Author's Note

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Chamomile with the Changleings

Chapter 8: The Final Chapter (for now)

It was the end of summer in Ponyville, the leaves just starting to change color, and the air was beginning to get colder. I was walking around, admiring the scenery.

Sure beats sitting around in the Factory all day.

A pink pony popped into my vision. “Hiiii there new pony!” she exclaimed.

“Hello,” I replied as politely as I could. “Who are you?”

“I’m Pinkie Pie! Ponyville’s biggest and bestest party thrower! Who are you?”

“I’m Denim, and I — AUGH!” I yelled as Pinkie grabbed my hoof with a steel grip and shook vigorously.

“Nice to meetcha! Call me if you ever have any party needs!” and with that she zoomed off to another corner of Ponyville. I was still standing there, my hoof extended into midair, throbbing in pain.
——————————————————————————————————————————

“Wakey, wakey, Denim,” a sinister voice whispered into my ear. “Tea time.”

I opened my eyes, yawned, and smiled with fake congeniality. “Hello, Chrysalis! What have you got there? And what’s your friend’s name?” I asked.

Chrysalis returned the question in the same fake tone. “Hello, Black Denim! I have brought along some teas, and my loyal servant’s name is Grimhorn!” Chrysalis used her magic to levitate some chairs and a table into place. “Would you like to join us for tea?”

“I sure would!”

Chrysalis locked the door to the room and unlocked my chains while Grimhorn magicked the kettle into the air and poured 4 cups of hot water. Chrysalis hoofed my cap over.

“Is someone joining us?” I asked, my friendly tone gone, and replaced with my average voice. I slipped the cap over my mane.

“Oh, yes. She’ll be here soon,” Chrysalis replied, applying a bag of tea to her cup. The bitter aroma burst into the air, filling the room with a strong herbal scent.

“She? I thought all changelings were neutral?”

Chrysalis flinched at the question, and Grimhorn’s back bristled.

“Yes, and no,” Chrysalis replied after a tense second. “They are what you call “neutral” because they can reproduce asexually, but can also… Why am I talking about this?” Chrysalis shook her head violently. “This is not that…” she paused, searching for the appropriate word. “scarring class that you ponies call “Health” class. Or humans, for that matter.”

I choked on my over-sweetened cup of chamomile.

“Ah, dammit. Burnt my tongue,” I said, avoiding Chrysalis and Grimhorn’s suspicious glares. “What are we here to talk about?

“You,” Chrysalis replied. “Ah! Here she is now!”

A shackled unicorn was led into the cell where we were having tea. The light from above shone on her body as she limped into it. It was Cream Soda, the original one. Her lips were set in a thin line, her mint-green eyes darted from side to side, and her chocolate-colored mane and light orange coat was unkempt and matted in a few areas with dried blood. She was limping on one leg and wincing with every third step, as if she had a broken rib or two. A special glowing shackle engraved with runes was set around her horn. A Ward, probably (magic disabling spell, usually put into a shackle like the one Cream had on now).

“Mr. Denim, I would like you to meet —“

“Cream Soda,” I whispered to myself. Even Cream was a part of my long-lost memory, and a big part at that. She and Pinkie Pie had teleported across several rift units to retrieve me from the human realm.

A rift unit is a way to measure the distance between dimensions, like one astronomical unit is the distance from Earth to the Sun. One rift unit is the distance from Equestria to the next dimension which was the one inhabited by the humans that still carried the same color schemes and personalities as the ponies in Equestria. The full human realm was probably about 6 rift units away and in that world the ponies that I knew didn’t exist, except in a “girly” TV show that had a rather unusual fan group.

“Yes. The real Cream Soda. Grimhorn here had you fooled, didn’t she?” Chrysalis said with a jovial tone.

Cream sat down painfully. The shadow on her face emphasized her black eye and the horrendous cut that ran from the bottom of her ear to her jaw. It was still bleeding.

Not for one second. I put on another fake smile. “Sure did. Why did it —“

“She,” Chrysalis interrupted calmly.

“Right. She. Sorry. Why did she try to fool me?”

“Testing our espionage skills on a commoner, and from what I can tell from you, we’ve done pretty damn well.”

Cream started to brew a cup of Oolong leaves, a dark shadow never leaving her face.

“And why would you do that?” I asked, leaning forward a bit.

“I’m not going to answer that,” Chrysalis said cheerfully while inspecting her hooves. “Besides, we’re not here to discuss me, we’re here to discuss you.”

I took a loud sip of chamomile. I wasn’t listening entirely. Seeing Cream reminded me that I had been in the human world and that ponies supposedly weren’t real. But, from what I could tell, everything that the humans “made up” about the characters (ie. Chrysalis) was turning out to be pretty true. Granted, they did miss out on the darker side of the world, but the show was directed towards younger kids, so you couldn’t really have any tolerance for that anyway.

“What about?” I asked, casting a sideways glance at Cream Soda. She sipped her aromatic tea and stared hard at me. She’s warning me. Lie. Say nothing. Anything to stay alive.

“Oh, the usual. And, while we’re at it…” Chrysalis began. She cast a spell that spread out like a screen. The image on it was startling: it was Rainbow Dash, but she was broken, bruised, bleeding, and barely alive.

“Wakey, wakey, Rainbow,” Chrysalis called in a sickening, singsong tone. Rainbow cracked her magenta eyes open and glared at us. “Can you hear me? Nod once if you can.”

Rainbow was still for a second, blinked, and then she nodded once, slowly.

“Now,” Chrysalis growled, dropping the amiable act. “You tell me exactly what you know about the Factory, (at this Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened) and exactly what you know about the human realm. Cream Soda here will coach you on the human realm, and will confirm that what you say is true. If I know that you are lying about the Rainbow Factory, I break another bone in Rainbow’s body and I will keep breaking them with each lie you tell me, until her body is a lifeless broken sack.”

Cream’s lips grew even thinner, but her hoof was shaking as she picked up her cup of Oolong. I looked over at Rainbow Dash. She shook her head violently. Lie. Keep me alive, but lie all you can.

I kept a slightly amused expression on my face as my eyes darted from Cream, to Rainbow, to Chrysalis, and back to Rainbow again. I took a sip of my tea. Chrysalis’ mouth curled into a devious smirk.

“Can I make a deal?” I asked.

Chrysalis nodded skeptically, the smile slipping from her face.

“Can you break my bones, instead of Rainbow’s? I’m just recovering my memory now, so what I know of the Factory isn’t as great as what she knows. Plus, Celestia and Twilight and friends will come looking for her, not me. All they probably know at this point is that I wrote that note, captured Rainbow, raped her or something else horrible, and left without a trace. In other words: Rainbow’s more valuable alive to you and everypony else than I am.”

“Fair enough,” Chrysalis said in a bored tone. “Shall we begin?”

“Of course.”

My vision suddenly went neon green and I was lifted into the air. A pressure was built on every single one of my bones, straining them almost to the breaking point.

“I call it an interrogation field,” Chrysalis laughed in a horribly sweet manner. Cream didn’t even turn to look up. Instead, she just kept sipping quietly at her Oolong. Rainbow watched on, a small twinge of fear in her eyes.

“Now, for starters: where is the Rainbow Factory?”

“In Cloudsdale,” I replied. It was true.

“I know that, moron. Where exactly, in Cloudsdale?”

“I don’t remember.”

CRACK. My left foreleg’s knee blew out.

I screamed pitifully. “OW. What the buck was that for?!”

“You lied.”

“Uh, no I didn’t.”

CRACK. The bone below the knee snapped in half.

“AUGH. Dammit, Chrysalis!”

“You lied again.”

“No, I didn’t lie. I told you something you didn’t want to hear. I honestly don’t know exactly where the Factory is.”

Chrysalis looked at me, like she was going to take pity and not —

CRUNCH. One of my ribs broke. I started to cry.

“…Bitch,” I whispered.

“Where, exactly, is the Rainbow Factory,” Chrysalis demanded, sticking her hoof through the magic field and raised my muzzle to face hers. Tears were drizzling down my face, and down her hoof.

“Up…” I started.

Chrysalis took this as an answer and nodded to Grimhorn who got up to leave. Cream looked up at me in amusement. She knew what I was going to say.

“…your ass. That’s the only factory you need to know, especially for all the shit you do,” I ended. Chrysalis’ face flushed a furious red and a sound as loud as Pinkie’s party cannon exploded in the room. Three ribs, one of my hind legs, and section of my muzzle cracked.

Pain washed me out into a wave of black, with Chrysalis striding away, fuming.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The setting was the same; Ponyville, but the season had changed to winter. Snow was everywhere, and the trees looked like thin wooden claws scratching the pale blue sky. I was nervous, looking around as if I didn’t want to get caught.

“Hullo Denim!” Pinkie Pie shouted from behind me.

I jumped about 10 feet in the air.

“Pinkie!” I said, annoyed, readjusting my cap. “I thought I already made it clear that I want you to leave me alone.”

“You did, but I have something new that I’d like you to try.”

“I already liked your chocolate cookies, I think I’m good.”

“But you’re not! I improved the recipe! Or, made a new one entirely.”

“What is it?”

“Well, it’s kinda a secret. Come closer,” she beckoned, glancing around to see if nopony was going to see or hear her.

I stepped closer.

“Closer,” she whispered.

I stepped to within 2 feet of her. Without warning she grabbed me by my neck and briefly pressed her lips against mine. My eyes went wide and my stomach threatened to revolt.

“Well, wadja think?” she asked cheerily.

“Uh…,” was all I said. My lips parted to reveal a mischievous smile. At this, Pinkie smiled too. “Chocolate frosting? Pinkie, what the hell have you been eating?”

“Chocolate cookies! I told you I improved the recipe!”

Ah.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Rainbow was giggling in the darkness beside me as reality stabbed me everywhere. I could feel that blood had ran its course out my nose and dried. A small, dark puddle had formed on the ground beneath me.

“What’s so funny? I nearly died trying to save your ass,” I wheezed. I was not feeling good at all.

“I LOVED how you stood up to Chrysalis like that,” she replied. “But, I am sorry for having inflicted any pain on you.”

I just sighed and stared at the small puddle of blood.

“I just wish your friends would hurry up and save us already,” I croaked.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yea. Fat chance. They have no idea where we are, and probably think that you —“

“Don’t even start,” I said, wincing.

Another droplet fell from my muzzle.

“Rainbow, what is it like to know that somepony cares for you?”

“Denim, we’re not seriously having this conversation now are we?”

“What better way to pass the time in a changeling dungeon — half-dead — than telling stories or asking deep, philosophical questions?”

Rainbow sighed. I had a point, and there was no way she was escaping it.

“It’s just… nice, I guess, because you always have somepony that you can count on, somepony that has your back, or somepony that loves you for who you are or can be.”

“Do you think that Pinkie Pie loves me?”

“What the buck?”

“Wait, what? I was just asking if you think the same way I do.” Oops. Wrong wording.

“I do not think the same way you do,” Rainbow growled. “I. Am not. Gay. Good bucking Celestia, why does everypony think that I am?”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow. I didn’t mean —“

“Yeah, well, it came out that way to me. Still a touchy subject, even after the Beginner’s Flight School incident,” she said, adding a growl and a shudder. “Only Fluttershy still believes me.”

“I won’t ask. But I’m going to ask this again: do you think Pinkie loves me?”

Rainbow turned her face away from mine. “I didn’t know you and Pinkie were together — before this whole incident. In fact, I didn’t even know you were until you walked up to my house with a cake that had your named frosted onto it. You left that cake on my doorstep, by the way.”

“You’re avoiding my question, Rainbow.”

There was a pause, and Rainbow replied: “Yes. Yes, she does.”

“Good grief, you two done playing “She Loves Me Not” yet?” another voice called out to my right.

“No,” I replied. “Hi, Cream.”

“Hello, Denim. Nice to see you’re awake.”

“And how much of the conversation have you heard so far?” Rainbow demanded.

“Only the whole thing.”

“So, Rainbow. Do you have somepony special in your life?”

“How so? Romantically, or fraternally?”

“Both, I guess.”

Cream groaned. I ignored her.

“Well, as a sister, I love Scootaloo. I want to see her succeed in life so badly, the poor pegasus is cutie mark-less, and can hardly fly at all. In fact, one might say that she CAN’T fly. The only skill I know that she has is the ability to reassemble a unicycle, which is somewhat impressive… But a pegasus that can’t fly? It kind of breaks my heart, because I’ve been flying almost all my life, and here this one can’t fly, no matter how hard she tries.”

“The little orange one? One of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“That’s her.”

“Why can’t she fly?”

“Born that way. But I’m determined to see her through, even if I die trying. Didn’t think I’d die this way though, slowly fading in a desolate changeling dungeon.”

“Don’t die, Rainbow, you have Scootaloo to live for.”

“And you have Pinkie Pie.”

“Yeah… I’m a bit worried about her though. The changeling told me that she can’t tell the difference between mare and stallion, that she loves everypony. Does that hold true for me as well? Does she just love me like she loves everypony else?”

“Pinkie loves everypony because she throws parties for all of them. Maybe she doesn’t love the pony themselves, but she actually just loves to see them smile. You, Denim… you’re different. She loves you on a whole new level. Does she act different around you?”

I racked my brains to see if Pinkie Pie had ever acted “different” from her normally erratic behavior.

“Yeah, I guess she has a couple times.”

“How?”

“Well, when we first re-met she gave me the first bite of the DHFCDC. And when she baked me that small cake, she acted all nervous and awkward, yet kind, gentle, and slow to approach.”

Rainbow Dash whistled. “That is different, especially for Pinkie Pie. Normally she bombards them with party, without warning.”

“She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me, she loves me not…” Cream began saying in the background.

“She loves me,” I stated confidently. “Now shut the buck up.”