Chapters Piña Colada was already used to the smell of vomit behind the house, even as it mixed with the thick aroma of alcohol and rotting garbage slashed by broken glass. She and her cousin had to clean it up frequently and with Ruby Pinch not feeling well, she would probably have to do it alone this next time.
The lavender filly’s tail sank, the tip sliding on the ground back and forth in thought. She closed her eyes, held her breath, and walked in.
At the sound of active scrubbing, she sighed with relief. The living room still didn’t smell the best, stained and molded in some places but at least there was some lemon-berry scented cleaner in the air. Piña saw her older sister Berry Punch by the sink wearing a bandana on her head as she cleaned the counters. “Oh, hello, Piña! What took you so long this time?”
Piña closed the door and and faked a grin. “Some of my frie—classmates—were doing something silly, and I just had to watch.”
Berry looked over at the young filly’s awkward smile and tsked. “I know that look, Piña,” she said turning to the fridge. “And I know something is troubling you.”
Piña Colada’s smile unstitched into a frown as she walked to the couch and plopped on the side, placing her head on the armrest as her eyes dimmed and mouth scrunched from the pain ebbing throughout her entire body. She heard the familiar sound of a bottle’s uncorking squeak and shut her eyes, listening to the gentle trotting on the living room rug followed by feeling the weight of her older sister sit beside her.
Berry Punch scooped up the filly and readjusted as she laid next to her, stroking her mane with her chin. “Here.”
Piña shook her head.
“Piña Colada ,” Berry gently scolded.
The filly dared to open her eyes. Just as her nose told her, an open greenish bottle of strong liquor greeted her sight. Piña twisted her body away from it and looked up at her sister. “Everything—everything hurts, Berry,” she started to cry.
“I know it does.”
“I’m tired of it. I don’t want anymore. Why don’t you ever ask me what’s wrong? Why can’t we just talk? You think this is the cure to everything! And I’m fed up with me, you, and Pinchy being sick all the time.”
Berry’s motherly face straightened. “Piña, do you know why Pinchy is so sick today? Because she was being stubborn. You can’t go too long without this anymore. Now then Piña, do as I say. Both of us don’t want this, but it’s for your own good, so be a good filly—and drink your alcohol. ”
Piña curled up her lip as Berry pushed the green-glass bottle to her younger sister. The lavender little one pinched her face in defiance and mumbled. “I’m—thirsty. My throat—burns . I want some water .” She waited a few moments as she looked up and sternly finished, “Please.”
Berry began petting Piña’s choppy hair with her left hoof and suddenly slammed it hard on her forehead. The filly yelped and Berry jammed the bottle into her sister’s mouth and tipped it up, using her weight to forcefully pin it between her lips.
Berry whispered loudly with a cough, “This hurts me more than it hurts you.” She rubbed her other arm into her little sister’s stomach, making sure she didn’t try just spitting it all out over the couch she just cleaned. After completely controlling her sister’s movements and waiting a moment, she bowed her head, sighing with satisfaction upon hearing the loud, unwilling gulps. The little one struggled, her tail flicking angry and her arms and legs shifted under Berry’s weight, but it was really no use.
“I’m sorry, Piña. You know I am,” Berry moved around the bottle and kissed her on the spot she had struck. Piña’s eyes went from angered defiance to limp drowsiness. Berry smiled upon seeing her sister give up the struggle and accept her remedy. She picked up the filly and cradled her like a babe as she tipped the bottle back, reducing the forceful flow. The older sibling whipped her head back and looked towards the window at the brilliant-red curtains shading the cruel world within. And on a ledge beside it was a photo of them winning the Sisterhooves Social.
“There’s no use talking about our problems anymore. All we can do is—forget.” She shook her head and looked at Piña, her eyes droopy and face bubbling so she eased the bottle away and petted her. “All better?”
Piña lazily nodded her head.
“Awe, you’re so cute when you’re drunk,” Berry Punch said. She scooted her sister off the couch and poured some of the liquor into a plastic cup. “Here, take this upstairs to your cousin. And try not to spill. And I’ll clean things up outside today, okay?”
Piña took the cup in her mouth and began the unstable walk to her chore.
“And Piña, if she needs anything, you give it to her. Do you hear me?”
“Mhmm.”
Piña made it upstairs without incident, fully realized that she wasn’t her total self. She couldn’t think completely straight, and she knew things weren’t right, but in her stupor, she didn’t care as much. She sidestepped to push the door open.
Ruby Pinch wasn’t in bed anymore. The bright pink filly was hunched upside down beside it, using her magic to bounce a ball against the walls, furniture, and ceiling. Everything was a junk pile of old toys, paper, cans of various drinks, and wrappers to snacks. Piña took a few steps in and heard a loud crunch beneath her hoof. She looked down and stepping to the side discovered a cockroach, which was probably there for the past day or two already.
“Hey Piña,” the unicorn said without moving, “So uh, how was school?”
Piña wiped her hoof on the rug and set the cup down next to her cousin. Ruby made the ball bounce onto her own chest before focusing her magic on the cup, taking a calm, ginger sip. Piña shook her head. “It was fine.”
“How’s Rumble and Jelly Splat?” she asked in-between sips.
Piña sat down next to her cousin. “They’re—they’re fighting over—um…”
“Fine then. I don’t want to know.” She closed her eyes and took another sip. “They’re as good as dead.”
Piña raised an eyebrow and hiccupped. “What do you know?”
Ruby grinned. “Mom was talking about it. We’re going to have another harvest tomorrow. Mom said this Nightmare Night was going to be perfect for the biggest one yet.”
Piña wobbled a bit before shaking her head. “I don’t believe you. We just had one—a few nights ago!” Piña didn’t know how to feel. She was upset, confused, and trying to stay in denial. “You’re toying with me again, aren’t you?”
Ruby shifted over. “No, I’m not. But speaking of toying,” she took multiple gulps to the last of her drink before tossing the empty cup on the floor. “Mom say anything about coming up here?”
Piña raised a hoof and squinted an eye. “Uh—she…”
“Ha! Knew it.”
Piña puckered her lip and lowered her head. “You don’t seem all that—sick. ”
“That’s because I wasn’t,” the light pink unicorn said standing up and and pressing her forehead against Piña’s. Piña tried backing away but stumbled on some toy blocks and fell to her back. “I like the alcohol Mom gives us. It helps a lot. I faked so I could skip going to that crappy school today. You shouldn’t be so stubborn. Accept it all, like me. You’d be better off. Ha! Not like you have any friends or life out of here anyway.”
Piña wrinkled her eyebrows as she looked up at her cousin and pleaded. “Pinchy, please…”
Ruby Pinch gently placed her left hoof down on Piña’s mane and pressed hard to keep her in place. Her cousin winced and gritted her teeth, folded her legs and wrapped her choppy tail over them. But Pinchy used her magic to peel her tail back and force her legs apart. The strength of the Earth filly being under the influence wasn’t enough to resist, while the unicorn felt empowered.
“Come on, Piña Colada! You’re such a baby. We’re lucky, you know, to be allowed to do this together and see what it’s like.” She pressed her muzzle against her cousin’s left cheek and gave it a lick. “I want to use my horn this time.”
Piña’s tearful eyes widened before squinting shut, her whole body shivering. She wanted to shake her head or do something, but her hair was being pulled and yanked. Her only hope was that the alcohol doesn’t make it so bad.
“Girls! ”
The two flipped on opposite sides in heavy breathing at the sharp sound of Berry Punch coming upstairs.
“Girls,” she pried open the door and saw them on the floor of the messy room. “We’re needed. Come on, get ready to go out to the vineyard.”
Bon Bon was in tears. She watched the visions of Ponyville unfold as it degenerated into a burning heap of destruction and chaos. But there under the house was Lyra, thick blood dripping down her arm and pooling on the soot and wood.
She bent down and rubbed the bloody hoof of her dead friend across her forehead, leaving streaks of red across her light green coat and curled cobalt-rosy streaked mane. The screams and crackling flames gently faded and when she looked up and around, there was calm. She stopped and backed away, the vision was gone. There were suddenly nothing but stars.
“What troubles you, my little pony?”
Bon Bon wiped her tears and searched for the source. She looked up at the brilliant constellations of blues and gentle greens and saw Princess Luna. The pony of the night was floating down and landed on an unseen, solid surface as her mane and tail of dark blue and flickering stars bobbed behind. Bon Bon would have bowed politely but she was still overcoming the shock of her dream, and so resorted to sliding into a miserable droop.
Bon Bon tried responding between sobs. “I am sorry you came to me in this nightmare, Princess. I was trained for lucid dreaming and I was doing fine for many years.”
“That is precisely why I am here,” Luna replied with her voice in an echo. “I have not had the pleasure to alleviate you of any nightmare in all the time I have returned to Equestria because it seems you do not have any. What is it?”
“The destruction of Ponyville and threat to my friends should be nothing new,” Bon Bon sniffed her last, stood up, and looked away. “But there is something in the air here, something is going to happen. I can feel it. Something terrible is brewing. Things are just too calm. Something must be happening, and things have already happened.”
“How do you know this?”
“I—I guess I don’t. It’s just intuition. Like I said, even when I do start to have a nightmare, I am trained to recognize and control them, considering my previous jobs and missions. But this time I can’t help it. Something has probably already happened.”
Luna raised her head and looked towards a myriad of doors, each leading to the dreams of a different pony. “If that were true, I should have gotten a glimpse of it through the nightmares of other ponies. But I do agree, Ponyville is quite overly peaceful these past few moons.”
Bon Bon lifted her head and frowned into determination. “But if something is happening, and able to hide from your dream walks, Princess Luna, something must really be amiss. I must do whatever I can to protect my home. My friends. And Lyra. Please understand.”
“I do. It will be Nightmare Night tomorrow, and if anything is to happen, that is the perfect time. Twilight and her friends will be busy at her castle for the celebration. If Ponyville is under threat, they will be there to stop it. But I believe this is something for you to handle quietly. I will see what I can find for you before you wake. But if things are as serious as they seem, there are two battle ponies in Ponyville who can aid you.”
* * *
Swift Blade shot awake and he was out of bed in an instant. His sky blue coat shone in the moonlight piercing the window, showing his red-yellow flash and dagger cutie mark. His thick jet black and cobalt hair sifted around his horn as he twitched left and right. Behind him in bed was the grey wing to a mare still sleeping peacefully. He quietly edged up to the side of the window out of the light and perked up his ear.
Sure enough, there was an unusual clattering.
Swift galloped downstairs and opened the door with his magic. He looked around and was all too ready for a fight. “Show yourself,” he said in a low tone on edge. Movement above caught his eye; the shadow of a pony hanging on the side of his roof who waved at him. With focus, he teleported on the roof above the mysterious pony, legs perfectly balanced. He tilted his head suspiciously at the mare dressed in black below him.
She lowered her hood. It was Bon Bon.
He raised an eyebrow high but did not lower his guard. Being a battle pony, it was his nature and thus, also being not very social, struggled to put a name to the face. “Um—Bon Bon, was it?”
Bon Bon looked left and right. “My alias, yes. I’m special agent Sweetie Drops. There’s not much time to explain, and things need to be kept quiet. I’ve got a hunch something terrible is coming to Ponyville, maybe all of Equestria. But I need battle ponies I can trust that can help me get to the bottom of it. My intrusion was a test of your abilities and you passed.”
She pulled up an Equestrian pendant hanging on her necklace of the two sisters in a yin yang circle. It was made of a rare white gem that had to be forged in magic and to those who had military or special training, it was a sign of top secret missions from the princesses. Swift would otherwise have clearly logical reasons to dismiss the mare. “Alright. What do you need?”
“I’m recruiting you and a lone traveler battle pony named Redeye. Being that tomorrow is Nightmare Night, if anything happens, that’s the time. What little I could pick up was that there was some sort of ‘exclusive’ ritual going on in the Everfree Forest. And on such a night, no pony should be venturing there. Wear a costume disguise that allows you to be equipped with weapons and armor. There will be a drink stand set up by Lyra and Berry by the south road. Meet us there.”
She handed him the pendant, saluted and dropped down from the roof, disappearing into the night with her grappling kit. Off in the distance was a tall, masculine stallion who waved at Swift as Sweetie Drops ran by.
Rarity was having a difficult time assembling costumes for a quarter of Ponyville. She only had a late morning and afternoon left to finish it all, rushing to put last-minute details on various pieces and accessories. As Rarity went back and forth, she attempted to help her customers in her store. Everything would have gone smoothly and organized were it not for one filly in particular.
Silver Spoon held her white-powdered face up high, looking down with lofty eyes at her Geisha costume. “Everything must be perfect.” She smiled wide at the mirrors that surrounded her, noticing a small green speck in her pearly teeth. With a frown she rubbed the spot with her tongue. Looking again she flashed her new grin with satisfaction. Silver Spoon twisted elegantly to the left in a slow twirl to make sure every stitch and hem was in place and to assure it felt comfortable as she raised and lowered her hooves.
But most importantly, Silver checked to make sure that the red flowers with rubies at their center bedazzled in the reflections off of the white and blue hues of her kimono. Satisfied with the outfit she looked on to her hair—she opted to keep her ponytail but had a blue sash woven into it and at the top of her head was a matching blue flower and a ruby at the center. She curled her lip and pouted. “Miss Rarity, I want to see what a red flower looks like in my hair.”
“Coming, darling!” Rarity said running out of breath. She finished the stitching on the leather to a pirate costume, used her magic to levitate a red flower from a table nearby, and brought it over to Silver Spoon. The rich filly had her nose up in the air and eyes shut as Rarity carefully untwisted the ruby from one flower to the other and placed it in her hair.
“Such—elegant attention to detail,” Rarity sputtered with a sweat drop.
The bell door to her shop rang and Rarity was off running again. “Coming!”
Silver Spoon smiled happily and stepped down from the platform. She saw Ruby Pinch walking towards her with a twisted grin while Piña moped by her right. Ruby spoke up. “Everything ready for tonight? You look fab.”
“I am—uh—fab, aren’t I?”
Piña bit her lip. “Sorry Diamond Tiara couldn’t make it to the invitation; she had a reservation at the castle.”
“When I didn’t. I can’t believe it,” Silver Spoon looked forward, “my best friend ditching me for the party at Twilight’s castle. Well, if I can’t be with her in first class, I’ll go somewhere else, first class,” she tipped up her nose and closed her eyes. “Exclusivity.”
Ruby nodded. “Miss Cheerilee will be by your house. She’s taking the foals there.”
Silver Spoon’s eyes popped open. “My mom isn’t coming?”
Ruby Pinch turned to the door. “The other foals aren’t going with their parents. Your mom said she wanted to go to the castle too, but oh, if that’s a problem, I suppose you want your mommy to hold your hoof while you’re second class at the…”
“Humph! Don’t be silly, of course not. I mean, like, what’s the worst that could happen? This is Ponyville isn’t it?”
Ruby grinned as she made her way out the door. “Exactly. We’ll see you there.”
Piña Colada raised a hoof and looked behind as Silver Spoon turned back to the mirror to admire herself in her costume again. With a gulp and a sigh, Piña followed her cousin.
* * *
As the sun began to set for Nightmare Night, most of the ponies in the town were already dressed and moving out to attend parties of the occasion. Miss Cheerilee dressed in a white bride’s gown escorted a group of foals towards the edge of the Everfree Forest down into a vineyard. Apples may have been the staple food of Ponyville, but the vineyard provided much of the growing demand for grapes the ponies in town used.
Jelly Splat’s light green and purple-splashed mane was covered in a wrestler’s outfit and mask, his little red cape flapping in the wind as he bounced along ahead of the group. Rumble as a Changeling was flying just overhead. Trotting to Cheerilee’s left was Silver Spoon in her red-flowered Geisha outfit. Just behind, Noi followed with a wide grin as she wiggled straw-filled fake Pegasi wings tied to her. Next to Noi was Honeydew, a filly unicorn with a coat of her name, red hair brimming her face and a sideways question-mark curled tail. Her blue-green eyes flittered out of the silver-white masquerade mask and silver-frilled dress. This filly however had a frown.
Noi rose an eyebrow. “What’s wrong, Honeydew?” She stopped in her tracks to jump up and down to make her straw wings flap.
Honeydew turned to the side and sighed. “I’s just not being good at this scaring thing. And being new around to Ponyville, well, my’s aunt and uncle thought it best if I’s went to a small occasion where I’s can’t be so clingy.”
Noi didn’t share the empathy, instead continuing to bounce and watch her wings wiggle, as if she were pretending to fly. She started to run a circle around the open field along the road before entering the vineyard. “Where’s your parents?”
“They’s away a lot. My’s dad’s a sailor and mom’s a train stewardess.”
Honeydew felt a bump to the side and closed her eyes in a startle. It was Noi, who giggled. “Oops, I guess I should watch where I’m flying,” Noi apologized. “Well, so long as they love you.”
“They’s do, a lot. My’s aunt and uncle too. Wish they’s be here.”
Noi tipped up her nose as she galloped in place and licked her lips. “Mhmm, that’s good.” It was her turn to be bumped on to the left. It was Jelly Splat. “Well Noi, if you get scared, just come walk beside me.” He stood on his hind hooves and flexed his muscles, though no impressive bulk showed through his wrestler costume.
Noi felt a bump to her right. It was Rumble “the Changeling”. “Don’t listen to that scaredy-cat. I’ll protect you!”
Noi closed her eyes and giggled as she reached her arms around both colts. “Why do you both walk beside me? Jelly Splat can protect me from stuff to my left, and Rumble to my right.” Over her back the two boys gritted their teeth and growled. Just behind them was a disappointed and twitchy Honeydew, curling her lip nervously at every leaf fall and possible rustling.
“I think we’re here,” Miss Cheerilee said putting a hoof to her chin and looking around.
The foals that fell behind moved under the archway past some rusty gates that led into a secluded section that was partly in the Everfree Forest. By now the sun had finally set and only the twinkling of fires made it clear where to go. There weren’t any decorations but considering the landscape and tone, it seemed that none were needed.
A voice faintly echoed through the trees. “Come in, you’re all invited.”
The ponies followed a winding path of small, lit fires until they reached a processing plant shaded by the dense forestation. There was a mess of barrels, stains on the ground, pumps, a few tables, and at the center of the clearing was a machine several times the size of a large wagon. From what they could tell by the torchlights on its corners, it was stained and partly rusted, the green paint peeling in some areas. On one side to their right was a closed ramp with conveyor rollers leading down to what would presumably press grapes and on the other end was a spout large enough they could fit their heads into leading to a deep hole in the ground to their left.
Stepping out from behind the machine was Berry Punch with a twisted smirk, her daughter Ruby Pinch with an evil grin, and young sister Piña Colada looking at the newcomers with sure damnation. But perhaps what may have been most unsettling about them was that they were not wearing any costumes.
“What’s this for, you ask?” Berry Punch tilted her head back to the device. “Sit down, everypony,” she nodded to a table that had some drink refreshments. “Sit and I will tell you.”
Berry Punch took a few steps towards the group, casting her shadow over them as the main torch light over the machine crackled. “Behind closed doors of quiet, old Ponyville, everything isn’t what it seems. Not every pony is who you think they are.”
Silver Spoon yawned as drinks were passed about. Jelly Splat and Rumble both tried giving Noi a cup but she shook her head and whispered, “I’m not thirsty.” They scratched their heads—even with all that running around she was doing, she wasn’t drinking anything. They looked at each other with raised shoulders and turned back to the storyteller.
Honeydew was already shivering and hugging Miss Cheerilee who looked down at the filly and smiled.
Berry continued as her two girls walked around the machine to check it over and prepare it for operation. “I could stand here and tell you about some lame ghost story from long ago or an old mare’s tale, but I’m here to talk about—Changelings.”
Cheerilee frowned as she looked at Berry, wondering if this story, using real enemies that had attacked Equestria, and even Ponyville, was such a good idea. She nudged a juice box to the filly in the masquerade by her side. “Drink this, it might help with any shock.” Honeydew tried to comply as she tipped the straw to her mouth through her silver-white masquerade.
“Though really,” Berry flicked her head back and walked towards the device. “Changelings are dumb, dull things. They can imitate the guises of their victims, but that can only go so far. So one day, Queen Chrysalis came to this vineyard where my family worked. I might have told you that they moved away to some big juicing company while I stayed here with Piña Colada and Ruby Pinch; that my husband had an ‘accident’ while there.”
Berry turned back and smiled, her grin a crooked crack and driving across the whole of her left cheek. She looked over at Honeydew shivering like a rattlesnake tail and bent down, allowing the filly and Cheerilee smell her alcohol-laden breath. “Cover ups and lies.” She moved along the row of ponies. Silver Spoon was more intrigued. “I gave the Queen an offer. My parents had concocted a drink that prevents the dreams of ponies from escaping, and no entry into them could be made.” Upon smelling her breath, Silver Spoon quietly gasped. This story was darkening as quickly as the light drained from the forest.
Noi grinned. “That means no Princess Luna dream walking.”
Berry winked. “That’s right! But we also worked with some ingredients from dear old Zecora to produce a new beverage.” She closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly as she stepped to the side. As Piña hung on a heavy lever and Ruby used her magic on it, they cranked down and the machine activated, gutting, spitting, whistling, and churning. Then after a shattering bang that made Honeydew shriek, a monotonous drone shook the place, the tremors of its grinding moans reaching the ponies.
“A beverage that allows Changelings to not just imitate their victims, but become them. Just imagine!” Berry Punch laughed maniacally to the sky. “A Changeling that knows how their victim thinks and acts. They know much of their history, their livelihood, names, demeanor, and psychology. Even their special talent. Some of the effects only last so strongly for a few years but that’s plenty long enough for the Queen to get her plans secretly in motion. But capturing the rich life essence of a creature requires their mind to be put to the extreme.”
Berry walked up to Rumble and Jelly Splat who were hugging Noi’s fake straw wings. “Do you foals know what a life review is?”
Noi raised an earnest hoof and Berry nodded. The filly was only all too ecstatic. “It’s when your life flashes before your eyes!” She expressed waving an arm. “Happens when you’re really, super scared and something is going to get you!”
“That’s right again, young filly!” Berry walked back over Miss Cheerilee. Honeydew had buried her face and mask into the teacher’s white wedding gown.
“Miss Cheerilee, perhaps you could provide them with—a demonstration?”
Cheerilee looked to the shaking filly to her right. “I don’t know, Berry. Are you sure this isn’t too scary?”
Berry rolled her eyes and walked in close to whisper in her ear. “That’s what I need you for. To pretend to become a Changeling.”
Cheerilee looked at the other foals. “Take care of Honeydew. I’ll go, uh, inspect this thing.” She got up and walked with Berry Punch to the other end, looking at Piña and Ruby trot on a circular treadmill to help crank the machine stronger.
Cheerilee squinted with disappointment as they walked and hissed in a whisper. “Berry! I think this is taking things a bit too far. Even Silver Spoon looks scared.”
The two stopped by the opening. Ruby Pinch got off the revolving treadmill and focusing on a smaller lever by the opening on the side, used her magic to push it up and with it the protective doors quickly slid open. Berry looked at the foals in her little audience and saw Silver Spoon with her mouth dropped open, a bead of sweat running down the powder of her Geisha mask. Honeydew was hugging the grass and burying her face in the ground, her silver-white masquerade mask having come off as it was brushed off. Jelly Splat and Rumble gulped.
“I’m sorry,” Cheerilee said. She looked into the opening at watched large screws hungrily twist against rolling pins, smooth but creaking with reluctance. “It’s alright, children. This is just a wine press. You put grapes in here and the machine turns it into juice on the other side. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Jelly shivered as he pointed to the other end. “T-t-t-then what about that hole?”
“That’s where the barrels would collect the grapes.”
They looked at it and realized that since nothing was there to collect any “concoction” to speak of, the idea was silly.
“Hey, Honeydew,” Jelly said as he tapped on the filly’s shoulder. “There’s nothing in that hole. Even if they wanted to make Miss Cheerilee into a Changeling, everything would just fall and be a waste.”
Honeydew looked up, and stared at the deep empty hole. Black, hole-punched hooves suddenly stamped on the ground around its edge as a buzzing figure emerged with a snarling hiss. She shrieked.
Chp 6 -- Bloody Concoction
Author's Note
You have been given a violence warning...
Chp 6 -- Bloody Concoction
Berry backhooved Miss Cheerilee into the sliding rollers. The train of her white dress and bright pink tail easily caught. She slid slowly and as she tried getting up, she slipped on the rollers and fell with a metallic rattle.
Honeydew was first to scream but the others quickly joined in the high-pitched choir, except for Noi who looked about with wide eyes. Piña Colada saw her old friend Noi and looked away with a frown. Ruby Pinch walked over beside her mom to watch Cheerilee go down.
“We have to help her!” Rumble said. He flapped his wings as hard as he could and slammed into the unsuspecting Berry Punch.
Ruby objected to the attack on her mom. “Hey!” She used her magic to grab one of Rumble’s wings and he stumbled. Silver Spoon was too stunned to do anything, but Jelly Splat tripped over her to reach the unicorn quivering in the grass. “Honeydew! We need your magic!”
“I’s… I’s…”
“NOW! ”
Honeydew stood without further hesitation. Berry was trying to recover from the brave move by Rumble. “Fucking little shit,” she spat. She rolled in the fallen leaves and upon seeing him tried to stamp on him. But Rumble was too quick and was getting ready to fly again. She bit the black backing of his Changeling costume, causing him to jerk sideways into a tree.
Meanwhile, Cheerilee was whimpering as the cranking machine fed on the hairs of her tail. She quivered and frantically slid her hooves to try and get away as she felt the stinging tugs by her hindquarters, but her white dress was being yanked and caught in the rollers, almost tying her down. She had to make it. Her life depended on it. But most of all, the children needed her more than ever. She loved all of her students very much.
Noi appeared on the side and was looking at Cheerilee. Upon seeing the golden filly, the teacher struggled with all the Earth pony strength she could muster, the weaves of her white gown splitting across her back. She reached out a hoof to the filly. Noi reached down and grabbed Cheerilee’s right arm. Then, Noi’s hooves were coiled with a green flame that licked the entire length of her body, peeling away her true visage. A Changeling.
Cheerilee’s eyes widened with fear on seeing the black creature before her, insectile wings buzzing and slithering tongue dripping with saliva that tapped on the teacher’s face. Sucking its gut, the Changeling drained Cheerilee of her love for her students and her strength quickly failed.
The Changeling’s image was thrown from her sight and replaced with an angry Silver Spoon. “Get away from Miss Cheerilee you ugly monster!”
Were she not drained, Cheerilee might have used that encouragement to pull herself free, but she was too weak now. She felt her tail get coiled in halfway and she was pulled in faster. Jelly Splat and Silver Spoon reached down, each grabbing one of her arms and with what little safe space there was to brace against, they pulled. Honeydew tried to grab Cheerilee with her magic but it was no use.
Cheerilee wanted to try her best to be strong for the children. Her right hind leg was first to go under, the coiling, semi-sharp blades of the screws quickly spitting blood. Cheerilee yelped and she tried to frantically buck it with her other hoof, but it slid against a smooth rolling pin section and the hoof broke with a branch-like snap everypony heard. She wailed in response.
“Pull!” Jelly groaned. “Pull!”
Honeydew was crying as her horn sparked and fizzled. “I’s—I’s can’t!”
“Pull! ”
Cheerilee felt the nefarious device coil around her legs and break more bones, ripping tendons and causing such burning tension. Blood was squirting like a pressure fountain and flaying in various places. Her smiling trio flowered Cutie Marks were next, bright yellow faces dripping with staining blood. The machine stalled for a moment, groaned, and began moving at a more determined pace. Two Changelings had emerged to trot on the wheel. Cheerilee’s eyes opened wide and she screamed so loud it hurt the ears of the foals trying to save her.
Her ribcage crunched and blood was freckling the children. As she was twisted to the side, Silver Spoon and Jelly Splat lost their grip. Cheerilee was cranked from being on her stomach to her back like bony meat chunks twisting in a sink disposal, and she was screaming all the way. Cheerilee was being blinded by her own blood as her tears couldn’t swell up enough to wash it away, the remains of her screaming body slick from the gurgling blood so thick the pool emerging on the rollers was stringy black.
Adrenaline and whatever mixture she drank minutes ago helped keep her alive, even as her lungs exploded, shooting warm, sticky and thickly metallic-tasting blood to vomit up her throat and froth from her mouth. Finally, her neck was squeezed shut and her head tumbled against the edge of the blades and rollers left and right. Even without the body, a brain can still process information many seconds, and the last thing she saw reflecting on the blood covering her apple green eyes were the foals crying and gagging. She failed them.
Finally Cheerilee’s pink and blistering-reddened mane caught one of the screwing shears and her skull cracked and splintered before her head collapsed under.
Silver Spoon vomited oily yellow onto the chunky-black red rollers. Changelings appeared behind them. Rumble was pulled by a pair of them when he bit the cord holding his costume together and broke free. But another Changeling swarmed above him and drove him to the ground and stamped on a part of his left wing. He bucked its leg and started running, yelling as he went.
“Most of you, back to the pit!” Berry Punch shouted. “That concoction is going to emerge and the hive needs to be close and strong for it!”
Half the Changelings obeyed but there were two for each of the foals to deal with. Jelly Splat wasn’t going to go without a fight, struggling to forget what he just saw and unable to feel the beads of Cheerilee’s blood on his wrestler mask. But in the scuffle he tripped, falling back face first directly into the screws.
Silver Spoon screamed. “Jelly Splat! ”
Explosions rocked everypony to shock, blindness, and deafness.
Blinding white filled the vision of the foals, and the sound of the clanking machine gave way to a deafening ring. When Honeydew’s sight melted back into view, she found herself staring at Jelly Splat’s legs frantically fidgeting as the front of his body was cracked and splintered into the likeness of his name. But she didn’t hear anything. Her jaw was agape, her breath stopped, her blue-green eyes unable to comprehend if the colt was still somehow alive, like a half-crushed insect’s body refusing to die in its death throws, or if the diabolical system was forcing his legs to twitch the way they did. Soundless, unnatural death.
Chaos was about her, but all Honeydew could do was stand and stare, pupils growing as they drank in the sight of Jelly Splat’s grizzled pieces of bone and soggy meat grind.
Changelings previously hidden within the forest were now running and flying amok, trying to pinpoint the location of the attack. Silver Spoon took the opportunity to try and run away, but one of the Changelings shouldered her. Silver slipped and her red kimono dress snagged in the rollers. She managed to squeak into a yelp.
“No, you fool!” Berry Punch shouted. “She threw up the drink! She’s not ready!”
A grappling hook flew through the air and wrung around Silver. She didn’t argue as to why it was there and ignored the fact that one of the hooks was digging into the weave of her ponytail. She just hung on and tried climbing out, hooves and knees slipping and sliding with gore staining her shiny grey coat now slick with chunky red.
The rope of the cord tightened and there was a tug-of-war between three Changelings, the rollers clawing into Silver’s dress, and whatever lay beyond the bushes. Berry Punch took a needle from a saddle bag on the ground and jabbed it into Silver Spoon’s flank and injected a thin yellow liquid into her. Berry turned to her side. “Don’t just stand there!” She shouted to Ruby Pinch.
Ruby used her magic to try and give the Changelings an edge as Berry Punch grabbed it in her teeth and yanked. Silver Spoon felt her dress tear up and she sank quickly. She felt the smooth rolling pin rake against her right hoof, the machine tasting its next victim.
“Follow the rope!” Berry said with her teeth on the rope. “Use your numbers!”
A ring of two dozen Changelings encroached on the bushes. Three knives sang from them as a unicorn with cobalt colors in the darkness appeared. The blades swung left and right, sawing wings, horns, and sides. A Changeling dove after him on his left and the battle pony jumped up to dodge and he let it slide in the dirt. But there were a lot more Changelings. They ganged up. The sound of Silver Spoon’s wails and screams alerted the rescuers that they were losing another innocent.
A tall, dark grey Earth stallion erupted from the vegetation, his stampede shaking the ground around him and as he threw himself at the Changelings. They scattered like bowling pins, some slashed by the angled blades hooked to his front hooves. He continued running along the line. The three Changelings and Berry Punch didn’t take their chances and dove out of his way. The Earth pony braced his hooves in the ground and began pulling the rope hooked to Silver Spoon and drew away from the jaws of the wine press.
Sweetie Drops shouted. “Foals! This way!”
Rumble tried to fly but his hurt wing and aching side meant he could only half-hop, half-trot his way in an unstable limping hover. Silver Spoon tried her best but fell to the ground under the lack of lower right ligaments. She looked behind and gasped, seeing nothing but a bloody trail painted behind her leading up to what used to be the lower of her right leg.
The great grey stallion Redeye scooped up the bleeding filly and ran.
Honeydew’s lips quivered as she was still staring at the jaws of the device.
Under tears, Silver Spoon yelled. “Honeydew, come on! ”
Honeydew finally blinked but when she turned to run, Berry Punch stood and bit her tail, causing her to trip and fall. Sweetie Drops threw another pair of flashbang grenades as Swift Blade used his magic to throw a cluster of smoke bombs.
The Changelings screed and grumbled as their pony master and three fillies were coughing and gagging. When their senses returned, Berry Punch put her hooves around Honeydew. “They couldn’t have gone far, unless they made a run for it.” She looked at the small Changeling army of dozens in the clearing. “Secure the perimeter of the forest! If they make the clearing, swarm them and bring them back. Capture the battle ponies; they’re the most valuable.”
Hissing and rapid buzzing echoed between the trees as they obeyed their command. One of the captains, marked out with his helmet, approached Berry Punch from behind. “The Queen will not be pleased if I have to send a message about your failure.”
Berry Punch didn’t move or look, instead content to rub Honeydew’s shoulders as she felt the filly’s panicked shivering. “Let’s hope for your sake then that the failure isn’t your fault.” The captain grinned wide barring his teeth.
“It’s hard to see,” Ruby Pinch complained as she squinted. “They could be hiding anywhere out there.” She turned to her mom. “We should do something to draw them out.”
Piña Colada stumbled on her response. “W-we could you know—let her go. Maybe they would go searching for her.”
Berry Punch gritted her teeth and fought back tears before backhooving her little sister’s head into the machine. “Don’t think like that, Piña! If Queen Chrysalis heard you say something like that, she would kill you! Do you understand me?” Berry shouted. “Do you understand me? ”
Piña sniffed as she sank to the ground on her flank and nodded.
“Good. Now,” Berry turned to scan the forest growing quiet as she was continuing to rub Honeydew’s shoulders. “That gives me an idea.” She guided the little unicorn to the jaws of the wine press and nodded to her girls. Piña was still trying to get herself together but Ruby had no issue and began restarting the machine. Upon collecting her thoughts, Honeydew began to sob and cry.
“Oh, sweetie,” Berry said loudly, “why are you crying? Go on, tell everypony.”
“B-b-because,” she sobbed, “I’s, I’s, I’s don’t wanna d-i-i-i-e! ”
“Poor filly,” Berry cradled Honeydew in her arms and sat down slowly with her as she began to pet her on the back.
“I’s wanna to—to go home, please!”
“A cruel joke, now isn’t it?” Berry turned to the captain with a glare. The captain grinned and hissed. Silently from above, there were several Changelings up in the trees, lurking like greedy, hungry bats looking for prey to take the bait.
Under the roots of a great old tree on a hill looking over the scene, Sweetie Drops had a hoof in Silver Spoon’s mouth who was crying as blood pooled beneath her out of what leaked from the stringy remains of her leg. Rumble bit his lip and rubbed it raw as he closed his eyes and buried his face in his hooves. Redeye and Swift Blade took on grim frowns as Sweetie Drops clenched her teeth in anger, looking on to the scene unfolding.
Berry hushed Honeydew whose sobbing became softer and quieter. “Your aunt, uncle, mom, and dad. They love you? A lot?”
“Y-y-yes.”
“That’s very nice. That’s very good. Do you see these two fillies? My daughter and little sister. I love them a lot too. And because of that, I have to do these cruel things. But it’s ok. It’s going to be ok. I’m sorry you had to see all of this. Just a cruel joke.” Berry rubbed the little filly’s red mane with her chin and began to sing softly.
Hush little filly, don’t you cry, Berry’s going to sing you a lullaby. Hush little filly, don’t say a word, Berry’s going to make you a mockingbird.
Sweetie Drops rubbed her teeth on her lower lip to gnawing red as she looked at the sobbing Silver Spoon leaking blood all over the dirt creating a thick, sticky mud. Rumble was crying as well, his face buried in the ground. A flowing river of crimson started to seep around his arm and he pulled up, looking down at the growing puddle.
Sweetie Drops leaned close to the filly’s face. “I need both hooves. Promise you won’t sob and cry too loud.”
Silver Spoon coughed and nodded. The agent removed her hoof and Silver Spoon looked at her with tears streaking down her cheeks. She tugged on Redeye’s saddle bag and he unclipped it allowing her to slip it off of him.
“We need a distraction. Redeye, Swift Blade, can you two hold them off?”
Swift Blade rose an eyebrow and pointed at his cutie mark. “I earned this battling Changelings.”
Redeye nodded firmly.
“Alright, see what you can do. I hope for the best of you two.” She saluted. The two battle ponies crawled out and crept their way through the forest. Sweetie Drops turned back to the bleeding filly. “Silver Spoon, is it?” She began digging through the saddle bag.
The rich filly sniffed hard as she rubbed a hoof under her glasses and nodded. “Yes,” she dryly squeaked.
Rumble wasn’t paying attention to what was being said. He just backed away and scrunched himself tightly against the roots trying to stay away from the growing puddle of Silver’s blood.
“I believe you had an uncle pass away last year, Gold Mine? Alright now listen to me.” She pulled out some wires, a spring, tape, and a hoof-sized army green capsule. Silver Spoon didn’t understand medical things, but she knew enough that the agent was doing something unusual to help her missing leg if that was her intent. Sweetie Drops opened up the capsule and began moving some components around while twisting wires to metallic rings inside.
“I need you to be a very, very brave filly.” Sweetie Drops then pulled out a grenade and carefully threaded one of the wires around it. She put it beside the cylinder and propped it by Silver’s side. Silver Spoon felt the explosive nestle right next to her good right leg. The agent picked up the filly’s front right hoof and placed it on a bundle of the wires. She took a deep breath.
It was then that Silver Spoon realized what she was doing. But she desperately tried to deny it. Push the strongest probability from her mind. She began to quietly quiver, shaking and whimpering. Rumble looked at the two when he realized the bleeding wasn’t stopping, and nothing was being done for it. When he saw the grenade by her side, his eyes widened.
Sweetie Drops tipped her hoof under Silver Spoon’s chin. “Silver—you aren’t going to make it.” Silver Spoon squinted her eyes as tears poured from her even more. “We don’t have a way to stop the bleeding, and you are showing signs of extreme shock, which might kill you if we reach Ponyville.” She looked away and lowered her eyes. “Even if not, Changelings will smell your blood and track us. And I’m sure you don’t want to be subject to that machine down there.”
With her head shivering and glasses rattling, Silver dared to look down at the sloppy, red strings of her upper thigh. She trembled as adrenaline was surging through her to keep her from fainting from pain, sharpening her focus though her tears made it hard to clearly see it all. And she looked back at Sweetie Drops’ face awash in a dreamy waterscape.
Sweetie Drops leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “It will be quick and painless. You have to do this, for your family and for your friends.” Visions and memories of Diamond Tiara crept into Silver’s mind. Laughter, fun, anger, and many regrets she had yet to atone for. “When they find you, pull on these. The grenade and the mine will go off. You won’t feel a thing. Take as many of them with you as you can.”
Sweetie Drops grabbed Rumble, tugged him out of the roots, and put him on her back. The agent turned. “Say hello to your Uncle Gold Mine for me.” After she wiped her face, the last thing Silver Spoon saw was Rumble drooping his lips and waving her goodbye.
She was alone in the quiet darkness. Silver Spoon gulped, doing her best to try and stay quiet, but it was so hard. A coiling, thumping pain seized her chest. She began looking around, trying to distract herself from her bleeding left leg and the explosive by her right. Surely she could somehow get out of this. She pulled her right hoof safely away from the wide loop of cords and with a moan, she rolled to her stomach and began to crawl away.
As she emerged from the roots, she heard snapping and hissing. She held her breath and dared not move. She pleaded inaudible prayers, closing her eyes. She felt a new wave of warmth around her legs. For a moment, she forgot everything and wondered where the tingling sensation and wetting fur was coming from, but then she realized she was peeing herself. The hot steaming urine pumping out of her innocent vagina trickled in spreading patterns down her legs and getting her fine grey, curled tail sopping wet. It felt like she was bathing the sticky blood off of her tail and legs. She could hear Diamond Tiara’s voice. Get up, Silver! Come on, we’ve gotta go! You have to make it back to me somehow!
Then she felt imprints of hoof-steps around her. She felt a tap by her broken leg and tsking. “They left you behind,” Berry Punch said.
Silver Spoon barely opened her eyes. It was over. She cursed herself for not staying where she was, unable to think clearly through the loss of blood. After a few seconds, she tightened her face with dread determination. She began crawling back to the roots of the tree. She could see, under the small light emanating from Ruby Pinch’s horn, the explosives that the two ponies and Changelings could not see.
Berry Punch started laughing. “Oh, you are just the cutest thing. Looks like you have some spirit after all.”
Silver Spoon crawled harder and faster, dragging herself in bloody mud and through the warm stench of her own urine, her lips getting a stinging, acidic, and metallic taste of soggy dirt, and she realized she was still emptying her bladder, producing a warm, flowing sensation across her chest and stomach.
“You can crawl, but you can’t hide,” Berry said.
“Mom, look at her,” Ruby giggled. “She’s soaking, dirty wet! Ewwu! Shouldn’t we clean her before putting her in?”
“We don’t have time for that. I don’t think she’s really going to make it, either. And she’s lost so much needed blood already. Oh well, we can test the new concoction for its purpose.”
Silver Spoon was close. She was so close. She reached out and the cleft of her hoof was rubbing the coiling edge of the wires. She was getting her hoof through the loop when her tail raised and she was being dragged away which caused slurping noises as she was pulled through the mud of her body fluids. The wire tugged and she saw the canister move, but then her grip was lost.
Silver dug her front hooves into the mud of her warm blood and piss, her chin like a plow raking across it as she tried to keep her progress but soon she was fully exposed out in the open. She was surrounded by two dozen Changelings.
“Mockingbird Changelings,” Berry said as she stepping back. “Lap up every bit of blood you can, eat everything.”
After a second of hesitation, Silver Spoon disappeared under the horde. She screamed as one of the first Changelings ripped its fangs into her shoulder. They were gnashing her, ripping patches of fur, peeling her skin, and pulling her mane and tail. Two of them clamped down on her right arm and with a forceful tug-of-war with her body, broke her shoulder with a thunderous snap, broke her elbow, and soon the skin and body were losing the battle as the other Changelings were pulling opposite, turning her body into a filly-sized wishbone. Her arm broke free, and Silver’s glasses were doused in blood and a moment later they came off her nose and were stepped on.
A dozen different forms of pain were gang raping her nerves, molesting her sensations as the Changelings devoured their way into her organs. With an open mouth and her other arm outstretched, the roots of the tree visible the in the sea of Changelings, she mumbled. “U-u-uncle Gold Mine—I’m coming.”
Her head lowered as she gave in to her fate, even as she felt her ribs crack through her stomach and the filthy, hole-punched hooves dug around on the inner lining of her body. She nonchalantly coughed up blood, her eyes droopy as her body was shaking and convulsing under the Changeling swarm’s feast like hyenas on prey, knowing it would be over soon. Her life was over. Maybe she deserved it the way she had lived.
“I wish I were with you, Dia—Diamond—T—Tia…”
Swift Blade turned back sharply to the sound of screaming. “Damn it; they found them! Come on, Redeye!”
As the Changelings were finishing their meal, a burst of blades broke through one of the trees. It split and cracked a moment before falling near the midst of black creatures, causing them to spread out like a flock of shocked pigeons.
“Get back!” Berry shouted. “We can’t risk many of you dying. Wait when they’re weak!”
A haphazard rush of other Changelings trickled in trying to take on the battle ponies a pair at a time. But it required no more than a quick buck or a swipe to dispatch them. Swift tried taking focused glances at the new Changelings. To the untrained eye they would have looked like any other, but these were slightly bigger, heads more wolf-like, had a greener hue to their eyes, and a thinner horn.
Swift ducked under a clumsy dive attack and back-flipped the Changeling to the ground. “The mockingbirds probably have a secondary hive mind. Killing them will destroy the perfect mimicry.”
Redeye nodded and used his mouth to grab one of the downed Changelings by the neck. Spinning around in a circle he catapulted it towards one of the flying mockingbirds. But the horns of two of them glowed, one a green and the other gold, catching their wounded cousin and placing him on the ground. Berry Punch laughed.
Swift Blade grit his teeth and Redeye spat. No Changeling had that kind of initiative or telekinetic power. None except Queen Chrysalis. “Ok then,” Swift mumbled, “easier said than done.” He dug a hoof in the ground. “Way of the Twin Cannons, you know it?”
Redeye was an old warrior, he knew all fighting styles. Without prompting, he grabbed Swift and threw him at one of the larger trees. Swift Blade conjured a greatsword as he jumped against the tree and crashed into the Changelings. As Redeye charged forward the greatsword spun in his path and he grabbed it in his teeth and then sweeping the weapon left and right, cut gashes in several wide trees. As the Changelings tried to fly from the Unicorn and Earth pony, the falling timber impeded their progress. Running on the branches up high, Swift rammed or magically downed those getting away.
Gathered together in a huddled mass, they would be easy prey for Redeye’s blade.
Ruby Pinch dove in the way and shone the light on her horn as brightly as possible. In fear of hurting the filly, the noble battle pony broke off his attack. Swift Blade was able to catch the next branch when he was likewise unexpectedly blinded.
When the two had their sight return, the Changelings had morphed into several ponies. Miss Cheerilee, Noi, Sassaflash, Seaswirl, Fleetfoot, Nurse Redheart, Cloudchaser, and many others.
Swift Blade rose an eyebrow as he conjured three spinning daggers about him. “That won’t help you, unless…”
Redeye shoved Pinchy aside for her protection, lowered his head and charged but came head-to-head with a particularly large white Pegasi—he found himself face-to-face with the strongest pony in Ponyville. Bulk Biceps took on an eerily evil grin before picking up the battle pony and throwing him clean through several trees. Weather ponies grinned as they summoned a storm, taking Swift Blade into a growing tornado funnel as Sassaflash kicked several lightning bolts into the raging whirlwind before they threw him impossibly fast into the ground with a heart-pounding boom.
Berry lifted her daughter back on her feet. “Just imagine what it’ll be like when we get an entire army of ponies and their special talents all over Equestria!”
Redeye winced in pain as he tried standing up but some of his ribs were broken. There was a strong stench of death and urine around him. He struggled to move, opened his swollen, blackened eyes. A grenade and canister to a mine greeted his sight. A swarm of Changelings were upon him, trying to wound and hurt him in preparation for the concoction.
An explosion shook the Everfree Forest, clearing entire patches of trees and throwing Changeling body parts like scattering shotgun pellets.
Screams. Fighting. The explosion. Piña Colada tried to keep running till it all faded; until she was finally left alone in the darkness and silence of the Everfree Forest. She ran until a cliff stopped her from running any further. She crouched behind a cold, uncaring boulder, finding little comfort in the dirt as she curled her lavender tail around herself till the tip fell over her nose. She buried her face in it and cried her heart out.
She let go of many weeks of tears. Her cheek hurt where she was backhooved and her head rang with a raging headache when Berry slammed her into the machine. And most of all, her chest was seized by a heart-gripping pain. Piña coughed as her lips quivered in balling. “I wish—I was dead!”
Piña looked up at the stars twinkling in the distance as they watched her safely in their perches above. Her breathing picked up in rapid pace. As much as she hated to admit it, she badly wanted some alcohol. It seemed the only thing worth living for at all, but also what was needed to live. A vicious cycle. She swallowed hard as she finally seemed to understand her sister but it was not the curse she wanted or chose. She sniffled and crawled her way to the edge of the cliff and peered down the sharp slope.
Surely there was no amount of physical pain she would feel that was worse than this, not even what she could feel after hitting the rocks far below.
She looked up at the stars. “I don’t want to be like Berry Punch,” she told the little lights in the sky as she raised her front right hoof. “So don’t save me.”
Without even looking below Piña gasped as she let herself fall.
Chp 11 -- And Then There Was One
Sweetie Drops didn’t stop at the sound of the explosion. She kept running at a full gallop through the Everfree Forest. She knew she wasn’t going the most direct route but she hoped to reach one of the paths that led between Zecora’s house and Ponyville.
Rumble was on her back trying to hang on, eyes shut tightly trying to suppress tears. He gasped and looked up to see a rustling by one of the bushes ahead. Sweetie Drops didn’t know if she should stop or try and get past it. She narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth with determination, but it was revealed to be Swift Blade. He looked bloodied and bruised, stumbling out with a cough.
“Swift!” Sweetie Drops ran past him and paused a moment. “Are you alright?”
Swift Blade pointed a hoof forward. “The Changelings have the road secured. You won’t make it back that way.”
“If you don’t make it, Swift,” Sweetie Drops said looking back at him, “I need the golden pendent I gave you.”
Swift struggled for words and lowered his head. “I lost it during the fight. I…”
She bucked him hard in the head, knocking him against a tree. She starting running again. “Wrong answer,” she mumbled, “The pendent was white.” Sweetie Drops had to assume that the Changeling was lying about the road. But he could have also been partly right. But either way she had to decide to either hope it was all clear to run through, or slow down to sneak out.
Rumble on her back was slowing her down. She could leave him at Zecora’s, but she felt that he was needed if she were to tell her story to anypony back in town. She could send him to town instead, but in his condition there was less chance he would make it all the way back.
Sweetie Drops considered the sheer size of the forest and realized she might could use Zecora’s house as a speed bump for the Changelings to fruitlessly search through. She diverted from her approach and made her way along some hills till she stumbled by a burrow that was too small for her. She shook Rumble gently to the side and nuzzled him into it.
“Stay here. You should be safe and hard to find. I’ll go to Ponyville and get more help.”
The last thing Rumble wanted was to stay alone, in the dark, in the Everfree Forest while dozens of Changelings were searching for him. But he swallowed bravely and understood. He hunkered down and Sweetie Drops dragged some branches to partly cover the burrow. She saluted him and took off running through the night, running as fast as she dared. Her fur and bodysuit was snagging against burs and thorns, the lone moon and shimming stars her glittering hope of light.
Sweetie Drops realized, with the mockingbird Changelings, anypony in Ponyville could be a Changeling. But all she had to do was get to the house, make sure Lyra was safe, and dream her way to Luna, who could then secretly warn Twilight and her friends. Perfect, her secret identity would be safe, Ponyville would be saved. Equestria would be saved.
She was going to make it.
Berry Punch was trotting with her entourage of mockingbird Changelings in their normal form, looking for the agent, the foal, and her sister Piña Colada.
One of captains flew in front of her with a wide, devilish grin. He snarled a hiss and the mockingbirds looked up at her. Berry glared back and sneered. “What do you want?”
“The Queen is going to be most displeased when she has to hear your pathetic excuse about how you lost the battle ponies, the agent, and the foal.”
Ruby Pinch stepped up beside her mom, closed her eyes, and stuck her tongue out at the captain. Berry took a step forward for a scolding when a taller Changeling appeared in the shadows behind the captain. Ruby Pinch opened her eyes and became filled with fright, whimpering back behind her mother as Berry retracted her steps and shrunk down low. “Q—Q-Queen Chrysalis! How nice,” Berry gulped, “how nice to see you!”
Queen Chrysalis’ spiritless face gave way to a slight eyebrow raise and the grinning captain stepped to the side. “The feeling is not mutual, I assure you,” her voice slithered with echo.
Berry forced a slight grin and tilted her head, raising an apologetic hoof. “I was just fixing to tell your captain that if the agent were found, the damage to the losses could be reversed. Finding her would be…”
The Queen backhooved Berry hard into a tree, leaving Ruby Pinch completely exposed. The filly shivered as she hugged the leaves on the ground. Chrysalis didn’t even bother facing Berry, looking to the side at her mockingbirds. “You don’t even know who the agent is.” Her long, wickedly jagged horn glowed green. The Queen brought a filly about from behind her and set her down gently between herself and Berry.
Piña Colada. And her face was pinched into rage, tears dripping down her cheeks.
The Queen continued. “I found this trying to kill herself over the ledge. I thought it unusual from the distance and—well—saved her. After a chat, I come to find out she knows Ponyville quite well. Unlike you and your pathetic daughter.”
Ruby Pinch was still shaking like a rattle in the dirt as Berry up-righted herself. “W-w-what do you mean?”
“While you and…” Queen Chrysalis could barely remember the name, “Ruby Bitch lived your miserable lives in your house, Piña Colada here was all over Ponyville. She knows who the agent is. And we have a plan for her to make up for your—failure .”
Berry grinned. “Y-y-yes! Yes! Piña, I’m proud of you!” She knelt down to rub Piña on the head but the lavender filly sharply turned, showing the throbbing wound Berry left behind on her little sister.
Queen Chrysalis grinned. “I feed off of love itself, but that doesn’t mean I find breaking hearts amusing.” She caught Berry Punch in her magic, slowly lifting her in the air. “You are going to die , Berry Punch. What little love you have left in you is going to be drained to feed me.”
“You—can’t—do—this!” Berry struggled to speak under the strain. “You need me!”
Berry Punch was dropped to the ground as Queen Chrysalis raised her front hooves and unleashed a sickly laugh bouncing on the trees. “Need you? Pathetic, insignificant, worthless pony! I need you?” She bent low and put her face against Berry’s, staring lustfully into her eyes; Berry’s pupils shrank to beads as her eyes swelled with size, mouth agape, trembling in awe and terror.
“You had been a useful tool but I don’t need you. And it seems this tool needs replacing.”
“P—please! Please, my Queen, you need the potions from Zecora! Your Changelings can’t get them! They can’t make them!”
The Queen frowned and slowly pulled back, flicking her plastic-like tattered blue mane as she turned to the fillies. “Just testing you. Can they?”
Berry curled her bottom lip and buried her face in her hooves on the ground, sobbing. “Yes! Yes! Please—please spare them! And spare me for their sake!” Berry’s eyes were filling with tears as she was rubbing her head into Chrysalis’ right leg.
Piña Colada stepped forward. “I can’t stand it! I won’t put up with this anymore!” She glared at the Queen who, with surprise in her eyes, stepped away. Piña turned to her older sister and looked at her straight in the eyes. “What was it you said to me? That’s right.” Piña turned around and bucked her sister’s nose to breaking, kicked her in the face, and kicked her in the eyes. “Fuck you , Berry Punch! Fuck you, fuck you, fuck— YOU!”
She continued kicking her sister whose eyes swelled black, crying twisting into moans, as Piña raged in a yell with each cracking strike. “Do you—know how—hard it is—not to do—this to you!”
Piña stopped and walked away. Her sister’s alcohol-stained teeth were scattered on the ground, blood pooling from her right eye, and limp, useless jaw twisted in a crumpled heap as blood flowed in rivers around it.
Ruby Pinch didn’t know if she should be scared or angry when Piña walked over to her. “And by the way, Miss Chrysalis—Bitchy doesn’t know how to mix the anti-dream drink, or the concoction.”
Queen Chrysalis licked her lips. “Is that so? Looks like one of my tools hasn’t been properly calibrated. I suppose it can be—recycled.”
“I think she’d make a good mockingbird Changeling,” Piña said with a wink.
Berry looked up and sobbed one last time. “Yoah—woaldn’t—dawr…”
The purple mare was encased in a sickly green glow, same as that as Queen Chrysalis’ horn. “You lied to me, Berry. You failed your test.” A barrel of freshly squeezed wine was pulled up with the same magic, the cork on the end coming off. The Queen grinned. “I hear you have quite the alcoholism, Berry. So here, drink all you want as a reward for being my faithful servant.”
Berry felt the last of her love, for those dead and the two fillies around her, leave her body and with it, any strength she had, weakening as Queen Chrysalis drained it into her own essence. Then, she saw the barrel cover her vision, the contents of several gallons of wine being forced into her broken mouth. Some of it trickled down along her body, staining her fur and dripping off her front and hind hooves, loudly gulping as she did what she could to escape.
Under hot tears, Piña mocked. “How does it feel, Berry, to get a taste of my own remedy? Be a good sister and drink your alcohol! ”
Berry felt her stomach fill past capacity, but her sinuses burned, the alcohol dripping and running into everything. She tried holding her breath, tried to just make it all foam out of her. Maybe if she just survived this, she could be spared? But exhausted as she was, she had to breathe it. Made to pump her lungs full of the burning, red liquid, causing a seizing pain in her chest that overcame the pain of the alcohol washing over her wounds on her face and sizzling, burning mouth. And she knew, as the last tears fell out of her remaining, partially good eye, mixing the salty water with the wine around her cheek, she would die of alcohol overdose even if she did not die from drowning.
Berry Punch made no more sounds, struggling became weaker, fainter, softer, until she was hovering in the air, unmoving as the last of the barrel’s contents was forcefully pumped into her body. The Queen turned aside, thrashing the barrel against a tree and dropping Berry’s body to the ground.
“Mockingbird Changelings,” Queen Chrysalis said. “Our new partner here came up with a good idea. All of you, change into the bloodhound we tested on the first time and sniff out the forest. Also good thing we have a backup in case that agent gets away.”
She walked up to Ruby Pinch who hid her face from seeing the death of her own mother. “Now then. Let’s get this one back to the machine. We have a harvest to finish.”
Sweetie Drops flew open the door to her home and shut it just as quickly, breathing rapidly and sweating profusely, soaking her black suit. She turned to look outside but nopony was around, not even across the street. She glanced up in the sky, and she saw nothing in the lamplights or shadows over the stars. With a hard sigh she nearly collapsed on the floor, removing her mask.
She made it. And all she had to do was sleep. She felt bad about leaving Rumble back in the forest alone, but she knew that was his best chance for survival. She limped her way to the refrigerator and grabbed some gin that had been opened before.
“You’re back?” Lyra asked walking into the room with concern. “I was going to serve some drinks out by the road near the vineyard but you told me to stay here instead.”
Bon Bon gulped a glassful and nodded as she poured another and gulped it down. “For your safety Lyra. Continue to stay in the house and don’t go out. And don’t answer the door; make sure the house seems unoccupied. Something terrible happened.” Bon Bon made her way to the couch and collapsed upon it. “I badly need some sleep.” Bon Bon nestled up against a pillow, doing her best to calm down. Through her exhaustion, she was asleep in no time.
When Lyra saw that she was out cold, she put up the gin and quietly grabbed a meat cleaver from the drawers, revealing an empty vile of what would be the anti-dream drink. Lyra tiptoed her way around the couch to the back of the house into a storage closet. She used her hooves to quietly open the door to reveal another Lyra, tied up and gagged, but knocked out from a head wound. The Lyra Changeling raised the meat cleaver to hack off her horn. The others would arrive shortly to collect the two ponies for the harvest.
The next day, Piña Colada found herself at school. She was exhausted—paying attention was difficult. And it didn’t help that the world around her seemed so fake. When the bell rang, it came almost expectedly, the distant, faint sound not changing her attitude at all. Not even school helped her this time. Without proper dreaming, this seemed like the dream. This unreal reality.
“Ok, class!” Miss Cheerilee said with a beaming, happy face. “Time to go home!”
As the foals got up, Ruby Pinch looked at the students around her with a slick grin. “Heh. I’ll race everypony to the four square zone!”
The foals happily giggled as they partook in the challenge. Piña Colada did not. As the classroom emptied and Miss Cheerilee cleaned the chalkboard, she called out. “Piña. You don’t have to do any homework today. I know you had it rough.”
Piña nodded and moped her way out of school. She saw Jelly Splat, Rumble, Noi, and Ruby Pinch get close in the race and cheer happily. Lyra and Bon Bon spotted her and waved. But Piña just walked by when she was bumped by Twilight Sparkle.
“Oops! Sorry, I should look where I’m going.” The princess was zigzagging her head, moving her eyes from one of three books hovering around her with Spike sleeping on her back. “Such a nice afternoon for a reading stroll. Nightmare Night sure was scary, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” came the voice of Piña’s older sister. “Poor Piña here stayed up way too late.”
“Oh, hello! I haven’t seen you in a while. Excuse me, Berry—Berry…”
“Berryshine! ” the purple pony said with a smile.
“Sorry, I’ve been so busy lately,” Twilight said with a blush and looking back at Spike.
“It’s alright, we’ll stay out of your way, Princess.” Berryshine bowed and scooted Piña Colada to the side. Ruby Pinch waved at them and came to trot along. They made it back to their house without incident.
Piña Colada walked to the kitchen, speaking to her sister and cousin without looking at them. “It’s ok. You don’t have to pretend anymore.” She hung her head with a frown. “I hope the name Berryshine sticks now that you told that to the Princess.”
Ruby Pinch morphed into a mockingbird Changeling as Berryshine reverted into another Changeling. Piña Colada opened the refrigerator and found herself staring at a wall of alcohol. She felt the tinge of pain throb in her body, most of all in her chest, and she shivered.
She was Back Home , looking at The Remedy , having been Recruited by Invitation .
Her Purpose was the Concoction , but she needed Rescue from the Mockingbird Distraction .
And Then There Was One , and she was Alone . The chapters to her story ending—or beginning?
Piña Colada picked up a bottle of whiskey, partly emptied from her older sister’s drinking when she was still around. She knew her purpose. She knew her special talent. She understood her role in the world, twisted as it was. Piña opened the bottle and took a sip, and then a gulp. A lone island and an empty coconut tree flashed into existence on her light lavender flank as she closed the door.
Author's Note
SPECIAL THANKS
School was over. It was time to go home.
Piña Colada looked around the room as the bell rang, her short sifting tail went limp, and her eyes sagged. School was just too short these days it seemed. Miss Cheerilee took notice as she wiped the chalk slate with the underside of her tail. Piña sighed as she turned from her desk and began the longest walk.
Back home.
As the classroom quickly emptied of the other excited students, Cheerilee moved alongside the filly. “Piña, is everything ok?”
She only sighed more heavily in response.
“Is it your cousin, Ruby? She must be really sick staying home today.”
Piña bit her lip. “Yeah.”
“Can I walk you home? Maybe I could talk to your sister?”
Piña just teared up and started running. Cheerilee took on a quizzically concerned look, watching her trot in the wrong direction.
The filly turned the corner between some shops and sank to the ground against the brick, coiling her tail around her right flank and sobbing. Everything hurt, it seemed. Her head, her stomach, her chest, her eyes—school was there was to make it go away, and the few times she had pleasant dreams, they were about school lasting forever.
Piña overheard some laughter and happy trotting of some schoolmates. With her mane scarfed around her neck and nose, she wiped her tears on it and shook her head. With a sniffle she toughened up and once again started on her way—back home. She would have stayed in that spot sometimes to cry herself out, but listening to happy foals excited to leave school would just make it worse.
Noi, Rumble, and Jelly Splat were giggling over their game of hopscotch. Piña watched Rumble and Splat attempting to outdo each other in front of Noi who put on a particularly wide grin watching them. Piña tightened her face, gritted her teeth, and marched over towards them. Noi rolled her eyes upward and teased them. “Gee, I wonder which of you can jump the furthest.”
“I can! ” the green and purple-splashed Jelly Splat shouted. His hyperactivity was practically a special talent, and he bounced off the side of a house and over the all the chalk-etched boxes. He twirled on a hind hoof arms above his head and finished in a gallant pose and bow, but fell over on his finish.
Rumble spat. “As if,” with a running start, he buzzed his wings and performed a tremendous leap but landed only a foot further.
“That doesn’t count,” Splat said stamping his right hoof, “That’s not a jump!”
“It sure was,” Rumble argued, and the two colts went muzzle-to-muzzle, growing in high-pitch.
Noi walked by, flicking her long, wheat golden mane, lowering her eyelids, and rubbing her choppy tail across Rumble. The Pegasi’s wings flittered as her tail moved over them, over his head and over Jelly Splat’s head and back, and his features wobbled behind her trail. She looked behind at the two colts. “I suppose we could call it a tie unless…”
Noi fell hard to her flank. She tried to look up but Piña backhooved her.
Rumble and Jelly Splat trotted over, both equally angry. Splat was first to react. “Hey! Whaddya do that for?”
Piña’s barred her slightly stained teeth, her blue eyes wide, and eyebrows very low. Hot breath splashed Noi’s face as Piña snorted.
Noi looked confused for a moment, but then she perked up with a smirk. As she looked over at the two colts she began to sniffle. “Owe, that hurt!” Noi said bringing an arm over her forehead, “Why ever did you do that for?”
“You know exactly why!” Piña said.
The two colts moved to either side, wrung her arms, and dragged her away. “Leave her alone,” Rumble said, “we were just having our afternoon competition.”
Piña’s eyes welled up. She wanted to hit her friends and tell them to go home. But she didn’t want to hurt them, but she also hated to see them used so.
“Looks like somepony’s jealous ,” Noi said rubbing her cheek.
Piña didn’t change her angered expression and she took to a standoff.
“You two used to be friends,” Splat said as he backed away from Piña towards Noi.
“Yeah, lighten up,” Rumble added as he also stepped towards Noi and helped her up.
Noi lowered her head. “Keep this up, Piña, and you won’t have any friends.”
Piña curled a lip and shouted, “You’re the reason I don’t have any, and won’t have any, and you know it! ” The filly turned her back, on her friends, and on the whole world it seemed, and walked through the ally into the shadow of her home. She gulped and opened the back gate and shut it fast, closing herself off from the world she once knew and loved. Back home.
After a few seconds, Honeydew’s eye widened at realizing those lyrics were wrong.
With a mother’s gentle touch, Berry placed Honeydew on the rollers and began to slowly push her back.
“No—no—please! PLEASE! Oh please, please, please , I’s don’t wanna—don’t—wanna die! I’s… don’t…” As Honeydew’s pleas gurgled into indiscernible sobs, the machine reactivated.
Berry’s puckered lips went limp and her caring face turned stale. At this point, it was nothing more to her than the killing of pesky insects. She mumbled. “If the screams of her dying extra slow won’t force them out, the wailing foals will give them away.”
Upon hearing that, Honeydew’s lips quivered and tears poured from her blue-green eyes. Begging was not going to save her. She felt the the hair to her red tail coil and split, shredding under the churning screws. She screamed in the highest pitch, making sure everypony as far as possible could hear and Piña on the side rammed her hooves in her ears to try blocking it out.
The first pain Honeydew felt was the tightening, coiling tug of her hair at the flank as her tail went under. She couldn’t die, just couldn’t, she wasn’t ready. Honeydew tried using her magic in-between sobbing screams, but in her state of panic, she couldn’t focus enough as her horn fizzled and glowed. Her right leg was ground and split under the coils of semi-sharp blades as her left leg was pumped and compressed by rollers till it buckled into a squeezing pop like a pressurized cork bottle. At feeling a leg go under and the other turning into splitting strings, she wailed and frantically scrapped her front hooves to get away.
Her flank caught the middle where one set of blades and rollers met, her right cutie markless cheek subject to buzzing and flinging into pieces as her left cheek was broken and twisted like pasty, maroon flour. Her body convulsed, and her hooves weren’t running on the rollers anymore, but up in the air. She continued screaming, feeling each side of her body churn, grind, and flatten. Stomach pains she never could imagine were flaring, heart pumping blood rapidly out of her disgorging body, skin peeling back in many places to reveal red and pink muscle fibers unstitching as intestines were entangled on the right side. The left of her chest felt as if kidney, lung, and everything in between were kneaded together like frothing, bloody doe before mixing as one red jelly mass upon the rollers.
Honeydew’s horn was still sparking and blinking even as her shoulders were forced apart under heavy cracking, her screams turning into gurgling spurts as warm blood pumped up through her esophagus and filled her mouth with metallic taste. If she had a stomach left, she would have vomited. The rolling pin and screws battled for dominance over her head until it finally flopped in favor of the rollers. Berry Punch shut an eye and turned away as the filly’s head was squeezed till it burst like a water balloon, flicking blood across Berry’s face.
Berry Punch looked again as the glow in Honeydew’s horn finally died out and it disappeared to follow the rest. Berry nonchalantly picked up a bottle of whiskey and took a few gulps as she looked at the finishing carnage. She turned. “Huh. They probably aren’t nearby.”
Piña was still on the side of the machine, face buried in her arms and legs. “I hate you.”
“What?”
Piña look up. Tears were cupping in her eyelids and ready to roll down her cheeks. “I—hate—you.” She stood up and yelled. “I hate you! I HATE YOU! I hate my own sister!” Piña walked up to Berry and punched her in the leg before falling to the ground and breaking down into a whimpering bawl.
Berry Punch fought back tears of her own, failing to control them anymore. Seeing her little sister like this reminded her of all the good memories they had. She turned to a Changeling. “You, change into Piña Colada.” She grabbed her sister, pulled her up, and slammed her back into the side of the machine. She raised a hoof to punch her hard in the face, yelling rapidly, “Fuck you! Fuck you, fuck you, Piña! ” and she jabbed the wall of the machine, just clipping her right ear.
When the Changeling finished its transformation, Berry Punch hoarsely screamed as she threw Piña on the ground and instead picked up the mirrored visage of her little sister and punched her in the face repeatedly, stamping her hooves on copy Piña’s neck with the unbound rage of an animal. Piña watched herself get pulverized, blood coughing up as her doppelgänger curled into a defensive ball. Piña winced at the sound of crunching bones, hearing her own voice create a blood-frothed squeak for mercy.
Berry picked up the bloody and bone-broken Piña and shoved her face into that of her sister. “Do you know how much I have to fight myself not to do this to you?” She slammed the beaten Piña face-first into the upper part of one of the rolling pins, light pink legs kicking and flailing in protest as her tail was tangled in the rollers. Blood sputtered and kicked up from the face that was being over-polished to the bone. Berry turned back and with a war shout bucked the filly in half, forcing the body to fold in on itself before going into the machine.
She grabbed the awestruck Piña Colada who just watched her older sister take her anger out on her own likeness. She gasped as Berry picked her up and hit her against the side of the machine again. The filly looked into Berry’s truthful, bloodshot eyes and blood-freckled face. “I love you so much, Piña Colada! I love you and I love Pinchy. I loved Mom and Dad, I lo…” she stumbled, unable to even speak her husband’s name.
Berry curled her lips and clenched, “You don’t know hate .” She whispered, “You don’t know how much I hate Queen Chrysalis.” She looked to the ground and picked up her bottle of whiskey. She pressed her front left hoof on Piña’s chest and her hind left hoof on her tail.
Piña curled her lips. “No! No, no, no…”
“A little filly isn’t drinking enough I see. What did you do with the bottle you were supposed to have before we got here, hmm?”
She tried getting the bottle into her mouth but Piña was twisting her head and raking her front hooves in an air-empty gallop to make it as difficult as possible. Piña finally grabbed the bottle and smashed it on the side of the machine, its contents drooling down like dark ichor, staining it. With a hard tug and a lot of pain, Piña yanked her tail out from her sister’s hoof and started running into the forest.
Ruby Pinch’s horn glowed and she put on an twisted grin but Berry put her arm in the way. “Let her go.”
“Huh? But, but what if she tells!”
Berry twisted her face. “She won’t. She knows what the consequences are if she does.”
