The fall of the Butterfly
It was a beautiful sunny day, just as the weather forecast had said it would be. Fluttershy was trotting down the pathway of the New York Central Park, humming a sweet little tune to her.
She was looking out for the park’s wildlife, as she would always do, when it was a sunny day. Completely lost in her thoughts she didn’t notice that the weather was changing.
A short while after, she was trapped under a tree, unable to return to her apartment, without getting soaked by the heavy downpour. Luckily a nice stranger with an umbrella passed by and offered to walk her home. She happily agreed and slipped under the umbrella, starting to trot towards her apartment.
Soon enough the silence between the two of them was getting more and more uncomfortable for Fluttershy and she was starting a conversation.
“How come you were walking out here in the rain? I… I mean only if you want to answer. If you don’t want to its ok with me. I mean it’s not like…eeep. I’m talking too much am I? Oh sorry.” She said, growing quieter with each spoken word.
“Oh no, it’s no problem. I’d love to talk to you. To answer your question, I like to go out on rainy days like this one, listening to the raindrops fall to the ground and the peace when no one is around, chatting and disturbing these beautiful moments of silence, but talking to a timid pony like you is also enjoyable every now and then.” He responded, smiling politely.
“My name is Vincenzo Trobonara, but you can call me Vinnie. What’s your name?”
“Um…my name is Fluttershy, nice to meet you.” She said, stretching out a hoof in his direction.
He kneeled down, took her hoof in his palm and made a hoof kiss, causing Fluttershy to blush furiously.
“Why did you do this?” she asked, cheeks glowing in a rosy color.
“I think that, when I’m with a lady, I should treat her like she deserves to be treated.” He replied, making a sly grin.
“Sorry. I’m not used to this. I came through the portal a few months ago.”
“Oh don’t worry. I was also a bit shocked that the earth like planet, the scientists discovered in another solar system and named Keplar 51, was in fact Equestria. No one would have ever thought that your world was real all the time. Not before we sent that portal to you to explore your planet.” He said.
“Yes. It was a shock for us as you came out of that thing the first time, but the technology you brought us was very useful.” Fluttershy said, warming up further to Vinnie.
“Hey, don’t praise us like that. Your kind brought us advantages too. We never had mages here on earth. Not until they were able to go to Equestria and study magic. These abilities do come in handy for us.”
They kept talking about themselves, until they reached Fluttershy’s apartment.
“Thank you for walking me home. If there is anything I can do for you just say it.” Fluttershy said, more confident around him now.
“Oh. Really, it’s not necessary that you do me a favor just for walking you home.” Vinnie replied, lifting his free hand in defense.
“No. I insist. You walked me home and now I owe you one and don’t think that I’ll forget about it just like that. If I can’t do anything for you now, then I’ll return the favor later. You only have to ask me.” Fluttershy said, using a bit of her trademark stare on him.
“Ok, ok. I got it. If I need your help I’ll come back to you.” Vinnie ensured her.
“Good. If you got something for me to return the favor, meet me in the park. I’ll be there most afternoons.” The yellow Pegasus mare said, smiling softly.
They bid their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
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A few days later Fluttershy was trotting through the park again, helping every little critter that came her way. She was setting a baby bird back in its nest when she noticed someone, who was sitting on a bench, waving at her. She sat the baby bird back in its nest and flew, or to be more precise, glided over to him.
“Hello Fluttershy! Nice to see you again.” Vinnie greeted the yellow Pegasus.
“Oh, hello Vinnie. Nice to see you too. Is there anything I can do for you?” she asked happily.
To tell you the truth, there is something you could help me with. You see, I have this friend of mine. He is really sick and refuses to take his medicine. Unfortunately I can’t just give it to him, because it is a special soup he needs to eat, but he is hallucinating and thinks that every human being wants to harm him.” He said in a worried tone. “So I thought with you being a pony and all, he would probably reason himself and will eat it. I’m seriously worried about him.”
“Oh my. This is bad. I’ll help you with him. I just can’t stand it when someone is sick.” Fluttershy replied, concern in her voice.
“Great!” Vinnie cried out in joy.
“Come to my place later and get the medicine. I’ll give his address to you too.”
He gave Fluttershy his address and told her to meet him there the next day at nine o’clock in the morning, so he would have the address and the medicine for his friend ready.
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The next day Fluttershy arrived at the address, given to her by Vinnie, at ten to nine. She stood in front of a big mansion with massive iron gates standing fully open. She was still staring at the size of the building, when Vinnie came walking out of it.
“Hi Fluttershy, you are early.” He greeted the mare, smiling.
“Here, I have the medicine and address ready for you.”
He passed Fluttershy a map with a little post it attached to it, showing off a street name, house and apartment number. He also gave her an already opened and resealed cup soup, which was clearly replaced with other ingredients.
“Thank you Vinnie. I’ll come back later and tell you how he’s doing.” Fluttershy said, waving him goodbye.
“Take good care of him.” Vinnie said, going back to the mansion.
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The yellow mare was nearly trotting through the whole city as she reached her destination. It was an old, rocked down building, nearly falling apart just from the looks Fluttershy gave it.
“Now I know why his friend is sick.” She said with a frown. She then approached the front door and rang the bell with the name of Vinnie’s friend written on it.
A very rough and tired voice answered. Coughing all the while.
“Who is there?”
“Umm…um…hello my name is Fluttershy and I heard you were sick, so I brought you some medicine.” She said, timid as ever.
“I’m not letting any…” he started, but stopped as realization hit him.
“Wait. You are a pony, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. More precisely a Pegasus.” Fluttershy nearly whispered into the speaker.
“Oh. Sorry I was so rude. Come on in.” he said, buzzing the door open. “I’m in the third floor, apartment 8a.”
Within a few minutes she was up in his apartment, facing him.
“Thank god that you are a pony and not one of those guys, trying to kill me. I have a nervous index finger sometimes when I’m around them.” He said.
“Oh no. I would never do such things. I love every creature in the whole wide world.” Fluttershy said fearful.
“I brought you some medicine. It’s a soup. You only have to warm it up, eat it and soon you should be better.”
With this he grabbed the cup, placed it in the microwave and heated it up.
“I’ll let it cool down a little bit. I’m burning my tongue every time I try to eat hot soup.” He said and turned on the TV. Fluttershy sat down next to him and enjoyed the little distraction.
As soon as the soup was cold enough, he ate it and gulped down the leftover fluids on the bottom of the cup. But the moment he sat the cup on the table next to him, he started gagging, cramping, coughing violently and fell to the ground. He held his throat with both hands and suddenly let loose.
He wasn’t moving anymore. Fluttershy witnessed the whole scenario with a look of horror plastered on her face. He was dead and she knew it, but her mind refused to accept the facts. She closed up to him, her muzzle nearly touching his nose.
“Please stop this, it’s not funny.” She begged the dead man. She hammered her hooves on his chest in a fruitless attempt to bring him back to life, shaking him again and again. Nothing. She could do nothing to bring him back to life.
Just when she was about to back away from the corpse, she smelled it. Almonds. She knew this smell. It was one of the best indicators for potassium cyanide.
They tricked her. Vinnie tricked her. He tricked her into killing someone for him, because his victim was aware of the danger he was into, but hadn’t guessed that a pony would deliver the dead to him.
She was furious, she was raging, but most of all she was afraid. She killed someone and that was like Tartarus for her.
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She galloped back to Vinnie’s mansion, the pictures of the corpse lying on the floor, eyes wide open, mouth agape and a look of pure shock and pain painted on his face.
The last moments of him were also running through her mind like an endless film. His gagging, cramping and coughing flowing through her thoughts like cursed words she wasn’t able to forget.
The closer she came to Vinnie’s mansion, the more the fear of herself was growing inside of her.
She was enjoying the memories more and more. The power to take a life just like this.
It was scaring her at first, but soon she was enjoying it. Her fear, her rage and her fury were all fainting away, replaced by a pleasant feeling of power and confidence and as she reached the mansion, she wasn’t galloping anymore, but trotting, with a wide grin on her face that would make Pinkamena look like an innocent puppy.
Vinnie came walking out to her, offering her a bright smile.
“Hey Fluttershy. How’s my friend doing? I sure hope he is fine again.” He greeted the yellow Pegasus mare, leading her into the mansion.
Once inside he offered her some tea, which she gratefully accepted. They then sat down in the living room, placed on two sofas, facing each other as Vinnie started again.
“Sooo. How’s my friend doing? Did he say something to you?”
“He is dead.” Fluttershy answered, not a single emotion crossing her face.
“Oh god! That’s horrible!” Vinnie cried out. “How did it hap…”
Fluttershy was raising a hoof to silence him. “I know that the soup was poisoned.” She said flatly.
A few drops of sweat were rolling down Vinnie’s forehead, trailing down to his nose and finally dripping off onto the ground.
“I smelled almonds when I was hearing after his heartbeat. You put potassium cyanide in the soup.” The usually timid mare went on, while Vinnie looked like he had run for miles in the middle of a desert.
“At first I was furious that you tricked me into killing someone for you.” She said, using her trademark stare on him. “I wanted to scold you for what you have done and galloped half the way. Tartarus! I was even ready to buck you in the guts!”
By the Vinnie was as pale as a corpse, trembling and sweating as if he had the mother of colds.
“That was until something turned a switch inside of me. All the way I was thinking of that poor man and his desperate looks as he struggled to stay alive. His eyes nearly popping out of his skull as the poison started pulsing through his veins, making its way to his heart, killing him fast but painful. The horror of the memories faded away and a pleasant feeling was replacing it. I didn’t felt sorry for him anymore. I felt great, knowing that I was the one sending him to Tartarus and enjoyed every second again and again, replaying the memories over and over again in my mind. It was the best feeling I ever had.” The yellow mare announced, licking her lips.
Vinnie stopped sweating and trembling, the color returning to his face, now showing off a dumb folded look.
“You what?!” he asked in disbelieve.
“I was enjoying it.” Fluttershy responded grinning. “I never felt this good in my life before. You showed me a side of myself I didn’t even know existing. Now I ask you. Do you have another ‘friend’ I can take care of?”