Fluttershy's son deals with many odd things on a daily basis. However, as odd as Ponyville is, nothing is more odd than his mother. But does he have the responsibility to cover for her when she becomes a little "batty"?
Fluttershy's son deals with many odd things on a daily basis. Such is the life of a teenaged colt living on the edge of the Everfree Forest.
However, as odd as Ponyville is, nothing is more odd than the events that surround the Elements of Harmony. Seeing as his mother is one of them, one must be certain to expect odd events occurring around the individual.
But when Fluttershy becomes "indisposed" for a day or two, can Choir Wings cover for his mother, without letting anypony know her secret?
The normally deceptively busy household was silent in the light of the afternoon sun. He called the cottage on the hill his home for as long as he remembered, and with it he recognized the difference between a bustling day and a quiet one. However, he rarely knew silence like this. The house that was normally filled to the brim with critters and cute animals inside and out was now a quiet island of desolation. Nothing moved. Nothing twitched. Not even the warm southern wind dared to make a move, and the blades of grass on the front lawn seemed more paralyzed still.
He stared from the little bridge that led up to the front steps, his yellow eyes shining with a mixture of curiosity and fear. His fine, almost glossy Pegasus coat was shining in the sunlight, somewhat of a cherry lemonade colour. His blonde mane draped over his face, parting in the middle while his tail was cut neatly short, both kept finely groomed. His right ear twitched.
No birds flew around, roosting on their birdhouses and singing their pleasant songs. No squirrels or bunnies romped around the grounds, chasing each other in playful sessions of tag. The chickens appeared to be all in their coop. Harry the bear was nowhere to be seen. It almost screamed of trouble to him, almost pushed him away from his home. But, with a gulp and a shift of saddlebags, he approached the entrance. His hoof steps on the pavement were almost like loud cymbal crashes in a library, disturbing the quiet in such a way that it was like painting a target on his chest. Not even the leaves on the trees greeted him in the shivering fashion like they normally do.
“I’m home!” he announced, opened the door wide.
There were no lights on, and all the blinds on the windows were pulled down, casting dark shadows in the corners of the room. A shiver ran up his spine. The minimal sunlight that came through the windows cast slim rays across the living room, dust floating in their air momentary visible. There were birdhouses hanging from the ceiling, and mouse holes cut into the bases of the walls, but no creature moved between the spaces. The green couch in the west side of the room was slightly tilted from its normal perpendicular position and the grass cushions that usually sat on it were scattered around the room. There was a large scratch across the mahogany coffee table in the middle of the room, and he briefly wondered what could have caused such a mark, besides Harry. The lamp beside the cabinet was knocked down, the cabinet itself was wide open with one of its thin lightwood doors half-missing and the contents of the cabinet, several fluffy quilts and blankets, were scattered about the living space.
“Anypony here? Hello? Mom? Are you there? Dad? Is this some kind of joke? Prism Arrow, I swear to Celestia…”
His breath hitched up in his chest as no response was given. It looked like as if nopony had lived there for years, and the last time somepony did live there they left in a much panicked, swift hurry. Choir Wings had read enough sci-fi books to know where this was going. He dropped his saddlebags near the front door.
“There’s nothing to worry about, Wings,” He reassured himself as he slowly made his way across the room. “Nothing to worry about at all. Heh, you totally haven’t fallen through a hole in space-time without knowing. No, not at all. Your parents totally aren’t long gone and if you went and checked outside, Ponyville would still be in one piece, not in a total post-apocalyptic heap. Yep. You're just fine.”
Choir Wings flinched as the loud crash of falling plates resonated in the room. He peered forward facing towards the kitchen, and with shaky step after shaky step, he made his way deeper into the cottage.
When he reached the maw of the kitchen, he was appalled beyond belief. Everything was in a mess. All the cupboards were open and the ingredients inside were spilled onto the floor in a mixture of white and orange. The sink was actively running and currently overflowing the basin onto the tiled floor, which was somehow cracked in places. Glass pieces of broken bowls and plates were all over the floor, creating a somewhat hazardous environment underhoof. Various cutlery were sticking out of the walls around the room, forcefully placed there by somepony – or something. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought that a fight would have been the cause of such disaster, but there was not a drop of blood in sight. If there was a struggle, how could have it ended so clean and yet left the place dirty?
There was another crash, and orange juice spilled outward towards Choir’s hooves. He looked up. Suddenly he realized there was a creature with a large matted pink tail leaning into the open fridge, throwing various things out here and there. He yelped, and realized how big of a mistake it was too late. The creature turned around, and its crimson eyes stared into his while it hissed.
He noticed that the monster was certainly equine in shape, except its coat was a sickly yellow and its mane lighter than a shade of pink should be, not to mention the poor state its tail was in. There was a pair of large membrane wings on its back the same colour of the rest of its coat. Its muzzle was small, but there were two deadly-looking especially sharp fangs sticking out of its mouth. There was a red paste splattered around her lips. He sniffed, sensing a distinct sharp odor in the air. “Apple sauce?” he asked himself. There were large eyelashes that hung from sinister looking eyes, and suddenly he realized that the creature looked vaguely familiar to him, especially with the trio of pink bats stamped onto her backside.
“Mom?!” he exclaimed just before the vampony pounced him. Falling backwards, he shouted as the yellow creature hopped on top of his stomach, pinning his back legs down as she sat across his chest, straddling him.
“Mom w-w-wait!” he pleaded. The vampony was salivating, dripping down all over his coat. There was a sort of gleeful smile on her face, and she licked her lips before pinning his forelegs down with a surprising burst of strength. Her breath was almost nauseating, smelling strongly of fermented apples.
“Was she drinking cider??” he asked himself just before she reeled back and got ready to bite.
“A-APPLES!” Wings screamed, breaking the vampony’s attention for a split second. She stared at him with a curious expression on her face. He managed to get his left foreleg free from her pin. “T-There’s apples in the pantry! Over there!”
He pointed directly to the left. They both looked, and Choir Wings awkwardly realized that the pantry was already wide open, empty, and devoid of any apples. The monster gave him a skeptical look.
“T-T-They’re in there! Trust me! You just haven’t looked hard enough!” he abstained, throwing his hoof in the direction of the pantry repeatedly.
A wide smile appeared on the vampony’s face before she leaped off the poor colt and shot straight into the pantry, somehow managing to fit inside as the door swung shut behind her. The pantry clattered with activity and visibly shook with her movement, and Choir Wings finally let out a breath of relief.
“I can’t believe this. Another relapse.” He thought to himself. He took another gander around the room, still sitting on the floor, scratching the back of his head. “Look at the mess of this place! How am I supposed to clean all of this up? And dad won’t be home for several days!
He groaned, and buried his face in his hooves.
“What am I going to do?” He sighed. ”Maybe I can get Aqui to help me. I wonder where she is?”
Just then, someone knocked loudly on the front door behind him.
“Now what?” he wondered.
He got up begrudgingly and trotted to the entrance. Opening it a smidge, he peeked outside to see a perky, pear-green mare with a reporter’s hat and a set of brown saddlebags across her back. Once she realized the door had been opened, she jumped to attention and met Choir Wings with a comforting, disarming smile that was almost mischievous in a way. Her bright cherry eyes had a certain eagerness to them, and Choir Wings found himself biting the inside of his cheek nervously.
“Hi there!” she greeted him. “I’m Berry Batty, and I’m with Wilderness Weekly to get an interview with Fluttershy this afternoon. We had planned it quite a while back. Is she in right now?”
His eyes darted back and forth. The nice mare in front of him kept her smile, and to him it looked really fake and synthetic.
“What do I do, what do I do?” he asked himself. There was a loud crash of more plates behind him, and the two flinched as the ground shook. Berry Batty suddenly appeared confused.
“What was that noise?” she asked, trying to peer past Choir’s head. Choir stood on the tips of his hooves and stretched his neck as high as he could, taking up the entire space of the cracked-open door. He tried to smile.
“Oh, uh, my mom’s trying to deal with an angry bear right now,” There was another crash, followed by the sound of some very expensive and valuable china shattering into tiny pieces. “YES! A very, very angry bear right now. It’s almost angry to the point of being violent–not that it is actually being violent, mind you. Heh. There’s just a simply misunderstanding between the bear and a few of the other animals, you see.”
“That’s sounds bad. Does she need any help? I know your mother knows a lot more about animals than I do, but I’ve written a lot about bears.” Berry Batty offered, still trying to look over Choir’s head. Choir took the moment to notice that Batty’s cutie mark was appropriately a brown bat eating a properly ripe banana.
“I know that she specializes in bats, but I’m not sure if she could help with bat-like ponies!” he told himself just before something else fell in the house. “Oh, no, my mom’s perfectly got it under control. She doesn’t need any help. Nope. Not at all.”
A loud resounding bang shook the foundations of the cottage, and both ponies were thoroughly surprised when the ground shook so fiercely they bounced up and down like an earthquake was occurring. Choir nervously looked behind over his back to see what happened, trying to make his movement as subtle and slow as possible.
“Are you sure?” Batty asked.
Choir chuckled nervously to himself. “I’m pretty sure she’s got it all on her own, but Ibettercheckrealquicksorrycomebacklaterthanks!”
And with that, Choir slammed the door on Berry Batty’s face.
Back in the house, Choir quickly rushed across the living room into the kitchen. His jaw dropped.
The kitchen was in even worse wear than before. The doors of some of the cupboards were in pieces on the floor, and others were barely hanging by the end of their hinges. There were cracks up along the inner wall, as well as several indented hoofprints and smears of condiments on the plaster, applied like a foal’s hoofpainting. There was a tiny flood running on the floor of the kitchen into one of the mouse holes, and Choir could barely imagine all the property damage it would cause to the poor residents that lived inside the insides of the house. There would be Tartarus to pay for certain, and Fluttershy probably wouldn’t hear the end of it from the tiny critters that live in her home. The refrigerator was firmly lying on its front, having gotten tipped over from some kind of strong force. The door was thankfully closed and the plug was ripped from its socket, but Choir didn’t even want to imagine what the insides of the container looked like.
But worst of all, his mother was missing.
The window was wide open too, and with it a warm spring breeze flew into the chaos-lain kitchen, almost making it seem alright despite the state it was in. The sound of trickling water into the overfilled, plugged sink was soothing in a way, and for a brief moment Choir let his head empty and his conscious-self hid in the deepest, darkest box he could find in his brain.
His mental escape was interrupted however with rapid, heavy knocks on the front door.
“What is it now?” he fumed, making his way to the entrance.
He opened it a little more forcefully than normal, and he screwed up his muzzle into a dishonest smile.
“Hello?” Choir tried to chirp cheerfully, his right ear twitching.
“Dude!” the unicorn exclaimed on the other side. His coat was a bright shade of orange, and his long, very dark mane was scattered everywhere in points. Choir thought it looked like roadkill without all of the bodily fluids. His mother would definitely not approve of his vision. The new pony's tail was somehow longer than his mane and was messier than a long mop head, the tip of the hair dragging against the ground unceremoniously. His lavender eyes at first glance were fairly flat with little brain activity occurring beneath them. He was taken aback by Choir’s expression. “What’s up? Why you look so pissed? And who was that lady that was just at your door?”
“Oh! Meteos! Thank Celestia you’re here!” Choir exclaimed, falling to a heap in front of Meteos. “I need your help!”
“Why? What happened?” Meteos asked, looking past Choir’s head. He could barely make out the kitchen in the back. “Whoa. It looks like a hurricane went through your kitchen.”
"Thanks. I've noticed." Choir deadpanned. He suddenly grabbed onto Meteos' sides. "Listen. My mom is having a bit of an episode and now the whole house is in a mess. She left in a hurry and now I've gotta try and find her before something bad happens!"
Meteos whistled. "Sounds dicey. But why would anything bad happen?"
Choir turned to the side sheepishly. "Uhh, let's just say that my mom is definitely on one of her bad days."
Meteos raised an eyebrow. "Estrus?"
"Eww! Dude! Come on! No!" Choir yelled, reeling back and waving his hooves in a pushing away motion.
"Heh." Meteos said, crossing his forelegs. "I dunno..."
"Come on. Please? I need somepony to back me up. It's gonna be Tartarus trying to find her by myself and my dad isn't here to help me because he's off at work!"
"Alright. On one condition though." Meteos stated with a serious face.
"Fine! Fine! Anything!"
A large, wide, hardcover textbook reading "Equestrian History: VII Edition" on the front floated in front of Meteos in a light blue aura, Meteos with a big grin on his face.
"Seriously? Are you kidding me? I'm not any better at History than you are, you know."
Meteos pouted. "I know, but I really need somepony to help with the homework!"
"Yeah, whatever." Choir said, rolling his eyes as he entered the house and motion for Meteos to follow. "Is this the real reason why you came to my house?"
"Noooo. Not at all. What makes you think that?"
Meteos dropped his saddlebags right near the front door next to Choir’s. Choir sighed.
The Pegasus pony entered the kitchen once again with friend in tow. Meteos stopped at the very edge of the doorway, looking down at the slightly discoloured water with a disgusted face. Choir got up in the air and flew over the wet to above the sink, turning off the tap.
“First thing’s first, we have to clean this place up a bit.” Choir said before sticking his hoof in the filled sink and unclogging the large amount of wet dry pet food that was stopping the drain. The sound of flushing rang through the room as Choir grimaced and ran his hoof under the tap.
“Why? Why don’t we beeline for your mom before she gets too far?”
Choir looked back at Meteos. “Well we can’t just leave the kitchen like this, can we?”
Meteos stared down at the broken particles of plates, bowls and cups floating in the water on the floor, as well as the pots and pans that made little islands in the ocean. “I guess you have a point.”
“Help me drain the kitchen, will 'ya?” Choir asked, flying over the lake to a utility closet, grabbing a mop from inside.
Meteos channeled his magic and a spout of water surrounded in a blue glow traveled up from the ground to the inside of the sink. Choir got a garbage bag from the inside of the closet and Meteos grabbed it, filtering bits and pieces of glass that was in the water into the trash. As the water thinned, Choir landed and started mopping the floor, trying to clean what was left of the ketchup and flour.
Soon enough, the kitchen was looking almost back to normal. It didn’t look as nearly as clean as it used to, but the two found it to be “good enough”. The utensils were taken out of the wall and put in the sink to be cleaned later, along with the pots and pans. The fridge was tilted back upright and its plug plugged back into its socket. The floor was relatively clean and the wood that used to be the doors to most of the cupboards were all piled in the corner besides a very large and filled garbage bag.
“What are we gonna do with those?” Meteos asked, pointing to the broken planks of wood.
“We’re gonna leave them there. I’ll put them in a fresh bag once I get my mom sorted out.”
Something from the corner of Choir’s eye caught his attention. He looked out of the open window, spotting several different coloured bird swoop low near Fluttershy’s house, taking perch on the edges of the trees that sat at the border of the Everfree Forest.
“Uh oh.” Choir stated. “I think all the animals are finally coming out now. I might need to calm them down and explain everything before we go.”
Meteos opened his mouth to respond, but Choir was already flying out of the open window to outside. Shaking his head with a small smirk on his face, Meteos went to find the back door.
Outside, Choir landed on a patch of grass. He watched as some of the local critters began peeking out of their homes from underneath the ground and the holes in the trees, searching nervously for the vampony that terrorized them earlier. The chickens, not knowing any better, exited their coop and returned to clucking about their grounds as usual. A few of the birds on the trees flew to the top of Fluttershy’s house, some gliding into the building through the open window and some perching on the birdhouses built around the compound.
“Everyone, everyone gather ‘round!” Choir called, sitting on his flank and waving at the various animals to approach him. The wildlife heeded his summon and came rushing out of their homes, the fright of the flying fanged monster from before completely forgotten. Quickly there was a large ring of critters (as well as a bear) surrounding the young stallion.
“Is everyone ok? Did anyone get hurt or harmed?” Choir asked the group. His question was answered colloquially with headshakes. The backdoor to the cottage finally opened to a mildly surprised Meteos. He took a step outside and sat down, watching the strange occurrence of animals from a distance as the door swung shut behind him.
Choir swept his vision around the group. “Ok, that’s good. I’m going to leave for a while. My mom flew off somewhere and I have to get her before she causes any trouble.”
This got a reaction out of the circle, as all the critters began muttering and peeping to each other quietly in conversation.
“Does everyone have enough food until the evening? Do I need to refill anyone’s food?”
The animals shook their heads.
“Good. I’ll hopefully be back with my mom before sundown. If I’m not, don’t worry about me. I’m not coming back home empty handed, and without curing my mom first.”
Some parts of his audience cheered for him. Suddenly the rows to his right side parted to a few dozen particularly cross mice, moles and badgers, soaked to the bone and still dripping with water. A large mouse, who was directly in the front and center of the group, started squeaking loudly at Choir, pointing at the ground, then to Choir, then to the house, all the while sounding very agitated.
“I’m very sorry Mr. Mouse that your apartments got flooded,” Choir began. “But I can’t really help you until I get back with my mom. The longer she stays out there unattended the more danger she will be in along with anything or anypony that comes across her.”
There were a few more angry noises from the mouse. The other mice around him nodded in agreement.
“You can find refuge with the rest of the animals outside. I’m sure they’ll all welcome you to their homes for a day while I fix things.” Choir said, gesturing to the other critters around the circle, who watched the conversation silently.
The big mouse’s rebuttal was less than pleasant.
“Hey! I’m doing the best I can! You’re just going to have to be a bit more patient until I can get my mom back to normal.”
Mr. Mouse shouted at Choir, shaking his fist at him.
“My Celestia, Mr. Mouse!” Choir exclaimed, appalled. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
Suddenly something bounded up in the corner of Choir’s vision, its vertical making an audible “Boing!” He turned to his left and looked down. There was a tiny white bunny rabbit waving at him with a wide smile, its tiny black eyes glistening with joy.
“Aqui!” Choir exclaimed with a big fat smile on his stupid face. He hopped out of sitting and Aqui jumped comfortably onto his back. “How are you? How was your day?”
Aqui smiled at him brightly.
“What’s up, buttercup?” Meteos said, approaching from behind Choir as the animals made way for him. He held a hoof at neck level and Aqui sprung up to pound it. “Yeah!”
Choir peered at Aqui. “You wanna help us find my mom?”
She nodded excitedly.
Then, there was a duo of rabbits that somehow made their way through the waves of animals to the front of the circus. They squeezed through the front row with a bit of effort before stumbling forward and coming to a stop inches away from Choir’s hooves. One of them was a shy-looking bunny with a red bow tied around one of her ears and the other looked positively furious. They held paws together and the grumpy one was a good inch taller than the other. He squabbled loudly at Choir for a moment before turning to Aqui, who could only look on with a bashful look on her face.
“Don’t worry Mr. Angel, we’ll take good care of your daughter. I promise.” said Choir.
Angel folded his forelegs and harrumphed.
“I think that’s it. Are you ready to go?” Choir said, looking back at Meteos.
“I’m ready as the early bird gets the worm!” Meteos declared.
Choir narrowed his eyes, digesting Meteos' answer before shaking his head, then took to the sky and flew over the animals, making sure his back stayed steady for the passenger that sat firmly on it. He began to fly slowly around the house towards the front lawn, Meteos following not too far behind.
“Goodbye everyone!” he called as he flew backwards, waving at the critters as they waved back at him. “Stay safe!”
Mr. Mouse ran to the front of the group and glared at Choir. Choir laughed tentatively.
“I’ll help you fix your and your mice’s houses once I get back! I promise!”
After the three got to the front of the cottage, Choir landed and made sure that the front door was closed. He tapped his chin, trying to remember if he was forgetting anything. Then, he looked at the bridge that led over the small stream of water near his house. The sun in the largely cloudless sky was already well past noon.
“We better get going.” Choir stated. Aqui and Meteos nodded behind him as he led the front of the expedition.
“Where do you think Fluttershy went?” Meteos asked.
Choir couldn’t help but smile knowingly. “I think I have an idea.”
“I just hope I find my mom in one piece.” Choir Wings prayed to himself as he crossed the bridge and started down the road towards Ponyville.
Choir Wings, Meteos and Aqui all looked down upon the upcoming farmland from the top of a hill. There were apple trees as far as the eye could see, stretching all the way back to the horizon where larger mounds of soil and grass peeked over the skyline like the waves of the ocean. Choir could see a few large red barns in the distance, followed by a well-kept two story yellow house that was directly connected to the barns by a dirt trail. Around the barns and the house were the green sprouts of growing vegetables, not yet ready to harvest yet. There was a short white fence that ran along the entire boarder of the property, making clear what was public and what was property, but Choir Wings and Meteos jumped over the fence easily.
“Umm,” Choir began as they started walking between the trees around them. “I-it’s because my mom can get a little bit hungry when she’s stressed. Yeah. She’s the kind of pony that likes to snack a lot. That’s it. A-and usually she likes apples, so Sweet Apple Acres would be the perfect place for her to go.”
“I see.” Meteos mused, examining the bright leaves of the trees as they reflected the warm afternoon sun.
“Plus, we can ask Snapple if she’s seen any sign of my mom too.” Choir added.
Meteos nodded. “Gotcha.”
Choir bit his lip and tried to turn his face away from Meteos’ vision, sweat trickling down his forehead. ”What am I saying? It would be horrible if Snapple caught a glimpse of mom! I hope that she hasn’t seen anything! I don’t even wanna encounter her!”
The three traveled until they came across a clearing, showing off more of Sweet Apple Acres in its grandiose entirety.
“You see anything Aqui?” Choir whispered, bending down to eye level with the rabbit while searching the countryside.
Aqui shook her head and stared onward into the patch of greens that were all lined up in perfect rows beside the barns, almost ripe for the taking. There was a bit of drool coming from the side of her mouth.
“Don’t even think about it.” Choir stated, shocking Aqui out of her stupor. She gave an innocent smile and held her paws behind her back, nodding obediently. “Aqui, I really need your help here! Try to focus.”
Aqui saluted and shaded her eyes with her paws, squinting to try and focus her vision on any strange movement.
“That’s more like it. Thank you.”
Meteos walked up behind Choir and tapped the back of his neck. “Hey Choir.”
“What?”
“I think I saw some movement on the east side of the fields.” Meteos said, pointing at the area across barn.
“Are you sure that you didn’t see the Apple family?” Choir asked.
“It was up in the air, jumping from tree to tree, but it was so fast I couldn’t make it out.”
Choir clucked his tongue. “Darn. I think that might be her. Let’s get a move on and check it out.”
“Right behind ‘ya.”
Choir Wings led the way, taking route through the trees and heading towards the point Meteos mentioned. All the while, Choir Wings kept a careful eye on his surroundings, his worry making his heart pound against his chest.
”I really don’t want to get caught wandering around here,” Choir thought, twisting his neck around, searching. ”And I really, really don’t want to have to explain to one of the Apples what I’m doing here in the middle of their field with my best friend and a bunny rabbit if one of them does see me. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to lie my way through this one either, especially Applejack. But should I be trying to hide? Should I be taking cover or something instead of walking in the open like this? I don’t wanna look more suspicious than I already do!”
For a second, Choir Wings wanted to cry. ”I don’t know what to do! Maybe I should have taken the long way around through the rest of the orchard. But then again, the longer we take the more likely we’ll get caught! I could take off and get some real speed, but I would be leaving Meteos behind! Should we make a break for it?”
There was a loud whomp behind Choir and he jumped a mile high.
“Hey guys. What’s up?” a voice asked.
“Oh hey Prism.” Meteos greeted.
Choir landed on the ground and gathered enough of his bearings to respond, turning around to see who was talking to him. Aqui got up from Choir’s back after landing on it stomach first from his abrupt movement. “Prism! Don’t scare me like that!”
A young mare stood behind the duo. Her expression was unreadable as she looked at Choir with uncertain, light-golden eyes. Her coat positively glowed under the sunlight, bearing a very light blue shade underneath her. Her mane and tail were coloured by the six shades of the rainbow, separated in sections. The most amazing fact though was that her entire body was partially translucent, with anypony being able to vaguely see what was behind her through her coat, although a bit in a cyan hue. She blinked and the crystal wings on her back folded without much effort. Her cutie mark was distinctly a glass arrow shooting through a cloud, trailing a fine rainbow behind it. Suddenly a wide cheeky smile broke out on her face.
“Sorry, Choir.” she stated, holding her hoof to her chest in mock apology. “I’ll try and be more careful where I land. Maybe I’ll just land on top of you to make it easy for myself.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Choir dismissed, waving his hoof away from her. He glanced up to the sky for a second. “Where did you come from?”
Prism casually pointed to the sky. “Oh, I was just flying around Ponyville and the outskirts, bored out of my mind. Thank Celestia I found you guys. What are you three doing here?”
“We’re looking for Choir’s mom!” Meteos announced enthusiastically, much to Choir’s horror.
Prism raised an eyebrow. “Whhyyy are you looking for Fluttershy?”
“Ah, heh, you see,” Choir began, rolling his eyes and looking in any direction besides Prism’s. “It’s a funny story. Uh, my mom’s not really on one of her best days, and–”
“Estrus?” Prism immediately asked.
“No!” Choir exclaimed, grimacing. “By the stars, why do ponies always assume it’s estrus? No, it’s not estrus!”
Prism cast a curious glance towards Meteos. He shrugged. Snickering, Prism took a step towards Choir. “Are you sure it’s not estrus? It is spring, after all.”
“I swear to Celestia, it’s not estrus. I saw my mom take her pills today, I flippin’ swear it.”
“Ok,” Prism said, putting her hoof to her chin. “So you’re searching for your crazy mother in Sweet Apple Acres because…”
“S-she can get a little snack-y sometimes.” Choir finished, rubbing his foreleg timidly.
Prism’s mouth impishly curved up. She leaned towards Meteos and quietly said “It’s totally estrus.”
Choir groaned and abruptly turned around, walking away from the two. Little did he know, Aqui was laughing to herself silently on his back, barely able to control herself.
Meteos and Prism Arrow rushed quickly to meet up with Choir as he stormed off, Prism reassuring that she was just kidding and it was all a joke. Choir grumbled to himself.
“So are you gonna help me find my mom, or are you just following us to bother me more?”
“Yeah, I’ll help you,” Prism said, shrugging. “Celestia knows there’s nothing else better to do around here.”
“Isn’t there track and field practice after school?” Meteos asked.
“It’s only 2 o’clock. We got off early, remember? I still have time to spare. And besides,” Prism egged on, leaning towards Choir as he sunk his head low. “I need to help you guys find Fluttershy before a poor, defenceless stallion gets ravaged!”
Choir was utterly steaming as Prism chortled in the back of the group. ”And I can’t believe how close to the truth she actually is.”
Soon enough the group got to the main road. After timidly peeking from the brush before the path and checking both sides, they all jumped the fence and sprinted to the other side, diving into the green and brown landscape once again. The lack of ponies in Sweet Apple Acres had Choir worried. There was no way that the four of them could prance on through the place without being spotted through hundreds and hundreds of apple trees, sticking out like a flamingo in the mountains. His luck wasn’t that good. Right?
Choir was getting a sinking feeling. He had an odd premonition that there was something out of place, something that could change everything he had planned thus far. Something didn’t feel right. “Hey Meteos?”
“Yes Choir?”
“Reality check. It’s early spring right?”
“Yeah.” Meteos said, not thinking any different. Prism raised an eyebrow.
“So if it’s spring,” Choir continued with a shaky voice. “why haven’t any of the apples bloomed yet?”
Meteos, Prism and Aqui all looked up above them to see the green leaves of the trees sway softly in the wind, bare of any fruit.
“Oh yeah. You’re right. I guess it’s too early for them to have actually grown in.” Meteos commented.
Suddenly Choir broke into a sprint, not caring that he might get caught.
“Hey! Wait!” Prism yelled behind him. Choir could barely hear her as the moving air whistled in his ears, his thoughts shooting a mile a minute while Aqui hung on to his mane for her life.
“Oh shoot oh shoot oh shoot!” he exasperated, looking wildly every direction for any sign of his mother. “Mom came all this way here for food but she won’t find any! She might take her anger out on the trees, or the barns, or even worse, the Apple family!”
He reached a clearing at the top of a tiny slope, looking down on an acre of land. His chest heaving, he scanned the background for any hints of movement. His two friends finally caught up to him, Meteos worse off than Prism. Aqui lightly hit Choir on the head while Prism shot him a dirty look.
“What was that all about?” Prism demanded to know.
“Sorry. I should have explained. My mom’s going to freak out once she realizes there isn’t a single apple to be found in a farm that specifically specializes in apples.”
“Freak out? What do you mean, freak out?” Prism asked. “How freaked out could she get over not getting apples?”
“Oh, pretty freaked out.” Choir muttered to himself before turning to Prism. “When you were flying above Sweet Apple Acres, did you spot anything that looked like my mom?”
Prism let her eyes wander up to the sky. “Now that you mention it–”
“Oh hey look it’s Applejack.” Meteos quickly pointed out, interrupting Prism and grabbing Choir Wings by the tail, pulling him back quickly.
“What?” Choir Wings exclaimed, his voice cracking as his wide-eyes searched for the aforementioned pony.
“Howdy kids!”
Off to Choir’s right, an orange earth pony was running between the tall standing trunks toward the party of four. Her leg muscles were toned and strong, her body in tip-top shape with a packed stomach and a stout neck. An adventurous grin was plastered on her muzzle while her emerald eyes gleamed with the joy of freedom. If one looked close enough, they might be able to make out fine, dark circles under her eyes, as well as the tiny limp she had in her right back leg. Dirt and mud matted her coat in some places, and her mane and tail were drawn up in ponytails at the end of their hair strands by two deep red elastics. Her famous brown Stetson was atop her head with her ears poking out of each side and the ground seemed to shake as her hooves hit the surface with every stride.
Choir felt himself go pale. “We’re doomed.”
Applejack slid to a halt in front of the party, spraying motes of dirt onto the teenagers. They all took a few moments to cough it out of their systems, Meteos sneezing several times.
Prism shook herself out of the frenzy the fastest, shutting her eyes a moment before finding her voice. “Hello, miss Applejack.” she greeted, her voice a smidge higher than before.
“What are ya’ll doin’ up here in th’ middle of th’ farm?” Applejack asked curiously, no malice intent in her voice.
Prism opened her mouth to respond just before Choir smoothly slid himself to the front of attention, blocking Applejack’s view of Prism while Prism gave a startled glare at his sudden movement. “We’re j-just looking for a runaway bird – I-I-I mean, flyaway bird. She was at our place under my mom’s care as a request b-by the Manehatten Zoo, but she kinda, sorta, flew away while we weren’t looking. We’re trying to find her now. About this big, yellow plumage with a slightly pink tint in the feathers. Have you seen her?”
Applejack raised a single eyebrow, her lips a fine neutral line, turning her head away slightly from the group.
Perspiration dripped off of Choir’s brow. “She’s not taking it!”
“Actually, we were looking for Fl–”
“UBUS MIGRATORIUS, the technical name of the bird.” Choir butted in, shoving his hoof right into Meteos’ open mouth unceremoniously. “It really likes apples, so we thought that it might come here and try and find some. We didn’t realize though that it’s too early in spring for the apples to have grown in yet. In fact, we just figured it out a minute or two ago.”
Applejack eyed Choir suspiciously.
“Come on, let that pass! I didn’t do anything wrong there. That wasn’t a lie.” Choir thought to himself, smiling weakly at his speaker.
“Actually, there are some apples that are indeed done growin’.” Applejack finally said. Choir let out a sigh of relief before sucking in a sharp breath, realizing what she just said.
“Wait, what? There are apples here?”
“Yes indeed, in fact there are.” Applejack stated a bit proudly. “We here at Sweet Apple Acres don’ force our crops to grow faster than th’ market demands, but some apples just grow faster than others. It’s ah force of nature, y’know.”
“Would you mind pointing us towards where those apples might be?” Choir asked sheepishly.
“Ah can do better than that, ah can show ‘ya where they are.”
Choir’s cheeks were sore with all the smiling he was doing. “Oh goody.”
“We would love you to show us where your special apples are, Miss Applejack.” Prism expressed sweetly, catching Choir off guard. He stared at her in horror and annoyance, wishing that he had got the first word first.
“Follow me!” Applejack called to the four before she started on a brisk pace west, barely giving the others time to catch up with her. All five of them walked in relative silence through the woodland expanse, time seemingly lost as the sun above them was occasionally blocked by the tall plants around them. Choir was almost relaxed that his lead didn’t go dry like he thought it would and at least they would get to some assortment of apples, but it didn’t calm him for the new problem that arose.
“Oh, I hope my mom’s not there anymore.” Choir said to himself, staring at the ground all clammy. “Or at least I hope she keeps out of sight long enough for me to somehow dismiss Applejack. If Applejack sees her I don’t know what I’ll do!”
“Psst! Choir!” Prism whispered from behind. Choir looked back and saw Prism look directly at him, not happy. “Why won’t you tell Applejack the truth?”
“I don’t want anypony to know more than they need to!” Choir answered quietly. “The less they know, the better. I need to keep this under wraps. Very hush hush.”
Prism looked skeptical. “But why?”
“Because this is kinda personal! My mom is in deep trouble and it would mean the end of her reputation if what has happened to her gets out to the public!”
The crystal Pegasus was bewildered. “What? It’s that bad?”
“Yeah.” “It’s that bad.” Choir thought solemnly.
“So, how’s Snapple?” Meteos asked, breaking the partial silence and the conversation between Prism and Choir.
“Snap Apple’s doin’ just fine, thank you for askin’.” Applejack stated. “She’s gotten a little lazy with her chores, but her school’s doin’ pretty fine.”
“That sounds good.” Meteos responded.
A few more minutes passed as the ponies plus one passenger made the trek to the grown apple trees. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the five got to location.
“And here we are. The final stop at Sweet Apple Acres, these are the early bird apples, the apples that appear just before Applebucking Season.” Applejack said, looking at the ponies behind her. She wondered why they looked so put off instead of radiating with utter awe and amazement.
“Do your apples always look like they’ve been gutted?” Meteos asked bluntly, pointing at the apple trees behind Applejack. Applejack turned around with a frown. What she saw next brought back horrific memories, and she paled.
“No… No, not again!” she cried, falling to her flank.
The scene before them was an absolute apple massacre. Fallen apples were all over the ground, deflated and mummified as if they had been there for a century, not able to return to the dirt fast enough. Their colours were drained and shaded, with red gala apples becoming maroon and golden delicious evolving into a sickening brown. The trees were void of any fruits, and the small, growing apples that were on the trees seemed to have the juices sucked out of them too. Applejack let a single tear trail over her visage and the four stared on at what used to be an acre filled with fresh life. Choir spotted Aqui from the corner of his eye shaking an angry fist at the field of dead apples. He could feel her anger seething from her being. Even though she was a rabbit, she understood that no garden should have been demolished so violently and carelessly!
“What am I looking at?” Meteos questioned out loud, his eyes almost going cross with confusion.
Choir fell to the ground and landed on his backside, his ears folding back as a sorrowful frown formed on his face. Now he really felt like he was going to cry. “It’s all over. We weren’t fast enough. We couldn’t catch mom before she could cause any damage! And now, Applejack is going to connect the pieces and figure out that mom did this and blame us for not keeping her in check and press charges and we’ll lose the cottage and –”
Applejack bend down, gritting her teeth in frustration with a single hoof curved upward inches away from the bottom of her chin. “Darn it. Darn it all to Tartarus! Them fruitbats got it again!”
Choir was knocked out of his line of thought. “What?”
“Ah’ve seen damage like this many times before.” Applejack stated before getting up and approaching the no mare’s zone. The four friends looked at each other before reluctantly following the farm pony in front. Applejack picked up an apple and examined it from the side. Sure enough, there were two tiny bite marks in the skin of the apple, small enough to be unnoticeable from a first glance but big enough to look like an apple anomaly. “It’s been a long, long time.”
“What has been a long time, Miss Applejack?” Prism asked respectfully.
“Them fruitbats haven’t attacked my farm in ages. It’s been 22 years since ah’ve seen the last of their troubles, and the last time ah had mah friends to help me out of th’ worst of it.” Applejack explained, putting the apple back down, trying to resist crushing it with a stomp in anger. “Ah thought we fixed th’ initial problem together, along with all the extra cargo that came with them critters. We gave them their own little piece of Sweet Apple Acres separate from the main bushels, and they seemed content f’ so long. How could ah have been so foalish?”
Choir’s eyes lit up, seeing an opportunity. “Well, we have been having a bit of trouble with the fruit bats lately…”
“Ya’ have?” Applejack asked, hope in her gaze that Choir might have a solution for her, or at least a hint on how to prevent further massacres from occurring.
“I just have to feed her belief a little more! A few more lies won’t hurt a thing.” “Yeah. My mom and I always check up on the fruit bats just to see how they’re doing every spring time. But the past couple of years they’ve been a bit… restless to say the least. I mean, they didn’t seem like they would go as far as to ditching their mating grounds to invade your farm and eat for themselves, but they were pretty agitated to us. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with them, but they hadn’t done anything drastic thus far.”
“Until now.” Meteos finished with a grim scowl. Aqui nodded, folding her paws.
“But why would they do such a thing?” Prism asked, concern painted all over her face.
Choir shrugged and turned to face Prism. “I have no idea. Maybe they were planning this for a while. Maybe they were just waiting for the right opportunity to strike. From what we’ve tried, it’s impossible to tell.”
Choir couldn’t help but smile a little while Applejack couldn’t see his face. “It’s working! It’s completely working! I just have to keep going with the momentum we have and we’ll be in the clear! Applejack won’t know a thing!”
“Why, of all the low-down, nasty, good-fer-nuthin’ things they could have done…” Applejack trailed off, suddenly in thought. Her gaze trailed to the far east, over a hill of apples on the other side of the farm. “Ah bet that they’re still there, sleeping off the weight they ate!”
Choir gulped, trying to think of the appropriate response. “Well, they probably are. It’s not like they can fly off and find another home all of the sudden or sink off to a hidey hole. They’re still probably full, and they can barely fly with that weight.”
“Ah’m gonna go over there and give them a piece of mah mind!” Applejack suddenly announced, fury fueling motivation.
Prism gave a panicked look. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea, Miss Applejack? Shouldn’t you wait and get a little bit of help to deal with this?”
Applejack did a double take, then stared straight at Prism. “Ah… Ah think you’re right. Ah remember th’ last time I went off alone doin’ something too big for me.”
Applejack paused, then visibly perked up.
“Ok kids! Ah’m gonna quickly run and get Fluttershy to help me with them critters. Could you three go and quickly get the princess? Ah think ah might need ah third head to help me out here.”
It was Meteos’ turn to grimace. “Aww. Do we have to?”
“What kind of a question is that?” Choir asked distastefully. “Of course we’ll get the princess for you, Applejack. Anypony else?”
Applejack shook her head. “Nope! Don’ need no one else! Unless this somethin’ turns into somethin’ big, but ah think th’ three of us can handle a few little fruit bats. Thank ya’ll kindly.”
“You’re very welcome, Miss Applejack.” Prism answered with a smile.
“E’ur mother is home, right?” Applejack asked Choir.
“Uh, she should be,” Choir lied. Applejack raised an eyebrow. “I mean, she definitely should, but I can’t be certain she’s there right now. She might have left after I left to go search for the, uh, escaped animal.”
“Al…Alrighty then.” Applejack drawled, turning her head to the side a bit. “You kids best get goin’. Imma go an’ get Fluttershy. After Ah’ll see what ah can do to help you find that bird of yours.”
Choir looked left and right, as if he was checking that he was still in Sweet Apple Acres. “Um, really?”
“Why, of course! It’s only helpful if friends help each other, ya’ll get me?”
Choir’s poker face went into effect again. “Oh great. Now I feel even more like a dirtbag abusing Applejack’s trust like this.” Aqui hopped once on Choir’s back. “Guess we’ll get going now.” he said, turning around to start towards the main road.
Applejack began to trot away as well. “Come back quick, ya’ll hear?”
“Yeah!” Choir called after her, waving.
“We will, Miss Applejack.” Prism enounciated.
“See ‘ya!” Meteos said.
Applejack quickly disappeared in the thick of the trees. Choir walked off in a different direction with Prism and Meteos in toe, Aqui having a curious expression on her face as she stared at the back of Choir’s head. Choir had a thought.
”Aw cookie crumbs. We need to hurry this up. My flank is toast if Applejack reaches the cottage first and finds out that my mom’s gone before we get her and fix the darn problem! But at least...”
“Finally, she’s gone,” Choir pointed out, leading forward back towards the general area of the barn. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Before Applejack realizes the full-frontal onslaught of dishonesty you served?” Meteos helpfully inquired. Prism’s jaw dropped.
“Yeah... Before that...”
Prism stared unbelieving at Choir. “You mean that the fruit bats didn’t attack Sweet Apple Acres?”
Choir was caught off guard. “Well, I mean to say, it’s not like they didn’t attack Sweet Apple Acres or anything, but they certainly weren’t acting as odd as I was making them to be. I mean, they were just fine, but I had to throw Applejack off of us so we could escape.”
Prism nodded. “Are we actually going to Ponyville?”
“Yeah. My mom wasn’t here anyways, so the next likely place she’ll head next is Ponyville.”
“How do we know that she isn’t here? We haven’t explored all of Sweet Apple Acres. She could be anywhere where we haven’t looked.”
“Ah heh, trust me. She’s not here. She was looking for one thing and one thing only, and she didn’t find it. Well, not enough of it, anyways. She’ll be looking for more, and the only other place out here is Ponyville, so that’s where we’re headed.”
Prism raised an eyebrow, gears turning when suddenly Meteos cut in front of her and leaned towards Choir. “Wait. Are we actually going to get the princess for Applejack?”
“Not if I can help it.” Choir stated.
Meteos seemed to sigh in relief then slow down to take up his spot in the back again. Prism looked at him for two seconds and rolled her eyes before bringing her thoughts back to their leader in front of them.
”I’ll get to the bottom of this eventually.” Prism concluded, eyeing Choir and putting her trust in her friend above everything else.
And so, Choir Wings, Meteos, Prism Arrow and Aqui made their way back to the dirt path leading up to Sweet Apple Acres and turned in the direction of the main road. Once they got out of the farm and started walking towards the crop of thatched houses in the distance, Choir finally felt as if part of a huge weight was let off his back.
“Oh sweet Celestia, those poor bats! I’ve just sent their worst nightmare after them! I’ll have to apologize and make it up for them as soon as I get mom back!” Choir thought to himself, approaching Ponyville with a sense of purpose and unease.
Choir wings stared at the ground, his mind far away as his legs moved for him, memory serving as his map for the roads he traversed.
Ponyville was a sunny as ever, with clear blue skies and a nice southern wind that complimented the early spring air that sprung up after winter. Ponies of various colours and races trotted about through the streets, chatting with one another and getting from place to place at the leisurely Ponyville pace. There was no rush for anypony, and as for the three teens and one bunny that walked the streets, they kept their energy ready for a moment’s notice.
“You ok, Choir?” Prism Arrow asked, bending her neck down to get in Choir’s line of sight.
“Yeah, I’m just thinking,” Choir answered, lifting his head and peering forward. “I never really thought about it, but I don’t exactly know why my mom’s acting like this.”
Meteos gave him an odd look. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I don’t know what the catalyst for my mom’s relapse was. I don’t know how it happened.” Choir replied, returning Meteos’ gaze.
“Ok, hang on,” Prism stated, stopping right in her tracks. The other two ponies stopped and turned to look at her. “You haven’t told us anything about what’s happening to your mom. A relapse? A relapse into what?”
Choir grimaced. “She… She relapses into certain behaviours from time to time, and usually my dad and I are there to handle it and help her control herself until is passes. This time she escaped, and well, when she relapses, she, uh, she’s a bit unstable. She does things and doesn’t really know what’s going on until after the fact. She can’t control herself.”
The two other ponies were wide-eyed. Aqui looked indifferent but kept close attention to Choir’s words, her ears tilted towards him while she sat on his back.
“Are you serious?” Prism asked. Her eyes checked Meteos to her left for a split second before going back to Choir. “That sounds kinda dangerous.”
“Yeah, sounds like something from a freaky novel, like Dr. Coat and Mr. Hide.” Meteos piped in.
Choir looked away. “It’s not that serious. Well, most of the time it isn’t. She’s never really hurt anypony before, so it’s not like she becomes dangerous exactly, but…”
“But?”
“But she gets so unpredictable that, ooh, I just can’t think of what will happen!”
“Choir I’m serious. Like, what if your mother has multiple personalities?” Meteos asked.
Choir met him straight in the eye. “I’m certain. Trust me on this one, my mom might be a bit messed up right now, but it’s not because she has two minds in one head,” He put his hoof to his chin and stared absent-mindedly into the sky. “Well, at least I’m somewhat certain that she doesn’t.”
“Ugh, ok, same things go,” Prism said, feeling like she got nowhere with her confrontation. “We find your mom, subdue her, and get her back to your house, right?”
“Right. And we’re gonna need to try to keep her out of sight once we get her. And we’re gonna have to find her before either Applejack finds out that I lied to her or she finds us after finding my cottage empty.”
Prism raised an eyebrow. “Why do we have to keep her out of sight?”
Choir wanted to punch himself. He felt keeping his mother’s secret under wraps was getting harder by the minute. “I’ll explain everything once we find her. For now, we need to get going to the market.”
His eyes went back to the pavement however when the three made an agreement and got moving again. “But I still have no idea what’s causing her to act this way. She normally only does this at night. Why is this happening in the middle of the day?”
As the four headed south through Ponyville they came upon a familiar, candy-themed building. The walls were sugary beige with chocolate-shaded wood planks holding up the majority of the frame, the roof seemingly made of gingerbread and the pink flowers near the front looking like they were grown from pieces of lollipops. Frosting covered the shingles all over the top and the height of a single, towering room touched the tip of the clouds with a triad of candles forever burning as cut-outs painted in orange and red. There was a pony holding a candy cane sticking out the side of the building, letting itself get pushed by the gentle wind and a picture of a heart-coloured cupcake hung from a board to the immediate right of the front door. The bakery was one of the larger buildings in the town, with several extensions build from the original design to create more lounging space for customers, a bigger and more robust kitchen, a proper supply room and more living quarters for the half-dozen workers who experimented there.
Choir, Meteos, Prism and Aqui all routed around the building clockwise, meeting a familiar sight sitting at the bottom of the stairs near the back door of the confectionery.
“Hey, Mince,” Choir greeted.
She looked up. Her maroon, almost brown complexion met perfectly with her angled, thick eyelashes and her straight, plain blueberry mane hung over her forehead in a perpendicular cut. Not many ponies understood why she wore a loose blue t-shirt that was partially see-through, sleeves cut short and the bottom exposing her midsection. The dark-green skirt she wore was loose and flexible, and she impossibly crossed her back legs as she sat upright with one hoof on the pavement and the other holding a strawberry smoothie. She turned to meet the others, her dull red eyes matching the solemn, neutral expression she made as she looked at them back.
“Hello,” Mince answered back.
“What’cha doing?”
“Oh. I’m on my break,” she said, looking down of what remained of her rapidly depleting drink. “Since school got out early the shop’s been going non-stop for the past three-and-a-half hours now. As soon as I got home I was put on shift because apparently Pound got some kind of cold from one of the customers.”
“Oh, cheese,” Choir said, wincing. “I hope he’ll be alright.”
Aqui nodded on his back.
Mince Pie waved a hoof in dismissal. “Ah, he’ll be alright. We're talking about one of the Cakes, not that stupid party planner with the rubber chicken. No, Pound's gone through worse.”
“Worse? What kind of worse?” Prism piped up, stepping forward.
Mince's gaze whipped around to meet Prism and a sudden shiver went down Prism's spine. The earth pony’s eyes seemed to glow crimson in the daylight. “The kind of worse that would tear your bones from its ligaments, turn them into a mush and pour the remnants into a bowl as a thick batter. The kind of worse that would make you pull your coat from the roots and use as a fine topping for sprinkles. The kind of worse that makes your insides perfectly soft and malleable for a decently sized soufflé.”
The four all gave each other nervous looks.
“That’s the kind of worse he’s handled.”
Suddenly, it all hit them. They turned to Mince and all voiced at once “Pinkie Pie?”
“Yep. My mum.” Mince stated, taking a sip of her drink.
Aqui, thoroughly disturbed by the description leading to Mince's answer, folded her arms before giving a disgusted look and pointed her paw into her open mouth as she gagged, sticking her tongue out. Meteos was the only one to notice and a giant grin sprouted on his face with his muted giggling.
“So. What are you guys up to?” Mince asked blandly.
“We’re looking f-” Meteos began before Choir’s hoof slammed home, a distinctly grumpy expression on the Pegasus’s face.
“We’re looking for a, uh, a bird. Yellow wings, pink plumage. Have you seen anything like that nearby?”
Mince turned away from them, staring off into the distance as the ambience of the outdoors reigned over silence. A few ponies passed by in the streets, not noticing a thing. Tumbleweed blew across the road, right between the houses, sticks cracking on the stone. Mince took another sip of her concoction. The group gave each other curious looks, Meteos scratching the back of his head and Prism giving a shrug when Choir’s eyes met hers. After some time had passed, she turned back to them.
“Nope. Haven’t seen a thing.”
Meteos rolled his eyes and sighed. Prism facehooved.
“Are you sure you haven’t seen anything like that?”
Mince shook her head. Choir’s ears folded back and he looked at the ground.
“Well, have you seen Fluttershy anywhere?” Prism asked. Choir immediately turned his head and glared at the offending culprit, his eyes wide open and his mouth twisted into a teeth-baring frown, striking his hoof across the bottom of his neck in a cutting motion.
“No, I haven’t either. But why are you looking for Choir’s mother?”
Choir opened his mouth, but Prism beat him to the punch again. He flinched. “I dunno exactly, but according to Choir she’s under some kind of influence that’s not making her act right and she’s wandering around Ponyville acting as some kind of general danger.”
Choir glared at Prism, lifting his hoof threateningly to shove it like he did with Meteos. She stared right back, shooting daggers out of her eyes and growling deep like a lion, her eyebrows forming into a scowl. A weak smile appeared onto the pink Pegasus’ face and he sweated buckets, bleating as he put his hoof back onto the ground and turned to look at Mince again.
“Well, I mean,” Choir began, not able to meet Mince’s eyes as he tried to form a coherent response. “Yeah, she’s kind of out of it right now, but I’m just worried that she’ll her herself in her confusion. She's not in the right mind, you know? I need to get her home.”
Mince blinked once. “Is it estrus?”
Everyone except Mince and Choir fell onto their backs laughing. Choir dropped to his haunches, grinding his teeth and throwing his head up in frustration, his hooves shaking with barely controlled energy.
“Oh my Celestia! Why does everypony assume it’s estrus? It’s not! For the love of the stars, it’s not estrus!" Choir ranted, shouting right into Mince’s face. She turned away from the spray assaulting her and let Choir try and calm down, the others laughing behind him.
Choir zipped to a nearby mare trotting by, a white rose in her pink locks. "My mom's not in estrus, ok! You got that?" he shouted, making her go wide-eyed and increasing her pace while he breathed heavily, eyes slightly bloodshot.
Mince blinked again. “Estrus is a perfectly fine and reasonable explanation. The time of year is perfect for it and it’s a common mistake between mares to forget to take their medication one day.”
“But you don’t get it, it’s not estrus! How many times do I have to say it? She's-”
Choir stopped in his tracks, looking up to the sky to the side of Mince’s head, his ears folding back. The others behind him stopped their laughing once they realized that he went silent.
“C-Choir,” Prism began, wiping tears off her cheeks. “What’s-”
“Igottagoberightbackseeyouguys!” Choir rapidly proclaimed, suddenly launching himself into the air, Aqui squealing on his back as she held on for dear life. He rocketed forward and took a sharp right, entering straight into one of the Sugarcube Corner’s second floor windows. Mince got up abruptly.
“Where’s he going?” she asked, a sudden seriousness in her voice, looking at where Choir Wings exited. Prism and Meteos shared knowing looks, their faces pale.
“I think he just found that bird,” Meteos said.
“And Fluttershy at the same time,” Prism added.
“Oh,” Mince simply stated. There was silence for a few seconds as the two waited patiently for the Pie Sister to continue her response. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much.
“The bird and Fluttershy are the same things!” they both shouted at once.
“Oh.” Mince said, realization coming to her. She then opened the back door and motioned for everypony to follow her in.
Choir narrowed himself, shooting through the gap of the open window and sliding in with the grace of a crashing eagle. He landed on his hooves but slid on the shiny floor for several seconds before ramming into a table with a thud. He rubbed his shoulder, dazed, and looked around the kitchen before he winced at something hitting the back of his head. He peered over his back to see a disgruntled Aqui shouting and squeaking at him, hopping in place and making various angry gestures with her paws.
Choir suddenly took Aqui in his hooves, which at first she wasn’t happy with. “Oh, I’m sorry Aqui! I’m just not thinking right now. I want to save my mom so badly that I keep forgetting about you!”
Aqui, hanging from Choir's crossed forelegs, folded her arms and muttered something under her breath, although her owner still heard her.
“I’m really sorry Aqui, and I’ll try my best to never let it happen again! I just get so wrapped up in the chase that I… Will you ever forgive me?”
Her ticked off expression seemed to falter as she slumped in her position, her ears tilting forward as she processed a thought. With a grin she nodded and spoke some more, patting the top of Choir's hoof soothingly.
“Oh, thank you Aqui. You’re really the best friend a guy could have!” Choir declared, hugging Aqui close and nuzzling her. She smiled and rubbed back, enjoying the affection thoroughly.
After a moment he put her back on his back and looked around the room. The kitchen was oddly cast in the dark with no lights on except for the sun pouring through the windows. There were cupboards everywhere lining against every wall above countertops, their green doors shut to peeking eyes. Multiple steel ovens lay against the walls along with several spoons and mixing devices. Large brown tables built into the floor took up a lot of the center of the otherwise spacious room, nothing on the tops of the surfaces, the wood wiped clean. The soft smell of baking fluttered throughout the room, skirting by the purple curtains waving in the wind. One of the ovens was on, the knobs on the device turned from their default positions. Several bags of flour and plates stood above the cupboards in plain view, easily accessible for any use. But there was no sign of Fluttershy anywhere.
There was a clatter of movement behind Choir and he turned around, trying to train his eyes to see through the shadows that hovered over the corners of the room. Cake pans fell to his immediate left and he swiftly checked the area, swearing that he saw the end of a pink tail weave around the bags at the top of the cupboards. He heard hooves scuffle from some direction in the nearby vicinity and he crouched down, ready to jump at any moment, ears and eyes up, searching for danger.
“Hiya, Choir!”
Choir and Aqui yelled, but Choir stayed to the ground and his whole body shook with a ferocious shiver. His legs threatened to bolt him out of there but he managed to control them to a stutter, bouncing a few inches forward without his command. He turned around to meet a wildly grinning young mare staring right at him a mere four inches away.
“Cherry! You scared me!”
“Sorry!” she answered back with her excited, high-pitched voice, backing up and giving him some oh-so-lovely personal space. She was of a hardy build, the complete opposite of what one would assume given her current occupation as a baker at the biggest cupcake factory in Ponyville. Her deep red coat seemed bright even in the dim light, and the sugar cane curls of her long mane swooped down her side, her tail barely reaching the ground in shades of dark and light green. The red cherry pie placed on her flank matched the one on the white fluffy apron she wore and her emerald eyes gleamed every single minute of the day, twenty-four seven. “I thought you knew I was here.”
“What made you think that I knew that you were here?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Well, you were crouching all low, looking like you were ready to pounce, eyeing the shadows as if you were paying a huuuge amount of attention to everything and anything in the room!” she chirped cheerfully.
“I am Cherry, or at least I was,” Choir explained, looking left and right once more.
“So,” Cherry started, jumping in front of Choir once again. “What’cha doooin’?”
Choir put his hooves on Cherry’ shoulders and moved her to the side, peering over her. Aqui jumped to the top of his head and kept a look out with one paw shading her eyes. “I’m looking for a bird.”
“Ooo! What kind of bird?” Cherry said, moving back in place to block Choir.
“A big yellow bird with pink feathers, now would you stop that? I’m trying to keep an eye out.”
Choir stepped forward and crossed Cherry just before she fronted him face to face. “Is it the Flubus Migratorius? I’ve heard from your mom that that’s a beautiful bird!”
“Oh yeah, she’s told me all about how cute its tiny wings are compared to its chubby body, and how it like to get into trouble by poking his head into tree holes that it shouldn’t be poking its head in!”
Choir got distracted from something in the corner of his eye. He turned to see something leap over the fridge into the back of the room. His eyes had a hard time tracking the movement in the dark and he couldn’t keep up with the object.
Suddenly, there was a crash of cardboard boxes falling on top of each other from the tower they were perched. Choir jumped as high as his heart did in his chest.
“What was that?” Cherry asked, turning around.
“N-Nothing! That’s nothing!” Choir said, taking hold of Cherry’s head and turning her right back around to face him. “Now why don’t you tell me more about this, uh, Flubus bird that my mom was talking about.”
Cherry raised an eyebrow. “Why? You should know more than me, and besides you’re the one looking for it.”
Choir was half keeping eye contact with Cherry and half looking behind her. His smile stretched as high as the corners of his lips could go and he could feel a string of sweat trail down his temple. “W-Well, I just want to know what your opinion is of it. Y-You know, what you know about it a-and stuff.”
The pots and pans in the background beside the sink clattered from some hidden push.
“Huh?” Cherry voiced, turning her head again. Choir smoothly went around her counter-clockwise and blocked her view of the end of the room, Aqui jumping down from his crown to his back.
“I-I-I think my mom would appreciate it if she knew how much of her knowledge stuck with you.” Choir forced out.
Cherry sat on her haunches and put one hoof to her chin and the other beneath her elbow, her eyes looking up in thought. “Hmm, let me see here...”
There was another hubbub of sound and Aqui pulled on the back of Choir’s mane. Choir used the utmost amount of head-swivel to meet Aqui’s attention with one eye. She whispered something to him, pointing at the Pegasus-shaped object creating chaos in the dark backdrop, jumping around the scene but still unidentifiable. He nodded slightly, then turned his head back to face his speaker.
“Apparently the Flubus Migratorius is one finicky bird, spending the daytime sitting in sunlight and eating things such as nuts, small berries and bugs on the ground. The first two I can understand, but bugs? Eww, the last time I tasted one of those things was when I was five, and they were not very tasty at all.”
Choir nodded, tuning out most of Cherry’s rant as she continued on. Aqui kept her eyes behind Choir and when the flying monster moved to a different location she rubbed her paws together, stuck out her tongue in concentration and grabbed a hold of the bottom of Choir’s mane, pulling it to her right. Choir winced and his smile almost broke but he shuffled to the right slowly, trying to gauge on how hard his bunny rabbit was tugging him. Cherry prattled on, and suddenly Aqui sharply pulled to the left, causing Choir to hiss under his teeth and jump in the same direction. The mysterious Pegasus in the darkness leaped high in the air and crashed down, creating a cacophony of noise and making Aqui pull at steady intervals to the right, Choir stepping to the beat.
Cherry wasn’t looking at Choir anymore, with her eyes looking up at the ceiling and her mouth bent into a joyful, worriless grin as she recalled all the tiny things Fluttershy had told her about one simple bird. When the thing in the back moved again Aqui pulled, but her mouth dropped open when she realized she made an error, yanking on Choir desperately to the left and pulling a few hairs out too.
“Ouch.” Choir whispered.
“What was that?” Cherry asked, broken out of her stupor. She looked at Choir. “Are you alright?”
He nodded, his cheeks getting sore again. “I’m fine. Carry on.”
And so she did. In the meanwhile, Choir turned his head to the left and gave Aqui the dirty eye, a tear threatening to be let go. “A little gentler, please!”
She apologized with a wave of her paw, but then started pointing at the back with a concerned expression. Choir turned his head to see what she was bothered by: A single door leaned ajar against the wall in the middle of the shadows.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered.
Suddenly, that door slammed shut without him noticing how, creating reverb around the room.
“Huh?” Cherry voiced, looking over Choir to the door. “Who closed the supply door?”
Choir panicked and tried to wave Cherry off. “I-It’s nothing. I didn’t hear the door. Did you hear the door, Aqui?” Choir didn’t give time for Aqui to answer. “See? She didn’t hear anything either.”
Cherry walked around the Pegasus to the purple door sitting in the back, arching neatly at the top. It rattled violently from the other side and various food articles sounded like they were falling to the ground in some manner of fury. “It must be those darn rats again. Give me a teeny tiny second Choir, I need to deal with this before they create a mess!”
“Dear Celestia! What kind of rats do you have in this place?” Choir had to wonder.
She was inches away from the door, an innocent smile on her face, reaching for the doorknob. The boards of the door vibrated from action from the other side, something banging against the wood.
Everything seemed to slow down for Choir.
“Nooo!” Choir cried, hopelessly diving towards Cherry, his hoof reaching out for her, Aqui mirroring her owner’s actions except for the airborne lunge.
Suddenly, the door to the right of Choir burst open.
“Cheryl Audrey Pie! Do not touch that door!” commanded Mince Pie as she forced the entrance open, light from the hallway flooding into the kitchen, Meteos and Prism Arrow hurrying in right behind her.
Cherry turned around, meeting Mince’s eyes. “Oh, hey Mince! Why did you call me by my full name? Ooh, can we start calling each other by our full names? Ok ok, let me start!” she said, clapping joyfully.
Mince facehooved. She began to strut towards her sister. “Get away from the door!”
Meteos, severely out of breath, looked at the hallway behind him. "Jeez, this place is big! Who would have thought it would take us this long to get to one simple kitchen?" he said aloud to no one in particular.
“Why, Minerva, I didn’t think you could be so serious about tiny little rats!” Cherry playfully chided.
The shaking of the door reached a peak and exploded open, ramming the wall as it swung all the way around, hitting Cherry in the rear. Cherry screamed as she was launched forward and flung to the ground. She covered her head and stayed down, her back legs not responding as they sat useless and splayed against the floor, her head not turning, her eyes not looking at the long, dark creature that leapt from the doorway all the way across the room to the windows again, landing on a table with a round object in its mouth. Everything suddenly happened too fast for Choir as Mince, Cherry, Prism and Meteos gasped.
Choir’s ears folded as he tried to make himself small. “I’m dead.”
Standing in the light of the afternoon sun from the closed glass behind her was a monster unlike any of the ponies had ever seen before. Her yellow coat was pale and unhealthy, her mane and tail in tatters, her eyes an evil bloody glow and sharp fangs jutting out from her upper lip. She bend down on the table, sucking on something red and round, a tiny stem peeking from the top. The reflection of a healthy apple in the maw of the creature became apparent under the illumination before her cheeks flexed and the piece of fruit was sucked dry, deflating like a popped balloon in the flash of an instant. The skin of the drained sustenance got stuck to her teeth and she lifted her head, throwing the apple to the side after, the apple disintegrating upon contact with the floor and sending Honeycrisp bits everywhere.
Prism’s wide eyes scanned the threat and stopped when she spotted the image placed on the flank of the monster. The three pink bats looked awfully familiar to her. Cherry finally peeked from beneath her hooves and looked at her assaulter from the corner of her eye. Her breath hitched in her throat. Choir swore he could see a dark aura emanating from his mother’s figure, burning upwards like a black flame, keeping the light from casting over her body properly.
“Choir… Is... Is that?” Prism started, weakly lifting her hoof up to point.
“Eh,” Choir said, pressing his two front hooves together nervously. “Uh,”
Fluttershy took one look at the five ponies before her, leaned forward and hissed angrily, glaring down at them with an evil Mince and Cherry had never seen before. Then, before anypony could do anything else, the vampony leaped through the window, shattering the glass and letting loose outside.
There was silence in the room. Nopony moved. Prism and Meteos shared looks. Mince blinked, trying to figure out what just happened. Cherry’s mane deflated as a balloon popped and let loose its air in the background. Choir kept staring at the now broken window with Aqui, not knowing what to do. Mince rushed up to her younger sibling and scooped her up into a hug, Cherry sniffling with soft tears running down her visage.
“It’s ok. It’s ok. You’re safe now. I’ve got you.” Mince comforted, keeping her sister in her forelegs, looking down at her darkened mane and coat.
“What...” Cherry said, holding on to Mince. “What was that thing?”
“Don't worry about. Don't think about it too much.”
“T-That wasn’t a rat, Mince,” she continued, letting the waterworks loose. “T-T-That looked n-nothing like a r-r-rat!”
“I know. I saw it too.”
Meteos stared at the two, his expression still stuck on surprise. Prism shot a murderous glare at the pink Pegasus sitting on the ground.
“Choir…” she growled.
Choir listened to the distant panicked screams of the Ponyvillans outside the broken window, the summer breeze flowing inside.
Applejack trotted over the tiny yellow bridge over the stream to Fluttershy’s cottage. The building sat quiet, its roof bright green with the moss and grass that covered its top, the trees nearby still despite the breeze in the background. She adjusted her hat and took a nervous gulp.
The area was eerily quiet. Applejack audibly counted her hoofsteps up the path to the front door of the cottage, her eyes scanning the yard for any animals. There were none, and the grass stood perfectly still, pointing to the sky undisturbed and growing outward from the energy provided by the sun, which even then seemed dimmed in the area, even though there was not a cloud in the sky. Not even the steady flow of water beneath the bridge made much noise, the trickle of liquid dancing around rocks not detectable by normal Pony ears unless you were very close.
Everything seemed muted, and Applejack traced her eyes across the top of the land, reaching the front door without realizing. She figured that it couldn’t be possible. Fluttershy’s cottage was never this quiet, and even then the presence of animals would at least make the home outside of Ponyville not seem so desolate, and instead filled with life and activity, however silent it may be. Fear crept up the back of Applejack’s neck, and she got the feeling that something was very, very wrong.
“Fluttershy, honey? You in there?” Applejack called aloud, knocking on the door. There was no response, and the Earth Pony stood in front of the door awkwardly, her coat leaning on point, the mane on her head sitting in the normal knot along the back of her neck. She knocked on it again, more firmly.
Applejack could barely take it. She leaned over and checked through the round window to the right, her green eyes peering into the darkness inside. She could barely make out anything inside. The outside seemed so bright compared to the cottage, and she had trouble even making out the green sofa along the wall in the back of the living room. She spotted the shadow she was making over the light coming through the glass, and counted the motes of dust floating in the air, standing out underneath the warm afternoon sun. Then, her eyes caressed the coffee table and went wide.
There was a giant scratch in the table surface. Looking around, she also noticed that the cushions of the sofa were scattered all over the room, with the sofa itself slightly moved out of place, tilted away from the wall. The door of the tall linen cabinet at the far reaches of the room was ajar, with a number of its blankets lying across various surfaces of the place, some cascading down the shelves in the cabinet itself. Applejack barely made out the kitchen sink at the back of the cottage and was shocked to see the sink tap bent out of shape.
“F-Fluttershy?” Applejack called again, banging on the door. “Are you in there? W-What’s going on? Are you ok?”
Matted sweat was rolling down Applejack coat. She could feel her heartbeat quicken, and she checked her side to see if she was still alone. It was still too quiet, and she knew those dang critters could sneak up behind her at any time and pounce. She hit the door a few more times. She tested the doorknob to make sure it was locked and that she wasn’t making a fool of herself beating up the wood of the door like she was. “Fluttershy if you don’ open th’ dang door in the next couple seconds, Ah’m getting’ in th’ hard way!”
Applejack started counting in her head. She checked through the window again. The room was still dark, and there was no movement inside. She kept knocking.
“Fluttershy?” she asked. Taking a few steps back, she craned her head up and tried to see if there was any movement on the upper floor. It was a poor angle, but it didn’t seem like she was inside the house. Applejack considered checking around the cottage just to make sure that Fluttershy wasn’t outside, but if Fluttershy was outside she must have heard Applejack by then after the racket she caused. The other fact of the matter was that there were no animals in sight outside. Applejack reasoned if Fluttershy was outside the animals would be there too, right?
“Fluttershy, ah’m sorry about th’ door, but ah have no choice!” Applejack finished, having gotten fed-up with waiting, the panic in her chest growing steadily. She turned around, braced her weight against her front legs, reared up her back weight and threw her hind legs in a powerful buck.
Applejack almost expected the door to either give resistance before letting go or breaking before she got the chance to open it, but the old lock broke easily as the wood of the door swung open, slamming against the wall, the front having two distinct hoof-marks against the boards. Applejack turned back around, her gaze lingering on the broken metal pieces of the lock for a few seconds. The hole of the lock was completely ripped out of the door and took a chunk out of the otherwise sturdy cottage.
She winced. “Aw, hay. Ah think ah over did it.”
Taking a few tentative steps inside, the minute sounds of the open air outside shut off in an instant, and Applejack was suddenly aware that the silence that she surrounded herself with previously was nothing compared to this. There was simply nothing going on inside the cottage. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. Dust was moving about everywhere, settling down on various surfaces in different places in the room. The normally bustling household was, for a lack of a better term, dead, and Applejack felt a shiver down her spine.
She wiped her hooves on the entrance mat when her front hooves nudged something on the floor. Looking down, she found Choir’s green saddlebags sitting right beside the door, filled with his books from his school still. Her eyes scanned the living room. More unease settled into her throat. There was a giant scratch in the coffee table. The cabinet was partially open, with blankets and towels unceremoniously dumped out onto the wooden floorboards. The birdhouses hanging from the ceiling were completely empty.
She quietly trotted across the room into the kitchen. It looked like a battle had occurred right in the middle of the floor. The tiles were cracked, the door on the fridge crooked, and there was a large garbage bag filled with broken objects in the corner of the room along with broken planks of wood. There was a faint waft of rotting food in the air, but something else caught Applejack's nose. It was a very familiar smell. She turned to the right, took two steps towards the garbage bag and untied the knot keeping it together. She winced when the bag opened with ease from the forces inside threatening to burst in any way possible. Her eyes squinted, but she held her sensitive nostrils over the compacted trash. A few whiffs were taken, and her eyes widened.
Apples. Old, rotting apples.
She stuck her hoof into the bag without hesitating, shuffling around, searching. Her tongue stuck out in concentration as her hoof poked some sharp pieces of broken plates and cups, ignoring the pricks of disturbance it had along her coat. She found something squishy, shaped concave. Pulling it out overflowed the garbage slightly on to the floor. She held up the object up to the light coming into the window.
It was a red apple, drained of life, its skin intact with the colour dulled. It appeared to have been rotting for a few days.
She spotted two distinct holes in the side of the fruit.
She ran out of the room, dropping the apple and releasing the bag, not bothering to close it and letting it spew its contents all over the floor. Her hard galloping could be heard from the edges of the forest as she sprinted out of the building, across the yellow bridge over the creek and through the path to Ponyville, underneath the tight canopy of leaves hanging over her. When sunlight burst from the end of the passage, she skidded to a stop, tilting her Stetson as she peered off at a sleepy Ponyville in the distance below, frowning.
