Applejack had at one point told you about creatures that were black and looked like giant pony bugs. It had been part of a conversation where she had told you about an attempt on Canterlot by these very same creatures that had ended with her and her friends attempting to fight them off, only to be saved by the bride and groom of the wedding they were attending.

It truth, it had been a fascinating story at the time. And you honestly wished that you had paid more attention to what she said about those creatures. But you hadn’t. Reason being, simply because by the time she told you this story, when you two were still beating around the bush, you had already come into contact with various creatures that seemed out of the realm of mythology or fantasy.

And not all of these encounters had been pleasant ones.

So what was one more to add to the list?

Even by the time your first month in Equestria had come and gone, you had become quite aware that unlike your world, Equestria was a world that was abundant with a multitude of intelligent species. Besides the ponies that had taken you in, the world was filled with griffons, donkeys, dragons, and even cows that could speak and hold a decent conversation. And, during the weeks that followed your first month in Equestria, you had had the pleasure of speaking to many of them.

Admittedly, every time you spoke to a cow, you felt you had to apologize. But honestly, it was not your fault that they were so tasty back on Earth.

Because of that though, you were also quite aware that not all species would be peaceful.

Nature had a set order, and even in a land filled with magic, there had to be a set chain of predators and their pray. Unfortunately for you though, this theory of yours was never clearer than when you were nearly eaten in the Everfree Forest during the start of your new life in Equestria.

Which would have obviously made it a rather short life at that.

Your short lived adventure in the Everfree Forest though, led Twilight Sparkle to teach you about the different species that could hurt you, and or, eat you in one bite. She, being your teacher at the time for all things Equestrian, had been rather eager to lay book after book in front of you as she talked at great length about the subject. And, after a few headaches, worn out eyes and glazing over many books to the point that they all blended together, you had come to the conclusion that you really hoped you never came into contact again with any of them.

At least the ones you could remember and if you could avoid it, of course.

“Ugh… my head.”

Especially if they were sporting jars of apple jam as weaponry.

Equestria sure loved to put you through some rough lessons.

“Ow…”

Your eyelids felt too heavy to open just yet as you slowly began to regain consciousness. You could faintly feel something as it dripped on the back of your head, before the sensation increased and it felt more like if you were holding your head under a faucet of water that would open and close at random intervals. Your other senses were slowly beginning to wake up the more this continued.

Involuntarily, you took a deep breath and your nose was assaulted by the faint damp and musty smells that lingered in the air as whatever dripped on the back of your head began to feel incredibly nice and cool. You felt the liquid, water as far as you could tell, run down the sides of your face before reaching your neck. Some of it went down you back, and stopped as it soaked into your clothes.

Sounds began to filter into your ears as well. You could hear wood creaking, as the sound of wind against a structure reverberated all around you. Most predominant though, was a faint buzzing sound that seemed to linger in front of you, before vanishing for a bit and then coming back. It seemed to be in tune with whatever was dripping on your head. The sound though was becoming incredibly annoying to the throbbing lump on the back of your head.

However, as you stirred a bit more and became more aware, you realized that there was something far more annoying than the buzzing sound and the throbbing in your head.

You realized that, for the second time in your life, you found yourself shackled to a wall against your will.

“Ow, Celestia… what the buck was that about?” You managed to mumble as you tried to put some weight on your feet to relieve the strain on your arms, only to stop as you felt something push against your shoulders and heard a feminine voice speak softly to you.

“No, don’t. Stay still, don’t try to stand up yet.”

And whoever she was, she was dead on.

You didn’t listen, and immediately, nausea overtook you and your body went limp as you tried to hold back the sensation. A pained groan was the only indication you could force out that said you had not slipped into unconsciousness again.

“Best if yah listen to her, seems to know what she’s doing.” A familiar voice called out to you, and a smile, although sickly looking, slowly spread across your lips as you continued to try and let your body recover a bit more from your attempt to stand up. This time, a single nod with your head was the only indication you could give that said you had heard him.

It didn’t take much time though, and after a minute or two had passed, you found yourself feeling confident enough to at least try to open your eyes. And slowly, you forced your eyelids open and gingerly tried to blink away the blurriness that filled your vision.

You were in some kind of room, if the wooden floor beneath you was any indication. You could hear the wind outside beating against the walls. However, you could immediately tell that it was not a room you were familiar with. It was not your shop in Ponyville. Or for that matter, a place you knew or had visited or had been allowed to see before. The floors were too beaten and old, riddled with the signs of age. Hoofprints were clearly visible in some areas where dust and dirt had decided to accumulate.

Wherever you were, either the owners did not bother to invest in upkeep. Or the place had been empty for a long time.

After a few more blinks, and confidence that you would not feel nauseous again, you instinctively turned your head in the direction of the familiar voice you had heard. It took a bit for your vision to adjust further, but once it did, you tried to make sense of what you were looking at.

As expected, Big Macintosh was there, looking at you with his ever present stoic expression… except there was one thing wrong with the scene in front of you.

“Big Mac, we have to stop hanging out like this…”

The red stallion just kept looking at you, quietly, as he remained strapped to a table, bound with some kind of straps of green goop.

He did not seem amused by your joke. But after a bit, a relieved smile crossed his features as he lightly shook his head and shuddered a bit as if your joke had dredged up some memories from that time in the shed. He had to close his eyes as you heard him breath, apparently trying to calm down some unforeseen fear or panic from breaking out. It was strange to see that from him, you didn’t think it was possible, but that only made you realize just what kind of situation you were in.

He must have sensed something, or saw something when he opened his eyes again. Big Macintosh soon returned to his stoic nature, and grinned lightly at you again.

“Good. Yah still an idjet… Thought yah head got scrambled with that glass jar yah took. Yah been out for close to ah day as far as ah can tell...”

You grinned back.

“Yeah, no… I okay think I am…”

“…” Big Macintosh simply stared at you, the look on his face conveying just how unsure he was if you were joking again or if you were being serious. You weren’t too sure yourself. However, before he could get a clear answer, something interrupted you.

“Wow, I didn’t think she hit him that hard.”

The same feminine voice you heard before commented from somewhere in front of you. But, when you turned to look at its owner, you found the area in front of you empty of anypony.

The only thing you could see was the room you were in. It was smaller than you first thought.

There were two windows in the room moldy looking curtains there were slightly drawn. One on the wall to your left and the other on the wall to your right, right behind Big Macintosh. On the wall opposite to you, perhaps a good 10 feet in front of you, you could see a closed door. Some picture frames were hanging on that wall as well, but their contents had long since been covered in dirt or removed. Off to the side, towards one of the corners of the room, there was a table with the only source of light in the room. A sort of lamp filled with fluttering fireflies sat next to a bowl with a moist looking rag dangling off its side.

At least you knew what had been dripping on the back of your head before.

However, what you hadn’t been able to figure out yet though, was whom that voice belonged to. No pony was there. Well, with the exception of one…

“Thunderlane?!”

Thunderlane looked back at you with a look that could only be interpreted as shock as he stood next to the table. Though, being there was obviously not his choice. His hooves were held firmly to the floor boards by the same green goop that held Big Macintosh to the table. Around his torso, more of that goop held his wings tight against his sides. And around his muzzle, a generous amount of it had been applied with gusto.

Your eyes remained on his for a few seconds, conveying an equal amount of shock as his did before he turned his head off to the side. You followed his gaze towards what he was looking at, and found another occupant of the room. Caramel stood rooted to the floor as well, the only exception being that it was just his feet that were bound with the green goop.

His muzzle, like Big Macintosh’s and your own, was not bound shut.

“Caramel?! Okay, enough, would somepony tell me what the hay is going on here?! And where’s Lyra?!” You suddenly snapped at those around you as your previous nauseous condition gave way to a clear frustration and anger in your voice.

“Yah best better off asking her ah think. Cause ah’d like to find out mah-self too.” You turned as you heard Big Macintosh speak calmly and saw him looking at the ceiling.

“Her? Who’s her? And what the hay are you… looking… at…”

The words slowly left your lips as you turned your head up to look at whatever Big Macintosh was looking at on the ceiling.

“Hello…” The thing waved meekly as it stared down at you. “How’s your head fee-”

“KYAAAAHH!”

“AAAHHH!”

The black figure crawling on the ceiling among the rafters suddenly began to scream as soon as you did too. You had never seen anything like it before! Not it real life at least. It was black with a small crooked horn and wings that looked like they belonged on an insect. Which was rather appropriate since the creature looked like some cross between a pony an insect with a black carapace and a green scaled band around it torso.

No sooner did the both of you stop screaming that the insect/pony creature scrambled to hide behind one of the rafters. The action itself confused you for a fraction of a second, but if your experience with ponies hiding in the ceiling was worth anything, you weren’t about to let your guard down. You didn’t want a repeat of what happened with Fluttershy in the shed.

Carefully, you kept your eyes fixed on the rafter it had scrambled towards and kept your muscles tense, ready to defend yourself. Your hands may have been bound, but you could still try to kick it.

Slowly, a pair of pink eyes peered around the rafter, and slowly, the rest of its head came into view. It was looking at you… fearfully and disapprovingly?

“What the…”

For whatever reason, your body suddenly relaxed as you kept looking at those pink eyes. They didn’t look like the kind of eyes you’d find on a creature ready to tear a pony, or for that matter, a human into bite sized pieces.

“Why are you screaming?!” It suddenly asked you as it noticed you had relaxed a bit, if only for a few seconds.

“Because you started screaming.”

“Wha-huh? I only did it because you screamed at me!”

“WELL, DUH! YOU KIDNAPPED US! What do you want with us?!”

The anger that you felt for having been attacked in your own shop, your old home, and waking up in such conditions crept into your voice without you meaning for it to. The creature visibly shrunk and trembled a bit. Almost as if you had struck it with your voice. Immediately, you felt something tug inside you and you bit your lower lip in regret for having allowed such an outburst.

Even though it had kidnapped you, you knew you had to try and keep calm if you hoped to figure out what was going on so that you could escape. So that you could get back to Applejack.

And yet, even if that was the case…

“Look, I’m sorry…” You spoke sincerely as you kept looking up at the creature in the rafters. “Today really hasn’t been a good day for me at all.”

Slowly, the creature stuck its head out from behind the rafters, and looked down at you for a second before turning to look away. Those seconds turned to minutes as you kept looking up at it, but eventually, you felt it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t going to come down.

It was easy to understand your surprise when it did.

As slowly as before, the creature crept further out from behind the rafter it was hiding behind of, and with a slight jump, began to hover down to the floor. It landed on the ground in front of you, as light as a feather, not even disturbing the dust around it. It still wasn’t looking at your face directly, not since you yelled at it. But with a shaky breath, that changed as it set its pink eyes on your own, and spoke.

“No. I’m the one that’s so sorry about all this…” Its voice rang out in a low mournful pitch. “She-I mean, we, need your help…”

There was only silent inside that room as you stared at it in confusion.

“Not tah offend Miss, but smashing ah jar of our apple jam against the back of his head seems ah might poor way to ask for his help.” You turned to look at Big Macintosh as his voice seemed to snap you out of your confused state and you turned to look back at the bug-pony creature.

“Miss? You’re a miss?”

She simply nodded her reply.

“Wow… okay, yeah, I can see it now. I think. But he’s right! If you needed my help, you could have just asked instead of trying to crack my head open.”

“But it’s not me that-I mean, we, she-”

“They intend to use you to conquer Canterlot and Equestria…”

Everypony in the room turned to look at Caramel as he spoke and looked at the bug-pony. For some reason, he looked sad as he stared at her.

“And they don’t care who they hurt along the way…”

The bug-pony looked at him, opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything as she saw him cast his gaze towards the floor, away from her. She looked sad as she did the same. The whole scene made it impossible for you not to look at the both of them strangely, right before you turned to look at Big Macintosh. His expression was a mirror image of your own. Something else was going on here.

“Um, oh-kay… I’m sorry, use me for what now?”

“To take over Canterlot…” The female bug-pony replied without even looking at you. “And the rest of Equestria.”

Yup, your ears did not deceive you. Still sounded rather strange the second time around.

“How the hay are you going to use me for-”

You did not get to finish your sentence as you attention was suddenly pulled toward the only door in the room as it was flung opened, and two more bug-ponies walked inside.

“By my future rule! What’s going on here?!”

That voice. It was the same voice as that of the unicorn that nearly bashed your head in. It sounded more feminine than it had before. But you still recognized it as those two bug-ponies made their way further into the room. The one’s whose voice you recognized had pink eyes, like the one already in the room. The other one, had blue eyes and seemed to be slightly smaller than the female sounding one. And now that you looked at them, you realized that both female sounding bug-ponies were about the same height. But that only mattered for about a fraction of a second as you immediately began to struggle against your binds.

“YOU! Why I ought to-what in Celestia’s name happened to your face?”

The bug-pony with the blue eyes just looked at you with a scowl. One of its eyes was puffy and bruised, and it was missing a fang. Its horn was in no better shape as it looked a whole lot more crooked than that of the other bug ponies. It was almost as if somepony tried to tie it in a bow. You couldn’t pull your eyes away from it. And, the more you looked at it, the more the bug-pony seemed to get angry till its scowl turned to rage and it reared and looked at Big Macintosh with malice in its eyes.

Or at least it looked like malice. It was honestly kind of hard to tell with its eye so swollen shut.

Big Macintosh, to his credit though, simply smirked, and the bug-pony let out a yelp as it tried to hide behind the other one. The one whose voice you recognized.

“Ah…” You let out in acknowledgement as the one with the voice you recognized looked at you disapprovingly, and the one that had been in the room originally, hid a giggle under her hoof.

“QUIET!” Her disapproving gaze suddenly turned to anger as it lashed out at the one next to you, and pointed a hoof at you as her anger continued to boil over.

“And you! How DARE you insult me like that! We are Changelings! Not donkeys!”

You only blinked.

“Um… what?”

The changeling only glared at you harder than before and approached you with stomping hooves till she was only a foot or two away from you.

“We’re changelings! Not donkeys! When we captured you, you dared call me a donkey when I’m obviously a beautiful changeling!!”

You blinked again as it took you a second or two before you realized what she was referring to. Oddly enough, you never ran into that sort of misunderstandings with your neighbor ponies. But then again, you didn’t really run out onto the streets screaming profanities.

“You mean when I called you an ass?”

“YES!”

“Yeah, no, trust me on this one. You’re an ass!”

“I. AM. NOT. A. DONKEY!”

Without warning, a green fire burst out of nowhere around her, beginning at her hooves and engulfed her as it spread upwards. You’d be lying if you said your jaw didn’t drop as within seconds, the fire extinguished itself and before you stood a very angry looking donkey.

“This is a donkey!” It shouted at you before it turned around, reared on its forelegs and shot out its rear legs square into your stomach. The pained sound you let out as you tried to double over from the impact was joined by the collective gasps of everypony in the room, including the female changeling that had been in the room first.

The green fire from before burst forth again, engulfing her once more, and the changeling stood before you once again, smirking triumphantly.

“We are changelings! You best remember that because now that we have you, I will soon be the new queen and your ruler!”

For a couple of moments, you simply dangled by your arms as you tried to catch your breath. You stomach felt horrible thanks to her kick and every breath you pulled in made you twinge with pain.

“Yah okay there?” You heard Big Macintosh ask you with a hint of worry in his voice. You were only able to nod a reply before a very dumb idea made its way into the forefront of your mind.

“You’re… you’re a female, ri-right?”

“Of course I am! Are you still so ignorant as to not see my beauty?”

“Then you’re a bitch to-OOF!”

Okay, even you had to admit you asked for that hoof across the face. Even if you weren’t entirely sure if she thought you called her a female dog or understood the insult. The sting across your face told you it was likely the latter. Mercifully though, before the second hoof came across your face, Big Macintosh’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“ENOUGH! If yah needed him, then why yah beating the apple stuffing out of him?! What’s your plan anyhow?”

“That is none of your business!” The bruised changeling yelled out as if watching the other one beat the stuffing out of you gave it some courage. Big Macintosh though, simply looked at him and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Sweet mercy, don’t hit me!”

Well, so much for that bravado of his. You were pretty sure it was a he anyways.

The other female changeling though, the one that had yet to beat the stuffing out of you, gently placed a hoof on your leg, and you opened your eyes to look at her. She was looking up at you with worry. You were starting to get the feeling she was not like the other two. At least, she didn’t act like them.

“I’m sorry-”

“Be quite you weak parasprite!”

She withdrew her hoof and visibly shrunk at the other female’s outburst. You could feel your jaw set tightly as you raised your head to look at the one that had kicked you and yelled at the one that had been nothing but nice to you since you woke up.

“So…” You spoke as you exhaled and tried to keep your voice even. “You plan to use me to take over Canterlot. I’m very happy to tell you that you are one crazy delusional changeling if you think I’m enough to do that. Or, for that matter, that I’m going to help you in any way.”

The look on her face was priceless as she stared at you with her mouth opening and closing, as if trying to force her words out. It was short lived however as she mumbled something under her breath and stared at the other female again, rage clearly evident before staring back at you. She was now looking decidedly angrier than before, but something seemed to be working behind the scenes as she considered something, and a smile slowly crept into her muzzle. Her angry stare slowly turned smug as she narrowed her pink eyes at you, and approached you before putting a gentle hoof on your thigh, extremely close to another part of your anatomy that you really hoped wouldn’t become involved in this.

“My… you are not as stupid as you look. Or at least, you were able to make her treacherous tongue work in your favor.” She spoke in a sultry tone as she stuck out her incredibly long tongue and let it dangle, flicking at your crotch before pulling it slowly back into her muzzle. Her grin spoke of some rather lewd intentions as she let her hoof linger for a bit, before she began to rub your thigh, and slowly allowed it to migrate up.

Uh oh… Your mind was quick to react as you suddenly remembered something from not too long ago. But against what you would have expected, she pulled it away and began to pace in front of you a couple of times before she saw it fit to continue with whatever she was going to say.

“Since you already have some idea of what my plans are, I see no harm in telling you the rest.” She paused and looked at you over her shoulder. “It’s not like you can do anything to stop me from way out here.”

Your eyes narrowed at her as she continued to pace back and forth in front of you.

“You see, this here treacherous parasprite…” She pointed a hoof at the changeling female next to your leg. “Did something right for once when she infiltrated your disgusting little town.”

“Hey!”

She ignored everypony's outburst and kept going.

“I was surprised to learn that the ponies had found a new species. So, I ordered her to observe it. See if I could use you somehow.”

“You mean use me?”

“Do not interrupt me again, HUMAN!”

There was only silence in the room as the changeling glared at you for a couple of moments before she continued to pace back and forth again. For some reason, she had added a rather noticeable sway to her hips that was hard not to notice.

“Yes, you, my ill-mannered captive… You see, after our former queen’s failure to conquer Canterlot, some of the more ‘influential’ changelings…” She paused and brought a hoof to her cheek as she looked at you over her shoulder. “Decided that it was time for her to step down and let a new queen take her rightful place.”

“You mean you?”

“Of course me! Who else would be better suited for such a grand position?!”

“Since you are here, off the top of my head? I’d say your competition.”

The knowing smirk you gave here did not go over so smoothly if the growl she let out in your direction was any indication. You were pretty sure she was going to hit you again. But instead, she seemed to take a moment to calm herself down and turned fully to look at you from head to toe.

“Well, you just keep surprising me with how you’re not as stupid as you look… But yes, I’ve had some competitors crawl out of their holes to try and take what’s mine. I dealt with most of them, but some refused to be stepped on like the parasprites they are. So, instead of dragging out a long civil war, we decided that our new queen would be the one to surpass our old one…”

“By doing what she couldn’t. Take over Canterlot…” You finished for her as you closed your eyes and shook your head in disbelief. “And you think having one human is going to make a difference this time around? You’re delusional, you know that, right?”

“Oh, it’s not just you…”

The sound of a familiar swirling fire reached your ears and you opened your eyes again only to have your jaw drop as a familiar and dear pony now stood in front of you.

“It’s also me, sugahcube.”

Your reaction was immediate, but the restraining goop binding your arms above your head held firmly as you tried to lung at her and pulled against them. And you weren’t the only one. You could hear Big Macintosh struggle against his own bonds as he trashed against the table that held him firmly.

“DON’T YOU DARE BRING HER INTO THIS!”

“But yah right yah know. Guess ah’d have tah be pretty delusional t’love something…”

The green fire burst forth once again and the anger you felt towards the changeling only increased as realization hit you.

“… like me.”

You now stood in front of yourself. A perfect copy of you, down to your clothes, almost as if you were standing in front of a mirror… with one exception though.

“Whoa! AH!”

Your double lifted a leg to take a step towards you, almost bringing its knee up to its chest in an incredible display of lacking bipedal coordination. You had to admit, watching yourself fall face flat onto the floor both hurt and helped turn that anger you felt into amused shock. You couldn’t help but to laugh a bit as you observed, well, yourself, rolling on the ground grabbing your face... Its face.

This was going to get confusing…

“HAH! Harder than it looks, huh? You might want to consider walking on all four limbs. I’m sure nopony will find it that odd compared to you falling flat on my face.”

The glare you got from yourself on the floor only made you smirk.

It was a mistake.

Without warning, your doppelganger burst into a moving ball of green fire that shot towards you. Before you could react, as limited as you could, a familiar black hoof came across your jaw and your head swam with the impact as you felt your legs wobble a bit before you composed yourself and looked at the female changeling that now stood before you again. You tasted iron and copper in your mouth. But you both just stared at each other, angrily, for what felt like minutes, before Big Macintosh’s voice broke the silence. His voice sounded angry as you continued to stare at the changeling.

Neither of you wanted to give the other the satisfaction of having looked away first.

“Just what do yah plan to do with mah sister?!”

She only smirked as her pink eyes remained glued to yours, and yours to hers.

“I’m going to use you to lure her into a trap. And once I replace her, as an element of, heh, harmony, I’ll have direct access to Princess Celestia… and then, well.”

Your stare became harder and that only seemed to give her more satisfaction. You were all too aware that you didn’t care what she did or used you for, but now that you knew she was going to use Applejack for her plans, you were finding it impossibly hard to keep your voice even.

“So… I’m the bait?”

“Well of course. It’s much simpler to get ponies to do what you want when you threaten the ones they love.”

“And what do you mean by that? Did you leave a ransom note demanding she meet you to guarantee my safety?”

“Oh no, that would imply something has happened already. No need to put her on alert. As far as she knows, you simply took a trip out of town.”

“What…?”

“Applejack,

I left to go to Canterlot for a job. I’m bringing you back a surprise. Come meet me near the edge of the Everfree Forest in two days. Come alone.

Love, …”

Applejack blinked once and slowly lowered the letter back onto the counter as her face became a scowl and she turned to look at Fluttershy. They were both standing inside the repair shop, confused as to why neither you nor Big Macintosh were there. Fluttershy for her part, blinked as well and looked around the shop, letting out a quiet gasp as her hoof flew to her mouth. Applejack turned to look away back at the letter she had just read, and her scowl only grew to the point that the innocent piece of paper might have suddenly burst into flames.

“AH CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!” The anger and stated disbelief rang clear in her voice as she turned around to look back at Fluttershy just as the piece of paper actually burst into flames.

Fluttershy for her part was quick to grab the fire extinguisher you kept near the counter and put out the small fire as a deep worry made its way into her voice.

“Oh dear! Oh my! Applejack please calm down… if you want that is.”

However, Fluttershy’s plea fell on deaf ears as Applejack paced back and forth a few times before she let out and exasperated grunt as her voice rose in decibels with each syllable that began to leave her lips.

“Only a few days away from the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant and that idjet-”

“SWEET MERCIFUL CELESTIA LADY! Do you have any idea how much trouble I’m in because of you?!”

The changeling only stared at you in a somewhat uninterested fashion with a hint of amusement at how increasingly panicked you had suddenly become. She seemed to savor it for a bit before dismissively waving a hoof in the air and turning to look away from you to look at the rest of the captives sharing the small room with you.

“I’m sure whatever lover’s quarrel you two are having won’t affect my plans too much. Not like it will matter once I have her in my trap…”

The laugh she let out quickly became a full blown cackle that resonated across the room and in your ears to the point that it made you wish you could cover them. It did not help that the changeling with the blue eyes slowly joined her as he too began to cackle until both of them seemed on the verge of insanity.

However, as loud as those two changelings were being, a simple fact was not lost on you. The other changeling with the pink eyes, the one near your leg, was not laughing.

Instead, you felt her discretely tug on your pants and you looked down at her to see her staring up at you intently. She was nudging her head towards Big Macintosh. She was mouthing something out too as she did it, and you only arched an eyebrow for a few seconds until something clicked into place.

You focused intently on the window behind Big Macintosh. It was covered in dirt, but even through it, you were able to make something out.

A pair of barely visible golden eyes stared back at you as you vaguely made out a sea foam colored figure crouching below the windowsill outside. Your height gave you the advantage of being able to see outside at a different angle, being still a bit taller than the changelings in the room.

For whatever odd reason, at least as far as the rest of the ponies in the room were concerned, you joined the two other changelings in their laughter. Everypony in the room simply looked at you as if you had lost it.

You only hoped you had guessed right about what the changeling was trying to communicate.

“Wow, heh heh , that’s some plan you got there.”

Both changelings simply looked at you more confused that when you first burst out laughing, their laughter having died almost instantly as yours began.

“I mean, you spied on me, caught me off guard, kidnapped me, replaced me… and you even left a letter to explain my absence while this all took place and you lured her in…”

The female changeling’s confusion quickly vanished, and instead, a smugly smile replaced it as she looked at you triumphantly.

You were really getting tired of that.

“I see you finally understand your position. Maybe now you’ll show some respect to your future queen.”

“Yeah… I guess I should huh? One thing though. Say, Big Mac? What time did you tell Applejack we’d meet her in Canterlot tomorrow?”

Your sudden statement clearly confused Big Macintosh as he looked at you with a blank stare for a second or two. But as expected, the stoic stallion wasted little time in realizing what you were doing and his expression gave way to a sort of satisfied amusement, with an undertone of hope that it would work.

“Ah think ah told her we’d be spending tah night up in Canterlot tah get things ready for the surprise you’d planned for her. Then we’d meet her close to sunset near tah waterfalls tah following day.”

“Surprise? Canterlot?!” The female changeling suddenly let out in as she turned back and forth to look at you and Big Macintosh, and eventually settled on the other changeling with the pink eyes and shrieked. “What surprise in Canterlot?! This was not in your report!!”

The other female changeling cowered in fear at the outburst, but remained quiet as she covered her head with her hooves. You weren’t sure if she was playing along, or truly afraid. You really hoped this wasn’t going to backfire.

“Heh, looks like your spy missed some important information.” You smiled at her as you recalled something Big Macintosh had mentioned early on. “Good thing I haven’t been unconscious for close to a day now. If that were the case, Applejack might already be making her way to Canterlot to be there early… especially if you left such a contradicting letter behind.”

The soon to be new changeling queen was no longer looking at the other female, but instead, she was looking at you pure rage in her features.

“My queen…?”

The changeling with the blue eyes carefully approached her, extending a hoof in a calming gesture. And for his troubles, he quickly found himself encased in a green magical glow before being thrown clear across the room against the wall next to you with a resounding crack. You watched him slum against the wall before trying to pick himself up on trembling hooves.

“YOU!” Her hoof trembled as she pointed at you. “YOU AND YOUR WHORE WILL NOT COME BETWEEN ME AND MY CROWN!”

Your angry glare made it clear to all in the room that you did not care for her words… just as she did not care for your glare either as she ignored you. And instead, she pointed a hoof at the other female changeling.

“AND YOU! YOU PARASPRITE! DO NOT THINK THIS WILL GO UNPUNISHED!”

Too little too late did the other changeling become aware of what was about to happen to her before she too found herself enveloped in a field of green magic. Her horn started to glow in a pink hue before it was engulfed and extinguished by the other’s green magic. And effortlessly, she was flown up into the air, slammed against the ceiling, and then slammed against the floor before she was dragged towards the enrage female across the wooden floor.

She let out a pained cry as a black hoof settled on her head and pressed down. You could feel the joints in your arms protest in pain as you pulled and opened your mouth.

“LET HER GO YOU BITCH!”

That outburst did not come from you though. And everypony in the room looked at the one whom it had come from.

Caramel stood stock still, pulling against his restraints with all his might as he stared intently at the enraged female.

No pony in the room had expected that.

The atmosphere in the room was so thick, you cut with a knife. Yet, you swore you caught a glimpse of something, out of the corner of your eye, sparkling on the prone female’s face. It had almost looked like a tear, but you could not have been sure. Her face was too turned away from you as she looked at Caramel.

Slowly, the enraged female seemed to lose her momentum, and her hoof slid off of the female’s head as she turned around to make towards the door. Everypony in the room seemed to let out a collective sigh as you all observed her move further away from the female that was barely now standing back up on her hooves.

“COME. You will lead me back to town on the fastest route, and from there we’ll head to Canterlot. My plan will continue as is…”

Both the blue eyed and pink eyed changelings slowly followed her out the door.

Both of them were limping.

It was your turn to mouth the words “I’m sorry” as you observed the pink eyed female walk out last, and stop at the door as she turned to look back at you, and smiled sadly. The door closed with a resounding click, and you heard the sounds of retreating hooves slowly fade away.

Nopony said a word for what felt like hours, but in truth, it could not have been more than a few minutes.

You were the first one to speak as your voiced sounded clear and oddly calm, given what had just happened.

“Caramel?”

“Y-yes?”

“What is she to you?”

The question not only stunned him, but everypony else in the room as they all looked at you, and you in turned looked at all of them before settling your eyes on Caramel. He seemed to consider you for a few seconds, and in the end, he didn’t say anything as he turned to look away at the floor.

“Right... so here’s the plan. We escape. Make our way to Canterlot. Warn every guard we see along the way. And we stop Queen Crazy before she hurts Applejack or Caramel’s marefriend whom I’m pretty sure now she’s on our side.”

“W-what? She’s not my marefriend!”

“Uh huh... listen, I nearly got blown up by a rainbow colored nuclear explosion trying to get to the pony I love. You ain’t fooling nopony. You still care for her.”

“I-I, but she…”

“Given what we all just saw, do you think she had a choice?”

“… But…”

You only arched an eyebrow at him, daring him to say otherwise, before you turned your gaze towards Big Macintosh and found him looking at you intently. You knew too well what that stare meant, and only smiled at him before he smiled back and nodded his head at you.

“Haf’tah admit, never thought yah’d be smart enough to pull that off. Or lie like that about me telling Applejack to meet us anywhere...”

“Yeah, guess those hits to the head I took a few months back knocked something loose in a good way… really glad you played along.” You paused to consider something for a second before you spoke again and your voice took on a more serious, yet honest tone.

“I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Applejack…”

Big Macintosh simply nodded at you and let loose a confident smile before he began to look around the room. After a few seconds though, you heard him let out a sigh through his nostrils as he pulled against his restraints and closed his eyes.

“So, don’t suppose yah planned out far enough ahead to tell me how yah plan on getting us out.”

“Still working on that part…”

You looked back out the window, hoping you could see the figure you had seen before still hiding there. But instead, what you saw beyond the window sill was nothing but a few patches of freshly falling snow as you heard the wind pick up and bang harder against the side of the building. With everything that had happened, you had forgotten that you still didn’t have any idea where you were being held. All that you knew was that it was some building in the middle of an increasing snowfall.

You let out a sigh as you hung your head and tried to focus on a plan. Maybe what you had seen was nothing more than an illusion caused by a dirty window and falling snow.

“Celestia all mighty…where’s my stalker when you need her?”

“I am not a stalker!”

Everypony suddenly turned to look up at the ceiling, through the rafters as the familiar voice rang throughout the small room.

“I’m a researcher!”

And with a flash of golden light, Lyra appeared in front of you looking a bit angry as she looked up at you.

“And this researcher’s got a bone to pick with those changelings!”

You only smiled encouragingly at the sea foam unicorn as she looked up at you and beamed with confidence… and then watched in horror as she trotted towards the door.

“Um, Lyra? Where are you going?”

“Like I said! I got a bone to pick with the Changelings!”

“Lyra! NO! WAI-”

And like that, Lyra was out the door and you slowly watched it close behind her.

Everypony in the room simply remained silent as they all looked in disbelief at the door, and a single thought ran through your mind.

Maybe I should stop invoking Celestia, it never seems to work out okay for me…

Author's Note

Well, I can't believe I got this done before the month was out. I actually sort of stuck to what I said I'd do.

I feel accomplished.

Now back to writing the next chapter.

Disclaimer - All characters presented in this work of fiction are owned by their respective creators and owners. In short, all the wubs go to Hasbro.