All was calm in the Everfree Forest. The shaded grounds beneath the trees was calm, and the air was cool. All of the local flora seemed to be in bloom, releasing various sweet scents into the air in hopes of attracting an insect to pollinate it. Warm, bright beams of summer afternoon sunlight speckled the ground, heating up the damp air beneath the canopy. The dull forest noise was almost dead silent in the mid-afternoon sun. Everything seemed to be taking a pleasant nap.

A twig snap, followed shortly after by the rustling of leaves, echoed in the near mute forest. A pale and slightly luminous creature walked through the forest, its long tail swishing back and forth in a serpentine fashion. It looked vaguely equine, though with paws instead of hooves, and a dragon's head. It had large feathered wings, closely tucked to its sides. Coarse scales covered its back and sides like armor, growing smaller and finer like chain-mail as they continued up the creature's neck. On its face was a broad mask-like scale, from behind-which four feathers stuck out, two on either side. Two flowing antennae-like extensions stemmed from the creature's head, making it look almost as though it was the product of a pony's imagination.

The creature disappeared behind a thicket, though it was still moving, casting the muted sounds of paws on grass. It passed back into view on the other side, now fluttering by in the form of a small butterfly with pointed-tipped wings. It fluttered around for a while before settling itself upon a long blade of tall grass to rest, its wings folding up over its back.

A relatively large teal eye watched the creature with foalish curiosity. It slowly zoomed in, staring at the luminous butterfly.

The butterfly flitted off, taking to the still midsummer air. The eye, which belonged to a small yellow pegasus filly with a long pink mane that covered her other eye, followed its swift motions. Curiosity got the better of the young pony. She leapt forwards to follow the butterfly. It dodged her nimbly, gaining a foot of altitude before the pegasus fell back to the ground. The butterfly descended slightly, turning in the small clearing. The filly turned with it, hopping along as a bunny, chasing the luminous butterfly. She leapt forwards, falling upon a sleeping buck deer with impressive antlers. She clambered over its soft furred back, focusing solely on catching the butterfly. The creature glared at her as she hopped on, appearing to have caught the butterfly. She laid down, looking at her empty hooves. A smile curled up on her face as the butterfly suddenly appeared, calmly sitting on her hooves.

As if noticing the deer behind the pink-maned pony had fallen back asleep, the butterfly fluttered up, taking flight once again. It flew away, its soft glow beckoning the filly to follow it. The gentle pegasus stood up, and leapt forwards to follow.

She chased her little butterfly friend through the calm forest. It weaved through the trees, choosing a path that was clear for its ground-bound follower. Not once did it fly over a thicket or through a tangle of vines or anywhere near anything with thorns. The fast friends happened upon a particularly large and thick-trunked tree, and the butterfly flitted right, disappearing behind it. The filly clambered over the trees roots, looking over just in time to see the butterfly disappear again. She followed it, peering around the tree to see that the butterfly was gone, and in its place stood a large winged creature, the likes of which the curious filly had never seen before. On the creature's face was a mask-like scale. The four feathers and two antenna-like structures that stuck out from that crest created a butterfly shape. The dragon's slitted eyes stared at her, glowing happily. Its lips seemed to curl up in a playful smile before it turned around and ran off into the forest. She followed quickly after it, bush-whacking to keep up. As she emerged from a thicket, she saw that the arcane creature had leapt across a wide ravine, which fell roughly two hundred meters down into a shallow river.

The filly grimaced, looking at the butterfly dragon with a sarcastic look that meant something along the lines of 'Really? Really.' But she was a curious little filly, and she wanted to know what this creature was. No other creature had been like this with her. Not bears, not deer, and not even manticores were quite so dodgy. She backed up slightly before galloping forwards, leaping forwards over the empty space. She failed, however, to account for gravity, as it began to pull her down into the ravine. She opened her wings, but could not manage enough power to cease her freefall.

The butterfly dragon leapt off the cliff, diving quickly to catch her. It grasped her in its arms, pulling her upward the fifty meters she had fallen with three powerful wing-beats. It set her down gently upon the cliff, before landing a couple of meters away. As the filly opened her eyes again, it walked slowly into the forest again.

She sat upon a rock next to the butterfly dragon, staring up into the afternoon sky. A few lazy clouds rolled on a slow warm breeze high above the ground. She smiled blissfully, content to sit there forever with her new friend. Something broad and flat slapped gently against her cheek, nudging her almost roughly. She looked over to see the butterfly dragon with one of its armor-like scales in its jaws, a gentle smile forming on its lips. She raised an eyebrow at the gesture, taking the scale, and staring at it in her hooves. It did not glow as the ones still on its back did, but it was still an elegant shape. The butterfly dragon touched her hoof, causing it to glow with the same pale light that it did. It nudged her hoof down upon the scale, pressing it gently against the stone-tough plate. She lifted her hoof to see her own hoofprint glowing palely on the scale. She turned and beamed at her friend, who smiled right back. She turned back to the scale, and began carving at it with her hoof.

After a while, she carefully placed the last feather on the back of the scale, sticking its tip into a drop of tree sap. She turned it back over, smiling at the mask she had made of the scale. A thick line ran down the middle of it, exposing a darker tone of the scale's pale color. On either side of the line were two half-ovals, each just an outline. They gave the appearance of the mask having eyes, but remained solid. The butterfly sat upon the center line, looking up at its friend. It faded out of existence, its pale glow flowing into the darkened tones of the scale. She turned it around, holding it up to her face. Two slitted white eyes flashed inside the ovals, fading back to just the mask again.

Author's Note

This is Chapter 2 of my smallish short story. This chapter is entirely based on the animation aforementioned in the description. I'll be uploading Chapter 1 as soon as I finish it, but until then, just enjoy the cuteness of this chapter, and formulate your own hypotheses on how I'll turn this into a Twishy shipfic. :3

I'll see y'all at the next update! o3o

-DarqFox