Little Butterfly

by PiercingSight

Flying

All of the clouds had become dark. The room had fallen silent. There was almost no light besides a faint glowing aura around them. Fluttershy stood there with wide eyes, her small body leaned up against her mother for protection. She was afraid.

THUMP

There was a noticeable change in the pressure of the room. The other ponies around them flinched with each THUMP.

“Mommy?” Fluttershy looked up to her mother, who was looking up at the ceiling. Sweat dripped down her mother’s neck.

“Hush now, Sweety...” she whispered urgently in response. This only scared Fluttershy even more, but she did as she was told.

THUMP

The room continued to grow darker with every pressure change, each one getting stronger. Fluttershy noticed other ponies trying to slowly move towards the doors, her own mother doing the same. Fluttershy followed, trying to be as quiet as possible.

THUMP

They were almost 20 feet from the door when the room went black. Everypony froze.

Then there was silence...

RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!...

---

"MOMMIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

Fluttershy screamed into the blackness.

After she had exhausted her lungs, she opened her eyes and noticed that she was laying down in a much smaller room with a warmth surrounding her. It hugged her tight.

“Shhhhh... Fluttershy... It’s okay, Sweety... I’m right here...” her father whispered comfortingly . He ran his other hoof gently over her mane, “It’s okay now... It was just a dream...”

“I... I... I want mommy...” the young Fluttershy whimpered as tears escaped from her eyes.

“I know... I know. I want mommy too...”

Fluttershy curled back up against her father; her panic had left her dangling almost off of the side of the bed. She closed her eyes since there was nothing to see in the darkness, hoping that there would also be nothing beneath her eyelids.

It had gone on like this for two weeks. They were long and agonizing. Every night, Fluttershy would have the same nightmare. Every night, she would awake screaming. Every night, her father was right there, waiting to comfort her.

The incident had left scars in both of them, blasted a crater into what was once their lives. Every day since, time passed as slow as it could, making sure that at every moment, they could feel the weight of the pain.

For two weeks, Fluttershy and her father stayed home in silence... mostly. Fluttershy would get homework in the mail and do it before breakfast. Her father would sit at his desk, working on projects that, no doubt, would have been easier at his office. Both of them went through the normal monotonous tasks that each day had waiting for them, dishes, laundry, and general cleaning. Both of them tried to prolong their work so there would be no time to talk, no time to think, and, most importantly, no time to remember.

But it didn’t work, as every corner of the house, every dirty dish, every book, and every piece of furniture opened memories from the most precious, and now most painful, shelves of the past. In vain, they sought comfort in a situation that could not be changed.

Fluttershy felt the breath of her father run across her mane, letting her know that he was still there laying next to her. It gave her comfort that, at least, not all was lost. So she let herself relax, lazily letting her legs curl into their natural poses before slumping into place. She kept her eyes shut, took a deep breath and began to hum, quietly thinking the lyrics of the lullaby in her head. She wasn’t even halfway through the melody when the gracing arms of sleep overtook her, giving her temporary escape and peace.

---

“Good luck, Sweetie.” Fluttershy’s father called as she walked towards the front doors of the school. She gave a small wave in response before turning away.

Fluttershy sighed in relief. It had been a month since she’d been to school, and she missed her friends, she missed her teachers, and she missed the amazing things she learned there. Fluttershy loved school. She loved learning about everything from math to science to history; she absorbed everything. To her, school was like a second home. She loved talking and playing with her friends, they were the brothers and sisters she never had. Her friends were her family. Her teacher was like-...

Fluttershy mentally stuttered at the thought. She quickly scrambled for a more suitable place for her teacher, hoping to avoid any thoughts that would break the shell that she’d built up in the last month...

Aunt... aunt works... yeah, her teacher was like her aunt…

Fluttershy looked up at the large welcoming doors to the school and took a deep breath before finally stepping through. The sounds of hoofs in the hallways, and the chatter of the small groups by the lockers were simple comforts she didn’t know she had missed until now. Some of the students recognized her and quickly turned to their friends and whispered, while others smiled at her warmly. Her friends, who were together in the center of the hall, quickly skipped over and gathered around her.

“Fluttershy!”

“Hey Fluttershy! Welcome back,” one particular yellow filly said.

Spitfire had been Fluttershy’s friend since her first day in school. After finding that they were both the same color, they quickly began to share everything with each other, from toys to stories to interests, and from that day forward Fluttershy and Spitfire were almost never found apart. They ate at the same table, they laughed at the same jokes, they played the same games. They talked about everything, and forever kept each other’s secrets. The only difference is that Fluttershy was shy, Spitfire was not.

“So how’ve you been?” Spitfire asked with a smile.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile back. “I’m... doing much better... Thanks.”

“I’ve missed you so much!” a colt said enthusiastically with a hug from behind. Soarin was never a subtle one.

“He only missed you ‘cause he had to actually listen in class for the first time,” Spitfire said teasingly.

“Hey!” Soarin quickly snapped into a defensive position.

Both Spitfire and Fluttershy giggled. This was the simple fun that Fluttershy had missed for so long. She felt a comfort that had been previously absent. She was home again.

“It’s good to have you back,” Spitfire said with a hug. “Why don’t we-...Oh! I almost forgot! I bet you’ll never guess what I did yesterday!” Spitfire was suddenly on her tip-hooves subtly bouncing up and down.

“I still don’t believe you actually did it,” Soarin grumbled before Fluttershy could ask what it was.

“You’re just jealous,” Spitfire stuck her tongue out at him.

“No! I just want to see you do it first, THEN I’ll be jealous.” He scowled.

“What are you two talking about?” Fluttershy finally squeezed in.

“Spitfire says that she-”

“I FLEW!” Spitfire squeaked over Soarin with a huge smile on her face.

“You did?” Fluttershy was caught off guard by this simple news. As far as she knew, no other pony in her class was even close to fledging, much less actually flying. “How did you do it?”

“By lying and then adding an ‘F’,” Soarin remarked. Spitfire glared and stuck her tongue out again before continuing.

“It’s... a little hard to explain, I’ll show you at recess.” Spitfire was still on the tips of her hooves when the bell rang to go to class.

“I’ll see you at lunch girls!” Soarin said on his way to his class. The only time in school that Fluttershy and Spitfire shared with Soarin was lunch. Everything else, including recess, was separate.

“Come on, Fluttershy, let’s go!” Spitfire was unable to hold still any longer and had bolted down the hall.

“Wait for me!” Fluttershy giggled and followed her to class.

---

After the day’s lesson, recess was a cacophony of small pegasi testing their wings, stretching, twisting, flapping, trying to get off of the ground. Most of the playground equipment stood untouched except the slides, down which other students would go with their wings open trying to get lift. Fluttershy and Spitfire stood off to the side and watched for a few minutes, giggling at some of the colts attempting to show off how much wind they could create.

“All the other kids have been tryin’ since they saw me fly,” Spitfire indicated with a chuckle.

“Can you show me now?” Flutter shy asked excitedly.

“Right now would be the perfect time to show up all of those colts again wouldn’t it?” Spitfire smiled slyly as her small wings spread to full width. “You ready?” she turned to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nodded with a smile. Spitfire lifted her wings and brought them down with a whoosh. She was airborne, moving ever so slightly forward. When she had risen to about a foot into the air, she leveled out her wings and gently glided forward a few feet before touching back down and folding her wings together. The entire playground fell silent, then was quickly filled with cheers, all of the students impressed with her small glide. Spitfire revelled in it, taking a small bow before walking over to Fluttershy.

The fillies and colts who were once cheering resumed trying even harder just to get a few inches off the ground, while some of them just sat down, deciding just to not bother anymore.

“Did you see that!?!” Spitfire squeaked at Fluttershy.

“That was incredible! How did you do it?” she asked. Fluttershy had watched in wonder at the display Spitfire had put on.

“I don’t know actually. Turns out there’s certain way to move your wings to make them grab more air or something. I just found it yesterday, and I was lucky to find it just now,” Spitfire shrugged, “How about you try it! Here I’ll show you!”

“Okay...” Fluttershy backed up a little to make room for spitfire, and faced forward.

“Alright, so first you spread your wings out like this,” Spitfire proceeded to spread her wings to full length. Fluttershy struggled, but was eventually able to hold them out at full length.

“Um... now what?”

“Then, I guess you just lift your wings and bring them down really quickly,” Spitfire’s wings lifted and came down with another whoosh, which lifted her a few inches into the air. She came back down and landed gently on the cloud ground.

“Okay then, here it goes...” Fluttershy lifted her wings, then quickly brought them back down. Her small wings collapsed back onto her sides, hanging limply before folding back up, “Oh...”

“Oh, it’s okay. You can keep trying. I know you can do it!” Spitfire gave her an encouraging smile, but Fluttershy didn’t see it. She looked around and noticed that there were other students watching her and spitfire.

“Um... can I try again later? Everypony’s watching us...” Fluttershy kept her wings in and tried inconspicuously to hide behind Spitfire. The thought came to her mind that everypony in her class just watched her fail completely and utterly. This only resulted in her trying even harder to be invisible, and Spitfire noticed.

“Fluttershy, you don’t need to worry what they think. Some of them can’t even open their own wings all the way...” Spitfire stated matter-of-factly. This made Fluttershy feel a little better, even though they did share recess with the younger classes, “See? Nothing to worry about,” Spitfire pointed to a brown colt with a grey mane, who was struggling only to get one wing to fully stretch at a time.

“Yeah, I guess I was just being silly,” Fluttershy came out from behind Spitfire and sighed before sitting down. Spitfire smiled and soon followed suit.

They stayed there for a few minutes and just enjoyed the sun, watching the other ponies play on the swings, jumping off at full height, then trying to open their wings, only to fall straight to the ground. Some of them landed awkwardly and fell on their sides. Both Fluttershy and Spitfire giggled in unison. Fluttershy felt at peace here, simply relaxing with a friend, enjoying the blue sky and sunlight. She smiled.

“So... how’ve you been?” Spitfire asked timidly.

Fluttershy’s smile faded.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I was just...” Spitfire begun to freak out.

“No... it’s fine...” Fluttershy said. She tried to smile at Spitfire, but it didn’t work.

“No it’s not! I shouldn’t have brought it up. I’ve just been so worried about you-”

Fluttershy scooted over and nudged up against her, “Thanks Spitfire.” Spitfire went quiet and hugged her in return. “I’m glad I have a friend like you...” Fluttershy said.

“N-No problem...” Spitfire responded trying to give as gentle a smile as she could.

When they finally pulled away, Fluttershy felt the familiar trails of water on her cheeks. She wiped them off, and smiled at her friend. “I'm much better now," she said. "Thanks."

There the two fillies sat, basking on a white cloud, watching the other clouds pass over the beautiful landscape below.

---

"Um... Daddy?"

Fluttershy was on her father's back, her forehooves gently wrapped around his neck, as they made their way home from school. Because her father wasn't a pegasus, the trip took much longer for them that for most of the other students, despite living near the building. This gave them time to talk, and to enjoy the view from the clouds.

"Yes, Fluttershy?"

"I want to learn to fly."

Her father paused for a moment, thinking about what to say.

"Are you sure you're old enough?"

"Well," Fluttershy wasn't sure how to answer that. She knew that Spitfire had learned to glide, at least, and that many of the other students in the grade above her's were already flying. Was she old enough? It seemed reasonable enough. "I think so. There are other foals at school that can do it."

"Okay," They looked up to see a few young ponies soaring through the air overhead, as school was out, and they were free to roam. Her father motioned to his sides. "But, I'm not a pegasus. I don't exactly know how to fly, much less teach anypony."

"Oh." Fluttershy was slightly disappointed, but she understood that her father wanted to help. Suddenly, she remembered something that she had seen on one of the posters at school. "I think there's a flight camp in the summer. Can I sign up?"

"There is?" He apparently wasn't accustomed to the way pegasus schools worked. Fluttershy was, after all, his first pegasus filly. "Where is it?"

Fluttershy didn't know the answer to that, but she knew that she could pick up one of the fliers at school the next day. "Um. I'll go look tomorrow."

"Well, you let me know tomorrow, and then we'll see about signing you up. Fair deal?"

Fluttershy grinned, and hugged her father tight. "Yes, sir."

Comments

[Manaphy]

I actually used to have a headcanon where Spitfire and Fluttershy were friends as fillies, so it's cool to see it here. Nice chapter!

[xort]

this is really great i cant wait til the next chapter. Like and favorited