It was just another day at Sweet Apple Acres. Tyrannus and North were handling the apple trees near the barn. However, they noticed something odd about the apples that hit the ground. "Huh?" North picked up an apple, and saw that it looked completely drained of any juice! "Hey, Ty." North motioned for Tyrannus to come over and showed him the apple. 'What do you make of this?"
"Hmm." Tyrannus examined the apple, and found a tiny set of bite marks on it. "I'd say it's vampire fruit bats. They love to suck the juice from fruit. The only problem is, that leaves the fruit almost desolate. The seeds are still good to use, but they can do some damage if left unchecked. We'd better let Applejack know about this."
"Oh, Ah know all right." Applejack grumbled as she hauled a basket of drained apples. "These varmints are gonna drain Sweet Apple Acres dry!" She then got an idea. "Say, Ty? We've got weapons. Why don't we just scare them off and be rid of the pests?"
Tyrannus shook his head. "Sorry. No can do. These bats aren't parasites. Besides, Fluttershy will probably be of more use. I'm good with animals, but she's the master when it comes to difficult creatures. I'll go get her."
"Maybe we should also get Twilight." North noted. "That lass is great with magic. Maybe she can get these buggers to lay off the fruit sucking." He was then scooped into a tight hug from Applejack. "I'll fetch her. Be right back!" Sure enough, North returned with Twilight in tow. "And that's what's been ruining our day so far. Think you can lend a hand?"
Twilight scratched her head in thought. "Hmmm. I've got a spell that'll remove their urge to suck fruit dry, but the problem is getting them all in one spot to cast it." She then saw Tyrannus show up with Fluttershy. "Then again, it looks like the solution to that problem's arrived. Fluttershy? Do you think you could use The Stare on the vampire fruit bats to keep them in place?"
"Oh my...I'll try to." Fluttershy said nervously as she flew up to the bats and used her stare. The bats were rooted in place, and Twilight cast her spell! However, Fluttershy shook her head a little bit and the bats soon took to reading newspapers.
"You alright Fluttershy?" Tyrannus asked. "You looked a little bit dazed back there."
Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, I'm fine Ty. Let's go home." Tyrannus and Fluttershy headed back home, and night soon fell. Tyrannus was sleeping on the couch as usual, but his slumber was interrupted that night.
"Hm?" Tyrannus mumbled as he rose from the couch. There was a rummaging sound coming from the kitchen. "What's going on h-?!" Tyrannus froze when he saw a bunch of apples lying on the ground. Even more startling was the fact that they looked like the juice had been drained from them. But what really made him stay put was the form hunched over the mound of apples. It looked like Fluttershy, but her yellow skin had turned a more pale shade of the color, and her hair had become a bit messier. The most unsettling change was that her ears had become pointed and her wings had turned into bat wings! "Fluttershy?"
Flutterbat snapped her head in Tyrannus's direction, and lunged at him! Tyrannus braced for the worst, but he found himself still in one piece. With Flutterbat clamped onto his arm and nuzzling him happily. She then looked him in the eye and nuzzled against his face.
"Oh man." Tyrannus said as he wrapped his head around the situation. "How did this happen?" Ty's mind then flashed back to the moment Fluttershy felt dazed when Twilight was casting her spell. "So that's it!" He then sighed. "I hope she doesn't bite my head off for knocking on her door so late. I'd better see if Burst can help." Ty went over to Burst's house, and knocked on the door.
Burst answered. "Ty? What's up?" Burst then noticed Flutterbat clinging onto Ty's arm! "What the heck happened to Fluttershy?!"
"You know that spell Twilight cast?" Ty asked. "Well, it worked. But it also backfired. It planted the desire to be vampire fruit bats into Fluttershy. So now she's....well, Flutterbat." He cringed as Flutterbat hissed at Burst. "No. He's a friend Flutterbat." Ty let out a chuckle as Flutterbat sniffed Burst. "She likes to eat fruit juice. Especially apples. So I've been feeding her boxes of apple juice all the way here." Ty pointed to the bandolier of juice boxes he bore on his chest.
Burst scratched his head. "We need to get her to Twilight. She might know how to fix her. With me and her, we should be able to find a way to reverse this. I just hoe she's let Spike have a stay-up-late night now." Burst and Ty ventured to Twilight's library, and heard noise coming from the living room. Burst knocked on the door, and Spike answered.
"Yo Burst! Ty! What-AH!" Spike nearly jumped to the ceiling! "What...what IS that thing?" Spike pointed to Flutterbat. He then calmed down as he noted her appearance. "It looks a lot like Fluttershy."
"Because it is her." Ty said as Flutterbat perched herself on his shoulders and clutched his head protectively. "She's a lot more bold than Fluttershy. And she's kind of protective of me. Is Twilight awake? Her spell caused this little incident."
Spike nodded slowly. "She's probably doing some late-night organizing." Spike fetched Twilight, and she and Burst promptly set to work on finding a spell that would restore Fluttershy to her old self.
"It's a good thing you two brought her in so soon." Twilight said as she and Burst flipped through the mind spells. "If this had been discovered any later, we'd have had to resort to reversing the spell on the vampire fruit bats."
Burst nodded. "Hey, I think I found it! Restoration of self! This spell focuses on memories the caster has of their spell target." Burst then looked to Ty. "Ty. I know we haven't made as much progress on your magic as we'd have liked, but all you gotta do is focus your memories of Fluttershy's true self and channel them into the spell. Make sure you make contact with her mind. She won't trust either of us. And she seems to like you still despite her current state."
"Well, I was gonna have to use magic at sometime." Ty said before taking a deep breath as he looked at Flutterbat clamped onto his left arm. Focusing on his memories of Fluttershy, Ty began to channel his magic. A brilliant green aura covered his right hand. He slowly extended his hand to Flutterbat, and she hissed. "Easy there Flutters." Ty said in a calm tone. "I'm not gonna hurt you." Flutterbat slowly folded her wings as she inched closer to Ty's hand. "There we go. Come on." Ty finally made contact, and Flutterbat's body glowed green slightly from his magic working on her mind. When the glow faded, Fluttershy was back to normal. "You feeling all right Fluttershy?'
Fluttershy rubbed her head and let out a small groan. "I think so. But my neck hurts a little. Was I hanging upside down or something?"
Ty let out a chuckle as he wrapped his pterodactyl wings around her. "Let's just say you were driving me a little batty."