't surprised when he gives them to you.”

I shake my head but smile. Hulk gloves, really? I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised.

Right about then, a flood of new messages begin to come in, sending my count skyrocketing. I suppose the news finally got out.

I look behind me at two cameras with newspersons in front of them, pointed in my general direction. I duck back down and open a notepad on my computer, upping the font size until it could easily be seen at a distance, and typing a short message.

“I’m okay. Thank you everyone.”

I put the laptop on the little flat spot behind the back seat and dictate my responses to Julien as he types them on my phone.

“Jacqueline: We just heard the news. Are you okay? Ginny's a complete mess.”

“I’m fine, tell her that I am okay.”

“Harold: I know you don't know me that well, but I am willing and able to keep this from happening again. Are you okay? And Shining Armor?”

“He wishes he could have finished them all off, but we are both okay.”

“Linda: Heard the news. I'm a lawyer, if you need one. Are you okay?”

“From what I can tell, we are being given no blame for this. The four that attacked us were part of an anti-pony group, and we didn’t even hurt them except knocking them out.”

By the time we had typed up all of this and sent it off, we got two more messages.

“Reid: I just heard about what happened in Salina. We're all coming. I'm not going to ask if you're okay, that's not something you can just be okay about. But if you'd let me know how you're doing.... well, I can listen, anyway.”

“Ian: Reid is doing his "Stoic Man" thing. I think he's really scared. I know you've probably heard this a lot, but are you okay?”

I take a deep breath and dictate a message to both of them, through Julien.

“I am fine. In the heat of the moment, I managed to gain the element of kindness and it not only stopped a bullet but knocked out the thugs as well. If anything I feel a bit better than I did before. Also, call me Ericashy. I’ve sort of... progressed. Sort of. I feel excellent, and I’m not scared or worried, really. Can’t wait to see you all.”

After that, one last message trickles in. From my number one fan.

“Ginny: Oh god tell me you're okay please I'm so sorry those f*****s did that oh god they didn't hurt you too badly please just stay where you are did the doctors tell you if you'll survive oh god”

I don’t know how to reply. I think over a hundred ways to try and comfort her or convince her I am fine. Finally Julien and I take a picture of ourselves smiling and waving, before sending it off. In the picture, the necklace is clearly visible.

Finally I update my facebook with my location and a little joke. “Achievement unlocked: Element of Kindness” and we pull out of the parking spot, carefully avoiding the news vans as we make our way to Costco.

As we fill up on gas, there is only a solitary news van still lurking behind us, and we then make our way to a park on the edge of town. We set up our tent, out of sight of the road, and finally can get some rest.

---

The shot opens to a woman standing outside of a Walmart, sharply dressed and obviously a reporter.

“Hello America. In the last few days we have heard from people who are for ponies, against ponies, and even a few that have become ponies. Today we regret to report the first sign of violence between ponies and humans.”

The shot cuts to a police officer who looks like he would rather be anywhere else.

“We are still investigating the incident, but two ponies appear to have been assaulted by a group of four ‘P.A.P.A’ members. The group is currently under investigation as well. So far it seems that the incident resulted in the discharge of a firearm but all parties involved are uninjured and the ponies were allowed to continue their journey east.”

An off camera reporter speaks up.

“Officer Derryl, can we have a statement on which ponies these were?”

The officer pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes for a moment.

“Fluttersomething and Shining Armor.” He finally remembers. “Those are their pony names, we will not be releasing their actual names until we have concluded the investigation. No more questions please.”

The shot changes to one with a new reporter to the right and the back of a silver Chevy Cobalt to the left in the background.

“After being questioned by officers, the two ponies have come here to a local Starbucks, it seems, to use the internet connection. We are staying back out of respect for the trauma they have suffered, but we will continue to...”

The cameraman appears to have pointed at something and the camera moves to zoom in on a butter yellow pegasus placing a laptop under the rear window, smiling and waving, then ducking back into the front seat.

The computer screen reads “I’m okay. Thank you everyone.”

“Well there you have it. After being brutally assaulted, they appear to be in good condition and thanking everyone. This is Andrea Moris for channel five news, signing off.”

Comments

[Braininthejar]

That's fourth chapter today, isn't it.

[Hope]

1550746 fourth chapter for this day in the story? Marsday? yes. second chapter since I woke up this morning, third in the last 24 hours.

[Braininthejar]

the last 4 chapters show up as 2nd November to me...

[Hope]

1550764 When I go in and edit, they refresh the date sorry hehe

[ChainReaction]

Way to block that bullet like a champ, Ericashy! Love the reporter as well.

[Hope]

1550800 not my idea. that can all be attributed to The Great and Powerful Walter I may have accidentally stolen the idea from him before he published his chapter with them making an appearance. I feel pretty bad for that bit.

[Braininthejar]

I wonder what P.A.P.A. stands for. Such guys tend to pick names like "Friends Of Humanity" and such.

[Hope]

1550833 People Against Ponies Association. again, all his idea.

[Freescript the Bard]

Umm… Facebook is being wonky for me. Here's my post:
I were you, try not to be unkind. Last time I even concieved a disloyal thought, my Element put me through hell. On top of that, I swear it's nagging me to meet up with you guys. Oh sure it can install pegasus instincts in my head, but it can't fix my wing.

Best wishes from everypony here,
-Markus

[Sudden Inspiration]

I thoroughly enjoyed the story right from the first chapter! Very well written and I have to say that I am anxious to see what's in store in the latest chapters to come!

Keep up the great work!

[Red Bomber]

That was pretty exciting, geez the trip of New York is long. What state did you guys started in? ^^; Hopefully that should be enough to stop the news people from bothering them, but I feel there's a good idea in letting one decent news person tag along with them and document everything and become the group's Chisato (Star Ocean 2 Playable Character/Party Member). I got a question to ask of you when I finally catch up though.

[Pinklestia]

Well, it seems she is okay all right.

[Funky Pony]

“Achievement unlocked: Element of Kindness”

yay

[Luckyfanisaac]

dye and oh my gosh I just can't believe it's really you!

[Mocha Star]

This is a really good story. Nothing's really happened but it's going are just the right speed.

[Hope]

11321228
Thank you very much! I've thought about rewriting the entire thing, or writing a "new version" of it, but I really enjoyed writing it!