Harmony's Warriors: Flutterhulk

Act Two:

"You Better Run"

Chapter Seven

"The Secret Side of Me"

Hoofcuff let out a sigh and downed her sixth cup of coffee mixed in with whisky. After capturing Fluttershy, she had taken her to a special ultra high security facility. She didn’t know why she was being forced to stay at the facility, however, but at least it meant she was back in Equestria and not in that oversized flying silver cigar.

So, here she was, in a bunker, out in the middle of the Equestrian desert, with only a coffee machine, a bottle of whiskey and Starlight for company. She had been showered with praise and adulation by General Iron Will and most of the team for what she had accomplished, but for some reason she couldn’t quiet peg down, she felt rather empty inside. Usually after capturing a target, she would happy and content, quiet willing to bask in the praises of others. But now, she felt a strange sense of guilt.

Starlight suddenly appeared next to her and poured himself a cup of coffee. “What’s eating ya boss?”

Hoofcuff shot him a quick glance. “Is it that obvious?” she sighed as she poured another cup of coffee, emptying her small bottle of whisky into it.

Starlight nodded. “Yeah. You always drink you’re coffee with whisky when you’re frustrated.” There was a pause as the two ponies drank their respective drinks.

“Seriously?” Hoofcuff said, giving Starlight a funny look.

Starlight nodded. “When you can get it yeah. If not you then just visit a bar. So…” he paused, taking a sip of his coffee. “Are you going to tell me what’s eating you?”

Hoofcuff shrugged. “I guess…no real reason not to, right?” she walked over to the table, followed by Starlight where they sat down.

“Well…” Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hoofcuff sighed. “I can’t quiet peg it Starlight…I’ve been going over the case right, and all the evidence and…well…” she paused, thinking of a way to find the right words. “It’s just that everything seems so damned wonky…”

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “How so? I haven’t really noticed anything totally bonkers. Pretty mundane trip actually.” He took another sip of his coffee.

Hoofcuff groaned. “Oh come on Starlight…don’t you get it? Everything about this is wonky…like, when she had me cornered in the sewer, remember? She had my own gun pointed right at me and you know what?”

“What?”

“She didn’t take the shot. And she had a perfectly clear shot. I was right there, with my hooves up in the air, and she could have popped me easy, but she didn’t. Why is that?”

Starlight shrugged. “Um…well…maybe she didn’t want to…I don’t know.”

Hoofcuff shrugged. “Nah, if she wanted to kill me right there, she totally could have. She didn’t know about my backup. She had a clean shot and I wasn’t wearing a vest. No, you know how she looked?”

Starlight shook his head.

“She looked completely and utterly terrified of me.” Hoofcuff said, shaking her head.

“Seriously?” Starlight asked, rather surprised.

“Yeah! It’s as if I was some kind of dragon or something. Be honest Starlight; am I frightening?”

Starlight hesitated. “Um…well…sometimes…” he gave her a sheepish grin.

Hoofcuff rolled her eyes. “Thank you Starlight.”

Suddenly a low rumble shook the room.

“What was that?” Starlight asked, his ears flickering about trying to catch the sound.

Hoofcuff looked around. “I have no idea…”

They both paused, saying nothing, trying to catch whatever sound was in the air.

*rumble*

“There it goes again…” Starlight said. “You think it’s an earthquake?”

Hoofcuff shook her head. “I don’t think so…I don’t think we’re by a fault line…are we?”

Suddenly an alarm blared over the speakers, causing both of them to cover their ears. A voice started to speak over the speakers.

“ATTENTION! ATTENTION ALL UNITS! PRISONER 101296 HAS ESCAPED!”

Hoofcuff started for the door, making sure to grab her weapon on the way out. Prisoner 101296? She thought. I know that number…Fluttershy!

She bolted through the halls, mixing in with the various guards who were all armed to the teeth.

Personally, though, Hoofcuff wasn’t quite sure why everybody was taking this all so seriously. She understood the need to make sure prisoners stayed in their cells, otherwise, what’s the point of a prison? But all this for one pony? And a strangely meek and fearful one at that. It once again, didn’t quite add up.

She caught a glimpse of Snowflake emerging from a lower floor, a look of abject terror on his face. What she saw next was a sight that she simply couldn’t believe.

/////////////////////////////

Snowflake sat in his temporary cabin, starting intently at the wall across the room. He could hear the voice of his father in his head, memories from all the times he had been berated for failing at anything ringing through his head.

“WRONG! DO IT AGAIN!”

He shook his head to clear away the memories, but he simply couldn't deny the obvious.

He had failed.

He had been so close to capturing this strange pegasus, and what happened? That stupid unicorn mare managed to catch her first.

What was wrong? Was he losing his edge? He had been told to go find a hard to find target, and, to add insult to injury, had lost her once she went down into that damned sewer, being forced to watch as that Marshall Hoofcuff character went down and found her instead.

And that was the strangest thing he’d seen so far. Only had he been bested by a civilian mare, but when he finally saw the target, he’d been massively underwhelmed.

She was a sorry sight. Completely covered in sewer refuse, her mane sloppily cut and hanging around her head like a dead animal, dripping disgusting brown hair dye or something, he honestly couldn’t tell, and, a personality completely opposed to what Snowflake had in mind.

She was constantly twitching and shying away from every noise and she seemed completely and utterly terrified of everything around her. Not all the image he had concocted in his mind of a killer willing to do anything in order to escape them.

So, he had then spent the entire flight to the prison in his cabin, and now, he sat in the room provided for him in the prison. Why he was here and not moving onto another, more important mission, whatever that might be, was beyond him.

So he spent his time griping and meditating on his failure.

That’s when he heard it. A low rumbling noise. It sounded almost like a hoof fall, except much lower in pitch.

“What was that?”

Another rumbling noise.

“Something’s up…” he bolted up from his bed and darted over, grabbing his weapon, ready for the worst. This was a special prison, designed to hold only the absolute most dangerous and sadistic of criminals. So any out of place noises were something to take notice of.

Before he even had a chance to reach the door however, an incredibly loud alarm started, followed by a voice over the intercom.

“ATTENTION! ATTENTION ALL UNITS! PRISONER 101296 HAS ESCAPED!”

Snowflake instantly opened the door, not giving it a second thought. He bolted down the hall, cursing whoever designed this place for not allowing him to spread his wings and take flight.

He rounded a corner and burst out into a more open area, where a veritable army had formed and was making it’s way down the stairs into a lower level, all armed to the teeth. Snowflake smiled.

Now we get some action!

His smiled however, faded when there was a loud crashing noise; sounding almost like someone was breaking china or something. Before Snowflake even had a chance to properly analyze the sound and determine what caused it, he was greeted by a flailing pony coming up from the floor below, as if shot out of a canon. The pony slammed directly into him, sending them both flying into a nearby wall.

Snowflake disregarded the unconscious pony, and shoved him away, before getting back up on his feet. There was the sound of wild gunfire and shouting coming from below.

What hell is going on? He wondered as he tried to make his way down the staircase again, only to be greeted by a large group of panicked guards, all yelling and screaming about some monster on the lower levels.

Snowflake pumped his wings, lifting above the mob and started to fly down the staircase, being sure not to catch his wings on any of the structure.

He finally reached the bottom floor to only be greeted by pitch blackness. Muttering curses under his breath, he fished for some kind of flashlight. He found one, and flicked it on, placing it in his mouth.

Nothing. Only an empty cellblock. He looked upwards. Besides the staircase he had come down, all that was above him was some hanging lights. Strangely, it seemed as if something had ripped a few off the roof, and they now lay on the floor.

What the hell happened in here? He wondered as his light revealed more and more damage, strangely similar to the damage he had seen Griefstadt.

As it to answer his question, he was suddenly blindsided by something huge, sending him flying across the room and into a nearby wall. Shaking himself off, he hefted himself into the air, before a sharp pain shot through his left wing, grounding him. He flexed his wings, taking note of the sharp pain in his left.

Must have given me a sprain or something.

He looked around for his flashlight, which had magically landed right next to him, its light still on and shining into the darkness. He quietly picked up the light with his good wing and looked around. Suddenly a massive green shape darted in front of him, followed by a deafeningly loud roar.

Snowflake instantly pulled out his weapon and fired in the direction the shape had gone. Another loud roar greeted his ears and whatever it was started towards him. His eyes widened and he bolted back towards the staircase, clambering up the stairs.

Suddenly a massive green hoof appeared out of nowhere and completely destroyed the staircase below Snowflake roaring loudly. He continued to clamber up the stairs, now completely terrified. He finally emerged on the top floor and into the light and let out a massive sigh of relief.

The first thought in his head was: What the hell was that?!

As if to properly answer his question, another roar came from the blackness below and a massive green blur sailed over his head, landing with a thunderous crash in the open.

It was the single most terrifying sight Snowflake had ever seen.

It was an incredibly huge pegasus shaped monster with bright green fur and a wild red mane. It’s eyes burned with what seemed to be pure unbridled rage. It let out another incredibly loud roar and swiped at the hail of gunfire and spells that had greeted its appearance.

The various spells and gunfire only managed to bounce off the monster’s hide like little pebbles, only managing to make it angrier. Suddenly, Snowflake caught sight of General Iron Will standing on a walkway above the creature, a missile launcher in hand. He propped onto his shoulder, and without a word of warning, fired a missile directly into the creature below him.

There was a tremendous explosion and Snowflake ducked for cover. As if in defiance, however, he was greeted by the sound of another roar. He stared, mouth agape as the smoke cleared away, revealing that the missile had done nothing at all.

The monster looked directly at Iron Will and swatted at him like he was a fly, sending the walkway flying and Iron Will sailing through the air where he landed on the ground with a loud thump.

Snowflake figured this was as good as a time as any to pull his weapon and he aimed directly at the monster’s eye.

Please let this work….

The .50 Caliber bullet missed its target and instead impacted into the side of the monster’s head. The monster instantly turned towards Snowflake, its eyes once more burning with rage and anger. Roaring, it lunged towards him. Not about to be crushed by the monster’s titanic hooves, Snowflake bolted to the left, causing the monster to impact on the far wall.

Suddenly a voice called out from above. “DAMN IT SNOWFLAKE! GET OUT OF THERE!” Snowflake looked up to see Hoofcuff standing on one of the walk ways, her horn alight, doing her best to drag the General’s unconscious body away.

Snowflake nodded and ran over, scooping the General onto his back and dragging himself up the destroyed walkway, helped by Hoofcuff.

As soon as they reached the top floor, the monster made a flying leap towards them, soaring right over their heads, through several walls, and out of the building as if it where made of paper.

The sound of cannon fire and hundreds of magic blasts going off greeted Snowflake and Hoofcuff’s ears.

“What the hell is that?!” Hoofcuff shouted over the din, as a rouge missile whizzed by and impacted on the far wall of what was left of the prison building.

Snowflake shook his head. “I don’t bucking know! And where’s Fluttershy? Wasn’t she supposed to have broken out or something?!”

Suddenly Iron Will came too. “What happened?”

The two ponies shot him a dirty look. “I wouldn’t know general” Hoofcuff sneered, obviously quite angry with the General. “All I know is that they say the prisoner escaped and we’re greeted by that big hulk thing…” she peaked over the crumbled wall they were hiding behind and fired off a blast of magic.

The General meanwhile brushed himself off and looked around. “Give me a radio.” He ordered. Hoofcuff and Snowflake briefly looked around.

“Sir there is no radio.” Snowflake responded.

Before the General had chance to reply, yet another explosion shook the air around them, mixed in with the roar of the monster. Snowflake looked up and caught sight of a green blur sailing through the air and into the distance.

Then there was nothing but silence.

Slowly the three peaked over the broken wall, where they were greeted by the sight of empty terrain and several demolished tanks, including a pair that had seemingly been smashed together so hard that they looked like one big pile of metal. The only sign of the monster was several large craters that Snowflake assumed where hoof prints and a larger crater that had seemingly formed when the monster leapt off.

Hoofcuff slowly turned towards the General, a grim look on her face.

“General…I believe you’ve been hiding something from us…”

/////////////////////////////

Fluttershy’s eyes opened slowly. Her whole body ached and groaned with pain.

Last thing she remembered was being in a padded cell being approached by a unicorn carrying a massive syringe. Then, nothing.

That meant only one thing. New Fluttershy had decided to come out of her hiding place. Fluttershy quietly sobbed, unable to fathom what destruction she might have caused when she was like that.

Why was it that every time life started to look up, everything would collapse in on itself into a massive seething cauldron of violence and death.

She rolled over on her back and looked around, her eyes still puffy from her crying.

She was in the middle of a small clearing in the middle of a forest. The forest felt strangely familiar too her, however. Almost as if she’d been here before.

She slowly dragged herself to her feet and tried to get a better bearing of her surroundings. She looked behind her to see a massive path of destruction cut into the foliage behind her.

That must be where She came through…

She looked at the ground to see a trial of tremendous hoofprints that eventually shrank and became more normal sized, until the trail stopped at her hooves.

She let out a heavy sigh and started to drag herself along, her body screaming with pain every time she moved a limb.

She walked, or rather stumbled along for what seemed like hours, driven on by the fear that if she stayed in one place, they might find her and the cycle of death might start anew.

She just felt empty. What had she been reduced to? A total and complete failure whose life was spent trying to repress a horrible monster that constantly fought to be let out, to destroy everything she held dear.

She wondered if her other self enjoyed destroying her life, if it got a kick out breaking down her soul, bit by bit, until there was nothing left but that monster, wildly running about.

Her internal thoughts where cut short, however, by a sudden snapping sound to her right. She froze.

Have they found me already?

She slowly edged her head to look in the direction the sound came from. Her ears scanning the forest for anything.

A low growl rumbled through the air, and Fluttershy caught a glimpse of a pair of yellow eyes.

“Oh no….” she whispered. Yellow glowing eyes? In the middle of the forest? It could mean only one thing.

“Timberwolf…”

The wooden monster burst forth from the bushes and leapt towards Fluttershy, it’s mouth wide open and ready to bite her head off.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and braced herself, fearing the worst. Suddenly there was a loud cry, followed by crashing sounds and breaking wood. Fluttershy opened her eyes to see a strange sight.

A single zebra stood directly in front of Fluttershy, balanced on her hind legs. In her fore hooves was a long wooden staff. The timberwolf was now growling, bits of broken wood hanging off its muzzle.

The zebra turned to look at Fluttershy.

“Go hide over there to avoid a fate unfair!” she ordered, before swinging her staff to ward off the angry timberwolf.

Fluttershy nodded her head. This zebra was strange, but certainly a better option then staying and being eaten alive by the timberwolf or risking loosing control again.

The timberwolf growled again and swiped at the zebra with a forepaw. Before the zebra had a chance to react she was sailing through the air and landed roughly. Fluttershy took a chance and bolted for the bush. However, the timberwolf spotted her and chased after her, biting and snapping.

Fluttershy’s legs once more voiced their complaints and a series of sharp aches and pains shot through her body. She lost her balance all of a sudden and fell forward onto the ground. She felt a sharp pain as the timberwolf’s wooden paw fell on her leg, pinning her down.

She turned to face the monstrous wooden creature. She could feel her heart rate climbing by the second, and she began to hyperventilate. She could swear that the timberwolf was smiling at the prospect of a nice piece of fresh pony meat. The edges of her vision began to turn that horrid shade of green again.

Oh Celestia please no!

Apparently, the universe must have heard her prayer, as the zebra let out a war cry of some kind and made a flying kick towards the head of the timberwolf, sending him stumbling to the side, freeing Fluttershy’s leg. She seized her chance and stumbled into the bush, collapsing on the ground. A burning pain ebbed from her leg. Taking a quick glance down at her leg, Fluttershy saw that the timberwolf’s paw had done some damage, breaking the skin and causing severe lacerations.

She also noticed that the green shade at the edge of her field of vision had died away. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, she slummed down on the ground, exhausted. The sounds of combat outside her bush, however, caught her attention. Against her better judgment, she peaked out of the bush.

The zebra was fighting shockingly well against the huge living woodpile, that snapped and clawed at the air wildly, while the zebra merely deftly evaded every swipe. The zebra spun in the air, landing a good hard kick in the monster’s face. She landed on the ground and darted over to her staff. The timberwolf, having recovered from the assault, lunged towards the zebra, mouth agape. The zebra spun around, staff in hoof and stabbed the timberwolf in the throat.

The timberwolf immediately went limp, the yellow glow in its eyes fading away. His body then proceeded to fall apart completely, forming a big pile of word and bark on the ground. The zebra let out a sigh and fell back on her forehoofs, resuming a normal position. She looked around.

“Pony!” she cupped her hooves to her mouth to amplify her voice. “Pony! There is no need to hide! The beast is dead; its meal denied.”

Fluttershy bit her lip. Should I come out? She was torn. The one part of her was telling her to keep going and leave, instead of risking capture again. The other part of her was screaming at her to go out and thank the zebra. She tried to stand up, but a sharp burst of pain caused her to rethink her plan of escape.

“Pony! I know you’re there! It’s safe! I won’t hurt you!” the zebra called out again. She sounded concerned, almost frightened of the aspect of Fluttershy not coming out to greet her. She picked up her staff, and put in on her back, and trotted over to the bush where Fluttershy was hiding.

Leaning down, she peered into the bush. Fluttershy backed away, trying her best to stay out of the mysterious zebra’s sight.

“I am aware that you are in there. Please come out, there is nothing to doubt. No need for alarm, I mean you no harm.” Her voice was calm and collected, and she spoke in a strange rhyme.

Fluttershy swallowed and stepped out of the bush, quaking with fear. The zebra smiled warmly.

“Hello. I’m sorry we didn’t have a proper chance to meet.” She extended a hoof. “What is the name that I am humbled to greet?”

“Um…Sky Bright…” Fluttershy quietly shook the hoof. “I’m sorry for causing trouble.”

The zebra laughed. “It is alright, my little friend. Come with me; to your leg we must attend.” She motioned towards Fluttershy’s injured leg.

“Um…” Fluttershy looked down at the gash on her leg. The zebra was right. If she didn’t do something about it, she’d probably catch sepsis and die a horribly slow and painful death.

“…okay.”

The zebra smiled and motioned for her to follow her, Fluttershy reluctantly nodded, and the two of them walked into the forest.

"The secret side of me

I never let you see

I keep it caged but I can't control it

So stay away from me

The beast is ugly

I feel the rage and I just can't hold it"

• Monster by Skillet