There was once a young prince who fell for a beautiful princess, and although he was a prankster and very possessive, the princess still loved him no matter what. One fateful day, the two lovers were cursed and grew apart since then. Now, Lord Discord finally meets Sparkling Butterfly, a Pegasus that loves reading and nature, but what happens when Nightmare moon breaks free from her banishment to torture Discord?
Authors note: Have you guys read stories based on Beauty and the beast that either feature Fluttercord or Discolight? Well I decided to do a little something that no one might have thought of before. This story will have multiple shippings.
Once upon a time, there was a prince who was a charming young stallion, but he wasn't your average royal, for he would often make fun of some ponies and pull a lot of pranks on others. In other words, he was immature, childish, and chaotic.
On his nineteenth birthday, he held an annual gala and invited royals all over the land to witness his coming of age.
He was about to pull the first prank of the night until something caught his eye, two alicorns and a unicorn talking, but the one that interested him the most was the eldest alicorn with flowing pink hair and light violet eyes.
When the two met eye to eye, they fell in love, and everything changed for the prince.
The two spent a lot of time together, but when the princess had to leave, the prince would beg her to stay longer, and they eventually stay with the other until sunset or later.
The eldest was off duty more often, so her sister had to run their kingdom. Many of their subjects always felt that the eldest has abandoned them when it was the youngest that was there, leading to the ponies changing their cerfew to sunset and sleeping through the youngest's beautiful night.
Not only was the princess upset that her subjects slept through her night and ignoring her, but she was jealous of the love her sister had with the prince.
The youngest's jealousy for her sister transformed her into a living nightmare. She immediately went after the lovers as a plot formed in her head.
When she found the two, she rendered her sister into a powerless pony and blamed the prince for keeping her sister away from her duties as princess.
The prince reacted in sadness and anger, causing to banish the sister of his lover!
Before she was completely sealed in the moon, the young princess casted a curse on the prince, which turned him into a hideous creature of chaos!
The former princess, frightened of the changed prince before her, ran away from him in fear and heartbreak, and the prince felt abandoned as he watched her run away.
The princess searched for a way to turn her back into an alicorn and to break the curse on her lover.
Just when she was about to give up, she ran into the king of the Crystal Empire who took her to his castle so that she would take a break from her long search.
She told the king of how her sister appeared to her and the prince as a nightmare creature, then of how the prince banished her sister to the moon but ended up transformed into a beast. The king listened to every word she spoke and contemplated her tale with thoughts and finally decided to help the princess.
During two months of looking through spell books, the former princess started to forget about her feelings to the prince and found herself falling for the king, their silent reading turning to small smiles to conversations.
After another month of searching and bonding, the king found a spell that turn the princess back into her true form and would allow the princess to revert from an alicorn to an earth pony at will.
The princess had forgotten about the cursed prince during the time she spent with the king, and the king had enjoyed spending time with the princess. They had spent so much time together that going their separate ways didn't feel like an option, so they decided to wed.
Although their wedding was small and private, it was the most beautiful, and the only witnesses were the preacher and the king's niece.
But a year later, the princess' younger sister returned, searching for her and the prince, while on the same day, the king and his new queen had two daughters: a pegasus and a unicorn.
The young princess heard the news of the newly born princesses of the Crystal Empire and thought her eldest sister might be there as the queen of the empire.
Sure enough, the king heard news of his queen's sister coming to the empire, so he sent his wife along with their two daughters and his niece to escape the Empire while he held off the nightmare princess with dark magic.
The queen and princesses managed to escape safely, but the same could not be said for the king, for he did keep the nightmare distracted, but he was sadly defeated in the end and thrown into his own dungeon.
The princess decided to find the prince and finish his punishment first, but by the time she reached his kingdom, she noticed that it was abandoned and falling apart.
Assuming that the prince was dead, she decided to return to her kingdom, but found it abandoned as well, but she did find a familiar earth pony wander around the area.
But when she was within range, the princess was shocked to see the pony transform into her sister and shot magic at her so that the princess' imprisonment would last longer.
Instead of going back to the Crystal Empire, the queen settled in a peaceful cottage close to a small town to protect her daughters and niece.
And she made sure that her children would be safe if their aunt were to return again and take one of them away... or both.
And as for the prince? Well, he wasn't dead at all. He actually left his kingdom, allowing those who were still loyal and trustworthy to stay by his side.
He discovered his former-lover's castle and decided to stay there since it was still in slightly good shape, but he knew he would have to make it look abandoned and haunted if a pony were to wander into the area.
Aside from his servants, the cursed prince kept himself in isolation, never leaving the castle, and the dangers of the forest kept outsiders away.
In a small cottage close to a small town yet closer to a wild and untamed forest was an earth pony mare with an ivory coat and light violet eyes to compliment her wavy pink mane named Sunny Day. She lived with her two daughters: Cadence and Sparkling Butterfly. Cadence was a pegasus with a light pink coat and a mane that was lilac, pink and cream coloured along with the same coloured eyes as her mother. And Sparkling Butterfly who was also a pegasus that had a purple coat and a light pink mane that included natural violet and magenta streaks and teal eyes.
The sisters were so close since they were little, they were inseparable and do different things, such as Cadence who went to social outings while Butterfly stayed to either settle down with a good book or care for the little animals that come by the cottage every now and then.
It all started one early morning...
Sparkling Butterfly yawned as she got out of bed, making sure she doesn't wake up her sister in the second bed nearby. She started to gently flap her her wings so that she would fly quietly through the cottage and towards the front door.
The sun was just rising as she came out. All the animals were still asleep as she grabbed their meals and poured it into their dishes and troughs.
When that was finished, she decided to go to Ponyville to check out a few things, since there were a few stores that were often open this early.
As Butterfly approached Ponyville, she debated on where to go first: the library or the vet clinic. She always chose one or the other, and either way, she would stay there until most of the citizens were out and about because she doesn't like to be with so many ponies aside from her mom and sister.
Butterfly finally decided to visit the library for a little bit then the clinic. She soon reached the library which was assumed to be built in a tree. It was said that the library was destroyed during a fight between the legendary alicorn sisters, but when it was over, the youngest was banished to the moon and the eldest mysteriously disappeared, but before she did, the eldest was said to have come upon two seeds: an oak tree seed and a mysterious crystal one, so she planted the oak and kept the crystal. It was Butterfly's aside from the legend of the mare in the moon.
As she opened the door and walked into the tree, she was greeted by the librarian who had her muzzle in a book.
"Morning Sparkling." The librarian, Moondancer greeted without looking up from her book.
Butterfly jumped slightly for she wasn't aware of the golden unicorn sitting to the side. "Oh, good morning Moondancer. I'm afraid I didn't see you there."
Moondancer simply shrugged. "I get used to it."
Butterfly looked around before asking the unicorn, "do you happen to have any new books?"
"Nope." The unicorn finally put a book mark in her book to face the lilac pegasus with a small smile. "But since you come here more often, I'm allowing you to take a few books for yourself; no fee required."
Butterfly's eyes widened in surprise. "That's too kind of you, but I don't want to intrude..." Before she could continue, Moondancer raised her hoof to stop the pegasus. "It's fine, Sparkling. Besides, the only ones I'm interested in are the books on spells and magic theory, like Haycartes!"
She was speechless, but Butterfly accepted Moondancer's offer and started to lightly fly around the library, and within a minute, Butterfly had three books in her hooves: a folk lore and legends, a map of Equestria, and a book about mythical creatures. She thought she had all the books she needed but one book caught her eye.
Curious, Butterfly pulled the book off the shelf before turning to Moondancer, who was reading her book again.
"Um...Moondancer? What's this one about?" Moondancer looked up to the book Sparkling Butterfly was looking at.
"That one is about the ancient kingdom of Draconia. They say that the last heir fell for a princess and became possessive over her and that the princess ran away, either because he was scary or she was betrothed to another at the time. Who knows? Anyways, after the princess ran off, the prince tried to find her but found out that she was already married to another, then something about running away somewhere else and getting cursed by some enchantress."Moondancer paused when she saw Butterfly's confused face.
"What? I've read it, but I didn't like it when I finished it."
Butterfly opened the book that Moondancer apparently summarized for her, then scanned the index of chapters. It just so happened that the kingdom of Draconia had many eras and was built before Canterlot was founded.
"Moondancer, I think I have all the books I'd like." Butterfly spoke as she flew towards the unicorn. Moondancer took the books in her magic so she could see which books wouldn't be in the library anymore. When she came across Draconian history, she raised a thick brow to Butterfly, who smiled sheepishly.
"You made it sound interesting." "Uh-huh." Was all that came from Moondancer. Using her magic, Moondancer grabbed a quill and paper, writing on the top,
books we don't have anymore
When she wrote all the titles, she turned to the pegasus. "Want me to get you a bag for these?" Butterfly shook her head. "I'll manage. Thank you Moondancer!" Butterfly called as she got out of the library.
A few ponies were already out in the dirt streets, challenging Butterfly to get home quickly.
A rooster gave his wake up call when Sparkling Butterfly returned home, the animals were up and feasting on their food that she prepped earlier.
She took a deep breath before entering the cottage. After she left the library, she tried to avoid the other ponies, and she did recall that somepony called her name, but she squeaked and ran off.
She turned her gaze to the books she was carrying, then her eyes widened in horror. She's missing the Draconian history book! Did she drop it while she was running? Did she drop it when someone called out to her? Her mind was flooding with questions un til it was broken by a voice.
"Hey! Sparkling Butterfly! Hey! You dropped something!" A grey pegasus with a wall-eyed look shouted as she waved a familiar book around.
"Derpy?" The grey pegasus stopped flailing the book around and turned in the direction of Butterfly's voice, a smile on her walled-face.
"I noticed you dropped this, so I tried to get your attention, but you ran off." Butterfly felt slightly embarassed as she took the book back in her hooves, giving a 'thank you' in the process.
"You're welcome!" Derpy called as she took her leave, not seeing the tree in her path until she made impact, but she quickly recovered and confirmed it by calling out, "I'm okay!"
Sparkling Butterfly watched Derpy with concern for another moment before entering the cottage.
Upon enter, Butterfly was greeted to the scent of warm pancakes with fresh berries, a sign that her mother and sister were awake.
The two pegasi and earth pony were finishing up their breakfast when Sunny Day's eyes fell upon the books to the side, so she went over and picked up the myths and legends, opened it and started reading.
"So you've gone to Golden Oaks today?" Cadence asked with a small smile for she knew her sister very well. Butterfly nodded before adding, "I was originally planning to take a look for a few minutes, then go visit the animals at the clinic. But I guess I had a change in plans, plus Moondancer gave me a few books to keep since I was her only customer."
Butterfly turned and was about to continue, but soon noticed the fear and worry etched in her mother's face for one second before it turned into a neutral expression.
"See that one on top?" Butterfly spoke as she gestured to the book on Draconian history. "I apparently dropped it on the way home, luckily Derpy was there to give it back." From the corner of her eye, Butterfly saw her mom pick up the book she mentioned and opened it while putting the myths and legends on the table wide open to tales in the Crystal Empire.
Cadence's smile became genuine. "It's good to know that you're talking with a few other ponies!" "Do animals not count? Because I prefer them over the ponies in this town." Cadence giggled at Butterfly's remark before replying, " that's because you can communicate with animals!"
"Maybe she gets it more from her father than her mother." Sunny Day sighed as she set the book beside the other, seeming like she's ready to reveal something to her daughters.
Sunny took a deep breath, using her hoof to push the myths and legends to the pegasi. "I'm afraid I kept secrets from the two of you, mainly you Sparkling Butterfly."
It was midday and Sparkling Butterfly was laying on her bed with tears flowing. Two of her closest animal friends were comforting her, an owl named Owlicious and a white bunny named Angel.
"… a-and then after she told me that my father was alive, my own mother tells m-me that Cadence and I aren't sisters, but c-cousins!" Butterfly sniffed. "A-a-and then…" the rest of her sentence became inaudiable as she began sobbing more.
Cadence entered the room, but instead of crying like Butterfly, her eyes were widened with shock. Butterfly lifted her head to face her supposed cousin, who in turn looked into Butterfly's bloodshot eyes. "Why? Why keep secrets from us?" Butterfly sniffled as Cadence pulled her into a hug. "Maybe she had reasons of her own?" Cadence suggested. Butterfly pulled away. "Maybe there's more to it than just that." Butterfly whimpered.
The door to their room opened and Sunny Day stepped in, Butterfly turned away as Cadence turned her head to pay attention to what her mom, er…aunt had to say.
"Girls… I know I should have told you both sooner or later, and to make up for that, I'll take you two to the Crystal empire right now!" Cadence sat up on the bed, but Butterfly kept her back to her mom.
"I think that would work for me." Cadence thought out loud. Sunny Day then turned her gaze to Sparkling Butterfly. "Butterfly?"
Butterfly was quiet before answering. "I think I'll stay here. Besides, you know how rowdy the animals get when I'm too far away from them." Sunny Day's calm expression faltered slightly before she nodded in understanding. "Okay then. Cadence? I'm hoping to catch the train today so we can get there before sunset, so I need you to quickly pack up. The train leaves in an hour and it takes half an hour to get to the station."
Cadence nodded and went to her side of the room and started packing. "Are you sure you'll be alright staying here?" Sunny Day asked Butterfly, hoping she would be assured. "I'll be fine." Butterfly complied as she turned her head while keeping her back on her mother. "Butterfly, I know how hard it is to accept the truth and I hope you would understand my reasons." Sunny Day spoke before leaving the room.
"Wait!" Sunny Day froze to her daughter's voice. "Why are you leaving, and why so soon?" Sunny Day came back to Sparkling Butterfly's bedside. "Yesterday I heard that the Crystal Express would come to town today and would return in four weeks, and when you brought those books back this morning, I realized that I should go find him. But I knew you would have asked me so many questions, so I had to tell you the truth." Butterfly was silent before asking. "How long? And is it true that I am an only child?" "…three months after you were born. And it is partially true, but also false." Sunny Day felt some relieve as she left to pack some of her own things.
"At first, I thought you would would join us. I mean, the Crystal Empire! The place where we were born in? The place where your father might be?" Cadence emphasized the last sentence. "I know, I know. But I was serious when I said that the animals wouldn't behave well, and sure, they're fine when I'm in Ponyville, but the Crystal Empire? It's too far north and that's a long ways away, and you know how the animals are."
Cadence closed her case and hovered towards Sparkling Butterfly and pulled the lavender pegasus into a hug. "We'll be away for a while, I guess. Take care." "Tell me all about it when I see you again." Butterfly smiled as she returned the hug.
Butterfly stood at the train station and waved goodbye to two ponies aboard the Crystal Express as it pulled away from the station, Cadence and Sunny Day waving back as the Train started heading north.
Sparkling Butterfly waited another moment before leaving the station and headed back home. They will be back soon, she knows it.
When she returned home, she quickly checked on the animals to see if they needed anything, and after she was finished, she headed to the cottage. Before Butterfly touched the doorknob, she heard somepony shouting out to her.
"Wait miss! Please! I need help!" A brown stallion galloped down the path toward Butterfly, huffing and puffing. "I'm looking for a pegasus with a silver coat, gold mane and eyes, and bubbles for a cutie mark.…" the stallion paused to catch his breath before continuing. "Someone said that she came to you about something… do you know where my friend was?"
"Oh! You mean Derpy? Of course I've seen her." The stallion's blue eyes brightened. "Really?! When!" Butterfly was deep in thought before replying. "Early this morning! After she gave me my book back, she went somewhere… over… there…" Butterfly's face suddenly changed into a look of fear as she looked to the area she had last seen Derpy. "Oh no."
"What?" The stallion's expression faltered. "I-I think she might have gone into the Everfree forest." The stallion didn't get Butterfly's frightened look. "Okay then, I guess I'll go find her-"
"No! You don't understand! The Everfree is a place that doesn't use pony magic. At. All. It's a scary place to be at! And it's dangerous to go alone!" He was silent before asking. "Do you know anyone that would go in there with me and find Derpy?"
'If he asked someone in Ponyville, they might scream in his face, but if I go, it would be like a favour to Derpy.' Butterfly thought. "I'll help you find her! Just give me one second!" Butterfly opened the door to the cottage and found Angel and Owlicious looking at her expectantly. "Listen up you two, I'm going to help a friend, and I-if I don't come back, then Owlicious is in charge." Butterfly said before shutting the door behind her and unaware of the white bunny glaring at the owl.
"Okay, let's go!" Butterfly spoke before breaking into a gallop towards the Everfree, the stallion following close behind. "Thank you so much miss… uh…" "Sparkling Butterfly! And you are?!" Butterfly called back. "Time Turner!"
Butterfly and Time Turner have looked everywhere around the Everfree in search of the grey pegasus.
The two have been searching for what felt like hours, especially since the canopy of trees made it look like it was night, and Time Turner was close to giving up on finding his friend. The found an open space far up ahead.
A low rumble was heard nearby, making the two ponies jump. "Um…What was that?" Butterfly started to quiver in fear, but her question was already answered by a low growl as Butterfly found themselves facing timber wolves.
"What do we do now?" Butterfly looked over to Time Turner, hoping he would provide a solution. "Only one thing we can do…run!"
The two ponies bolted in the opposite direction in means to find a place to hide, the Timberwolves giving chase so as to not lose their prey.
Butterfly heard a howl as she saw more Timberwolves ahead of them, blocking their path. It was then that she seen a light from the corner of her eye.
"This way!" Butterfly shouted as she turned towards the light which led to a ravine with an old rope bridge.
The two neared the bridge until they noticed the Timber wolves gaining on them. Within a blink of an eye, a Timberwolf caught Butterfly by her long pink streaked tail and made her fall to the ground. Time Turner heard Butterfly's complaints as she tried to kick the wooden beast.
"Hold on, miss Butterfly!" "NO!" Sparkling Butterfly called back. "Go find Derpy, I'll be fine!" I hope. Butterfly called out as she watched Time Turner cross the bridge safely before bolting off.
Quickly searching, Butterfly found two rocks and threw one of them (which was smooth to touch) directly at the Timberwolf currently chewing on her tail. When the rock made impact square in the timberwolf's face, she used the other rock (which was very sharp) and without thinking, cutted off the end of her tail that the Timberwolf was chewing on and quickly started crossing the bridge.
Butterfly was only halfway across when she suddenly heard a snap and felt the bridge give out and start falling. As if on instinct, her wings quickly spreaded wide as she started to fly up to the other side.
As soon as she landed, she glanced to the Timberwolves sliding to a halt as they seen the ravine that separated them from their prey. Knowing it wasn't worth it, the timberwolves snarled and left.
A sigh of relief escaped from Sparkling Butterfly's lips. It was then that she felt something on her left hoof, so she spared a quick glance at her hoof and saw crimson. 'Maybe one of the wolves scratched me while we were running' she thought.
She faced the direction Time Turner had gone earlier and saw a large structure a little ways away.
Surprisingly, the ruins were still intact, at least, that's what Sparkling Butterfly thought as she entered through the large doors, but it was the interior that shocked her the most.
Unlike the exterior which looked like destruction, the inside was well kept, there were no cracks or holes in the walls, the tapestries looked brand new, and there wasn't a speck of dust in sight. Overall, the interior wasn't crumbling like the outside.
No, Butterfly thought. I need to focus on finding Derpy and Time Turner first. She could admire the castle later, right now she has another task at hoof.
The pegasus ventured further in, being cautious about her bleeding hoof and keeping an eye for any traces of the two ponies. She peered down a hallway and noticed the door at the end wide open. It had to be Time Turner who left it open. Butterfly entered the door which led to a long flight of stairs, and suddenly heard muffled voices at the bottom. It had to be them.
As she decended down, two figures peered down the stairs where the purple pegasus went. The two heard Sparkling Butterfly enter and decided to follow her, thinking she was a friend to the mare and stallion.
"A third? There's a third pony here?" One of the figures huffed. "The next thing ya know, the whole town comes and we'd have to hide somewhere else." Her friend shook her head in reply.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... He won't be happy about this, especially the fact that this one is leaving a trail. I mean, do you know hard it would be to wash out all that blood on the carpet?" "Do you know if he found out there's another unwelcome guest?!"
As if to answer the question, the sound of doors bursting open echoed through the halls in a loud boom, a low growl following afterwards.
the two figures froze in fearful horror before the first figure shakily spoke up. "A-any idea how he's going to deal with three prisoners?" _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As soon as she landed at the bottom of the stair well, Butterfly jumped at what would have sounded like canon fire. Someone or something knows of her presence. She had to save the two ponies, fast!
As she quickened her pace while watching her injured hoof, one single thought made her start questioning her actions recently.
Butterfly realized that she could have stayed at home with Angel and Owlicious and read one of the books she got that morning from the library, or she could have gone to the Crystal Empire with Cadence and Sunny Day and maybe relax or find reason behind the truth she was given earlier; but instead here she was, walking in a castle in the middle of the wild Everfree, helping two ponies she doesn't even know and yet she was helping them as if she were close friends with them. She was used to helping the little animals at the cottage, but it seemed different from the situation before her.
What made her do this? That was the question that tugged at her the most. What made her go help Time Turner when he mentioned Derpy's disappearence? Was it the fact that she felt responsible for the wall-eyed mare's disappearence? Whatever it was, she didn't know.