//------------------------------// // The Butterfly Flaps. // Story: Equestrian Eeveelution. // by Symphonicdysonince //------------------------------// [Vince] It had been a few days since Yomega gave us his warning. Oddly, Cy and I haven't seen him since. Or Conner for that matter... The Apple family, sans the youngest one, were having a meeting about Cy and I. We sat in on them, just so that they wouldn't have to track us down later. "Now, I'm not sayin' tha' I'm not open to experimentin'." Granny Smith warbled. "But I jus' don' think tha' we should risk th' Zap Apples this year. Maybe if'n we had th' money ta spare..." The Apple Matriarch turned to us. "Tha's not ta say I don' have somethin' for ya ta do. Mr. Gahwayn," I perked up, "I'd like ya an' Mr. Garet ta look after Apple Bloom an' her friends. Try an' keep 'em outta trouble 'til the harvest." Cy and I shrugged and left to look for our new charge. "They're called Vince an' Cy, Granny." Applejack sighed behind us. "That's what I said!" I shook my head as the door shut behind us. We had long since gotten used to Granny's eccentricities, and Cy and I couldn't argue with her logic with the Zap Apples. Magic is as magic does, after all. We made our way to the school. We got there just before recess. I watched as Queen Bitch Diamond Tiara and her lackey Silver Spoon left the school first, running off to a secluded part of the yard with a red book in mouth. I scowled at them before Cy nudged me, pointing at the Crusaders. Sharing a nod, we made our way over. "Hey guys!" Apple Bloom greeted us. "Granny send ya?" I nodded. We settled in under the table the Crusaders set up at. "What do you girls want to do today?" Scootaloo asked. "Didn't Twilight want us to go over some of the simpler recipes?" Sweetie Belle squeaked. Apple Bloom shifted in her seat. "Yeah, she said tha' we'll be pickin' out the next summon tha' we, well, summon. Ya got the book, Scoots?" "I thought you had it?" Scootaloo replied. "I had it earlier." Sweetie spoke up. "But I couldn't find it in my bag before we came out here." "Darn." Apple Bloom sighed. "Well-" "Hey!" A white foal with a two-toned grey mane and tail ran up to the table. "You guys the ones Miss Twilight's teaching to control monsters?" "Yes...?" Sweetie Belle drew out. "Awesome!" The pegasus buzzed. "Could you show me?" "Sorry, Rumble." Apple Bloom sighed. "But-" "Come on." Rumble begged. "We're not allowed to unless Twilight's there." Apple Bloom placated. Scootaloo spoke up. "Besides, we left the stuff for doing so at home, and it'll take longer than recess to go grab them and do a summon." "Aww." Rumble whined. Sweetie spoke up. "It's okay. When we can, we'll show everypony." "Okay." Rumble sighed. "I just thought that you guys would have done something by now." "What d'ya mean?" Apple Bloom asked. I watched as Diamond and Silver entered the schoolhouse early. I could also see an older stallion making his way up the path to the school. Recognizing Mr. Rich, I retuned to the conversation. Rumble shifted from one hoof to the other. "Well, I've seen how Diamond Tiara treats you guys, and I figured you'd want to summon something to rub her face in..." The Crusaders shared a look. "Rumble," Sweetie began, "did anypony tell you what happened about a month ago?" The colt shook his head. "All I remember was Leo breaking the drought for us. That's all Thunderlane would talk about." "We don't like talkin' about it." Apple Bloom sighed. "If'n you remember it, there was a lightin' bolt that struck near the edge of the Everfree. That was us. We summoned something that day." I watched the colt's eyes widen. "Thing is, Rumble, if Villhiem wasn't there, it could've hurt us." "But, wouldn't you guys have control over it?" Scootaloo snorted. "The lighting bolt destroyed part of our array. We couldn't control it. And it was tough. Villhiem met-a-morphed-a-cyst-ed to banish it." "Metamorphosed." Sweetie idly corrected. "Dictionary." Scootaloo retorted. "Point is," Apple Bloom glared at her friends, "summonin' is dangerous if you don't know what you're doin'. We've read about some o' the higher class ones that Twilight won't let us summon yet. Some are huge, some are small, a few are even made o' fire, and some can even take on full grown dragons an' win. All are dangerous." "Really?" Rumble asked, eyes wide with excitement. "And you guys'll be able to control those?" "Not yet." Sweetie affirmed. The school bell rang at that point. Everypony still outside began to make their way into the schoolhouse. Sweetie peeked under the table at us. "You two can find Villhiem at the pond if you want to wait with him." I looked at Cy, both of us nodding. With a smile and a wave, we left for the pond. Cy and I shot the shit as we walked down the road. "What d'ya think the other's will evolve into?" Cy asked. I shrugged. "Dunno. Leo will definitely be a Jolteon, though." "I can see it." Cy agreed. "She blitzes around like her ass is afire, she's with Rainbow if she's not with her eggs -which is thematic with Jolteon- and she goes from happy to moody and back again at the drop of a hat." "And she's got plenty of energy." I smirked, nudging Cy. "Too bad her stamina's shit." "Yeah. At least she's happy again." Cy sighed. "If you only met her during winter, you'd think 'mopey' was her default mood. She must really hate the cold." I shook my head as we continued walking. "Naw, I heard it was something to do with Christmas." "Bullshit. No one hates Christmas that much." "And yet: Leo." "I wonder why..." Cy drifted off in thought. I barked out a laugh. "Well, if you believe Zann's theories, it could be anything from a lack of a pee wee whistle when she was two, to a... rather grim-dark encounter with a mall Santa." "Do I want to know?" I slowed to a stop with a thousand yard stare. "No. No you do not." I focused on the glint of water through the trees. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to drown that memory out." Sadly, Cy had other plans for me. We spent the afternoon splashing in the shallows and chatting with Villhiem. There was a group of bushes that smelled weird, but Villhiem insisted we stay away from them. All too soon, a pair of leaves bounced off our heads as Villhiem informed us that it was time to go. We passed the same week old rumors back and forth as we made our way back to the schoolyard. We were nearly there when we had to jump off the road. We had spotted Diamond Tiara and her friend coming up the road. She didn't like us, at all. I think it has to do with us sticking up for the Crusaders. We tended to avoid them whenever we could. We didn't want to risk Filthy Rich's wrath if we lashed out at them. "What if she weasels her way out of this one, too?" We overheard Silver ask. "Knowing Granny Smith's antics," Diamond haughtily replied, "That farm hick blank flank will be too embarrassed to show her face at school! It's perfectly foalproof!" "You've said that before, though..." Silver sighed. Diamond rolled her eyes. "If it doesn't work, we've always got our back up plan." We watched as they walked down the road. We wasted no time in trying to catch up to the Crusaders. I sighed as I jogged. "So we're at this episode. What's the plan?" "Interfere. I got more details out of Yomega over winter as to what's supposed to happen. The Crusaders'll try everything they can to avoid having Granny go to the school." Villhiem informed. "We should only let them do their antepanultimate and their ultimate plans to avoid it." "Their what and their what?" Cy asked. "Third to last and last plans." Villhiem answered. I looked at the larger canine. "Since when did you know such big words?" "Since Sweetie Belle." He snarked back. "Anyways, the first of the two is harmless, and the last one will get Granny to meet up with one of the Apples' from-out-of-town elders at the train station." We started to slow when we spotted the Crusaders ahead of us. "Granny will still get to the school on time. And then Granny will school Queen Bitch with her 'antics'." "Oh, Yomega's not going to like this..." I sighed. We were sneaking through the orchard in a fake bush Villhiem was maintaining. Sweetie wouldn't tell anyone what her latest scheme is. We dealt with the last one by having Villhiem eat the grapes Sweetie was going to smear over Apple Blooms face. How they ever thought they could fool Granny with such a fake illness will be forever beyond me. Finally, we stopped in front of one of the Zap Apple trees. We all turned to Sweetie to find out just what the fuck we were doing here. "We can't move Family Appreciation Day," she finally explained, "so let's move harvest day instead!" We all looked at the dark grey fruit hanging from the tree. "They don't look quite ripe..." Apple Bloom warily said. Scootaloo grinned at us. "Harvesting an apple early never hurt an apple." And when did you become the apple farmer? I thought. "I don' know..." Apple Bloom tried to explain. "Zap Apple trees aren't like normal apple trees. They're magic!" <> Villhiem said. He was crouching low with his ears folded. <> "How different can they be?" Sweetie channeled her inner Rarity, making her way to the closest tree. <> Cy backed up to get a running start. I watched as Sweetie bucked the tree. Energy arced up the trunk before rebounding onto the filly. <> I called out as Sweetie was blasted over head. My warning came too little, too late.