That OC's Crazy Adventure That Never Made Sense

by BlackDenimCap

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Sex, Queen Chrysalis, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Changelings, Gore, Original Character, Dark
Length: 16140

Denim wakes up to find himself in the care of neon-colored equines as he tries to figure out where he came from, and who he was.

Denim wakes up to find himself in the care of neon-colored equines as he tries to figure out where he came from, and who he was.
Why doesn't it make sense, exactly? Because (fill in the blank, like I'm sure you will). Gore tag because of wound descriptions. And teen for language. And sex tag (ugh.. hated putting this one on) for some language later on.
Big thanks to my awesome prereader Trufnut!
And another shout out to my ever persistent proofreader: Wellwater!

Feedback is requested!

Published 2014-03-22 02:40:06 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-21 13:22:16 UTC

Time Hurts

Chapter 1: Time Hurts

“And then,” my speaker, a sky-blue pegasus paused dramatically. “There was this BLINDING flash of light, and you seemed to fall from it! Then, there you were, falling rapidly through the air, and that’s when I rushed and saved you!” she finished.

The pegasus had just spent the last 15 minutes or so explaining what she and her purple-coated alicorn friend were doing in the Everfree Forest. I hadn’t heard much, but apparently the alicorn (alias Twilight Sparkle) had declared that she was going to some ruined castle in the Forest, to just look around, apparently. That’s when Rainbow Dash (the pegasus) interjected, explaining that the Forest was way to dangerous to be going into alone, and after several minutes of arguing, Twilight finally consented. The rest… well you pretty much heard the rest.

I must be dreaming, I thought, as the room begins to go from a blur to slightly fuzzy.

Twilight rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Oh come Rainbow Dash, you weren’t the only one who saved him. And besides,” she said, cutting off the pegasus’ argument. “We didn’t save him entirely. If we had, he would be able leave and fly home.”

The room cleared accompanied by a sharp pain coming from either sides of my body. Pain. I grit my teeth and do everything I can to not scream in agony. The best way of telling that 1) You’re still alive 2) That this isn’t some crazy dream. That meant that I really was in a hospital, and was really talking (if you can call it that) to the Rainbow Dash and the Twilight Sparkle.

“So,” Twilight turned to me. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve properly introduced myself. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend and flight instructor, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash nodded.

I nodded in return. Great. My worst fears are confirmed. I’m in a fantasy world filled with multicolored horses, no. Multicolored TALKING horses. I know I’m not supposed to be here, but where am I supposed to be? In other words, where did I come from?

Twilight’s voice snapped me back into reality. “The real reason we’re still here is because we were asked to question, uh, question you.”

I raised an eyebrow. Great. This day just keeps getting better. My memories of where I came from are all but gone, these crazy wings (wait, what?! wings?! Who’s bright idea was THIS?) of mine feel like they’re about to fall off my back, and now I’m going to be extensively interrogated by neon-colored equines.

“Ready?” she asked.

I nodded once. Ready as I’ll ever be.

“Okay. Question number one: What is your name?”

My name? Oh right, my name is… uh….

“Denim,” I replied as neutrally as I can. “Black Denim.”

“Denim…. Deeniimmm,” she rolled the name over her tongue, as if it’s somehow familiar to her.

“Uh… Equestria to Twilight,” interjected Rainbow Dash, waving a hoof in front of Twilight’s face. “Heellooo? Anypony in Ponyville? Twilight? Twilight!”

Twilight returned to reality and leveled her gaze at me.

“Right,” continued Twilight. “Sorry, I was just seeing if I remembered seeing you, well, anywhere. Question number three.”

“Two,” corrected Rainbow Dash and I simultaneously.

“Right, two. Question two: Where do you come from? As in, what city, what occupation?”

“I, uh don’t quite get what you mean,” I answered nervously. Oh great.. here goes…

“I mean, what region of Equestria do you come from?”

I cocked my head at a confused angle, and looked at her blankly, which caused her to facehoof.

“For the love Celestia’s mane,” she muttered under her breath. “The question is quite easy. ANSWER IT! WHERE IN EQUESTRIA DO YOU COME FROM?! Saddle Arabia! Manehattan! Fillydelphia! Los Pegasus! The Everfree Forest! Canterlot! Ponyville! ANYWHERE!” she exclaimed, punctuating her sentence by stomping her hoof loudly.

I swear I saw steam emanating from her nostrils at that point. Mayday, you got her mad. I swallow hard, and replied with “Why do you want to know?” which I mentally kicked myself really hard for. Idiot! You got her mad, and you’re answering her question with a question?

Expecting to understand firsthoof the meaning of “Hell hath no fury like a woman (or in this case, a mare) scorned,” Fortunately, I’m met with an entirely different approach.

Twilight takes a deep, calming breath. “Over the last few months, we’ve been getting reports of changeling and incredibly dangerous magic activity, which we think may be a growing threat to all of Equestria. However, the portal that you came through was (obviously) the most recent, and the most powerful example of magic we’ve had so far.”

“A.. portal?” Brilliant work, Denim.

“That’s right. A Trans-Dimensional Gateway to be precise, similar to the one in the magic mirror in Canterlot Castle. Now, while that one opens every 30 moons, this one can be opened at any time, under the greatest and most precautionary magical procedure. The amount of magic required for it to work would have to be exponentially better than anypony’s I know.”

My slightly slow mind’s gears began to turn, putting pieces together, and after a minute or five, something clicked.

“You think that somehow my entrance to Equestria is related to the ‘dangerous magic’ activity?” I asked, expecting the worst. “Honestly, I have no idea where I came from, or why I’m here. I just know that here is where I’m not supposed to be.”

“Oh, I don’t think,” replied Twilight. “I know.”

Without warning, Rainbow Dash flies straight at me, and pinned my forelegs and broken wings to the wall behind me. I screamed involuntarily.

“Enough beating around the bush! Are you a changeling or not?” she demanded. Oh crap. This is it. I’m so dead.

“Rainbow! Careful with him! He’s still recovering!” called Twilight. “Besides I don’t think he’s a changeling…” Saved! “Because I’ve never seen his original anywhere, unless this really is the original, or you killed the original Black Denim, and buried the evidence?”

I shook my head vigorously, eyes wide with panic. Wow, ponies are scary when they’re angry.

“Besides, Rainbow. He doesn’t seem like a bad pony. Now, drop him.”

Rainbow obliged reluctantly, and I slid down the wall onto a pillow.

“I’m telling you both the truth!” I cried. “I honestly don’t know where I come from, heck, I hardly even know who I am! Please, don’t kill me.”

Twilight’s expression remained skeptical. “Alright. I believe you. You might be the greatest liar I have ever met, or you may be telling the truth. I’m going to be optimistic, and assume the latter. But be warned. I am watching you, and if you take a hoofstep in a way I deem even remotely treacherous, I will drag your sorry, steel-blue butt to Canterlot and personally execute you.”

I swallowed hard and nod.

“Good!” said Twilight cheerily. “Great talking with you! Hope to see you up and around Ponyville real soon!”

As she and Rainbow Dash were leaving, Rainbow turned around and did the “I’m watching you” motion with her hoof and exited without another look back.

I just sat there, bandaged wings and all, playing the odd conversation that just unfolded in front of me in my head.

No, I can’t make any sense of it! Am I really a changeling, but have no memory of it? Then, why would the ruler of the changelings try to knock my memory out?

I kept sitting there, and after a minute or so more, I decide that I should inspect my aviation situation (yes, I made that rhyme intentionally).

While unwrapping the bandages, I gasped out loud. The whole scene was a pegasi’s worst nightmare. The bones in the wings were broken in several dozen places, the skin and feathers alike looked like someone took a fine cheese grater to them, and held nothing back, leaving them a shredded, bloody mess. Muscle has been exposed, torn, and scratched in even greater numbers than I have ever counted.

I must’ve been staring at this horror scene for quite some time, because once I look up, there’s a light-orange coated unicorn standing in a spot I swear was vacant not 2 minutes ago. From all appearances, she was a nurse pony, wielding a clipboard, a pencil, and a wry grin.

“Enjoying the show?” she asked.

“About as much as I’d enjoy Hell,” I answered with a dry laugh. “It’s almost like a car wreck, you know it’s horrible, and should look away, but you just can’t.” I waited for a second. “How bad is it?”

“Oh, pretty bad,” she replied casually.

“Define,” I demanded.

She regarded me with a grim face. “You have broken the wings in about 30 places…” Not as bad as I thought. “… each. Your left wing getting the brunt of it.” Crap. “Shall I go on?”

I replied with a nod.

“Also, a large portion of your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and skin alike have been at least scratched. Some all the way through, especially right near your back. If you’re not careful, the wings could just fall off your back. In addition to that, the largest of your flight feathers are practically torn to stuffing. To sum it all up, it’s going to be quite the wait till you can fly again. But, not too long until it’s safe for you to leave the hospital.”

Thank heavens.

“And how long would that be?”

“About 1-3 weeks, depending on how fast you recover, and how little movements you make with them.”

I sighed and fall back on my pillows. The nurse jots a few notes down, and begins to leave.

“Oh, uh, nurse?” I called. “Could you bring me a small hand mirror?”

The nurse looked at me like I have suddenly developed some new disease, but the look is gone in a second, and so is she. Half a moment later she returned and handed the mirror to me.

I sandwiched it gently between my hooves and angled it towards my face, and I find that a steel-blue coated, dark-brown maned, green-eyed pony is staring back at me. Slowly, my mouth dropped open.

That’s what I look like? Shoot. Not too bad. But, something doesn’t feel right about being a pony. Something….

The nurse cleared her throat, but I didn’t hear her. “Mr. Denim!” she shouted.

My eyes snapped away from the mirror, mouth still hanging open.

“You okay? You seemed to space out there for a minute. I mean, I know that after an accident, ponies can lose their memories, but that was a bit weird.”

“Yea, yea! I… I’m fine.” I replied. I think.

The nurse plucked the mirror out of my now-paralyzed hooves with a doubtful look.

“Well,” she said. “Just, sit tight.”

Ha. Ha. Like I have a choice. She left, leaving me with nothing to do except think over what had just happened with my talk with Twilight and Rainbow Dash, and wonder why it doesn’t feel right for me to be a pony. Well, everypony else is a pony, and they’re fine with it. I just don’t quite understand why I feel like it’s wrong for me to be one.

The thoughts of confusion, broken wings, magic, and changelings played and replayed in my head until I finally fell into a restless sleep.

Author's Note

Gahhh. I don't know what I'm doing. What do you guys think? I have other chapters ready and waiting, but this is just a test. If you like it, I'll keep posting, if not, I'm done.

The Dreams Begin

Chapter 2: The Dream

It’s dark. Too dark to be real.

Am I… dreaming?

Suddenly, on the horizon of the dream, a small point of light appeared and slowly grew bigger. That light turned out to be the moon, pale, bright, and huge. Larger than I’ve ever seen it before. Then, in front of the moon appeared a figure, holes in its legs and a twisted horn. Armies of similarly shaped figures stormed over the ground, surrounding me and ripping me to pieces. The figure let out a maniacal laugh, and as quickly as the dream began, it ended.

Of course, by end I mean, I woke up. Shaking.

Who was that pony? And why does it seem so ominously familiar?

“Denim?” said a pony to my right.

I screamed as if touched by a branding iron and jumped back involuntarily. It’s just the orange-coated nurse pony.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, uh… just… just give me a second,” I replied, rubbing the bridge of my muzzle with my hoof. I know I’ve seen that pony somewhere before, and whoever it is, I don’t have a good feeling about them at all.

“You were running in your sleep,” she added. “Bad dream?”

“Okay, this may sound awkward, but how long have you been here?” I asked.

“I have been here…” she consulted a clock on the wall. It was nearing dawn, sometime around 6 am. “For about 8 hours now. It’s the night shift, and I’m supposed to be the pony who’s making sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

Ah.

“Was that considered stupid?” I ventured.

“Waking up from a nightmare?” she chuckled sardonically. “Probably the smartest thing to do at a time like that. Might I ask what your dream was about?”

I went to answer, but hesitated. I remembered that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were supposedly the “good guys” of the story, and if they’re acting hostile to me, how can I trust my sarcastic caretaker?

“It was nothing,” I replied, trying to keep my voice neutral. I must’ve sounded unconvincing because the nurse asks me:

“You woke up sweating and shaking. Normally, if I have a bad dream, it’s so unrealistic that I can tell it’s bad and I wake up with a slightly faster heartbeat, nothing else. However, you were actually moaning and tossing and turning, throwing punches left and right,” she smiled that dry smile again. “So. What. Was. The dream. About?”

I couldn’t tell if she was bluffing about the whole tossing and turning thing, although my dream did play hell on my wings, which could be explained by that. Also, the hospital bedsheets had been thrown askew, draping over the sides of the bed, and wrapping around my legs. So, all evidence pointed to the fact that I was indeed tossing and turning about.

I took a deep, shuddering breath. I don’t want to relive the dream. I just want to get out of here. But, I have nothing else better to do than answer the nurse’s question, so I do.

“I had a dream about a giant alicorn pony, with holes in her legs and her horn. Suddenly, a whole bunch of miniature versions of her stormed over the hillside, overran me and... tore me to pieces.”

The nurse’s smile melted from her face.

“Tell me,” I demanded. “Who was that pony? I need to know!”

She remained silent and turned around. “My shift is over Mr. Denim,” and without another word she briskly trotted out the door.

I felt like jumping out of the hospital bed, screaming and hollering in rage, throttling that mysterious nurse-pony, demanding her for answers. But, considering that I’ve unintentionally made myself an enemy of Twilight’s and technically all of Equestria, I don’t want to make myself a direct enemy of my brusque caretaker.

Heaven knows, I could be an enemy of that mysterious pony I saw in my dream, and not even know about it. All I can do now is sleep…

The problem with sleeping was that… well… I couldn’t. I was at that point where I was so tired, I couldn’t sleep. Dream Purgatory as I called it, not quite Hell, but not Heaven either. Questions screamed through my head at a million miles an hour, accompanied by a vision of the pony, cackling evilly in the moonlight as I am ripped into a million pieces by her underlings. These thoughts all melted together, swirled, and then went to black as I bored myself into a light, dreamless sleep.
——————————————————————————————————————————

My sleep seemed to last only several seconds, but it’s suddenly day again. The clock read 12 pm, and I could hear several ponies trotting up and down the hallway outside my room. I fell on my back hard, and instantly regretted it as pain lanced up my wings and sent spears running through every nerve in my body. I nearly blacked out, but held on to a little pinprick of light at the end of a dark tunnel. My vision returned way too quickly, prompting nausea, and I nearly went into the dry heaves.

Ugh… Let’s not do that again.

The door creaked open, and a white pony with a trolley rolled in with a plate and bowl in tow. The aroma emanating from the food smells… bland. As if the chef wanted to hide the origin of the said food. I don’t blame him/her, as the soup looks like a decent broccoli and cheese soup, but the plate holds a mass of undeterminable glop.

“Uh…” is all I got out.

“Lunch for you Mr. Denim,” said the white pony. “And I’m here to check on your recovery progress.”

I prodded the mass of… mass with a fork. If it was white, I could understand it being mashed cauliflower, or mashed potatoes, but this, this is a grainy kind of green color. I was willing to bet broccoli again, but I’m not taking any chances. This smells a far cry from broccoli.

Imagine that it was a piece of bread, all toasted and dressed up in sauces and various herbs, and yet, it smells like nothing. The cilantro is odorless, the bleu cheese undetectable, the bread itself, bland.

But, what the heck. I was starving and could’ve eaten anything.

Gingerly, I spooned a sample into my mouth and my first instinct was to spit it out. But the doctor was still watching so I managed to swallow it, silencing my rumbling stomach a little.

The doctor pony smiled a little. “It’s horrible isn’t it?” he said.

I laugh dryly. “I was afraid what you might think about it.”

“Well, yes, I thought it was terrible how the chef had worked to make the food, I had taken time to deliver it, and after maybe three seconds of chewing, it had ended up as a mess on the floor to clean up. Most of the time. Then I tried it and nearly gagged myself.”

I laughed harder and with more heart this time. “It’s different hearing it from the doctor’s perspective,” I replied.

“Indeed,” he said.

There’s an awkward silence, which I broke.

“So, weren’t you here to do a check-up or something like that?” I asked, testing the soup, which was much better than the mashed … substance.

“Yes, I was. Hold on just a second,” he answered. He walked over to a monitor, and pulled up a diagram of my wings. They look as horrible as before. The breaks were still there, but the skin and muscle layers seem to be healing up much faster than I expected. The doctor sighs.

“Well, your epidermis and dermis layers, feathers, and coat have nearly all regenerated, so those should be good to go. However, your muscles are incredibly fragile and should not be used under any circumstances. Also, your bones are still healing, but very slowly. To sum it all up: You are under no condition to leave this room yet.”

I bit back a flood of curse words.

“However,” he added. He ducked outside the door briefly and pulled in a much larger cart, stacked with roughly a dozen books. My eye caught the title… “These books,” continued the doctor. “Are the,” he squinted at a piece of paper he was holding in his hoof. “Daring Do series, from Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Huh, I didn’t know that the princess read the Daring Do series. Cool. Anyway, she told me to give this note to you.” He hoofed me another small piece of paper, which was written on in neat, purple ink. It read:

Dear Denim,

These, as you may full well know, are the Daring Do series, Rainbow Dash’s and my favorite adventure series, written by the esteemed A.K. Yearling. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Below this was written in a sloppier hoofwriting:

If you do anything to mess the books up, I will… do something violent! I’m watching you, buddy. Not a scratch.

— Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash

Crap. I thought. Another reason to get on Twilight’s bad side.

“Thanks Doctor…” I paused. “You know what? I’ve been here for several days, and I have no idea what anypony’s name is!” I held out a friendly hoof. “I’m Black Denim. What’s your name?”

The doctor paused, and then laughed. “I’m Silver Streak,” he said, returning the hoofshake. “Nice to meet you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to deliver more… glop to my bedridden customers.” He turned to leave, when I suddenly remembered…

“Oh, hey, Silver!” I called.

He turned. “Yeah?”

“Do you know anything about a pony who has holes in her legs and horn?”

Silver flinched slightly at my description. “…Yeah. That would be Queen Chrysalis, the ruler of the changelings. Why do you ask?”

I hesitated for a second. “I had a dream where I was attacked by her and her little underlings. It wasn’t a happy ending.”

Silver simply nodded in acknowledgement, and left.

I’ve heard somewhere that you can only dream about things you’ve actually seen or experienced, so does that mean that I was actually torn to bits by changelings? Or did I see this happen to somepony else? Well, the former can’t be true, because I’m still alive now… but it does explain my wing’s condition.

I’m sat there, contemplating these thoughts, and wondering as to how I know that, where I got the idea from. It may all lead back to understanding who I truly am… or was. I decided that these questions are better off left unanswered for now, as I turned towards the mound of books at my side and pick up the first one: Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue. I cracked the book open, and got a good smell of adventure and fresh book pages.

Daring Do was on an island, unable to fly…

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

Time is said to fly when you’re having fun, and I had proven that true, quite literally in fact. I was only partway through the 6th book of the series (Daring Do and the Topaz Amulet), when my sarcastic orange-coated nurse and Silver Streak walked in with the best news ever: I could leave the hospital. No more meals of mystery mush, no more waiting in sustained pain, and probably, no more dreams of changeling queens. I could also fly, as my wings had healed up at a miraculous rate.

I was free! FREE I TELL YOU!

But, a sudden thought hit me that dragged me down from Cloudsdale, all the way to Tartarus and back:

“Where do I stay? I mean, I’ve only been in Equestria for a couple of weeks, and I have no idea where to stay while I’m here.”

“Well,” said Silver Streak thoughtfully. “There is a vacant apartment nearby the Town Hall in Ponyville if you…”

“I can’t,” I replied abruptly. “I don’t have any money; I don’t even have a job!”

Orange-Coat laughed shortly. “There’s no need! You’re kind of a special case, so, just between you and us, a benefactor in Canterlot is paying for your stay until you find your job and can pay for it yourself.”

I’m shocked, pleasantly, by the sudden news. I could’ve kissed the benefactor myself, provided it was a mare… if it wasn’t I’d give them a hearty hoofshake, maybe a hug.

I jumped out of the hospital bed, and stripped off the boring-colored hospital gown.

“I’M FREEEEE!” I screamed, so loud, I swear somepony in Saddle Arabia could’ve heard it. Silver Streak and the orange-coated pony smiled for a brief second but their smiles faded slowly, to expressions of confusion.

“What?” I said. They gave each other that look that siblings give each other when they’re communicating something telepathically. “What? What’s so wrong with being free?” I grinned, trying to cheer them up.

Silver spoke first. “Well, the problem is,” he stopped hesitantly.

“Yes?” I prodded.

“You appear, by all appearances have outgrown your foalhood, however…” he paused again.

“You’re a blank-flank,” finished the orange-coated pony bluntly.

I knew what that meant, and my jaw hit the floor simultaneously with a lurching movement in my gut.

How… what? That doesn’t make any sense!

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll figure something out. Thanks for all your help,” I tried to sound optimistic, but it doesn’t change the horrible, rotten feeling in my stomach. How do I find my “greater calling” now? Without another word, I turned and left the sterile, stale air of the hospital, and took my first step outside in weeks.

The Birthday Party

Chapter 3: Mrs. Cake’s Birthday Celebration

“Fresh air!” I shouted to nopony in particular. “Free at last!”

Suddenly I was hit by a shot of confetti and streamers. Yes, literally, a shot. A certain pink pony was standing over the infamous party cannon, smiling.

“Yay!” she said. “You’re finally free! That was your ‘free at last’ party cannon celebration!”

“Um, thanks?” I replied, feeling somewhat confused. “Who are you?”

“I’m Pinkie Pie!” she answered with her cheery voice. She grabbed my hoof and shakes vigorously. “What’s your name?”

Pinkie was shaking my hoof so violently that I couldn’t even talk straight, instead my answer came out in a shaky sort of stammer. “D-e-e-e-e-n-n-n-i-i-i-i-m-m-m.”

“Huh, that’s a weird name. Pretty long too. Can I just call you Denim?”

I rolled my eyes and smiled at the same time. Pinkie Pie. “Yes, yes you can.”

“Okey dokey loki! What are you doing today?”

“I… uh…” I didn’t really have any plans, except to look around, find my apartment, and a job.

Before I could even finish my thoughts, Pinkie grabbed me by the foreleg. “I know! Come with me!” Without warning, she dragged me at top-speed, galloping down Main Street until we arrived at a house that kind of looks like a cake. Pinkie shoved me inside, and followed right behind.

“Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner!” she exclaimed.

“Hi!” said a pony behind the counter. “What can I get for ya?”

“Hi Mrs. Cake! This here is Denim; Denim, Mrs. Cake. I just brought him along to show him the bakery. May we sample a few pieces today?”

“Of course you can!” replied Mrs. Cake with her smooth voice. “But, no more than one piece combined.” Mrs. Cake glowered briefly at Pinkie Pie, who in turn scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

Once Mrs. Cake had gone to attend to some other customers, I asked “Why not more than one piece?”

Pinkie laughed short and nervously. “Because one time when I said I’d take a few samples, I ended up eating about the equivalent of two cakes. Lots of unhappy customers that day.”

I laughed at the pony’s story. “I can relate,” I replied with a chuckle. “So, what do we sample first?”

“Weeeelllll…” said Pinkie. “I suggest we try something with chocolate first.” Suddenly, she gasped in surprise. “I know! The Double Hot Fudge Chocolate Dream Cake!”

“Whatever it is, it sounds good. Can’t ever have too much chocolate, right?”

“Right,” affirmed Pinkie. She took me down a wide corridor, and opened a door on the left hand side. The room gave way to the largest cake I had ever seen.

It was stacked several feet tall, all decorated with chocolate syrup and pink icing, topped off with a large helping of whip cream and a few dozen strawberries.

“There it is,” said Pinkie in awe. “The D-H-F-C-D-C.”

A plate nearby held a smaller version of the cake, labeled with a small sign that says “SAMPLE”. Pinkie drew a knife from nowhere and sliced off two small chunks of the sample, and hoofed one over to me. The cake felt sticky in my hoof, so I shoved the piece in my mouth before anything gets too badly stained.

An explosion of creamy flavor hit my tongue.

Hmm… The inner baker in me had awoken. Perfectly moist, and not too airy, but not too heavy either. The chocolate is right on the line between milk chocolate and dark chocolate, satisfying the desires of all kinds of chocolate lovers. Also, wait… Do I taste… lemon? The pink icing! Of course! It’s a sweet kind of lemon flavor, not incredibly tangy, but not so sweet that it masks the flavor all together.

I swallowed. “That was the best cake I’ve EVER tasted,” I stated.

Pinkie beamed with pride. “Thank you! I made it for Mrs. Cake’s birthday, which is today, but I wanted to keep this a secret from her, and pretty much everypony else so that they wouldn’t come and take huge bites out of it when I wasn’t looking. You’re the first pony to try it.”

“Wow, uh, thanks, Pinkie,” I replied, flattered that she’d let somepony she had never met before try the cake ahead of her best friends and mentors.

“You’re welcome! Now, we should surprise her really good!”

“Wait, when? Now?”

“Yeah! What other important things do you have to do? I mean, when I took you over here it looked like to me that you had nothing to do, so I made up my mind and decided that the newest inhabitant of Ponyville should try my cake first, kind of as a test of friendship.”

Alarm bells went off in my head at the words ‘test of friendship’, but rather than hurt Pinkie’s feelings, I ignored it and decide to save that thought for later.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” I answered mischievously.

“Nothing at all!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Let’s get started!”

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

Fortunately for us, Mrs. and Mr. Cake had some catering schedules to attend to, so they’d be out for a few hours.

“Alright Pinkie,” Mr. Cake had said when they were leaving. “You’re holding down the fort for now. We’re counting on you!”

“Don’t worry Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie replied. “I got this under control!”

“Oh, and don’t forget, today is Tuesday! Which means…” added Mrs. Cake.

“Yes, yes, I know,” interrupted Pinkie. “Discount of 10% on all things chocolate. Don’t worry about a thing! I got Denim here to help me!”

I cringed inside involuntarily. I hate lying to ponies, and I got the feeling that Pinkie likes me more than just your average friend. But I managed to keep a straight face and force a smile, although my gut was twisting every which way.

Once they were out of sight, we began making preparations for their return and a big birthday celebration.

I went into the kitchen and something in my mind clicked — a memory? It had to be. Instinctively I grabbed a large and a medium mixing bowl and set them on the island. Then I got out: flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, cocoa powder, eggs, vanilla extract (who knew? ponies have vanilla extract!), butter, sugar, and cinnamon. I whipped the dry and wet ingredients separately, then when I was satisfied that they were fully mixed, I stirred them together.

Once I had mixed the dry and wet ingredients together successfully, I rolled small chunks of the dough in a cinnamon and sugar mixture, then placed them on a baking pan and shoved them in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes.

They came out just like I expected them to: golden brown, slightly soft and flat. Somehow I knew to let them cool for about 5 minutes before dishing them up on a plate.

I had a pan of cookies on my hoof, when I noticed that Pinkie was standing in the doorway watching me with a slight smile.

“Uhh… Don’t get angry with me,” I said.

Pinkie laughed. “Get angry with you? You’re baking! What is there to be mad at?”

I shrugged indifferently. “I just made these cookies without anypony telling me how to, and yet I knew exactly how to bake them.”

“Yea? What’s so weird about that?”

“I don’t have any memory of who I was before I was in that hospital bed,” I replied. “Don’t you find it kind of weird that a pony who has no memory of his past life can suddenly recall a recipe for snickerdoodles?”

“Snickerdoodles?”

“Yea, that’s what I remember these being called, although I,” I paused, wondering how to phrase the next word. “Changed them. Added a tablespoon of cocoa powder. Only I could know that. But how do I know I could only know that? Augh… my brain hurts.”

Pinkie stood there with an expression I can’t read — her normal, smiling expression. She broke the silence.

“Well, whatever they are, I’m sure they’ll be wonderful to serve up at the party!”

Two hours later, we had nearly everything set up, the multi-colored streamers were hung everywhere along the ceiling, balloons were tied down to tables and chairs, and Pinkie stood ready with the party cannon, ready to shower the un-suspecting baker with confetti. All of the invited guests were already inside. A rather large crowd of them, whom I got to meet once they all came in. They were:

Applejack, who was the first one into the bakery and was the first pony to be greeted by a shot of confetti, which Pinkie quickly apologized for. She is an orange-coated earth pony with a blond mane and apple-green eyes.

“Howdy there, Denim!” she said, shaking my hoof with more strength than Pinkie Pie’s. “Good to meet ya face to face! Rainbow Dash and Twilight told me about ya.”

I smile and return the greeting.

Next was the alicorn princess, Twilight Sparkle. Purple-coated with a navy-blue mane and a reddish pink streak down the middle of it.

“Glad to see you on your feet, Denim,” she commented. “And thank you for keeping my books in peak condition.”

Following her were three more mares in this order: Fluttershy, a sweet-voiced butter-coated, candy-pink-maned pegasus. It took me a bit to understand her name, as she mumbled it three times before I heard it properly. Rarity, a high-class, white-coated, purple-maned unicorn, followed finally by the tomboy of the group: Rainbow Dash, the sky-blue coated, rainbow-maned pegasus.

“Oh, um, hi Denim. Very nice to meet you.”

“So! This is the pegasus that was found by you [Twilight] and Rainbow Dash. Charmed.”

“Haha, you ain’t so bad of a pony after all! The books were perfect! Except for page 83 in the 5th one; that got a bit torn, but that’s fine.”

The last comment stung a bit. That section of the book was the tensest part of Daring Do I had read thus far. I was gripping the book so hard, the page ripped a little on the top corner.

The remaining guests were friends of the first few ponies, starting with a group of three fillies named Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, who identified themselves as the “Cutie Mark Crusaders”.

“Wait? You’re a blank-flank too?!” exclaimed Scootaloo.

“Yea… I guess so,” I replied, unsure.

“Cool! Did you get made fun of a lot for it?”

“Um… I don’t remember anything of my foalhood really.”

“Oh. That’s okay,” answered Scootaloo, a little disappointed.

Following them were the remaining Apple family members, a zebra named Zecora, and the two town musicians: Vinyl Scratch and Octavia.

After all the greetings, we all got to our respective places and waited in silence.

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

The moment came, probably only five minutes after we all hid to ambush Mrs. Cake, but it felt like hours. Pinkie Pie, surprisingly, stayed at full attention at the party cannon, ready to let loose a barrage of streamers at a moment’s notice. I don’t think she even blinked once since we started waiting.

The door slowly opened, and a turquoise hoof stepped into the room — BANG! PHWEEET! Pinkie bombarded Mrs. Cake with a healthy dose of party, confetti and all.

“What the hay?” exclaimed Mrs. Cake.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” we all shouted. Mrs. Cake screamed in surprise and then laughed.

“Why, aren’t you all so sweet! I thought Pinkie here might’ve forgotten my birthday!” said Mrs. Cake.

“Forget your birthday? Pinkie? Pfft. Not possible,” stated Rainbow Dash. Everyone chuckled at this fact.

“Alright everypony! The moment you’ve all been waiting for!” announced Pinkie. “My newest and best creation: The Double Hot Fudge Chocolate Dream Cake! Or, for short the D-H-F-C-D-C!”

We all turned and saw the brown wonder wheeled slowly into the room. Everypony’s mouths were hanging open, from pure awe, or because the most heavenly smell filled the air: chocolate.

Pinkie stood in front of everypony and began conducting with her hooves, slowly everypony caught on and began singing “Happy Birthday”. It was unrehearsed, and not everypony there was a singer, so it sounded terrible (Scootaloo and I being the worst examples). But it was “Happy Birthday” after all, and everypony there meant it.

We were partway through singing “For She’s a Jolly Good Pony” when Rainbow Dash cut us short.

“Alright, alright! Enough singing everypony! Can we please eat the cake? It’s killing me just sitting here watching it.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” called out Pinkie. “Don’t forget these wonderful COOKIES Denim made! He calls them snickerdoodles!”

Everyone seemed excited over this new installment, except for Twilight, she stared at me. Not your average “I’m passing through and accidentally caught your eye” kind of stare, or a “What the hay? Cookies?”, more like “You are in huge trouble with me later” kind of stare. The scary type.

I shuddered trying to think why making cookies was such a bad idea.

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

The next 10 minutes were absolutely silent, save for the sounds of ponies chewing their helpings of cake.

I had put mine in a bowl and dowsed it in milk. I hadn’t put any thought to it right away, but while I was chewing I was thinking how did I know I liked to put my cake in a bowl with milk?

Twilight was watching me like a hawk with narrowed eyes. I tried to ignore her, but I could feel her eyes boring into my head.

I gave up and took my bowl of cake over to where Twilight was sitting.

“So, what’s the problem?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Twilight said nothing, and levitated another chunk of cake towards her mouth. She was chewing and still staring me down, as if trying to see into my soul. Heck, she probably was. After swallowing her piece of cake, she said:

“I want to know how you knew to make those cookies, Mr. No-Recollections-Of-My-Past-Life.”

“You’re about as clueless as I am,” I replied, and regretting it as Twilight’s gaze grew colder and narrower.

She said nothing, but wiped her mouth politely with a napkin, set it down, thanked Pinkie for the party, and left.

My first instinct was to follow her and ask her what the problem is, but the pessimistic side of my brain shut that down in a jiffy. “No need to get her more mad than she already is,” was the argument of the day.

Over the course of the party, I received plenty of comments on my cookies as well:

“Nicely done, however, they are a bit flat.”

“I love how you made them chewy on the inside!”

“Hmm…” This was the opinion I had been waiting for: Mrs. Cake’s. “Chewy, but not undercooked, and the chocolate and vanilla play off each other just right to make it enjoyable all around. Well done! Can you do these for me again next year?”

I considered the thought for a minute. “Sure,” I replied, shaking on the deal. “But, no promises. Can I give you the recipe?”

“That would be wonderful! I should bake these for everypony to try!”

I gave her the recipe, which she put on the countertop so that she could use it later.

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

Countless hours passed by, and the party petered out. I was the last one to leave.

“Hey Denim!” called Pinkie. I turned.

“Yea?”

“I’m curious, how’d you know how to make those cookies?”

“I don’t know. It just sort of… came to me,” I pause for a second. “Pinkie?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you give me a test of friendship earlier?”

Pinkie cringed at the question. “I hoped you wouldn’t notice that,” she muttered. “It was because Twilight wanted to see if you were a changeling or not. I was gutsy enough to test that out, because you didn’t sound like too bad of a pony.”

“Well, how would you know if I was a changeling?” I queried.

“If I expressed positive feelings and you returned them with positive feedback. The cake was a positive thing, in my case, and I wanted to see how you’d react to me giving you the first piece. You reacted perfectly, as in, you reacted as a changeling wouldn’t. What I’m trying to say is, you expressed gratitude, something changelings never express nor feel.”

“Then why was Twilight so hard on my case after that?”

“I dunno, she’s Twilight. OCD, and she’s gotten a bit paranoid ever since there’s been changeling sightings in the area. You should just ask her.”

I nodded, pulling the thoughts all together. There were pieces of the puzzle that were still missing, but the more I searched for them, the more the puzzle came together.

“Alright Pinkie, thanks for the party and the cake. See you around Ponyville!” I said.

Provided that Twilight doesn’t kill me first.

Author's Note

I've done it. Chapter 3. Woot.

Memories

Author's Note

Well, I start my swearing spree in this chapter. I warned you.

Memories

Chapter 4: Memories

The sun rose and shone through my bedroom window, directly onto my face. Being a light sleeper, I woke up immediately.

Gotta get that changed if you want to sleep in, Denim.

I stumbled to my hooves and staggered over to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and saw the same pony I had seen in the hospital staring back at me, although, not as well-groomed. My mane was a mess, sticking up in every direction and my eyes were still puffy from having just woken up. Grabbing a comb and turning on the faucet, I began to attack the hair-borne catastrophe.

I had had a nightmare the previous night, which actually took Princess Luna to convince me that it was just a dream. So, naturally I didn’t sleep well.

The nightmare… what was it? Oh yeah…

The nightmare was another version of the evil Queen Chrysalis and her underlings, except in this one I was chained to a wall, with the Queen watching from the side, a sadistic smile playing about her lips. A changeling stood over a set of controls and punched a few buttons. The chains around my hooves grew tighter, threatening to pop my limbs off. Luna suddenly appeared at my side and whispered into my ear: “This is just a dream” and was gone. Chrysalis and her changeling friend didn’t seem to notice.

“Where is it?!” demanded Chrysalis. “Tell me! Where is it?!”

“I’ll” — cough — “never tell,” was my stupidly heroic line.

Chrysalis laughed mirthlessly. “Oh, I can convince you otherwise. Grimhorn! Bring out the Persuader!”

The dream faded to black with a chorus of cruel cackling.

My mane was almost back to normal by the time I finished replaying the dream. Just a couple of unnoticeable hairs sticking up here and there, but I wouldn’t be able to tackle them just by using a comb. A greater force of water was needed, and I landed at the easiest conclusion: shower. I turned on the shower head.

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

20 minutes later, I felt refreshed and ready to start the day. Maybe even find a job… if I’m lucky.

But, first on my agenda was to go talk to Twilight Sparkle regarding her hostility last night, and what I had done to cause it.

After asking a few directions, I arrived at her house. I was expecting that this Princess of Magic would have an elaborately designed house, all colorful and showy. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be just the opposite. Her house is a giant tree.

I knocked on the door, and a small green and purple dragon opened the door and looked up at me.

“Oh, hi!” he said. “Twilight was expecting you. Come on in!” He ushered me inside.

Twilight was sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by a disorganized pile of books. The look on her face was grim, and her eyes had dark circles around them, implying that she hadn’t gotten very much, if any, sleep the previous night.

“Hello, Denim,” she said flatly.

“Hello Twilight,” I replied.

She snapped the book shut that she was reading and turned her gaze towards me. It’s not a happy gaze. Whether it’s because she was tired, or because she was still pissed at me for no apparent reason. Either way, I can feel my resolve melt under her glacial stare.

I shifted nervously. “So, uh, the dragon told me you were expecting me?”

“The dragon,” replied Twilight with a threatening tone in her voice. “Has a name.”

“I should like to learn it,” I replied cockily.

Twilight kneaded her temples with her hooves. “His name is Spike. Spike, this is Denim the pony I’ve told you about.”

Spike waved, and I forced a smile in return.

Twilight sighed out of exasperation. “Well Denim, I did find out why you don’t remember your past and why you don’t have a cutie mark.”

Hope leapt in my stomach, shoving the words “That’s great! What did it?” out.

“You were shoved through an incomplete or inadequate Trans-Dimensional Gateway. The symptoms are: loss of cutie mark, loss of memory prior to your waking moment, and potential to knock out or even kill the pony that falls through. However, that’s all it does, it says nothing about your wing’s condition.”

Something just wasn’t right about the whole situation.

“I thought you said that I landed hard and broke my wings that way, even though you and Rainbow tried to save me.”

“Yes,” replied Twilight. “But, I saw where you fell from, even at that height, the worst that could’ve happened was that you broke your wings in a few places. You even landed on hard ground, no trees got in the way of your fall, and there was nothing to break it, either. So, that doesn’t explain how your muscles all got torn up or how you broke the wings in that many places.”

A sudden thought hit me, a thought so simple, yet the hardest solution to this all.

“Twilight, can’t you perform a memory spell on me? It might help.”

Twilight’s irises contracted. Her left eyelid twitched involuntarily.

Ohh crap. I’m so dead.

“DAMN IT!” she yelled. “Why didn’t I think of that sooner?! Would’ve saved me a lot of sleeping time that I spent looking for the solution to the bucking problem!”

“Twilight? Are you going to perform the spell now or not?”

“Huh, what? Oh yeah. Here goes,” she said with certainty as her horn flared up. Gently she touched my head…

A rush of memories ran through my head. Memories of a small steel-blue pegasus sitting alone in a lunch room while all the other pegasi laughed and talked around him. Memories of that pegasus flying alone during break time. Memories of that pegasus being made fun of, being rejected at every job offer that he came across. Memories of that pegasus watching without remorse, killing other ponies so as to harvest their souls and transform it into spectra and eventually rainbows. Memories of… earning a cutie mark. Two white gears grinding a rainbow.

My mind rushed back to reality.

“Holy BUCK,” was all I said.

Twilight looked at me with a curious glint in her eye. “I take it the memory spell worked then?”

“Yeah,” I replied shakily. More memories were pouring in, ones of Chrysalis torturing me so as to reveal… something… reveal what?

“Oh. My. Celestia,” is my next euphemism of the minute. “I think I understand why Chrysalis and I are linked. She has some grandiose plan, and I was the key to unlocking it.”

Twilight’s eyes widen, but suddenly they grew tired. She yawned dramatically.

“Tell me tomorrow, I need to sleep,” and without another word she slumped to the ground and fell asleep.

So, if I’m part of Chrysalis’ plan, then why did she want to get rid of me? Also, outside of her little social circle, I’m the only one who knows this plan. What now?

Rewind A Bit Here

Author's Note

Bleh. If you dislike this fan fic because of this chapter, I don't blame ya. It gets worse :/.
And it's unedited, but I felt like I've delayed the next chapter long enough. Without further ado, here it is...

Rewind A Bit Here

Chapter 5: Rewind A Bit Here

Twilight was still fast asleep when I left; Spike walked up and covered her body with a blanket.

My head was swimming with the new memories that had re-formed in my mind. I took a faulty step outside of Twilight’s house and had to sit down before I fell down. One thing clicked into place, the place where the ponies’ souls were being extracted and turned into rainbows. The place where I worked, where I got my cutie mark.

The Rainbow Factory. Oh, HECK no. I had heard some of the patients around the hospital exchange dark and scary stories about it, whether it was real or not was anypony’s guess. And it was. I was proof of that.

I couldn’t move for a few minutes, sweat beaded on my forehead and muzzle. I started to breathe hard.

Get a hold of yourself, Denim! ordered the normal side of my brain. I can’t! To know that I actually killed ponies as an occupation…! One bucked up job, if you ask me. replied the pessimistically logical side.

“Hooolllyyy buck,” is all I said. That pretty much summed up my feelings, those two words right there. I raised my hooves to my temples and began kneading them, trying to calm my overreacting brain.
Snap out of it, Denim! You need to find a job, and soon.

My head spun rapidly into a black spinning vortex accompanied by the screams of dying ponies.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

A violent splash of cold water revived me.

I sat up immediately and screamed.

“What? What?” exclaimed Twilight in surprise. “Did I hurt you?”

I looked over at her with a pained expression, breathing hard.

“Denim!” she shouted. “Denim! Snap out of it! Speak to me!”

I swallowed hard. “Hi, Twilight.”

“Could you please explain what you were doing knocked out on my doormat?”

“Well, you see, Twilight,” I began, but when I looked around, I noticed that everypony I had ever met was standing there watching me as well, hanging on to every last syllable that I uttered. “I think we’d better talk about this inside.”

Of course, Twilight had to bring 6 of her closest friends as well. I told them my story, starting all the way from the hospital bed. My nightmares, my returning memories of my employment at the Rainbow Factory, and my guess that Chrysalis was after the Factory, so as to use its power against Equestria.

At the mention and description of the sanguine Rainbow Factory, everypony gasped in horror. All of them, except for Rainbow Dash, whose expression hardened to a grim glare.

Once I had finished voicing my recollections, thousands of questions began to pour from the mouths of 4 ponies and one baby dragon. The two exempting from talking were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy began quaking in fear upon my explanation of the RF and was still shaking away, unable to ask any questions. Rainbow already knew of the Rainbow Factory and didn’t want to talk about it.

“How do you know that Chrysalis is coming here?” was the first question I could understand, which came from Twilight’s mouth.

“Revenge, primarily,” I replied. “She was pretty upset at your brother and your sister-in-law kicking her tail across Equestria with the power she searched to exploit.”

The next comment came from the pony with an amazing accent; Applejack. “Why th’ Rainbow Factory?”

I shrugged. “My guess is that she wants to use a power nopony would see coming, and one that nopony could use against her, at least, not without a high cost on their part. Either way, it’s pretty much a win-win situation for Chrysalis.”

“But, how?” asked Spike.

“Look at it this way: She uses the Rainbow Factory as a power source, at the cost of other ponies, channeling that power and killing pretty much everypony in her path, win path number one. In the event of her losing, we still end up killing a lot of ponies just to turn her own power against her, still a win in her books.”

Everypony paused a second, digesting the information I had just given them.

Fluttershy spoke up. “Um.. excuse me.. Denim?”

“Yes, Fluttershy?”

“Rainbows don’t just run off the power of ponies,” she argued. “The also require the power of the sun.”

I paused a second, my slow brain trying to grasp the slice of genius that Fluttershy had bitten into.

“Sooo… In the event of Chrysalis using the rainbows as the main weapon, we just ask Luna to raise her moon in place of the sun.”

We all stared incredulously at Fluttershy.

“Oh… I’m sorry everypony, was that a bad idea?” she whispered.

Twilight was the first to respond,“Fluttershy! You’re a genius!”

Everypony else joined in, expressing their amazement at Fluttershy’s ingenuity.

Rainbow Dash remained sullen, her eyes barely magenta slits now. She motioned for me to come talk to her in private. My stomach dropped and slid into my hooves.

Once we were out of sight of the other ponies, Rainbow Dash suddenly picked me up and slammed me against the wall with one of her forelegs.

“Are you out of your damn MIND?!” she growled.

“About… what?” I gasped, pulling at Rainbow’s hoof.

“Telling everypony about the Factory!”

“Could… you… rel… lease… me… I… ex…plain,” I choked, my vision starting to fade.

Rainbow dropped me. I collapsed in a heap, sputtering for air.

It took me a few minutes before I could speak normally. “I don’t know what you’re so upset about. All I did was explain the Factory’s facility and purpose, NOT who works there. Your friends don’t know that you still work there. The only pony that they know that came from there is me, and I’m out of that line of work now.”

Rainbow’s expression turned from one of “I'm gonna bucking kill you” to one of deep, confused thought.

“Besides. I may have damn well saved Equestria by revealing Cloudsdale’s little secret,” I added.

The murderous expression returned to Rainbow’s face. “Alright. But if you ever reveal that I am employed there, I will kill you.”

“I am warned,” I said, my mouth turning into my signature cocky smile.

“You are promised,” she replied.

“Tsk, tsk Rainbow,” I said mockingly. “I’ve already lived through a death threat from an alicorn princess. I’m not scared of you.”

Rainbow yanked me up close and glared deep into my eyes. “You’d better be.”
——————————————————————————————————————————

I trotted slowly back to my apartment, Rainbow Dash’s death threat still clear in my mind. I smiled without humour, in spite of it.

I reached the door to my house, but it wasn’t the same. This time, there was a black cap tacked to the door with a small hoofwritten note: Remember this? — C.

The Summons

Author's Note

Alright guys. Here's the verdict:
My life has gotten super-complicated, and I can't keep up sending this fic to editors, making sure that everything works out okay, while on top of that I am helping three other people edit their fics (Oh, btw. Requests are closed now), AND I'm toying with another idea.
I've decided that I'm just gonna throw out the remainder of my crap onto the site, and declare this fic "Complete".
Sorry for those of you guys who really liked this fic. For those of you who hated it? I don't blame you. I kinda hate it (at this point) too.

Without further ado, here it is... unedited...

The Summons

Chapter 6: The Summons

I stared at the mysterious black cap and the sinister letter, mouth agape. The cap seemed oddly familiar, but my mind was still recovering from the earlier rush of memories, so I wasn’t able to put a hoof on it.

I opened the door, and to my surprise, found the apartment perfectly normal. At least, normal, as in: everything was how it was when I left. There were still dishes in the sink that needed washing, a day-old half-eaten hayburger was still sitting on the table, etc. etc. The only thing that had really changed was the appearance of the cap and note on the door.

I instinctively put the cap on, not questioning where it came from, or as to how to wear it; slipping it smoothly over my mane, and pulling it tightly onto my head.

My attention was grabbed by the now-sorry excuse for a hayburger. I was hungry after all, and didn’t want to worry about the cap or who “C” might be. All I was worried about was my stomach.

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

Clop. Clop. Clop.

I put the last bite of hayburger down. “Come in,” I answered. Nothing. I turned around, surprised. “The door’s open, you can come in now,” I said, louder this time. What the hay?

I walked over and opened the door. “Who’s there?” I demanded. But nopony was there. Instead, a new note was posted on my door. Meet me at the Canterlot Hospital. Room 402. -C.

Now this was getting serious, and slightly creepy. I walked downstairs, feeling somewhat shellshocked.

“Did you see anypony go through here a few minutes ago?” I asked the landmare.

“Yes, one pony,” she replied. “Why?”

“Uh… she’s a… friend of mine. What did she look like?” I think.

“Oh… um… orange coat, mint-green eyes, and a brown-grey mane. Does that sound like her?”

Holy buck. It’s her. “Yea, it does. Thanks.”

Instead of making straight for the hospital, I galloped to Twilight’s house to seek advice.

“Twilight! Twilight!” I said, banging on her door.

Twilight opened the door and glared at me for a second. “You do know that’s a new paint job, right, Denim?”

“Oh, yea… sorry.”

Twilight sighed exasperatedly. “What’s the matter now? New memories? Where’d you get the hat from?”

“I thought I was supposed to be the one asking questions?”

“Yes, but sometimes when you ask a question with a question, you get the desired answer.”

“Fair point. And to answer your questions: New memories? No. I got the hat from some mysterious pony that signs their letters as “C”. Though it seems vaguely familiar. The matter is, I just got this note posted on my door, and I have a bad feeling about who “C” might be.”

Twilight read the note, her brow furrowed. “Whatever you do, don’t go to the hospital without somepony else, such as myself or Rainbow Dash.” she advised.

“Right,” I scoffed. “The two ponies that have threatened to kill me.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized it. Twilight raised a suspicious eyebrow at me.

“Rainbow Dash never threatened to kill you,” said Twilight.

“I… uh… did I say two? I meant one is a pony who threatened to kill me, and the other might as well.” Buck. I hate being a terrible liar.

“Why?”

“Because she’s your friend and may share the same views as you do.”

“Rainbow and I? Share the same views?” Twilight laughed. “It’s more likely to snow in summer than for us to have the same views. Aside from the fact that she and I like the Daring Do series, and that we can fly, we’re practically polar opposites.”

I nodded. I mean, what could I say?

“Oh! I know! It could be Princess Celestia!” exclaimed Twilight.

I cocked my head quizzically at her.

“C is for Celestia.” she explained.

“But why meet me at a hospital ward? Why run away after posting a note onto my door? If she’s the princess of Equestria that can raise the cosmic power of the sun; she can do whatever she damn well pleases!”

“Maybe she’s gotten bored with castle life and decided to play a practical joke on some random pony,” said Twilight sarcastically. “I DON’T KNOW!”

“Well, thanks for the advice anyway,” I replied.

“Wait! Denim!”

I turned back around. “Yea?”

“What if it’s Chrysalis?”

“Then I’ll be extra careful. I’m going to Rainbow Dash to see if she wants to help me.”
——————————————————————————————————————————

I was headed towards Rainbow Dash’s place when Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped me, by sticking a hunk of cake in my mouth.

“Mmf!”

“Thanks, Denim!” said Pinkie. “There’s more inside!” she grabbed my hoof and yanked me into the bakery.

She pulled me through the door, which had the beaded kind of curtains that make a lot of noise when somepony walks through them. I felt Pinkie’s iron grasp release my hoof, and I was about to leave when she popped up behind me, holding a chocolate cake with pink icing.

“I made this for you,” she said shyly.

My mouth dropped open. The pink icing was a bunch of fancy curlicues surrounding one word: DENIM.

“I… I know it’s not much… but I felt like making it.”

I was still speechless. “I… Pinkie… I don’t know what to say…”

“Oh! You don’t like it? Oh… I’m really sorry…”

“No! Pinkie, I love it! I’m…”

“Speechless?”

“Yea, that.”

We stood there awkwardly for a second or two. Pinkie shoved the cake towards me.

“Well, it’s for you,” and she turned, looking depressed.

“Wait!” Buck. “Pinkie!”

Pinkie turned and gave me an injured look.

“What did you want?” I asked.

Pinkie paused for a second, and suddenly kissed me. My heartbeat spiked momentarily.

“That answer your question?” she asked.

I was speechless once again for the second time in the last 3 minutes. “Yea,” I smiled cockily. “Yea, I guess it does. Thanks, Pinkie. I… uh… guess I’ll make you some cookies some time.”

Pinkie smiled sheepishly. I took that as my cue to leave, taking the cake with me, my smile never leaving my face.

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

I arrived at Rainbow’s house, or rather, below it, still wielding the cake and a smile. I flew up and knocked on her door.

“Yea, yea,” came a voice from inside. “I’ll be right out.” Rainbow opened the door. She saw me and instantly her expression went dark.

“What the buck do you want?” she growled.

“I need your help,” I replied, still smiling.

“Uh-huh. Why are you smiling?”

“Oh, uh… Pinkie’s laughter is contagious.”

Rainbow laughed shortly. “I guess so. So, why do you need my help again?”

“I’m answering a mysterious letter that requests me to go to the hospital, but Twilight advised that I take somepony along with me, as a kind of bodyguard. Or at least, that’s what I think was implied.”

“Why?”

“In the event of it being Chrysalis, we need more than one pony to take her down.” I replied. I pulled Rainbow closer, and whispered into her ear. “And, we need somepony who understands the Rainbow Factory, and there’s no better two than us.”

At this last comment Rainbow’s expression lightened.

“Uh… and now why are you happy?”

“Oh, no reason. I like the thought of kicking somepony’s ass. Let’s do this.”
——————————————————————————————————————————

We shoved the double doors of the hospital open, standing in the doorway heroically for a second. The doctor and nurse ponies stared at us.

“Rainbow, this isn’t a competition,” I whispered to her as we walked up to reception.

“Whoever knocks out Chrysalis gets 20 bits,” she replied, a glint of madness in her eye.

I paused for a second. “Deal,” I replied.

“Who are you here to see?” asked the receptionist pony, dully.

“We’ve been told to visit Ward 402,” Rainbow answered loudly.

The pony checked her list. “Fourth floor. First door on your right.”

Rainbow marched off proudly.

“Thanks,” I told the receptionist pony.

We arrived at the door indicated. We opened the door and —

Hello, Changeling

Author's Note

Chapter 7. Woo. Wait, one thing before I continue: (facehoof) "What the buck was I thinking?!"

Hello, Changeling

Chapter 7: Hello, Changeling

The room was devoid of ponies, just the average hospital room. The doors closed behind us and locked shut.

“Hey!” I shouted, banging against the doors. “Hey! What’s the big idea, huh?”

“The big idea is me,” replied an ominously familiar voice. It was the orange-coated nurse pony. “And my idea is to tell you how you got here.”

“We walked here, following your note’s… advice.” replied Rainbow Dash. “Now would you please cut the act, Chrysalis?”

The orange pony gave us a look of surprise. “You think I’m Chrysalis?” she laughed softly. “No, no, no. The name’s Cream Soda. And, for the record, that’s not what I meant by telling you two how you got to this room, specifically.” She shook her head. “I’m telling Denim how he got to Equestria, specifically.”

My heart rate doubled. “I’m listening,” I said.

“Buck this, I’m not,” stated Rainbow Dash. She kicked the door as hard as she could, but it didn’t even shake.

“Magic shield,” laughed Cream Soda. “And you are listening, whether you like it or not.” Cream picked up Rainbow in a green field of magic and forced her down next to me.

“Now Denim, for starters, you are a changeling.”

Wait. What?!

“Okay, so riddle me this: if I’m a changeling, how come Chrysalis wanted to torture me to reveal the location of the Rainbow Factory?”

“Because once you began living the life of a pony, you started to think yourself to be this pony, and lost your allegiance to the changeling queen. She needed to torture you because you were so convinced that Chrysalis was the “bad guy” that you wouldn’t say anything.”

“But it’s true!” I shouted. “She really is the villain!”

“Yea, you tell her Denim!” said Rainbow Dash.

“Why not try to convince me?” I continued. “The proof that she’s the villain is that she didn’t try to ease me back into her little changeling circle, she broke my wings trying to coerce the truth out of me!”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” replied Cream Soda, boredly. “Now, can I continue my story without interruption?”

Rainbow and I nodded reluctantly.

“So, Denim, you are a changeling, with the unique ability to transform into anything you want to.”

“Can’t all changelings do that?” I pointed out.

“No, you don’t get it. All changelings can turn into a pony that they see. Denim on the other hand, can turn into any pony he can come up with. You get it now?”

I nodded.

“So, you did that and became more the identity of the pony you turned into, and gradually lost your love for the great queen.”

“Yes, yes, we’ve established that,” said Rainbow Dash. “Move along.”

Cream glared at her for a second, and continued the tale. “When you did that, Chrysalis did try to coax the truth out of you, but you weren’t… compliant to say the least. So, she had no other choice but to torture you.”

“The truth about what?”

“The secrets of the Rainbow Factory,” Cream grinned cruelly at Rainbow Dash. “All of them. And you sang like a bird.”

My stomach did a backflip and landed somewhere around my heart. Rainbow Dash turned her gaze towards me. The gaze mixed anger and distrust into one.

“Hold on,” I said. “Hold on a second…,” I searched my recently re-acquired thoughts for memories of having been a changeling, or having served under Chrysalis, or… anything really to do with the changelings, period. “You’re lying,” I confirmed. “The only memory I have of the changelings is them torturing the shit out of me, and getting shoved — half-dead — through a portal. Though, where I went after that, I don’t know.”

Cream Soda plastered a fake smile on her face. “Of course not. It’s one of the side effects of a poorly-created Trans-Dimensional Gateway, which Chrysalis did intentionally, so that you would lose your memory. She also created it to be only one-way, so that wherever you were going, you couldn’t come back to Equestria.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked curiously. “And how did I get back to Equestria?”

“I,” Cream paused. “I don’t know.”

Liar.

“Liar!” roared Rainbow Dash. Her expression was horrifying to behold; Rainbow’s pupils were dilated to their maximum potential, showing nothing more than a sliver of magenta bordering a hole of darkness. Her teeth were bared, ready to rip the vocal chords out of Cream’s throat. If she wasn’t trapped in a field of magic, I’m sure things would’ve gotten pretty bloody.

I had had enough of Cream’s deception also, and grabbed the nearest dangerous object ; it was one of those poles that usually holds a bag of a patient’s fluids, complete with 4 small wheels.

Cream flashed a maniacal smile, transformed into a changeling briefly, and before we fully realized it, she teleported away in a blinding flash of light.

Rainbow let out a scream of inpony rage. Without warning, she flew across the room, and pinned me to the ground with one hoof, the other drawn back, ready to punch.

“No! Rainbow!” I pleaded. “You don’t understand! I didn’t say anything!”

Rainbow paused for a second. “Cream Soda said you said everything,” she growled.

“Who cares about her!” I exclaimed, my voice cracking. “She’s a lying, changeling, bastard!”

“Sweet dreams, liar,” said Rainbow, and with one swift knock to the head, I was out.
——————————————————————————————————————————

I woke up to find myself attached to a ball and chain in a lonely dungeon, dried blood running up the side of my head.

“Oh good. The traitor’s awake,” said a male voice.

“Traitor?” I asked quizzically.

“Yes, traitor, and don’t try to act innocent,” the voice ordered.

“What crimes am I suspected of committing?” I demanded.

“Lets see here,” — a ruffling of parchment — “Treason: by communicating with the enemy and giving away confidential information to them…”

“I was being tortured, alright! And I never said anything!”

“Right. That’s what I thought you might say. You are also convicted of murder and rape.”

“Wait. What?” That’s going a bit too far…

“Murder of Dr. Silver Streak and attempted rape on Rainbow Dash. She was the one who brought you in, and claimed to be witness and victim.”

“Silver Streak’s dead?”

“Yes, you should know that. You killed him.”

“Why would I kill him? And what in Equestria would possess me to —?” I couldn’t squeeze the words out. Granted, Rainbow Dash was my friend, even if she threatened to kill me at times. It at least seemed like we were friends. But seriously, I wouldn’t ever remotely dream of doing that. Well. Now, here I am in jail facing crimes that I am completely innocent of. If there’s anyone I would want to murder, it would be that lying bitch “Cream Soda”, or whatever her name really was.

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“Wait, wait. I have evidence against murder.”

“You do? Well, save it for the princesses.”

“The princesses?”

“Yes. Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight. They handle all the severe crimes in Equestria.”

“What’s my sentence?”

The voice was silent for a second. “I don’t know, because you haven’t been tried yet. Execution is one of the possibilities.”

Perfect.

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

I woke up and screamed like my wings had been chopped off. But waking up wasn’t that great either. I was hanging upside down by my hind legs, my fore legs and wings chained to the wall for good measure. The walls of the cell seemed to be naturally carved out, rather than cut and shaped. My cap was gone too. A pony opened the bars to my cell and walked in. It was that changeling again, smiling its maniacal smile.

My eyes narrowed. “You…”

“Yes,” it replied. “Me. It was pretty easy to fool you both into the trap. Oh the queen is going to repay me so handsomely for catching her runaway.”

“I’m not a changeling!” I shouted. “I’m not a bastard like you!”

The changeling cocked its head quizzically at me. “Right. Then explain this to me: who were your parents?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but realized that I had no memory of having parents to begin with. I was furious, but held it inside, letting it bottle up so that when I was free I could pop this bastard’s head off. The changeling shook its head in mock disappointment.

“Poor Denim,” the changeling continued. “You were the pride and joy of Chrysalis’ elites, and now, here you are, deluded into thinking that you’re really a pony. You have no place in their life. Never did, never will.”

Keep it coming, and I promise, when I’m done and free, I will pulverize your brains into mush and splatter them across Equestria.

“What about Pinkie Pie? She loves me,” I said, struggling to keep my voice level. My ear’s temperature was rising with each passing second.

The changeling laughed. “The pink one? She doesn’t know the difference between mare and stallion; she loves everybody. She’ll throw a party for the grouchiest pony — or donkey — in town, they wouldn’t give a buck, and she’d still be fine with it.”

“You’re lying,” I said, my voice cracking, a sign of my temper gone out of control. Hot, angry tears traveled up my face.

“Am I?”

“You’re definitely not telling the truth,” I said defiantly. My head was now ablaze, and I could only focus on one thing: parting this changeling’s head from its shoulders.

“You know what truth needs? It needs to be proven with cold, hard, fact. And everything that I have said cannot be proven for or against it by fact. So, as far as I’m concerned, I’m telling the truth, because you believe me, don’t you, Devin Lockwood?”

The name caused my heart to skip a beat. It wasn’t a pony’s name, or a changeling’s, or a griffon’s, or anybody's in Equestria.

“That’s… that’s my name,” I finally said.

The changeling nodded.

“From… from the human dimension.”

The changeling nodded again.

“Holy…”

“Denim,” the changeling interrupted. “A pile of droppings is probably the farthest thing from "holy" you could get.”

I remembered everything. Everything about my short time in the human dimension, getting back to Equestria, and my life before I went to the human realm. Before I could only remember bits and pieces, but now… Now I had the whole story. My brain was aching and overloaded with data. I struggled to hold on to reality: the changeling smiling evilly in the distance. My anger revived me; gave me new strength and I managed to not faint this time around.

“So,” the changeling began. “Do you believe me now?”

I didn’t. Despite the memory spell and key words or actions that had triggered dormant sections of my mind, everything still didn’t add up. No changelings, or having ever been one. In fact, I do remember not having parents for… for some reason that I couldn’t quite get a hoofhold on. Meh. I’d figure out sooner or later. Just keep trying and stay alive.

I nodded. Anything to keep me alive.

It flashed its maniacal grin. “Good. Now, I’m going to get Chrysalis, and maybe this time you two will talk in a more understanding matter.”

I was still angry. Incensed. Fuming. Furious. Enraged. Pick your synonym. But whatever chances I had at staying alive and/or killing this particular pain-in-the-ass changeling, I’d take ‘em.

I nodded again. And hopefully. I added to myself. Our next meeting will be your last.

The End...?

Author's Note

Biggest cop-out ending. Ever.
I'm so, so, sorry.

The End...?

Chapter 9: Epilogue

Pinkie Pie woke up and stretched. That was a really weird dream. she thought. Might as well add it to my diary.

Twilight had given the pink pony a dream diary as a gift for her birthday. She briefly glanced up at a clock mounted on a wall.

“7:30!” she exclaimed. “I’m late to work!”

Pinkie threw the pencil down and raced out her door.

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

Pinkie Pie stumbled into the kitchen at Sugar Cube Corner. Her coltfriend, Denim, was already there, his eyes fixed on an oven.

“Denim, what are you —“ Pinkie started.

“Shh!” he hissed. “I can’t miss the timer! These cakes call for 7 minutes exactly.”

“Cakes?”

“Yes.”

“Since when do you make cakes?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Since I got tired of making cookies all the time. Thought I’d try a new recipe.”

Pinkie Pie sniffed the air. “Chocolate?”

“Of course,” Denim replied.

Pinkie Pie walked over to where Denim was kneeling.

“500 degrees Fahrenheit?”

“Yes. That’s what the recipe says.”

“Have you ever made these before?”

“No.”

“Denim, you do remember what happened the last time that you made something you never made before, and I wasn’t here to help you?”

Denim winced at the memory. It had taken a week to clean out the oven.

“I’m pretty positive that I have this one under control,” Denim replied. The timer went off, and Denim jumped up, yanked the oven open, and removed the cakes from the oven, setting them on a cooling rack.

“What… what are these, Denim? They don’t look all the way cooked.” Pinkie stabbed the cakes with a fork. Melted chocolate came out of the holes.

“They’re supposed to look like that. They’re called ‘Hot Fudge Sundae Cakes’. As a result, the inside is supposed to be melted chocolate, while the outside is a cooked shell. I hope. You want to try one?”

“Do I!” Pinkie replied excitedly. “They’re chocolate for Celestia’s sake!”

Denim gave her his mischievous smirk. “I suspected as much,” he said, removing one of them from the cupcake pan and placing it in a bowl. “Careful, it’s still hot.”

Pinkie accepted the cake, eyes wide.

“You can eat it, if you want,” Denim said, his voice muffled by a bite of cake. Pinkie Pie gladly accepted his offer and finished the cake in three gargantuan bites.

“That was awesome! You’re really improving, Denim!”

“Thank you.”

Pinkie grabbed and started on a second cake. “What were you doing here so early?”

“Baking.”

“Why?”

“Pinkie, I’ve already told you, I can’t sleep in. Even if it would save my life.”

“Well if you stayed with me —“

“No.” Denim cut her short with a harsh glare. “Pinkie…” he started in a softer voice.

“What? You’re not happy?” she asked harshly.

“Of course I’m happy. It just doesn’t seem right.”

“Oh come on,” she continued in a alluring tone. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“You could get pregnant, and I’d be hated by everypony in Ponyville,” Denim replied flatly. “In the meantime, I’m perfectly happy with just being friends with you. Baking cookies and the such, as well as keeping my morals intact.”

“But, we’re more than just friends, right?”

Denim rubbed the bridge of his muzzle with a hoof, eyes closed tight. “We are.”

“So, why not?”

Denim slammed his hoof on the counter. “Dammit, Pinkie! I love you, I really do.”

“So, why not?”

“Because I love you enough to not —“ Pinkie cut Denim short with a kiss.

“You know what?” Denim said once Pinkie broke free. “Let’s change the subject. What were you doing, getting here so late?”

“You’re not going to believe me Denim,” Pinkie replied. “I had the weirdest dream ever. You see, I was seeing from your perspective, and it all started out in a hospital room….”

Chamomile with the Changleings

Author's Note

(no comment)

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.”