Fluttershy was the element of kindness, some would say the most kind and gentle pony in all of ponyville, or possibly in Equestria.
However, all that meant nothing now, no kind pony would do the horrible things she was about to do.
In the early twilight hours, Fluttershy flew through the clouded sky.
Her destination was the Golden Oaks Library, the home of one of her closest friends, Twilight Sparkle.
“You can do this…“ The timid yellow Pegasus whispered softly to herself, just as she spotted the familiar building off below the clouds.
The library was dark, calm, and silent, much like the rest of Ponyville was.
The faintest glow of the approaching day showed on the horizon, and it served to remind Fluttershy that her time was limited.
Fluttershy found a cloud to land on with ease, it was in close proximity to the library as well.
Carefully, she reached around and lifted a leather satchel off her flank, then sat.
It was worn and a little dirty, its rough exterior covered with cracks and small tears.
Fluttershy held the old bag with the utmost care not to drop it, and flipped open its single large flap.
Inside, were several silver canisters, three of them.
Each of them were approximately two apples tall, one wide, and resembled normal tin cans.
Though, each had a short, key-like object sticking out of one its sealed ends.
“Just turn, and pull….” Fluttershy thought to herself as she ran her hoof over one of the canisters, and felt its smooth metal exterior.
Whatever this things were, whatever they were made for, Fluttershy knew it was not something good.
~~~~
Over the past several months, Ponyville had been tormented with terrible events.
Cheerlie, Rainbow Dash, Mayor Mare, Diamond Tiara and SilverSpoon, were only some of the victims.
Each pony had awful things done to them, some in the dead of night as they slept, and some in broad daylight as they went about their daily routines.
As the months went on, and the list of victims grew, nopony could figure out who was behind it.
The newest victim was claimed just the pervious day, it was one of Fluttershy’s other closet friends, Applejack.
When she stepped into the barn, Fluttershy could never had anticipated seeing what she did.
If she arrived just a minute earlier things may have been different, but unfortunately, she was too late to save her friend.
Countless ponies questioned her, thinking that she might have seen something in barn when she arrived.
But Fluttershy knew nothing more then anypony else did, and in the end, she was no help at all.
Fluttershy was hardly able to sleep that night, her mind was filled with the images of her friend Applejack; covered in red, not answering any cries or pleas.
When she finally managed to drift off into sleep, it did not last very long.
Fluttershy was woken up in the early morning hours, and it did not take her long to notice that she was no longer alone in her bedroom.
A dark, Masked Pony stood silently on the other side of the room, just beyond the moonlight that shone in.
Covered from head to hoof in a dark fabric, the pony was completely unidentifiable.
Fluttershy screamed, begged, and pleaded with the Masked Pony.
She already knew what her fate was, or so she thought.
When the Masked Pony stepped out into the moonlight, Fluttershy got a better look at it.
It wore a tight fitting outfit that was made up of different sized patches, colored back and a dark shade of crimson.
Besides a small opening were the pony’s mouth was, the only parts that were not covered was its ears and tail, both of which matched the red of its outfit.
Its eyes were pitch black indents were, at least a normal pony’s, had eyes.
When it spoke, it did so in eerie whisper of a voice.
The Mysterious Pony did not believe Fluttershy's story, that she did not see what happened at the apple farm, that she just showed up when everything was already over.
In the end, Fluttershy was offered a choice, end up like the other ponies, or carry out a 'Simple task'.
If she completed it, she would be spared.
~~~~
As she flipped the satchel closed, Fluttershy was already heavy with guilt.
She had not done anything yet, but she knew she could never forgive herself afterwards, after doing such an incredibly selfish act.
However, amongst all her guilt and sorrow, there was something else.
Something Fluttershy had been struggling to understand since she accepted the satchel and fled her cottage, she was compelled.
It was surreal, but something inside her was propelling her to do this, and it felt stronger then it did before.
No matter how she felt, it had to wait for now.
The glow on the horizon had grew since she stopped, and Fluttershy could not waste anymore time.
With the satchel back over her flank she took a deep breath, then dived off the cloud, down towards the library.
Like promised, the front door was unlocked.
She wondered if that was something arranged, or if it was something Twilight always did, a kind pony like Fluttershy always knocked.
Once Fluttershy shut the door behind her, everything was pitch-dark, the only thing that was more present then the smell of old books was the shaky breathing and rapid heartbeat of a yellow pegasus.
Fluttershy did her best to calm her nerves, though, she found it harder and harder to so.
She took a deep breath, and knew she could not turn back now; the task had to be completed.
The room was familiar to her, even in the almost complete darkness Fluttershy found her way over to the first staircase with ease.
Slowly she ascended it, each step at a snail’s pace, and as light as a feather.
When she finally reached the top, Fluttershy paused and examined the room.
It was brighter then the downstairs was, and Fluttershy’s eyes followed the second set up stairs up to where Twilight’s bed was, where there was so obvious movement.
Fluttershy ascended the second stairs much as she did the first one, slow and steady.
She was so close, her goal was just at the top of the stairs, once she had completed her task everything would be all over. But, Fluttershy failed to notice one thing.
She was calm, not nervous or scared, but now seemed distant, and determined.
Fluttershy stopped at the top of the stairs, the light that shone in allowed her to make out Twilight's rough form in her bed; and it was quite enough to hear her soft, steady breathing.
It was time to get started, as Fluttershy removed the first canister from the satchel, she noticed her hoof shook softly, but a deep breath calmed it.
With the little instructions the Masked Pony gave her, all she had to do was place the canisters for Twilight to “Discover” when she woke, she was warned not to touch the canisters once they were set.
First canister in hoof, she crept over to Twilight's bed.
The old wooden floor creaked in some places, but it was not enough to stop her.
When she reached the foot of the bed, Fluttershy looked inside, Twilight slept on her side, deep asleep and unaware of what was going on.
“Turn and pull…” Those words repeated in Fluttershy's mind, and she followed them.
She placed the first canister at the foot of the bed, then held it firmly between her hooves.
With no other way to turn the key, she lowered her head and bit it softly, then turned.
After less then a half turn, the key stopped, and made a soft click that provoked a flinch from kind gentle pegasus, Fluttershy.
Besides the click, nothing else immediately happened, and Fluttershy slowly pulled the key out with her mouth.
Relieved, Fluttershy placed the key with the rest of the canisters, and in doing so, was reminded that she was not home free yet, which dampened her relief.
Carefully, Fluttershy made her way over to the side of the bed that faced out towards the library, the side Twilight was not facing.
Fluttershy placed the second canister on the floor, and repeated the same process she did with first.
Twilight did not stir, she was still deep asleep, and Fluttershy only had one more to go.
The first two cautiously avoided, Fluttershy found herself on the other side of the bed, the final key between her teeth.
Twilight was still asleep, of course, but Fluttershy stared at her for a few moments.
A small stab of guilt poked through the veil that covered Fluttershy's emotions, but only briefly.
Her thoughts of guilt and empathy, at least on the surface, were completely gone.
Fluttershy was focused on her task, and nothing more.
She closed her eyes, and turned.
Click.
It was done, her task has been completed.
And as Fluttershy silently shut the door to the library, that is all she cared about.
Her inherent traits of kindness were shadowed over by new ones, new ones she did not fully understand.
The lose keys jingled around in the satchel as Fluttershy flew to the clouds, numb to what she just did.
The sun had peaked over the horizon, lighting up the sky with many different hues of orange and yellow.
The sky was still clouded, so like before, Fluttershy found a cloud to land of with ease.
She was not told to stick around afterwards, but she felt the need to see it through to the end.
As Fluttershy sat, and gazed down at Golden Oaks, she started going over everything she just did.
She did it so fast, so smoothly, and without much hesitation.
Some unknown force inside propelled her to, but she was naive to stop it, maybe because she did not want to.
She denied that thought, but the realization slowly sunk in.
The reason why she found it so easy to do, was because she liked it, she liked to do things that were completely backwards to her nature.
She shut her eyes, for Fluttershy, this was too much to take in at the moment.
A cool breeze blew though her mane, it complimented the sun that shone against her nicely.
Fluttershy tried to push all those thoughts out of her mind, she knew they‘d have to be acknowledged eventually, but for now all she wanted was peace.
It took her awhile to get her mind cleared, but she managed to.
Her life was so peaceful, usually, but now peace seemed like a luxury.
This peace persisted for a lengthy amount of time, long enough for Fluttershy for to lose track of.
A loud bang, that sounded like a small explosion interrupted that peace.
Fluttershy’s eyes flew open, just in time to hear an ear-piercing scream that erupted from the library.
For a briefest moment, Fluttershy felt the urge to go help, help her friend.
But her thoughts, along with the screams, were silenced by another small explosion, then a third, in quick session to each other.
It was all over so fast, after just seconds of commotion the library was silent, as if nothing ever happened.
As Fluttershy stared down at the library, all her thoughts and feelings of guilt rushed back and stabbed at her.
Completely transfixed, an unexpected voice tore Fluttershy's attention away.
"Very well done, I‘m actually quite impressed."
Startled, Fluttershy stood quickly and whipped around, she was more startled when she saw who it was, The Masked Pony.
No more then seven or eight meters away, the Masked Pony stood on its own cloud.
Fluttershy never heard it land, but then again she was not paying to much attention a minute or so ago.
If it was not for the fact that it was standing at cloud-level with her, Fluttershy wouldn’t have noticed it wings, they blended in almost perfectly with a patch of red on its back, when folded.
"And you even stuck around afterwards, that’s even more impressive."
Then Masked Pony spoke again, it added a little more guilt to what Fluttershy already felt about having stuck around.
“I… I’m free to go now, right?" Fluttershy questioned, her voice shaky, along with her breathing.
The pony stared at Fluttershy for a few seconds, then replied. “That was the agreement, but, I’m afraid things have… changed.”
“Cha… Changed?” Fluttershy stepped back, her back hooves almost skidded off the cloud.
Then, without any warning at all, The Masked Pony leapt from its cloud with lightening speed, directly at Fluttershy.
Startled, and with no time to react Fluttershy took another frantic step backward, and fell from the cloud.
Before she could even open her wings and flap, The Masked Pony tackled her, mid-air.
The Masked Pony held Fluttershy tight in its grip, enough so that she could do nothing more the flail and struggle, to no effect.
Fluttershy was helpless, and even worse, she felt they were still fell.
She panicked, and did the only thing she had in her power to do, she screamed, as loud at she could.
But just as she began to scream, she felt something get pressed against her face, some sort of cloth.
Fluttershy inhaled into the cloth, practically forced to, and was hit with a powerful aroma that quickly overwhelmed her senses.
Her vision instantly started to go black, her whole body felt numb and weak.
Fluttershy's head spun so fast, she could have tell if she was still falling or not.
She tried desperately to move her body, but could not, it was as if she was paralyzed.
Unconsciousness hit Fluttershy like a ton of bricks.
Or, maybe that was the ground.....