Humbling and Healing

It was already the fifth day of them being at Sweet Apple Acres, and almost everything that Applejack had listed, they had already done. On top of that, Zecora returned to his hut briefly to bring a bag full of potions that he had made over the course of a few hours, and ones he already had ready. With the help stretched a bit more thin even with Big Mae returning on certain days, Butterscotch oftentimes worked by himself and felt his heart twisting and longing for Zecora’s company as Rainbow Blitz and Big Mae were the only ponies talking to him, very sparingly considering all the work they had to do.

And Applejack? Barely a word out of him before he would gallop over to the next chore as if he couldn’t take a minute or two to open up to Butterscotch, so much as asking him how he was doing. Perhaps he’s just more friendly with Zecora, and Rainbow Blitz has barely talked to him as well.

They had the anniversary celebration of their throuple status of six months to celebrate that evening, and Zecora had returned the night before with the potions that were supposed to improve Applejack’s trees exponentially. If not for those two events, Butterscotch was pretty sure he would’ve burst into flames from the nagging and merciless anxiety that fought his brain. The idea of turning into Butterbat all over again with each day of keeping his feelings in only made matters worse for Butterscotch, to the point of several near panic attacks. But Butterscotch reeled it in each time and drowned himself further into the efforts of his contribution to fixing Sweet Apple Acres to not only the way it was before Butterbat, but something even better with Zecora’s potions.

Getting out of the shower with Rainbow Blitz, Zecora having gotten up early to start on the trees with Applejack, Butterscotch looked to the blue pegasus.

“Heh, wonder what flavors of apple they’ll be making,” Butterscotch forced the best smile he could as he only imagined all the words he and Applejack wouldn’t be exchanging even as he and Rainbow Blitz would meet up with the two strong stallions. “Shame we haven’t really had a chance to keep up with what’s going on in Applejack’s life. I’ve got to hear how Big Mae is doing with her coltfriend, but we haven’t really gotten to talk to our friend. He’s one of the Elements of Harmony, just like us!”

“What’re you talking about?” Rainbow Blitz frowned as they reached the dining table, the two pegasi sitting across from each other as they drank their coffee and ate their apple cider donuts. “I’ve been talking to Applejack all the time! He’s even considering stopping by and watching some of my upcoming Wonderbolt shows.”

“Wait…what?” Butterscotch, who was holding his cup of coffee with one wing, slowly lowered it back onto the table as his face wilted. His muzzle scrunched up as he felt his heart drop in his chest like a rock floating to the bottom of a lake. His entire body feeling cold from his wings to his chest, Butterscotch was doing his damndest best to be in denial of what was happening right before his eyes. But with Rainbow Blitz bursting the bubble viciously without even realizing it, Butterscotch stared at the blue pegasus as he frowned.

“Hey uh, you okay?” Rainbow Blitz asked before he sighed, his shoulders slouching. “Oh fuck, he still hasn’t talked to you, has he? Solaris, I’m sorry I came off as so insensitive about that. I wasn’t even thinking about what you said about him when we first came here. I swore that you two would’ve said something by now…”

“No, we haven’t,” Butterscotch stared at the coffee and apple cider donut, the drink and food appearing more pitiful and pathetic with each moment the yellow pegasus stared at it before he shook his head and walked away. “Forget it, I’m not that hungry.”

“What about the coffee?” Blitz asked, his ears flickered as he turned to his own breakfast, drinking and eating everything within a matter of seconds before he jumped out of his chair and rushed towards Butterscotch. “Hey, hey, please don’t run off like that. You know Applejack doesn’t actually hate you or anything…”

“Do I know that?” Butterscotch turned his head around to stare down Rainbow Blitz, nearly getting whiplash at how fast he moved. “Because the dude has barely said a lick of anything towards me for the past four days, and nothing indicates that he’ll say anything at all by the end of the week. He would’ve been better off not inviting me at all, unless…”

Butterscotch’s eyes widened as he gritted his teeth.

“Applejack wanted to invite me and say nothing!” Butterscotch shouted as he stomped his hoof, knowing that no one else was in the house part of the barn besides Grandpa Smith, who was asleep. “This is his punishment for me. It would be a lot easier if he just got mad or didn't invite me to help you two, but he’d rather have me here all the time to see his disappointment. I’m staying here, you can tell him if he wants my help to come talk to me himself.”

“You mean you don’t want to see Zecora create amazing apple trees?” Rainbow Blitz asked, and Butterscotch felt a pang of guilt as he completely forgot about their zebra stud. Thinking it over back and forth, Butterscotch put a forehoof against his forehead as he groaned.

“Whatever, fuck, let’s go then,” Butterscotch muttered, walking over to the dining table and drinking his coffee before trotting back to Rainbow Blitz’ side. “As long as you stay next to me.”

“Of course, what are best friends for?” Blitz smiled as he extended his striped blue wing and placed it over Butterscotch’s back, using his other wing to open the door and close it behind them as they took in the steadily warming weather of the late morning. “Come on, let me talk about my flight tricks for the upcoming show. Or you can talk about your animals, Applejack’s sour attitude isn’t worth focusing on…”

For the next few minutes as they trotted down the paths and hillsides to look for Zecora and Applejack, Rainbow Blitz talked Butterscotch’s ear off about his upcoming Wonderbolt show while the yellow pegasus’ brain festered on what he was going to say. Giving Applejack a couple of days to figure out what to say, or to even forgive Butterscotch at all, was fine for the yellow femcolt. Ignoring him for the better part of the week to make a point however, was not. And Butterscotch was too angry to have another panic attack, no, he’d rather go out of his way to make Applejack as uncomfortable as possible. He just had to figure out how to do that without affecting Zecora in the process.

Finally the two pegasi saw Zecora and Applejack standing around a dirt pile that presumably contained watered apple seeds, with the zebra stallion looking to the orange farmpony while holding a dark red potion, talking away at likely what was in it. Butterscotch and Rainbow Blitz flew towards them as opposed to galloping uphill, listening at what their Master was saying as they landed beside him.

“So it is a mix of many berries to be a fruity flavor, something your customer would very much savor,” Zecora finished before looking at his femcolts on each side of him. “Why hello you two, ready for some unique apples to chew?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Butterscotch grumbled underneath his breath as he tried to force eye contact with Applejack again. Nothing. The orange stallion stared at the dirt pile like he hadn’t even showed up. Feeling a strong heat flushing in his face, Butterscotch gritted his teeth as he willed himself to also stare at the dirt pile, watching as Zecora poured a fraction of the dark red potion into the dirt.

“So how this works is that the tree will rapidly grow to full size and bearing fruit within several seconds give or take, just needs that time to properly bake,” Zecora explained as he looked at Applejack, who gave the zebra stallion eye contact. Even if it might’ve come off as a little creepy, Butterscotch stared intently at the Element of Honesty to will him to make eye contact. He was certain Applejack would cave and say something, or even look at the yellow pegasus, but it seemed like the orange stallion went out of his way to keep his eyes on Zecora. The zebra stallion smiled at Applejack before all four of them stared at the dirt pile. One, two, three, four, five, six…Butterscotch yelped and jumped backwards as the earth underneath them shook and vibrated, before a tree sprung out from the ground and grew several feet tall before them. Within a few more seconds, deep red apples with dark blue spots developed on the branches and some of the heavier ones even fell from the tree. Butterscotch reached out and opened his forehoof, watching as a nice thick apple landed right on his forehoof. Then, just when he thought that Applejack would be staring at him given that he was about to eat the apple…Butterscotch saw that the orange stallion was intently staring at the spotted apple with his jaw dropped.

Of course, I should’ve known that even if he wasn’t ignoring me on purpose, this stupid dumb apple would’ve had his attention more.

Staring down at the apple that indeed was eye-catching, the scent was even more alluring as it smelled like a fruit buffet. With the strong tang of raspberries hitting his nose as well as the deeper smell of blueberries, there were even a few fainter smells that he couldn’t put his hoof on. Shrugging before bringing the surface of the apple to his mouth and taking a bite, Butterscotch’s eyes widened as he savored the overwhelming taste of the apple. All those flavors he could smell, he could taste in the apple in spades. The flavor echoed somehow in his mouth, being vibrant and bright with lively sensation as opposed to dull and faded out like apples could be at times. Practically like drinking a fruit smoothie, Butterscotch proceeded to devour all the apple save for the core of it before the others took the apples that were barely on the ground and removed the dirt from them. Applejack and Zecora ate their apples with glints in their eyes before the two strong stallions looked at each other.

“Well ah’ll be damned, Zecora! Your Zebrican magic plus the grounds of Sweet Apple Acres created the most beautiful fruit ah’ve ever tasted,” Applejack rejoiced. “And you said you brought two other potions with you today?”

“That is correct, a spicy jalapeno one and a chocolate one that I’ve checked,” Zecora explained. “As we’ve agreed, I’ll be taking only 40% and no more than I need. You said that the three of us could leave early for our date, since the help you appreciate?”

“Not just that, ah honestly got years worth of help with these potions!” Applejack grinned as he placed his forehoof against the trunk of the brand new tree. “Y’all could even leave now and not come back tomorrow with how much help ah got!”

“Bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“What was what?”

“Nothing,” Butterscotch smiled from ear to ear as he finally got Applejack’s attention with that impulsive slip of his tongue. Sure he didn’t plan on saying anything that bold, but it certainly got the ball rolling as he looked up at Zecora. “Hey Master, could me and Rainbow Blitz have a moment with our friend here?”

“Um, sure?” Zecora glanced at Applejack, who was scowling with a flushed face as he looked away from the three of them. The zebra stallion shrugged as he turned his back to the three of them and began trotting away. “Just please try and act mature…”

Butterscotch’s wings sprung up as a flash of hot blood coursed through his body at the unexpected remark that got his eye twitching as he looked away from his Master and back at Applejack. Who wasn’t at the tree anymore, but taking the bag of potions that Zecora left behind and flinging it over his shoulder as he trotted down the hillside.

“Ah don’t got time for none of this, listen to your dude’s advice,” Applejack muttered.

“Hey!” Butterscotch felt a swell of pride as he saw Rainbow Blitz’ wings sprung out from his sides as he galloped after Applejack. “The least you could do is give Butterscotch some kind of explanation!”

“No, the least ah can do is literally nothing at all,” Applejack huffed, not turning to look at Rainbow Blitz only a few steps behind him. “If you’re going to bother me, ah’m not talking to you either…”

“So you’re admitting you’re refusing to talk to him on purpose!” Rainbow Blitz shouted, closing the distance and checking Applejack’s shoulder as he caused the orange stallion to nearly drop and break the potions in his bag. Applejack whirled around and stared daggers at Rainbow Blitz before shoving his muzzle in the blue pegasus’ face.

“Touch me again and see what happens,” Applejack growled, and Butterscotch snapped out of his spectator role as he galloped towards the other stallions.

“Rainbow Blitz, that’s enough,” Butterscotch sighed. “We’ve got a date to be on, and we’re not going to l-let him ruin the mood…”

“Fuck’s sake,” Rainbow Blitz spat, walking away from Applejack as he glared at the orange stallion for several drawn out moments. “Glad you got your business deal out of this, you fucking prick.”

Butterscotch tore his eyes off Applejack’s stoic and unreadable face as he walked up the hill with Rainbow Blitz resting his long wing on the yellow pegasus’ shoulders. Butterscotch felt a wave of emotions rising to the surface, the pain of getting the unspoken confirmation that he wasn’t making anything up hitting him all at once. But it was like he said, they couldn’t ruin the surprise plans Zecora had to celebrate their six month anniversary. Turning to Rainbow Blitz, Butterscotch thought over the words that would be best.

“Please just…I know we have to talk about what happened to Zecora,” Butterscotch sighed. “But just not right away, I’d like to at least drink a little and unwind first…”

“Whatever, fine,” Rainbow Blitz shook his head as he pressed his muzzle briefly against Butterscotch’s ear before they kept walking together out of Sweet Apple Acres. The walk while being like tiny needles pricking away at Butterscotch’s hooves, with growing discomfort that came with each step they left, Butterscotch simultaneously felt the waves of relief for the brief lapse of time that they shared of not having to tackle the problem that just blew up. Of course they would need to address it before the day was over, but for now, they were just two striped pegasi returning to the hut of their Master. Seeing the hut within their sights, Rainbow Blitz and Butterscotch picked up the pace as they galloped to their home and opened the door.

Stopping as they sat Zecora in front of the cauldron, centered in the room and staring right at them with a gentle smile, the big zebra stallion wore a black and white tux that complemented his white and black-furred body. On a coathanger near the wall of the front room were two dresses, frilly and pastel-colored with one being a mint green and the other being a light lavender.

“I forgot which favorite color belongs to who,” Zecora pressed a forehoof to his lips as he continued. “But I definitely remembered the favorites mentioned by you two. Dress up and display yourselves for me, so we can leave and be carefree.”

“Awesome,” Rainbow Blitz’ face brightened up as he seemed to have forgotten the argument for at least a moment, galloping over and taking the mint green dress and wearing it as he poked his rainbow tail out through the tail-hole of the dress. Butterscotch walked up to the coathanger more slowly as he grabbed the lavender dress and put it on, also having his clothed ass facing Zecora but for different reasons. Butterscotch felt his lips twitching and his eyes restraining from letting the floodgates open in front of Zecora. His Master was well aware of there being a problem between him and Applejack, but seemed to think that the yellow pegasus was exasperating it by having feelings. Why was he trying to keep up appearances for Zecora? Butterscotch couldn’t figure out a proper answer as he took a quiet deep breath before turning around and forcing a smile at the zebra stallion. Rainbow Blitz did the same, and gave Butterscotch a little boost of comfort by pressing himself against the yellow pegasus. Placing his wing back over Butterscotch’s shoulders, Rainbow Blitz grinned at Zecora as he walked up to the both of them.

“Aren’t you two really cute, and looking stunning in your dresses to boot,” Zecora pressed his forehoof against the fabric of Butterscotch’s dress, right over the yellow pegasus’ thundering heartbeat as he pulled back and chuckled. “Excited we are to start the night? Did I get that right?”

That’s one word to use.

“Yeah, there’s a lot to talk about,” Butterscotch laughed a little, either he would’ve done that or he would’ve started crying on the spot. Rainbow Blitz’ warmth and knowing understanding kept him from doing the second one. Zecora’s expression didn’t seem to change as he walked past them and opened the front door. The two pegasi trotted out the door and followed Zecora out of the hut as they stared at the afternoon sun. Starting the night, in Zecora’s words, was a bit of a stretch considering that the morning had just passed. But they would have the rest of the day to spend with each other, and it seemed like whatever restaurant Zecora had planned in the evening could be enjoyed earlier. Rainbow Blitz fell on one side of the zebra stud while Butterscotch fell on the other side. Staring at the sights of Ponyville, Butterscotch wondered if Elusive or Dusk Shine would’ve stepped in already knowing what transpired. Not Bubble Berry, with the chubby pink stallion probably throwing a party, but Butterscotch’s brain laid out various scenarios of what Applejack did after the confrontation. Definitely didn’t speak to Zecora despite their growing friendship. Butterscotch leaned against Zecora’s side as they walked up to a restaurant bigger than most of the buildings in Ponyville with lots of outdoor seating within a gated area. A stallion in uniform stood beside a table of menus that were barely disturbed by the subtle wind in the outside air.

“Booth indoors for three, with the finest bottle of wine from thee,” Zecora asked, watching as the stallion grabbed the three menus with one foreleg and started walking towards the sapphire blue door of the entrance, barely speaking up loud enough for them to here the “right this way” that escaped his lips. Zecora and his femcolts followed into the establishment, lively with all sorts of creatures with predominantly ponies within the bright blue walls and golden and red tables and booths. With all his research, this was the closest place to authentic Zebrican cuisine. And even still, it was a hybrid cuisine establishment that showcased the “best” of other cultures in a pony-fied way that was mainstream enough to be popular. Rainbow Blitz and Butterscotch stared at the vibrant colors of the establishment until the waiter led them to an end booth where they had a wide view of all of the tables. The waiter gave them all menus and Zecora barely looked at his, already knowing what he was planning on getting as he watched Rainbow Blitz and Butterscotch sit next to each other on the other side of the booth, their muzzles pressed into the menus at they were immersed in what they were reading.

“Don’t think you expect us to pick out anything from the Griffonian or Draconian sections, do you?” Rainbow Blitz’ muzzle twitched with a brief smile as he glanced up at Zecora. The zebra stallion gave a deep chuckle before glancing at Butterscotch. The yellow pegasus wasn’t smiling, didn’t even seem to notice the small interaction at the table, blushing deeply as his ears flickered. Zecora frowned, recalling that they had talked to Applejack and he had no idea how it went. But the prospect of going deep into their emotions in a dinner that was supposed to be high lively fun created a mental block inside of the zebra stallion as he gulped.

“Has anything caught your eye? Perhaps a new dish that you’d like to give a try?” Zecora pressed his forehoof against the back of Butterscotch’s menu, seeing the yellow femcolt’s cyan eyes peek from above it. “Perhaps you’d like to look at the Zebrican food? Something that would best suit your mood.”

“Huh, my mood,” Butterscotch grumbled before looking back at the menu. “I shouldn’t do that, what if my mood is too immature?”

“What?” Zecora frowned.

“I was saying the Savannah Grass Soup sounds really good,” Butterscotch’s ears flickered with his second statement. “Or the Zebrican Fried Vegetables…”

“I think I might get that,” Rainbow Blitz agreed, stretching out his wing and resting it on Butterscotch’s back. Zecora tilted his head as his eyes glued to the blue wing.

I’ve seen them do that a lot lately…

The waiter came around, bringing refreshments and taking their orders before walking away with everything written out. Now with a good fifteen minutes at least to figure everything out, Zecora took a deep breath and sat up straight in his seat.

“Let’s cut to the chase, why the sour look on your face?” Zecora stared at Butterscotch as the yellow pegasus looked like a deer in headlights. “I didn’t want to ruin the tone of the day, but I could tell your soul is gray. What happened with Applejack, that made it take longer for you two to come back?”

“I’d rather…just…eat,” Butterscotch shrugged, and Rainbow Blitz scowled at his best friend’s statement. And for the first time since they all entered the restaurant, Zecora saw as Rainbow Blitz’ lip twitched and revealed his gritted teeth.

“There is much more going on, and I need to know how far it has gone,” Zecora switched his gaze to Rainbow Blitz, and the blue pegasus’ eyes widened as if he was caught with his forehoof in the cookie jar. “You’re mad towards your long-time rival, and you felt this way since our arrival. What did he say, if I may?”

“Let’s just…” Butterscotch flinched as he felt Rainbow Blitz’ wing leave his shoulders, the blue pegasus giving a firm stare in Zecora’s direction as he didn’t seem to want to wait any longer.

“That asshole admitted he was ignoring Butterscotch on purpose,” Rainbow Blitz spat, the deep fire in his red eyes as his ears flattened against his rainbow mane. His gritted teeth were on full display as everything else around the blue pegasus faded away in the boiling blood of his energy coming out in spades. “I almost kicked his ass, but Butterscotch stopped me. Didn’t say sorry to Butterscotch or give him any kind of explanation…”

“It’s…fi-”

“Mother of Solaris, if you say ‘it’s fine’ one more time,” Rainbow Blitz snapped without even looking at Butterscotch. “A stranger can choose not to like you and that’s whatever, Tartarus, even a close acquaintance. But Applejack isn’t either of those, we’re all the Elements of Harmony. How can we do anything of the sort if we remain at a distance, or each other’s throats?”

“I’m not at his throat!” Butterscotch hissed, baring his teeth as his wings unfurled from his sides. Noticing that for some reason, Zecora and Rainbow Blitz completely shut up as their eyes widened, Butterscotch continued. “Okay! We get it! I fucked up and ate all his apples. Whoop de doo! But that’s not my fault if he still wants to have a log up his ass about it. I’m busting my ass to make it up to him, it’s all on him to forgive me at this point.”

“Um, Butterscotch?” Rainbow Blitz’ eyes were still as wide as pinpricks as he pointed a forehoof towards the yellow pegasus’ open mouth. “When were you planning on telling us about those fangs in your mouth?”

“What? Those have…always been…” Butterscotch’s lips flapped like a fish out of water as Zecora shook his head.

“If you’re wanting to get along with Applejack soon, maybe you should start having a more honest tune?” Zecora huffed, likely feeling a deep sense of betrayal for not knowing something as important as the changes to Butterscotch’s body. He knew that Butterscotch had to have been extra careful to hold back his fangs during blowjobs, or when they were kissing with tongue…and the zebra stallion shook his head before burying his face in his forehooves. “Why can’t you be bothered to tell the truth? Even for something as simple as a tooth?”

Butterscotch’s own head started pounding as the restaurant around him felt like it was closing in on the yellow pegasus. Perhaps there was ultimately a reason why he ended up in Sweet Apple Acres in the first place? If he had told the truth in the first place, they wouldn’t be there with Applejack ignoring him. That was ultimately the Elements of Harmony at work…

And he could only imagine how mad Applejack would truly be if he knew why he turned into Butterbat a second time.

Feeling his eyes tearing up, finally closing his mouth and hiding the fangs that contained the sharp taste of his dishonesty, Butterscotch got up and bolted out of the restaurant. Even Rainbow Blitz, who was by his side the whole time with a loving wing, had looked at Butterscotch as if the yellow pegasus had slapped him. He didn’t hear either of them following him, and Butterscotch didn’t know whether to feel even more hurt or relieved. Bolting out of the restaurant and taking to the sky before he could be bothered by random townsfolk, Butterscotch flew towards his cottage.

Sleeping on the roof of the building and snoring soundly was Eris, several animals flying and jumping over her as she was in a deep sleep. He tried to contain his sobs so he could walk into his old home without waking her, but Butterscotch realized he should’ve known her to be better than that. Her wide amber eyes flickered open as she exposed her sharp fangs, standing up on her two chaotic and mismatched legs before jumping off the cottage and looking at her surroundings.

“Who did this?” Eris snarled, snapping her jaws. Butterscotch felt his heart pulling him into more sorrow, keeping him from stopping his tears. They just flowed as weeks of frustration and fear was bursting like a broken dam. Pawing at Eris, barely enough to get the Goddess of Chaos to glance down at him, Butterscotch rapidly shook his head.

“No, please,” Butterscotch cried. “It’s not…anypony…but myself-”

“Oh again?” Eris softened as she frowned at Butterscotch, placing her lion paw on his head and sighing deeply. “You didn’t share with them the truth, but what?”

Butterscotch sighed as he opened his mouth and revealed the two bat pony fangs in his mouth, watching as Eris leaned forward and used her lion paw to gently touch the tips of said sharp teeth before she pulled back with a wide smile.

“Well that’s not so bad, gives us something in common,” Eris brought her lion paw to her own sharp teeth.

“But we don’t know what that means,” Butterscotch frowned. “Like what happens if I keep turning into Butterbat and all my teeth become fangs? Will I just permanently turn into a bat pony?”

“Well, why don’t you start asking yourself the simple questions and the simple answers?” Eris shrugged. “Why does everything have to be complex? What is wrong with being a bat pony? And if that’s not what you want, then what’s wrong with just telling the truth more often? Don’t you think it's your body and mind trying to tell you something?”

Butterscotch paused to Eris’ onslaught of questions, pressing a forehoof to his muzzle as he wondered just that. The agony that wracked his mind all week to the point of tears, to the point of flying out of the anniversary dinner, could’ve been figured out within a matter of minutes if he bothered to have the self-reflection. At least, figured out for himself what he ultimately wanted to do. He couldn’t change Applejack ignoring him, the orange stallion was going to do what he wanted to do. And Zecora and Rainbow Blitz may have way more forgiveness for him, but he ultimately needed to look out for and take care of the one who would always be there for him no matter what happened to everypony else…

“I guess for the first question, everything felt complex because I wanted to make everypony happy,” Butterscotch sighed, shaking his head. “And I thought because of the reasons of turning into a bat pony, everypony around me would just have crippling disappointment. Butterscotch couldn’t live up to the expectations of others, so he just turned into a shadow of himself…”

“Well, you mentioned to me that you had pretty cool superpowers, so I don’t know if I’d agree with that…” Eris rolled her eyes.

“And there’s nothing wrong with telling the truth more often, in fact, I think that’s going to be my saving grace here,” Butterscotch smiled, the tears on his face starting to dry into his fur as he took a deep breath. “I suppose my mind and body were trying to tell me something, and you know what they’re both telling me?”

“What’s that?”

“That I really need to sleep in my bed tonight,” Butterscotch laughed, even though his laugh was dry from the sheer exhaustion that had taken over his body. Walking towards his cottage door, Butterscotch looked over his shoulder as he made eye contact with Eris. “Feel free to let my coltfriends know that I’m safe and just need some alone time…”

It was only the early evening, yet from all the work, panic attacks, and overall stress of the past few days, Butterscotch was ready to sleep for at least half a day. As he opened the door while Eris took off into the dimming sky, several of the critters including Angel followed him into the cottage and chittered left and right to try and ask questions. Angel chittered over the rest of them, causing them all to go silent as Butterscotch opened the door to his old room. He felt both a twinge of sadness from how the week went, and a crashing relief to see the bed like meeting up with an old friend.

Trotting over to the bed, Butterscotch opened his wings and jumped onto the bed as he got into the covers with the animals sleeping on different spots on the bed as well. He could both be alone and not alone at the same time with them, and his cutie mark shined brightly for a few moments before it returned to normal as the yellow pegasus started sleeping soundly…

“I thought he would’ve returned by now, but to this turn of events I say wow,” Zecora groaned, having given his payment and generous tip to the waiter as he walked out of earshot. With the soup Butterscotch had ordered in a to-go container so he didn’t miss out, Zecora sighed as he shook his head. “And if something bad had happened to him, the chances that I wouldn’t know by now are quite slim.”

“I’m sure he’s at the cottage,” Rainbow Blitz shrugged, his brain still spinning with the abrupt discovery of Butterscotch’s remaining fangs. “Solaris knows that Applejack would’ve been screaming up a storm if he turned to Butterbat again and ate all his apples…”

“Now that our meals are out of the way, we should go check before we call it a day,” Zecora decided, getting out of his seat.

“Don’t tell me that we’re going back to Sweet Apple Acres,” Rainbow Blitz rolled his eyes as he gritted his teeth at the idea of seeing Applejack so soon after their near-fight. Also getting out of his seat and holding the warm to-go container with his wing, Rainbow Blitz walked by Zecora as he side-eyed the zebra stallion. “Butterscotch may have not been fully truthful, but that doesn’t mean Applejack is suddenly off the hook.”

“Well, we are going back there to finish the help we said we’d do,” Zecora raised a forehoof at Rainbow Blitz briefly before the blue pegasus could fly off the rails again, waiting a moment before speaking again. “But Applejack acting quite odd is something I already knew. Now though he has crossed the line, to continuously hurt and ignore somepony that is mine. Please forgive me for not being more proactive about all this, I didn’t realize how much was amiss.”

“I think the apology shouldn’t be for me, and maybe we both owe him some kind of apology,” Rainbow Blitz admitted, watching as Zecora trotted a little faster to open the door for the blue pegasus. “Thanks Zecora.”

The early evening sky stretched out before the zebra and his blue femcolt lover, adorned in his stripes of ownership as well as his mint green dress. If it weren’t for the hurt that Butterscotch was currently going through, the zebra stud would’ve been happy to take Rainbow Blitz right then and there. And even before he could lean in and press his lips against the blue pegasus’ lips, try to salvage some of the evening, he paused as he saw Eris fly from the sky and land before them with a blank expression.

“Is he alright? Did he turn in for the night?” the words spilled out of Zecora’s mouth before he could stop himself, and Eris’ face relaxed as she nodded.

“Yes, the poor thing turned in for the night,” Eris admitted. “He just needs to be left alone, but he’s perfectly safe and alright. You two take care of him when he returns, alright? The young stallion’s had a run of it for sure.”

“That will not be a problem at all, I won’t treat a matter like this as small,” Zecora assured the Goddess of Chaos. “Thank you for helping him sleep, even though his pain was running quite deep. There are problems that all three of us could work on, but let us both get back before I interrupt with a loud yawn…”

“Thank you again, Eris,” Rainbow Blitz blushed at his own previously hurt reaction from finding out what Butterscotch was hiding from them. He wished the hidden fangs didn’t hurt him as much as they did, thinking that him and Butterscotch had become closer than ever. And maybe they still were…

But Zecora and Rainbow Blitz shrugged off the issues for the next day, trotting back to Sweet Apple Acres where nopony was around. Applejack likely was conveniently hiding away in his room, Big Mae was still with her coltfriend, and Apple Buck was with his best friends while Grandpa Smith was snoring away as usual. Entering the room that was still their guest room after putting the soup in the fridge, Zecora and Rainbow Blitz got in the covers and properly held each other in a way that was more one-on-one. Still, even with the unique experience of being held and holding another pony…Zecora felt the glaring absence of Butterscotch in the bed. The love was still very much there with the pegasus he was currently holding, but it just wasn’t the same.

Closing his eyes, Zecora was determined to face Applejack the next day…