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// Chapter 8- A Butterfly Beating Her Wings 
// Story: Only the Broken, Only the Cursed (please read blog post) 
// by DougtheLoremaster 
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Fluttershy had been telling Twilight about her experience in Ponyville, as the two walked down the long crystal hallway. That’s when a loud, strange song filled the air; emanating from a door to their left.
“Oh wow, so that’s what happened. That was one brave bunny.”
“His name was Angel and…O-oh no...Not again.”
“Rain-bows won’t light up the sky un-less you let it rain, candles just won’t glow until they’re burn-ed-”
The lyrics were cheerful but the voice was strained, almost hopeless; broken, and cracked. The unhinged melody sent shivers down Twilight’s spine, but what startled her more was when a second voice was heard; far more unhinged from the first. An oddly familiar voice.
“If you sing another word, I’ll slash your throat, Celestia help me.”
Fluttershy stiffened as the second voice was heard. Rolling her eyes and giving a snort of annoyance, she turned to look at Twilight; giving her a sweet smile. In a gentle tone, she told the small Unicorn.
“W-Would you excuse me for just a m-moment?”
Twilight watched in absolute awe as the gentle Pegasus approached the closed iron door and narrowed her eyes. Fluttershy’s hoof slammed into and knocked the heavy door off its hinges. Quietly, she walked into the room.
Seconds later, a plea for help was heard.
“H-Hey Fluttershy, I was just- Hey wait-What are you-”
The plea was cut off as a Pink Earthpony was launched out the doorway to land at the hooves of Twilight. Twilight stared in disbelief at the straight-maned form of Pinkie Pie lying prone before her. Next to her lay the knife she so cherished. Blinking in surprise, Twilight watched Fluttershy calmly walk out of the room calling behind her.
“S-sorry about that, A-Autumn-”
Her eyes narrowed in anger as she approached the stunned Pinkamena, finishing her thoughts in a sinister tone; her stutter gone.
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Walking up to the trembling form of Pinkamena, Fluttershy pinned her down with a single hoof against her throat. Her words exuded malice, as she addressed the fallen Earthpony.
“I told you, stay away from her. Now put your talents to something more useful-”
Taking a breath, Fluttershy smiled lovingly at her, and her stutter came back with the softening of her voice.
“A-And go p-prepare a party in the b-ballroom. B-been a while since we had a d-dance.”
Instantly, the straight mane of Pinkamena, fluffed up once more and she spoke in her expressively excited,  squeaky voice.
“Okay! Party time!”
Twilight blinked and her eyes went wide. Pinkie had vanished, presumably to go prep the ballroom for the party. 
“How did she-”
Fluttershy turned to walk towards the doorway of Autumn Blaze once more. Twilight however was dumbfounded as she followed her with her gaze. It was inconceivable, but the iron door that Fluttershy had destroyed, was back in place once more without a scratch on it. It was though it never happened. The only sign of any former activity was a small parchment pinned to it, which Fluttershy chuckled as she showed it to Twilight:

	Sorry for all the trouble I caused. Hope fixing this door lets you forgive me. Oh also the party is in 30 minutes, decorations are all set up and I’m baking a massive cake! I promise this time I did not use any residents. Carve my heart and hope I die, stick a knife’s blade in my eye.
-Pinkamena

“We l-learned a bit ago that asking Pinkie how she does anything, just results in more confusion for us. So instead of driving our-s-selves insane, we a-accepted her for who she is and put her chaos to work helping us keep the harmony here. S-surprisingly though she can be a bit...m-murderous at times...She is really easy-going; much rather preferring to make others smile.”
Twilight looked up from the parchment to ask Fluttershy.
“If she is so intent on making others happy why did she attempt to gut that creature?”
Shrugging, Fluttershy answered her in a gentle, yet almost sorrowful voice.
“Because like every other creature here-”
Pausing to give Twilight a once over, she shook her head before correcting herself.
“W-well almost every creature here- she is a living being.”
Twilight tilted her head in confusion.
“Huh?”
“I-I mean unlike yo-”
Fluttershy halted mid-sentence; not quite sure how to proceed. While it was evident Twilight had been resurrected from the dead, it was also quite possible Twilight didn’t know. While Fluttershy had used the stare, Twilight had told her about her life, however, there had been a gap in her story. She had gone from being captured by cultists to waking up next to Celestia with scars crisscrossing her body.
The fur on Twilight’s body was a mix-matched patchwork of purple tone, that even though she wasn’t an expert on anatomy; Fluttershy could see was not her own. Twilight’s body was a patchwork of flesh radiating the cursed magic which raised her.
Necromantic magic was considered a perversion of Harmony in Equestria. It was an unspoken law amongst magic users: Don’t resurrect the dead. Those who practiced such bastardization of magic were hunted down and slain without mercy.
For the Tyrant to perform such an act, she would have had to rip her own soul asunder. Twilight must have been extremely important for her to go to such lengths. Fluttershy was not a magic-user, however, she did have an innate ability to read other’s hearts.
Telling her could be more harmful than good. For all I know, her majesty deliberately removed that memory to prevent the shock from overtaking her mind. I would rather her not go ballistic with that magic of hers. 
“-you and Princess Celestia, the rest of us are not perfect beings. We make mistakes and sometimes our emotions can c-cloud our judgment. In Pinkie’s case, A-Autumn Blaze keeps singing the same song non-stop and it finally got to her.”
Twilight still seemed confused as she blurted out.
“What, why?”
“W-we aren’t sure, to be h-honest. Applejack was out on patrol when she found that Ki-Kirin in a wooded area; surrounded by the shattered bones of her own kind. The poor dear had been singing to a large skull in her hooves, that she was cr-cradling. It being bigger than the rest, led us to assume it was her leader.
It took a while but thanks to Rarity developing a quick anesthesia, we managed to sedate and move her to her current lodgings.” 
“But why?”
Fluttershy smiled and gestured towards a group of mixed species; dragons, griffons, ponies, yaks, and others, being led down the hallway by Applejack. Twilight watched in silence as the crowd followed Applejack’s commands to the letter.
“Alright y’all, time for quiet time. Back to yore dorms.”
As Twilight watched the creatures disperse to the rooms she and Fluttershy had just tidied up, Fluttershy explained with pride.
“That’s what we do h-here. We traverse the l-land each night and s-search for survivors of the cultists. We bring the broken, the d-destroyed, here and help them overcome the past to move forward to the f-future.”
“But why let them live if they make mistakes?”
Leaning down to gently nuzzle Twilight and whisper in her ear, Fluttershy spoke in a gentle tone, her stutter completely gone.
“Because making a mistake is the start of learning something new. To error is flesh and blood and that is all we are. Learning from your mistakes is a natural part of life. As natural as breathing. By allowing mistakes, and then learning from them; the flaws within ourselves can make us even stronger than we were for next time.”
Twilight tried to make sense of what she was being told.  Learning from mistakes makes you...stronger? If making a mistake is natural then, it’s okay to allow flaws? What if allowing those flaws creates a better being? 
Suddenly, Twilight felt the same warmth flow through her as she had when listening to Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. Her eyes glowed as realization dawned on her. Then accepting others have flaws, and helping them overcome them is to help them to further their development! That acceptance is an act of Kindness, itself!
Filled with this strange feeling of warmth, Twilight snuggled into Fluttershy giving her a warm hug and whispered back to her; the uncertainty completely gone from her voice.
“I’m sorry for wanting you to be anything other than what you are. It isn’t in your nature to be commanding or assertive, I can see that now. I appreciate you going out of your way to make sure I was comfortable, but it isn’t fair of me to demand it of you. I appreciate you for who you are, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy initially flinched at the embrace, but then realized she no longer felt it; that murderous intent. The malice, the hatred she had felt emanating from within Twilight; it was gone. It had been lessening gradually as they had been talking all evening, but now it was gone completely. The little patchwork filly hugging her was doing so without any ulterior motive. She could feel it.
Returning the hug gratefully, she whispered to Twilight in her gentle, stutter-filled tone.
“That m-means a lot t-to me. Kindness is a hard burden to bear and most of the time it can take you out of your c-comfort zone, but n-never forget what you’ve learned.”
At that moment, Twilight felt movement on her back. For the first time in a long time, Twilight felt excited and using her magic, levitated the groggy dragon off her back and hugged him.
“Spike! You’re awake!”
Shocked by the sudden warmth of Twilight’s hug, Spike began to struggle; to no avail. Twilight snuggled her companion with an outburst of emotion Spike had never seen.
“Twilight what-?”
He was cut off by her shouting at the baby dragon.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again!”
With those words she went back to smothering Spike with her hug; much to the sputtering Dragon’s dismay. 
“Tw-Twilight what’s going o-”
Spike found himself cut-off once more as the wing-tips of Fluttershy tickled his chin.
“Oh, how cute! Your baby dragon has finally woken up. He’s adorable.”
“Huh? Who are you?”
Twilight just laughed as the question was ignored by the two mares. 
“That’s right! Sweet Celestia, that means I get to go see Rarity now!”
“Hold on Twilight, who’s Rarity?”
“C’mon Spike, let’s go!”
“Twilight what’s going on? Twilight? Twilight!”
Fluttershy’s mind recalled what the Princess told her and her friends that day, 2 years after the Ponyville Massacre; the day she built the castle for them. And the promise that they made in exchange. As she watched the wayward Unicorn trot down the hall; practically prancing, Fluttershy smiled. There really is something special about her, isn’t there?