Just Big Boned

The walk to the library continued as Butter's hooves started to ache. With every step, he felt the soreness increase slightly as he swore in his mind. Agh...this would be so much easier if my bones weren't so heavy! He looked over at the other Crusaders and was surprised to see that they weren't exhausted in the slightest. Curious, Butter asked, "How are you guys not tired at all?"

All three of them stared at Butter with quizzical expressions before Scootaloo spoke up. "Uh, dude...we've only been walking for a few minutes."

"Well it feels like it's been hours..."

The Crusaders were silent again for an awkward amount of time. "Um...Maybe y'all should possibly start walking more often?" suggested Applebloom.

Butter turned his head towards her. "What?"

"Well, if y'all are already tuckered out, Ah think you should exercise more often."

Butter's eyes narrowed a bit at the comment. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well uh...ya see...Ah'm no doctor but...err..."

Scootaloo quickly interrupted the stammering filly. "What I think she's trying to say is that we think that you should perhaps...uh...go outside and do some...more activities more often!"

Applebloom nodded quickly. "Yeah! Like...sports for example!"

Butter's heart sank as he fell silent. His lip quivered a bit as Sweetie attempted to comfort him. "B-But we're not saying that to insult you, Butter! We're saying that because...well..."

"We care for you!" blurted out...Scootaloo? Butter immediately focused on the orange pegasus to confirm that she was the one who uttered those words. Her eyes widened as she coughed. "I mean...as a friend...we want to make sure that we're there for you, alright?", she added.

Butter gazed at her a little while longer. That was...very out-of-character for her. Shaking his head, Butter sighed and insisted, "Look, I'm not 'fat' like those two obnoxious fillies were calling me, alright? I'm just...big boned."

Applebloom opened her mouth to speak before Scootaloo leered at her, making her shut her mouth almost instantaneously. "Al-Alright." Butter sighed and turned back around, continuing the journey to their destination. "But Ah'm just sayin'..." she mumbled quietly so Butter couldn't hear.

~~~

"Well, here we are!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle as they got to a ginormous oak tree complimented with windows, a balcony, and a large door.

"This is the library?"

"Yep!" she answered.

Butter stared at her as if she just got her cutie mark for answering yes-or-no questions. "What type of weirdo lives in a TREE?"

"Hey!" Applebloom exclaimed. "Twilight's not a weirdo! She's a genius!"

"Actually," Scootaloo chimed in, "I think Butter has a point. She is pretty weird."

"Excuse me?" asked an unfamiliar voice coming from behind them. All four foals quickly spun around and met eyes with a purple alicorn. She had an inquisitive expression on her face as her wings folded against her side. "Who did you say was a weirdo?"

The fillies eyes widened. "NOPONY!" they all shrieked simultaneously.

The alicorn gave them an awkward stare before looking towards the yellow colt. She took note that his gaze was shifting between her wings and her horn. "Oh, hello! What's your name?"

Butter shook his head and made eye contact with the purple alicorn. "Oh...s-sorry. I'm Butterball."

She giggled at his reaction and said in a kind manner, "It's fine, Butter. It's not every day you get to meet a princess!"

Butter eyes widened as he exhaled a sigh of relief. "Oh thank Celestia, I thought you had a birth defect that caused you to have both wings and a horn."

Her content and cheery smile was almost instantaneously replaced with a scornful glare as she tried to look happy once more. Gritting her teeth, she introduced herself "Um...well...my name is Twilight Sparkle. It's great to see you..."

Butter's relieved smile started to falter when he saw her reaction. "Are you okay?"

Twilight sighed as she nodded. Looking towards the Crusaders, she attempted to grin once more. "So, what can I do for you?"

Sweetie replied, "We need books about different activities we can try to get our cutie marks!"

"Oh, alright! Come on in!" Twilight opened the door for the four foals to enter. "The books you're looking for should be...ah!" She pointed at a shelf from across the room. "Over there!"

As the three fillies trotted over to their desired shelf, Butter peered inside and noticed the interior. He was legitimately surprised to find that the inside was almost exactly like a normal house. Well, except for the hundreds of thousands of books. He saw pictures of a young Twilight together with what he assumed were her parents. He also noticed a fair amount of pictures of her with a white and slightly older male unicorn, who Butter could guess was a close relative or good friend of hers. He shrugged and glanced over towards the seemingly infinite supply of books on the shelves around the room. For a weirdo, she was pretty darn organized.

After he finished focusing around the room, Butter shifted his attention towards the Crusaders. Sweetie, Scootaloo, and Applebloom were all looking through the shelves and dumping the books that they didn't need onto the ground. He turned towards Twilight and expected her to be furious at them for making a mess with her organized books. However, she was surprising calm with the ordeal. "Why are you so calm over...this?"

"Oh, you mean them mismanaging my publications organized specifically by the dates they were chronologically published?" Butter nodded a bit even though he didn't know what half of those words she said meant. "Of course not. Besides, I'm reorganizing the books again tomorrow. This time in reverse alphabetical order!"

Butter gave her a questioning look. "Why not just leave them in the order you have right now?"

Twilight giggled at his response. "Oh, Butter. You'll understand when you're older!"

Butter gave her a peeved look. She's nuts.

Suddenly, the sounds of books dropping on the floor stopped as the three fillies let out a sigh.

"Dag nabbit! We already did all of these things!" declared Applebloom.

Curious, Butter walked over towards the scattered books and glanced at the titles of them. Skiing, joke telling, juggling, wrestling, raising pigs...cooking? Instantly intrigued by the cookbook, he opened it up and looked at the table of contents. Oh my Celestia, look at all these foods I could make! Hay fries, veggie burgers, CAKE! Butter passed the book over towards the Crusaders eagerly. "Have you tried cooking, yet?"

Applebloom let out a sigh. "Ah did. Didn't really turn out too well..."

"Well, you can try again!"

"Butter..."

"Please! I think if we try again we can do it this time!"

Applebloom groaned and tried to argue until she was interrupted by Sweetie. "Well, Scootaloo and I didn't try cooking yet. I guess we could try cooking."

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah. Besides, we're fresh out of ideas!"

Butter's grin grew as Applebloom sighed even louder and longer. "Ergh...fine. We can try cookin' one last time!" Butter let out an excited giggle as Applebloom pointed her hoof in the air. "To Sugarcube Corner, ladies!"

"...And gentlecolt?" added Twilight.

Applebloom sighed and nodded. "And gentlecolt..." All three started to walk outside to their new destination as Applebloom mumbled to herself. "Two out of three votes ma flank..."