The Shy Driver

The Odyssey Begins

After Carter had left, Fluttershy waited out the daylight, sleeping and gathering energy for the night that laid ahead of her. Covering herself with the blanket, she decided to sleep in one of the shops in the town.

It was about an hour before midnight when Fluttershy made her move. Clicking on the flashlight, she ate half a chocolate bar and headed towards the hills. Only then did she realize how difficult it would be. In pitch blackness, with only a little light from the town, she had 600 feet of sheer rocks and boulders to face. But it was her quickest path to freedom.

"Up we go, up not down, go careful not sloppy or slow," Fluttershy hummed to herself as she climbed up the rocks, flying over any rocks that were too big or difficult to pull herself up. Having to hold the flashlight in her mouth made the job even trickier. One slip of her lips or teeth, and she'd lose her only source of light – and the climb would be impossible.

That's why you don't look down, Fluttershy thought.

But as she pushed herself up one last large slippery ledge, she could see the glow of what she was aiming for – New Mexico. She flew down into a large valley and walked, jogged, and ran across it to the other side, avoiding any obstacles in her way. She passed a group of burrowing animals, an abandoned rusty car, and several boulders.

After a long series of walks lasting an exuberating seventy minutes, Fluttershy made it to another series of hills, this time much easier to climb. When she reached the top, the beautiful yellow, green, and blue lights of Raton, New Mexico, were waiting for her.

"I have arrived!" she announced happily, and flew down towards the outskirts of the city. Big mistake.

"Hey! Over there!" a voice shouted.

Uh-oh. Fluttershy thought. She should have been more thoughtful on the scrutiny of border patrol. Thinking fast, she flew straight down onto the rocky ground and hid behind a large boulder, quietly waiting for the law enforcement officers to pass. Once they were out of sight, she crept out and continued her flight to Raton.

Unlike Manehattan, Raton was actually quite quiet, though fairly busy, especially downtown. Fluttershy finished up her half-eaten chocolate bar and soon found a quiet area inside a hotel lobby where she could assemble her thoughts.

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Her plan was to find a truck that would be travelling south on Interstate Highway 25, and stow away all the way to Albuquerque, where she'd get out, then follow the map to the garage. Then she'd drive back onto Interstate Highway 25 south, turn onto Interstate Highway 10, then follow it all the way to California. Approaching Los Angeles, she'd take a shortcut through the mountain roads to avoid LA itself due to the high crime rate and thick traffic. Finally, she'd turn onto the Pacific Coast Highway and drive northwest to Justin's home.

"How hard could this be?" she thought, heading towards the industrial area of the city to look for trucks. Soon she began to filter out some talk amongst the truckers and their coworkers.

"...yeah, gotta get this load down to Santa Fe..."

"See ya later, good luck getting your packages east to Texas..."

"New shipment is coming to Albuquerque...

"Yes!" Fluttershy thought, and raced towards the truck from above, on the factory's rooftop. She peered down at the truck's open rear doors, waiting for her chance.

As soon as the loading assistant looked the other way, Fluttershy flew down into the trailer and hid behind a pile of the shipping. The doors were shut and locked, and soon, the truck began to move. Through a tiny hole in the truck where rust had eaten through, she could get a tiny glimpse of the road – but that was it. The doors were locked. All she could do now was sit back, wait, and hope that her ears hadn't fooled her.

While in her "metal coffin", Fluttershy had a late breakfast of fruit, along with a lunch of chocolate. Soon the trailer felt like a prison. But just as she was about to despair, the loud hiss of the truck's air brakes came on hard and the loud noises of warehouse machinery filled the air outside.

"Howdy! Welcome to Albuquerque, sir!" a few voices called out.

The trailer doors opened. Fluttershy firmly closed up her saddlebag, slung her pants over her front leg and flew out as fast as she could.

"WHAT THE—" the workmen screamed, but they could not catch her. In a flash she had vanished.

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Away from the warehouse, Fluttershy eventually found a road with stores lined along it and headed straight for the nearest pharmacy.

"Hi there," the cashier said with a friendly smile.

"Good day to you," Fluttershy replied with her cute smile.

Fluttershy headed directly to the baby section and picked up a small box of tissues, a new blue toothbrush, and a cash pouch. She paid her amount and left, her saddle bag bulging a little.

"Mmm..." she thought, heading inside a restaurant to use the bathroom, glancing at the delicious meals advertised on the screens above the counter. Before leaving, she rinsed the toothbrush in warm water and brushed off all the remnants of the chocolate and rinsed out any acid juice from the fruits she ate. She also noticed the toilet and she soon realized it. So that's where all the unused stuff goes.

Having dealt with a rather unpleasant situation, Fluttershy walked up the streets of Albuquerque, following her map of the city. Soon she discovered an Internet café. Carter had told her about these places where people who didn't have computers could use one for a small fee.

She darted in, paid a fee for just half an hour of usage, and sat down in front of the first computer available, next to a young guy.

"Hey, you're quite cute, girl," he said with a smile.

Fluttershy blushed. "Um, could you help me find an address?"

"Sure," the guy replied, moving over and guided her through the process. "Here, in Google, you click the little group of squares. That brings up this pane. Choose 'Maps', and then type in your address in the little white box."

Fluttershy pulled out the plastic sleeve and took out the paper with the addresses Justin had given her. She typed in the garage's address, and lo and behold, the precise location came up. Scrolling, she soon pinpointed where it was.

"Sweet Celestia, that's quite a distance!" she whispered to herself.

Fluttershy thanked the man, marked down the location on her paper map with a little star, quickly put everything neatly back in her saddlebag, and exited the café. Further down the road, she pulled out her phone, connected it to the headset, and called Carter.

"Hello?"

"Fluttershy! I'm so happy you called! How are you?"

"Good. I'm in Albuquerque now, heading to the garage near the city's heart. It's going to be quite a long way. We'll talk later, okay?"

Carter smiled and even cried a little knowing his special somepony was happy and safe. "Sure. Thanks for letting me hear your voice again."

"No problem. Talk with you soon," Fluttershy replied, and hung up.

Fluttershy then decided to take the stowaway option once more – this time in the back of pickup trucks. She rode through the main city streets, staying away from the highway, and flying from vehicle to vehicle if the current one she was travelling in strayed away from her direction. While stuck in traffic, she began to notice several people observing her with their eyes wide open in shock. One little girl even rolled down her passenger window and tried to reach out.

"Be careful, little one!" Fluttershy called out. "You'll hurt yourself!"

The little girl soon got an earful from the driver, and Fluttershy crouched down to avoid the gaze of the pickup driver who glanced in the rearview mirror.

Downthe road, Fluttershy began to get hungry, but she'd finished all the fruitshe'd previously packed, and there was only one chocolate bar left. While allthe restaurants in the plaza were very alluring, she knew that she couldn'tdivert from her path towards the location. Added to which, the day was leaningon, with the late afternoon fast approaching. And there was still about 3 milesto go.