Butterflies

Marcus woke up in a cold sweat. This dream was one of the more horrifying ones. In it, Discord had returned and forced Marcus to become something he never would want to be. He had hurt all the ponies, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and much to his own horror, Fluttershy.

He sat there in the guest bed, panting and sweating. He wiped his face and looked around. His mind began to wander and he slid out of bed. He still needed a shower. His clothes had become more tattered, and the holes had gotten bigger.

“I wish Rarity could hurry up... Ugh! I need to do something...”

He walked out of the room after putting his shoes on. He wandered around the house for a second and found himself peeking in on Fluttershy. She was sleeping soundly, but her comforter was on the floor. He walked in and pulled it back over her. He left as quietly as he came, closing the door behind him.

“I guess I’ll go for a walk....” Marcus walked down the stairs and stepped outside. The crisp late February air stung in his nostrils. The cold air put his weary mind at ease, if only a little. He started to walk towards a random hill. On his way, he somehow changed direction and found himself leaning against a tree.

“Damn my curved walk.”

He sat down and looked up into Luna’s night. The stars were beautiful, but he couldn’t stop his mind from wandering to Fluttershy. She was so adorable while she was asleep.

Marcus suddenly stood and turned towards the tree. His knuckles connected with the rough bark, splitting the skin. He punched the tree again. And again. And again.

“DAMN IT!”

His punches didn’t cease. Only when his hand went numb did he stop. His knuckles and hand were soaked in blood, the tree even had a few drops splattered on it.

“I want to tell her I love her.... I want to be there for her.... I want to be able... to call her my wife.... AUGH!”

Marcus dropped to his knees and let his arms fall to his sides. The cold air stung on his broken knuckles. He let his head hang and lost himself in his own thoughts.

“It’s too soon.... There’s something wrong with her, she shouldn’t be so... forceful!”

He sighed and looked back up into the night sky.

“Luna, please help me...”

~~~~~~~~~~

For once, Marcus didn’t wake up to the sun assaulting his retinas. Instead, he woke to the voice of a certain purple unicorn.

“Pinkie, are you sure?”

“Yes, Twilight! You know what it means when i start bouncing around on my head!”

“That you ate too many cupcakes?”

“No, silly! It means there’s a new pony in town! YAY! Oh my goodness, I can’t wait to throw a party. You think this pony will like parties? I sure like parties, don’t you? Ohhhh I can’t wai-”

At this point, Twilight stuffed her hoof in Pinkie Pie’s mouth.

“Sometimes I wonder how you can stay so hyper....”

“Oh, hey, look! That’s new!”

“Huh?” Twilight looked over in the direction Pinkie was pointing to. On the ground lay a creature she had never seen before. “What in Equestria is that?”

“I don’t know, but it looks fun!” Pinkie was still bouncing on her head.

“Pinkie, can you please stop that?”

“Sorry.” She stopped and returned to her hooves, swaying a little. She giggled and regained her balance. “Huh... I don’t want to bounce anymore... Is this the new pony? He doesn’t look like any pony I’ve ever seen.”

“He’s probably lost...”

At that point, Marcus grumbled as the two mares talking brought him back to consciousness. “Ugh... Who turned on the sun....?”

“Pretty sure it was the Princess!” Pinkie started to bounce a little, not even surprised in the least that he could talk.

“Oh, good. You can talk.”

“Of course I can talk, what do you take me for? A bumbling neanderthal?”

“A who-what?” Pinkie stopped bouncing.

“Uhm.... I don’t know what a neanderthal is....”

“Oh, right. Ponies.” Marcus rubbed his face and groaned softly. He slowly sat up and looked around. He remembered lying down after assaulting that poor innocent tree last night but he didn’t remember falling asleep. “A neanderthal is a human with an underdeveloped brain.”

“You lost me again...” Twilight rubbed a hoof on her face, looking at Marcus. “What’s a human?”

“I’m a human.”

“Well, you look kinda funny!”

“Pinkie! I’m so sorry, she should know better than that!” Twilight then glared at the pink pony, who didn’t even seem fazed.

“Huh... Well, I think introductions are in order, don’t you? I’m Marcus, and I’ve been here in Ponyville for.... this is my third day. Pretty sure, at least.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Pinkie Pie! And this here is my bestest friend ever! Her name is Twilight Sparkle, she’s a bit of an egghead, she runs the library and even lives there! Could you ever imagine living in a library?! I would get so super bored! There would be nothing to d-”

Twilight stuffed her hoof in Pinkie’s mouth again, not-so-effectively silencing her but muffling her enough to make her unintelligible.

“I’m so sorry about Pinkie.”

“It’s quite alright, I had a friend back home who was almost the exact same way. It’s pretty scary, actually.”

“Well, Marcus, it was nice meeting you but we have to go find our friend Fluttershy. She said she was so busy with a new animal that she couldn’t talk the other day.”

“I think I might be that animal... I’ve been staying with her since i got here. Well, after Applejack kicked me in the side, she kinda took me in and fixed me up...” He dare not mention the close calls he’s had with her.

“Oh, really now?” Twilight raised her eyebrow. Pinkie had stopped trying to talk, Twilight’s hoof still in her mouth. The pink pony looked over to her friend with a look of annoyance.

“Hey uh, Twilight? I think Pinkie wants you to kinda... remove your hoof.”

“Oh, sorry Pinkie.”

“It’s okay. Well, let’s go find Fluttershy!”

“Oh hey, Marcus, you said you were staying with Fluttershy?”

“Yeah, why?”

“If so, why were you so far away from her cottage?”

“Well... Last night I had to take out my frustrations. Unfortunately, this tree got in the way...”

Marcus rubbed his hand, there was dried blood on his knuckles and on the back of it. He sighed and licked his thumb. He began to wipe the blood off his hand. He looked over to the tree and he could barely see the blood on it.

The three of them stood there for a little before Twilight spoke up.

“Well, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be going to see Fluttershy, now.”

“Alright, you two have fun.”

The two mares walked past him and began talking to each other. Marcus turned and started walking. He had no idea where he was going, merely wandering. He looked to his right, there stood the menacing Everfree Forest. To his left, he saw Ponyville. He shrugged and turned to the right, pushing past the trees and the brush.

~~~~~~~~~~

His trek through the thick forest was tiring. His mind was still racing from thoughts of the past few days.

I need to find something to do to clear my head.... I wonder which way to the ocean...

As if Celestia had answered his prayers, he stepped out of the forest and before him lie a great expanse of blue. About twenty feet in front of him, the land stopped, dropping straight down into the blue abyss.

“Well, I guess God IS listening...”

He walked closer to the edge of the cliff. As he stood there, the wind whipped his hair into his face and gave him trouble maintaining his balance. He looked up and around him. To his right there was a trail that seemed to go down the side of the cliff. He walked over to it and walked a ways. He looked over the side and saw where it ended. Just at the water’s surface. Perfect.

Marcus walked back to the top of the cliff and stopped at the edge of the forest. He turned around once he reached the trees and took a running start towards the end of the cliff. 20 feet, 10 feet, 5 feet. Then he leaped off the edge, throwing himself towards the endless expanse of water.

He held his arms close to his sides and closed his eyes. He was hurtling straight towards the water. The air stung his face and made his eyes start to tear up. He opened them once more and saw the water only a few dozen feet away. He closed them once more and prepared for impact.

He smiled wide as his face made contact.

~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight and Pinkie Pie walked up to Fluttershy’s cottage and knocked. Twilight stood there and waited patiently for her to answer, but Pinkie started bouncing around to the side, looking in her animal pens.

“Hey Twilight!~ She’s over here!”

Twilight sighed and walked over to where Pinkie was bouncing in place, smiling like a madpony.

“Hey Fluttershy. You busy?”

Fluttershy looked up from pouring some feed in some bowls to look at her friends. “No, not anymore... Please come inside.” She walked back inside, carrying the bag of feed with her. Twilight and Pinkie walked back to the front door just in time for Fluttershy to unlock it.

Twilight and Pinkie walked in but didn’t get comfortable, they just needed an answer.

“Fluttershy, we need some help.”

“Oh..? What’s wrong..?”

Pinkie stopped bouncing. “Gummy’s sick! He just sits there being a grumpy-wumpy alligator....”

“Oh dear, ummm... Pinkie? Have you been feeding him?”

“Yes! I’m not that irresponsible!”

Fluttershy looked at Pinkie still, “What have you been feeding him?”

“Fishy milkshakes!”

“Milkshakes...? Frozen milkshakes?”

“Well, duhhhh! It’s not a milkshake if it isn’t frozen!”

“Oh my, Pinkie... Baby alligators can’t eat frozen food....”

“Oh... Woopsies...”

Twilight looked over at Pinkie. “Why didn’t you know this? You should look up what your pet eats before feeding it something.”

“I get distracted! You know how distracting distracting things are! They’re so distracting!”

“So you brought me all the way out here, and you really didn’t need me?”

“Yeah, sorry.” Pinkie smiled sheepishly and Twilight could have sworn she heard a squeak.

Twilight sighed and looked back to Fluttershy. “Sorry to trouble you Fluttershy, thanks so much for helping us.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble... Please, do come back and visit.”

“Sure thing!”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

Fluttershy smiled as her friends walked out. As soon as the door closed, her face changed into one of worry. She was wondering where Marcus was. She hadn’t seen him that morning and her animal friends told her they hadn’t seen him.

She hoped he was okay.

~~~~~~~~~~

He was shocked by how cold the water was. It was colder than expected, but it felt good. Marcus sat in the water and let the current carry him a little bit before swimming back up to the surface. When his head broke through, he took a deep breath. He looked around and saw that he had drifted a good ways away from the path back up the cliff. He started to swim towards it and his mind stopped wandering. The only thing he could think of was surviving. This was his way of clearing his head. He used to live close to the ocean, a scene almost exactly like this was only about a mile from his house. He would jump off the cliff there to clear his head, the adrenaline rush from jumping and the freezing water would always make him concentrate on surviving.

He continued to swim. He wasn’t too far from the shore and was smiling the entire time. He finally reached solid ground and pulled himself up onto the bank, lying on his back and letting the sun shine on him.

“I sure missed this.”

He opened his eyes and the sun greeted him.

“Heh... Hard to believe I’m living in the world of my dreams... Man, I love Equestria...”

He sat there in peace for several minutes before his mind wandered back to Fluttershy.

Marcus grimaced. “Damn... So soon?”

His thoughts were the same as before, he loved her, he didn’t want to rush things, he wanted to be there for her.

Marcus let out a deep sigh and stood up. He began the long trek back up to the top of the cliff.

“Maybe I should ask her out..? Gah... It’s far too soon, I mean I just met her. But, then again, I made out with her about seven hours after I met her.... Sure, why the hell not?”

He smiled as he looked towards the water.

“Oh, the ocean beckons to me once more!”

He took another running start and flung himself off the edge of the cliff again.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marcus walked back through the Everfree Forest, looking around to see if he could mark this path for later use. It was dark, Luna’s full moon high in the sky. He grabbed a pair of large branches and drove them into the dirt, shaping an “X” where he broke through the foliage. He turned and tried to find his way back to Fluttershy’s cottage. Smiling, he walked towards the cottage, which surprisingly wasn’t but a few hundred feet away.

He tried to open the door but found it to be locked.

“Crap... Hey, Fluttershy? You still awake?”

He could just barely make out hoofsteps behind the door. She opened the door and let out a deep sigh after seeing who was behind it.

“Oh, it’s you, Marcus.... You had me worried...”

Marcus smiled softly and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry... Sometimes I go wander around to try and find something to do. Am I still welcome to stay with you?”

“O-of course.” Fluttershy blushed and stepped to the side. Marcus walked in and closed the door behind him. He looked down at Fluttershy and smiled. She smiled back and turned to go back up the stairs. Now was as good a time as ever.

“Hey, Fluttershy....” Marcus took a deep breath as she turned around to look at him. “How would you like to go hang out tomorrow... Or, whenever you have the chance..?”

She blushed fiercely. “A-are you... asking me out...?”

“It’s... er... a distinct possiblity... I find that dates are the best way to get to know someone better... Or in this case, somepony...”

Fluttershy blushed even hard and thought for a few seconds. She smiled ever so softly and nodded. “Th-that sounds... nice...”

They smiled at each other and moved to their respective bedrooms. Neither one of them could sleep that night. They were too excited for their date in the morning.