The Butterfly and The Beast

by Lobisomen616

Chapter Three - An Enigma, Even To Himself

'Who am I?'
That's a question I've had trouble answering for a long time. I may never be able to. Great, I'm talking to myself again. I guess it's an old habit of mine; killing my boredom by thinking that some kind of higher power would have an interest in my life as I think out loud.
Oh well.
I'm not sure who I am, or to be more accurate who I was. I can remember pieces, fragments of who I was and where I came from. Most of it seems like junk but there are a few things that catch my eye.
I remember faces. Were they friends? Relatives? Whoever they are I can't shake the feeling that, for whatever reason, they're gone and I'll never see them again.
I remember that I'm not from here; this place called Equestria. Where I came from was not so kind but I can't recall enough to tell if everything was that way. A few pleasent memories creep into my mind now and again but I guess the pain left a more lasting impression. I know that I'm not like them; the creatures who I've lived alongside for so long. There are memories of my kind, of a word. 'Human.' Memories filled with promise but tainted with evil. Then there are memories of animals. Primal and innocent, not wanting for anything beyond the means to exist. What I see when I look at these creatures is odd. In their forms I see people that look like animals, or maybe animals that look like people, but in their hearts I see my people and all their promise with the evil all but gone.
I guess I don't want to remember where I came from anymore or who I was, but the memories make me wonder and doubt sometimes. I've lived my new life and I'm happy with it. I know who I am now and I wouldn't change it for anything. The memories I've made, not the memories of someone I used to be, are the ones I want to keep.
It began more than a thousand years ago. Funny how many things that have come to pass as of late started from around that time. The memory was still as vivid to me now as it was the day it happened.
One day I awoke in a field with no memory as to how I'd gotten there or who I was. I was confused and I wandered around, aimlessly looking for someone who could tell me what had happened. I came across two people who I would later come to know as Celestia and Luna. They were suprised by me and wanted to know who or what I was. I told them that I wasn't sure but I didn't want to hurt them. Celestia moved herself between me and Luna and warned me to keep my distance. I pleaded with her to help me as I took a step closer. She acted on instinct and blasted me with her magic. Her sudden reaction had caught me off guard and the force of the blast knocked me down and Celestia had thought for sure she had killed me. Celestia panicked and her and Luna ran over to help me. They were shocked to find that not only was I still breathing but the blast hadn't so much as scratched me. Before they could back away I grabbed hold of both of them. They struggled but they couldn't break free from my grasp and for some reason they couldn't use magic either. I didn't notice it at the time and I told them I'd let go of them after they calmed down and heard me out. When they finally calmed down and when we finally got a chance to talk they explained everything they could to me.
They told me of themselves, of Equestria and it's inahbitants, and how they'd never seen a creature like me before even in the long time that they had been alive. Then they spoke of the ruler of Equestria: Discord, and how he used his tremendous power toy with the fabric of reality for his own amusement, regardless of how it affected others. The thought occured to me that maybe his tampering with reality had brought me here from somewhere else and they agreed that was the most likely answer. I asked them to bring me to him to find out the truth as to how I got here or who I was and if it could be undone. They didn't want to at first but they wanted to help me and agreed that this was the only way they could of. When we finally arrived at Discord's palace, if you could even call it that, I saw a creature very much befitting the Lord of Chaos they had described. He looked a great deal like Celestia and Luna, at least as far as his basic shape was concerned, but he looked as if he was made of pieces of creatures thrown together at random.
"Celestia! Luna! What made you two decide to come to see me? I thought you didn't like me?"
"We don't."
There was an air of contempt in Celestia's voice.
"You're still so harsh Celestia. You've got to learn how to relax and enjoy the insanity once in a while. Anyways, whose this you've brought here with you?"
"I'm not sure myself."
"Huh?"
Discord had a look on his face like he couldn't make sense of what I'd just said.
"That's what we came here to ask you. He can't remember where he's from or who he is, or what he is for that matter. We've never seen anything like him before and we've been around almost as long as you have. We think that you may have wound up bringing him here by accident."
"Probably. Even I can't predict everything that will result from my little games. That said I've never managed to bring something here from another world or anything like that, not that I'd have any interest in doing so anyways. I'm happy enough just messing around with this one."
"So can you help him or not?"
"I can't, not that I would offer to anyways."
"What?!"
Celestia was practiacally in shock at his words.
"Even my powers, great as they are, have their limits and I don't know everything, nor do I claim to. Your friend here doesn't know where he came from, or who he is, and I wouldn't know either. My guess is that when I brought him here it made him lose his memory and since even he doesn't know what he is there's no telling how the ordeal may have changed him from what he was."
"That might explain why my magic didn't affect him."
"Hmm? What are you talking about?"
Discord seemed to show genuine curiosity at what Celestia had just said.
"When me and Luna first met him I thought he might attack us so I panicked and blasted him with magic. It must have suprised him because it knocked him to the ground and I thought I'd hurt him. When we rushed over to help him he was perfectly fine. Not only that, but when he grabbed hold of us neither of us could use our magic. In fact it felt like he was draining it away from us."
"How strange. Even creatures resistant to magic like Dragons aren't completely immune to it and I've never heard of a creature who could naturally drain magic from others or negate it, even me. I need to see this for myself."
"Wait don't-"
Celestia tried to protest but Discord ignored her. With that Discord created a massive ball of magical energy and launched it at me. Remembering how Celestia's blast earlier had knocked me down, I raised my arms up to try and block it. When it made contact with me it had tremendous force behind it but it vanished instantly. When I looked up I saw everyone's jaws drop with Discord's actually hitting the ground.
I had to admit it was pretty funny.
"Huh. Let's try something else then."
Discord conjured a large sword out of nowhere and before any of us could react he ran it through my chest, pinning me to a wall. I could feel the sword's edge cutting me even more as I tried to move and the pain was so intense it nearly made me black out. I grabbed hold of the sword's hilt and I tensed up as Discord tried to pull it out. He couldn't get it to budge and after a few more attempts he let go of it. After a few moments I pulled myself together and walked forward, pulling the sword out of the wall as I went. Then I began to pull the sword out of my chest. When I finally pulled it all the way out I expected to see a massive wound with blood everywhere. There wasn't so much as a mark on my chest or a drop of blood on the sword. Then they all spoke up at once and asked the same question:
"What in Tartarus are you?"
The looks on their faces were a blend of fear and suprise, and mine probably didn't look too much different. I could only think of one thing to say to answer their question:
"I don't know."