Butterfly pushed the crate so that it was grouped with the rest of them, each almost overflowing with apples. She wiped a couple drips of sweats from her forehead with her hoof, before giving a loud sigh and returning to her original position.
“Nice work, Butterfly!” She heard her mother call from nearby. She turned her head towards where the voice came from, almost immediately spotting her figure waving to her. She waved back.
“Thanks, mom,” she replied. She then buzzed her insect-like wings and lifted herself off of the ground until she was at the same height as the fruit growing on the trees. Once she was close enough, the changeling extended her hoof and latched it onto the branch, then leaned forward to clamp her fangs onto one of the apple’s stem. The stem became loose as the sharp edges on her teeth sliced through it, separating the apple from the branch. Butterfly watched satisfyingly as it fell to the ground, very close to one of the buckets she had put below her.
She continued to pick each apple and allow them to drop to the ground a few more times, but was interrupted as the branch her teeth were holding began to shake violently. She gave a yelp of surprise as she let go of the tree, trying to still herself in the air. Once she composed herself, Butterfly’s eyes trailed along the branch, searching for what was causing the strange behaviour. As she got closer to the trunk, she spotted green fur and red claws swiftly move out of sight. She rolled her eyes.
“I see ya there, Flame,” she grunted. For a moment, she got no reply, but soon enough a familiar face came crawling along the branch, his body weighing it down as he got closer to the edge.
“What are you even doin’? Can’t y’all see I’m trying to work?” she muttered, landing on the grass beneath her and beginning to gather up the apples she had picked. Flame gave a cackle from above.
“I’m just tryin’ to lighten the mood. Seems real quiet over here,” he explained. His red mane flopped over his face as he looked down on her. Any other pony would’ve fallen or lost balance on such a small branch, but Flame’s claws were sharp and his tail was strong and flexible. There was only one way to make him fall.
Zap!
“Ah!” Flame leaped up on all fours as Butterfly’s horn lit up and shot where the branch and trunk was connected. With no way to grip onto the tree, Flame ended up tipping over the edge and landing on his back, grass flying around him as he hit the ground.
“Not cool,” he complained, staring right at her with his slits for pupils.
“What are you even doin’ here?” Butterfly trotted over to him and tilted her head. “I thought you were helping Apple Bloom cleaning up the barn.”
“We finished a little earlier than expected,” Flame stated. “I was gonna go straight to Ponyville, but I wanted to see if you were doin’ anything later today.” The dragon-hybrid rolled onto his stomach and leaped up onto his claws again.
Butterfly shrugged. “I don’t really have any plans for today.” She buzzed her wings to raise herself up to another branch and began to pick each apple once again. “Say, do you think that maybe you could put those apples in the bucket for me?”
“Sure,” Flame answered, darting forward so he was positioned underneath her. “So are you just planning to do this all day?”
Butterfly dropped the first apple for him to catch. “Depends when mom thinks we’ve done enough.”
Flame returned from the bucket. “You’ve been doin’ this all mornin’. I think you should ask for more free time.”
“Well-” she tugged an apple off of the branch, some of the wood coming of with it, “-Maybe you would like that, but I’m quite happy helping mom with the chores all day.”
“Sure you are,” he scoffed, tossing the apple she had just dropped into the bucket.
Butterfly raised a brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, nothin’,” Flame could be heard blowing his mane from his face. The changeling couldn’t help but pause mid-air to stare right at him.
“What is it?”
The hybrid stared back up at her. “Sometimes I just feel you’re trying to hard to please everyone,” he admitted. “I mean, the help’s appreciated and all, but you really gotta find some time for yourself.”
Butterfly blinked, then landed in front of him. She opened her mouth to speak, but she wasn’t really sure what words to begin with. Luckily, however, the conversation was interrupted.
“Say, how’s that bucket comin’ along?” Applejack asked from a short distance away from them. The two cousins looked over to where the mare stood, then Butterfly looked into the bucket.
“It’s about half full,” she replied. When she looked back at her mother, she saw her trotting over to them.
“Ah, that’s good,” she commented. “Say, once y’all fill up that bucket, I think you’ve earned yourself some free time.”
Butterfly’s ears perked up slightly. “Really? Are you sure you can handle all this by yourself.”
Applejack gave her a smug grin. “Why, of course I can. Besides,” she embraced her with her hoof. “You’re still young and y’all ain’t getting properly paid to do this yet.”
“I know but,” Butterfly glanced up at her, “I don’t want you to do so much work that you’ll end up-”
“Hey.” The changeling was cut off. “I know my limits. It’s you I’m getting concerned about.”
“Agreed.” Flame nodded.
Butterfly gave a look of uncertainty, then sighed. “Alright, if you want me to have free time, I guess I’ll have free time.”
Applejack smiled. “Good. I just don’t want you to be exhausting yourself, ya hear?”
Butterfly nodded.
“Good. Now, you go ahead and do whatever you wanna go do. I’ll sort these last few buckets out.” She patted her on the back before nudging her forward. Butterfly looked back at her mother.
“Are you sure you don’t want any more help?”
“Of course I’m sure. Now go ahead and have fun.”
Butterfly nodded again, then turned towards Flame, who had a wide grin.
“Awesome! Come on, cuz! Race ya to the barn!” Before she could protest, he dashed off. Butterfly gave a frustrated sigh as she stared after him.
“There is no way I am running all the way to the barn…” she muttered under her breath as she began her much slower journey.
“Hey, I think you’re losing,” Applejack teased, followed by the sound of her hind hooves hitting the trunk.
“I think I’m okay with that…”
Butterfly was halfway down the path to the barn. She didn’t realize how tired she really was until she had began walking. Her bones were actually aching, as well as her wings. The heat of the sun also wasn’t helping her current situation, since at this point her mouth was really dry and craved anything close to water.
“Maybe I have been overworking myself lately…” she wondered aloud. She was pleased to see the shape of the barn up ahead, she couldn’t help but quicken her pace. The thought of some sort of drink was enough motivation for her to keep on moving.
As she trotted down the pathway, she began to pay attention to the trees surrounding her. Some were covered in fruit, some weren’t. Either way, it was a nice distraction from the long walk she was taking.
The changeling was almost completely lost in the scenery and how peaceful it was, when a sound caught her attention. She swung her head around to where it had come from; a group of bushes only a few feet away from her. She arched a brow, before calling,
“I know that’s you, Flame.”
No response.
She let out an annoyed, yet amused scoff and took a step forward.
“Flame? I heard you, come on out.”
Still no answer.
She took a few more steps towards the bushes until there was a very small distance between them.
“Or maybe it’s Syrup hiding in there?”
Silence.
“Or an animal…?”
It wasn’t that abnormal for animals to pass through the orchard, though it still made her curious to what animal it was if it wasn’t Flame or Syrup stalking her. She raised a hoof and lightly touched the bush, making sure not to disturb anything that was in there, just in case it really was an animal. As soon as her hoof touched one of the small leaves growing from the plants, a black figure flashed on the edge of her vision, making her gasp loudly and jumping backwards in surprise. She tried to get a clearer view of the creature, but the trees were in the way, no matter what angle she stood. All she could see was a fairly large creature - about her size - with a dark colour, and most likely had four legs. But no matter what she tried to relate any of those features to, she couldn’t identify the creature with any animal she knew of. One thing for sure - it definitely wasn’t either of her cousins.
Butterfly eventually arrived at the barn, panting at this point. She had fled from the scene where she saw the creature and hadn’t taken a break until now. When she looked up, she spotted Flame sitting near the barn doorway, a proud grin glued onto his face.
“I remember you being faster than this,” he commented as she stalked towards him.
Butterfly sighed. “I didn’t run all the way here - just the last five minutes.”
“Yeah, okay.” He stood up to walk towards the entrance to the house. She followed on, at one point almost tripping over the trap door that was on the ground.
“Ugh, why does the door to the basement have to be there?” she muttered.
“Aunt AJ made some weird choices when she was younger.”
The two cousins entered into the kitchen, where Butterfly poured herself a glass of water. The feeling of the liquid entering her mouth was refreshing, and also helped with the lack of energy she had.
“Phew.” She gave the cup a quick wash under the tap and then set it down with the rest of the dishes.
“So, what do you wanna do?” Flame asked, cantering around the kitchen impatiently. “I was actually thinking about going to find Gale, see if they’re free.”
“Well, you can do that if you like. I think I’ll pass on the offer.”
Flame pouted when he heard this, but soon returned to his normal self. “Okay then, just make sure you don’t bore yourself.” He began to gallop towards the door. “See ya later,” he called, before leaving her alone in the house.
Butterfly’s ear twitched. The creature had left her mind until Flame left, and now she found it hard now to think about it. She still wasn’t sure what it was that she saw and whether there were more, or if it was some sort of threat.
She then shook her head.
You’re overthinking things. Just go and do something that will take your mind off of it.
Butterfly tapped her chin, wondering what she could do that would take her mind off of things.
I could visit Iremia… she always has some interesting things to say.
Butterfly knocked on the large door to the glimmering castle. She had known this building all her life, and yet it was still overwhelming to look at every time it came into view - which was a lot, since she and the rest of her friends used this place as their usual hang out.
She waited for the double doors to swing open, wondering who it would be on the other side. It seemed to be someone different each time, but not matter what, it was always a nice surprise.
Soon enough, they did indeed swing open. She had to take a couple of steps back since a draft always seemed to blow in her face each time either of the huge doors moved. She blinked open her eyes to see a tired face.
“Oh, why hello, Butterfly,” the princess murmured, a smile appearing on her face.
“Good afternoon, Princess Luna,” Butterfly bowed her head in respect. The tiredness on the alicorn’s face caught her attention. “I’m sorry, was I interrupting something?”
Luna gave a curious look, before realizing why she asked that. “Oh! No, I just look a little rough because I woke up about twenty minutes ago.” She gestured with her hoof for Butterfly to enter, to which the changeling obliged. “I still need to sort out my makeup.”
“I think you look fine,” Butterfly commented. Luna gave a chuckle.
“Why, thank you. Now, I’m sure you’re not actually here to see me - who is it you needed?”
“Oh! Yes, I was looking for Iremia. Is she around?”
Luna nodded. “She is. I was also about to look for her, so I can take you to her myself if you’d like.”
“I would like that, thank you!” Butterfly smiled. “I still get lost in this castle after all these years.”
Luna laughed. “It is a very big place, is it not?” Her eyes scanned the hallway. “It’s a good thing it isn’t just Twilight and Spike living here anymore.”
“I agree. How is Princess Twilight, anyway?”
“She’s doing well, thank you for asking,” Luna replied. “What about you and your cousins?”
“They’re doing good too, thank you.” Butterfly nodded. “So, why did you need to see Iremia, anyway?”
“She borrowed my mirror yesterday,” Luna said. “I’m hoping she still has it, or I’m going in blind with my eyeshadow.” They sped up both of their walks as they began climbing the stairs. “I could use my magic, but that ruins the lighting.”
Butterfly giggled, and felt relief when they ran out of stairs to climb.
“So are you just here to visit Iremia?” the princess asked.
The changeling nodded. “My mother gave me some free time, assuming to be for the rest of the afternoon.”
The two of them were soon outside Iremia’s door. Luna raised a hoof and knocked.
“Iremia? Are you in there?”
Hoofsteps could be heard a couple of times before the door slowly opened. A pinkish-purple head poked out, her purple and pale lavender mane pressed against the door. Her blue eyes confirmed that there were no strangers outside her door, prompting her to fully open it.
“Hi, mother, hi, Butterfly!” She grinned. She tilted her head to Luna. “Let me guess - you’re looking for your mirror?”
Luna nodded.
“I left it on your and mom’s bed this morning…”
The alicorn blinked.
“Well, that means it’s on the floor somewhere, considering I pulled the covers off the bed just before,” she sighed. “I’ll see you two later.” With that, Luna trotted off down the hallway. Butterfly then drew her attention to the unicorn in front of her.
“Hi, Butterfly! What brings you here? Do you need something?”
Butterfly shook her head. “I just came to visit, that is if you’re not busy already.”
“Oh! Well, I was just about to leave to see Cherry and Lapis, but I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you.” Iremia opened the door a little more so that Butterfly could stand by her side as she entered. “What do you say, wanna come?”
Butterfly grinned. “Sure, why not? I don’t exactly have anything else to do.”
She watched the mare rush to her bed to straighten the blankets with her magic, while also placing two books back on the shelf.
“What is it with you and keeping your room so tidy?” Butterfly commented. Iremia gave a side-glance.
“If I don’t, mom will freak out,” she quickly explained. “And I don’t really want her rummaging through my things in the name of organisation.”
“Want me to help?”
“No, it’s okay,” she said as she picked her brush up from the floor. “I already have it covered.” She then trotted back to her side. “Okay, I’m ready to go,” she announced.
Butterfly nodded. “Alright, should we leave then?”
“Yep, we better get moving, or we’ll be late.”
“Say, Butterfly, are you free for the entire afternoon?” Iremia asked as the trotted along the path to Sugarcube Corner.
The changeling nodded. “Yeah, my mom gave me the rest of the day off. Apparently I’ve been overworkin’ myself.”
Iremia gave a chuckle. “Well, you are known to do just that,” she stated. “And I think it was nice of your mom to give you all this free time.”
“Yeah, it was,” she agreed. They both then looked ahead to see the doorway to Sugarcube corner. Both of their trots turned into gallops as they entered the cafe. There were a few ponies sitting at the tables, but none of them were Lapis or Cherry.
“I guess we’re a tad early?” Butterfly assumed.
“It doesn’t really matter,” Iremia said as she led the way to the counter. “We can just order something while we wait.”
Butterfly followed the unicorn, eventually meeting Pumpkin Cake waiting at the counter. She looked up from the book she was reading and gave a smile.
“Why howdy there, Iremia and Butterfly, how can I help you on this fine but very hot day today?” She lay her head on her hooves as she leaned over the counter towards them.
“Hi, Pumpkin, we’re doing good. We were just wondering if we could err…” Iremia paused and leaned over into Butterfly’s ear. “Say, what do you want?”
“Hmm?” Butterfly looked at her. “Oh, I don’t mind.”
“Oh, alright then. Could I get two cupcakes, please?” Iremia asked.
Pumpkin rubbed her chin. “Hmm… I’m not sure I can…”
Iremia’s ears drooped in disappointment, only to be answered by Pumpkin laughing.
“I kid, I kid. Of course I can!” She turned to face the kitchen. “Hey Pound! Two cupcakes, up and running!”
“Got it,” Poundcake’s voice could be heard from the kitchen.
“Thanks,” Iremia said, before gesturing towards a random table. The two friends went and settled around it and, on cue, saw a particular unicorn walk in the cafe. Iremia straightened up and began waving her hoof.
“Lapis! Over here!” she called. The grey unicorn lifted some of his purple mane from his amber eyes in order to see them clearly. He gave a small wave before trotting over to them.
“Hello, Butterfly. I didn’t expect to see you here,” Lapis greeted them with a nod, but paying most of his attention to the changeling.
“I just thought I might as well tag along,” she stated.
“It’s nice to see you, anyway.” The stallion sat down next to Butterfly and opposite Iremia.
“Back at you.” Butterfly smiled at the statement.
“So, where’s Cherry? Do you know?”
Iremia opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a pink, curly mane coming out from under the table next to her. The three friends weren’t sure how to reply, instead just staring at the mane.
“She’s very close…” a new, high pitched voice whispered. The mane then lowered itself below the table again, appearing next to Lapis next. “And she has something for you…”
“What is it?” Lapis asked calmly.
“...Twooooo cupcakes!” The brown mare finally revealed herself, leaping a few feet into the air holding a tray with four cupcakes. She dropped it in the middle of the table and landed on the extra seat. “Plus two more cupcakes for yours truly and this guy,” she added as she pointed to Lapis.
“...Thanks, Cherry,” Lapis said flatly, using his magic to pick the cupcake up and bring it to his mouth.
Butterfly was still quite surprised at the unexpected method of revealing oneself, which brought her mind back to something she had completely forgotten until now.
“Butterfly? Butterfly!” Two brown hooves clapped in front of her face, snapping her out of her small trance.
“Huh?” She flinched, staring at the mare opposite her. Her blue eyes were wide and curious.
“Say, what’s gotten into you?” Cherry tilted her head.
“Me? Oh, nothin’. Just kinda tired from today’s chores, that’s all.”
“Are you sure?” Iremia asked, wiping some icing from her mouth.
“Err, yeah, positive,” Butterfly assured her, quickly reaching for the cupcake with her hoof and taking a bite out of it as a distraction.
“Okaaaay… so how is everypony?” Cherry gave a wide grin. “Lapis? Stuff happened today or no?”
“Hmm… not much. Mother’s been doing good with all the dress orders we’ve been getting,” he began. “The Summer Sun Celebration always brings in more customers than usual-”
He was cut off by Cherry placing her hoof on his mouth.
“Good, good, very interesting, what about you Butterfly?”
Butterfly shrugged. “Not much. Just usual chores.” She paused for a moment. “I mean… there was a…” she trailed off.
“There was a what?” Cherry leaned over the table, intrigued.
“A… erm… I’ll just tell you later. It’s nothing important.”
“Welp, okidoki,” Cherry said, sitting back on her seat properly. “Iremia?”
“Not too much happening with me.”
“Huh.” Cherry’s muzzle twitched.
A few moments of silence passed by.
“SO, what about you, Cherry?” Cherry suddenly asked herself. “Why, I’m so glad you asked, Cherry, thank you!” She gave a flattered smile. “Well, something super exciting recently happened. And what’s that, Cherry? Well, you see, the cakes entered one of their most prized desserts into a veeery well known competition that none of you will actually know about, and they came in third! The best part? I personally helped with the dessert!” She then gave herself a small applause, to which Iremia joined in.
“What part of the dessert did you help with?” Lapis asked.
“I helped with the sprinkles! Cool, right?”
“...Uh, yeah, sure.” Lapis bit his lip and looked away.
“Thanks, I know, no need to tell me.”
Butterfly and Iremia both laughed.
“So, how many desserts were entered into this competition?” Butterfly asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing, just a few hundred.” Cherry waved her hoof dismissively.
“That’s quite impressive that you and the Cakes came in third,” Iremia praised.
“I know, I’m so proud.” Cherry fluttered her lashes. “So, Butterfly, I’m really curious what this thing was you were about to tell us about.”
“What thing?” Butterfly’s ear twitched.
“The thing that you decided to not talk about even though you were about to.”
“...Oh, that thing.” The changeling sighed.
Iremia gave a sympathetic look. “Hey, you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”
Butterfly raised her head to look up at the unicorn. “Oh, it’s nothin’ big. You see, I just saw this thing run away from me while I was walking through the orchard.”
“What thing?” Cherry urged her on.
“Well… that’s just it. I don’t have the slightest clue what it was. It kinda freaked me out at the time.” She tapped her hoof nervously on the table. “But I look back at it now and laugh. I’m sure it was nothing.”
“Yeah, me too,” Cherry nodded. She then went on to start a conversation with Lapis, but Butterfly didn’t hear here and instead zoned out for a few moments. She was broken out of her daydream by Iremia, who tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hey, if you wanna talk about it, just come to me later.”
Butterfly nodded.
“Well, it was nice hanging out with you guys!” Cherry said as she wrapped her hooves around all of them in a big (but forced) group hug. “I’ll see you some other time!”
“Bye Cherry,” Lapis answered coolly, watching her bounce of in the opposite direction to him. “I better get going too. I got a new idea for an outfit when we were at the fountain earlier.”
“I look forward to seeing it,” Iremia told him. “Bye, Lapis!”
“Goodbye.” He gave a short wave before galloping in the direction of the boutique.
Once he was out of sight, Butterfly nudged Iremia on the shoulder. “Say, Iremia?”
“You want to talk about the thing you saw?” Iremia guessed. Butterfly nodded slowly. “Okay, tell me what this thing looked like.” The mare sat down in front of her, the only other sound being that of the stream flowing next to them.
Butterfly also sat down, facing her.
“Well, I was walking back to the barn, and I heard something in the bushes,” she began. “I went to investigate because I thought it was Flame or Syrup, but it wasn’t.”
Iremia nodded as she listened to the story. “What was it?”
Butterfly shrugged. “I have no idea! I didn’t see it clearly since it disappeared deeper into the trees, and could move really fast.” She brought her mind back to the moment. “All I remember seeing is a large, dark-coloured body. I think it was around my size, but I’m not too sure.”
“Anything else you remember?”
Butterfly gazed into the stream as she tried to think. “Err… it had four legs, I’m quite sure.”
“Did you see its eyes?”
“No, I didn’t see its face.” Butterfly sighed. “I’m just worried that it’s something dangerous, and it could be a threat to our crops or even us as a family.” She lifted a hoof to a mouth and widened her eyes. “What if there’s more of them?”
Iremia lay a hoof on Butterfly’s shoulder. “Hey, it’ll be fine.”
Butterfly gazed into her ice-blue eyes. “You really think so?”
The mare smiled and gave a nod. “I really do. I suggest that if it worries you to the point where you can’t focus, you should tell your family to keep their eyes peeled-”
“Ew, gross.” Butterfly smirked, to which Iremia did the same.
“But in all seriousness, I’ll go and see if I can find anything that somewhat matches your description of this thing.”
“You will?” Butterfly blinked in surprise.
“Of course I will!” Iremia laughed. “I can’t guarantee a perfect answer, but I’ll try my best.”
“Oh, thank you, Iremia!” Butterfly embraced the unicorn in a hug. “You really are a true friend.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Iremia replied. “I hate seeing you worried about… anything really.” The two broke off their hug. “Now, it’s getting quite late. I think it would be best if you went and got some rest.”
Butterfly looked up at the sky - she was right. The sun was nearly completely covered by hills and mountains, and the sky has a pink colour to it as it showed the gold fading into complementary purple.
“Yeah, good idea,” she agreed. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Sure! I’ll definitely be around somewhere,” Iremia replied, standing up on her hooves. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Butterfly!”
“Goodnight, Iremia!”
The two of them waved, before galloping off into opposite directions. By the time Butterfly returned to the barn, the sun was completely out of view and was now replaced by the moon. The barn was especially quiet, which convinced Butterfly that everyone had already settled down or maybe even drifted of to sleep already. The latter thought sounded the most appealing to her.
She quietly crept up the stairs, treading lightly so that creaks could be heard from the floorboards. Soon enough, she was in her room. Her bed was waiting for her, and she gladly leaped right onto it, welcoming the plush mattress. She flipped the cover over herself lazily, then allowed herself to lose consciousness, hoping that the creature she saw earlier wouldn't be visiting her dreams tonight.