Taking Care of the Crusaders

It was another beautiful day in Ponyville. The birds were chirping happily as they soared through the cloudless sky, and the sun beamed down upon Butterscotch’s shoulders. The heavy bags upon his sides pressed against him, causing him to perspire slightly in the area which they touched. He did not mind it in the least, much too engrossed with the world around him. He did not even mind the many ponies surrounding him, chatting happily in the wonderful weather. He smiled as he turned his eyes back to the immediate vicinity in front of him and noticed a familiar and friendly face.

“Hello there, Butterscotch. I’ve been looking for you,” the elegant white unicorn explained, using his magic to move a misplaced curl of his mane away from his eyes and put it back in its rightful place.

“Oh, um, have you? I’m sorry,” Butterscotch responded with a sheepish smile. “I was just out getting some more food for the critters. They were running low,” he explained, nodding to one of the bags upon his side.

“Ah, no matter. I’m just glad I found you,” Elusive said with a nod.

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I have a bit of a predicament, and I figured you could help.”

Butterscotch tilted his head curiously. “Oh, me? Did Opal come down with something?”

Elusive gave a slight graceful shake of his head. “No, not that… Sweetie Belle wants to have another of her Cutie Mark Crusader sleepovers. I was hoping you could be the host instead of myself.”

“Oh, are you busy with an order again?”

“Well, um, no, not necessarily. I… just… you see, I can handle Sweetie Belle, but having two other fillies in my house gets rather difficult. You just did so well with them the last time. They seemed to enjoy your company too. Besides, I haven’t had a day to relax in weeks… or at least a week… or a few days. I was hoping to catch up on some beauty sleep, but with those girls, well, you know. Then perhaps I’d go to the spa… and…” His sentence trailed off, and he cleared his throat. “I’m sure you don’t need to know my entire schedule.”

Butterscotch’s brow furrowed as his friend awaited his response, a slight frown forming on his lips. “I’m so sorry, Elusive, but I’m not sure if I can. You know how busy the animals keep me.”

Elusive raised an eyebrow. “Are you busier than usual?”

“Um… no… but,” he paused, watching Elusive look down with a rather defeated expression upon his face. “Oh, okay, I guess I can,” he said with a sigh, gently scrapping his hoof at the ground beneath.

“Thank you so much. A favor for a favor, I’ll certainly make up for it.”

“I know,” Butterscotch said with a nod and soft smile.

“At the very least, I’ll bring them over after they finish their school day so you have time for your animals. I’ll pick them up in the morning as well.”

“Okay, thank you,” Butterscotch said, turning to make his leave.

“Thank you as well. It means a lot,” Elusive said with a wave.

“Mhm…” Butterscotch mumbled, giving him another nod.

***

Butterscotch sat gingerly upon his sofa, fiddling with his hooves. He had finished his chores for the animals much quicker than expected. His stomach already felt light and slightly nauseous. Once again, it was the beautiful day outside keeping his mind distracted. The warm afternoon sun poured in through the window behind him and upon his shoulders, providing much needed comfort. Still, he struggled to calm himself. Even over the comfort of nature was the thoughts of the night to come, and the problems that could arise. He was worried it would morph into a repeat of their previous sleepover.

It had been quite some time since then. Perhaps they had mellowed, even if it was only slightly. Perhaps there would be no destruction of the property in his home. Perhaps there would be no adventures in hopes of discovering their special talent. He knew he was only being hopeful. The three fillies were constantly attempting to gain their cutie marks, no matter what the occasion.

He knew he had to get his mind off such thoughts. It would only cause even more stress, and he would be worn out before the fillies even arrived. He lifted his lower half up onto the soft cushioning of the sofa and placed the back of his head upon its arm. He let his eyes fall shut, attempting to push the thoughts from his mind. He focused his concentration upon the heat warming his fur. Within minutes, he was taken by a rather unexpected sleep.

His teal eyes burst open, and his heart pounced against his chest as a sudden reverberating metallic noise rang through his ears. He burst up from the couch, nearly falling face forward onto the floor beneath. It took only seconds for his brain to register what the sound was, the doorbell. His breaths suddenly grew heavy. The fillies had already arrived. He had been sleeping for over an hour. A sense of panic rushed through his very being as he remembered the meal he had planned to cook for them. It was much too late now. He had not even made any preparations. Pizza, pizza would work fine, quick and easy to order. He assured himself they would not mind. They would be much too engrossed with their crusading to care about their dinner.

He opened the door to find three pairs of wide, excited eyes gazing up at him, and Elusive standing in the background. “Hey Butterscotch!” They exclaimed in gleeful unison, their hooves nearly leaving the ground beneath them as their small bodies overflowed with excitement.

“Hey, girls,” he replied with a soft smile, scanning over each of them. He then moved his gaze up to Elusive.

“Thanks again, Butterscotch. Have fun,” Elusive said with a rather obnoxiously content sigh as he turned to make his leave.

“So girls, what’s the plan for tonight?” Butterscotch asked as he led the young fillies inside, closing the door behind them.

“I dunno,” Apple Bloom replied with a shrug.

“Yeah, we don’t really have a plan,” Sweetie Belle added.

“But we want to spend as much time with you as we can,” Scootaloo asserted, nodding to the other fillies.

“Oh? Um… with me?” Butterscotch asked, turning to them curiously.

“Mhm,” they muttered out in unison, nodding their heads.

“Will you be doing any, um, well, crusading?” he asked.

Scootaloo smirked rather suspiciously at the statement while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom snickered. “Yeah, sorta, but it’s gonna be way different than what we normally do. We’re trying some different stuff out.”

Butterscotch wanted to ask exactly what the rather strange statement meant, but knew he should not pry. It was better left untouched for the time being. “I’m going to be ordering pizza for tonight if that’s okay.”

“Sounds delicious,” Sweetie Belle cooed, and the others nodded their heads.

***

“Thanks,” Butterscotch said softly after giving the pizza pony a few bits for a tip.

“I didn’t know you took care of ponies too,” she said with a soft chuckle, seeing the small fillies playing about within the house.

“Uh… not often, just on occasion.”

“Hmm, well thank you too. Enjoy the pizza.”

“You too… er… I mean… uh… have a good day,” Butterscotch muttered in embarrassment, his face growing red. She responded with a silent smirk which quickly disappeared as he shut the door. He then let out a sigh of relief causing an outburst of giggles from the girls.

“You sorta forgot the pizza,” Apple Bloom pointed out. Butterscotch’s face immediately grew an even deeper shade of red. He hesitantly opened the door to see the pegasus looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He said nothing and took the box in his mouth, slamming the door behind him.

“Why were you so nervous with that pony?” Sweetie Belle asked, the girls following him into the kitchen. He placed the box upon the dining table and turned in an attempt to respond.

“Um… well… uh…”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Scootaloo butted in. “He was totally into her.

“I, um, no…” Butterscotch mumbled, hanging his head low and letting his pink locks hang down over his eyes.

“Are ya really that nervous around mares?” Apple Bloom questioned.

“I… I don’t know… I guess so,” he muttered.

“You’re not nervous around us!” Sweetie Belle chimed in with an adorable grin.

“Mhm… that is true,” he said with a shrug. “Anyways, let’s eat.”

It wasn’t not long after Butterscotch and the fillies sat down for their meal that he felt a rather awkward presence overcome him. He looked up from his slice of pizza to see each of the fillies eyes locked onto him. Their gaze was rather strange, something he could not quite put a hoof on. It almost seemed as if their expression was dreamy, but why? They barely even seemed to be talking at all, all of their focus upon him. He would have asked why, but he knew the situation was already much too awkward to do so. He instead averted his attention back to the food before him and attempted to keep his mind off of the fillies’ strange actions towards him.

As the girls finished with their meals, Butterscotch’s ears perked up to the fillies’ sudden whispers. He tried hard to listen, but could not quite make out what exactly their secret discussion was about. “Uh, we need to have a private, CMC meeting,” Scootaloo announced, noticing his gaze.”

“Oh, um, you can use my bedroom if you’d like,” Butterscotch said with a smile. “While you’re doing that, I can clean up the table.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Scootaloo said with a nod, motioning for the others to follow her before pushing herself off of her chair.

***

Butterscotch’s hoof pushed down upon a warm washcloth as he scrubbed it against the surface of the dining table. Even though it was only pizza, the fillies had made quite a mess upon the table. He scrubbed away the small stains of grease and hardening cheese with circular motions, leaving a film of dew upon the waxed wooden surface. He could not help but notice how incredibly tame the fillies had been that evening, suspiciously tame. Even while he worked away in the kitchen, he could not hear the sound any yells, laughter, or the clattering of their hooves upon the floor. It was almost too quiet. He needed to check on them. He did not want a repeat of their last adventure out into the Everfree Forest.

He made his way upstairs as gingerly and quietly as he always did, his hooves barely making a sound upon the steps beneath them. He could hear the faint, muffled sound of each of their lowered voices and sighed with relief. He was sure they had not even noticed his arrival to the second level and rather guiltily inched his way closer to the door. Hearing what seemed to be a rather odd discussion, he drew even closer to the door, wondering if the words he had heard coming from their mouths were correct.

“Butterscotch is just so sweet and cute and great,” he heard Sweetie Belle say, his stomach immediately fluttering at the statement.

“Yeah, ah agree. He is pretty dang cute,” Apple Bloom added. He had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that they were discussing him of all ponies, especially the fact that they were saying he was cute. Did they have some kind of crush on him? He could hardly believe it.

“I don’t get how you like him so much. Yeah, he’s nice and all, but he’s way too girly for a colt. I’m more of a colt than he is, and that’s saying something. I like my colts to be like, well, colts, ya know?” Scootaloo responded, causing a frown to appear on Butterscotch’s face. “I’m just doing it for the cutie mark… and because its fun.”

Butterscotch’s eyes grew wide at the statement. He wondered exactly what they were going to do, and under such context, it seemed as though it would be directed at him. His ears perked up in an attempt to listen with even more intent. “Do ya think he’ll be weirded out by it?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.

“Or angry or something?” Sweetie Belle added.

“He might be nervous like he always is, but I dunno, maybe,” Scootaloo attempted to assure them.

“Do you really think we can get our cutie mark from it?” Sweetie Belle questioned.

“Maybe,” Scootaloo said rather plainly. “But I know you two are just doing it because you like him.

“No,” the two responded rather awkwardly.

Scootaloo chuckled. “Whatever.” Butterscotch’s worry grew larger the longer they conversed. Besides that, they were much too young to be interested in someone his age. Everything about what they were saying seemed wrong and odd. “So we gotta do this in waves, I think. Butterscotch is way too much of a sissy to have us all at once. We don’t want to make him too nervous… then none of us will get what we want.”

“Well, ah want him first,” Apple Bloom announced.

“No… I do!” Sweetie Belle combated, her voice raised to a loud whisper.

“Hey, I have more experience in this sort of stuff than you two. It’d be better if I went first.”

“We should get to go first because we’ve never done it before!” Sweetie Belle expelled, her voice growing louder with each statement. “But I get to be the first, first.”

“Why?” Apple Bloom grumbled. “I wanna go first.”

“Girls, girls, shhh!” Scootaloo asserted. “What if he hears us?” Suddenly there was complete silence as Butterscotch awaited more on the other side of the door. He tried to quiet his breathes, even though they had grown quite quick and heavy from what he was hearing. “I think he might be up here,” Scootaloo said in an even quieter whisper than before. Butterscotch’s muscles tensed as he froze, his eyes darting to the safety of the stairwell. To act as if all was normal, he pressed his hooves more harshly against the floor beneath as he made his way to the stairs to emulate normal walking rather than sneaking. It seemed to take minutes before he reached the stairs, and as he did, he quickly made his way down them.