"What were you saying about your mother? Why shouldn't we tell her anything?" Sunset looked at the other girl, noting how much happier she looked now.

"She is an idiot! She doesn't want to hurt anyone and didn't want us gathering food unless the people really wanted to be in a pod. We lie to her, make our food tell her that they really want to be here." For Fizzle Mind, telling the new girl everything just seemed right.

"Well, that's not nice…" Sunset didn't mean to say the words but the moment they were out the other girl had a shocked look on her face. "What… what's wrong?"

"It really isn't nice, is it? I am a bad daughter!" Fizzle flopped down on the grass out the front of the house and started wailing, tears falling from her eyes. "I was only doing what felt right, I was really hungry and those girls tasted so good!"

"Psst!" Twilight had her back to a tree, but was peeking around it at Gel, Sunset, and the strange girl. "Gel, Sunset, is this the place?"

"Twilight! Yes, they are inside, we were just talking to this girl here, Gel said she tried to use some mind whammy on me, but he reflected it?" Sunset felt her head nod to this. "And just now I think I slipped and made her feel sorry for what she did."

"Well, that's not quite the right way for someone to be sorry, but she did do it to herself, so you can hardly be blamed." Twilight looked at the shed that her friend had gestured to. "So in there? Gel, I think you should go first."

Sunset realized two things as Gel flowed off her, there was a lot of him inside her that she hadn't noticed and she was quite naked without him. "Oh… oh no!" Sunset tried to run for a tree but that only drew Twilight, Gel, and Fizzle's attention to her. "Do any of you have spare clothes?"

Pulling off the little backpack she had been wearing, Twilight got out underthings first, then a simple shirt and skirt for the girl. "What? You really thought I didn't plan for everything?" The purple girl pulled a notepad out next, crossing something off it with a smile.

Gel didn't know why he was blushing, he knew Sunset a lot more intimately than just 'looking at her naked', so why did he not want to look at her more? But another part of him made him want to look. When a hand touched his shoulder, the guy still looking down at Fizzle, he realized the internal war between his feelings had won him a victory.

"Thanks for not turning around again." Sunset felt close to the changeling, closer than just giving him a kiss on the cheek would imply, so she gave him one. "Now, my knight in dark armor, are you ready to attack the castle and rescue the fair maidens?"

Gel was lost in metaphor and feelings, he tilted his head and caught Sunset on the lips with his own. A fire of energy roared from the girl and he closed his eyes, enjoying the kiss until she pulled back. "For two lovely princesses I go, wish me luck."

Sunset was blushing to her core, had he really kissed her like that? She looked to Twilight, expecting the other girl to look shocked. Twilight was grinning like a fool at her. What was wrong with these people?

Not wanting to see the reaction to his antics, Gel walked over to the door. Footsteps behind him heralded a fellow changeling. "Uh, what are you going to do in there? What are you?" Fizzle was quite confused and not a little aroused at Gel. A male changeling, he was exotic in all the right ways and when he had flowed his form like liquid she had barely kept in her questions.

"I am going in there to stop all this. Changelings don't need to live like this, you can be nice and still have plenty to eat." The door handle was a bit noisy and it creaked as he opened it.

"Fizzle? Is that you?" A voice inside gave away that at least one changeling was present.

Fizzle lifted a finger to her lips toward Gel. "Yeah, Honeypot, got this new girl, wow is she full of energy!"

Gel smiled at the game, his form changing to match Sunset's again, at least for the most part. He really couldn't get the hair just right. He walked in and felt a hand press to his back, urging him on.

"Oh, she looks delightful, well, into the pod with her and let's get a taste." Honeypot gestured to a pod, inexpertly made and nowhere near as well constructed as Gel would have liked. He hated to think of how badly they took care of their trapped victims.

A new girl walked in, bigger than the others. "Oh, who is this?" Chrysi looked at her daughters, smiling to them.

It was time, Gel decided. "I can only guess how hard it was for you, were you all alone?"

Chrysi froze, this wasn't like the other girls her daughters had brought home. "Uh, do I know you? Where are my manners? My name is Chrysi."

Gel smiled at her and held out his hand. "My name is Gel Pattern, and I have a really crazy story to tell you… also," he turned to Honeypot, "please stop trying to use your mind control on me, it really won't work. If only Twisty had come with me, she could have shown you how to really take a mind over… or not… I don't think more of that would help." Gel let his disguise drop, his form flowing to what this world's changelings looked like.

Chrysi's mind raced as Gel revealed who he was, her hand caught his and was shaking the dark limb numbly. She had so many questions but all of them were fighting so hard to get out that none did.

Seeing the girls of this world who would be Twilight's friends, safely in pods, Gel had to promise to let them out a little later. "First, I am not from this world." He grinned and his form flowed down and forward, into a changeling pony. "This is what I normally look like."

Honeypot stomped a foot on the ground. "Stop it! Stop it! You are not meant to talk to mother, she isn't to know anything!"

The pony looked up at the outburst. "Really now, then I think it is extra important that she does know." Gel smiled and flowed back up into his human shape. "I don't suppose you have tea?"

Chrysi snapped from her stupor and smiled back at the odd creature. "I do, come on inside." She made for the door, followed by Gel and an oddly happy Fizzle.

Glaring at the backs of the strange guy who had come into her world and flipped it, Honeypot had no clue as to what to do about all this. He was probably in there now telling her mother all kinds of crazy things. Crazy things like… the truth.

Gel waited for the hot cup to be put in front of him, taking a sip and sighing. "That is delicious, now, where to start."

"The beginning is good." Fizzle cut in on him, grinning at her joke.

"That is a long time ago and probably not the story that needs telling. Well, let me tell you about my mother, a pony queen named Chrysalis." Gel watched Chrysi's eyes widen. "Yes, like you. She grew up mostly alone, thrust into a position she really didn't know how to handle. It warped her, made her trust only herself."

"She had lots of daughters too?" Chrysi waited for Gel to sip his tea, at least, before asking.

Nodding, Gel gestured to the house around them. "Hundreds, and sons. I am one of those, in case you missed it. But our changeling queen had not a single pony to call her friend, ever. She only had her children and enemies. She grew bitter and angry, she used us to attack ponies who really weren't her enemies, to get food."

Gel held up a finger this time, to forestall questions. "She used her mind control on her children, on us. She made us do things we wouldn't have, she made us bad. A good mare saved me, released me from her grip so that together, we could go and release my brothers and sisters."

"I'm not doing that!" Chrysi was shocked, she only wanted what was best for her children. Dawning realization came to her, they were lying to her and she lied to herself. "They are, though, aren't they?"

"We are." Fizzle admitted her sin and looked down, only to have a finger catch her chin and tilt her head up. "But I am trying to help…"

"And you did help, but Fizzle, you are helping while being mind controlled. You did it to yourself, but it still counts." Gel smiled. "My mother, she couldn't bear to be that bitter and angry queen anymore. She was put in a pod, for a year."

Fizzle looked confused. "What did that do?"

"The pods eat happiness by forcing the victim to relive the memories of happy times. They slowly erode them over time if the subject is forced in this way. Eventually, there are no memories left." Gel took a deep breath and looked at the two shocked faces. "You are going to kill those girls, in those pods, if you leave them in there."

Applejack and Coloratura roused when there was a knocking on the door. "Uh, Coloratura? Your friends say you really should go and get ready!" Starry was almost dancing from hoof to hoof outside.

"Rara, come on girl, you gotta go do a show." Applejack shook her friend a little more, realizing that her stallion-time had ended while they snuggled.

"Huh? AJ? We… oh, my show!" Coloratura was up and racing around the room, lost as to where she was but quickly finding the bathroom to clean up.

"Starry, can you come in and help, please?" Applejack trotted to the door and opened it to reveal the nervous-looking mare.

Seeing the starlet struggling to get presentable, she marched into the bathroom, her horn energizing and retrieving brushes and combs into a regiment of haircare devices.

Applejack stretched and looked at her friend's rump as Starry brushed out her tail. There was a warm satisfaction within her that she had no idea how to interpret. "Must be a stallion thing…"

What should have taken half an hour took minutes, Coloratura trotting out, flicking her long mane and catching her friend eying her in a way that made the performer wish that AJ was a stallion again and that she didn't have a show tonight. "I like that look, remember it for tonight."

Blushing, Applejack fell in beside her friend. "Thanks a ton, Starry! You too, Twinkle!"

"You're welcome!" Starry smiled, it always felt good to help somepony, since she had moved to Ponyville she had found that her help was needed on a daily basis, as opposed to just being another unicorn in Canterlot.

Coloratura stopped and turned. "Where are my manners. Thank you, too." Her smile spread from ear to ear, it felt good to be able to relax and just be nice, as opposed to how she was last time she was here. "Now, I believe there is a crowd waiting for me?"

'Tia and Lulu' had gotten away with their disguise, again. Both were dressed in fashionable clothing, Celestia wearing a huge pink love heart painted into her shoulders, while Luna had a vivid purple one. The bright pink pegasus with them was Twisty, ostensibly named 'Turny'.

Twisty looked around, the crowd in the small town was huge, the trains leading here had been packed for the last day. "How does nopony recognize us?" Celestia and Luna just shrugged. "Whoa, and who is the stud?" Twisty began to push through the crowd, her mares trying to keep up.

Then the lights on the stage darkened and the warm evening was suddenly plunged into darkness. "Last time I was here," a mare's voice began, amplified by magic, "I was a foal. I was everything that is fake in this world and worse, I forgot who my friends were."

Spot lights lit up, showing three fillies on stage, one by one. Then an orange mare, wearing her trademark hat was illuminated next and finally, Coloratura.

Twisty's search for the cute stallion was lost as the voices on stage lifted. She practically melted into place as a dark and light unicorn flanked her. Though not all their voices were perfect and clear, the ponies on stage sang of friendship, love, and how great it was to be yourself. And thanks to one special singer, everypony in the audience felt it too.

"I don't hold it against your daughters. They are just doing what they think they need to." Gel had one hand in Chrysi's and one in Fizzle's. Both mother and daughter were crying. "And I certainly can't hold it against you, you are just trying to do what your daughters need. But I can show you a better way." Gel smiled to them, squeezing each of their hands.

Chrysi looked first to Gel, this strange person-pony. Then she turned her tear-filled eyes to Fizzle. "I am sorry, I wasn't around enough. I just wanted you to be happy."

The reply from Fizzle was unintelligible, she fell against her mother with a tight hug, the sobbing started again.

"What did you do to my sister and mother?" Honeypot looked furious, slamming the door open.

Author's Note

Aww, AJ has a thing for her friend, but her friend has a thing back too, does that make it cheating?

Poor Chrysi, but things seem to be looking up, which is hard for primates to do, I hear...

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