//------------------------------//
// Letting It Out 
// Story: MLPU: The Incredible Flutterage 
// by TheInvincibleIronBrony 
//------------------------------//

	Boot looked at the amber liquid in front of him as though it held all the answers and he didn’t know what to ask. After a few minutes he picked up the glass and downed the drink. “Barkeep,” he called, showing the bartender his empty glass.

“I think you’ve had enough,” a voice said behind him.

Boot whipped around to find Rarity. The white mare leaned against the counter of the bar and gave Boot a once over. “Didn’t think this was your kinda bar,” Boot said as he turned back to the bar, staring longingly at the bottles sitting on the shelves behind it, mostly ignoring the rest of the patrons occupying the dusty old bar.

“I do prefer my wines, but I’m here on business,” Rarity said, catching Boot’s curiosity.

“Oh and what world ending threat brings you to my neck of the woods?” he asked.

Rarity smiled. “It’s nothing that bad. We have an asset that needs a security detail and I’m aware of your current lack of employment,” Rarity explained.

Boot looked at her, confused and annoyed. “Gonna ignore the employment part. Why are you coming to me for security? I thought you’re people had enough of all that,” Boot wondered, knowing there had to be more to it than just needing security.

“There have been a few incidents recently. The director feels it would be best to bring in a few trusted individuals from outside of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Rarity explained.

Boot thought over his options. “Can’t promise I’ll be any good at the spy stuff, but I can watch your back,” he said, holding out a hand for Rarity.

Rarity smiled and shook his hand. “Wonderful. I’ll arrange transportation for you tomorrow,” she said as she stood up straight and started for the door.

“Hey, Rarity,” Boot called after her. Rarity stopped just a few feet from him. “Is she doing alright?” he asked, his voice betraying his fear.

Rarity smiled. “We have her somewhere remote and there haven’t been any mishaps thus far. I haven’t seen her personally, but she seems to be doing fine,” she said. “Now, I need to be going. Get a good night’s sleep,” she told him as she walked to the door and exited the bar.

Boot smiled, his mind at ease, knowing Fluttershy was doing okay. Boot paid for his drinks as he stood up, thinking he should have asked Rarity for more details on what his job would be.


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Fluttershy took a deep breath as she sat cross legged on the floor of the cabin she’d been staying in for the last few weeks. It was a cozy little home deep in the White Tail woods. It was stocked mostly with essentials, but she was brought the day’s newspaper every morning, courtesy of her S.H.I.E.L.D. handler.

After several minutes of sitting and breathing Fluttershy stood up and grabbed a tape recorder off of the desk she’d been using to record the data from her most recent experiments.  “Test number four-three-one was mostly unsuccessful. I don’t think Flutterage is happy that she hasn’t been able to come out since Manehattan. I’ll have to discuss it with Agent Quill, but I’d like to see if she’s more open after being given some time to explore the forest. For now, my attempts to talk to Flutterage remain unanswered,” Fluttershy finished her recording.