Butterscotch and the Fae

She felt lighter than air, flying upon the breeze. She was soaring upwards into the night sky, like a balloon. But something felt different here; she felt as if she wasn't in the dark anymore. A blockage in her mind was disintegrating, melting away. The lighter she felt the higher she drifted and the lighter the skies above her grew.

In a flash, she was floating down a stream on her back. The leaves on the treetops were falling quickly down until they had covered the ground. The world she was in was washing away but another was building itself simultaneously. She started to see memories flashing, including the last memory of the Fae she had.

She was in the clutches of the king's magic once again, but instead the dark ribbon that had surrounded her was unraveling and fell to the ground. Faster, she saw other memories; Her sister playing and laughing, running through the puddles on a rainy day, her bedroom, her mom, her cutie mark, all of it. The flashing stopped on one memory; the memory of her being crowned princess.

She sat upon a smaller throne next to her mother's throne of roses and lilies. The whole kingdom had attended this and watched her every move eagerly. Her mother had done up her chocolate colored hair in a bun, weaving her bangs into it carefully. The dress she wore was thin and flowing, a translucent silk that swept around her legs and was comfortable yet breezy.

The courtroom doors opened and a Fae pony with golden wings brought a small golden leaf circlet was carried upon a pillow towards her. This crown had been passed down for generations and had magic infused into it, making the golden roses that bloomed in the presence or love never wilt.

Butterscotch sat patiently with perfect posture as a priest placed the circlet upon her head and crowned her Princess Butterscotch, Heir to the Throne. In that moment, she felt her parents pride and remembered who she was. Princess Butterscotch, the proper heir to the Fae kingdom. There was no longer confusion, she understood the memories, and even remembered all the special times she spent with Athens.

Athens was standing beside the table she was on. A unicorn that must have been from the outskirts of the Everfree forest was on the other side of Athens. Butterscotch was surrounded by an orange magic aura that levitated her slightly. She looked over at the unicorn that was focusing hard, causing a bead of sweat to slide down his brow.

Athens looked fearful, he didn't dare touch her as he feared it would disrupt the magic. Butterscotch smiled at him and was lowered back onto the table. Athens nodded at the unicorn and sent him out of the dining room.

Butterscotch was in a small cottage that reminded her somewhat of Zecora's hut back near Ponyville. The inside was sparsely decorated and revealed an ugly yellow wallpaper that bordered on revolting. This place looked as if it had not been used in a while, as if it was abandoned.

Butterscotch sat up and slid off of the table. Even though she was a little wobbly, she managed to make her way into the living room to see a bunch of sofas filled with ponies dressed in black talking eagerly. The beige Fae was the first to notice I walked in. Quickly after his eyes met mine the other ponies turned their heads to look. Athens walked past me and sat down on the couch.

"Everyone, this is Princess Butterscotch." Everypony stood up and eagerly shook her hoof and congratulated her on her return. Athens waded through the chattering Fae and came to stand by her side.

"Alright, everypony, sit down. Scotch hasn't been briefed on the situation in the Fae kingdom." The ponies sat down and left a seat for her. She noticed the pixie sitting on the backing of the couch to her right; Wait... why isn't it tied up? She walked up to the pixie and gave it a hard stare.

"Why aren't you tied up...?" she gritted her teeth, preparing for a fight. "I would appreciate it if you didn't stare at me like that. I'm not a wild animal." The pixie gave a laugh. "Oh... you're serious." it pulled its head back a bit, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Butterscotch, we haven't been telling you the whole truth. That pixie isn't going to hurt you." the beige Fae pony placed a hoof in between them and pushed Butterscotch back. As she sat Butterscotch down into a seat she began to explain.

"When you refused to marry a colt that came to town, offering the seed of the ancients in exchange for the king's eldest daughter's hoof in marriage, your father the king was enraged and meant to change your mind by removing whatever memory made you think that this colt was lying. But in his rage the king set up barriers in your mind to block anything you ever learned about the Fae." He paused to pass her a manila folder.

"After losing your memories, you flew off into the forest, but luckily Athens was there to bring you back to the palace. You were weak from the boarding up of your memories. When he brought you back to the medical wing of the castle, they did a full check of your mind but weren't able to access anything. After many days of research they concluded that your memories were magically blocked." Butterscotch opened the file and saw pictures of her family, her sister, and her father. She saw a paper with the spell her father had used and papers with profiles on the people she knew.

"We called in your younger sister whom, seeing as your father had sent out a kingdom wide announcement that you were no longer part of the family, was now the eldest and most powerful on-hand Fae. She cast a spell upon you turning your wings into pegasus wings. The only place close enough to monitor you but still hide you was Ponyville."

The beige pony pulled a map of Equestria down and pointed to Ponyville, just outside of the Everfree forest.

"All Fae have the ability to become invisible outside of the Fae kingdoms, however, there is a flaw in their wings that creates a small beam of light from the corner of the right wing. Assuming they are in daylight. What you saw was Athens' wing, although he didn't intend for you to see it. He was going to send a letter of resignation to the Cake's shop and leave a note on your door for you saying that you had moved out that morning. He was in the middle of writing it, he wanted to tie up loose ends so that no pony would go looking for you."

Butterscotch  was angry that they were going to meddle in her life without even telling her so; It's just impolite.

"After you left, Athens thought you could just live a nice life in Ponyville, settle down, have kids and the like-" "I missed you every day Scotch." Athens interjected.

*Ahem* "As I was saying, we were going to allow you to live a life in ponyville, however, your father still thought that the colt truly held the seed of the ancients. So, he had another eldest daughter. Your sister was forced to marry Prince Soul who, upon marrying your sister, became the next king. He imprisoned your father in the dungeon and claimed the throne for himself."

A picture of Prince Soul at the altar with Estelle drew a tear from Butterscotch's eye. She placed her hoof over the prince and saw the sadness in her sister's eye, even through the veil.

"The kingdom is miserable Scotch, we need you to come back and overthrow King Soul." Athens gritted his teeth as he said king, showing a burning hatred that Butterscotch and Athens both shared.

"Where is my sister..." She closed her eyes and felt a pang of regret. I should have married him, I could have protected my sister! This is all my fault. Another tear rolled her cheek as she closed the file.

"She's safe, they locked her in the cell next to her father after the wedding. He had no wish for a wedding night. Only a throne." Athens placed a hoof on Butterscotch's shoulder. "It's going to be okay, we'll save them."

A confusing day had passed for Butterscotch. She had spent the day talking to Athens and everyone in his group except one: the beige pony. Most of what she had gotten was useless as to their plan, but she was still learning what had brought them here. The kinds of chaos that affected the kingdom and drove them into a group fighting for a revolution. "Fae Security" is what they referred to it as to outsiders. Among themselves, they called eachother the guardians. The guardians had gathered to attempt to end the reign of King Soul and bring peace back to the Fae world. After he had locked away Butterscotch's sister and father, he had issued a law that said anypony caught doing anything without the king's permission would be thrown into jail. Including asking the king's permission without his permission.

Because of this most of the ponies are in jail now, but a few escaped the king's wrath by leaving before the law took effect. Those ponies were gathered here in front of the Fae princess.

Athens called everypony to a meeting outside; No pony was quite sure why. A cool breeze whisked past the ponies that were gathered in a straight line. It was dawn and the red strokes of the sun's life-giving rays were creeping up out of the horizon. Everypony was still, listening and waiting for the reason as to why they were out here to be revealed.

A silhouette flew over us and circled around until he skidded to a halt in front of the line. "You are all WORTHLESS maggots to me. Everypony DESPISES you and kicks dirt in your face. You are the worst troops I have ever seen; You're all a bunch of mules." He drilled the line, making everypony stand on their toes aside from Athens. The beige pony was wearing a soldier's helmet on his head. His Fae wings were beating, blowing grass and bits of debris all around as he tried his hardest to act like a drill sergeant.

"My name is sergeant Tom and you will address me as sir! I expect the first and last words out of your mouth to be Sir or else they truly will be your last words. Am I CLEAR you worthless piles of lemon potato chip soda and worm muffins?!" He shouted at the top of his lungs and made the smallest pony of the bunch weak in the knees.

Butterscotch sat down on the grass and eyed him with an unbelieving stare. Sergeant Tom noticed this and rushed forward, blowing the weak-kneed pony backwards.

"Do you have a problem with standing like the rest of these baked bads?" He got in her face and was inches away from her snout; she hardly noticed and placed her hoof in the middle of his face to push him away.

"Honestly, yes." She turned to the pony beside her and asked "Is he usually this disrespectful of a pony's space?" The pony nodded but cringed when Tom shot her a look.

"I didn't hear a SINGLE sir in there cupcake!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a standing position.

"Well, I didn't hear a madam in there either, and that's another thing. Do not address me by the name 'cupcake'. I have a name and I expect you to call me nothing else." The ponies in the line giggled a bit and Athens strode over to Butterscotch. He grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her away from the line.

"Honestly, was that really necessary?" he gave her a disapproving look. "What he said wasn't exactly much better." She stood up and started walking out towards the Everfree forest again.

"Hey! Where are you going?" He ran after her and skidded to a stop, blocking her path.

"I'm going to the Fae Kingdom. These guys aren't doing anything."

"Scotch, what's going on with you. You were never this impatient, besides, you aren't going to take down an empire on your own." He placed his hoof under her chin and raised her snout until their eyes met.

"I have to try Athens, I abandoned my little sister and put the whole kingdom into turmoil. It's my fault these ponies are suffering and I have to clean up my mess." a small tear slid down her cheek and Athens wiped it away. "It's not your fault; It would have happened anyways even if you did marry him. The only difference is that you wouldn't be here now to help us save them." he gazed into her hazel eyes as their snouts touched in the most innocent and loving of kisses.

"I love you Scotch, and we're trying our hardest to save them, but going off on your own will just cause more problems."