I was sleeping peacefully on one of the Canterlot sofas. I don't know how to describe what I was dreaming but it involved fruits, bats and... Hit to the face? I shot up from the sofa and saw Jack standing over me with a pillow in his hand. "Cale, wake up" he said.
"Ugh... What the hell, man?" I asked as I rubbed my face. "What time is it?"
"9:30 pm. You have to get up now" he said.
"5 more minutes" I complained as I laid back down on the sofa. Jack hit me with the pillow again. "What's the issue?" I asked.
"It's about Flutterbat."
"Is she ok?" I asked almost worriedly.
"Yeah she is" Jack said assuringly, "it's just that... She's eating apples." I gave him an unamused look.
"There better be more" I said.
"There is. You know how she's been eating apples lately?"
"So? She's a vampire fruit bat. It's in her nature."
"We're running low on apples."
"Come again?" I asked.
"Flutterbat has been devouring almost all the apples in Canterlot. Same thing goes for the apple juices." I got out of the sofa.
"Where she?" I asked.
"I don't know. I was thinking you would know since you and her always stuck together."
"Oh God..." I groaned. Recently, Flutterbat developed something called Apple Addiction. It's when she craves apples to the point when somepony says anything involving apples, she'll stop what she's doing for a few seconds and fly around looking for apples. This happened before but I don't like how to stop her addiction. It's easy... But it's the aftermath that's challenging.
"Cale this happened before" Jack said. "We all know how to stop it" he said.
"Yeah but I don't like how to make her stop." We both walked down the hall, searching for Flutterbat.
"What, making her cry?" Jack asked.
"Yeah... Do you remember how you made her cry the last time this happened?"
"Uh no" he said.
"You tossed me over the Crystal Empire's Castle's balcony and not only did you scare Flutterbat, but you also scared every single pony living there including your adoptive parents. You should've stuck with the candle stick."
"It wasn't blunt enough to knock you out."
"That's because you weren't hitting me hard enough. Now come on. Lets get this over with." On the bright side, Flutterbat never searches for apples outside... Unless all the apples inside wherever she is are consumed. We gotta find her before she leaves the castle. Just then, we heard a noise. A splash of apple juice fell on my head. "What the..." I said. We both glanced up and saw Flutterbat hovering above us holding a small juice box in her hooves. She looked at us surprised, and flew away.
"Get her!" Jack said, throwing the pillow. I ran but tripped over the pillow and landed with a thud.
"Flutterbat!" I called. "Get back here with that juice box!" I kept my gaze on her departing form. "Gotcha!" I said with a smile. I made for a jump tackle, but she evaded me and turned a corner. I landed hard on my front on the Canterlot floor. Jack caught up to me, panting.
"Did you get her?" He asked. I stared up at him.
"Does this look like I got her?" I asked.
"Depends on the moonlight. I mean if I tilt my head slightly."
"Jesus, Jack" I got up, groaning. "Come on, we're not going to bed until we help her stop the Apple Addiction."
Flutterbat was clinging onto a chandelier by her tail, drinking from the juice box. She spotted the shadows of me and Jack approaching. "What's the plan again?" Jack asked.
"Lure her with that apple" I answered. "When she goes for it, hit me with hit hard enough to knock me out." We turned the corner and saw her clinging onto the chandelier.
"Hey Flutterbat" Jack cooed. "Look what I got" he said, showing her the apple. We approached her slowly. "You know you want this apple" Jack said.
"Ok, stop... Now you're just being creepy" I whispered. Flutterbat lashed out her tongue and grasped the apple from Jack's hand. He accidentally punched me in the face. Flutterbat's hiss sounded like a laugh. She then sucked the apple dry and let it fall to the floor. She took flight and flew to another area of Canterlot.
"Next plan?" Jack asked as I rubbed the spot where he punched me, glaring at him.
Flutterbat was in the kitchen, hovering above a fruit bowl of apples. She took a panicked glance at the fridge which contained apple juices. She continued looking back and forth unsure what to pick. She heard movement and glanced at the doorway. She saw Jack and I enter the kitchen, blocking the doorway.
"Hey, hey, hey, Flutterbat, look!" Jack shouted. He turned to me and kicked me in the nuts. I groaned in pain and doubled over. "Oh shit, she wasn't looking! She flew away."
"What?! Are you kidding me?!" I asked, still lying and groaning on the floor.
"Come on Cale, we're losing her!" Jack shouted as he ran out of the room.
"Stupid asshole" I muttered under my breath as I crawled across the kitchen floor. "Kicking me in the gonad wasn't part of the plan!"
"Is there another way to make her stop?" Jack asked as I had a glass of ice pressed against where he kicked me. We stayed in the kitchen, guarding the fruit bowl and the fridge.
"Nope. Making her cry is the only way."
"Then we'll just hide all the apples" he suggested.
"Good luck with that" I said. "The apples here, plus the apple juices in that fridge are the only ones left before she starts her hunt outside."
"So we just... Sit here and guard these until she comes back?" He asked.
"Yep."
"How are we going to make her cry? Because you look pretty beat up right now" he said gesturing to the glass of ice pressed against my nuts.
"Gee... Thanks" I said sarcastically. I placed the glass on the table.
"Come on Cale, how are we going to make her cry? Help me think of something other than beating you up?"
"A sad story perhaps? Bad memory?" I suggested.
"Oh ok, good idea. Um... There once was a guy named Cale who fell in love with a bat pony hybrid and he got kicked in the nuts by me..."
"That's not a sad story or memory."
"Do you have one? Come on you got to have a sob story." I remained silent.
"Actually... I do" I said.
"Great! Lets hear it!"
"Now let me practice this on you so when I tell it to Flutterbat, she'll cry" I said.
"Cool."
"When I was 15, I was on the run from some gang. A mafia of sorts. They told me that if I don't do something for them, they'll kill my family. What I had to do was deliver money to the boss. Instead of delivering it to the boss, I used it to buy my family train tickets."
Flutterbat entered the room without us knowing.
"Train tickets?" Jack asked. "To where?" He asked.
"Anywhere. I got one for everyone including the dog."
"And you also, right?" He asked. I shook my head.
"I stayed behind. I watched the train leave the station and went on with my life like nothing happened. Filed a report for the cops, now the mafia and the boss are sentenced to death. Firing squad... No blindfolds... But... The news came on. The same day I learned the mafia were shot down, I hear that a train crashed. No survivors. Men, women, children, pets, elders, all on the train... Dead."
"So that made you worry about your family on the train you sent them on, but they called you saying that they were ok, right?"
"That train that crashed. That was the one I put my family on." I glanced up and saw Flutterbat. She had her hooves to her mouth and tears filled her red eyes. "You heard all that?" I asked. 'She wasn't suppose to hear this.' Flutterbat flew over to me and wrapped her forehooves around me. She buried her face into my chest and I heard soft whimpers as she cried. I felt hot tears wet my shirt.
"Congratulations Cale, you stopped her" Jack said quietly.
"Now we know" I said.
"Know what?"
"There are two ways to make her cry."
"How so?"
"Deliver pain on me physically, like your stunt at the Crystal Empire..." Jack stifled a laugh. "And give me emotional pain like the sad story." Flutterbat wrapped her wings around me and gripped me tightly. Jack looked at the clock. It was getting late.
"I'm going to bed, will you manage here?" He asked. I nodded. "Ok. Good night Cale" he said.
"Good night, man" I said. As Jack departed the kitchen. I grabbed an apple from the bowl behind me. "Hey" I whispered. Flutterbat looked at me with her saddened and teary red vampire eyes. "Want this?" I asked, offering the apple. Flutterbat shook her head vigorously and buried her face back into my chest, crying still. "Can I have it then?" I asked quietly. I felt her nod against my chest.
'So sad, she doesn't want to eat or drink' I thought to myself. I bit into the apple and munched quietly.
If anypony went into the kitchen that night, they would find a human lying on the counter sleeping peacefully with a half eaten apple in his hand, and on top of him, Flutterbat still clinging on to him with her hooves and wings.
The End
