Darkness Rising Beneath the Butterfly

A wide grin was spreading all over Vinnie’s face. All his worries and panic was washed away by Fluttershy’s change in her attitude.

“So you liked it.” He said, grinning still.

“Tartarus yes! I loved it! The power I felt as he was cramping on the ground, struggling to stay alive. I never felt more alive than in that exact moment.” She replied, grinning like a mad mare.

“I have indeed another friend you can take care of. He lent a lot of money from us, insulted us and tried to rob us on top of that; so we are teaching him a lesson he will never forget, by visiting his family.” He said.

“Alright. What do I need to know and how should I do it?” Fluttershy asked, anticipation glimmering in her eyes.

“Well, you will go to the outskirts of New York to a high society area. We are granting you full access to our arsenal and even our new prototype pony weapons. We entrust you with a very important job. I hope that you are aware of this.”

“I am fully aware of the importance of this job and I really appreciate, that you entrust me with such a big job. I will do my best.” The yellow Pegasus mare responded.

They got up from the couches and left the living room, reentering the lobby, going straight down a hallway, leading to the left wing of the mansion.

Going down the hallway, Vinnie asked Fluttershy if she was really truly ready for entering the depths of the life of an assassin. The dark side she will have to hide from her family and friends and never reveal it, no matter what. And once again she approved her choice, by giving him her trademark stare, to what he froze up in the middle of the hallway.

“Ok, ok. Forget that I asked in the first place.” He said shuddering.

They continued their little journey down the hallway, until they reached the picture “The Scream”.

“At least I know where it went now” Fluttershy stated, giving him a disappointed glance.

“Hey you know what sort of man I am and by the way, I purchased it legally from an auction, so don’t look at me like that.”

“Oh.” She said surprised. “But let me guess it was a black market auction. Right?”

“You got me.” Vinnie said grinning, sliding the painting to the side, revealing a num-pad.

After dialing a code in the num-pad, a wall, five feet away, was opening up, revealing an entrance with steps developing deep into the ground, probably going deeper than the actual basement of the mansion.

They were going down the steps for a least six minutes now and not a word was spoken, but Fluttershy got a bit antsy, taking in a deep breath to ask a question, when she heard something. It wasn’t much, just a bit less noise than the time she met Twilight for the very first time and was asked for her name.
It was nearly only the idea of a sound, but as she listened carefully, the noise was growing louder with each step, until they reached a thick steel door, which Vinnie opened with an ID-card and a retina-scan.

Once they were inside, Fluttershy was amazed to say the least.

People and ponies were working hand in hoof, creating devices everywhere. Wizards were making their full body ammunition invisible, looking like every other normal random guy out on the street.

Pegasi were hovering in the air, suddenly bolting forward to mannequins, cutting off their heads with blades hidden in the feathers of their wings.

Earth ponies wearing saddlebags were going by some mannequins, dropping some pastry, which blew up and shredded them into pieces, as soon as the pony was out of range, or opening up them up with a timed muscle contraction, revealing flame throwers or machine-guns, slaying their way through the mannequins.

In some special sound proof rooms ponies and humans even taught each other the strengths and weaknesses of their own race, in order to improve their assassination skills.

As they were going further into the underground complex, every-pony and –person were nodding their heads as a sign of acknowledgement, that they are there and to greet them.

Fluttershy, knowing that her timidness would cause her much trouble among those who were working there, kept her face straight and without emotion, and nodded back.

They went on to nearly the end of the complex, as they turned right to face a little black door with a sign on it. It read “Conference-room”.

Vinnie went on and opened the door. He held it open for Fluttershy to go through and she followed him in.

The room was painted black with a big black conference table in the middle and twenty black chairs around it. Overhead hung a large oval lamp, illuminating the area around the table and two figures on the head-end of the table.

Vinnie lead Fluttershy around the table to the two of them. As soon as they were close enough, Fluttershy saw who the two figures were. An elderly man with greyish hair, a black suit, necktie and a cigar resting in his left hand.
Right next to on his right side stood a mare with black bubbly mane, a black camo-suit, a black bubbly tail, dark grey goggles and a necklace with a little box attached to it on her throat.
Her fur was not visible and she was standing still like she was a statue. Was it not for her slow and constant breathing, one would have easily thought, that she is a statue.

“Here is the newest member of our organization my Don. Her name is Fluttershy.” He said to the old man with respect.
“Fluttershy. This is the Don. The head of our organization and his partner Page.” He introduced them to the Pegasus mare.

“Nice to meet you.” Fluttershy said, giving both of them a soft smile.

“Well Fluttershy,” the old man started. “I’m sure Vinnie told you what we are doing, so I will skip that part. I know that he already told you about your first job and you are free to choose with whatever weapon, poison or other thing you want to do it with. I also welcome you in our family as well as my partner Page.” He said in a raspy voice, nodding in the direction of the disguised pony, which herself, nodded in Fluttershy’s direction approving.

“Nice to meet you.” The yellow Pegasus mare said, outstretching a hoof to the disguised mare.

“It’s nice to meet you too, but I think you have more important things to do.” Page said in a nearly as raspy and old voice as the Don, just more feminine. “You have a job to do and no time to lose.”

“Alright. I will get some equipment and head out.” The timid mare said, lowering her hoof, turning around and leaving the room.

She left the room with Vinnie in tow, turning her gaze to the guys and colts testing the equipment.

“So, what sort of equipment do you prefer?” Vinnie asked the Pegasus mare, a sly grin forming on his face.
She didn’t say a word, her face showing the emotionless mask again, but trotted in the direction of the hidden blades for Pegasi, leaving the human behind.

“Gentleman and gentlecolts, would you most kindly attach a pair of these fine blades to my wings?” she asked the staff working on the hidden blades, confusing them with her sudden appearance. “And please be careful. I’m mighty ticklish.” She added, giving them a wink, which made them turn crimson in an instant.

They kept the crimson color on their faces and didn’t move one step, too shocked by Fluttershy’s behavior, until Vinnie approached them and nodded his agreement, what pulled them out of their shocked state.
They got to work, attaching the blades to Fluttershy’s wings, careful not to damage the fragile looking pegasus’s wings with the blades.
Their faces were full of concentration and they had their tongues sticking out of their mouths for support as they closed the last clasps and stepped back from the yellow mare.

She tried unfolding her wings and found it easy to do so. The blades had barely any weight, sitting smooth and hidden underneath her wings.
When she decided to fold her wings once again, the guys from the testing team told her how to use the blades properly and how she can make huge damage on any enemy or just right away kill them.
As she listened to their explanations, she memorized every detail about the blades and the way to use them.

Once they had explained everything to Fluttershy, she thanked them for their help and trotted off to the poison rag, grabbing different potions, various in effect, strength and time to fully hit.
Balancing them on her wings with ease she went over to the saddlebags, taking one with a flamethrower, dropped the potions inside and put it on her back.

Looking around for other useful items Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide and she slowly walked over to a big machine. Not really sure what to do with it or what purpose it may serve, she spoke up to Vinnie.

“What is this?” she asked him over her shoulder as he stepped behind her. “What does it do?”

“Oh this? It’s one of our newest inventions. You can simply say that it is a full body scanner with an attached printer. You go in and it scans your whole body. After it calculated the three-dimensional measurements of your body, it will print out stickers matching your cutie mark.” Vinnie said, pride swinging in his voice and a big grin running all over his face.

“Huh? It is only printing stickers? That’s not very useful.” Fluttershy said flatly, giving him an outright bored to death glance.

“Oh don’t you worry dear. These are not just ordinary everyday stickers.” He responded, taking a skin colored one, placing it on a big box made of iron. He then stepped behind a massive shield, what Fluttershy copied, and pushed a little button which was lying in his palm.
The sticker detonated with such a force, that the box was nearly completely peeled and pieces were lying all over the floor.

Fluttershy’s jaw hung open like a barn gate and her eyes were shimmering.
“These are high explosive stickers. We discovered a way to concentrate the power of four kilogram C4 in such a little sticker and it weight less than a post it. It is matching your cutie mark perfectly and no one will be able to spot the difference. But the best part is, that, when your side against any object, the sticker will go off your cutie mark, attach itself to the surface you pressed yourself onto and will instantly take over its color scheme. That means it is nearly invisible. The trigger is placed under one of your hooves and is activated when you twist it to the left. Oh and don’t worry about the stickers that are still attached to your body. They will not explode. They have a mechanism that stops them from it, when they are in range of your body and could be possibly harmful for you.” Vinnie stated, grinning more and more with every sentence.

“Interesting, very interesting.” The yellow pegasus mare said, stepping in the machine, observing it.
“Mind turning it on for me?” she asked sweetly.

“Not a problem my dear. So let’s take your measurements then.” He pushed some buttons and the machine sprung to life.