Prisoner of Butterfly Island

by Magic Step

Pineapple Acres

“You really sure you need all of it?”

“Stop asking me twenty times a minute.” Starlight Glimmer slid the ribbon along under her microscope. “The answer’s not changing. The sky magic in this ribbon isn’t as potent as I’d hoped; if I want enough to complete the spell, yes, I have to consume the whole thing.”

“C-consume?” Twilight lowered her ears in distress. “It’ll all be gone?”

“There is a mad tyrant princess outside this island that likes to set villages on fire for fun, so pardon me if I have a little trouble weeping over a pampered pony not having pretty bows for her dresses,” Starlight Glimmer said, her voice dripping with bitterness.

Twilight remembered when Spike had set one of her books on fire and tried to imagine what she’d feel like if he’d set her home and friends’ homes and favorite shopping places on fire instead. It was too huge to wrap her head around. More pain than she could imagine. “I’m sorry… I guess I kind of did lose perspective…”

“Well, I hope your head’s on straight now, because the next item is much harder.” Starlight Glimmer looked away from her microscope and back to her book. “The next item is supposed to represent hard work and reward, and I’m told Applejack used to keep the first coin she’d ever made selling apple juice as a filly.”

Twilight felt her heart sink. “And you want me to steal it.”

“You can’t steal something that was stolen in the first place,” Starlight Glimmer said, shrugging. “Unlike plants which replace old cells from year to year, a mineral like that coin will still hold traces of the aura of… the original Applejack.”

Twilight was very quiet. “Is Applejack okay? Can we still save her?”

“I… I don’t want to promise anything, but…” Starlight Glimmer rested her hooves on Twilight’s shoulders. “If there’s any way to find her, we will.”

Twilight hugged Starlight Glimmer tightly. “Thank you.”

“Okay, okay, don’t fall apart on me and don’t start inexplicably crying in front of your friends,” Starlight said. “You have a mission to complete.”

Twilight Sparkle rubbed her eyes. “Got it. I won’t let you down.”

***

Applejack had been one of the few ponies to openly pine for the wastelands, since that was the only place where apples grew, but she’d always been careful to emphasize that pineapples were almost as much fun to grow and everypony else had been careful to emphasize that Applejack was weird.

In retrospect, it would be weird to wish you were in a sun-scorched land ruled by a sadistic tyrant.

Pineapple Acres was close to the center of Butterfly Island and was targeted a lot by changelings. Most of the time Applejack tended it with the help of a few cousins who rotated out regularly.

Twilight crept around the edge of the farm stealthily. Unlike the last two items, she didn’t see how it would benefit her to ask Applejack for a favor to get closer.

The orange mare was showing Big Macintosh around the plants, talking about how much each had grown. The silent red stallion nodded along solemnly. Twilight wondered if he knew she was fake. Or maybe both of them were fake.

In any case, they’d probably be busy for another hour, right? She’d have plenty of time to sneak into their house.

Applejack had never been much for fancy buildings. AJ’s Cottage playset was small and homey, with simple furniture covered in apple-patterned cushions. Applejack kept the first bit she’d ever made in a tiny frame on her mantlepiece.

Twilight had had a hard time wrapping her head around the concept of bits. Apparently on the mainland resources were scarce, and bits were a way to quantify how much your labor was worth. Then you’d trade your bits in for food and other items. This way everything was distributed based on merit. Or something.

Butterfly Island had never needed anything like that because there was always enough material goods to make everypony happy, but once they’d trucked in a Carnival playset where you won ticket from games and trades them in for prizes, and Applejack had said it was a similar concept, except with manual labor instead of ski ball and food instead of sticky frogs. When Applejack had earned her first bit on the mainland, she’d felt so special because she’d known her labor had made a difference. On Butterfly Island she had no kind of measurement…

Twilight wondered if the real Applejack was on the mainland now, and if she was happy to have apples and bits again. But maybe Celestia burned up apples and bits in addition to houses.

Twilight fetched the small framed coin off the mantelpiece and studied it. She wasn’t stealing it from the real Applejack anyway. The real Applejack probably wanted Twilight to come find her. So this wasn’t wrong.Everything would be fine; Starlight had everything figured out.

Part of her wondered what she was doing though. One of the first morals she’d learned when she was little was that it wasn’t nice to steal things that were important to others.

Well, better get going before she faced a repeat of what happened at Rarity’s…

***

“Twilie!”

Twilight Sparkle whirled around to see Shining Armor galloping up to her. She felt like the stolen bit was burning a hole through her saddlebag.

“Hey BBBFF. What’s up?” Twilight tried to smile naturally.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to go swimming in the Lunar Lagoon playset together. You know, since I have some time off.”

Twilight felt her insides freeze up as she struggled to hold her composure. No, no, no, surely he didn’t know, it was just an innocent request, wasn’t it?

“Sounds fun,” she said. “And I don’t have anything to do right now either, so that just makes it even more perfect!” She hugged Shining Armor to try and stop him from seeing her face.

“Yeah, it’s been forever since we went swimming… or rather since I went swimming,” Shining Armor said. “You’ve been busy on that water breathing spell, haven’t you?”

Twilight pushed Shining Armor out of the hug. “Y-you were spying on me!?”

“No, no, not on purpose!” Shining Armor looked genuinely regretful. “I just see everything on the island from my lighthouse, and when you didn’t surface right away I got worried… but by the time I got there you were already leaving and I didn’t feel like admitting how silly I was.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at him. Then she forced herself to sigh heavily. “It was supposed to be a surprise… I wasn’t sure it would work…”

“Well, I should say it worked. You were under for, what, several minutes?” Shining Armor laughed.

“I wasn’t counting. It’s really pretty under there,” Twilight said, her mind racing. Did she know a spell to breathe underwater? Could she throw one together really fast? Probably not. Her talent wasn’t magic or anything.

On the way to the lagoon she sorted through her options. Magically give herself gills… too complicated. Magically make an air bubble around her head… too temporary.

What about a magic snorkel? Just a thin cylinder of telekinetic force pushing the water out of the way near her nose, creating a channel to the surface?

That sounded like the best thing to try on such short notice. She started trying to unobtrusively practice making telekinetic cylinders.

Despite trying to walk slowly, they reached the Lunar Lagoon playset before she felt ready. She swallowed nervously; if she didn’t have a good excuse for why she was underwater for several minutes, Shining Armor would find her out…

“What’s wrong?” Shining Armor turned to her with sincere concern etched in his face. “Twilie, you look sick!”

He seemed so earnestly worried. Like all he did was care about her. Like big brothers were supposed to do. Like he’d done all her life. And she’d bought the word of a stranger that he was a monster.

Twilight burst into tears.

Shining Armor looked shocked for a moment. Then he pulled her close and rocked her side to side. He didn’t question her or judge her; he just held her tightly.

At first, that made Twilight cry harder. But soon her tears subsided as she snuggled into his chest. “I… I’m sorry…”

“For what, Twilie?” His blue eyes were full of compassion. She should just admit everything. He’d never deceive her.

Twilight took a deep breath. “I really didn’t-”

“Hey, mini horses!” Spike swooped down on them from above. “Get your acts together already! Changelings are swarming Pineapple Acres!”

“What!?” Twilight Sparkle twisted out of Shining Armor’s embrace. “But… but…”

“Spike’s right,” Shining Armor said. “You’d better hurry. Spike, bring me to the lighthouse; I’ll direct operations from there.” He leapt onto Spike’s back while the dragon was still midflight and was gone.

Twilight felt like her head was spinning, but she galloped off to find her friends.