//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Three Butterflies // Story: Discord's Little Butterfly // by Fluskie //------------------------------// Many years had passed since the news of the Lord of Chaos, Discord, had somehow found a way out of his stone prison. And while it didn’t seem like he’d ever target the ponies at this rate, others still feared the chance he’d still come back silently and reign in chaos once again. No one knew how the princess felt about this but it didn’t seem like she was too bothered anyways. Her focus seems to be more toward her younger sister at this point. Unless she was hiding her feelings. Discord however seemed to be enjoying his freedom quite well. Ever since he had been freed, he and the young foal had taken to living in his small chaotic pocket dimension by themselves. They didn’t really have much choice anyways. Discord had to remain in hiding for now just in case.  He had completely adopted the title of her guardian and took care of her. And although they seemed perfectly happy together, they still had their differences and small fights such as the young one arguing with him about harming ponies with his chaos magic and him disagreeing with her being too soft on others. But, that didn’t hurt their relationship at all. Presently, Fluttershy had grown bigger with long legs and bigger wings. Along with her learning to speak in sentences and being better at expressing herself. The little one was getting better alright. “And then..You just put your hoof out.” “I don’t have a hoof, I have an eagle claw and a lion paw.” “Well..Maybe use your lion paw then.” Discord rolled his eyes and stretched out his lion paw, his palm open. He waited for a moment when suddenly a small butterfly fluttered into his paw and stood on it, idly flapping its wings. “There you go, you did it!” Fluttershy grinned. Discord suddenly closed his paw, trapping the butterfly inside. “Discord!” “Whhhaatt..Doesn’t this work like fishing? You catch the butterfly and then you get to eat it?” “Absolutely not! Give me the butterfly!” He opened his paw again to reveal the butterfly completely unharmed but rather frightened. It quickly fluttered out of his paw and landed on Fluttershy’s head. “Oh you poor thing..I’m so sorry he did that to you. I promise I won’t let that happen again.” Fluttershy comforted the butterfly, petting its wings gently with her hoof. “Yes, I’m such a monster aren’t I?” Discord grumbled. “Don’t say that, you’re not a monster.” “The fillies at your school think so and so does everypony else. I’m not even sure why I sent you to school anyways..That stupid carriculum they teach there will make you turn against me.” “You’re in Equestrian history?” “Yes, of course I am! I told you about how much damage I did. That definitely marks a moment in history that your little bratty class peers need to learn about and judge me on.” “Discord, you need to learn that not all ponies are bad. I’m an example of that. And even if they do teach me that, I won’t listen to the bad things that are said. I’ll take it as somepony else’s opinion, not mine.” “Alright, fine.” Discord crossed his arms and gently levitated in a sitting position in the air, looking down at the floor frowning. There was a long silence until Discord finally said something, changing the subject it seemed. “You know..I don’t think you ever learned how to fly even though you’re a pegasus..I guess it’s my job now.” “To..Fly?” “Well, I’ve seen you use your wings before when you were smaller to hover a little off the ground but you didn’t get that far. You don’t know how to fully fly. You’ll definitely need it. Hm..How about I take you up near Cloudsdale and teach your how to fly?” “I..I don’t know. I mean, flying sounds amazing but..I’ve seen others in my class do it and..A few of them got hurt.” Fluttershy folded her ears, shyly looking away.  “That’s only because they’re not doing it right. Besides, they’re young, they’re screw ups then.” “Discord!” “Fine..’Happy little accidents’? I don’t know any other way to put it.”  He leaned his paw down to Fluttershy suddenly. “Shall we?” She hesitated but then took it. The moment her hoof made contact with his paw, they were poofed somewhere else. They were now on a big fluffy cloud in the big blue sky seeming to be far away from Discord’s dimension. Not too far away, the big cloud city, Cloudsdale was in the distance. You could even see small colorful dots which were pegasi flying above it and within the city.  “Wow, you got a lot closer to ponies than I thought you would.” Fluttershy said, admiring the cloud city.  “Well, I had to obviously. They steal all the darn clouds and claim them as there’s when none of this is any of ours. Greedy creatures..” “Discord, you’re out in the open as yourself!”  “Oh, right. That’s where the disguise comes in.” With a snap, the draconequus disappeared with a flash of light and was suddenly replaced with a grey pegasus stallion with a black mane. He had a tornado cutie mark and even blue eyes. “Call me, Tornado Twister!” He striked a pose dramatically. Fluttershy gasped and giggled when the stallion joined her side by side on the cloud.  “Alright, I’ll show you the basics first. I think this will be easier to demonstrate as a pony anyways because I’ll have both pegasus wings.”  He trotted to the end of the cloud and spread out his wings. He bent his legs and suddenly took off, flapping his wings and kicking out a little puff of cloud. He did a little loop in the air and then landed back on to the cloud again.  “Did you get that?” “Uh..That..Doesn’t look very basic.” Fluttershy said. “Right, I guess I’m going to do have to do a step by step. Maybe leave out the little loop at the end as well..” ‘Tornado Twister’ began teaching Fluttershy how to fly. A lot of it started out with Fluttershy face planting right into the cloud or only getting up into the air by a few inches. ‘Tornado Twister’ was able to get her hovering over the cloud though after a few tries and fails. She was soon enough happily flying above the cloud. “Perfect. Now, why don’t we try it without the cloud below you?” Fluttershy didn’t have the time to reject him removing the cloud because he had already shoved it out of the way and let it float off harmlessly. She looked down and immediately regretted it. Her wings locked to her sides as she folded her ears, her eyes widening in fear. And just like that, she was falling from the air at an alarming speed. She screamed and waved her legs through the air uselessly as if she would be able to grip on to some invisible tree branch or cliff. ‘Tornado Twister’ and the cloud harmlessly floating off were already starting to turn into nothing but floating blurs. “Fluttershy, flap your wings! Remember what I told you!” His voice could be heard quite muffled over the fierce winds.  She looked over to one of her wings that was locked to her side and shut her eyes tightly, trying with all her might to unlock her wing from her side. But, it was no use. She stopped trying and panted as she wasn’t very far from the ground now. She had to prepare for the worst.. She saw ‘Tornado Twister’ dive downwards to try and catch her but she was sure it was too late for that now. He wouldn’t reach her in time. She put her hooves over her eyes as she simply let go, accepting her fate. Her life was short and rather uneventful but she was grateful she met Discord..He made her life better. “Fluutterrsshyyy!!...” She could hear his distant screaming as the rushing of air finally stopped. She died..Didn’t she? There was no pain though..What happened? She could feel soft fluttering underneath her and her back and flank being supported. She opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw holding her. Butterflies?  There was a group of pink butterflies softly hovering underneath her and supporting her up a few inches from the ground. They saved her!  “Oh my goodness, you all saved me! I can’t thank you enough.” The butterflies one by one dropped her hooves gently to the ground and helped support her back on to her hooves. Once they did their job, they flew away from her and gathered up beside a nearby bush, softly flying in front of each other  and almost seeming like they were having a small conversation.  “Thank you all, I could have injured myself if it weren’t for all of you.”  She heard the trees rustle as little squirrels hopped out of them and crowded around Fluttershy along with tweeting birds, buzzing bees, and even a big fluffy bear who at first scared her but seemed to mean no harm as he sat down beside all of them, eating a small berry from a bush.  “Wow, there’s so many of you all and you all seem so very nice!”  “Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy!” ‘Tornado Twister’ called out and instantly stopped when he came out from behind a tree. He saw Fluttershy sitting there on the ground giggling surrounded by animals. Some birds were braiding her mane and two squirrels were holding a big brush and brushing her tail together at once. What surprised him the most was the fact she was having a casual conversation with a large bear in front of her and eating small berries from a little bucket. (Presuming the bear brought some for them to share.) ‘Tornado’ seriously thought his chaos magic was messing around without his command or that something strange got slipped into his breakfast this morning and he was seeing things. “Oh, there he is right now! Hey, um, Tornado. Come see my new friends! They’re all very nice.”  ‘Tornado Twister’ gave her a really weird look as he trotted over and stopped in front of two bunnies who were casually nomming at some carrots scattered amongst the ground. They looked up and him and immediately ran away, seeming to be frightened by him. “Huh? Why are they running away?” ‘Tornado’ asked. “I’m not sure. Maybe they were done eating and wanted to go play?” Fluttershy said. But that simply didn’t seem to be the case. A different critter would look up at him and look like they saw a ghost as they as well followed what the bunnies did and ran away. Eventually all that was left was the large bear enjoying his berries. “Why are you all running away? What’s the matter?” Fluttershy asked. The bear finished off his handful of berries and looked up at ‘Tornado’ and screamed in some odd kind of bear scream, running off as well. “Oh no, come back!” Fluttershy said, galloping off the way the other animals went. “Right..I know why they’re scared.” ‘Tornado’ said to himself, frowning at the ground. Meanwhile Fluttershy was seated at a tree of a family of squirrels. It seemed the ones that were brushing Fluttershy’s tail also lived with their mom and their other siblings. The mother squirrel currently was petting her children’s heads and holding them close as the other siblings stared down at Fluttershy a little frightened.  “Why are you all so scared?” Fluttershy asked. The mother squirrel yelled at Fluttershy in squirrel language, grabbing a shell of an empty peanut and throwing it at her. She flinched as it only softly hit her in the forehead and then fell to the ground like a little feather. “That was not very nice words to say, would you really want to say that in front of your children? What if they learn to say that as well!” Fluttershy said, gesturing to the squirrels hugging her.  The mother squirrel looked down at her children with a bit of a concerned look, taking in Fluttershy’s words. She then hugged them back, nodding at her. “I’m glad you listened. Look, I’m not here to hurt any of you anyways. I just want to know why you all ran away.” The mother squirrel pointed towards where ‘Tornado Twister’ was standing alone, kicking up some dirt and looking particularly upset.  “What’s wrong with him? He hasn’t done anything to you all.” The mother squirrel then began speaking for a very long time, making small gestures with her paws while doing so.  “You’re all scared of him because your ancestors were tortured by his chaos and lost their homes? It also killed many of them?!” The mother squirrel nodded. “Wait, how did you know it was him? He’s in disguise.”  The mother squirrel then spoke again, making gestures for Fluttershy to follow. “You can all feel his magic and his presence from miles away?” The mother squirrel nodded. “That’s really interesting.” Fluttershy said, rubbing her chin with her hoof thinking. “Well, It doesn’t matter now because I promise he won’t hurt you all, I’ll make sure of it. He wouldn’t do anything to upset me.” The squirrels all looked to each other and then Fluttershy when suddenly they all climbed out of the tree, giving little smiles up to her. “Come on, let’s go find the others!”  Fluttershy had a small trail of squirrels behind her as they searched for the others. They searched in bushes for the many pink butterflies and soon found them as well. They also joined the ever growing trail behind Fluttershy. Fluttershy was even able to use her new learned skill of flying to fly up to the trees and talk it out with the birds. The last was the bear and she was able to calm him with some berries and reassure him. It wasn’t long before ‘Tornado Twister’ saw Fluttershy coming back with a big group of animals, perhaps even more than the last time. “You got them all to come back?” ‘Tornado’ asked. “Mhm, all it took was a little talking and some love.” Fluttershy smiled. Fluttershy giggled as a few squirrels hopped into her mane, tickling her a little. Something bright ‘Tornado’s’ eyes however when he saw a flash of light starting on Fluttershy’s blank flank. “Fluttershy, watch out! Someone’s going to shoot you!”  ‘Tornado’ leaped in the air from where he was standing and used his wings to glide over, instantly jumping in front of her and blocking her from whatever was going to harm her. “Huh?” Fluttershy looked down at her flank and gasped. “My cutie mark!”  She pranced around all excited as there were now three tiny pink butterflies on her flank on both sides. ‘Tornado’ only stared at her confused. “What’s a..’Cutie mark’.” ‘Tornado’ asked. “I learned about it in school. My teacher said that when somepony gets their cutie mark like this,” Fluttershy said, gesturing to the three butterflies. “It means they discovered their special talent!” “Really, your teacher taught you that? What a bunch of garbage.” ‘Tornado’ laughed. “They’re really putting a lot of misinformation in your head.”  “No, it’s true! It looks likeee...It looks like my special talent is speaking to animals! I got it when I helped them all out from not being scared of you!” Fluttershy then gasped and ran over to ‘Tornado’ embracing him. “You gave me my cutie mark by being here! Thank you, Discord. Uh..I mean, Tornado.”  ‘Tornado’ looked down at her hooves now wrapped around his back and chest and hesitantly lifted his own hooves, putting them around her. That familiar warm feeling he felt when she said her first word came back. He liked the feeling..The feeling of love as he called it. But the hug wasn’t very long as Fluttershy soon pulled away and trotted off towards the animals again. “How about we have a picnic. Wouldn’t that sound like fun?” The animals cheered as she giggled. ‘Tornado’ only stared at her. The feeling of ‘love’ he once felt was gone and replaced with an empty cold feeling he knew quite well. Loneliness and sadness. He knew quite well those ponies were trying to convert Fluttershy to their horrible ways and one day she would leave him behind, abandoning him because of his chaos. It hurt him..It felt like he was being stabbed in the heart a million times just thinking of her walking away with Princess Celestia side by side, crying and giving him angry looks at every chance she could get to look at his ugly face..His little butterfly would have to be set free..His little sunshine.  The ground suddenly shook as a rainbow exploded out through the sky behind him and shot around in a circle. It took the attention of the animals and Fluttershy but ‘Tornado’ couldn’t look at it..All he cared about right now was Fluttershy.