Forty Minute Fantasies

“Hello, Applejack.  How are you feeling?”

AJ stared, fear and pain cutting through mind, at the horror that was talking to her.  Black shell, vicious fangs, holes punched through its legs and wings - the creature was obviously a changeling.  But that pink mane, those brilliant cyan eyes, even if they were double-rimmed now… those magnified the horror, because they went oh-so-true with the gentle voice the monster was using.  “Wha… what’ve they done to ya, Flutters?” AJ managed to bark out hoarsely.

The thing that had once been Fluttershy looked over at AJ.  “Oh, it’s quite interesting, actually.  Tell me, have you ever seen a tarantula hawk before, Applejack?”

“Wha…” A burst of coughing stole AJ’s ability to speak, the straining of her chest muscles tearing at her splayed-out legs, trapped as they were in chains.

In response, the Fluttershy-thing drew a small cup of water out of a nearby bucket, holding it to AJ’s lips.  “Shh… drink something,” it said, softly.  “You’ll hurt yourself if you don’t.”

Despite her own wishes, AJ felt a little bit of the liquid within slip past her teeth, and reflexively she swallowed.   By the taste (or rather, lack of one), the material was just plain water - lukewarm and a bit stale, but otherwise harmless.  Eventually, the Fluttershy-thing pulled the cup away, setting it back down, and came back to kneel in front of AJ.  “Better now?”

Grudgingly, AJ nodded.  “Shy, what does some bird have ta do with-”

The Fluttershy-changeling put its hoof to AJ’s mouth.  “It’s not a bird, silly filly.  Tarantula hawks are wasps.  They capture spiders, and they lay their eggs inside of them.  As the little larva inside grows up, it eats the spider.”  The changeling gave a little giggle, almost perfectly in character for Fluttershy, and AJ felt waves of revulsion running down her back as it did.  “That’s not quite how we do it, but it’s close enough.”

AJ stared, her eyes round and almost bursting out of her skull.  “‘Shy, please, if there’s any of ya left in there, let me go!  I’ll go find Twi and th’ other girls, and we’ll getcha back ta normal, I promise!”

The Fluttershy-changeling traced one chitinous hoof across AJ’s face. “That’s sweet, Applejack, but I don’t want to change.  I’m as much the changeling Sinea as I am the pony Fluttershy, and Sinea doesn’t want to let you go.”  Briefly, the changeling’s eyes went distant.  “Sinea-shy?  Sineshy?  What do you think, Applejack?  Is that what Pinkie would call me?”

“I ’spects she wouldn’t call ya anything, she’d just be cryin’ about losin’ ya!  Please, Flutters!  You’re stronger than this!  You can fight it, I know ya can!”

Slowly, the Fluttershy-thing nodded.  “You’re right, Applejack.  I can fight it.  But I don’t want to.”  She smiled, laying a gentle kiss on AJ’s brow.  “You’ll understand soon enough.”

AJ paled.  “No,” she whispered, “ya cain’t…”

Her words were cut off as the door to her cell opened, and the Changeling Queen from the royal wedding stepped into the room, holding what looked like a squirming lump of dough in her magic.  The Fluttershy thing smiled, turning and bowing to the Queen.  “Hello, mother,” she said.  “May I ask who gets to be Applejack?”

The queen smiled, a true smile rather than a smirk or grimace, and AJ felt her blood run cold at the sight.  “Little Arilus, I think,” said the Queen.  “She’s always been a bit sickly, and having a robust body like that would do her good.”  The Queen waved her hoof toward AJ.  “Would you do the honors, Sinea?”

“Of course, mother.”  Fluttershy-Sinea turned toward AJ, her horn sparking.  “Just relax, Applejack.  Relax for me, and I promise this won’t hurt a bit.”

She was right.  AJ felt no pain as the changeling grub began to eat its way into her.

She floated in a sea of nothingness.  She could feel nothing, she could see nothing, she could hear nothing.  Only memory remained, and even that grew fuzzy, as memories not her own seemed to flow in.  Had she really helped chase through a cavern underground, or was that someone else’s thoughts?  Surely she hadn’t actually kicked a tree so hard it fell on her, right?  Or had she?

Eventually, memory faded into a single slurry, and the world grew completely still.

AJ’s eyes shot wide open, peering out at the shapes around her.  They seemed blearily familiar, although she couldn’t place them, and one of them stepped forward.  “Shh,” it said, a gentle voice she remembered well, “it’s all right.  Do you remember your name?”

AJ concentrated.  AJ, of course… and hadn’t the last part been ‘-jack’?  But what was the A  part?  Memory surfaced, and the word spilled out.  “A… Arilu...jack?  Ariljack?”

The owner of the soft voice giggled, tracing a hoof around the horn on Ariljack’s forehead.  The other form, the larger one, bent down and began to smooth out the wrinkled wings on Ariljack’s back.  “That’s close enough,” it said, a two-toned voice coming lovingly from its mouth.  “My name is Chrysalis, dear,” the owner of the larger form continued, “and I’m your mother.  I promise you that everything else will become clear soon enough.”  The speaker bent down, planting a kiss on Ariljack’s neck.  “For now, though, dear, welcome to our world.  I hope you’ll enjoy it.”