A flurry of blurred images rushed past me as I flew through the air. Blues and greens and grays swept by, but mostly I remembered pink. Screams of terror that may or may not have been my own reached my ears. I was tumbling through the air, but why? What had happened? A sudden impact, a sickening crack and I wasn’t moving anymore. Something jutted into my back as I lay on the ground, the world still spinning. Thoughts of my mother filled my mind as my vision faded.

Fuzzy warmth engulfed me as I slowly returned to consciousness and realized I had been dreaming. The sound of birds singing and voices greeted my ears. Half opening my eyes, I quickly recognized a pink blanket placed over me as the source of the warmth. I had been set down with my back against a tree, a decidedly uncomfortable position to be in with my new body, especially since a part of the plant jutted into my spine. In front of me was a clearing where the ponies that had captured me were searching presumably for some clue as to my origins. In the sky above, visible through the opening in the forest canopy, I saw that the sun had moved enough to inform me that I had been asleep for at least a few hours. A little lower down in front of me on the ground was a little pink cupcake with multicoloured sprinkles.

A sudden realization came to me at that moment: I hadn’t eaten anything since my arrival in Equestria. I should have been starving, but I wasn’t. Did my changeling form do away with the need to eat? While I had little doubt that such a thing would be convenient, it was still a distressing thought. Like many people, I enjoyed eating. It was a pleasurable thing to do, and something I took part in with a frequency that perhaps was less than healthy. Okay, it definitely wasn’t healthy, but I still enjoyed it immensely. What would my life be like if I couldn’t eat?

I reached for the cupcake before me only to realize that I was still tied up beneath this blanket. I growled lightly in frustration. Who would put a cupcake right in front of a man that was tied up? I then knew how Tantalus felt, if you ignored that I actually didn’t seem to feel hunger, and that I had only been kept at arm’s length from my food for a few seconds instead of an eternity, and that I’m in a magical world of sunshine and rainbows instead of the underworld. So, yeah, exactly like Tantalus.

Shaking my head to rid myself of Greek myths, I resolved myself to get to that frosting covered confection. I wasn’t going to be beaten by some ropes and a fuzzy pink blanket. I rocked myself gently forward, only to fall back to the tree trunk with a light thud. I tried again, this time with more force, and was rewarded with a successful departure from my stump. My triumphant grin swiftly fled when I realized that I had no way of slowing my momentum thanks to my limbs being tied up. Braced for impact, I landed rather painfully face first into the cupcake. Not letting this deter me, I stuck out my tongue against the confection.

It was tasteless.

I lay there on the grass in a foreign body of both wrong species and gender, tied up like some beast, tangled in a very feminine blanket, aching from my fall and bondage, and with my face covered in frosting and sprinkles that I couldn’t even taste. I was at that moment the most pitiful thing in existence.

“Hiya, Chancey!” I shut my eyes tight and groaned as Pinkie Pie bounded up beside me. “Are you enjoying your cupcake? Oh, and if you’re done with your nap you should probably give the blanket back to Fluttershy.”

She grabbed onto the edge of the blanket I was now lying on and yanked, which launched me screaming through the air. The sound of an imagined pinball machine and laughter resounded through my skull as I bounced off a nearby tree and fell back to the ground, where I somehow managed to roll back to my initial position face down in mushy cupcake. Through the haze of dizziness and pain, I speculated that only Pinkie Pie could ever have caused such an improbable thing to occur.

“Hmmm...Fluttershy probably won’t like all the grass stains, but I’m sure it was an accident so she’ll probably forgive you! Oh, hey Fluttershy!”

“Are you okay, Miss Chance? That looked painful.” Fluttershy asked, concern etched upon her face. All the events of the past couple of days flashed before my mind as I glared up at the gentle pegasus.

“No, I am not fucking okay!” The two ponies flinched at my outburst. “I have been taken from my home, forced into a body not my own, thrust into a world where everybody sees me as a lying monster, insulted, beaten, imprisoned, tied up and dragged around like cargo! You can take your useless fucking pity and shove it up your ass!”

Pinkie Pie’s jaw was hanging at my tirade. Fluttershy’s lip trembled tremendously and tears coursed down her face. Silence reigned in the entire clearing, broken only by the sound of sobbing. Six pairs of eyes stared at me as the high of rage began to fade and shame took its place.

“Fluttershy...I am so-“ the crying pegasus turned tail and ran away from me, “sorry.” I finished in a whisper.

“I know you’re sad and hurting right now, but that was plain wrong.”

With those words and a frown, Pinkie turned away from me and hurried after her distraught friend. One by one, the other mares turned back to their search until only Rainbow Dash looked upon me, brow furrowed. Soon enough, even she returned to her task and I was left with a crushing sense of loneliness.

With a little effort, I rolled myself onto my side and away from the remnants of the cupcake. While it wouldn’t make all my problems disappear, not breathing through frosting whenever I lay down my head was an improvement. I vacantly stared at a little, white rabbit a few meters away that stared right back at me before hopping out of sight.

Suddenly feeling very drained, I closed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep. Slumber would not come though, no matter how much I wished it. Fluttershy’s crushed face kept invading my mind. Guilt, shame, fear and anger all roiled about within me, making it nigh impossible for me to drift off.

My cycle of self loathing was interrupted when I sensed a presence beside me. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Rainbow Dash looming over me.

“Come to beat me for hurting your friend?”

The limpness of my voice surprised me. It gave off a sense of being resigned to my fate, and upon a moment’s contemplation I realized that perhaps I was. I had just cut myself off from the only ones of the group to show me any real compassion by being a complete jackass. I deserved what was coming to me.

“No.” Her voice was surprisingly quiet, considering who it was and what I had just done. If I hadn’t seen the rainbow mane I might have suspected Fluttershy was talking to me instead.

“Then why are you here?” I asked.

“I...don’t know.”

I let out a deep sigh and laid my head back on the grass. If she wanted to stand watch over the fly trapped beneath her, then so be it, as long as she didn’t start pulling its wings off. Not that I could do much to stop her if she did.

“You really are sad right now, aren’t you?” I slowly nodded at her question, trying to ignore the uncomfortable sensation of grass grinding into the side of my face. “And it’s kinda my fault isn’t it?”

I remained silent.

“It’s just....when I figured out you were the Pinkie Pie at Sweet Apple Acres, I thought that you must’ve been trying to replace my friends. That you were going to hurt them. But you never really did, did you?”

Awkward silence filled the air between us. Dash fidgeted nervously.

“Look, I’m not very good at all this talking and emotional stuff. What I’m trying to say is....what I mean is...” her face contorted with discomfort and she let out a groan of frustration, “I’m sorry, okay?!”

I looked back up at her, a glimmer of hope in my eyes. “You believe me?”

“No, I still think you’re lying. I just think I went too far with how I treated you.”

“Oh.” My hope deflated like a balloon. “So, have you found any of my ‘bug buddies’ yet?” I added bitterly.

“Hey, ah think ah found something!” AJ shouted as if on cue.

“Maybe we have!” Dash grinned and then flew over to where her friends were gathering, leaving me alone again stewing in my desire for freedom from my bondage so that I could join them.

“Hey!” I shouted at them, waiting until they looked my way before continuing. “Ya know, if I really did have friends around here, leaving me alone like this would give the perfect opportunity for them to free me!”

Twilight’s magical field embraced me and I was levitated towards the group of mares, a couple of which looked awfully sheepish over the tactical oversight that I just pointed out to them.

“If you do have friends out here, why would you warn us about that?” Twilight questioned me.

“I wanted to see what you found.” I shrugged as best I could in my dual bindings of rope and magic. “Besides, the only friend I have out here is Pinkie. That is...if she still wants to be my friend after what I did.” I glanced nervously at the pony in question, then to Fluttershy. “ I’m sorry about what I said, Fluttershy. I didn’t really mean it. I just....” My sentence tapered off as I chewed my lower lip.

“No....it’s okay. I understand you’re under a lot of stress right now. I forgive you.” Fluttershy responded.

“If Fluttershy forgives you and you’re really, truly sorry, then I forgive you too. You are truly sorry, right?” Pinkie stared at me accusingly, and I nodded. “Good, then we’re still friends!” The serious demeanor vanished instantaneously, replaced by a big smile and the very Pinkie like action of bouncing in place.

“Ahem!” I looked back to Twilight, who seemed mildly annoyed at the interruption. “Applejack found some hoof prints next to some flattened grass. We think this is where Discord found you sleeping.”

“Hoof prints?” I asked in confusion.

“Yes. One set of muddy prints leading up to the depression in the grass, and then returning back the way they came.” She continued.

“I think we found your friend, Chance.” Rainbow smiled smugly.

My eyes widened at this new revelation. Why would there be hoof prints leading up to and away from where I was? At every turn it seemed like what I thought must be true was being turned on its head. Maybe I really was a changeling all along and I was supposed to be spying on the girls.

“Ha! See that? She’s getting nervous. Your lies are falling apart. Better come up with some new ones.” I felt an ear flicker in annoyance at this rather familiar taunt from Rainbow Dash. I glared at her through narrowed eyes.

“Okay. I’ve met fish that are better kissers than you.”

“That’s not true! I’m a much better kisser than some stupid fish! Wait, I mean....uh...” Dash froze up in embarrassment as she realized what she said.

“Oh please, get a room you two.” Rarity interjected at the expense of the flustered mare.

“Huh?! No, we’re not...I mean....”

Dash’s verbal eloquence continued in the same vein as her previous speech. I bit my lip in an effort to not laugh, something I wasn’t entirely successful at. Rarity suppressed a chuckle herself, while Pinkie made no effort to hide her own giggle.

“If you’re done making fun of Rainbow Dash, maybe you could offer an explanation for these tracks? If this is where Discord found you, then they obviously aren’t yours since they lead away from here. Also, there’s the issue of there being only one set of tracks. Where are yours?” Twilight looked into my eyes seriously.

“How am I supposed to know? I was asleep, remember?”

“She has wings, Twilight. She probably flew.” Rainbow glared at me, having finally regained her composure. I just burst out laughing. “What’s so funny.”

“I can barely walk without falling over, do you really think I could pull off flying?”

“You seemed perfectly capable of running away from the library.” Twilight countered.

“Oh...uh...yeah. But I couldn’t when I first woke up in this body, and I still don’t know how to fly.” This explanation earned me a skeptical look from Twilight.

“Well, we’ve found where Discord discovered you, and there’s no sign of any portal to the human world. I’m thinking that Dash may have been right all along.” Twilight concluded.

I narrowed my eyes at her continued disbelief. An idea came to me, one that I probably should have thought of before when I tried to convince her but for some reason hadn’t. Perhaps I could blame it on my previously sleep deprived state.

“Internet, automobiles, computers, airplanes, mp3 players and cellphones.”

Most of the group blinked at me in confusion, but recognition flared in Twilight’s eyes. A small, triumphant grin spread across my muzzle. She knew what I was talking about, and nobody else had even the slightest idea.

“Uh, Twilight? What the heck did she just say? And why does she seem so smug about saying it?” Rainbow Dash asked of her friend.

“Those...those are all things you can’t find in Equestria. They’re technologies that I saw in the human world.” Twilight responded, not taking her eyes off of me.

“Do you believe me now?” I asked in a deadpan.

“See? I told you Chancey was telling the truth!” Pinkie asserted.

“I...well...maybe?” Twilight stuttered, her brow knitted in an uncertain fashion.

“Maybe? I just listed off half a dozen things that nobody in this world knows about and all I get is a maybe?!

“I find myself in agreement with Chance, Twilight. If she’s not from the human world, how would she know about these things?” Rarity asked.

“Look, when she first mentioned being from the human world I made some hasty assumptions that even Rainbow Dash was able to point out were faulty. I don’t want to make that mistake again.”

“Hey!” Dash objected to the implied insult.

“Sorry, Dash, but you usually aren’t that detail oriented.” She apologized to Dash as she sulked.

“Then how am I supposed to know about these things if I’m not actually human?”

“Well, I did make some very detailed notes about my journey into the human world.” She paused to look me directly in the eye. “Very detailed. I recorded everything about their world that I learned of.”

“And you think that I read your notes?” I spat out in disbelief.

“Maybe, maybe not. They went missing a couple of months ago. I thought I just misplaced them, but...well, maybe they were stolen instead.”

I tried to think of something to say to this. I had thought for sure I’d found a way to convince her I was telling the truth, but here she was squashing that hope. My disappointment must have been plastered clearly upon my face as Twilight spoke again.

“Hey, I’m not saying that you’re lying, I’m just saying that I need more evidence before I can decide either way.”

Pinkie Pie slithered up to Twilight and jabbed her repeatedly in her shoulder with a hoof.

“What?!” Twilight snapped at her.

“Tracks!” Pinkie stated while pointing to said tracks as if that explained everything.

“What about them, Pinkie?” Twilight’s brow furrowed in annoyance.

“They’re totally evidence!” At some point in time Pinkie had put on a Sherlock Holmes like hat and was examining the hoof prints through an oversized magnifying glass. “Maybe if we follow them we can prove Chancey’s innocence!”

“Of course we’re going to follow them! Did you really think I would just drag her away to be banished to the moon without finding more information on who made those tracks?”

“Please don’t banish me to the moon.” I whimpered.

“Well, maybe. You seemed awfully quick to say Dashie was right. Maybe somepony carried her away from the portal and left her here!” Pinkie offered.

“Even if I do believe Dash is right, not that I’m saying I do, but if I did that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop halfway through an investigation. I’m not so irresponsible.” Twilight pouted.

“Well then, what are we waiting for? We’ve got a mystery to solve, gang!”

Pinkie followed the trail at tremendous speed, staring through her magnifying glass as she went. Within moments she had disappeared into the forest.

“Argh! Pinkie! You just...ugh! Here, Applejack, take Chance.”

I felt myself lowered onto AJ’s back again as Twilight chased after Pinkie, followed shortly by the other four mares. I also noticed a white bunny trailing behind us and figured that Angel must have followed Fluttershy into the forest. I was uncertain as to whether I should worry for Angel's safety, or that of the creatures of the Everfree.

The journey was a quiet one, not much conversation was had as my captors followed the trail. I was left with my thoughts, such as the reminder of how soft Applejack’s fur felt on my chitinous skin. Had the owner of those tracks carried me just like this and dumped me in that clearing? Was their fur just as comfy and soft as AJ’s? Was the portal even open anymore? The mirror in Equestria Girls only open for a short period of time, what if it had closed up in these past two and a half days? I’d probably need a warm and soft blanket for comfort. Have I mentioned that Applejack is distractingly warm and soft?

“Did ya just say I’m warm an’ soft?” The mare carrying me asked in a somewhat creeped out tone. Apparently I did mention it.

“Umm....maybe? Like a blanket. You feel good. I mean you’re comfortable! I mean....uh...shutting up now.” My face burned in embarrassment.

“Twilight! Ya think maybe you could carry her with yer magic for a bit? She’s starting to give me the willies.”

“Now you know how I feel!” Rainbow Dash piped in from behind us.

I had to bite my tongue to not say anything. I desperately wanted to explain that I meant it in a completely innocent way, but I knew damn well I’d just shove my hoof into my mouth again if I even tried.

“Stop hitting on my friends, Chance.”Twilight absently scolded me, reminding me of my mother telling me not to pick on my brother for the hundredth time in a day when we were kids. She swung her head back and forth in search of something “Did anypony see where Pinkie went this time?”

Suddenly, Pinkie swung down directly in front of Twilight from above, eliciting a scream from the latter as she fell over in shock.

“I’m right here, Twilight!” Pinkie chirped as she hung from a tree branch. “What are you doing on the ground?”

“I’m harvesting spores for my collection.” Twilight responded flatly, her face a contorted mask of irritation.

“Oooo! That sounds fun! But we don’t have time for that, I found where the trail leads!” Pinkie dropped from her tree.

“Why didn’t you say so?” Twilight glared at her.

“I just did.”

“No, I mean....never mind, Pinkie. Where does it lead?

“A door!” Pinkie proudly exclaimed. Twilight raised an eyebrow at the simple explanation.

“A door?”

“A door.” Pinkie nodded.

Silence hung heavily in the air while the group waited for a more detailed explanation that was not to come.

“Sooo.....are you going to lead us to this door?” Twilight motioned for Pinkie to lead on.

“Oh, right! Follow me!

I had imagined a random doorframe just standing out in the open, maybe with some swirling vortex inside it leading back home, but nothing of the sort was to be had. To be fair to Pinkie, there wasn’t a lot more than a door, so it’s not like she was withholding much information. There was a mound of earth a few meters wide covered with grass and a sort of ramp dug out of one side leading into the ground where the door was. That little depression in the dirt and the simple, metal door were all there was to indicate that it wasn’t natural. Had we approached it from most any other direction we likely wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

I don’t know what it was, but something about that door made me rather uncomfortable.

“Huh.....a door.” Twilight commented upon the obvious.

“Well, duh! I told you there was a door!"

“Yes, Pinkie, I know. I just thought there’d be more to it than just a door dug into the side of a hill. The structure it leads to must be built underground."

“Maybe the door itself is the portal?” I offered, hopeful that it may be true.

“Yeah, right,” Dash rolled her eyes, “I bet we find changelings in there.”

“There’s no telling what we may actually find inside. Give me a second to come up with a plan!” Twilight turned away from our finding, sat down and put a hoof up to her chin as she contemplated. “Okay! I’ve got it! I will stand right over by that tree,” She indicated the location with a hoof, “and Rarity will be on the other side of the door by that other tree. We’ll both stand ready with our magic to counter anything that may go wrong. Rainbow Dash, you hover in the air and get ready to help anypony get out of the way if something is about to hit them. Applejack, you-“

A loud knocking interrupted her and everyone turned to find Pinkie standing in front of the door, one hoof rapping on it vigorously. Twilight’s eyes were wide, her mouth agape, both ears and an eye twitching.

“Pinkie! What are you doing?! I had a plan!”

“I’m knocking, silly! How else do you expect to get inside?”

“But...the plan...you just-“ Twilight was interrupted by the creaking of an opening door.

“Yes? Can I help you?

A unicorn mare with creamy orange fur, yellowish green eyes and a brownish orange mane greeted our troupe. From her positioning in the doorway, I could not make out her cutie mark.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! I didn’t know that anypony other than Zecora lived out in the Everfree Forest! We’re looking for a portal to the human world to send Chancey through, he’s a human! Well, not right now, she’s a changeling right now, but that’s why we’re looking for that portal, so we can send her back home to become a him again!”

The sound of leaves rustling in the breeze was the only thing to be heard for a good while afterwards as the mare just stared at Pinkie.

“What?”

“I said: Hi! I’m Pinkie-“

“I heard what you said, just....what?”

Her eyes darted about those assembled before her and eventually landed on me, all tied up on AJ’s back. A brief moment of panic graced her eyes, but it was gone so quickly I questioned whether I had seen it at all.

“Visage?” She questioned.

“No, that’s Chance!” Pinkie corrected. A cloud of yellow magic engulfed me and I was levitated to the door, nearly knocking Pinkie to the ground. “Hey, watch it! You could have hurt Chance!”

“What did you tell them?” The unstated threat within her whisper was apparent as she glared into my eyes.

“Do you know her?" Twilight inquired with a small measure of suspicion as she watched the new pony confronting her captive.

“I have no idea who you are, please...put me down.” I begged from my suspended position, loud enough for the others to hear.

“You don’t?” The unicorn holding me in her magical grasp tilted her head as I vigorously shook mine. A slight smile graced the edges of her lips after a moment before she addressed the others. “Yes, I do. She’s my friend and has been living with me for quite some while. I don’t recall how long, however. Time has a way of slipping away in this forest.”

“If she was living with you, why was she found in a clearing by Discord and subsequently brought to Ponyville?”

“Discord? You mean the spirit of chaos Discord? Turns the world upside down for his own amusement Discord? Stone statue in the middle of Canterlot Discord? If he’s free, I think you have bigger problems than a little changeling in the middle of the Everfree.”

“Umm....actually, Discord is our friend now.” Fluttershy timidly explained. The new unicorn raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“Yeah, it’s the truth, believe it or not. He’s not what ah’d call good, but he ain’t making too big a mess of Equestria no more. Now if you’d be so kind as to stop avoidin’ the question, why was Chance in Ponyville?” AJ narrowed her eyes.

“Chance? Is that what she’s calling herself? Typical of a changeling, you just can’t trust anything they tell you. Even the friendly ones are going to lie, it’s just in their nature.” Applejack kept glaring at her, not satisfied with how she kept dodging the subject. “Fine, if you must know. I am embarrassed to say this, but I thought she was dead. I left her in that clearing because I needed to get rid of the body.”

“Dead? Why would you think Chancey was dead? She seems perfectly healthy to me!” Pinkie pointed out.

“Yes....I’m quite baffled by it. You see, she has been quite ill for awhile now. I was taking care of her myself since it’s not like I could just bring a changeling to Ponyville for medical attention, she’d have been thrown in prison instead of a hospital bed. I am no doctor, though, and she just kept getting worse until eventually she died. At least I thought she did. I couldn’t detect any life signs, so I just assumed. I suppose it must have been some sort of comatose state, perhaps part of a changeling’s natural methods of fighting off infection.”

“I don’t believe you!” I shouted. None of what she said could possibly be true, I was a human god damn it!

“She claims to be a human from another world and not actually a changeling. Also, she says she doesn’t know who you are. An odd thing for a friend to do.” Twilight pointed out.

“Isn’t it obvious? She’s delusional. The sickness must have taken a serious toll on her mind, maybe even caused amnesia. It’s entirely possible her panicked mind latched onto the idea that she’s one of these...humans, whatever they are. It wounds my heart to think that she doesn’t remember me, but with time I hope to have my friend back to normal. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll take her back. She needs my help right now to get through this.”

“What? No! Don’t let her take me!” I shouted, struggling against the magic and rope that bound me, not that it did me any good. I was levitated through the door and into a plain, wooden entrance hall with two other doors leading out of it. My panic grew as my view of the more familiar mares was cut off. While passing the unicorn I got a glimpse of her cutie mark. It was a box of some kind filled with almonds. A sudden shiver crept up my spine.

“Waaaaaait!” Pinkie screamed, shoving a hoof into the door frame, preventing it from being closed. “I’m her friend! I can help her get through this!” I gave a silent thank you to that crazy pink mare. Better the crazy I know than the crazy I don’t.

“Friend? You?! Are you trying to insult my intelligence? I find her with you, tied up as a prisoner and appearing to have been physically abused and you call yourself her friend?” Anger flared from her, but something was wrong. I could tell that it wasn’t righteous anger over the mistreatment of a friend. I got the distinct feeling that I was nothing more than an object to her.

“Well, I-“ Pinkie began unsteadily.

“Have you even been feeding her?”

“Yes! I gave her a cupcake earlier today!” Her voice had brightened, glad for the opportunity to prove her good intentions.

“A cupcake? A cupcake?!” The unicorn’s ears twitched. She shoved open the door all the way and pulled Pinkie’s face up to her own with her magic, dropping me rather painfully onto the floor in the process. “Visage is a changeling! She doesn’t eat normal food like you or I, she feeds on love!”

Faced with the reality of my mistreatment at her hooves, Pinkie’s eyes were filled with tears. Seeing her so sad only served to make me feel even worse than I already did.

“Oh....” Pinkie sounded crushed and went limp in the unicorn’s magical grasp.

“Please....leave her alone.” I begged of my new captor, who turned her head to face me and merely snorted in my direction before turning back to the pink mare in her grasp.

“With the authority given to me as a princess of Equestria, I demand you release my friend.”

“Princess?” The unicorn stiffened and released Pinkie from her magic.

“Yes, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, former student of Princess Celestia.”

“Oh.” She stood there, processing this change in circumstances and then hastily bowed towards the royalty that was still outside of my field of vision. “I apologize, your highness. I didn’t know who you were. I was unaware that a new princess had been crowned.”

“Even so, your behaviour towards guests has been very much improper.” Rarity chimed in.

“I was just upset over the mistreatment of my friend. I’m sure you could understand that. You were very quick to defend your pink friend here for something far less than what appears to have happened to Visage.”

“Well, I suppose that makes sense.” Twilight conceded.

“Ah don’t trust her. She’s been more slippery than a greased up garden snake.” Applejack interjected.

“Yeah, she hasn’t even told us her name! I bet she’s a changeling. There’s probably an entire changeling hive behind that door!” Rainbow accused. The thus far unnamed unicorn gave out a little chuckle.

“I assure you, I am no changeling, and this is not a changeling hive. I apologize for my earlier rudeness in not introducing myself. I am Nutcase.” I quickly realized that the cutie mark I had seen was a case of nuts. Of course.

“Who in their right mind names their child Nutcase?” I blurted out. Nutcase turned her head to face me, brow furrowed in mild confusion.

“My mother, Almond Acre, she’s an almond farmer west of Baltimare.” She explained in a matter of fact tone. “I apologize again for my rudeness, but I really should be tending to my friend.”

“Hold it!” Nutcase let out an annoyed sigh as the royal order stopped her from closing her door a second time. “Rainbow Dash could be right. I would be remiss if I didn’t explore the matter fully. May we come inside?”

“If you insist. There really isn’t anything of interest in here, though.”

Nutcase opened the door as wide as possible for her guests and casually walked up to one of the other two doors in the room.

“This is the bathroom. If you’d like, you can search it, but there really isn’t much to see.”

Her yellow magical field pushed the door open, revealing precisely what she had claimed would be there. A simple, though somewhat cramped, bathroom with a sink, toilet and bathtub. A couple of the mares entering the home quickly looked over the room, Applejack actually entering into the cramped space for a closer inspection, opening up the cupboards beneath the sink and rummaging through them.

“She’s right, ah can’t see anything weird in here.” AJ confirmed, to which Nutcase rolled her eyes.

“If you’re done searching through my shampoo, we can move on.”

I felt the telltale tingle of magic as I was once again lifted into the air and dragged along as Nutcase passed through the remaining door and into a significantly larger room that appeared to serve the purpose of several different rooms. I was gently laid down on a couch at the opposite side from the entrance and left there. The comfort of the cushions beneath me only brought into sharper contrast the soreness in my limbs from my bindings. I really wished they would remove these. If they did, I could run away from this place.

“This is where I spend most of my time. As you can see, there’s a bed, a kitchen, some books for me to read and a few other knick knacks. It’s a simple life here, but I am content. I was afraid I was going to be lonely with the loss of Visage, but now that she’s back I don’t need worry about that anymore.”

It was true, everything was surprisingly banal. Nothing in this place struck me as unusual or worthy of alarm, and yet I could not help but feel terror as I lay on the couch. I wanted to get away from there, bad. It was as if a tale of terror and anguish was bubbling up through the earth beneath us and contaminating the place. I felt dizzy from the sensation.

“You have a lot of books on changelings.” Twilight observed as she searched the bookshelf.

“When I first met Visage I wanted to learn as much as I could about her kind. Unfortunately, things written about them are horribly mistaken at best, and pure fear mongering calls for genocide at worst.”

“That’s terrible!” Fluttershy gasped. “Why would anypony want to kill an entire species?”

I closed my eyes and tried to block out the overwhelming sense of dread that loomed over me. It was like a cacophony of voices shouting at me to run away as quickly as I could. I shivered, feeling worse with every minute that passed.

As time flew by, I contemplated what had been said since we arrived. Could it all be true? Was I always a changeling? Was my entire past merely a fabrication of a diseased mind and a few stolen documents that Twilight had? Was Nutcase really a friend that had been trying to save me? I was certainly feeling sick. But no, this couldn’t be right. I wasn’t Visage, my name was Chance! Wait, no, I meant Victor. Maybe I really was crazy. A terrible headache had formed and it was making it hard to think clearly.

“Are you okay, Chance?” I opened my eyes to see a concerned Pinkie Pie staring down at me. Her warm, friendly presence helped to steady my own rampaging emotions.

“No.” I whispered, shaking my head. “Don’t leave me here with her.” Pinkie chewed her bottom lip uncertainly.

“But if she really is your friend then maybe it’s best if you stayed here. It can’t be any worse than how we treated you. She can help you get your memories back and then you can be happy again.”

“Look, I don’t know if I’m crazy, or have amnesia or what anymore. I am so confused right now, but there is one thing I know: I am terrified of her. Please, don’t let her have me.” Pinkie stood there, watching me in silence.

“There really isn’t anything here.” Twilight concluded, sounding somewhat disappointed.

“Yes, it’s as if I was telling the truth all along.” Nutcase deadpanned. “Now if you’d be so kind, could you please get out of my home?”

“Just a second, Twilight. She could still be a changeling herself.” Rainbow argued.

“Well, how do you plan on finding that out? Nothing here indicates she is one and I don’t know any spells to detect changelings.” Twilight countered.

“Well, all the changelings we’ve fought before lost their disguise whenever we knocked them out.”

“Rainbow Dash! We can’t just go assaulting random ponies because we think they might be changelings.”

“That didn’t stop you before.” I blurted out, feeling rather peeved at how only now she seemed to have grown a conscience over the matter. Twilight winced at being called out on it.

“If it would convince you to leave me alone, then I agree to subject myself to such a test.” Nutcase’s aggravated voice cut through the room.

“Are you sure?” Twilight tilted her head.

“Just do it.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Twilight’s horn started glowing, building up magical energy for a blast sufficient enough to get the job done. Nutcase tensed up in preparation for impact. Shortly thereafter, a beam of energy struck the unicorn and knocked her off her hooves. She quite firmly remained a unicorn.

“Did it work? Is she unconscious?” Twilight asked tentatively. Dash flew on over and checked.

“Yeah, she’s out cold.”

Applejack brought a glass of water from the kitchen area over and dumped it onto the unconscious mare, who woke up with a groan, then helped her back to her hooves.

“I hope that this clears up any suspicions of me being a changeling.” Nutcase huffed, glaring at the assembled ponies.

“Yes...I’m sorry that it came to this.” Twilight apologized sheepishly.

“If there’s nothing else, would you be so kind as to get out? I have the injuries of my friend. and now myself, to deal with and would like to get to it.”

“Of course. Come on, girls.” Twilight and four of her friends walked towards the exit.

“No.” Pinkie objected, standing obstinately in place. Nutcase put a hoof to her face and growled in frustration.

“Come on Pinkie, we’ve caused her enough trouble.” Twilight tried to coax her friend into leaving, but met with little success.

“I don’t want to leave Chance with her.”

“Pinkie, ah think we really should go. We’ve outworn our welcome. We should leave the nice mare alone, now.”

“She’s not a nice mare, and she’s not Chance’s friend. I’m her friend!”

“You insolent, little, pink bitch! How dare you?!”

“Hey! Nopony talks that way about my friend!” Rainbow Dash ran back into the room to confront Nutcase.

“Girls, please, calm down!” Twilight pleaded.

“She doesn’t like you, so I’m taking her with me.”

Pinkie latched onto me and lifted me up above her head with her front hooves and made an awkward looking two legged dash for the door.

“No! You can’t have her, she’s mine!” Nutcase shrieked.

A blinding flash of light erupted from her horn and flew directly for Pinkie. I tried to brace myself for impact, but the blast was absorbed by a pink, magical, spherical barrier. Pinkie in turn ran into said barrier and fell over backwards, causing me to land awkwardly on top of her.

“Enough!” Twilight screamed furiously, wings flared and horn glowing vibrantly. I noticed that Nutcase was encased in a magical bubble as well.

“Hey, she attacked me!” Pinkie shoved me off of her and glared at the mare in question.

“Pinkie...you tried to foalnap her friend.” Twilight tried to explain.

“Actually...I’d rather go with Pinkie.” I countered.

“Oh....I see.” Twilight’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Why?”

“Because leaving me behind with somebody named Nutcase is insane? Because I’m scared of her? Because this place gives me an over powering feeling of dread? Pick one, just please don’t leave me here.”

“Your fears are unfounded, Visage. It’s just the amnesia talking. I can help you.” Nutcase argued.

“Nu uh! I’m going to help her!” Pinkie gripped me in a tight hug, further banishing the sense of dread I had felt with the warmth of her caring.

“Oh, and do you know how to take care of a changeling?” Nutcase challenged. Pinkie wilted a little, realizing that she didn’t.

“I’m not a pet. I think I should be able to decide for myself.”

“Oh?” She turned her attention to me, triumph in her eyes. “You claim you’re not even a changeling. Do you know how to take care of yourself as one? Do you even remember how to feed?”

Silence. The air was heavy with it as the dreaded realization dawned upon me. My ears splayed back against my skull and I stared into empty space.

“No.” My whisper wasn’t an answer to her question, it was an expression of disbelief and terror. I felt numb at the prospect of either staying here, or starving.

“I didn’t think so.” A smug grin graced her muzzle.

The pink bubbles disappeared. Pinkie squeezed me tightly for a moment and then released me. She said something, but I wasn’t listening anymore. The dread came back at me full force, and with it the dizziness and pounding headache.

The sound of a door closing snapped me out of my self imposed exile into my own mind. I was alone with Nutcase who loomed over me.

“What foals...It’s a good thing that nopony actually knows anything about you changelings or else that never would have worked. Honestly, there’s no way that you would have starved with that pink monstrosity around.”

I grimaced at her mini-monologue but said nothing.

“So, my delectable little insect....Chance was it?” A spark of curiosity filled her eyes. Confusion managed to bleed through the pain in my head.

“But...I thought you said my name was Visage.”

“Oh, it is. Or was, I suppose. So you’re really from another world?”

“Wait, you believe me? I’m really human?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” I shivered at hearing those words again. Unlike when Twilight said it earlier, I felt a distinct coldness in her voice.

“What did you do to me?”

Nutcase ignored my question. Her horn glowed and the sofa I had previously been on skidded across the floor. With a clicking sound, a trap door that had hidden beneath swung open and for the umpteenth time I was lifted with magic that day as she brought me along with her through it.

“Hmm....maybe I didn’t completely fail after all...” She muttered to herself as we descended some narrow, poorly lit stairs. She turned her attention to me, “Were you by chance dead in your world?”

I was taken aback by the unusual nature of her question. “Uh...no?” With a sound of displeasure, she turned away from me again and continued musing to herself.

“That’s unfortunate. At least I have something to work with, but I’ll need to make some adjustments to the targeting portion of the spell.” Her voice was filled with restrained excitement. Despite the seeming disappointment that my response was, a definite bounce was in her step. In contrast to her joy, the sense of sorrow and fear I felt grew only stronger with every step we descended.

“Please....let me go.” I whimpered.

“What? Oh, no, I can’t do that! Where would I be if I didn’t have my little bugs to test on? You’re far too valuable a specimen to just release.”

“Pinkie will come back and save me.”

“I don’t think so.” She snorted in response. “Even if she does come back I’ll just tell her that her mistreatment of you had you in worse shape than I thought, so I sent you back to your hive in the badlands to recover with your own kind. I know her type. The guilt will be enough to stop her asking questions.”

We finally reached the bottom of the staircase, which had gone shockingly far underground. We had passed several flat platforms where the stairs turned the other direction so that we would remain more or less directly under the room above us. Our location was cold and dark, too dark to see anything, even to my eyes which had adjusted to the dim light of the stairway.

“Hey love bugs! I’ve got a surprise for you!” Nutcase called into the room as her horn glowed in the darkness. Soon enough, a series of orbs flared with bright, magical light, nearly blinding me. A couple somewhat familiar types of voice expressed their displeasure

When my eyes adjusted to the new lighting I saw we were inside some sort of cave that had been filled with all sorts of scientific and magical looking equipment. I barely saw any of those though as something much more important caught my eye.

Changelings.

There were two of them locked away within separate cages. Small, metal bands were on their horns and they stared at me with a mixture of shock and pity. As I stared at the two, I felt a cool metal band of my own latching onto the base of my horn. To my surprise, the overpowering atmosphere of dread that had been suffocating me disappeared, leaving behind only my natural feelings of fear. Not that those weren’t substantial on their own.

I was levitated into a third cage beside the changeling farthest from the entrance. Once I was safely locked inside, the ropes binding me were removed and for the first time in hours my limbs were free, even if the rest of my body wasn’t. My hoof instinctively reached up to the band on my horn and found that it was solidly in place.

“She told us you were dead.” The voice of the changeling next to me reverberated through the room.

“Yes...I did,” Nutcase mused, eyeing me like a predator gazes upon their prey. My fellow changelings cast their eyes down, one letting out a dejected sigh.

“Then it would seem that even in death we cannot escape this nightmare.”

Author's Note

Hello all and happy New Years! Now that this is posted, time to go and celebrate the day with my family.