Ponies and Butterflies

[Mirage 24,140]

Out of uncontrollable curiosity - why are the ponies often shown playing with butterflies? Was this a carry over from G1 perhaps? It's more than a Fluttershy thing, and I've noticed from time to time a casual interaction with a butterfly by a few of the ponies. I don't remember them all, but after I watched all the seasons a second time through, it dawned on my how often it seemed to happen.

Do you have pics/clips of any? That is, pics from the show, not artwork. I'm specifically interested in when it happens in the show.

I found this clip with Twilight S1E13:

 

[Goat-kun 2,498]

Did you ever hear of mud-puddling?

[Mirage 24,140]

9 minutes ago, Goat-kun said:

Did you ever hear of mud-puddling?

 

Yes...?

[Goat-kun 2,498]

8 minutes ago, Mirage said:

Yes...?

I thought not. It's not a story the Bronies would tell you. It's a shitlord legend. Mud-Puddling is a butterfly behavior where they feed on such things as dung, piss, sweat, and rotting flesh in order to extract electrolytes and amino acids not present in their usual diet. Ironic. For such organisms to be considered as symbols of grace and beauty when they love to feast on foul things.

[Mirage 24,140]

1 hour ago, Goat-kun said:

I thought not. It's not a story the Bronies would tell you. It's a shitlord legend. Mud-Puddling is a butterfly behavior where they feed on such things as dung, piss, sweat, and rotting flesh in order to extract electrolytes and amino acids not present in their usual diet. Ironic. For such organisms to be considered as symbols of grace and beauty when they love to feast on foul things.

 

Oh indeed. And that has what to do with the show?

All of nature is both foul and beauty. Perhaps you should culture yourself and do some reading on the Lotus Flower, or better yet for starters, how compost becomes the food you eat.

[Goat-kun 2,498]

58 minutes ago, Mirage said:

Oh indeed. And that has what to do with the show?

All of nature is both foul and beauty. Perhaps you should culture yourself and do some reading on the Lotus Flower, or better yet for starters, how compost becomes the food you eat.

Yet there is little irony in their utilization. Butterflies, on the other appendage, are quite interesting as there exists a severe schism between a butterfly and its cartoon depiction in such a manner that it creates a scenario where an emperor, or a princess in this instance, has no clothing in the eyes of an entomologist. It would be a different matter if the butterfly in question demonstrated some sort of sentience, yet it is just a simple transcription of the actual insect and is thus inadvertently containing all the hidden facts of the latter.

 

Are you not content that you have uncovered a glitch in the system that is, by divine comedy of coincidence, aligning such events with the truth of the world? One cannot help but wonder why there is such a concentration of butterflies just under Cloudsdale. Fluttershy may have been saved by unhygienic deposition of equine fecal matter. Three cheers for the round and brown savior of pony kind!

[Thrond 3,257]

11 hours ago, Mirage said:

Out of uncontrollable curiosity - why are the ponies often shown playing with butterflies?

because it's cute

[Mirage 24,140]

Fluttershy loves them...

 

And I remember Applejack shooing this one away:

[Dashy 4 Ever 4,832]

I think it's just adorable! 

[Mirage 24,140]

Found this one with Pinkie: