Sticks and Stonesby Amethyst-ACEChaptersThe JourneyThe DestinationThe TruthThe Journey“Are we there yet?” Ravewind asked, for what seemed like the hundredth time since they started walking. “NO!” Everyone else answered in perfect unison for the hundredth time. Lilly the traveling singer pony, and her bodyguard/boyfriend ACE had spent a week in Ponyville following Luna’s concert and the events that had transpired. Once the week had ended, they decided to head to the city of Baltimare where Lilly’s next concert would be performed. Chroma Sketch and Ravewind decided that this time, rather than waiting for Lilly and ACE to gallivant all over Equestria and meet them when they returned to Ponyville; they would go on tour along with them, for their own reasons of course. Chroma Sketch was always curious about other forms of art that occurred outside of her home. She decided she was going to see the art of the world and try and learn as many forms as she could in that time. Ravewind’s goals were much more straight-forward: he wanted to attend a party in every city of Equestria. Chroma Sketch wasn’t entirely sure how to react to that, but she decided it was best not to question Ravewind. She knew all too well that whether she approved or not, it was inevitably going to happen. The group had been on the road for a little over twenty four hours and the journey was starting to take its toll on Ravewind. ACE suspected that he wasn’t completely ready for what traveling on foot would bring. “Remind me again why we didn’t take a train to Baltimare.” Ravewind complained. “Again,” responded Chroma “ACE and Lilly don’t have any money, and they can’t afford to travel any other way.” Ravewind continued to contest their choice of travel. “I could have just covered the cost of all four of us, I have more than enough money, and my family is pretty wealthy.” Lilly looked at Ravewind with a warm smile. “That’s kind of you Ravewind, but ACE and I have been doing this since we met. It’s really the only way we know how to travel, or want to know for that matter.” Ravewind moaned and his head sunk. Chroma shook her head, not sure what to make of the colt who was becoming increasingly immature as the journey went on. “Honestly Ravewind, what did you expect?” She asked him. “I expected for this to take less than two days.” He replied. ACE sighed. The white furred unicorn that had remained dead silent up until this point decided it was his turn to speak. “Look Ravewind, we’ve made it to Rumbling Rock Ridge. It will only take us a day to get through here then another and we’re at Baltimare. You think you can handle that?” Ravewind sighed. Three days, 72 hours, he could do that. “Fine” he responded, “but can we take ten? My hooves are killing me.” Chroma Sketch shot Ravewind an annoyed glare. “Ravewind!” She snapped. “What?!” Ravewind panicked and jumped into the air, he floated there and watched as Chroma’s glare turned into a smug smile. “If your hooves are hurting, use your wings.” She said with a tone that was calm but still had traces of annoyance left on it. “Oh yeah, I have those don’t I?” Ravewind muttered. Lilly and Chroma Sketch laughed, ACE let out a sigh and the group carried on into the Ridge. Rumbling Rock Ridge was a large elevated land mass that was too big to be a hill but too small to be a mountain. There was a spiraling path through the ridge which the four ponies were currently traversing that lead through the area and ultimately to Baltimare. The area would frequently vibrate and shake causing small amounts of stone to tumble down the path and off the side of the ridge down a rather steep looking cliff. While the shaking took you by surprise, it was never enough to knock you off your feet, so despite it the ponies continued on with little need for caution. The group continued on until the sun went down, passing the time by talking about each pony’s goals, dreams, and their past. ACE learned that Ravewind actually spent most of his life on the ground with his father. He lived mostly in Dodge City and Appleoosa due to his father’s lucrative cider business. He also learned that Chroma’s mother was the famous artist Mona “Lisa” Sketch. Ponies always seemed to have the most fascinating stories about their past no matter who they were. Looking back on it, ACE didn’t have much of a history. He was born from an experiment, and spent his whole life giving orders from a lap of luxury. Not a day went by that he wasn’t grateful for meeting Lilly. At sun down the group set up camp in the safest place they could find. ACE didn’t sleep much so he was able to cover most of the shifts for watching over the camp, but every so often Ravewind or Lilly would take over for him for an hour or two. It was about 11 at night when a thundering roar awoke the ponies; they rushed out of their tents to find ACE staring up the side of a massive land formation. A massive lizard like creature stood atop the massive rock, roaring and smashing its tail into the side of the rock causing the whole ridge to vibrate. “Sweet Celestia is that a dragon?!” Yelled Ravewind. ACE shook his head. “No, but it’s not exactly a good alternative.” “ACE what is that?” Lilly asked her boyfriend in a fear induced panic. “It’s a King Basilisk.” ACE explained, “and from the looks of it, he’s not happy that we’ve camped here.” The basilisk smashed its tail into the ground the resulting vibration was more aggressive and violent than the ones in the past. The result was a full blown rockslide that was heading straight for the four ponies. “Move!” ACE yelled to his friends. The group picked up any supplies they could grab then made a dash for the end of the ridge, even if they couldn’t make it to the end at the very least they could get away from the King Basilisk. ACE knew that basilisks were as territorial as dragons were greedy; they wouldn’t move out of what they believed was their land. As they ran for cover the rocks accelerated, moving towards them faster and faster each second. Ravewind and Chroma Sketch had to resort to flying to avoid the rubble. ACE could speed himself up using his magic, but he knew doing that would leave Lilly, who was an earth pony, in the dust. His instincts as a bodyguard kicked in, and ACE ran up next to Lilly. “ACE what are you doing?” Lilly asked. “I’m getting you out of here!” ACE’s horn began to glow a bright green color, then with a violent thrust of his head a magical current engulfed Lilly and shot her forward like a bullet. ACE jumped to the side just in time to dodge the falling rock meant to crush them both, but he found himself jumping completely off Rumbling Rock Ridge as a result. ACE could hear Lilly screaming his name as he tumbled down the ridge and out of sight of the others. ~~~~ ACE slowly began to awake at the sound of a rather squeaky-voiced pony. His vision was blurred from the fall, but he could hear well enough. The voice was repeating the words “come-on” and “hurry-up” over and over franticly. Suddenly after coming to his senses a sharp pain shot up his hind leg. “Ah geez what in the name of-” as ACE’s vision returned to him he was cut off by the sight of one of his legs caught under a pile of rocks. Looking up he saw a young mare franticly running about. She was an earth pony about the same color as Lilly but a tad darker, she also had light grey almost silver hair that covered all of her forehead, a little of her eyes and one of her ears. Her cutie mark appeared to be a rock of some kind, almost resembling a geode. “I know this looks bad, but it’s not as bad as it looks, I mean if it was as bad as it looks, I wouldn’t have told you it’s not as bad as it looks and-” The mare went on and on as she franticly dug ACE’s leg from the pile of rocks. “Come on, come on, come on.” The mare managed to pry loose the largest rock from the group causing the rest of them to tumble down. ACE sighed with relief as he felt that the pressure being removed. Now that he could concentrate again, he used magic to lift the rest of the rocks up and off of him. Making sure to do it slowly and double check that his disguise was still in tack. As the mare helped ACE to his feet he bowed his head and thanked her for the assistance. “That’s quite all right; my name is Blinkie Pie by the way, welcome to the Pie Sisters Rock Farm!” ACE had heard of Blinkie before. Pinkie Pie back in Ponyville use to talk about her sisters to her friends whenever they would ask her. He remembered having to listen through the story of how Pinkie got her cutie mark; he didn’t remember much from the story, but he did remember that at some point the story rocketed off on a tangent about how Equestria was made or some nonsense like that. “It’s nice to meet you Blinkie, my name is ACE.” Blinkie smiled in response. “I love meeting new people! Nice to meet you Ace.” Blinkie paused then stared at him a bit. “Wait a second are you that famous champion tennis player pony?” ACE sighed, he didn’t know why but ponies asked him that almost every time he was introduced to anyone. Some people even asked him why he shaved his mustache, which really annoyed him because he never had one. “No sorry, you have me confused for some other pony. My name is Ace also, but all three letters are capitalized.” Blinky tilted her head to the side with a bit of a dumbfounded look on her face. “Really? That’s weird. Why is your name so weird?” What was so weird about his name? ACE thought to himself. Sure he found out the hard way that having more than one capitol letter in your name was strange for ponies but she didn’t need to go calling him weird over and over again just because of that. ACE decided it was best he changed the subject. “I noticed you said the ‘Pie Sister’s Rock Farm,’ is it just you and your sister working here then?” Blinkie nodded, her expression changed and was almost starting to turn sad. “Our father died a couple months ago, and our mother is not very well these days so she tends to stay inside in her bed.” “I’m sorry to hear that” ACE responded. “Is she sick?” Blinkie shook her head this time. “She’s just old, and working on a rock farm takes its toll if you’re not careful.” ACE didn’t know anything about working on a normal farm let alone a rock one so he simply shrugged. “In that case, perhaps I could be of some assistance to you? At least until tonight, as a way of showing my appreciation for you saving my life.” ACE noticed the joy and happiness quickly returning to Blinkie’s face she began to yell and bounce up and down excitedly like a kid in a candy store. “Okay! Okay sure! I’ll introduce you to my older sister Inkie Pie, she usually handles the bigger jobs. I’m sure she could use a hoof or two, and since you have magic that will be like lending thirty hooves!” ACE shook his head slightly but couldn’t help but crack a small smile. She was related to Pinkie Pie alright. ACE wondered if the older sister, “Inkie Pie” was anywhere as remotely bombastic as this. ACE and Blinkie Pie made their way to the main building of the Pie’s Rock Farm. There Blinkie pointed out her older sister Inkie, a grey earth pony with dark grey hair, a combination that most ponies would probably find “boring,” but ACE appreciated the simple color scheme. Inkie was hammering away at a rather large rock attempting to break it in half when she heard her sister yell out to her. “Inkie! We have a visitor! He says he wants to help us out some!” Inkie turned around to face Blinkie and ACE, and what ACE saw utterly stunned him. She was quite literally the spitting image of Lilly. The hair style, the look in her eyes, she even had a couple earring holes where Lilly usually kept her piercings. There were some obvious differences of course. Inkie was grey and didn’t have any freckles; she also had a vastly different cutie mark. This one was a rock like Blinkie’s but looked more like a lodestone, but other than that ACE was almost completely certain he was looking at an off colored Lilly. Inkie found herself staring at ACE as well. It had been a while since she had seen a colt, and this one seemed…different from others she had met in the past. He had an odd cutie mark for starters; she wondered what the three different colored overlapping cards represented. The more she looked at him the more fascinated she became, suddenly she felt a slight numbing feeling on her neck she reached up with one of her hooves and felt the black leather collar that was wrapped around her neck. ACE failed to notice the collar up until she reached for it, there was something strange about it but he couldn’t put his hoof on it. “I’m imagining things.” Inkie muttered to herself. She trotted up to Blinkie and ACE to introduce herself. “Nice to meet you Li…Inkie.” ACE had to cut himself off to avoid calling her the wrong name. The resemblance was uncanny. So much so that it scared him a bit. Inkie smiled. “So do you have a name?” “This is ACE big sister!” Blinkie cut in. “Oh before you ask it isn’t the tennis player.” ACE rolled his eyes and Inkie giggled. “I could tell that much from his appearance.” To ACE’s surprise, Inkie seemed to be the exact opposite of her sisters. Blinkie was hyper, Pinkie was…well, Pinkie, but Inkie Pie had an aura of calm maturity around her. ACE guessed that she must have been the eldest of the three sisters; it seemed like the most logical explanation. “So Blinkie says you’re going to be helping us today?” Inkie asked giving ACE a look of inquisitive interest. ACE felt a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, the only other pony that ever gave him that kind of look was Lilly. “Blinkie pulled me out of an avalanche. I figure helping you out would be the best way to repay you.” Inkie smiled and tossed ACE the rock hammer which he caught using magic. “I could use a break if you want to take a couple swings at this guy.” Inkie pointed at the rock she was chipping away at. ACE nodded. “Sure I can do that.” As ACE walked up to the rock and looked it over Blinkie bounced up to her older sister. “You like him don’t you?” She asked Inkie with a giggle. “I…do not…” Inkie stuttered. “He’s just…interesting…” Inkie looked down at her collar and slowly ran her hoof along it. “Why?” She asked herself. The Destination“ACE!” “Hey ACE?!” “Yo ACE you out there?!” Lilly, Chroma Sketch, and Ravewind had been searching for ACE along the ridge ever since the King Basilisk incident, but the sun was starting to set, and there was still no sign of their unicorn companion. Chroma Sketch decided the best course of action was to start the search again in the morning. They would get off the ridge then double back along the bottom of it. If ACE was anywhere he’d be there. As the remaining three ponies set up their tents for the night, Chroma and Ravewind could tell that Lilly was in for a rough night. Chroma Sketch walked over to friend and patted her on the back of the head. “ACE is going to be fine Lilly.” She reassured her. “Remember what happened last time? ACE practically came back from the dead to be with you. He isn’t going to lose to something like a rockslide or a lizard.” Lilly wiped the tear from her eye and nodded in agreement. Lilly knew all too well that ACE like all the others of his kind drew power from love. She had seen personally what that kind of power could do, especially in ACE’s hooves. “Get some sleep Lilly, we’ll find ACE before you know it.” With that, Chroma gave her friend a reassuring smile and headed back to her and Ravewind’s tent. Late that night, Chroma Sketch was awoken by a rustling noise coming from outside her tent. The noise was rather loud so she was rather surprised that Ravewind wasn’t waking up. She exited the tent to find that the fire they had made had been relit. “Is somepony there?” She took a cautious pose and looked around for anyone. Suddenly a figure appeared on the other side of the fire. It was a white pony with black hair, Chroma thought he was a unicorn, but she couldn’t tell for sure. It was almost as if he was missing his horn, or that it was broken. “Who are you?!” She demanded to know. “A friend” replied the stranger. “ACE is still alive; he was found by a farm girl at the bottom of the ridge and taken to her home.” “How do you know ACE?” Chroma again demanded to know. “I know a lot of things Chroma “Artemisia” Sketch. It’s one of the perks of being in the position of power I am currently in.” Chroma Sketch froze in complete terror. Artemisia was the assumed name she went by in elementary school, long before she got her cutie mark. Not even Ravewind knew about her old name. “Who are you?” Chroma echoed her question again, but her resolve and aggression had vanished in place of fear. Whoever this colt was, he was very powerful. “I am a ghost.” With that the colt turned around and vanished in the night, as he left the fire suddenly went out. Chroma Sketch bounced up out of her sleeping bag, as she did she instinctually spread her wings causing one of them to smack Ravewind in the face. In a panic Ravewind sprung up and did the exact same thing. Chroma and Ravewind stared awkwardly at each other for a brief moment before cleaning up their tent and taking it down. When they exited the tent they found that Lilly had already packed her supplies and was ready to go. Chroma thought about what happened last night. Was it a dream? It felt real enough, but if it was real how did that colt know about a name that even Chroma had forgotten? ~~~~ ACE had spent all evening helping the Pie sisters with their chores on the farm. Afterwards he was treated to dinner and offered a place to stay for the night. ACE politely declined the offer but when both Inkie and Blinkie insisted he decided it wouldn’t hurt him to stay the night and be on his way in the morning. ACE awoke early the next morning, as he got out of bed he looked back to find Inkie Pie asleep in the bed as well. ACE wasn’t really sure how to respond, but at the same time he didn’t mind. Maybe having someone sleeping next to him that looked exactly like Lilly was a comforting feeling. ACE left the guest room and found Blinkie next to the door. ACE didn’t have to ask to tell what she wanted, he gestured to the bed and Blinkie sighed. “I figured as much, she can deny it all she wants but she likes you.” Blinkie smiled at ACE, who simply sighed. “If you don’t mind me asking, why does she have that collar around her neck?” ACE noticed that as he asked the question Blinkie’s head sank and her expression changed. “It’s a long story. After our other sister left, our father became very controlling and protective. He made both of us wear those collars; he said ‘with these we wouldn’t abandon him like our sister did.’ Pinkie never abandoned us, her cutie mark called her to spread as much joy and laughter as she could, she couldn’t do that from the rock farm. Anyway, both Inkie and I wore those collars for most of our lives; the only way to get them off is with special keys. When our father passed away he only told us where one of the keys were. Inkie took mine off since I was the youngest. We’ve searched all over the house but we can’t find the other key anywhere.” ACE looked back at Inkie Pie who was just starting to wake up then looked back at Blinkie Pie. “Maybe I could track it down. Who knows as a unicorn it might be easier for me if that makes any sense.” Blinkie Pie giggled. “Nothing makes sense to me anymore.” ACE stared at the mare dumbfounded and lacking a response. Inkie Pie joined the duo. “Good morning you two” she said to them both. She gave ACE a warm almost loving smile, and he suddenly felt incredibly numb for some reason. It was an odd sensation, but it was somehow familiar to him. As the three ponies walked down the hall something caught ACE’s attention, a little room off to the side with an elderly mare sleeping in the bed. “That’s our mama Su Pie” explained Blinkie. “She’s pretty old and not in the best of health.” Inkie added. “I’m afraid she doesn’t have much time left in Equestria. Her dying wish is to see Pinkie Pie one last time, but even if we sent a letter to Pinkie I don’t think she could make it over here in time.” Inkie and Blinkie continued to walk down the hallway. When they were out of sight ACE entered the room. Invoking his true magic as a changeling, ACE altered his appearance to Pinkie Pie and walked up to the Pie’s mother. Su turned to face him and her eyes widened. “Pinkimena?” Her voice was very weak, Inkie was right, there wasn’t much life left in her at all. “Pinkie” nodded. “Yes mom, I heard you weren’t feeling well, so I came by to make you smile.” ACE having long since mastered his abilities as a changeling was one of the few changelings who could alter not only his appearance but also his voice. A talent shared only by himself and a select few other changeling; including his late elder brother, and Queen Chrysalis. “You were always…so good at that.” Su’s voice was getting weaker with every word she spoke. “Listen, the summer harvest time is coming up…Please…stay with your sisters this week, help them get the rocks moved.” Su began to cough as the last of her strength left her. ACE didn’t know what to do, but he wasn’t in a position to say no. He sighed hoping the others would understand. “Okay mama, I promise I’ll help them.” Su smiled and her eyes began to shut, with her dying breath weak strands of love began to flow from here. ACE absorbed what little he could; perhaps this would give him the strength to survive this week, or at least until Lilly and the others found him. ACE dawned his original appearance of the brown haired white unicorn and left to join the Pie Sisters outside. He had a promise to keep. Inkie was the first to great ACE as he exited the house. “Thanks again for helping us yesterday, we really appreciate it.” Inkie smiled at ACE and the numb feeling returned again. ACE shook his head and managed to fight off the feeling. “It was nothing.” “Are you going to be on your way mister?” Blinkie asked him; she was standing behind Inkie and was only about half visible. ACE noticed that her hair had been tied back and there was a rather adorable looking bowtie in her mane. Kind of like the one that Applebloom wears. Inkie must have tied her hair up for her. ACE looked around the rock farm. “That was the plan originally, but I get the feeling my friends will have a better chance of finding me if I stay put in one spot. Besides I’m sure you two have plenty more work you need help with.” Inkie smiled there was almost a look of relief in her eyes. “This week is the summer harvest time. We need to move the rocks down to the southern field. It’s a Pie family tradition. The whole process usually takes us about a week to do, but with your magic we could probably do it in half the time.” “I’d be happy to help with that if I can.” ACE replied. Inkie nodded with approval and Blinkie bounced up and down cheering with delight. “Then I guess we should get started.” Inkie told her new unicorn friend. “We can start with the piles closest to the house.” With ACE’s help the time it took to move the rocks to the south field was monumentally less. They were a quarter of the way done when noon struck and it was time for a lunch break. As they ate Blinky rambled on about how grateful she was. “Wow this is so great, we should have hired a cute unicorn ages ago, this is taking no time at all I can’t wait to finish and have all this extra free time!” Blinkie’s use of the word caused ACE to blush a little; he shook it off and looked across the table where they were eating. Inkie Pie had been looking at him, but quickly turned away as he looked up her face also a little red. “Hey maybe when we finish you can take my big sister on a date!” Blinkie exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. ACE suddenly spit out the water he was drinking. Inkie’s entire face turned bright red, and she slunk her head down with embarrassment. ACE looked at her and sighed dawning an awkward smile. “Maybe,” he muttered weakly. “Some time after we finished with the rocks of course.” Inkie’s face shot up with surprise. ACE didn’t really give the subject too much thought but it sure seemed like Inkie had. Then again ACE was content just to see both the Pie sisters smiling. They both looked really cute when they smiled. As the sun set the Pie sisters headed into the farmhouse for dinner. As ACE moved to join them he heard a loud rustling noise coming from behind him. He turned around to find himself face to face with the black manned, white furred unicorn he met at Ponyville the night of Lilly’s concert. ACE was sure it was him; it was hard to mistake the broken horn and shades that the colt was wearing despite the sun having set. “You again?” ACE muttered. “Yes, me again.” The colt mimicked. “What are you doing here, how did you even find me? For that matter, why are you following me?” The colt held his hoof up to stop ACE’s barrage of questions. His tone was dead serious and almost chilling. “You are not safe here ACE, you need to leave as soon as possible. Find your friends and get back to your journey.” The colt’s tone was ice cold, the kind of tone ACE expected from his older brother. “I can’t leave now, I promised these girls I would help them, hoof I even promised they’re dying mother I would help them. I don’t intend to leave until I’m finished here.” ACE slammed his front hoof into the ground emphasizing his resolve. “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” Asked the colt sternly. ACE turned around and looked towards the house. “I want to help Inkie.” He replied “I want to get that collar off of her.” “That collar is the problem ACE.” The strange colt clarified, “and the longer you stay here, the more of a threat it will become to you.” “What are you talking about?” ACE demanded. “Have you actually taken the time to examine that collar?” The colt asked. “Don’t you think it would be a bit odd if I was staring at something that was around a mare’s neck?” ACE countered. “Not if it’s dangerous.” The colt responded. ACE heard the sound of Inkie calling his name; he looked up and saw her gesturing for him to come inside. ACE acknowledged the invite and told Inkie he would be there in just a moment. As the mare went back inside ACE turned to face the mysterious stranger once again but the colt had disappeared. ACE looked around but saw no traces of him could be found. ACE simply shrugged and went inside the house. Late that night ACE awoke to find Inkie Pie sneaking into his room again. “Can I help you?” He asked. When Inkie realized she had been spotted her face lit up red and she backed away towards the door. “I’m sorry I just…” She couldn’t find the words to explain her actions. ACE sighed and shrugged, one more time wouldn’t kill him. “It’s fine.” He moved the covers aside to let her into the bed. Inkie smiled happily and rushed over, but when she got to the edge of the bed she stopped. “What’s wrong?” ACE asked the mare. “It’s just…” Inkie took a deep breath in and out, and to ACE’s surprised she began a long spilled out run-on sentence. “I know I didn’t ask the first time, I mean I didn’t ask because I thought you would say no, but now you’re saying yes, so I have to wonder would you have said yes the first time, but there’s no way you would have said yes the first time, but you might have said yes the first time, but…” As Inkie went on and on ACE decided to take the colts advice, he looked down and observed Inkie’s collar. What ACE saw made his eyes widen and the fur on his neck stand on end. The collar was humming with a soft, yet dark red energy. The energy began to radiate a little more every second as Inkie Pie talked. Finally ACE realized what the colt was talking about. It wasn’t the collar itself that was the issue it was what was on the collar. The collar was enchanted with a sinister spell known as “Venomous Love” a spell that reacted to a pony’s interest in another pony. The more one pony loved another, the more potent the poison became, resulting inevitably in the latter pony’s end. This would normally be the case; however ACE was secretly a changeling, and the spell worked differently on his kind. Instead of being a lethal poison that inevitably killed them, to changelings Venomous Love worked as a kind of drug. The effects of the spell numbed their bodies from the inside out ultimately leaving them unable to feel anything at all a sensation that sadly some changelings were dangerously addicted to. ACE finished his observations just as Inkie finished talked. “So you seem cool with it, which is great ‘cause if you’re really cool with it I guess I could tell you that I really really like you.” Inkie’s eyes widened and she shoved her hooves over her mouth her face glowed bright red and her head sunk. “I’m sorry, I was talking and…” ACE cut her off. “It’s…it’s fine…I” ACE noticed it was becoming impossible to form words. The numb feelings began to come back but now they were stronger than ever. ACE couldn’t move, and he could barely talk. “I’m…glad.” Inkie climbed into the bed and laid next to ACE. “I’m sorry if this is weird.” She whispered shyly. “No…it’s fine…” ACE wasn’t sure if he actually meant what he said or not. The relaxing feeling coming from the collars spell was overwhelming; he began to slink down into the bed, and with the last of his strength he turned his face to see Inkie smiling at him. As the spell and the feelings reached their apex his eyes began to close and he began to fall asleep, the last feeling he remembered that night was Inkie’s lips on his own. The TruthACE’s eyes flew open and he shot up out of bed. Inkie Pie was nowhere to be found and the numbness had left him. He sighed, maybe today would go by without any drama and he could the work done and be on his way. Whoever that colt was, he was right, it was dangerous for him to stay here. ACE found the pie sisters in the dining room eating breakfast. Inkie sent him a warm smile and Blinkie winked at him. ACE could see love radiating off of Inkie, he could also see the collar glowing red, corrupting the love with the poison that was even now starting to make his body go numb. ACE turned around and headed back to his room. “You’re not going to eat?” Inkie asked him. “I’ll be just a sec” ACE replied. “You two go ahead and get started on the rocks without me I’ll join you when I finish.” “You okay?” Inkie asked with a worried look. “I’m fine thanks.” He was the exact opposite and he knew it. Still, he had promises to keep. Inkie headed outside followed shortly by Blinkie. When he knew for sure they were gone ACE snuck out the back door and headed to a building at the back of the farm. Before he got back to the sisters there was something he wanted to look into. ACE reached a long cylindrical storage building near the back of the farm. According to Pinkie’s story she got her cutie mark here when she threw her family a party for the first time. He opened the door and looked inside. The building was empty and dark. Using magic, ACE created some artificial light and discovered the building was covered in old web covered streamers, and airless deflated balloons on dirty string. The table in the center was covered with a table cloth that had been torn to pieces, and on top of that was a small box. That had to be what he was looking for. He looked over the small box but to his dismay, the box was locked. ACE fuddled around in his pockets until he found his deck of cards, digging through them he found an Ace of Spades and concentrated on it. The card glowed a musty grey color and the picture quickly changed from a spade to an unlocked lock. “This should do it.” ACE whispered as he tapped the card on the box, after a quick ka-chink the box opened up. ACE tucked the card back into his deck and looked into the box. Something was wrong, the box was empty. “Looking for this?” ACE turned to find himself looking at the mysterious unicorn colt from before. The colt was dangling a key in the air next to him with magic. “If you know about the collar you know what that is, now give it to me!” ACE demanded. “I can’t do that ACE” said the colt coldly. “Why not?” Asked ACE startled at the colt’s response. “If I remove the collar I can get rid of it, you told me I needed to avoid the spell on the collar, what better way than to get rid of it?” “If I let you do that there will be nothing to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life.” As the stranger said this, ACE noted that he was carrying a bag with him this time. He must have planned on leaving with the key. For Inkie’s sake ACE couldn’t let that happen. “So what you’re clairvoyant now?” ACE spat out bluntly. “I don’t need to be to see what you are doing.” The colt returned just as bluntly. “Why are you so interested in what I do and don’t do?” ACE asked inquisitively. “What I am to you?” “I cannot tell you yet, but I will very soon.” He responded. “What I can tell you is that your entire future will change if I give you this key. One mistake will lead to another and soon even your dormant powers will leave you.” “There’s nothing DORMANT about my power” ACE riposted. “As a unicorn I can bind spells to cards, as a changeling I can create illusions. That’s all I’ve ever been able to do.” “There is more to this than you know ACE.” The colt warned ACE, his tone getting fiercer and more aggressive as the conversation escalated. “Then I suggest you give me that key, so I can get on with my life and figure it out for myself.” ACE again demanded. The colt shrugged, he had spent enough time here. There were other matters to attend to, and if ACE was going to make the decision the colt thought he was, there was much he would have to be ready to correct. He tossed ACE the key to Inkie’s collar and turned away from him vanishing into a black mist. ACE picked up the key and stared at it. He held it in his hooves as he looked it over; it seemed like just a regular metal key. It was rather big compared to average keys but besides that it was nothing too special. ACE hoped that this was really what he thought it was. As he was walking back to the girls ACE began to hear shouting he made his way back to the Pie sisters only to find them arguing with Ravewind of all ponies. “For the tenth time I don’t mean the tennis player! I’m looking for a white unicorn with a reddish brown mane his name is A, C, E all caps you can’t miss him he has a weird name!” Ravewind seemed to be growing more impatient, and louder as the conversation went on. “Why does everyone keep saying my name is weird?” ACE asked the rest of the group as he approached it. “ACE!” Ravewind ran up and hugged his good friend “We’ve been looking all over for you!” “Good to see you too Ravewind” ACE nudged his friend off of him and brushed himself off after the borderline tackle. Ravewind glared at the pie sisters. “So he was here!” He shouted at them. “So what if he was?!” Inkie Pie shouted back. “So you were lying to me!” Ravewind responded, once again with a shout. ACE stepped between them if anything to stop the noise. “Inkie, why didn’t you tell him I was here?” He asked using a calm simple tone hoping to quiet down the two ponies. Inkie sighed. “I’m sorry ACE, but we’re not done with the harvest yet and I didn’t want to risk losing you.” “And you’re not going to, I made a promise and I intend to keep it.” ACE said more sharply this time. Inkie nodded with relief, but Ravewind wasn’t so happy. “ACE what’s going on here? We have somewhere we need to be remember?” Ravewind stared confused at his friend. “I know,” ACE responded “but I made a promise to these girls and their dead mother that I would help them get this work done. We’re almost done we only need a day more then I’ll rejoin you guys and we can get back on track.” “What’s going on here?” The group turned to see Chroma Sketch and Lilly who had finally caught up to Ravewind. When Lilly saw ACE her expression changed completely. She became cheerful and overjoyed and rushed up to hug him. “ACE I can’t believe you’re actually alright! I missed you so much!” “I missed you too Lilly,” ACE replied “sorry to worry you all.” Ravewind turned to Chroma and filled the group in on the situation. “Well apparently ACE has been keeping himself busy while we’ve been out looking for him.” Lilly and Chroma looked at Ravewind confused then back to ACE with the same expression. ACE sighed and pointed to the Pie Sisters. “Everyone this is Inkie Pie and Blinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie’s older and younger sisters. When I got separated they found me and took me in. I’ve been helping them on the farm as a way of saying thanks.” Inkie and Lilly looked at one another. Same hair style, same face, same taste in jewelry, the only real difference was their color schemes. Inkie took an immediate disliking to Lilly and frankly Inkie was making Lilly feel uncomfortable. Lilly walked up to ACE and started to softly speak to him. “ACE that’s all well and good but we need to get going, I don’t like that grey one.” ACE whispered back to her. “I know we need to get to Baltimare as soon as we can Lilly, but I made a promise to help these two. I only need one more day to finish the work here then I’ll be able to go.” “You can’t be serious,” Lilly said in a suddenly louder tone. “ACE we really can’t stay here.” Inkie glared at Lilly and stepped in between them two “And who are you to tell ACE where he can and can’t go?” She demanded to know. Lilly glared back. “I happen to be ACE’s girlfriend!” She shouted. Inkie Pie took a couple steps back and she and Blinkie exchanged looks then both nodded in unison. “You all need to leave, now.” She demanded. “I’m not leaving without ACE.” Lilly shouted smashing her hoof into the ground. “Well I can’t afford to spare ACE until we get this work done!” Inkie responded making the same gesture with her hoof. The two mares glared violently at one another, both looking like they would jump on one another at any time. ACE found himself having to separate the two like he did with Inkie and Ravewind. ACE looked at Lilly with a serious yet slightly irritated look. “Lilly, I’m staying here. I made a promise and I intend to keep it.” Lilly took four steps back, and tears began to form in her eyes. “ACE you can’t be serious? You may have made a promise to her, but what about your promise to me?” She asked him. “I’m sorry, Lilly. I’ll rejoin you all as soon as I’m done here.” ACE could feel the numb feeling in his body returning. Inkie’s ever increasing interest in him was becoming increasingly poisonous, but he had to finish this. Lilly shook her head. “No, just forget it.” Everyone’s attention suddenly shot to Lilly. ACE especially. “What do you mean?” He asked her. “If you want to stay here then stay here, but I need to get to Baltimare with or without you. If you’re not coming then I guess we’re through.” Chroma Sketch, and Ravewind’s jaws both dropped. “Did Lilly just break up with ACE?!” Ravewind asked rather loudly. Chroma simply nodded. “If that’s how you feel then I guess I have no choice” muttered ACE to Lilly who began to cry in response. ACE turned around and began to walk towards Blinkie and Inkie but to his surprise he heard Lilly yelling to him not even a few seconds later. “You’re an idiot ACE, do you really believe Inkie will accept you? I mean the REAL you? She won’t because I’m the only one who ever will!” ACE turned back in a panic just in time for Lilly’s hoof connect to his face and knock him to the ground. Ravewind and Chroma both rushed over to restrain Lilly while Inkie and Blinkie both put themselves between her and ACE. As ACE started to get up a fizzling noise began to radiate from him. Everyone turned to face him and saw that his face had blurred and was misshapen like paint that had been washed with water. Lilly managed to shake off Ravewind and Chroma who were both distracted and perplexed by what they were seeing. She stared at ACE for a bit, and then slapped him again in the same spot. The fizzling noise escalated and ACE’s magical disguise wore off revealing his true form, the Lord Amethyst the Changeling Prince. Everyone stared at ACE completely shell shocked. Lilly took a couple steps back and began to lightly cry again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” “What are you talking a…” ACE was cut off by the sound of his own voice. The buzzing raspy insect like sound in his voice only meant one thing. He had transformed back to normal. “Oh no…” He looked at Ravewind and Chroma who were staring at him with a mix of surprise and terror. The he looked at the Pie Sisters who only showed terror. Ravewind jumping to the wrong conclusion as usual glared at the sisters. “Is this some kind of a joke?! What did you do with the real ACE?!” Lilly turned around and faced her friends pointing back at Amethyst. “This IS ACE Ravewind. ACE is a changeling, his real name is Amethyst.” “How long have you known this Lilly?” Asked Chroma. “For a while now,” Lilly responded. “Since before I met you or Ravewind.” “And you just went along with this?!” Ravewind yelled at her. Lilly backed off a bit and Amethyst stepped up between the two of them. “She knew you would react this way as did I, so we elected to keep my true form a secret. I apologize for the deceit but Lilly would never have become a famous singer if everyone knew who she was really dating.” “You can’t be serious.” Ravewind was about to yell some more but Chroma Sketch raised her hoof in front of him. “Ravewind it’s okay. If ACE was bad something would have happened to Lilly by now.” She didn’t know that something had happened a long time ago, but it was nothing she needed to know. “But why, of all the ponies in the world you could be dating, why did you settle for…” Chroma glared at Ravewind “er, choose a changeling?” Ravewind at this point had simmered down almost completely. Chroma answered him again. “Ponies do strange things when they’re in love.” Chroma winked at Ravewind who in turn rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof his face turning slightly red. Amethyst turned to face Inkie and Blinkie who had both taken several steps back away from him. “Inkie I’m sorry, I never planned on you finding out.” He tried to approach the two of them but they both retreated back another step. “Get out.” She demanded. “Just get off of our farm. We’ll do what’s left ourselves.” “Inkie this doesn’t change anything, I still want to help you.” Amethyst pleaded with the two sisters but as he took another step forward Blinkie put herself in front of him and her older sister. “You’ve been stealing love from my sister this whole time haven’t you?!” Blinkie Pie proclaimed. “This whole time you’ve just been using us to grow stronger! We know how Changelings work! You’re just an evil buzzing insect looking for anyone who will feed him!” Amethyst froze in his tracks. Were ponies really still this afraid of the changelings? The devastation that happened at the wedding had come and gone a long time ago, but for the hysteria to have reached all the way out here, and for it to have lasted this long. Perhaps his dreams were nothing more than just another one of his illusions; a mistake, just like him. “There’s no way I can convince you, is there?” He asked Inkie. “No there isn’t! You’re a dirty evil marsh fly and I want you off my farm!” Amethyst could see right through Inkie’s feigned aggression, but it wasn’t a gamble he wanted to take. He sighed and closed his eyes, his curved scythe horn began to glow a bright green causing everyone to take a step back from him. Suddenly a key appeared beside him and he tossed it on the ground next to the Pie sisters. Blinkie walked forward and picked it up holding it in her hoof. “Is this?” Amethyst nodded, he already knew what Blinkie was going to ask. He turned away and started to walk into the nearby woods pausing only for a second to look at Lilly. “I’m sorry,” and with that Amethyst took to the air departed his wings making a faint buzzing noise as he left. Inkie and Lilly both stared off into the distance where Amethyst had left. Chroma sighed and walked up to Lilly smacking her in the back of the head with her hoof. “What are you doing? Go get him! You have a promise to keep!” Lilly stared at Chroma not entirely sure what she meant, then it hit her and her eyes widened. Without a second thought she raced off towards the woods after Amethyst. Chroma turned to the Pie sisters and nodded to them. “Thank you, for watching over our friend.” The sisters made no response and Chroma and Ravewind departed after Lilly. ~~~ Lilly caught up to Amethyst and tackled him to the ground, before Amethyst could say anything Lilly was in his arms kissing him. His Insect shell-like body was cold but it was a chill that Lilly had become accustomed to. “Lilly I...” Amethyst began to speak but Lilly interrupted him. “It’s alright, I’m not mad anymore.” Lilly smiled at Amethyst who just stared at her confused. “Remember when I said you had a promise to keep to me? Well I realize now that promises work both ways. You made a promise to stand by me, which means I have to stand by you as well.” Amethyst smiled for the first time since he could remember. Anyone could make him smile as a pony, but only Lilly could make him smile as a changeling. “Now come on get your disguise back on, we still have a job to do.” As Lilly said this she pulled her changeling boyfriend out of the grass, and he transformed back into ACE as soon as he got back up. Chroma Sketch and Ravewind caught back up with the couple. Chroma smiled happy to see them both back together. Ravewind on the other hand walked up right next to ACE and stared at him. “What’s up?” ACE asked him. “So you’re a changeling?” Ravewind asked back. ACE nodded. “That would explain why your name is so weird.” Chroma and Lilly both looked at each other then began to laugh hysterically at Ravewind’s comment. ACE simply smacked his hoof against his face and sighed. “Would someone PLEASE explain to me what by Celestia’s wings is so weird about my name?!” ACE demanded. Lilly simply smiled, walked up to him and gave him a hug. “Nothing dear,” Lilly kissed ACE on the cheek “nothing is weird about your name.” ACE, Lilly, Chroma Sketch, and Ravewind departed from the forest and continued onto Baltimare. For the entire rest of the trip Ravewind badgered ACE with question after question about the changelings. It was annoying to say the least, but at least he wasn’t asking. “Are we there yet?” “NO!” Everyone answered in perfect unison for the hundredth and one time.
The Journey“Are we there yet?” Ravewind asked, for what seemed like the hundredth time since they started walking. “NO!” Everyone else answered in perfect unison for the hundredth time. Lilly the traveling singer pony, and her bodyguard/boyfriend ACE had spent a week in Ponyville following Luna’s concert and the events that had transpired. Once the week had ended, they decided to head to the city of Baltimare where Lilly’s next concert would be performed. Chroma Sketch and Ravewind decided that this time, rather than waiting for Lilly and ACE to gallivant all over Equestria and meet them when they returned to Ponyville; they would go on tour along with them, for their own reasons of course. Chroma Sketch was always curious about other forms of art that occurred outside of her home. She decided she was going to see the art of the world and try and learn as many forms as she could in that time. Ravewind’s goals were much more straight-forward: he wanted to attend a party in every city of Equestria. Chroma Sketch wasn’t entirely sure how to react to that, but she decided it was best not to question Ravewind. She knew all too well that whether she approved or not, it was inevitably going to happen. The group had been on the road for a little over twenty four hours and the journey was starting to take its toll on Ravewind. ACE suspected that he wasn’t completely ready for what traveling on foot would bring. “Remind me again why we didn’t take a train to Baltimare.” Ravewind complained. “Again,” responded Chroma “ACE and Lilly don’t have any money, and they can’t afford to travel any other way.” Ravewind continued to contest their choice of travel. “I could have just covered the cost of all four of us, I have more than enough money, and my family is pretty wealthy.” Lilly looked at Ravewind with a warm smile. “That’s kind of you Ravewind, but ACE and I have been doing this since we met. It’s really the only way we know how to travel, or want to know for that matter.” Ravewind moaned and his head sunk. Chroma shook her head, not sure what to make of the colt who was becoming increasingly immature as the journey went on. “Honestly Ravewind, what did you expect?” She asked him. “I expected for this to take less than two days.” He replied. ACE sighed. The white furred unicorn that had remained dead silent up until this point decided it was his turn to speak. “Look Ravewind, we’ve made it to Rumbling Rock Ridge. It will only take us a day to get through here then another and we’re at Baltimare. You think you can handle that?” Ravewind sighed. Three days, 72 hours, he could do that. “Fine” he responded, “but can we take ten? My hooves are killing me.” Chroma Sketch shot Ravewind an annoyed glare. “Ravewind!” She snapped. “What?!” Ravewind panicked and jumped into the air, he floated there and watched as Chroma’s glare turned into a smug smile. “If your hooves are hurting, use your wings.” She said with a tone that was calm but still had traces of annoyance left on it. “Oh yeah, I have those don’t I?” Ravewind muttered. Lilly and Chroma Sketch laughed, ACE let out a sigh and the group carried on into the Ridge. Rumbling Rock Ridge was a large elevated land mass that was too big to be a hill but too small to be a mountain. There was a spiraling path through the ridge which the four ponies were currently traversing that lead through the area and ultimately to Baltimare. The area would frequently vibrate and shake causing small amounts of stone to tumble down the path and off the side of the ridge down a rather steep looking cliff. While the shaking took you by surprise, it was never enough to knock you off your feet, so despite it the ponies continued on with little need for caution. The group continued on until the sun went down, passing the time by talking about each pony’s goals, dreams, and their past. ACE learned that Ravewind actually spent most of his life on the ground with his father. He lived mostly in Dodge City and Appleoosa due to his father’s lucrative cider business. He also learned that Chroma’s mother was the famous artist Mona “Lisa” Sketch. Ponies always seemed to have the most fascinating stories about their past no matter who they were. Looking back on it, ACE didn’t have much of a history. He was born from an experiment, and spent his whole life giving orders from a lap of luxury. Not a day went by that he wasn’t grateful for meeting Lilly. At sun down the group set up camp in the safest place they could find. ACE didn’t sleep much so he was able to cover most of the shifts for watching over the camp, but every so often Ravewind or Lilly would take over for him for an hour or two. It was about 11 at night when a thundering roar awoke the ponies; they rushed out of their tents to find ACE staring up the side of a massive land formation. A massive lizard like creature stood atop the massive rock, roaring and smashing its tail into the side of the rock causing the whole ridge to vibrate. “Sweet Celestia is that a dragon?!” Yelled Ravewind. ACE shook his head. “No, but it’s not exactly a good alternative.” “ACE what is that?” Lilly asked her boyfriend in a fear induced panic. “It’s a King Basilisk.” ACE explained, “and from the looks of it, he’s not happy that we’ve camped here.” The basilisk smashed its tail into the ground the resulting vibration was more aggressive and violent than the ones in the past. The result was a full blown rockslide that was heading straight for the four ponies. “Move!” ACE yelled to his friends. The group picked up any supplies they could grab then made a dash for the end of the ridge, even if they couldn’t make it to the end at the very least they could get away from the King Basilisk. ACE knew that basilisks were as territorial as dragons were greedy; they wouldn’t move out of what they believed was their land. As they ran for cover the rocks accelerated, moving towards them faster and faster each second. Ravewind and Chroma Sketch had to resort to flying to avoid the rubble. ACE could speed himself up using his magic, but he knew doing that would leave Lilly, who was an earth pony, in the dust. His instincts as a bodyguard kicked in, and ACE ran up next to Lilly. “ACE what are you doing?” Lilly asked. “I’m getting you out of here!” ACE’s horn began to glow a bright green color, then with a violent thrust of his head a magical current engulfed Lilly and shot her forward like a bullet. ACE jumped to the side just in time to dodge the falling rock meant to crush them both, but he found himself jumping completely off Rumbling Rock Ridge as a result. ACE could hear Lilly screaming his name as he tumbled down the ridge and out of sight of the others. ~~~~ ACE slowly began to awake at the sound of a rather squeaky-voiced pony. His vision was blurred from the fall, but he could hear well enough. The voice was repeating the words “come-on” and “hurry-up” over and over franticly. Suddenly after coming to his senses a sharp pain shot up his hind leg. “Ah geez what in the name of-” as ACE’s vision returned to him he was cut off by the sight of one of his legs caught under a pile of rocks. Looking up he saw a young mare franticly running about. She was an earth pony about the same color as Lilly but a tad darker, she also had light grey almost silver hair that covered all of her forehead, a little of her eyes and one of her ears. Her cutie mark appeared to be a rock of some kind, almost resembling a geode. “I know this looks bad, but it’s not as bad as it looks, I mean if it was as bad as it looks, I wouldn’t have told you it’s not as bad as it looks and-” The mare went on and on as she franticly dug ACE’s leg from the pile of rocks. “Come on, come on, come on.” The mare managed to pry loose the largest rock from the group causing the rest of them to tumble down. ACE sighed with relief as he felt that the pressure being removed. Now that he could concentrate again, he used magic to lift the rest of the rocks up and off of him. Making sure to do it slowly and double check that his disguise was still in tack. As the mare helped ACE to his feet he bowed his head and thanked her for the assistance. “That’s quite all right; my name is Blinkie Pie by the way, welcome to the Pie Sisters Rock Farm!” ACE had heard of Blinkie before. Pinkie Pie back in Ponyville use to talk about her sisters to her friends whenever they would ask her. He remembered having to listen through the story of how Pinkie got her cutie mark; he didn’t remember much from the story, but he did remember that at some point the story rocketed off on a tangent about how Equestria was made or some nonsense like that. “It’s nice to meet you Blinkie, my name is ACE.” Blinkie smiled in response. “I love meeting new people! Nice to meet you Ace.” Blinkie paused then stared at him a bit. “Wait a second are you that famous champion tennis player pony?” ACE sighed, he didn’t know why but ponies asked him that almost every time he was introduced to anyone. Some people even asked him why he shaved his mustache, which really annoyed him because he never had one. “No sorry, you have me confused for some other pony. My name is Ace also, but all three letters are capitalized.” Blinky tilted her head to the side with a bit of a dumbfounded look on her face. “Really? That’s weird. Why is your name so weird?” What was so weird about his name? ACE thought to himself. Sure he found out the hard way that having more than one capitol letter in your name was strange for ponies but she didn’t need to go calling him weird over and over again just because of that. ACE decided it was best he changed the subject. “I noticed you said the ‘Pie Sister’s Rock Farm,’ is it just you and your sister working here then?” Blinkie nodded, her expression changed and was almost starting to turn sad. “Our father died a couple months ago, and our mother is not very well these days so she tends to stay inside in her bed.” “I’m sorry to hear that” ACE responded. “Is she sick?” Blinkie shook her head this time. “She’s just old, and working on a rock farm takes its toll if you’re not careful.” ACE didn’t know anything about working on a normal farm let alone a rock one so he simply shrugged. “In that case, perhaps I could be of some assistance to you? At least until tonight, as a way of showing my appreciation for you saving my life.” ACE noticed the joy and happiness quickly returning to Blinkie’s face she began to yell and bounce up and down excitedly like a kid in a candy store. “Okay! Okay sure! I’ll introduce you to my older sister Inkie Pie, she usually handles the bigger jobs. I’m sure she could use a hoof or two, and since you have magic that will be like lending thirty hooves!” ACE shook his head slightly but couldn’t help but crack a small smile. She was related to Pinkie Pie alright. ACE wondered if the older sister, “Inkie Pie” was anywhere as remotely bombastic as this. ACE and Blinkie Pie made their way to the main building of the Pie’s Rock Farm. There Blinkie pointed out her older sister Inkie, a grey earth pony with dark grey hair, a combination that most ponies would probably find “boring,” but ACE appreciated the simple color scheme. Inkie was hammering away at a rather large rock attempting to break it in half when she heard her sister yell out to her. “Inkie! We have a visitor! He says he wants to help us out some!” Inkie turned around to face Blinkie and ACE, and what ACE saw utterly stunned him. She was quite literally the spitting image of Lilly. The hair style, the look in her eyes, she even had a couple earring holes where Lilly usually kept her piercings. There were some obvious differences of course. Inkie was grey and didn’t have any freckles; she also had a vastly different cutie mark. This one was a rock like Blinkie’s but looked more like a lodestone, but other than that ACE was almost completely certain he was looking at an off colored Lilly. Inkie found herself staring at ACE as well. It had been a while since she had seen a colt, and this one seemed…different from others she had met in the past. He had an odd cutie mark for starters; she wondered what the three different colored overlapping cards represented. The more she looked at him the more fascinated she became, suddenly she felt a slight numbing feeling on her neck she reached up with one of her hooves and felt the black leather collar that was wrapped around her neck. ACE failed to notice the collar up until she reached for it, there was something strange about it but he couldn’t put his hoof on it. “I’m imagining things.” Inkie muttered to herself. She trotted up to Blinkie and ACE to introduce herself. “Nice to meet you Li…Inkie.” ACE had to cut himself off to avoid calling her the wrong name. The resemblance was uncanny. So much so that it scared him a bit. Inkie smiled. “So do you have a name?” “This is ACE big sister!” Blinkie cut in. “Oh before you ask it isn’t the tennis player.” ACE rolled his eyes and Inkie giggled. “I could tell that much from his appearance.” To ACE’s surprise, Inkie seemed to be the exact opposite of her sisters. Blinkie was hyper, Pinkie was…well, Pinkie, but Inkie Pie had an aura of calm maturity around her. ACE guessed that she must have been the eldest of the three sisters; it seemed like the most logical explanation. “So Blinkie says you’re going to be helping us today?” Inkie asked giving ACE a look of inquisitive interest. ACE felt a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, the only other pony that ever gave him that kind of look was Lilly. “Blinkie pulled me out of an avalanche. I figure helping you out would be the best way to repay you.” Inkie smiled and tossed ACE the rock hammer which he caught using magic. “I could use a break if you want to take a couple swings at this guy.” Inkie pointed at the rock she was chipping away at. ACE nodded. “Sure I can do that.” As ACE walked up to the rock and looked it over Blinkie bounced up to her older sister. “You like him don’t you?” She asked Inkie with a giggle. “I…do not…” Inkie stuttered. “He’s just…interesting…” Inkie looked down at her collar and slowly ran her hoof along it. “Why?” She asked herself.
The Destination“ACE!” “Hey ACE?!” “Yo ACE you out there?!” Lilly, Chroma Sketch, and Ravewind had been searching for ACE along the ridge ever since the King Basilisk incident, but the sun was starting to set, and there was still no sign of their unicorn companion. Chroma Sketch decided the best course of action was to start the search again in the morning. They would get off the ridge then double back along the bottom of it. If ACE was anywhere he’d be there. As the remaining three ponies set up their tents for the night, Chroma and Ravewind could tell that Lilly was in for a rough night. Chroma Sketch walked over to friend and patted her on the back of the head. “ACE is going to be fine Lilly.” She reassured her. “Remember what happened last time? ACE practically came back from the dead to be with you. He isn’t going to lose to something like a rockslide or a lizard.” Lilly wiped the tear from her eye and nodded in agreement. Lilly knew all too well that ACE like all the others of his kind drew power from love. She had seen personally what that kind of power could do, especially in ACE’s hooves. “Get some sleep Lilly, we’ll find ACE before you know it.” With that, Chroma gave her friend a reassuring smile and headed back to her and Ravewind’s tent. Late that night, Chroma Sketch was awoken by a rustling noise coming from outside her tent. The noise was rather loud so she was rather surprised that Ravewind wasn’t waking up. She exited the tent to find that the fire they had made had been relit. “Is somepony there?” She took a cautious pose and looked around for anyone. Suddenly a figure appeared on the other side of the fire. It was a white pony with black hair, Chroma thought he was a unicorn, but she couldn’t tell for sure. It was almost as if he was missing his horn, or that it was broken. “Who are you?!” She demanded to know. “A friend” replied the stranger. “ACE is still alive; he was found by a farm girl at the bottom of the ridge and taken to her home.” “How do you know ACE?” Chroma again demanded to know. “I know a lot of things Chroma “Artemisia” Sketch. It’s one of the perks of being in the position of power I am currently in.” Chroma Sketch froze in complete terror. Artemisia was the assumed name she went by in elementary school, long before she got her cutie mark. Not even Ravewind knew about her old name. “Who are you?” Chroma echoed her question again, but her resolve and aggression had vanished in place of fear. Whoever this colt was, he was very powerful. “I am a ghost.” With that the colt turned around and vanished in the night, as he left the fire suddenly went out. Chroma Sketch bounced up out of her sleeping bag, as she did she instinctually spread her wings causing one of them to smack Ravewind in the face. In a panic Ravewind sprung up and did the exact same thing. Chroma and Ravewind stared awkwardly at each other for a brief moment before cleaning up their tent and taking it down. When they exited the tent they found that Lilly had already packed her supplies and was ready to go. Chroma thought about what happened last night. Was it a dream? It felt real enough, but if it was real how did that colt know about a name that even Chroma had forgotten? ~~~~ ACE had spent all evening helping the Pie sisters with their chores on the farm. Afterwards he was treated to dinner and offered a place to stay for the night. ACE politely declined the offer but when both Inkie and Blinkie insisted he decided it wouldn’t hurt him to stay the night and be on his way in the morning. ACE awoke early the next morning, as he got out of bed he looked back to find Inkie Pie asleep in the bed as well. ACE wasn’t really sure how to respond, but at the same time he didn’t mind. Maybe having someone sleeping next to him that looked exactly like Lilly was a comforting feeling. ACE left the guest room and found Blinkie next to the door. ACE didn’t have to ask to tell what she wanted, he gestured to the bed and Blinkie sighed. “I figured as much, she can deny it all she wants but she likes you.” Blinkie smiled at ACE, who simply sighed. “If you don’t mind me asking, why does she have that collar around her neck?” ACE noticed that as he asked the question Blinkie’s head sank and her expression changed. “It’s a long story. After our other sister left, our father became very controlling and protective. He made both of us wear those collars; he said ‘with these we wouldn’t abandon him like our sister did.’ Pinkie never abandoned us, her cutie mark called her to spread as much joy and laughter as she could, she couldn’t do that from the rock farm. Anyway, both Inkie and I wore those collars for most of our lives; the only way to get them off is with special keys. When our father passed away he only told us where one of the keys were. Inkie took mine off since I was the youngest. We’ve searched all over the house but we can’t find the other key anywhere.” ACE looked back at Inkie Pie who was just starting to wake up then looked back at Blinkie Pie. “Maybe I could track it down. Who knows as a unicorn it might be easier for me if that makes any sense.” Blinkie Pie giggled. “Nothing makes sense to me anymore.” ACE stared at the mare dumbfounded and lacking a response. Inkie Pie joined the duo. “Good morning you two” she said to them both. She gave ACE a warm almost loving smile, and he suddenly felt incredibly numb for some reason. It was an odd sensation, but it was somehow familiar to him. As the three ponies walked down the hall something caught ACE’s attention, a little room off to the side with an elderly mare sleeping in the bed. “That’s our mama Su Pie” explained Blinkie. “She’s pretty old and not in the best of health.” Inkie added. “I’m afraid she doesn’t have much time left in Equestria. Her dying wish is to see Pinkie Pie one last time, but even if we sent a letter to Pinkie I don’t think she could make it over here in time.” Inkie and Blinkie continued to walk down the hallway. When they were out of sight ACE entered the room. Invoking his true magic as a changeling, ACE altered his appearance to Pinkie Pie and walked up to the Pie’s mother. Su turned to face him and her eyes widened. “Pinkimena?” Her voice was very weak, Inkie was right, there wasn’t much life left in her at all. “Pinkie” nodded. “Yes mom, I heard you weren’t feeling well, so I came by to make you smile.” ACE having long since mastered his abilities as a changeling was one of the few changelings who could alter not only his appearance but also his voice. A talent shared only by himself and a select few other changeling; including his late elder brother, and Queen Chrysalis. “You were always…so good at that.” Su’s voice was getting weaker with every word she spoke. “Listen, the summer harvest time is coming up…Please…stay with your sisters this week, help them get the rocks moved.” Su began to cough as the last of her strength left her. ACE didn’t know what to do, but he wasn’t in a position to say no. He sighed hoping the others would understand. “Okay mama, I promise I’ll help them.” Su smiled and her eyes began to shut, with her dying breath weak strands of love began to flow from here. ACE absorbed what little he could; perhaps this would give him the strength to survive this week, or at least until Lilly and the others found him. ACE dawned his original appearance of the brown haired white unicorn and left to join the Pie Sisters outside. He had a promise to keep. Inkie was the first to great ACE as he exited the house. “Thanks again for helping us yesterday, we really appreciate it.” Inkie smiled at ACE and the numb feeling returned again. ACE shook his head and managed to fight off the feeling. “It was nothing.” “Are you going to be on your way mister?” Blinkie asked him; she was standing behind Inkie and was only about half visible. ACE noticed that her hair had been tied back and there was a rather adorable looking bowtie in her mane. Kind of like the one that Applebloom wears. Inkie must have tied her hair up for her. ACE looked around the rock farm. “That was the plan originally, but I get the feeling my friends will have a better chance of finding me if I stay put in one spot. Besides I’m sure you two have plenty more work you need help with.” Inkie smiled there was almost a look of relief in her eyes. “This week is the summer harvest time. We need to move the rocks down to the southern field. It’s a Pie family tradition. The whole process usually takes us about a week to do, but with your magic we could probably do it in half the time.” “I’d be happy to help with that if I can.” ACE replied. Inkie nodded with approval and Blinkie bounced up and down cheering with delight. “Then I guess we should get started.” Inkie told her new unicorn friend. “We can start with the piles closest to the house.” With ACE’s help the time it took to move the rocks to the south field was monumentally less. They were a quarter of the way done when noon struck and it was time for a lunch break. As they ate Blinky rambled on about how grateful she was. “Wow this is so great, we should have hired a cute unicorn ages ago, this is taking no time at all I can’t wait to finish and have all this extra free time!” Blinkie’s use of the word caused ACE to blush a little; he shook it off and looked across the table where they were eating. Inkie Pie had been looking at him, but quickly turned away as he looked up her face also a little red. “Hey maybe when we finish you can take my big sister on a date!” Blinkie exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. ACE suddenly spit out the water he was drinking. Inkie’s entire face turned bright red, and she slunk her head down with embarrassment. ACE looked at her and sighed dawning an awkward smile. “Maybe,” he muttered weakly. “Some time after we finished with the rocks of course.” Inkie’s face shot up with surprise. ACE didn’t really give the subject too much thought but it sure seemed like Inkie had. Then again ACE was content just to see both the Pie sisters smiling. They both looked really cute when they smiled. As the sun set the Pie sisters headed into the farmhouse for dinner. As ACE moved to join them he heard a loud rustling noise coming from behind him. He turned around to find himself face to face with the black manned, white furred unicorn he met at Ponyville the night of Lilly’s concert. ACE was sure it was him; it was hard to mistake the broken horn and shades that the colt was wearing despite the sun having set. “You again?” ACE muttered. “Yes, me again.” The colt mimicked. “What are you doing here, how did you even find me? For that matter, why are you following me?” The colt held his hoof up to stop ACE’s barrage of questions. His tone was dead serious and almost chilling. “You are not safe here ACE, you need to leave as soon as possible. Find your friends and get back to your journey.” The colt’s tone was ice cold, the kind of tone ACE expected from his older brother. “I can’t leave now, I promised these girls I would help them, hoof I even promised they’re dying mother I would help them. I don’t intend to leave until I’m finished here.” ACE slammed his front hoof into the ground emphasizing his resolve. “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” Asked the colt sternly. ACE turned around and looked towards the house. “I want to help Inkie.” He replied “I want to get that collar off of her.” “That collar is the problem ACE.” The strange colt clarified, “and the longer you stay here, the more of a threat it will become to you.” “What are you talking about?” ACE demanded. “Have you actually taken the time to examine that collar?” The colt asked. “Don’t you think it would be a bit odd if I was staring at something that was around a mare’s neck?” ACE countered. “Not if it’s dangerous.” The colt responded. ACE heard the sound of Inkie calling his name; he looked up and saw her gesturing for him to come inside. ACE acknowledged the invite and told Inkie he would be there in just a moment. As the mare went back inside ACE turned to face the mysterious stranger once again but the colt had disappeared. ACE looked around but saw no traces of him could be found. ACE simply shrugged and went inside the house. Late that night ACE awoke to find Inkie Pie sneaking into his room again. “Can I help you?” He asked. When Inkie realized she had been spotted her face lit up red and she backed away towards the door. “I’m sorry I just…” She couldn’t find the words to explain her actions. ACE sighed and shrugged, one more time wouldn’t kill him. “It’s fine.” He moved the covers aside to let her into the bed. Inkie smiled happily and rushed over, but when she got to the edge of the bed she stopped. “What’s wrong?” ACE asked the mare. “It’s just…” Inkie took a deep breath in and out, and to ACE’s surprised she began a long spilled out run-on sentence. “I know I didn’t ask the first time, I mean I didn’t ask because I thought you would say no, but now you’re saying yes, so I have to wonder would you have said yes the first time, but there’s no way you would have said yes the first time, but you might have said yes the first time, but…” As Inkie went on and on ACE decided to take the colts advice, he looked down and observed Inkie’s collar. What ACE saw made his eyes widen and the fur on his neck stand on end. The collar was humming with a soft, yet dark red energy. The energy began to radiate a little more every second as Inkie Pie talked. Finally ACE realized what the colt was talking about. It wasn’t the collar itself that was the issue it was what was on the collar. The collar was enchanted with a sinister spell known as “Venomous Love” a spell that reacted to a pony’s interest in another pony. The more one pony loved another, the more potent the poison became, resulting inevitably in the latter pony’s end. This would normally be the case; however ACE was secretly a changeling, and the spell worked differently on his kind. Instead of being a lethal poison that inevitably killed them, to changelings Venomous Love worked as a kind of drug. The effects of the spell numbed their bodies from the inside out ultimately leaving them unable to feel anything at all a sensation that sadly some changelings were dangerously addicted to. ACE finished his observations just as Inkie finished talked. “So you seem cool with it, which is great ‘cause if you’re really cool with it I guess I could tell you that I really really like you.” Inkie’s eyes widened and she shoved her hooves over her mouth her face glowed bright red and her head sunk. “I’m sorry, I was talking and…” ACE cut her off. “It’s…it’s fine…I” ACE noticed it was becoming impossible to form words. The numb feelings began to come back but now they were stronger than ever. ACE couldn’t move, and he could barely talk. “I’m…glad.” Inkie climbed into the bed and laid next to ACE. “I’m sorry if this is weird.” She whispered shyly. “No…it’s fine…” ACE wasn’t sure if he actually meant what he said or not. The relaxing feeling coming from the collars spell was overwhelming; he began to slink down into the bed, and with the last of his strength he turned his face to see Inkie smiling at him. As the spell and the feelings reached their apex his eyes began to close and he began to fall asleep, the last feeling he remembered that night was Inkie’s lips on his own.
The TruthACE’s eyes flew open and he shot up out of bed. Inkie Pie was nowhere to be found and the numbness had left him. He sighed, maybe today would go by without any drama and he could the work done and be on his way. Whoever that colt was, he was right, it was dangerous for him to stay here. ACE found the pie sisters in the dining room eating breakfast. Inkie sent him a warm smile and Blinkie winked at him. ACE could see love radiating off of Inkie, he could also see the collar glowing red, corrupting the love with the poison that was even now starting to make his body go numb. ACE turned around and headed back to his room. “You’re not going to eat?” Inkie asked him. “I’ll be just a sec” ACE replied. “You two go ahead and get started on the rocks without me I’ll join you when I finish.” “You okay?” Inkie asked with a worried look. “I’m fine thanks.” He was the exact opposite and he knew it. Still, he had promises to keep. Inkie headed outside followed shortly by Blinkie. When he knew for sure they were gone ACE snuck out the back door and headed to a building at the back of the farm. Before he got back to the sisters there was something he wanted to look into. ACE reached a long cylindrical storage building near the back of the farm. According to Pinkie’s story she got her cutie mark here when she threw her family a party for the first time. He opened the door and looked inside. The building was empty and dark. Using magic, ACE created some artificial light and discovered the building was covered in old web covered streamers, and airless deflated balloons on dirty string. The table in the center was covered with a table cloth that had been torn to pieces, and on top of that was a small box. That had to be what he was looking for. He looked over the small box but to his dismay, the box was locked. ACE fuddled around in his pockets until he found his deck of cards, digging through them he found an Ace of Spades and concentrated on it. The card glowed a musty grey color and the picture quickly changed from a spade to an unlocked lock. “This should do it.” ACE whispered as he tapped the card on the box, after a quick ka-chink the box opened up. ACE tucked the card back into his deck and looked into the box. Something was wrong, the box was empty. “Looking for this?” ACE turned to find himself looking at the mysterious unicorn colt from before. The colt was dangling a key in the air next to him with magic. “If you know about the collar you know what that is, now give it to me!” ACE demanded. “I can’t do that ACE” said the colt coldly. “Why not?” Asked ACE startled at the colt’s response. “If I remove the collar I can get rid of it, you told me I needed to avoid the spell on the collar, what better way than to get rid of it?” “If I let you do that there will be nothing to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life.” As the stranger said this, ACE noted that he was carrying a bag with him this time. He must have planned on leaving with the key. For Inkie’s sake ACE couldn’t let that happen. “So what you’re clairvoyant now?” ACE spat out bluntly. “I don’t need to be to see what you are doing.” The colt returned just as bluntly. “Why are you so interested in what I do and don’t do?” ACE asked inquisitively. “What I am to you?” “I cannot tell you yet, but I will very soon.” He responded. “What I can tell you is that your entire future will change if I give you this key. One mistake will lead to another and soon even your dormant powers will leave you.” “There’s nothing DORMANT about my power” ACE riposted. “As a unicorn I can bind spells to cards, as a changeling I can create illusions. That’s all I’ve ever been able to do.” “There is more to this than you know ACE.” The colt warned ACE, his tone getting fiercer and more aggressive as the conversation escalated. “Then I suggest you give me that key, so I can get on with my life and figure it out for myself.” ACE again demanded. The colt shrugged, he had spent enough time here. There were other matters to attend to, and if ACE was going to make the decision the colt thought he was, there was much he would have to be ready to correct. He tossed ACE the key to Inkie’s collar and turned away from him vanishing into a black mist. ACE picked up the key and stared at it. He held it in his hooves as he looked it over; it seemed like just a regular metal key. It was rather big compared to average keys but besides that it was nothing too special. ACE hoped that this was really what he thought it was. As he was walking back to the girls ACE began to hear shouting he made his way back to the Pie sisters only to find them arguing with Ravewind of all ponies. “For the tenth time I don’t mean the tennis player! I’m looking for a white unicorn with a reddish brown mane his name is A, C, E all caps you can’t miss him he has a weird name!” Ravewind seemed to be growing more impatient, and louder as the conversation went on. “Why does everyone keep saying my name is weird?” ACE asked the rest of the group as he approached it. “ACE!” Ravewind ran up and hugged his good friend “We’ve been looking all over for you!” “Good to see you too Ravewind” ACE nudged his friend off of him and brushed himself off after the borderline tackle. Ravewind glared at the pie sisters. “So he was here!” He shouted at them. “So what if he was?!” Inkie Pie shouted back. “So you were lying to me!” Ravewind responded, once again with a shout. ACE stepped between them if anything to stop the noise. “Inkie, why didn’t you tell him I was here?” He asked using a calm simple tone hoping to quiet down the two ponies. Inkie sighed. “I’m sorry ACE, but we’re not done with the harvest yet and I didn’t want to risk losing you.” “And you’re not going to, I made a promise and I intend to keep it.” ACE said more sharply this time. Inkie nodded with relief, but Ravewind wasn’t so happy. “ACE what’s going on here? We have somewhere we need to be remember?” Ravewind stared confused at his friend. “I know,” ACE responded “but I made a promise to these girls and their dead mother that I would help them get this work done. We’re almost done we only need a day more then I’ll rejoin you guys and we can get back on track.” “What’s going on here?” The group turned to see Chroma Sketch and Lilly who had finally caught up to Ravewind. When Lilly saw ACE her expression changed completely. She became cheerful and overjoyed and rushed up to hug him. “ACE I can’t believe you’re actually alright! I missed you so much!” “I missed you too Lilly,” ACE replied “sorry to worry you all.” Ravewind turned to Chroma and filled the group in on the situation. “Well apparently ACE has been keeping himself busy while we’ve been out looking for him.” Lilly and Chroma looked at Ravewind confused then back to ACE with the same expression. ACE sighed and pointed to the Pie Sisters. “Everyone this is Inkie Pie and Blinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie’s older and younger sisters. When I got separated they found me and took me in. I’ve been helping them on the farm as a way of saying thanks.” Inkie and Lilly looked at one another. Same hair style, same face, same taste in jewelry, the only real difference was their color schemes. Inkie took an immediate disliking to Lilly and frankly Inkie was making Lilly feel uncomfortable. Lilly walked up to ACE and started to softly speak to him. “ACE that’s all well and good but we need to get going, I don’t like that grey one.” ACE whispered back to her. “I know we need to get to Baltimare as soon as we can Lilly, but I made a promise to help these two. I only need one more day to finish the work here then I’ll be able to go.” “You can’t be serious,” Lilly said in a suddenly louder tone. “ACE we really can’t stay here.” Inkie glared at Lilly and stepped in between them two “And who are you to tell ACE where he can and can’t go?” She demanded to know. Lilly glared back. “I happen to be ACE’s girlfriend!” She shouted. Inkie Pie took a couple steps back and she and Blinkie exchanged looks then both nodded in unison. “You all need to leave, now.” She demanded. “I’m not leaving without ACE.” Lilly shouted smashing her hoof into the ground. “Well I can’t afford to spare ACE until we get this work done!” Inkie responded making the same gesture with her hoof. The two mares glared violently at one another, both looking like they would jump on one another at any time. ACE found himself having to separate the two like he did with Inkie and Ravewind. ACE looked at Lilly with a serious yet slightly irritated look. “Lilly, I’m staying here. I made a promise and I intend to keep it.” Lilly took four steps back, and tears began to form in her eyes. “ACE you can’t be serious? You may have made a promise to her, but what about your promise to me?” She asked him. “I’m sorry, Lilly. I’ll rejoin you all as soon as I’m done here.” ACE could feel the numb feeling in his body returning. Inkie’s ever increasing interest in him was becoming increasingly poisonous, but he had to finish this. Lilly shook her head. “No, just forget it.” Everyone’s attention suddenly shot to Lilly. ACE especially. “What do you mean?” He asked her. “If you want to stay here then stay here, but I need to get to Baltimare with or without you. If you’re not coming then I guess we’re through.” Chroma Sketch, and Ravewind’s jaws both dropped. “Did Lilly just break up with ACE?!” Ravewind asked rather loudly. Chroma simply nodded. “If that’s how you feel then I guess I have no choice” muttered ACE to Lilly who began to cry in response. ACE turned around and began to walk towards Blinkie and Inkie but to his surprise he heard Lilly yelling to him not even a few seconds later. “You’re an idiot ACE, do you really believe Inkie will accept you? I mean the REAL you? She won’t because I’m the only one who ever will!” ACE turned back in a panic just in time for Lilly’s hoof connect to his face and knock him to the ground. Ravewind and Chroma both rushed over to restrain Lilly while Inkie and Blinkie both put themselves between her and ACE. As ACE started to get up a fizzling noise began to radiate from him. Everyone turned to face him and saw that his face had blurred and was misshapen like paint that had been washed with water. Lilly managed to shake off Ravewind and Chroma who were both distracted and perplexed by what they were seeing. She stared at ACE for a bit, and then slapped him again in the same spot. The fizzling noise escalated and ACE’s magical disguise wore off revealing his true form, the Lord Amethyst the Changeling Prince. Everyone stared at ACE completely shell shocked. Lilly took a couple steps back and began to lightly cry again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” “What are you talking a…” ACE was cut off by the sound of his own voice. The buzzing raspy insect like sound in his voice only meant one thing. He had transformed back to normal. “Oh no…” He looked at Ravewind and Chroma who were staring at him with a mix of surprise and terror. The he looked at the Pie Sisters who only showed terror. Ravewind jumping to the wrong conclusion as usual glared at the sisters. “Is this some kind of a joke?! What did you do with the real ACE?!” Lilly turned around and faced her friends pointing back at Amethyst. “This IS ACE Ravewind. ACE is a changeling, his real name is Amethyst.” “How long have you known this Lilly?” Asked Chroma. “For a while now,” Lilly responded. “Since before I met you or Ravewind.” “And you just went along with this?!” Ravewind yelled at her. Lilly backed off a bit and Amethyst stepped up between the two of them. “She knew you would react this way as did I, so we elected to keep my true form a secret. I apologize for the deceit but Lilly would never have become a famous singer if everyone knew who she was really dating.” “You can’t be serious.” Ravewind was about to yell some more but Chroma Sketch raised her hoof in front of him. “Ravewind it’s okay. If ACE was bad something would have happened to Lilly by now.” She didn’t know that something had happened a long time ago, but it was nothing she needed to know. “But why, of all the ponies in the world you could be dating, why did you settle for…” Chroma glared at Ravewind “er, choose a changeling?” Ravewind at this point had simmered down almost completely. Chroma answered him again. “Ponies do strange things when they’re in love.” Chroma winked at Ravewind who in turn rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof his face turning slightly red. Amethyst turned to face Inkie and Blinkie who had both taken several steps back away from him. “Inkie I’m sorry, I never planned on you finding out.” He tried to approach the two of them but they both retreated back another step. “Get out.” She demanded. “Just get off of our farm. We’ll do what’s left ourselves.” “Inkie this doesn’t change anything, I still want to help you.” Amethyst pleaded with the two sisters but as he took another step forward Blinkie put herself in front of him and her older sister. “You’ve been stealing love from my sister this whole time haven’t you?!” Blinkie Pie proclaimed. “This whole time you’ve just been using us to grow stronger! We know how Changelings work! You’re just an evil buzzing insect looking for anyone who will feed him!” Amethyst froze in his tracks. Were ponies really still this afraid of the changelings? The devastation that happened at the wedding had come and gone a long time ago, but for the hysteria to have reached all the way out here, and for it to have lasted this long. Perhaps his dreams were nothing more than just another one of his illusions; a mistake, just like him. “There’s no way I can convince you, is there?” He asked Inkie. “No there isn’t! You’re a dirty evil marsh fly and I want you off my farm!” Amethyst could see right through Inkie’s feigned aggression, but it wasn’t a gamble he wanted to take. He sighed and closed his eyes, his curved scythe horn began to glow a bright green causing everyone to take a step back from him. Suddenly a key appeared beside him and he tossed it on the ground next to the Pie sisters. Blinkie walked forward and picked it up holding it in her hoof. “Is this?” Amethyst nodded, he already knew what Blinkie was going to ask. He turned away and started to walk into the nearby woods pausing only for a second to look at Lilly. “I’m sorry,” and with that Amethyst took to the air departed his wings making a faint buzzing noise as he left. Inkie and Lilly both stared off into the distance where Amethyst had left. Chroma sighed and walked up to Lilly smacking her in the back of the head with her hoof. “What are you doing? Go get him! You have a promise to keep!” Lilly stared at Chroma not entirely sure what she meant, then it hit her and her eyes widened. Without a second thought she raced off towards the woods after Amethyst. Chroma turned to the Pie sisters and nodded to them. “Thank you, for watching over our friend.” The sisters made no response and Chroma and Ravewind departed after Lilly. ~~~ Lilly caught up to Amethyst and tackled him to the ground, before Amethyst could say anything Lilly was in his arms kissing him. His Insect shell-like body was cold but it was a chill that Lilly had become accustomed to. “Lilly I...” Amethyst began to speak but Lilly interrupted him. “It’s alright, I’m not mad anymore.” Lilly smiled at Amethyst who just stared at her confused. “Remember when I said you had a promise to keep to me? Well I realize now that promises work both ways. You made a promise to stand by me, which means I have to stand by you as well.” Amethyst smiled for the first time since he could remember. Anyone could make him smile as a pony, but only Lilly could make him smile as a changeling. “Now come on get your disguise back on, we still have a job to do.” As Lilly said this she pulled her changeling boyfriend out of the grass, and he transformed back into ACE as soon as he got back up. Chroma Sketch and Ravewind caught back up with the couple. Chroma smiled happy to see them both back together. Ravewind on the other hand walked up right next to ACE and stared at him. “What’s up?” ACE asked him. “So you’re a changeling?” Ravewind asked back. ACE nodded. “That would explain why your name is so weird.” Chroma and Lilly both looked at each other then began to laugh hysterically at Ravewind’s comment. ACE simply smacked his hoof against his face and sighed. “Would someone PLEASE explain to me what by Celestia’s wings is so weird about my name?!” ACE demanded. Lilly simply smiled, walked up to him and gave him a hug. “Nothing dear,” Lilly kissed ACE on the cheek “nothing is weird about your name.” ACE, Lilly, Chroma Sketch, and Ravewind departed from the forest and continued onto Baltimare. For the entire rest of the trip Ravewind badgered ACE with question after question about the changelings. It was annoying to say the least, but at least he wasn’t asking. “Are we there yet?” “NO!” Everyone answered in perfect unison for the hundredth and one time.
