Butterscotch flew his way through the winter storm, a thick scarf around his neck, another tied about his muzzle as the whipped at his mane. It had been three weeks since anypony had seen Elusive, so he and Bubble Berry had both agreed that they’d meet at his boutique. Three weeks was a year for the socialite, so him missing for anything more than few days more than met his yearly quota on solitude. Butterscotch had, in fact, been the only pony to notice Elusive’s absence in the last month. It was as if he’d just disappeared. His store wasn’t open, Subtle Chimes wasn’t visiting his brother, and thus not showing up to school, and the curtains on the social stallion’s store were all drawn shut and tied. At first nopony noticed, then they’d all began to hear the supposed ‘good news’.
It was no secret that most of the ponies in the town of Ponyville didn’t like to associate with Elusive. Between the air of constant sophistication and glamour, and the overwhelmingly French accent the stallion adopted at times, it was easy to interpret his attitude towards others as one of contempt. He put off the aura that he was better than all those around him, and though he didn’t mean to, he did in fact belittle the intelligence of others at times, in ways such as correcting their grammar and sometimes speaking in his favourite foreign language. He wasn’t intentionally trying to act superior; it was just how he’d been taught. In Canterlot weakness of mind was as terrible as leprosy, so he’d been taught that such behaviour was completely acceptable, since it prevented him from vulnerability, and thus made him socially acceptable. Most of the ponies in the town interpreted his sophistication as arrogance, and contempt for them. Thus, he was often put in the same category as Dusk Shine as far as it came to bringing trouble to their quaint, peaceful lives.
Butterscotch knew that Elusive had been fading of late. He’d stopped visiting him and Dusk Shine at the castle one night, and ever since he hadn’t seen mane or tail of his classy friend. It was like a gaping hole in the fabric of the town for the shy stallion, but everypony else seemed overjoyed that the socialite was gone. He’d overheard two mares talking about how he’d always recommend things in a size too large for them when they went into his store. Butterscotch knew that was a bunch of hogwash; his friend hadn’t made a bad measurement since the day he’d been taught to use measuring tape. The whole town was abuzz with the ‘great news’ that the town nuisance was now the town shut-in, and wouldn’t be bothering anypony with his fancy words or irritatingly formal mannerisms. The shy stallion grit his teeth at the thought, flying harder into the storm. This wasn’t right; he knew it wasn’t. His friend was a good pony, and a good friend at that. He didn’t know that he bothered those around him. He was just trying to be liked.
With a huff, the normally meek stallion landed at Elusive’s doorstep. There was no sign of Bubble Berry, and not a trace of Elusive. Butterscotch had a fire in his chest, driving him forward in his quest to find his friend. He knew that Elusive wouldn’t just disappear and not say goodbye. That, and he knew that Elusive wasn’t the sort of stallion to shut himself into his home without a very serious reason for doing so. He craved social interaction. A single day without talking to anypony was like being sentenced to a day of hard labour. Nothing crushed the Canterlot pony more than being alone, so something must be seriously wrong to keep him shut inside for an entire month. Butterscotch tried the door to find it locked; it didn’t really surprise him. Surely somepony had tried to get in by now, if it had been unlocked it would have been as easy as strolling in and looking for him. The pegasus didn’t like subterfuge, or anything that wasn’t strictly legal, but he’d made a promise to himself to find Elusive today no matter what. He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a plastic, laminate card. He slid the card down the inside of the doorframe and it caught immediately. He rolled his eyes and pulled out one of his feathers, sticking it into the lock.
A few moments of shaking the sharp end of his feather in the lock and forcing the card into the frame, and the door opened with a loud click. Butterscotch felt guilty about breaking in, but it was for a genuinely good cause, and he was sure Elusive would understand. He was worried about his friend, so he was sure that anypony would make an exception. It wasn’t like he was taking anything, robbing the place or vandalizing his house. He just wanted to know if Elusive was okay. He pushed the door open and entered, looking around. All the lights were out, and by the cold chill in the air, the heat had been turned off, as well as the electricity. He closed the door behind him, careful to reach up and silence the bell above the doorway. As he continued to look around he saw that all of the clothes that Elusive usually sold were all covered in anti-dust plastic, to keep out moths and other sorts of parasites.
Butterscotch was beginning to think that his friend really had skipped town when he heard a faint sound. It sounded like water running. The pegasus made his way to the back of the boutique, looking around the work area. He didn’t see anypony, but the sound of the water running was getting louder. As he passed a half-finished nightgown he saw that, for some reason or another, it was being torn and reconfigured into something that would fit a much smaller size. Butterscotch passed it and continued his way into the house, going all the way into the kitchen. The sound of running water had stopped a few moments ago, and he could have sworn he’d heard hooves on the tile floor in there just second ago. He saw that the faucet was still dripping lightly, and walked over to turn it off. As he did he noticed what looked like thick dye on the handles of the sink. He used a paper towel to turn it off, looking towards the stairs. Something wasn’t right.
As he turned to walk up the stairs he saw that the fridge, normally adorned with tons of photos drawn by Elusive’s younger brother, was now bare. On the table was a small sweater, one that could have easily fit his younger brother. Butterscotch picked it up and examined it. It had a lone purple lock of mane on it, and was still warm. The pegasus didn’t waste any time piecing things together; somepony else was in here with him, and they were just in the room where he stood. He trotted off towards the stairs again, eager for answers. Somepony else was in there with him, and they might know what had happened to his friend. That meant he had to find them, however scary they might be. He ascended to the second floor of the house, looking around to find books scattered all over the hall. On one side of the hallway was the doorway to a bathroom, and on the other was the entrance to a bedroom. Judging by the engraving on the door, it was Elusive’s younger brother’s place of residence. Butterscotch skipped the room, wanting to head straight for his friend’s suite on the third floor. That was most likely where the perpetrator was.
As he made his way onto the third floor he heard something familiar, and felt warm air on his hooves. A fire was crackling up there, in a fireplace, being tended to by somepony. Butterscotch tiptoed his way into the room, lightly as he could with all his winter gear still on. Until he stepped rather loudly on a piece of wood, snapping it in two. A figure turned around by the fire, a rather small figure with large purple eyes. The pair of amethyst eyes widened in shock, staring at Butterscotch like he was the first pony he’d seen in millennia. The figure threw off a thick blanket it had wrapped around itself and began to walk towards him.
“I’m not here to take anything!” Butterscotch said meekly, backing away in fear. “I just wanted to know where Elusive was and he used to live here so please don’t hurt me!”
As the figure stepped out of the halo cast by the fire, Butterscotch could see the pony in question much more clearly. What he saw nearly made him faint. It was a colt; about thirteen, with a light lilac mane and glittering amethyst eyes. He was a unicorn, and had a perfectly white coat and flawlessly polished hooves. To seal the semblance of déjà vu, he had three diamonds adorning his flank, arranged in a triangular pattern. It took a few seconds for it to sink in, but eventually the feathered detective put the pieces of the puzzle together. He wasn’t looking at the pony that had broken into Elusive’s home. He was looking right at his missing friend.
“You’d better take a seat.” Elusive said, holding out a sweater.
It wasn’t until Butterscotch had a cup of hot cocoa in his hooves and a thick woollen sweater on that Elusive began to tell his story. He was in a high-backed chair across from his pegasus friend, his head resting on one hoof. He sighed; his cultured voice, even in the depths of colthood, sounded tired beyond measure. He always had that air about him, like he’d walked a million miles and didn’t want to walk anymore. He looked as if he’d been a thousand places, and done all there was to do. His eyes were tired, like he was tired of sight and wished only to be blind. He looked over at his friend and Butterscotch could only think to himself that the eyes that he possessed, despite belonging to a colt, looked ancient and wise.
“I… did this to myself.” Elusive began. “I won’t tell you otherwise, as it wouldn’t be the truth. This has been a habit of mine for a while now, but it wasn’t until three weeks ago that this became permanent. You see, Butterscotch, I knew that nopony liked me around Ponyville. I knew that not even the spa twins, or the high-class of the town, enjoyed my company. So… once a month or so, I’d go to Zecora’s and have her make a potion for me. It would change me back to what I looked like when I was but a foal… back when everypony actually liked me. When I could walk down the street without ponies looking at me with fire in their eyes, like I was to be shunned. It was nice to exist for a little while without be baggage of being myself. I could talk to ponies and socialize, both my age and adults. It was.... good to be accepted again.”
“So you did this to yourself for friends?” Butterscotch interrupted, leaning forward, hanging on every word the stallion said.
“No… I did it so that I wouldn’t be hated. But I made a terrible mistake. I would always add a small amount of cranberry to the potion, against my better judgment. It was to make the potion stronger, and last longer, but I was a foal. Literally. I took the potion for the last time three weeks ago, and I’ve been like this ever since. I’ve been back to Zecora’s, and she can’t help me. She told me that I could only change back when I like the me I was, more than the me that I’ve become… and I can’t do that. With this new body, I have a blank slate. I’ve been sneaking out every night for the last few days. I go to class at Ms. Cheerilee’s school, and I socialize with ponies like I couldn’t when I was a stallion. My life is… nicer now.”
“But what about us, Elusive!” Butterscotch protested. “This isn’t healthy for you! You’re a grown stallion in the body of a colt! If anypony figured this out you’d be in so much trouble! Just talk to Dusk Shine and he’ll change you back. He’s an alicorn, so I’m sure that he can figure something out-”
“I can’t.” Elusive said, tears in his eyes. He refused to meet the older stallion’s gaze. “I hate to have to say this, but I actually like being… simple. I like having simple problems, and simple needs. I eat, I sleep and I go to bed. My life is quintessence, peace itself. I don’t have to worry about orders and princes breathing down my neck and high-class social standards. I can do as I wish and… actually live.” A single tear blazed a trail down his cheek, looking like molten amber in the firelight. “What I was doing as a stallion… that wasn’t living. That was sickness. This is life, what I’m doing right now. Not worrying about the silly, frivolous things that I let consume me. I can breathe on my own now.”
“But doesn’t it bother you, Elusive? That you’re living a lie?”
“You have no idea how fearful I am that I’ll be discovered. But… look at how happy they all are, seeing that Elusive the irritating, stuffy stallion is dead now.” He scoffed, wiping his tears. “I’m not deaf, Butterscotch. I hear their whispers when they think I’m not listening. They hated me. There’s no hiding that now that my past is out in the open. They think I’m out of their lives forever, and everypony seems to be all the happier about it. They love that I’ll never bother them with my attitudes on the social stigmas surrounding lifestyle choices I’ve made in the past ever again. They are living up my death and dancing on my proverbial grave. Let’s just keep it that way.”
“What’re you planning on doing though? You don’t have a job anymore, how will you get food?” Butterscotch asked, alarmed by his friend’s stance on this. Elusive wasn’t a stallion to just give up. Even more shocking was him admitting to enjoying simplicity. He hated ponies with ‘basic’ lives, but here he was praising his new lifestyle as a simpler, young colt.
“I’ve been living on what I get from the kindness of strangers in the market.” Elusive said. “This house is mine, and mine alone. The taxes are paid until sixty years from now, and my water is from the stream that runs through Ponyville, and thus free. As I said… I don’t want to be my old self again. I want to be liked, and I have no reason to change back.”
“But I liked the old you.” Butterscotch interjected, leaning across the gap between them to stare into his bright purple eyes. “I liked the charming, witty stallion that sometimes made me feel like I was just a little colt again. And I liked that sometimes you’d get drunk on wine and show up at my door and I’d let you sleep in my bed for a day or two while you sobered up. I loved it when you’d look into my eyes sometimes and know exactly what I’m thinking. I liked you.”
“But you like me now, though?”
“Well… you’re still you, but just a colt. And you don’t have to act like you did anymore. I just wonder if… there’s other reasons you’re not changing back into a stallion.”
“There are no other reasons.” Elusive retorted, getting defensive. Butterscotch swore he saw the slightest flush creep into his cheeks as he averted his gaze, staring into the fire. “Besides, even if there was, it would probably just be another reason for me to stay like this. Just another thing keeping me from changing back. That means there is no reason to bring it up, since it’s inconsequential.”
“Is it?” Butterscotch asked, sensing he’d hit a nerve.
“Yes. Don’t keep asking me about it.” He said, taking a sip of hot cocoa. “That is my final thought on the matter. Now… are you going to tell anypony about this? I’ve been doing my best to avoid Bubble Berry, as well as the rest of our group of friends. They’d know me on site, and my cover would be blown completely if a certain aforementioned stallion knew that I was like this.”
“I won’t tell anypony.” Butterscotch said, getting up out of his seat. “But I want you to come over to my house tomorrow. I think that, since you’re living a simpler life now, you’ll want to learn to do the practical things that simple ponies like me tend to enjoy.”
“Such as?” Elusive asked, curious.
“Such as tend a garden, make good tea, care for a pet, camp… normal pony things. Maybe I could get a book of magic for you from the library, since Dusk Shine gave me a copy of the key.”
“That actually sounds… delightful.”
With that, the two got up. Elusive watched his friend as he left, sensing that he should have said something more about why he’d stayed as a foal. It had a lot to do with Butterscotch, but he just couldn’t bring himself to say it yet. He hadn’t fought the permanent accidental change yet because there is such a thing as happy accidents, and he didn’t want this to go away anytime soon. For him this was a second chance to be a better pony, and it also gave him a new perspective on what it took to be a good friend. The serendipity behind this was that he’d done it largely due to Butterscotch. He’d decided to walk around as another pony for a week each month because his shy friend had the same perspective on everything he did. He was an outsider, and he’d wanted to know what it felt like to be him. He’d thought that, maybe, if he did that for just a moment, he’d see that he wasn’t the hard, uncaring and intelligent socialite he liked to pretend to be. He thought if he got a new outlook on life he could learn just how he could slyly tell Butterscotch that he was suffering, wilting like a rose in a drought from all the spite that he received on a daily basis.
For a long time Elusive had pretended that it didn’t hurt him, to be the object of so much annoyance. In the end, though, sometimes the irked glances and other things did get through to him, and it was this that he wanted to convey to Butterscotch. He wasn’t a thing, some uncaring beast that didn’t want to receive affection because he was above any form of weakness. He wanted his feathered friend to know that, even though he had a great act of being classy, he had the same basic needs as anypony else. He craved real company, with real friends of his. More than anything he didn’t want to be hated, cast out like a pariah because the ponies mistook his demeanour for an attitude of superiority. Above all else, he wanted Butterscotch to know that he felt a bond between them, stronger than most ponies had, and that under all of his verbose sophistication, he was really just a scared colt looking for somepony to hold him when he needed it most.
He wanted to say all of that, but Butterscotch was gone before he got the chance. With that, the colt got up, trotted over to the fire, wrapped a blanket around himself, and sat back down. The moment he blinked he began to cry.
“I never wanted to be this way.” He sobbed, burying his head in the wool comforter. “I’m not sophisticated, or wise, or anything else like that. I just acted that way so that nopony sees how weak I am. So they’d stop making me the end of their jokes, and pushing me around. I wasn’t good at anything impressive, so… I made it all up. I barely know French; I don’t really care about how I look. I just wanted somepony to see past all that and find me… I gave all these clues out, for somepony to see who I really am… so why is it taking so long?”
