Butterflies In Her Tummy

by Hivemind

Part 12

The next day, you and Fluttershy arrive at the Ponyville train station during the warmness of the afternoon and take a seat on a bench in the ticket room, patiently awaiting the arrival of Fluttershy’s mother. The station was mostly quiet, with only the occasional passerby roaming about the area. The ticket sellers sat behind her countertops, flipping through the daily newspaper while a well-dressed conductor wearing a fancy bell cap stood by the open doorway to the train platform, staring down at the floor, musingly.

While the two of you passed the time with idle conversation, a loud steam whistle blew in the distance. The conductor standing by the doorway looked out onto the train platform. He put a hoof to side of his mouth.

“Train incoming! Route from Trottingham to Ponyville incoming!”

Fluttershy smiles as you both step down from the bench and move past the conductor and out onto the platform. Steam whistles through the air as the train’s brakes squealed to a halt.

The conductor shouted a few intelligible commands to the head of the train. He then proceeded to each of the passenger carriages and opened their exit doors. Immediately, the platform was flooded with ponies, relieved to have finally arrived at their destination after such a long journey. Fillies and colts dashed alongside their parents, excited to have more space to play around in. Business ponies and other various figures stepped off as well. Among them, you make out a patch of bright yellow. You turn to Fluttershy to ask if she can see it, but find that she is no longer beside you. You turn back towards the crowd and find Fluttershy eagerly waiting at the front. When the crowd dissipates, the only pony left standing is a tall, bright yellow figure that took quite some time to even remotely recognize as Fluttershy’s mother, Tenderheart.

The grown mare hasn’t changed in the slightest since you last saw her, which was only once, on the day of the wedding. Every feature, from her coat to her mane she passed down to her daughter flawlessly. To your amazement, you found it slightly difficult to tell the difference between the two, save their heights.

The mother and daughter pair greeted each other with a big, warm hug. Fluttershy whispered a few words into her mother’s ear before they strolled over to where you were standing.

“Hello, Tenderheart,” you say as you shook the older mare’s hoof. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“It’s nice to see you again as well,” replied Tenderheart in a soft voice. You were deeply surprised. Even the mare’s voice sounded almost the same as Fluttershy’s. “Thank you for allowing me to stay with you on such short notice.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” you reply.

Nearby, a unicorn conductor walks up to you and the girls, towing a cart full of luggage. Suspended in the air above him is a pair of bright yellow saddlebags with three crudely stitched butterflies sown onto each side.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but are these yours?” asked the conductor, looking at Tenderheart.

Fluttershy gasped, turning to face her mother. “You still--!”

“I still use them, yes,” Tenderheart cut in. “You made them for me, after all, back when you were just a filly. Such a lovely mother’s day gift…”

Tenderheart politely took her saddlebags from the conductor and thanked him as he walked away to assist the off-going passengers. Afterwards, you, Tenderheart and Fluttershy leave through the crowded turnstiles and proceed to a café nearby for lunch.

The three of you take your seats at a table outside, order your food, and sit quietly as the waiter walks away. You look away from Fluttershy’s mother nervously as silence continues to hold around the table. The minutes pass by quickly, and before you knew it, the waiter returns with the food, passing three plates to each pony before quietly slipping away again. With some food on the table and your eyes on the delicious prize, the silence is finally lifted when Tenderheart decides to speak up, but you’d soon discover that you’d surely wish she hadn’t.

“So…” started Tenderheart, softly, looking down at her plate. “About this…foal.”

On the inside, you groan with agitation, but when you heard a shocked gasp escape Tenderheart’s lips, you yourself went wide-eyed having realized that you accidently expressed your distasteful emotion out loud.

“I-I’m sorry!” Tenderheart apologized, stammering. “I-I shouldn’t have asked that if it made you feel uncomfortable…”

Fluttershy looked to you with worry in her eyes. You reassure your wife’s nervousness with a gentle smile before turning your attention back to Tenderheart.

“No, it’s ok,” you say. “You did nothing wrong. It’s just that there have been so many ponies bothering us about it, asking questions and stuff.”

“Now why on earth would they do that? There’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, I’m quite overjoyed actually knowing that you and Fluttershy decided to take such a big step.”

“We’re still…planning for it,” Fluttershy whispered, smiling sheepishly.

“Speaking of planning, I was planning on paying your sister a visit during my stay here in Ponyville.” Tenderheart smiled at Fluttershy. “Does she still live here?”

“Y-yes, but I haven’t spoken with her in a while.”

“I…don’t think you’d want to,” you speak up.

Tenderheart raised a curious eyebrow.

“Why not?” asked Tenderheart. Fluttershy bit her lower lip and looked towards the ground with a pang of sadness in her eyes.

“She’s…been having a lot of emotional trouble lately,” you say. “I don’t know why, but she’s been in such a terrible mood lately.”

“Oh dear…” murmured Tenderheart, covering her mouth with one hoof.

“But I think it might be…my fault that she’s acting this way. At first, Fluttershy and I were just going to keep things quiet and let our friends warm up to the idea, but when she somehow found out about it, everything just went south. She became really depressed and stayed that way for a couple of days. Eventually, she just…snapped!”

Tenderheart gasped, her ears falling flat around her head and her eyes blowing up as big as dinner plates.

“N-no! Not like that!” you quickly continue, hoping to calm the mare. “It’s kind of the opposite of what you were probably thinking...”

“What happened?” asked Tenderheart, her face continuing to hold her expression of deep shock.

“She…well…gave me the whole week off! I know it sounds crazy, but one day, while I was working, she just…came into where I worked, broke down, gave me the week off, and ordered me to leave the hospital. I didn’t want to upset her any further so I just…did!”

“Oh…” Tenderheart breathed a sigh of relief through her nose. “B-but surely she just wants comfort, right? M-Maybe I can—“

“I’m sorry, Tenderheart, and I’m no real doctor, but I think that it would be best if we just let her calm down a little before we visit her. For all I know, it could be the stress that’s gotten to her. Working day and night at a crowded hospital is no easy feat.”

“H-he’s probably right,” Fluttershy cuts in, turning her head to look at her saddened mother. “You and I both know how she acted when she was little.”

Tenderheart sighed, and it appeared as if she would never regain her happiness knowing that one of her own daughters was in such a grieving state, but surprisingly, her miserable frown reformed into a short, comforting smile.

“Yes…” whispered Tenderheart, looking up from the table and turning to face Fluttershy. “She wasn’t the easiest filly to raise, what with her wild temper tantrums and all, but she always pulled through with one of those adorable little smiles of hers at the end of each day. She’ll pull through. I’m sure of it.”

As a part of her deeply caring nature, Fluttershy leaned in close and hugged her beloved mother. Tenderheart did not hug back. Instead, she sat still and accepted every bit of her daughter’s full embrace with an open, motherly heart. As the intimate moment went on, the waiter came by with the billing check, placing it on the table in front of you. He kept his eyes directed away from the family pair and honed them in on you as you took out the necessary number of bits to pay him. After messily signing the check in pen, the waiter slinks away once again.

“Well, we should probably head home and let you get settled in,” you say as the three of you walk away from the café. “I already have the guest bedroom set up, so feel free to make yourself at home.”

“Thank you for your kind hospitality,” said Tenderheart. “Although I truly do wish to see Redheart before I leave.”

“I’m sure we’ll see her soon, and there’s no need to thank us,” you reply with a smile. “It’s the least we could do. After all, you are the mother of…her.”

You shoot Fluttershy a romantic wink and a grin. Immediately the yellow pegasus’s face flared up with pink blush. Tenderheart giggled and turned to get a glimpse at her daughter’s face, but Fluttershy quickly looked away towards the ground, not wanting to embarrass herself openly as the three of you walked into the main part of the bustling town.

~~~~~

All it took was three knocks on the door for Angel Bunny to take flight, hopping away as fast as he could towards his hiding spot in a bush he had picked out earlier. The Ponyville Library was without a mailbox, and he could not wait any longer for his scheme to finally unfold, so he opted to perform the classical ding-dong-ditch prank on the librarian’s home to speed things up.

Angel leaped into the bush and poked his out slightly through the wall of leaves so he could get a good view. Seconds later, the front door opened, and a small, purple-skinned baby dragon with green scales stepped outside. The little rabbit felt mildly annoyed at the fact that it wasn’t the librarian herself that answered his trick call.

“Hello?” the dragon called out, looking to the left. “Hellooo?” the dragon called out again, looking to the right this time. No response. The dragon clenched his fists and huffed angrily through his nose.

“Darn pranksters…” mumbled the dragon. Before it could walk back inside, the infant dragon stopped dead in his tracks and looked down, just now catching a glimpse of the envelope at his doorstep. Angel held his breath as the dragon picked it up, turning it over and examining it carefully.

“To…Twibright Sparkle?” said the dragon as he read off the front cover of the envelope. Angel closed his eyes and shielded his ears, hoping for the best, for him of course. “This better not be another prank…”

Moments later, Angel heard the front door slam shut. His slowly reopened his eyes and peeked out of the bush again, smiling brightly when he saw that the envelope was gone, and that the dragon was nowhere in sight. Full of relief, he fell backwards onto his rump, wiping his forehead with one paw as he settled back onto a clump of leaves.

At long last, everything was ready. The right keys were in the right place. All he had to do now was just watch and wait for each pony to turn their keys, opening the door to the inevitable. It will be a sweet, sweet memory he will cherish in his life forever; a hidden Armageddon unlike anything ever seen before.

It was only a matter of time.

Comments

[Autumnfire]

...Angel deserves a first class one way ticket to Tartarus. please give it to him

[The Brony Writer]

1448742
I have only this to say to you, Angel Bunny.

25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkwr10K8EP1qh5iszo1_500.gif

[HMB]

I think I know what the hell Angel's plan is....And I don't like it If he wants damn attention *Pulls out Hunting Rifle* I'll give him some.........attention.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Ponies may not eat meat or probably do not sell meat to the predators, but for what you are doing to everypony's in-story avatar, dear... sweet... Angel Bunny... I think you are a treat fit for the Griffon King himself, as a gift wrapped in a red bow...
..Especially if you make our Fluttershy Cry, you wicked bunny you!

[Sky Blazer]

“I don’t know why, but she’s been in such a terrible mood lately.”

As soon as I read this line, all that went through my mind was "I don't know why, and I apparently don't have the self-esteem to find out why, but she's been in such a terrible mood lately."

Also, for whatever reason Redheart is Fluttershy's "sister" in this story, you can be sure it's the one thing I outright detest in it.

[RageCake]

ANGEL I WILL END YOU!!!!!

[Citpo]

1449728

This what you got in mind? Cause it's what I got in mind too

[Hivemind]

1451216

...ok

My apologies for...upsetting you, I guess?

[Sky Blazer]

1455425 That would imply you did something wrong, which you haven't actually done. I simply can't accept any notion of ponies being siblings unless the show confirms it.

[KibaWR]

You know.... I kinda wanna lock Angel up in one room with Nocturne, Fiddlesticks, Shaco and Warwick for a day or two. Oh and the door would be that creepy thing King Sombra had in his castle when Twilight looked for the Crystal Heart. And when I finaly let him out, I'd make him apologize to EVERYpony, including his ferret friend, giving them permission to do with him whatever they want.
Sadly though, I doubt Fluttershy would let me do that... She's far too kind. He doesn deserve her kindness though... but I guess Fluttershy can't change who she is.
Also, i just had this thought that Angel might be responsable for that "history" Redheart mentioned earlier. Judging by his current plan, I wouldnt put it past him

[Boss_Hoss1]

1755895
Oh Dear Luna! That makes frightening sense, the little lop-eared rat! If Fluttershy finds out she spent months crying over Big Mac because of Angel, she might accidentally STARE him into permanent catatonia

[KibaWR]

1865458 I really hope she'll do that.... I really wanna see that little rat getting punished for this. And I dont mean punished like Fluttershy prooly does most time like having him make the food for all the animals for a week or something. That would be far, FAR too kind for all the trouble he's causing.

[The Fields of Ice]

Hey Spike, here's a simple message on what you should do with that letter...
BURN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!