Fluttershy drops at the top of the stairs, clutching her chest and retracting her helmet. Her mouth hangs open as she tries to suck in air. The slashes on her chest burn, her hips and ribs ache, and her limbs feel like they are barely hanging on to her body. Fluttershy flops on her side, wheezing and blinking tears out of her eyes as she looks down the hallway. Above her, a light flickers, and the lights that run down the hall barely light up its metal walls and the blood, bullet holes and slashes that desecrate them. But the light is strong enough for her to see directly down the hallway towards a door labeled as Supervisor Office, and seeing that, she grits her teeth and pushes herself up.

Fluttershy hobbles down the hallway, using the wall for help and passing a vent grate on the floor along the way. When she reaches the office she finds it to be mostly empty. There is a computer terminal bathing the wall in a soft white light, and music flows from its speakers. What they are singing, though, is a mystery to Fluttershy, and to be frank she really does not care right now.

Fluttershy looks around the office and quickly finds a white box with a red cross on the wall. She opens it and takes out a container of medical foam, a container of pain pills and a syringe of adrenaline. Fluttershy wastes no time in applying the medical foam, and she pushes aside enough of the fabric covering her neck to inject herself with adrenaline, and afterwards she pops open the container of pain pills and swallows a mouthful. She didn't even count them, but the pain is quick to go and a light feeling envelopes her. So light, in fact, that she has trouble standing and has to sit in the chair in front of the computer.

It is a soft chair that is designed specifically for a pony, which is nice, and the pads... So soft she can just sleep on them. They are like packaged clouds!

But soft chairs and lightheadedness aside, Fluttershy realizes that the computer is unlocked, and that it is on a music program with only one song on loop. It is actually the only song in the entire computer's library, and the icon tied to it is of a ship sailing into space, and the singer has a delicate and hypnotic melody in her voice.

Fluttershy hates it.

For a good reason, too.

Fluttershy shuts off the music and wipes her mane back, not realizing how sweaty and clumpy it has become until doing so. Or what's left of it, anyway. She can feel the burnt skin against her metal boot when she brushed her mane back, which brings her to wince.

With the music off she shrinks the music library's screen down, finding only a bland blue wallpaper with no icons, save for one. A folder labeled: For the Survivors

Fluttershy stares at it for a moment before looking down the hallway, and when nothing appears she opens up the folder and finds it to be holding a long list of folders. The folders are named from: Dates to Birthdays, Marriage to Starry, and finally one at the very bottom: Bon Voyage Travel.

Fluttershy opens the Travel folder and finds a long list of videos, so she decides to click on the first one.

The video starts with a unicorn stallion with a dark brown mane, a white coat, brown eyes and a steaming cup as a cutie mark trotting down a terminal towards the Bon Voyage with a unicorn colt on his back. The colt is yellow with blue eyes and a white mane and is probably no older than six. Apart from the video is a steady stream of would be colonists moving in even lines in their own terminals, with the Bon Voyage towering above them from outside the large, thick glass wall that has a “NOW BOARDING” projected on it. The massive colony ship is connected to the station through numerous tubes, and it is being illuminated by a series of spot lights, which makes it shine like a diamond in the starry space behind it.

“Are we going on that?” asks the colt, looking at the camera with wide eyes and an excited grin.

A mare giggles behind the camera. “Why yes we are. And guess what?”

“What?”

“Mommy is going to be one of the bosses on the ship.”

The colt gasps and his ears perk. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Do we get discounts?” asks the stallion with a teasing smile.

“They might give you a senior's discount,” remarks the mare playfully.

“Thanks, hon. Appreciate that.”

The camera zooms in on the stallion's face. “You know you love me.”

The stallion smirks. “I know... Why don't I hold the camera? We got to get your pretty face on here.”

The stallion steps forward and the mare steps back.

“You know I'm camera shy,” says the mare.

“Face your fears, darling,” says the stallion, grinning devilishly.

“Noooo-uh!”

“Honey Creme?” says a shaky earth pony stallion.

The camera turns to Captain Star Tracker walking towards the three and next to him is a griffin with gray fur, white plumage and tipped wings, and gray eyes. The griffin is wearing a sealed saddle and when Star Tracker and griffin are near them the Captain flashes her an uneasy smile while the griffin pokes the colt's nose, much to the bemusement of the father. The colt giggles from this, though.

“Captain Star Tracker, what a pleasant surprise!” says the mare. “I thought you were already on board.”

“Oh, no. I had to do some last minute things,” says Captain Tracker. “By the way, this is, um, Dr. Atticus Rock from the University of Griffonstone. He's setting up an office in your location... Actually, can you stop recording, please?”

The griffin waves his hand. “Don't worry about it. I'm just a humble professor who got a last minute ticket. You know how much paperwork slows things down.”

“Professor of what?” asks the father critically.

“Sociology. I'm studying the effects of diversity in long distance space travel.”

“That's been done to death.”

“But I'm going to go deeper than those vanilla studies. Really pick at the bones and do some dissecting, if you know what I mean.”

“Okay, I'm just going to turn this off.” The mare giggles awkwardly. “We don't want to get bored watching these videos.”

The video ends and Fluttershy can't help but frown at this. That is twice now she has been forced to question who Dr. Rock really is, and she does not like it. With that thought, she scrolls down, finding a long list of video logs, ranging from thirty seconds to thirty minutes, and she clicks on a random log.

The video screen appears and the colt is trying to stay on an inflated ball, putting his body over it, just to roll off to the side and land on his back giggling. Sitting in a chair, wearing the blue and gray padded jumpsuit and reading a hologram projecting from his hoof band is the father.

“What are you two doing?” says Honey Creme lightly.

“Reading the news,” says the stallion. “We should be reaching Onyx in a couple of weeks, and then we can explore the sites.”

The colt looks at the camera. “Dad said we could visit the dig areas!”

“Don't you want to visit the Onyx City Planetarium?” asks Honey Creme.

“I've seen enough of space. I want to see dirt!”

The camera zooms in on the stallion, who is smirking in a failing attempt to hold back a chuckle.

“This is your fault, Coco,” says Honey Creme.

“Yes it is,” says the stallion proudly.

“Wait... Your name's not Dad?” asks the colt, his eyes wide and ears drooped. His world has been crushed.

The footage ends, and Fluttershy smiles and clicks on another random log.

The camera focuses on Coco and Starry going through a large crowd that populates a grass field with trees and flowers, and when they find a good a spot as they will get they stare out a massive window that is giving them a great view of a familiar dark planet with red light reflecting from its dwarf star. Being projected on the window, just high enough for everyone to see is a message that reads: WELCOME TO ONYX! THE GATEWAY PLANET!

Upbeat music plays and with the crowd are vendors passing out food and drinks, and a griffin security officer passes the camera, taking his role as watchdog very professionally.

“Are you excited?” asks Honey Creme.

“Uh huh!” says Starry with a couple of hops. “When are we going to land?”

“Very soon.”

“Attention Onyx City Port, this is the UEG Bon Voyage requesting permission to dock,” says Captain Star Tracker over the speakers.

The crowd murmurs in anticipation, with some giggling and others hopping up and down; and Starry paws on Coco's leg until he kneels down and lets the colt climb on him, and when the kid has a good grip on his head he stands up.

“Attention Onyx City Port, this is the UEG Bon Voyage requesting permission to dock,” repeats Captain Star Tracker.

The crowd is still smiling and chatting, but confusion is seeping in their voices and faces.

“Something's wrong,” says Honey Creme.

“Attention Onyx City Port, this is the UEG Bon Voyage requesting permission to dock,” says Captain Star Tracker again. “... Sorry passengers, we seem to be having a communications problem with Onyx City. Sit tight and we will get the problem sorted out.”

The intercom shuts off, and after a few minutes of basic chatter and walking around, the camera focuses on a bulky yellow craft with four engines launching towards the planet.

“That's weird,” says Honey Creme.

“What is it?” asks Coco, turning to look at her as he is in the process of swiping his hoof across a vendor's pay pad.

“They launched a cargo ship towards the planet's surface.”

“Yeah, that is weird... Caramel apple?”

The video cuts to black.

And when returns it is laying on the ground with a steel railing barely in view. Below the railing is a large chamber with a dozen parked space-faring vehicles, and it is also where the cargo ship has returned to. It is rolling in to a stop with its black call sign CV-BV-10923 in full view. In front of it is a group of a dozen security officers, mostly griffins, but there are a few ponies, a goat and a couple of zebras with them. And standing behind them are mainly ponies in white lab coats and jumpsuits. And in front of them all, sitting on the floor, tapping his paw on the metal surface and holding a pad with his talons is Dr. Atticus Rock. Captain Star Tracker is also next to him, but unlike Dr. Rock he appears nervous.

The cargo ship comes to a stop and then slowly turns around until its back is facing them and the hatch opens up. It hits the floor with a loud thud and a couple of seconds later a thestral covered in blood stumbles out, pressing their hoof against their head and shaking. They speak, but not loud enough for any words to be made out, and the thestral is quickly escorted away by a pair of guards and a goat in a lab coat.

The camera pulls away and turns to an open vent on the floor before it shuts off.

Fluttershy scrunches her brow and hits the next available log.

Coco is pacing around the living room, carefully packing a basket with food, drinks, and a blanket, but as he packs he keeps glancing at the camera. Each glance his expression becomes more and more agitated, but he does not say anything until he finishes packing.

“Thanks for the help. Are you going to put down the camera?” asks Coco.

“But we're going to the park. I have to record everything,” says Honey Creme.

Coco's face wrinkles from his scowl. “Even the dumb shit?”

“What's got you stressed out? This is supposed to be a fun day.”

“What's got me stressed out is you know what is going on with this ship, and rather than telling me you are keeping it a secret.”

“I told you I can't tell you.”

“Ever since we got to Onyx people have been disappearing left and right, the ship hasn't moved at all for two weeks, there's nothing coming from the planet, and parts have been quarantined. I need to know what's going on!”

“I can't tell you! Just... Can we please enjoy this day?”

Coco huffs and walks away.

“Sure. Just pretend the problem doesn't exist. That's what you're good at,” he says.

Honey Creme follows him and they go down a short hallway, coming to a stop outside a door with paper stars and rocket ships taped to the door.

“Starry, are you ready to go? … Starry?” says Coco.

Coco sighs and opens up the door, and when he enters the room his eyes widen and his ears perk. The room is pitch black, save for a single night light giving off a soft orange glow in the corner. But the cot and dresser has been pushed aside, pictures that were once on the wall are now on the floor, and sitting in front of the wall, back to them with his hoofs covered in paint is Starry.

His hoofs are moving in circular motions, drawing hieroglyphs on the wall. The hieroglyphs go from floor to ceiling and in the center of the symbols are three large words.

MAKE
US
WHOLE

“What the hell is this!?” says Coco furiously. “Starry!”

Coco stomps forward and he bites down on Starry's ear and jerks him away, making the kid yelp and fall on his back. And Honey Creme takes a step forward, her hoof barely getting into the screen.

“Coco, don't hurt him!” cries Honey Creme.

“Look what he did!” yells Coco. He kicks an empty hoof paint bottle away and points at the wall and the puddles of hoof paint on the floor. “LOOK AT THIS! You're a supervisor, you know they will fine us a fortune to clean this up! And what the hell is this shit!? WHAT IS ALL THIS!?”

“Coco, stop!” shouts Honey Creme with a stomp. “He's just a child!”

“That's no excuse!”

Starry curls up on the ground and covers himself with his hoofs and tail, and his body shakes as he whimpers. Then Coco turns his focus to the camera and puts his hoof over it.

“TURN THE FUCKING CAMERA OFF!”

The screen goes black, and a faint scrape causes Fluttershy to look out the room. With the office's location she can see directly down the hallway, and thankfully she sees nothing. Or should it be a thankfully?

She isn't sure, so she draws her cutter and after spending a moment staring down the hallway she places it on the desk and clicks the next available log.

The camera is laying on the floor, recording a board game with little plastic pieces on the board. In the background, dishes clank in the kitchen and Coco is pacing in circles, muttering and rubbing his head, and Starry is sitting in the corner, moving a crayon in circular motions on a piece of paper.

“Does anypony want apples and peanut butter?” asks Honey Creme.

Nobody answers.

“How about some pears?” asks Honey Creme.

Starry pushes the paper away and grabs another one, and then he levitates gray, black, white and silver crayons from the crayon box and starts roughly running them over the paper and moving them in circles.

Meanwhile, Coco sits down on the floor and rubs his ears.

“How about dried oranges?” asks Honey Creme.

“SHUT UP!” snaps Coco.

The movement abruptly stops and Starry looks at Coco, but his eyes are distant and his crayons keep moving.

Coco then sighs and bangs his head against the wall. “Can we just play the game, please?”

Suddenly, a pleasant ding echoes in the room and Coco and Starry look up.

“Attention, colonists and crew of the Bon Voyage, this your captain speaking,” says Captain Star Tracker. “I have a couple of, um, quick announcements. First of all, quarantine is going to be in full effect until further notice starting now. Only... eh, authorized personnel will be allowed to travel. So if you are out and about please return to your designated area immediately. Secondly... Secondly, the Bon Voyage will be heading back to Equis in due time. Be patient, be nice, and stay tuned for updates!”

The intercom shuts off and after a moment of silence there is a knock on the door. Coco sighs and goes to the door. The camera doesn't see any of this, for it it focused on Starry coloring.

“Hi, I'm Alima, I'm with the Church of Unitology,” says the mare.

“Not interested,” says Coco.

“Please, if I could have a moment of your time.”

“Not. Interested.”

Starry finishes his picture and stands up, holding it in front of his face with a proud smile.

“I know this is a stressful time, but the Church of Unitology is offering open sessions where the community can get together in our designated center of worship, offer comfort and support, and you can ask questions about our faith. We'll even have snacks!” says Alima excitedly.

Starry trots out of view of the camera, briefly revealing the picture to the camera.

“Not with quarantine you won't,” says Coco.

“Oh, but Captain Star Tracker has given us special permission to do this,” says Alima.

“Of course he did. But go away, anyway. We don't want or need any part of your superstition.”

“I think if you'll give us a chance you will find a lot of your questions answered and find the peace you desire.”

“GO AWAY!” screams Coco. “WE DON'T WANT YOU!”

The door slams shut and Coco's steps fade out, and another door opens and shut. Now all the camera is focusing on are the plastic pieces on the game board.

“Mommy, look!” says Starry.

“Oh... That... That's interesting,” says Honey Creme. “Who is he?”

“He's the one who wants to be whole again.”

The camera then shuts off.

Fluttershy stares at the screen. Hoof stiff, her eye wide and her throat sealed. The scraping returns and she looks down the hallway with the energy cutter raised, but when nothing appears she reluctantly lowers it and rewinds the video until she gets to the picture. Then she pauses it and she can barely make it out, but when she realizes what it is she puts her hoof over her mouth. Her ears droop and her eye waters as she shakes her head in disbelief. On the paper, formed by a mix of sharp lines of black, gray, white and silver with the hieroglyphs around him is the Frail Stallion with his head hanging limp to the side.

She quickly clicks the next available log. She knows she should run and not look back, but it feels like a string is guiding her to do this, and she can't look away even if she wanted to. She is stuck in the chair.

The next video is of Honey Creme, Coco and Starry walking down the hall of the ship. Coco's eyes are dark and baggy, and Starry is humming to himself as he uses his magic to toss a ball around. The ball bounces off the walls, floor and ceiling, and when it gets to far away he uses his magic to pull it back in and the cycle starts all over again.

“I will give you this, you are using the camera less,” says Coco with a smile, tired smile. “But why did you bring it this time?”

“I miss it. Besides, Alima said it was open session and that is very rare! Getting a video of Unitology worship will be amazing!” says Honey Creme. “Who knows? Maybe they might teach us a meditation technique so you can actually get more than an hour's sleep.”

“I get more than an hour,” says Coco defensively.

“Fine. Three hours.”

“Thank you.”

Starry's ball bounces away again, but this time it bounces around the corner and Starry gallops after it, giggling.

“Oh to be young again,” says Coco.

Honey Creme giggles and playfully scratches under his chin with her hoof. “You're still young to me, old man.”

Coco smiles and rolls his eyes, then looks ahead as Starry nearly trips over himself from running around the corner.

“Starry, be careful!” says Coco.

Starry gallops out of view, and-

THUD!

“Starry!?” calls Honey Creme.

Coco's eyes widen and his steps turn to gallops, and Honey Creme drops the camera, so all it is recording is a crooked footage and the hoofs of Honey Cream and Coco galloping towards the corner. When they round it Honey Cream's wail echoes down the hall.

“MY BOY!” cries Honey Cream. “IT HAS MY BOY! STARRY! STARRY! NO! LET ME GO! PLEASE!”

A griffin flies over view, shouting into his radio and when he rounds the corner, he reappears seconds later dragging Honey Creme away with the help of Coco's magic while she thrashes and shoots unstable energy down the hall.

“We need backup immediately!” barks the griffin into his radio while holding his weapon in one hand, keeping his eyes directly ahead of him. “Quarantine failure in Section C-5! I repeat, quarantine failure in Section C-5!”

A moment later another griffin flies in. This one has blue fur and white plumage, but before he can get to the three the first griffin points at him.

“Shut off that camera!” orders the first griffin. The blue griffin turns towards the camera and as it goes up, it passes his badge, which reads “Slingshot”, and when his terrified green eyes are looking into the lens the video ends.

Fluttershy's mouth hangs open, her face is now wet with tears and she struggles to breathe as her quivering hoof guides the mouse to the last video. She doesn't want to play it. She has had enough and wants to leave. But she is still stuck, and like a puppet she has no control over her movements. She clicks on the last video and nearly jumps out of her seat, for looking at her is a familiar yellow unicorn with a long gray mane and dark blue eyes, but her eyes are also bloodshot and her face is soaked in tears. She is also wearing a blue jumpsuit with gray pads that is not covered in blood or torn up.

Mama is staring back at her.

“Final log of Honey Creme, supervisor of Section D of the Bon Voyage,” says Mama. She sniffles and wipes tears and snot from her eyes and nose with her hoof. “The ship is gone. The escape pods have been disabled and the quarantine failed. Whatever these things are... they are spreading and killing us and we can't stop them. Security was meant to fight off pirates and restore order in case of civil unrest or mutiny... but not this... not this.”

She looks down, covering her face with her hoof, shoulders buckling and sniffling and whimpering.

“They took my boy,” whimpers Honey Creme with tears pattering on the table. “They took my husband...” Her hoof drops and she looks right into Fluttershy's eyes. “Now they are going to take me.”

She extends her hoof and the clip ends, leaving only a dark screen.

Fluttershy stares at the screen, ears and wings drooped and tears in her eyes. She covers her face with her hoofs and slumps against the desk. Her body trembles and her whimpers carry into the dark. All she can think of is: Why?

There is no other thought. No other word. And as she sits there, whimpering and sniffling her ears twitch from the faint scraping that is all around her, and when she looks up Rainbow Dash's screen suddenly appears in front of her. However, there is no Rainbow Dash, only a slight reflection from the thick window, with green tinted furniture of the medical lab on the other side as well as the occasional blinking lights of computers and a bright green orb of an emergency light over a door.

“Do you see them?” asks Rainbow Dash, still out of view.

“No,” says Fluttershy distantly.

She flicks her eyes down the hall and quickly looks back when Rainbow Dash turns the camera to her face, which is wrinkled from her scowl and her eyes are shining in the green tint.

“How can you not see them? They're right there!” says Rainbow Dash. She looks out the window again, jumps and swears, and then punches the window. “What do you want with me!?”

The video feed ends and Fluttershy holsters her energy cutter and gallops towards the door, nearly tripping over herself as she goes out from behind the desk.

“Rainbow Dash, hold on! I'm coming!” says Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, don't go! Its a trap!” says Zephyr suddenly over the radio.

Fluttershy stops. “Zephyr? Zephyr, where are you!?”

“Fluttershy, can you hear me?”

A screeching overtakes the audio and Zephyr's voice is covered in static as the lights flicker on.

“Make us whole again!” says the collection of voice.

“Zephyr!” Fluttershy runs out of the room. “Zephyr, please answer me!”

The screeching increases as the lights get brighter, and with it a pressure in her brain and a clawing in her ears.

Fluttershy drops to the ground, clutching her ears and crying out in pain, and as she lays on the floor, screaming from her brain vibrating, tears cloud her eyes and she can see the Frail Stallion walking into view from the stairs. Fluttershy whimpers and pulls her cutter out, and she grits her teeth as she aims it at the Frail Stallion. Then all the bulbs explode one by one, plunging each section of the hallway into darkness as the stallion walks closer to her.

When the last bulb breaks there is total darkness. The only light Fluttershy has is the light from her cutter, and when she activates her helmet its little lights shine down the hallway, but there is no Frail Stallion.

It is just her and the darkness and her heavy panting.

Fluttershy's hoof shakes as she swings her cutter left and right, and she yelps and jumps back when the light at the end flicks on without any signs of damage. Then another turns on. And another. And another. Very soon all the lights are back on and the humming returns to greet her.

Fluttershy stays still, though, and keeps her weapon aimed dead ahead. She stays like this for a minute or two before she musters up the courage to holster her cutter and walk forward with shaky steps. But as she walks she activates her radio.

“Zephyr, can you hear me?” asks Fluttershy.

“I can hear you,” says Rainbow Dash. “Where are you?”

It is not who she wanted to hear, but Fluttershy is still happy to hear a friendly voice, and she quickens her steps. “Rainbow Dash? I'm coming I promise!”

Fluttershy steps on the vent covering, and immediately a large tentacle with mandibles slams her into the floor with an echoing thud. Her ears ring, her body becomes stiff from shock, and before she can make so much a twitch she is yanked into the dark vent, leaving just her scream to carry down the hallway without a body.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the slow update. Life, work, sickness, stuff like that. I also didn't really know how to do this chapter, so that was another thing that slowed me down. But here it is. I blitzed it because I was tired of looking at it. The show must go on, and now that it is up it can go on. Hopefully y'all liked it and...

Snuggles for the Flutters!