Applejack?

Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening

This has been, by far, one of the strangest days in Applejack’s life.

          It had all started when Twilight’s brother sent her a letter saying that he wanted her and her friends to help out with his wedding. Then the bride turned out to be an evil changeling queen who fooled everypony, brainwashed Twilight’s brother, and trapped both Twilight and the real bride under the castle.

         So, Twilight and the real bride escaped and showed up just in time to interrupt the final part of the ceremony, which made the fake bride drop her disguise, revealing herself to be a queen changeling, and K.O.ed Celestia. They ran out of the castle to retrieve the Elements of Harmony only to be stopped by an army of changelings.

         After kicking some serious changeling flank they were captured by another small army of the changelings and brought back to the throne room. Then the queen went on a rant exposing her entire plan. While her back was turned Twilight had managed to free Princess Cadence again. Cadence used her love magic to break the mind control spell on her fiancé, Shining Armor.

          Now, back to the story.

~~~~~~~~~~

          "wha... is the wedding over?" asked a very confused Shining Armor.

          "It's all over!" proclaimed the changeling queen.

          "Your spell! Perform your spell!" shouted Twilight.

          "Hahahahahahaha! What good would that do! My changelings already roam free!" stated Queen Chrysalis, hovering above the group and motioning to the destruction her army was causing. A fanged smile spread across her black face.

          Closing his eyes in concentration, Shining Armor struggled to cast his ward spell but was only able to make a faint aura on the tip of his horn, too weakened from Chrysalis feeding off his love.

          "My power is useless now. I don't have the strength to repel them." said Shining, the hope gone from his eyes.

          Cadence approached and nuzzled her fiancé. "My love will give you strength."

          "Hahahahaha! What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous statement!" scoffed Chrysalis. She rolled her eyes and turned her back on the couple, confident of her victory.

          The two lovers touched horns, a magical spark igniting between them. They became surrounded by a swirling, pink, magical aura and began to rise off the floor. Suddenly the aura imploded. In a burst of light, Shining Armor’s magical ward exploded outwards, leaving Shining and Cadence touching horns and hind hooves in mid air to form the shape of a heart at its center.

          Each of the Mane Six wore a smile of triumph on their face, seeing the ward hurl the changeling queen from the castle balcony and out of the city.

          At least until they noticed a pony-sized, orange blur fly away from them.

          The ward struck Applejack with the force of a freight train, throwing her against a pillar near the large, ornate double doors that served as the entrance.

          When the ward finally passed, Applejack fell down from the pillar to land with a thud at the bottom. Her friends turned, concern clear on their faces, and ran to her aid. There was a green flash of light, and that was the last thing Applejack could remember.

~~~~~~~~~~

          It was several hours before Applejack finally awoke. Shaking the grogginess out of her, Applejack noticed a piercing pain in the back of her head.  She was in a small, square, stone room with no windows. One of its walls was constructed of iron bars with a iron bar-door in the middle. The rest of the walls were solid stone with condensation and malicious looking mold covering them in some spots. Applejack also noticed an iron chain had been cuffed onto her right hind leg, anchoring her to the rear wall.

          She was in a prison cell.

          Applejack approached the bars and looked out but was stopped a few feet short when the cain around her hind leg was pulled taught. As far as she could tell, the cell she was part of a wall on one side of a hallway. The hallway had torches every few yards, providing some measure of light, but lead on further than she could see at the angle the chain restricted her to.

          Applejack began to panic. She thought only the worst ponies ended up in jail. What could she have done to get in here? Last thing she could remember that she was at the wedding with her friends, and Shining Armor and Cadence had just cast some sort of wall spell that apparently had knocked her out.

          Applejack needed answers. She knew prisons were guarded twenty-four-seven, so she tried her luck. “Hey, what’s the big idea?! Where am Ah?! Where are mah friends?!”

          “Quiet, prisoner!” Applejack heard a guard shout from somewhere down the hallway.

          “Alert Captain Shining Armor that the prisoner is awake.”

          Applejack heard the sound of hoofsteps getting farther away; then the bang of a heavy door.

          Applejack sat and waited. It was about an hour before she heard someponyelse come back in. The volume of the door slamming shut startled her. She heard hoofsteps approach, and she looked up to see Shining Armor glaring down at her through the bars, hate clear in his eyes.

          Shining was wearing the same armor he had on when he and Twilight were reunited. The purple, gilded armor made him look much more imposing.

          “What have you done with Applejack?” He finally asked.

          Applejack took a few steps back upon hearing this, the question confused her more than she ever thought possible.“What?”

          “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH APPLEJACK, CHANGELING!?” Shining barked. He looked to be seething with rage, although he did not enter the cell.

          “Changelin? What’re ya talkin’ a-?” Applejack turned around to look at herself and was frozen with terror at what she saw.

          There, where her familiar orange coat had been, was sleek black chitin, an amber carapace across her back with two beaten-looking gossamer wings. Gone was her blond mane and tail, and in their place was an amber-gold, bug-eaten mane and tail, tied at the ends with her red ribbons. But the thing that most upset Applejack was that her iconic triple apple cutie mark was missing.

          Applejack, beginning to hyperventilate, looked at where her orange forelegs had been to see two, hole-filled, chitin covered appendages.

          Applejack lifted her head up, blackness invading her vision, to look back at Shining Armor, and fainted.

~~~~~~~~~~

I’ll always love you, Applejack.

          Applejack woke with a start, this time she was greeted by the sight of her best friends in the cell with her. However, this was no happy gathering. All of them, Shining Armor and four  other guards included, were glaring down at her with hate burning in their eyes. Twilight was the first to step forward.

          “What have you done with our friend?” She asked.

          “What're ya talkin’ about, Twi?”

          Rainbow Dash flew forward, her nose almost touching Applejack's, causing Applejack to fall down on her haunches. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH APPLEJACK, CHANGELING!?”

          Applejack saw tears forming on the edges of Rainbow's eyes, and remembered what she had seen before passing out.

          She lifted a black foreleg in front of her face, her eyes widening in horror when she saw it. Still sitting, she lifted her other foreleg. Applejack was breathing heavily now. She stood up and turned to look upon the right side of the body, then her left.

          Applejack turned back to Twilight, her eyes wide with fear. “Twilight, what’s goin’ on? What happened ta me? WHY DO AH LOOK LIKE THIS!?”

          Twilight stared back, utterly unmoved by the question.

          Applejack took a few steps back, shaking her head. “No. Twilight, everypony, please! It's me Applejack. I ain't a chan-"

          *CRACK!!!*

          Applejack fell to the floor, eyes wide with shock, holding her face where a small crack had appeared in her chitin.

          Everypony stared in shock at Shining Armor. While Applejack was still talking he had stepped forward and slapped Applejack hard across the face with his hoof.

          Now he was standing over the downed form of Applejack, hoof still raised, and staring down at her.

          “I’ve heard enough.” Shining said in a level voice. he then turned and trotted down the hallway.

          Applejack laid on the floor in a fetal position facing the girls and still holding her face.

          As one, the remaining five of the Mane Six and the four guards accompanying them, turned and left without a word.

          Applejack just lay on the prison floor and cried. Not because Shining had hurt her but because she had just realized something.

          Her friends had abandoned her.

~~~~~~~~~~

          The door opened quickly and five ponies entered.

          The room had been given to the ponies by Celestia for them to use as long as they remained in Canterlot. It was rather ornate with large windows on one wall revealing a breathtaking view of Equestria; a large, furnished central living area; and three bedrooms, each with considerably large beds.

          Rainbow Dash was the last to enter. She hovered slowly to the center of the room and plopped down on a large couch. Rainbow looked at the carpeted floor and frowned. “I… I can’t believe this is happening.” She said in a quiet voice.

          “Of all the worst things that could happen, this is The. Worst. POSSIBLE. THING!”  Rarity put a hoof to her forehead and fell onto her fainting couch, which she had apparently felt the need to have brought all the way from Ponyville. Twilight was starring daggers at her. “What? I really mean it this time!”

          Twilight gave Rainbow an apologetic smile and trotted over to the her. “We know Rainbow. We all miss Applejack.”

          “No, Twilight, it’s not that.” Rainbow sighed. “I’m supposed to be the Element of Loyalty!… but I let those changelings replace Applejack!” she said,slamming a hoof into the couch.

          Twilight frowned in sympathy, laying a hoof aver her friend's withers. “Don’t worry Rainbow. We’ll get her back.”

          “Yeah, don’t worry Dashie we’ll find Applejack and throw her a big welcome back party! So turn that frown upside down!” Pinkie managed to somehow frown, grab it with her hooves and turn her mouth one hundred and eighty degrees all while she was still talking.

          A small smile crept its way onto Rainbow Dash’s face. “You’re right!” Rainbow jumped off the couch to stand with her friends. “All we have to do is get that changeling to tell us where its keeping Applejack. Then we kick its flank all  the way to the Badlands!”

          “But... what if it’s telling the truth”

          Everypony turned around, but Twilight was the first to speak. “What do you mean, Fluttershy?”

          “Eeep!” Fluttershy cowered beneath the inquisitive ponies. “Well, um… it’s just that… what if, maybe… it really is Applejack?”

          “That’s impossible!” yelled Rainbow Dash.

          “Well… maybe not.”

          Everypony turned around again to face Rarity in confusion. “What?” they asked in unison.

          Rarity gave a look as if she were surprised the others didn't know. “Well, when I took Applejack with me to the spa that one time, we started talking, sharing a few secrets, and she told me that she had been adopted.” She explained.

          “Why didn’t she tell us?!” asked Rainbow Dash, jumping up to hover in the air.

          “Well, with all the pride Applejack takes in her family, being adopted probably isn’t something she wants everypony to know.”

          Twilight was lost in thought for a few seconds, it seemed logical to her. “That does make sense.”

          “But that changeling can’t be Applejack, right?!” asked Rainbow, motioning desperately to her friends for some confirmation.

          Twilight sighed. “I don’t know.” She said. “But I think we should all get some sleep. We can talk more tomorrow and get this all sorted out.”

          Everypony complied and walked slowly back to their bedrooms to finally get some sleep after the hectic wedding day.

          After everypony had left for bed, Twilight was the only pony still in the living area. Every scenario imaginable running through her mind, even the possibility of the changeling actually being Applejack. She stood there a while longer before giving up. Looking up towards the ceiling, Twilight sighed.

          “Don’t worry Applejack.”