One Flap of a Butterfly's Wing

Just a few more minutes…

Twilight Sparkle lazily turned to her side, a soft, content smile brightening her face. Though the persistent heat of the early morning sun on her face insisted she begin her day, the princess, it seemed, had other plans in mind.

She protested with a lazy moan as she stubbornly clutched her pillow. I can afford to sleep in, she reasoned with herself, her mind still trapped in the delirious limbo between dreaming and wakefulness.

Like any overworked soul would attest to, it was near impossible to argue with a good night's rest. Three days of hiking through the mountains, sleeping outside and all the bug bites that came with it had taken its toll on the alicorn. It came as no surprise that her body would stop at nothing to hold out for as long as it possibly could.

Even if her body was in perfect condition, however, the weight of the day ahead of her would have kept her pinned down regardless. For once, it seemed that everything was going her way. All she had to do was stay in bed, and she would remain inside this small bubble of perfection. There were no responsibilities to worry about in her run-down room. No guilt, no angry crowds, no pressure, no judgemental glances. Though she knew that running away from one's problems was a fool's errand, it seemed, at least for now, to be the best decision she had ever made.

Twilight yawned as she rolled over again. Though the circumstances certainly could have been a lot better, it had been a long time since Twilight had slept this soundly. In fact, it probably would have been the best rest of her life if not for the fact that it ended with a swift smack to her face.

“Aah!” Twilight shrieked, her eyes flying open to be greeted by an angry-looking griffon looming far above her, broom in talons.

“Who are you?” he squawked, grabbing Twilight’s forehoof and forcefully lifting her off the bed. “Why are you here? Who let you in?”

“Uh, I, I, um…” Twilight stammered, her mind still reeling from the rude awakening. “I’m so sorry! I tried to wake you up last night, but you wouldn’t budge! I-I left you some money on the counter!”

The innkeeper leered at Twilight as he held her in the air, his sharp talons digging into her skin as he held her foreleg in a tight grip. His fierce, rageful scowl was almost as painful as his claws, glaring into her eyes like an eagle eyeing its prey.

“Feh.” he huffed, releasing his grip and letting her fall back onto the bed. “I thought as much.” he said, crossing his arms. “But I don’t appreciate surprise guests.”

Twilight stood herself up, rubbing her slightly-bloodied forehoof where the innkeeper had broken the skin. “I-I’m so sorry, sir” she apologized again, cringing as she scooted her way off of the bed.

“Hmph. You’re lucky I’m nice.” He said, pointing a razor sharp talon in front of Twilight’s muzzle. “Most griffons these days aren't too keen on ponies.”

Twilight shrank back, nervously eyeing his talons. She flinched as the innkeeper lowered his arms, “I, uh, didn’t underpay, did I?”.

“On the contrary!” he laughed. “Though I’m flattered that you think my inn costs 200 bits per night. Should I just assume the extra 190 was an unsolicited stay fee?”

Twilight winced. “Oh.”.

The talons hurt a lot less than that.

Putting on an awkward smile, Twilight slinked her way around the innkeeper and made a beeline toward the door. “Well, um, thanks very much for your understanding.” She said, using her magic to open the splinter-filled door. “You have a lovely place here.”

Just as Twilight took her first step, the innkeeper's tail smacked her in the face. “Oh no you don’t! Where do you think you’re going?”

“Ow!” Twilight said, rubbing her cheek. “Would you quit-”

Pushing his guest out of the way, the innkeeper made his way through the doorway and into the dimly-lit hallway. “Come with me.” he said, gesturing down the hall to a very confused-looking Twilight.

With no choice but to comply, Twilight followed the innkeeper down the hallway, keeping her head down to make sure she didn’t step on any loose nails. She didn’t know whether to be afraid for her safety or for her wallet, but the tacky, peeling wallpaper around her certainly didn’t do anything to console her.

Within a few seconds, they had reached the lobby of the inn, a tiny space sparsely decorated by what could one could only guess was eleventh-hand furniture. “Sit down.” the innkeeper commanded, haphazardly throwing a few pieces of silverware onto the most sturdy of the lobby’s old wooden tables. “You’re not going anywhere without some breakfast in you.”

Whew, Twilight sighed, That could have been a lot worse.

Twilight smiled and shook her head, opening the front door with her magic. “That’s very generous of you, sir, but I’d really better be on my wa-”

“Generous?” The griffon cackled, placing a single dandelion in a cracked stone vase. “I don’t know how they do things in pony-land, but there’s no such thing as ‘free’ here in the Empire. Don’t think I didn’t notice that fat purse of yours.”

Taking a deep breath of the dry, stale air around her, Twilight shut the door and slinked her way over to the table. “Oh. Right.” she said, pulling out a chair for herself.

“Now,” the innkeeper began, placing a tattered napkin in front of his unwilling guest. “Something tells me you’re feeling particularly hungry this morning. How does everything on the menu sound?”

Twilight gulped. “That sounds wonderful...”

“Great.” the innkeeper smiled, making his way back over to the table with a pre-prepared plate of griffon scones. “Now, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

* * *

Maud’s breath blended seamlessly into the humid air of early spring as she made her way up the steep slope. She ascended the rocky shelf in an impressive show of athleticism, jumping gracefully from rock to rock without breaking a sweat. Then, having reached the top, the mare let out a single, hard breath from her muzzle before turning to face her new acquaintance behind her.

“Whew…” Pokey gasped, looking up at Maud from the bottom of the hill. He soon let his head fall again, staring down at his hooves as he stopped to catch his breath.

Maud planted her rump down onto a large, mossy rock embedded into the ground. "Are you sure you take this route every day?" She said, narrowing her eyes as she watched Pokey struggle to make it to the top without collapsing from exhaustion.

"Y-Yes..." Pokey replied between breaths, having at last reached the summit. “But I, uh, usually...um…”

Maud raised an eyebrow as she watched Pokey scramble to come up with a legitimate excuse. “Usually what?” she said, running a forehoof across a series of long grooves left by years of erosion on the rock below her.

Pokey’s eyes darted around the landscape. “I, um…” he babbled, feeling his legs become weak. Son of a pegasus, he cursed to himself, feeling Maud’s eyes cutting into him.

They had been walking down this path for well over an hour now, and, despite his efforts, Pokey had been unable to find a single secluded area. No ridges, no caves, no nothing. All he saw for miles upon miles were rocks and trees. Stupid, boring rocks and trees.

It seemed like such a solid plan at first. All he had to do was find a cave, lure her into it, and slit her throat. What Pokey seemed to have overlooked, though, was the fact that he was no longer in Equestria. Unlike his native country, with its mostly flat terrain and gently rolling hills, the Griffons lived in the mountains, which, as he had learned, were slightly more difficult to traverse.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it.

Looks like I spoke too soon.

Pokey shook his head. “Sorry, I, uh, kind had a mind block going there!” he laughed unconvincingly.

Maud, who had since turned her attention to staring at the rock she was sitting on, looked unimpressed.

“As I was saying, I usually have trouble with this slope. But thankfully, there’s a shortcut through that cave over there!”

Maud lit up despite her suspicions. “A cave?” she said, wasting no time in getting up and trotting ahead of Pokey. “That’s perfect. I’ve been dying to get a glimpse of this continent’s lithosphere. I don’t think I could wait another few hours until the rest of the class arrived at the site.”

Pokey picked up his speed to meet up with the suddenly talkative Maud. “Litho-what?”

“Lithosphere.” Maud corrected, her normally monotone voice now filled with purpose. “You might know it as the crust, the first layer of our planet's composition. Caves and other subterranean openings allow geologists to look inside of the lithosphere without having to excavate.”

Pokey formed his lips into an ‘O’ shape and slowly nodded his head. “Oh.” he said with a slow drawl, not even attempting to act like he knew what she was talking about.

“I guess I should thank you for taking me here.” Maud said, ducking down as she entered the mouth of the cave. “I apologize if I was cold at first. I’ve been going through some family trouble and-”

Maud’s monotonous parade of words ended abruptly with a gasp. “Woah.” she gushed as well as she could, quickening her trot to reach the rightmost wall of the cave.

“What?” Pokey said, following closely behind her. He cast a simple light spell to compensate for the lack of sunlight in the cavern, covering its rough, rocky walls in a faint blue glow.

“Do you see this?” Maud said, placing a forehoof on a point between two differently-colored sections of the wall. “This is the K-T boundary, the border between the Cretaceous and the Tertiary eras of geologic time. I can’t believe I’m finally getting to see it with my own eyes."

Pokey raised an eyebrow. She sure seems ecstatic about it, he thought to himself, watching her peer stone-faced at whatever it was she was going on about. "Oh." He said flatly. "Cool."

Seeing as Maud was busy staring at rocks, Pokey turned away from his partner, trotting further into the depths of the cave. He heard the echo of Maud’s dull voice slowly fade as he advanced further.

Focus, Pokey, he silently commanded, I need something to do the job with. He squinted as he scanned the floor of the craggy grotto. In all of his plots over the years, this was by far his most spontaneous. He barely had time to figure out where to stash the body, let alone how he would go about the actual killing.

Something tells me this one’s gonna be a bit of a challenge to subdue, he thought, the memory of her display of physical fitness still fresh in his mind. I’ll need to find something blunt to knock her out with.

Pokey’s head hovered close to the floor, searching fruitlessly for anything he could use as a weapon. The longer he searched, however, the more obvious it became that he had apparently chosen the most featureless cave on the face of the earth to do his work. Not a single rock or loose stalactite decorated the gray, barren surfaces around him.

He took a few more steps forward, feeling the rock below him give in slightly to his weight.

“Watch out.”

“Wha- Woah!”

Holding in a yelp, Pokey exhaled hard from his nostrils, sending a cloud of dirt and dust into his face. “Bleh!” he hacked, rapidly shaking his head before taking a few wide strides backwards.

A few more dusty coughs and eye-rubs ensued before Pokey looked ahead of himself, then back at Maud. “Uh, t-thanks.” He said, standing back up on four hooves.

Instead of acknowledging Pokey, however, Maud simply stared ahead of herself, mouth agape.

A few feet in front of them, the ground abruptly ended, forming the mouth of an enormous chasm. In fact, the only thing separating the two from the seemingly bottomless pit was a ring of loose rocks that served as a border between the hole and solid ground.

Along the interior walls of the chasm, a thick layer of cloudy, milky white crystals of various sizes covered every inch of the wall. They emitted a dim light that partially illuminated the area around them, though, despite this, the bottom of the pit, if it even existed, was still shrouded in utter darkness.

Pokey gave a quizzical glance at the mare beside him. Sure, it was pretty sight, but at the end of the day, they were just rocks. Well, this is just wonderful, he thought, gritting his teeth. Of course my ‘shortcut’ is a dead end.

Then, suddenly, the stallion's teeth lessen their grip on one another. The scowl on his face transformed into a grin as his eyes darted between the chasm and the mare standing on its jagged lip.

Pokey stifled a chuckle and began backing up. Perfect.

Though he would have liked to torture her for a few weeks before he killed her, it grew increasingly evident that at the moment he would be unable to do so. Instead, he would have to sneak up on her and kill her quickly. Sure, it wasn’t as thrilling, but a kill was a kill, and Pokey wasn't about to pass up the opportunity.

Pokey’s head darted back and forth as he backed up, keeping tabs on both Maud and the area behind him to ensure he wouldn’t trip and blow his cover. Sure enough, Maud was still fixated on the crystals. "Amazing." She whispered, taking a cautious step forward to get a closer look. "I've never seen anything like this. It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah…” Pokey mumbled, taking a few final steps backwards before establishing himself in a running position. He felt his chest swell with determination as he stared at Maud and her vulnerable position at the edge of the pit.

Now's my chance. No hesitation.

Galloping towards her at full speed, Pokey quickly advanced through the long tunnel that lead to his prey. As soon as he was close enough, he leaped through the air, slamming his full weight into Maud. Shoulder against shoulder, their bodies collided, the force of the impact sending them both in opposite directions.

It was quickly apparent, however, that Pokey had both overestimated his own strength and underestimated Maud's.

Acting without hesitation, Maud firmly planted her hooves into the coarse rock below her, shifting her weight backwards to stop herself from careening over the edge of the cliff. "Hey!" She gasped, barely able to hear herself over the sound of her heart beating as she jumped backwards to safety.

“What’s wrong with you?” She scolded between heavy, shaky breaths. “You could have killed me!”

Maud scowled as she watched the unicorn wobble back and forth on the brink of the chasm, his four legs scrambling to find some sort of balance after the unexpectedly unyielding impact. “I-I…” He babbled, looking in every direction. "I must have tripp-gah!"

Pokey felt his stomach drop, both literally and figuratively, as one of his hooves sank much lower than the other three. In fact, it never even touched solid ground.

"N-No!" He screamed, his other back leg sharing the same fate as the other as he scrambled to regain his footing. With the lower half of his body dangling off the cliff, Pokey could only watch in horror as he quickly slid backwards into the abyss. "Help me!"

"Woah!" Maud cried, diving forward onto her belly and grasping one of Pokey's hooves in two of her own. She grunted as she landed, the rough floor of the cavern scraping hard at her bare stomach.

Maud immediately felt herself slip forward as Pokey slid further down. "Hold onto me!" She screamed, gritting her teeth as she attempted to lift both Pokey and herself off the ground. Her awkward position on her stomach, unfortunately, actively worked against her, sending her two inches forward for every one inch she pulled away.

But Maud was nothing if not strong. Her muscles were lean and capable, and as the battle raged on, she soon found the tide shifting in her favor.

At least, it had seemed that way. Maud was a muscular pony, and while dense muscles were capable of great feats of strength, they also weighed a great amount more than normal. With her belly resting on the stone below her, the heavy weight of her fit body on top of Pokey’s caused the already loose stones to give way.

“Help! I’m slipping!” Pokey cried, trying his best to not look at the endless darkness below him. This proved to be difficult, unfortunately, given the huge amount of tiny, loose stones that poured out from the cliff below her, pelting him in the face.

"No!" Maud screamed, listening in horror to the sound of crumbling rock as she continued to slide forward.. "No, no, no! Please, no!"

Maud’s face contorted into a look of pure anguish as she felt herself slip further and further off the edge, her back legs kicking violently in every direction in an fruitless attempt to find leverage

She could easily let Pokey die and save herself, but she would never forgive herself for something so selfish. “P-please, no! I don’t know what to do!” she begged, tears budding in her eyes as she struggled to pull up the unicorn.

The brittle rock below her was in no mood for negotiation, however, and despite her terrified screams that would soon echo off the crystalline walls of the chasm, Maud soon found herself and Pokey careening into the darkness below.

* * *

Twilight put a hoof in front of her lips, fighting to keep her breakfast down as she listened to the familiar clink of ceramic against stone. A thick trail of steam drifted up from the plate of freshly-baked pastries, coating her crumb-covered snout in a thin film of condensation.

In most other circumstances, the young princess would have taken one whiff of the doughnuts’ intoxicating aroma and wolfed them down like a starving animal, but after three plates, she would be fine with never seeing another pastry for the rest of her life. And for an alicorn, that was saying something.

She held back another retch as the innkeeper pushed the plate forward. “Ugh…” She moaned, rubbing her overfed stomach to dull the pain. “Please, I’m begging, no more…”

The innkeeper let out a dry chuckle from his seat across the table. “Had enough, Princess?” he laughed, swiping up one of the doughnuts for himself and taking a generously-sized bite .

“Yes…” Twilight gasped, quickly thereafter raising a forehoof to her face to stifle a belch. “Yes, please, I’m full. I was full two plates ago…”

“Hmm.” he nodded, smiling as he felt the weight of his wallet. “Yes, I suppose I can let you go now.”

“Really?” Twilight gasped, her face lighting up like a torch at the Equestria Games.

“But I’m not about to let my hard work go to waste.”

Twilight’s face fell. Celestia help me...

“I suppose for an additional charge I could put these last dozen in a box for you. You’ll need it for the road if you want to make it to the capitol in time to see Emperor Garion.”

“Fine.” She huffed. Without so much as lifting her head to look, Twilight levitated a few bits out of her wallet and let them drop down on the table.

The innkeeper smiled widely, leaning over the table to rake in the money. “Wonderful! Wait right here.”

“Ungh…” Twilight moaned, feeling her stomach pounding as blood rushed to the organ to digest her massive meal. She thought about just running while the innkeeper was out of the room, but her bulging belly demanded she stay put. Even if she could move, she wouldn’t dare risk facing an early check-out charge.

“Here you are, your majesty.” The innkeeper snickered, watching Twilight’s violet aura encapsulate the cardboard box in his claws. “Good luck on your little pony quest!”

Twilight tucked the box into her saddlebags, making sure to keep it away from anything that could be ruined by its grease-soaked bottom. “Thank you for your, uh, hospitality.” She said, waddling toward the exit as quickly as her legs could carry her.

“Thanks for stopping by!” The innkeeper waved, watching his guest make her way through the door. “Come again so—!”

Twilight distanced herself from the door to give her enough room to slam it shut.

“Finally…” she breathed, feeling her breakfast slosh around inside her with every step she took.

The plateau looked much different in the light of day. No longer shrouded in darkness, Twilight found herself pleasantly surprised at the magnificent view offered by the

There, on the horizon, was her destination: The famed Imperial City, capitol of the mighty Griffon Empire. Even from miles away, the view offered by its massive monoliths was truly worth the grueling hike.

She had planned to leave much earlier, but thanks to the innkeeper’s ‘hospitality’, the sun had now reached its apex. If Twilight wanted to reach the capitol at a reasonable hour, she couldn’t afford to stop and look around. After one final glance at her destination in the distance, Twilight diligently began a brisk trot toward the bridge that would lead her to her goal.

It was quite a shame, however. Though her experience at the inn hadn’t given her the best first impression, in the light of day, the little mountain hamlet was actually a pretty pleasant place.

As she walked, she shut her eyes and took a deep breath of the chilly, yet humid air. Surrounding her were the sounds of civilization, a welcome change from the incessant sounds of nature she had grown familiar with on her long trek through the wilderness.

With a clear mind, she opened her eyes again and continued on her way. In a matter of seconds, she reached the boundary between the plateau and the adjacent mountain, a terrifyingly deep gorge that sent a chill down her spine by simply being in its presence. An old, crumbling stone bridge linked the two land forms together.

Twilight felt a drop of cold sweat run down her temple. She wasn’t sure what was more terrifying; the monstrous gorge itself, or the decrepit bridge that looked ready to collapse under the weight of one too many specks of dust.

Beside the bridge was a small, rounded stone sticking up from the ground. From a distance, it appeared to be a tombstone, but anyone even mildly well-traveled knew its purpose.

Twilight took a few steps forward, squinting as she struggled to read the stone’s faded inscription.

5m to I.C.

“Five miles…” She sighed, turning to gaze once again at the horizon. The view, which only moments before had filled her with wonder, now filled her with dread. Even after eight solid hours of rest, her tattered hooves still ached from the journey behind her. Well, at least I can burn off all these extra calories...