Things Changedby EquimortoChaptersOneThe Thing That Should Probably Not BeHarvester of ApplesDamageOne"So what is this thing you wanted to show us?" Rainbow asked, hovering behind Twilight while the group of friends advanced through the castle's corridor. "I told you already, I want this to be a surprise. Besides, we're almost there," Twilight replied. "What do you think it's going to be?" Rarity asked to Pinkie, but the pink pony just mimed the act of zipping her mouth shut in response. "Here we are," Twilight said, stopping in front of a door. She opened it with her magic and invited the others inside the dark room. "Huh, Twilight? This is kind of scary," Fluttershy said. "Surprise!" the purple alicorn exclaimed, turning the lights back on. Before they had time to process what was happening, all the other five ponies were swept up by a colourful blur, and found themselves tackled on the floor, tightly held by something. "Twilight? What's happening?" Rainbow asked. "I'd like to know that too," Fluttershy echoed her. Rarity and Applejack were trying to avoid suffocating, stuck beneath whatever had jumped on them, and Pinkie seemed to be the only one who knew what was happening, giggling to herself and returning the hug. "You can let them go now, I think they need it," Twilight said to the thing. "Girls," she called, after the others had been released, "please say hi to Chrysalis." "Chrysalis? Where?" Rainbow asked, assuming a fighting stance. Fluttershy ducked behind her in fear. "Hem, I'm... I'm here," Chrysalis said, somewhat awkwardly fidgeting with her hooves. "Oh dear, she's... I mean, sorry, you've changed?" Rarity asked. "Twilight, this is wonderful news! How did it happen?" Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. "It's a long story." "I'm sorry I tackled you like that," Chrysalis apologetically said, "it's just that I'd never met four of you and I just wanted to hug you. You all look so pretty, especially the white and the blue one. I like the orange one too, she smells like apples." "Well, you look pretty too," Fluttershy quietly said, cautiously coming out from behind her friend. "Oh, I suppose I should introduce them to you," Twilight said. "These are Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and... Wait, you said you didn't know only four of them?" "Yes. I met the pink one when I first arrived, she came out from behind a book when you left the room." Twilight turned to Pinkie, who was vibrating in place and looked like she was about to blow up. "Pinkie? So you knew about her already?" The pink earth pony took a deep breath. Suddenly all the light went out, and after a couple of seconds they turned back on. The room had been decorated with streamers, balloons and colourful banners, confetti was on the floor, tables filled with pastries had mysteriously appeared and all those present in the room found themselves wearing a cone-shaped party hat. "Surprise!" Pinkie cheerfully announced, "Happy 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, and happy 'You're finally a rainbow moose thing' party!" Twilight was confused. "Pinkie, wha-" "You know I found out Chrysalis was here and so I was like 'we need to have a party to celebrate' but then I realized you wanted it to be a surprise and so I had to stop myself from saying anything so I didn't ruin the surprise and it was really hard andIhadtoforcemyselftothinkaboutsomethingelselikebakingorparitesbutthenthatjustmademethinkbacktothepartyIhadtothrowforhersoIthoughtab-mphh-" The pink pony was promptly silenced by a cupcake Twilight levitated in her mouth. "Twilight?" Rainbow called. The purple alicorn turned to see the pegasus awkwardly trying to decide what she was supposed to do with the reformed Changeling Queen currently playing with her mane. "Hem, Chrysalis?" Fluttershy spoke, "I know you think her mane is pretty, but could you, if it doesn't bother you, let go of my friend?" the pegasus asked, looking at Chrysalis with pleading eyes, "Please?" In response, Chrysalis let go of Rainbow's mane and lurched forward, grabbing the poor squeaking yellow pegasus in another breath-stealing hug. "You're just the cutest thing, you know that?" she asked to the pony held between her hooves and her chest. "Twilight?" Rarity quietly asked, "Is she alright? She seems like something's... wrong with her." "She has amnesia," Twilight whispered in response. "Yep!" Chrysalis said from the other side of the room, "I can't remember anything." "That explains a lot," Rarity said after she'd recovered from the shock of having been heard. "It's a shame Starlight and Spike aren't here," Pinkie commented, "It would be an even better party if we had more ponies. In fact, we should invite even more ponies right now! Just let me-" She was cut off by Chrysalis landing on top of her. Pinkie began to giggle. "Oh, stop, you're tickling me!" "Chrysalis, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, getting closer to the two. "Her mane smells like cotton candy, I wanted to see if it tastes like it too." "Chrysalis, I don't think-" "It does!" the changeling exclaimed, munching on a small patch of curly pink hair. "Well that explains where she puts all the sugar she eats," Rainbow commented. Twilight gave her a sideways glance. "Rainbow, that's not how biology works, you-" she shook her head "-you know what? It's Pinkie we're talking about, you might be right." Rarity was about to ask a question, but it appeared it was now her turn to be examined by the changeling, as she was tackled to the ground, the Queen watching her mane and beginning to ask her a number of questions as to how she kept it like that. "So what are the plans from now on?" Rainbow asked to her alicorn friend. "I'm not sure. It all happened so suddenly, I still can't tell if this is true or dream. I'll probably contact Thorax and ask him some advice. I want to try to make Chrysalis a part of our society, help her find a place where she belongs. I think the first-" A scream interrupted her, and they all turned towards the source. That happened to be Applejack, and the cause was apparently Chrysalis, her mouth currently biting down on the earth pony's mane while her own was being worked on by Rarity. At the sudden influx of attention the changeling slowly withdrew her head from the other's, a couple of strands of hair stuck in her mouth. "I wanted to see if she tasted like apples," she apologetically said. After a few seconds of silence the others began to laugh, and eventually Applejack and Chrysalis joined them. "Next time you should ask before, okay?" Twilight said between fits of laughter. "Okay." The Thing That Should Probably Not Be"Pears." "What did you say?" "Pears," Chrysalis repeated, walking towards Twilight, "it tasted like pears." Twilight quizzically lifted her eyebrows, then turned back with a shrug and went back to cleaning the room. Pinkie's decoration had unfortunately not vanished in the same way they'd appeared, but all the others seemingly had when the party had been over and the time to clean had come. She was focused in her sweeping when she heard someone knock on the door to the castle. "Can I go see who it is?" Chrysalis asked. "Well, I think it would be better if you stayed here and I checked instead," Twilight replied while placing her broom to rest near a table, "after all I haven't officially announced your reformation yet and you might scare some..." Twilight stopped as she realised that the changeling had already left the room. She teleported herself in the corridor and began to run towards the front doors. She was about midway through when a bright flash of light went off in front of her and a unicorn materialised in front of her. "Twilight!" the unicorn screamed as she saw her. Twilight stopped and looked at the other. "Starlight?" she asked. Starlight's breath was ragged, her mane dishevelled, her eyes nervously darting back and forth as she fidgeted in place with her hooves, her body shacking. "Twilight!" she screamed again, grabbing the alicorn's head. "There's a thing in the castle! I wasn't able to see much other than a colourful blur. It attacked us and tried to suffocate me! Now it's focused on Spike, but I don't know how long he'll last. We need to stop it." Twilight shook herself off of her friend's hold. "Don't worry, Starlight, she doesn't mean any harm. She just has a bit of trouble when it comes to meeting others for the first time. But don't worry, she's good." Starlight looked at Twilight with an uncertain gaze, still panting. "Are you sure? Because she didn't seem that friendly to me. And who is she, anyway." "Chrysalis," Twilight replied, smiling. Starlight jerked backwards, startled by the name. She grabbed Twilight's head and began to shake it, staring in her friend's eyes. "Twilight! I think Chrysalis has been hypnotising you! Please, if you're in there, please wake up!" Twilight tore her head away from Starlight's grip. "Starlight, I'm not being hypnotised. There's nothing evil about Chrysalis, she-" "No! It's too late!" Starlight began to speak to herself as she panicked. "She's already fully under her control! Chrysalis must have come here to finally take her revenge upon me!" Starlight lay with her back against a wall, putting a hoof over her forehead. "It's too late, I arrived too late. I need to get out of here, run away before she catches me, or who knows what she'll do to me. I need to get help! Maybe Trixie can-Oh, who am I kidding, I need competent help. Princess Celestia will-Oh, who am I kidding." Starlight rubbed her temple. "I need competent help. Princess Luna will probably be okay with helping me if I tell her that Twilight is in danger. She might even make me a princess if I defeat Chrysalis again." "Starlight, I-" Starlight got back to her hooves and began to rub one of them beneath her chin, thinking. "Yeah, this might be a good chance to finally get those wings. And if poor, poor Twilight were to lose her powers during the battle, then my victory against Chrysalis would be even more important. I just need to make it look like her magic was drained by a changeling and then-" She was interrupted by a new flash of magic, from which Chrysalis emerged, holding the unconscious body of a young purple dragon. "Ah! Don't eat me please!" Starlight screamed as she saw the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis dropped Spike's body and jumped at Starlight, constricting her into a hug. "Chrysalis, this is Starlight," Twilight said. Chrysalis distanced her head a bit to get a better look at the unicorn she was depriving of air. "Starlight?" she curiously asked. She then went back to hugging her even tighter. "Starlight! Celestia said that I had a thing for you! I don't remember anything about it, but if she said it it must be true, so we'll probably be best friends now." Starlight gasped for air. "Help me," she silently muttered out to Twilight, desperately stretching a hoof towards the alicorn. Twilight considered the idea of freeing her, then thought about what the unicorn had been saying. She decided to remain silent for a few moments, but eventually spoke when she noticed that Starlight was about to pass out. "Chrysalis, I know you're excited to meet somepony new, but could you avoid suffocating Starlight?" Chrysalis looked at Twilight, then at Starlight's barely moving body. "Sorry," she sheepishly said, letting go of the unicorn and rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. Twilight offered a hoof to Starlight to help her get up. "Starlight, this is Chrysalis. The new one. I would have organised a proper meeting, but you and Spike came back earlier than expected." Starlight, still trying to catch her breath, turned to the changeling and finally noticed how her appearance had changed, being now much more rainbow-coloured and moose like. Or not, she'd never actually seen a moose, but for some reason she felt reformed changelings looked like moose. Almost as if some otherworldly being of great power and wisdom had once referred to them as rainbow moose things. Obnoxious rainbow moose things. As Starlight had been making those considerations, Chrysalis had slowly moved closer to the unicorn, and was now practically staring at her mane at such a short distance that she could have easily bitten into it. Which, weirdly enough for the unicorn, looked just like what she wanted to do. Starlight gently pushed the changeling away with her magic. "So, she's good now. That's... awesome, really. Can I talk to you in private, Twilight?" she asked, turning to the alicorn as her eyes nervously looked back at the changeling, who was still moving closer despite the fact that she was sitting and that she wasn't visibly moving any part of her body. It was almost like she willed herself forward. "Well, I don't really want to leave her alone, but if you think it's important..." Starlight vigorously nodded. Twilight craned her neck to get a better look at the changeling. "Chrysalis, if I tell you to stay here will you do it?" "Sure!" Chrysalis passionately replied. She then grabbed Spike's still unconscious body. "Can I play with him while you're gone?" "Sure." Twilight walked away and inside the nearest room, followed by Starlight. As soon as they entered the unicorn shut the door behind her and turned to the alicorn. "Twilight, you can't tell me you really trust her! She's Chrysalis!" Twilight smiled. "Oh, Starlight, trust me, if you'd been there in Canterlot to see how things happened you wouldn't doubt her. Besides, everyone deserves a second chance, right?" "I gave her one, and she refused it. Now she's out for revenge!" "Starlight, I think you're overreacting." Twilight placed a hoof over the unicorn's shoulder. "After all, you changed after refusing my first offer, too." "Yeah, and you remember what I did in between those two things, right?" Starlight looked at Twilight, still unconvinced. "Oh, come on, Starlight. Do you need me to get Princess Celestia to write a letter stating that she believes Chrysalis to no longer be of any danger? Because-" "No danger? She almost made me pass out! And look at what she did to Spike." Starlight opened the door and peeked into the corridor, Twilight's head doing the same just above her. Chrysalis was using her magic to repeatedly throw Spike's body forward with his wings outstretched, watching him glide into the air. The process ended with the dragon's body smashing against the floor or a wall, Chrysalis then picking him back up and starting over. Starlight closed the door once more. "No danger?" she asked as she turned back towards Twilight. Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. "Okay. No intentional danger is what I meant to say. But it's not like you didn't do this sort of things when you were my student." "That's exactly the problem, Twilight, she's even worse than I was at pret-I mean..." Starlight began to awkwardly cough, nervously scanning Twilight's features. "What I meant to say is that she's far worse than I was. She's clearly pretending to be reformed, while in reality she plans to gain your trust and use you to surge to a position of power that will allow her to drain away your magic, thus gaining the ability to take over all of Equestria." "Starlight, please, trust me with this one." Twilight shook her head. "Besides, what would she do, anyway?" "Lure you in the middle of a giant power conversion rune designed around Starswirl's principles and reinforced with magic crystals?" Starlight blurted out. She then lifted her hooves up to cover her mouth and began to shift her wide-eyed gaze between herself and Twilight. "I don't think that would work, really." Twilight replied, too distracted by thinking about what she'd just heard to notice the unicorn's distress. "If I can ask, why?" Starlight said after a few moments of hesitation. "The principles were designed with unicorns in mind, and the crystals would likely start to resonate and then interfere with each other. Shards taken from Chrysalis's old throne, however..." Twilight trailed off, losing herself in her own mental calculations and begging to pace around the room while looking at the ceiling and muttering to herself. "Twilight?" Starlight called, but she received no answer. She tried again. She was about to try once more when Twilight startled her. "I got it!" the purple alicorn proudly proclaimed, "I know the perfect combination of runes and artefacts to drain away my powers." "Could you write that down for me later?" Starlight asked. She then turned to open the door, staring out again. Chrysalis was using Spike's body like a small bouncing ball. She supplied for the reptile's natural lack of bounciness by bouncing him off of the ceiling rather than off of the ground. Starlight looked back at Twilight. "Fine, I'll give her a chance." Twilight smiled. They both walked out in the corridor and Starlight walked up to Chrysalis. "I'm sorry for how I reacted before. I would like to be your friend." Chrysalis threw Spike's body away and jumped onto Starlight, once more constricting the poor unicorn with her hug. "Of course! We'll be the best-est of friends!" Twilight gave a worried look to the changeling, slightly nudging her head forward. Chrysalis followed Twilight's look to see her own hooves pressing against Starlight's back, as well as the unicorn's failed attempts at formulating a sentence. She guiltily eased her grip. Starlight drew back, catching her breath, but after a stern look from Twilight she move forward to hug Chrysalis back. Once her head was to the side of the changeling's she moved her mouth to the other's ear. "You better watch out, Chrysalis, this castle has only room enough for one villain pretending to be Twilight's friend." Chrysalis withdrew from the embrace, a worried look on her face. "Oh dear," she said, bringing a hoof to her mouth, "that's a terrible policy. What if someone came in and pretended to be her friend? Does Twilight know about this? We should warn her, I mean, how can she not even be able to trust someone claiming to be her friend in her own castle?" Starlight gave her a perplexed look, tilting her head to the side. "Twilight, did she hit her head somewhere?" "Well, she smashed through a window, and she's been a little clumsy since then." Twilight walked up to Starlight's side. "But she's got nothing but the best of intentions. Isn't that right, Chrysalis?" The changeling did not answer. She was intent on studying Spike's wings. She accidentally dropped one of them over her eyes. She began to turn her head around, confused, and suddenly got up, beginning to move around. She then dashed off and hit a wall, which caused her to fall on her back, her legs curled up on top of her and jerkily twitching like those of a bug that had been turned upside down. Starlight looked on with a puzzled expression. "So, Twilight, what exactly happened in Canterlot?" Harvester of Apples"Come on, please! She needs something to do, I can't just let her stay in the castle. She needs to learn how to do something." Twilight stood in front of Applejack, a pleading smile on her face. Applejack ignored her and kept pulling the boxes behind her through the rope held in her mouth. Twilight pouted, and used her magic to levitate the boxes on to the cart. Applejack dropped the rope and looked at her. "Fine," she muttered. Twilight smiled. "Chrysalis!" she called, "She said yes!" Chrysalis fell out of a nearby tree, hitting the ground with a thud. "Hurray!" she cheered while aimlessly tossing her hooves around, "The orange one has accepted me!" Applejack looked at the sky with a prolonged sound halfway between a growl and a sigh. "Twilight!" Chrysalis called, "Could you please set me back on my hooves?" Twilight sighed, looking at Chrysalis in the loving way a mother looks at her newborn after they've accidentally gotten their head stuck in a hole, and lifted the changeling's body off of the ground to turn her around and set her back down. "Thank you!" Chrysalis said with a smile. Applejack began to walk towards the trees, and Twilight motioned Chrysalis to follow her. "I'll leave her with you then," the purple alicorn said before taking flight and going back to her castle. Applejack kept walking towards the trees, eyes looking at the ground. Chrysalis bounced to her side. "Did you know your mane tastes like pears?" Applejack stopped for a moment, then went back to walking. Chrysalis kept bouncing at her side, and lowered her head to look at the pony's expression. "So?" she innocently asked. Applejack shook her head. She then looked at the way Chrysalis was moving and cocked an eyebrow. Chrysalis looked over herself. "Oh. This?" she asked, pointing with a hoof at the way the other three were bouncing her on the ground. "The pink one taught me how to do it," she explained with a smile. Applejack went back to looking ahead, and the two kept going forward for a little while. "What do you think my mane tastes like?" Chrysalis suddenly asked. Applejack looked at her with a confused expression, stopping. "Do you want to try it?" the changeling offered, stopping as well. Applejack hesitated. Chrysalis had a realisation. "Oh wait, you're right. What if it doesn't taste good?" She put her hoof to her chin and pondered for a moment. "I guess I'll have to try it for myself first." She grabbed a few strands of her mane and put them in her mouth, then began to chew. Applejack looked at her. Chrysalis swallowed. Applejack kept looking. "Weird. It tastes like lychees. Strangely enjoyable." Chrysalis returned to moving forward, this time walking. Applejack scratched her head and then trotted past her, guiding the changeling to their destination. She took a sharp turn to the right, into the rows of apple trees, the changeling following her, and kept walking forward in between the lines of trees devoid of any apple until they finally reached Big Macintosh, waiting for them where the trees began to have apples on them again with some empty baskets by his side. Applejack walked up to him and started to talk to him, as the stallion suspiciously eyed the changeling. After some words quietly exchanged between the two, he sighed in frustration and grabbed some baskets, moving on to a nearby tree and setting them down. Chrysalis walked up to Applejack. "So? What are we doing? Why does the red one look bothered? Has he not accepted me yet? What should I do? I'm here to help, right? So? What am I doing? Am I helping out with the apples? How do I do that? What-" Applejack silenced her with a hoof on her mouth, then pointed at her brother. Chrysalis watched, fascinated, as Big Mac reared on his front legs and hit the trunk of the tree with his back hooves, causing apples to fall down from the branches and land inside the baskets. "Oh..." the changeling commented. "Should I try to do that?" she asked, looking back to Applejack. The orange pony nodded. Chrysalis giggled with excitement as she neared the nearest tree and prepared herself. She gave her back to the trunk, looked back over her shoulder to make sure she was properly aligned, took a few deep breaths, steadied her hooves, hunched forward, frowned in concentration, pushed herself up with her hind legs and, while using her front legs to keep her balance, kicked at the surface of the tree. Nothing happened. Applejack stared at the changeling, unimpressed. Chrysalis stared back, a sheepish smile on her face as her mane partly covered one of her eyes. "Maybe I should, hum... put a little more strength in that?" Applejack pouted and raised an eyebrow. Chrysalis nervously giggled. "Yeah, hum... Yeah. Sorry." Applejack raised her other eyebrow. Chrysalis took another deep breath. "Okay. Here we go. I'll kick it as hard as I can." She pushed herself up again, but one of her front hooves slipped and she stumbled with a gasp. She managed to steady herself again by resting her hind legs on the tree, again without a single apple falling. Applejack rhythmically beat her hoof on the ground, impatiently. Chrysalis gulped. "Okay, here we go." She pushed herself slightly forward with her hind legs, just enough for her hooves to leave the trunk, and then came back to hit the tree. Apples might have fallen that time. Applejack didn't get to see it though. It would have been rather hard to see if anything had fallen from the branches, given the way the entire tree had been uprooted and launched sailing away through the air, leaving a hole on the ground and a trail of broken branches and snapped twigs as it kept flying between the rows of other trees. Big mac stared, his eyes wide and his mouth equally so, and his sister was in much of the same position as he was, shocked at what she had just witnessed. Chrysalis looked between their expressions, then glanced behind her where the tree wasn't. "Oh..." She cleared her throat and ran a hoof through her mane, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head and neck. "Sorry." Damage"So how was Applejack?" Rarity asked, taking a sip of her tea. "She seemed a bit annoyed that I left her with Chrysalis, but not too much." Twilight took another biscuit out of the small porcelain jar on the table and ate it. "You really need to tell me where you bought these." Rarity smirked. "Now, darling, if I did that you would stop coming over for tea so often." Rarity took a biscuit out herself, letting her eyes run over the blue lines decorating the white surface of the jar. "What about her sore throat? Has she gotten over it or is it still bothering her?" She brought the biscuit to her lips and took a bite out of it. Twilight finished hers and swallowed it down. "It seems to have gotten better a bit. She still doesn't talk much, but it looks like it's not hurting any more." She brought her cup to her lips and drank some tea, then grabbed another biscuit from the jar. Rarity pouted in mock-indignation. "Twilight, really, leave some for Sweetie Belle. I'll have to take your measurements again if you keep this up, and you'll have to change your whole wardrobe." She giggled. Twilight smiled, stopping the biscuit in mid-air in front of her face. "And I suppose it would be a terrible tragedy if that happened, right? I mean, think of how much I would have to spend to get all those dresses back. The one who got to do them would certainly appreciate it." She put the whole biscuit in her mouth, and then grabbed another from the jar. Rarity laughed. "Oh, you know I'd be willing to offer a discount for my friend. But thank you." Twilight finished her biscuit, sending it down with another sip of tea. "You better. And it better be better than Suri's offer, otherwise I'll have her do it." She ate the second biscuit. It was rather hard to tell whether Rarity had gotten paler as she'd heard that, but the shift in her expression certainly seemed to indicate as much. She gave a nervous, somewhat awkward bout of laughter. "That... wasn't funny, Twilight." She brought her cup back up to drink some more tea. "It wasn't a joke." Twilight took another sip of tea. Rarity almost spat out hers. She managed to stop herself, but doing so had the unfortunate side effect of having some of it travel up her nose, a rather uncomfortable occurrence for the unicorn. She levitated her napkin up to her face to dry herself, setting her cup down on the table. "What? Twilight, what are you talking about?" "I'm saying I'd rather not spend a fortune on my new dresses, so I'll get them done by someone who has cheaper prices if you don't give me a discount. She's already stolen your designs anyway, so they'll be the same as the old ones I had." Twilight finished her tea. It was much easier to notice when Rarity's face got red, and it definitely did that time. "Twilight! I thought we were friends!" "We are. That's why I'm asking for a cheaper price. I don't know if you've noticed, but we aren't all rich like you are." Twilight set her empty cup down and grabbed another biscuit. Rarity snatched it away with her magic, and then grabbed the jar as well. "Twilight! How can you say something like that? You're a princess!" she yelled. "Princess is a title, not a job, Rarity. Do you even know what my job is?" Twilight's tone was flat, her face emotionless as she stared at the unicorn with a raised eyebrow. Rarity's face shifted uncomfortably. "I-hum-well... Of course I know what it is! You're, er... You're..." "I'm a librarian," Twilight flatly replied. "How much money do you think a librarian makes, Rarity? Do you think it's enough to afford an entire wardrobe filled with clothes personally designed and made by one of the most prestigious stylists in all of Equestria? Because trust me, it is not. I barely make enough money to put something away at the end of the month, and that's not counting all the times I have to pay for the damage we do to the city and my parents are forced to send me money." Twilight's tone progressively rose as she spoke. "But... But you have a castle!" Rarity retorted. "And it's a miracle that I don't have to pay taxes on it after Celestia put her word forth with the town hall!" Twilight yelled. "And seriously, I'd still rather have a normal house. Do you know how much it costs to keep that thing in order? Hundreds of bits just to polish all the crystal walls! I'd have sold it off if Celestia hadn't ordered me to stay inside it because a princess needs a castle, Twilight, and I don't think you want me to take those wings away." Twilight huffed in frustration. Rarity cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Isn't there something you can do? Like... Can't you rent some of the empty rooms?" Twilight threw her hooves up in the air with a bitter laugh. "Yeah, sure! As if I hadn't though of that already! I can't, Rarity, orders from above telling me that I need to preserve my royal image and all that. If only she had the dignity to send me something other than cheap store-bought food when I ask for support." She looked at Rarity. "Meanwhile, you've got shops all over Equestria and make thousands of bits every month." Rarity set down the cup. "Twilight, I'm... I'm sorry, really, I didn't realise your situation was like that. Isn't there... Can't you try with another job?" Twilight sat back and leaned in her chair. "Like what?" Rarity rubbed her chin. "Why... Why don't you try to become a teacher? I'm sure you'd be good at it." "Yeah, sure. What am I supposed to do, open a school?" Rarity's next words were covered by the sound of a tree flying through the house, demolishing a huge chunk of the wall and then continuing to sail through the air. Twilight stood and stared in disbelief, mouth hanging open, as light drifted in from the tree-sized hole in the wall of Rarity's house. Rarity got up as if nothing had happened. "I'll go grab my schoolfilly outfit and the ruler," she said as she walked away, going through the preprogrammed scenario Twilight had implanted in her mind. Twilight remained there in shock for a couple more seconds, then dashed after Rarity, passed in front of her and stopped the unicorn by touching her horn with her own. She remained there, panting, for a few moments, unsure of what was happening. She was about to take care of Rarity's memory when Chrysalis came running through the opened wall, Applejack and Big Machintosh on her back. "No time to stop, I'll explain as we go!" she yelled before exiting through the other side. Twilight watched her go, confused. She was about to focus back on Rarity when a lasso came flying towards her and snatched both her and the unicorn off of the ground. They landed on Chrysalis's back, the other end of the rope in Applejack's mouth, and the earth pony nudged the changeling on the back of her head. Chrysalis began to speak. "I accidentally kicked a tree too hard and now it's flying through Ponyville. Applejack still has a sore throat, so she can't speak. My mane tastes like lychees. Now we're chasing after the tree, and you two will help us stop it." She kept running, as the tree in front of them just narrowly dodged some houses. Applejack noticed the way Twilight was holding onto Rarity's body, the unicorn limp in her hooves. She grabbed a couple strands of Chrysalis's mane and began to pull on them. "The orange one wants to know why the white one seems to be passed out. Is she okay? Was she hurt by the tree?" the changeling asked. Twilight looked at Rarity's body in her hooves, the unicorn's eyes empty and glazed over. Her brain raced frantically to find an explanation. "She... She's just in shock for what happened to her house, that's all. I can fix her." Applejack nodded, then pulled another strand of the changeling's mane. "She wants you to do it quickly," Chrysalis said. Twilight awkwardly smiled, then turned around and leaned forward onto Rarity. "Back in your house we talked about nothing in particular, then the tree came flying through the wall. You were shocked and passed out because of it. Now I'm waking you up. You don't remember what our conversation was about, nor what we were going to do afterwards. Once you get back to your room you'll grab the stuff that's on your bed, the one we were going to use, mail it to me in a discreet package, and you won't find anything weird about it. And you'll never talk about it with anyone else." Twilight let go a sigh of relief, then touched Rarity's horn with hers once again, waking up the unicorn. Rarity opened her eyes. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?" she screamed as she realised her position on the back of a changeling, chasing a flying tree that had just brought down the walls of her kitchen. Twilight looked at the others for support, but they just stared at her. She sighed and turned back to Rarity. "Chrysalis kicked a tree too hard. We're chasing after it to stop it. Her mane tastes like lychees." Rarity stared into nothingness for a couple of seconds. "MY HOUSE HAS A HOLE IN IT!" Twilight smacked her face with a hoof. "Sorry about that," Chrysalis said from below them. Twilight turned around. "I swear I'll send that book back to Celestia as soon as this is over," she silently said to herself. "Do you think you'll be able to catch up to it?" she asked to Chrysalis while looking at the tree in front of them. "Maybe?" The changeling took a hard right turn to dodge a couple of ponies, running away in terror from the flying tree. "What do you mean maybe?" the alicorn yelled. Chrysalis jumped over a stallion paralysed by fear. "I think I'm faster, but I've got to keep dodging ponies." She moved to left to avoid running into a broken cart. "And the debris that thing leaves behind." Twilight huffed and threw her hooves up in the air. Behind her, Rarity posed dramatically. "My house!" she sighed, "My poor, poor house! Now I'll have to get new walls for the kitchen! Oh how terrible, terrible!" Applejack rolled her eyes and pulled a couple of strands of Chrysalis's mane. Chrysalis ducked to avoid a broken piece of wall flying towards them. "Twilight, do something useful. Rarity, stop complaining and help her, or we're letting you fall off." Twilight grunted and levitated a fallen stall away from the road, allowing the changeling to run straight forward. Rarity pouted and crossed her front legs in indignation. Twilight thought for a moment. "Okay, I've got a plan. I'm going to build a suspended bridge with the wreckage the tree is leaving behind. Rarity, you'll help me with your own magic. Applejack, you'll help me with your lasso. Big Mac, I'm sorry but we need to reduce the weight if we want to go faster." Big Macintosh looked at her, only to see her horn glow as he was lifted off of Chrysalis's back, held in the air for a couple of seconds and then dropped onto the ground, the changeling rapidly getting further away from him. Twilight began to build the bridge, the other two helping, and Chrysalis got up in it. "We're almost there!" the changeling exclaimed as she neared the tree, "Just a little more!" "Uh, Twilight?" Rarity asked, putting a hoof on the alicorn's shoulder. "What is it, Rarity?" Twilight asked, mildly annoyed, focused on building the bridge of rubble. The unicorn pointed forward. "Look where the tree is headed." Twilight looked up. "Oh. Oh no. Chrysalis!" She looked at the creature below her. "Run faster!" "I'm trying!" the creature replied. Twilight began to panic. "Girls, I'm sorry but we need to lose weight!" Applejack and Rarity were knocked off of the Changeling's back by Twilight's magic. "Faster!" the alicorn screamed, watching in horror as the tree quickly moved closer and closer to her castle. Below her, Chrysalis panted. "Twilight?" she called between breaths. "What is it?" "I'm not sure of how to say this, but, well... There's no bridge left." Twilight looked in front of her, where the bridge suddenly ended. "Oh. That is bad." "I think so, yeah." Chrysalis kept running. "It is bad, right?" she added. "Yes," Twilight replied. "Oh, thank goodness, I was afraid I'd distracted you with some useless information. So, well, what do we do?" Twilight looked at the road, then at the tree, then at her castle. "You can fly, right? At least, you remember you can, right?" Chrysalis chewed her lip for a moment. "Yeah, you're right, I can fly. Though you're sort of on top of my wings right now. At least, I think that's where my wings are, still getting used to this new body so I'm not totally sure about that." Twilight took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment to relax. "Twilight, I'm sorry but we need Chrysalis to fly if we want her to catch that tree," she said out loud. Twilight was knocked off of Chrysalis's back by a blast of her own magic. The changeling accelerated, and once she reached the end of the bridge she opened her wings and kicked herself forward, beginning to fly towards the tree. Twilight watched from below her with trepidation. Finally, with one last push of her wings, Chrysalis managed to reach the tree and grab it. "I did it!" she announced in the alicorn's direction. Twilight exulted. "You did!" she cheered. The changeling looked at her with a smile, then then blinked a couple of times. "Now what?" Twilight stopped celebrating and stared at her. "Oh. Right. That." The tree's path of destruction finally came to an end. It crashed into the castle, demolishing a section of the wall and lodging itself inside of it. Chrysalis was launched away by the impact. Twilight, instinctively and without even realising she was doing it, began to hum to herself the most depressing song her brain could remember. Out of the hole left in the wall walked Starlight Glimmer, covered in a towel and dripping water from her mane and tail. "Twilight?" she asked, looking at the purple pony, "Why is there a tree lodged into the side of the castle?" Twilight began to slowly move away from the scene. "Twilight!" 'If this is some sort of punishment for my actions, if this was your doing or that of some other invisible force of balance that rules over the justice of this world, if this was all just a coincidence, I don't care. I believe it is a sign, a sign that's telling me to stop walking down this path I have begun and turn back, otherwise terrible things will occur to me. I have decided to follow this sign, and stop before I suffer even worse consequences. Here is the book. I solemnly swear to never again use its contents for my own personal gain, disregarding the will of others. Yours truly, Princess Twilight Sparkle.' Celestia read the contents of the letter once again, then glanced at the old green book Twilight had sent along with it. "What is it, sister?" Luna asked, noticing her perturbed expression. The white alicorn sighed. "Nothing, really. I think a better story accidentally slipped inside this one for a moment, that's all."
One"So what is this thing you wanted to show us?" Rainbow asked, hovering behind Twilight while the group of friends advanced through the castle's corridor. "I told you already, I want this to be a surprise. Besides, we're almost there," Twilight replied. "What do you think it's going to be?" Rarity asked to Pinkie, but the pink pony just mimed the act of zipping her mouth shut in response. "Here we are," Twilight said, stopping in front of a door. She opened it with her magic and invited the others inside the dark room. "Huh, Twilight? This is kind of scary," Fluttershy said. "Surprise!" the purple alicorn exclaimed, turning the lights back on. Before they had time to process what was happening, all the other five ponies were swept up by a colourful blur, and found themselves tackled on the floor, tightly held by something. "Twilight? What's happening?" Rainbow asked. "I'd like to know that too," Fluttershy echoed her. Rarity and Applejack were trying to avoid suffocating, stuck beneath whatever had jumped on them, and Pinkie seemed to be the only one who knew what was happening, giggling to herself and returning the hug. "You can let them go now, I think they need it," Twilight said to the thing. "Girls," she called, after the others had been released, "please say hi to Chrysalis." "Chrysalis? Where?" Rainbow asked, assuming a fighting stance. Fluttershy ducked behind her in fear. "Hem, I'm... I'm here," Chrysalis said, somewhat awkwardly fidgeting with her hooves. "Oh dear, she's... I mean, sorry, you've changed?" Rarity asked. "Twilight, this is wonderful news! How did it happen?" Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. "It's a long story." "I'm sorry I tackled you like that," Chrysalis apologetically said, "it's just that I'd never met four of you and I just wanted to hug you. You all look so pretty, especially the white and the blue one. I like the orange one too, she smells like apples." "Well, you look pretty too," Fluttershy quietly said, cautiously coming out from behind her friend. "Oh, I suppose I should introduce them to you," Twilight said. "These are Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and... Wait, you said you didn't know only four of them?" "Yes. I met the pink one when I first arrived, she came out from behind a book when you left the room." Twilight turned to Pinkie, who was vibrating in place and looked like she was about to blow up. "Pinkie? So you knew about her already?" The pink earth pony took a deep breath. Suddenly all the light went out, and after a couple of seconds they turned back on. The room had been decorated with streamers, balloons and colourful banners, confetti was on the floor, tables filled with pastries had mysteriously appeared and all those present in the room found themselves wearing a cone-shaped party hat. "Surprise!" Pinkie cheerfully announced, "Happy 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, and happy 'You're finally a rainbow moose thing' party!" Twilight was confused. "Pinkie, wha-" "You know I found out Chrysalis was here and so I was like 'we need to have a party to celebrate' but then I realized you wanted it to be a surprise and so I had to stop myself from saying anything so I didn't ruin the surprise and it was really hard andIhadtoforcemyselftothinkaboutsomethingelselikebakingorparitesbutthenthatjustmademethinkbacktothepartyIhadtothrowforhersoIthoughtab-mphh-" The pink pony was promptly silenced by a cupcake Twilight levitated in her mouth. "Twilight?" Rainbow called. The purple alicorn turned to see the pegasus awkwardly trying to decide what she was supposed to do with the reformed Changeling Queen currently playing with her mane. "Hem, Chrysalis?" Fluttershy spoke, "I know you think her mane is pretty, but could you, if it doesn't bother you, let go of my friend?" the pegasus asked, looking at Chrysalis with pleading eyes, "Please?" In response, Chrysalis let go of Rainbow's mane and lurched forward, grabbing the poor squeaking yellow pegasus in another breath-stealing hug. "You're just the cutest thing, you know that?" she asked to the pony held between her hooves and her chest. "Twilight?" Rarity quietly asked, "Is she alright? She seems like something's... wrong with her." "She has amnesia," Twilight whispered in response. "Yep!" Chrysalis said from the other side of the room, "I can't remember anything." "That explains a lot," Rarity said after she'd recovered from the shock of having been heard. "It's a shame Starlight and Spike aren't here," Pinkie commented, "It would be an even better party if we had more ponies. In fact, we should invite even more ponies right now! Just let me-" She was cut off by Chrysalis landing on top of her. Pinkie began to giggle. "Oh, stop, you're tickling me!" "Chrysalis, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, getting closer to the two. "Her mane smells like cotton candy, I wanted to see if it tastes like it too." "Chrysalis, I don't think-" "It does!" the changeling exclaimed, munching on a small patch of curly pink hair. "Well that explains where she puts all the sugar she eats," Rainbow commented. Twilight gave her a sideways glance. "Rainbow, that's not how biology works, you-" she shook her head "-you know what? It's Pinkie we're talking about, you might be right." Rarity was about to ask a question, but it appeared it was now her turn to be examined by the changeling, as she was tackled to the ground, the Queen watching her mane and beginning to ask her a number of questions as to how she kept it like that. "So what are the plans from now on?" Rainbow asked to her alicorn friend. "I'm not sure. It all happened so suddenly, I still can't tell if this is true or dream. I'll probably contact Thorax and ask him some advice. I want to try to make Chrysalis a part of our society, help her find a place where she belongs. I think the first-" A scream interrupted her, and they all turned towards the source. That happened to be Applejack, and the cause was apparently Chrysalis, her mouth currently biting down on the earth pony's mane while her own was being worked on by Rarity. At the sudden influx of attention the changeling slowly withdrew her head from the other's, a couple of strands of hair stuck in her mouth. "I wanted to see if she tasted like apples," she apologetically said. After a few seconds of silence the others began to laugh, and eventually Applejack and Chrysalis joined them. "Next time you should ask before, okay?" Twilight said between fits of laughter. "Okay."
The Thing That Should Probably Not Be"Pears." "What did you say?" "Pears," Chrysalis repeated, walking towards Twilight, "it tasted like pears." Twilight quizzically lifted her eyebrows, then turned back with a shrug and went back to cleaning the room. Pinkie's decoration had unfortunately not vanished in the same way they'd appeared, but all the others seemingly had when the party had been over and the time to clean had come. She was focused in her sweeping when she heard someone knock on the door to the castle. "Can I go see who it is?" Chrysalis asked. "Well, I think it would be better if you stayed here and I checked instead," Twilight replied while placing her broom to rest near a table, "after all I haven't officially announced your reformation yet and you might scare some..." Twilight stopped as she realised that the changeling had already left the room. She teleported herself in the corridor and began to run towards the front doors. She was about midway through when a bright flash of light went off in front of her and a unicorn materialised in front of her. "Twilight!" the unicorn screamed as she saw her. Twilight stopped and looked at the other. "Starlight?" she asked. Starlight's breath was ragged, her mane dishevelled, her eyes nervously darting back and forth as she fidgeted in place with her hooves, her body shacking. "Twilight!" she screamed again, grabbing the alicorn's head. "There's a thing in the castle! I wasn't able to see much other than a colourful blur. It attacked us and tried to suffocate me! Now it's focused on Spike, but I don't know how long he'll last. We need to stop it." Twilight shook herself off of her friend's hold. "Don't worry, Starlight, she doesn't mean any harm. She just has a bit of trouble when it comes to meeting others for the first time. But don't worry, she's good." Starlight looked at Twilight with an uncertain gaze, still panting. "Are you sure? Because she didn't seem that friendly to me. And who is she, anyway." "Chrysalis," Twilight replied, smiling. Starlight jerked backwards, startled by the name. She grabbed Twilight's head and began to shake it, staring in her friend's eyes. "Twilight! I think Chrysalis has been hypnotising you! Please, if you're in there, please wake up!" Twilight tore her head away from Starlight's grip. "Starlight, I'm not being hypnotised. There's nothing evil about Chrysalis, she-" "No! It's too late!" Starlight began to speak to herself as she panicked. "She's already fully under her control! Chrysalis must have come here to finally take her revenge upon me!" Starlight lay with her back against a wall, putting a hoof over her forehead. "It's too late, I arrived too late. I need to get out of here, run away before she catches me, or who knows what she'll do to me. I need to get help! Maybe Trixie can-Oh, who am I kidding, I need competent help. Princess Celestia will-Oh, who am I kidding." Starlight rubbed her temple. "I need competent help. Princess Luna will probably be okay with helping me if I tell her that Twilight is in danger. She might even make me a princess if I defeat Chrysalis again." "Starlight, I-" Starlight got back to her hooves and began to rub one of them beneath her chin, thinking. "Yeah, this might be a good chance to finally get those wings. And if poor, poor Twilight were to lose her powers during the battle, then my victory against Chrysalis would be even more important. I just need to make it look like her magic was drained by a changeling and then-" She was interrupted by a new flash of magic, from which Chrysalis emerged, holding the unconscious body of a young purple dragon. "Ah! Don't eat me please!" Starlight screamed as she saw the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis dropped Spike's body and jumped at Starlight, constricting her into a hug. "Chrysalis, this is Starlight," Twilight said. Chrysalis distanced her head a bit to get a better look at the unicorn she was depriving of air. "Starlight?" she curiously asked. She then went back to hugging her even tighter. "Starlight! Celestia said that I had a thing for you! I don't remember anything about it, but if she said it it must be true, so we'll probably be best friends now." Starlight gasped for air. "Help me," she silently muttered out to Twilight, desperately stretching a hoof towards the alicorn. Twilight considered the idea of freeing her, then thought about what the unicorn had been saying. She decided to remain silent for a few moments, but eventually spoke when she noticed that Starlight was about to pass out. "Chrysalis, I know you're excited to meet somepony new, but could you avoid suffocating Starlight?" Chrysalis looked at Twilight, then at Starlight's barely moving body. "Sorry," she sheepishly said, letting go of the unicorn and rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. Twilight offered a hoof to Starlight to help her get up. "Starlight, this is Chrysalis. The new one. I would have organised a proper meeting, but you and Spike came back earlier than expected." Starlight, still trying to catch her breath, turned to the changeling and finally noticed how her appearance had changed, being now much more rainbow-coloured and moose like. Or not, she'd never actually seen a moose, but for some reason she felt reformed changelings looked like moose. Almost as if some otherworldly being of great power and wisdom had once referred to them as rainbow moose things. Obnoxious rainbow moose things. As Starlight had been making those considerations, Chrysalis had slowly moved closer to the unicorn, and was now practically staring at her mane at such a short distance that she could have easily bitten into it. Which, weirdly enough for the unicorn, looked just like what she wanted to do. Starlight gently pushed the changeling away with her magic. "So, she's good now. That's... awesome, really. Can I talk to you in private, Twilight?" she asked, turning to the alicorn as her eyes nervously looked back at the changeling, who was still moving closer despite the fact that she was sitting and that she wasn't visibly moving any part of her body. It was almost like she willed herself forward. "Well, I don't really want to leave her alone, but if you think it's important..." Starlight vigorously nodded. Twilight craned her neck to get a better look at the changeling. "Chrysalis, if I tell you to stay here will you do it?" "Sure!" Chrysalis passionately replied. She then grabbed Spike's still unconscious body. "Can I play with him while you're gone?" "Sure." Twilight walked away and inside the nearest room, followed by Starlight. As soon as they entered the unicorn shut the door behind her and turned to the alicorn. "Twilight, you can't tell me you really trust her! She's Chrysalis!" Twilight smiled. "Oh, Starlight, trust me, if you'd been there in Canterlot to see how things happened you wouldn't doubt her. Besides, everyone deserves a second chance, right?" "I gave her one, and she refused it. Now she's out for revenge!" "Starlight, I think you're overreacting." Twilight placed a hoof over the unicorn's shoulder. "After all, you changed after refusing my first offer, too." "Yeah, and you remember what I did in between those two things, right?" Starlight looked at Twilight, still unconvinced. "Oh, come on, Starlight. Do you need me to get Princess Celestia to write a letter stating that she believes Chrysalis to no longer be of any danger? Because-" "No danger? She almost made me pass out! And look at what she did to Spike." Starlight opened the door and peeked into the corridor, Twilight's head doing the same just above her. Chrysalis was using her magic to repeatedly throw Spike's body forward with his wings outstretched, watching him glide into the air. The process ended with the dragon's body smashing against the floor or a wall, Chrysalis then picking him back up and starting over. Starlight closed the door once more. "No danger?" she asked as she turned back towards Twilight. Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. "Okay. No intentional danger is what I meant to say. But it's not like you didn't do this sort of things when you were my student." "That's exactly the problem, Twilight, she's even worse than I was at pret-I mean..." Starlight began to awkwardly cough, nervously scanning Twilight's features. "What I meant to say is that she's far worse than I was. She's clearly pretending to be reformed, while in reality she plans to gain your trust and use you to surge to a position of power that will allow her to drain away your magic, thus gaining the ability to take over all of Equestria." "Starlight, please, trust me with this one." Twilight shook her head. "Besides, what would she do, anyway?" "Lure you in the middle of a giant power conversion rune designed around Starswirl's principles and reinforced with magic crystals?" Starlight blurted out. She then lifted her hooves up to cover her mouth and began to shift her wide-eyed gaze between herself and Twilight. "I don't think that would work, really." Twilight replied, too distracted by thinking about what she'd just heard to notice the unicorn's distress. "If I can ask, why?" Starlight said after a few moments of hesitation. "The principles were designed with unicorns in mind, and the crystals would likely start to resonate and then interfere with each other. Shards taken from Chrysalis's old throne, however..." Twilight trailed off, losing herself in her own mental calculations and begging to pace around the room while looking at the ceiling and muttering to herself. "Twilight?" Starlight called, but she received no answer. She tried again. She was about to try once more when Twilight startled her. "I got it!" the purple alicorn proudly proclaimed, "I know the perfect combination of runes and artefacts to drain away my powers." "Could you write that down for me later?" Starlight asked. She then turned to open the door, staring out again. Chrysalis was using Spike's body like a small bouncing ball. She supplied for the reptile's natural lack of bounciness by bouncing him off of the ceiling rather than off of the ground. Starlight looked back at Twilight. "Fine, I'll give her a chance." Twilight smiled. They both walked out in the corridor and Starlight walked up to Chrysalis. "I'm sorry for how I reacted before. I would like to be your friend." Chrysalis threw Spike's body away and jumped onto Starlight, once more constricting the poor unicorn with her hug. "Of course! We'll be the best-est of friends!" Twilight gave a worried look to the changeling, slightly nudging her head forward. Chrysalis followed Twilight's look to see her own hooves pressing against Starlight's back, as well as the unicorn's failed attempts at formulating a sentence. She guiltily eased her grip. Starlight drew back, catching her breath, but after a stern look from Twilight she move forward to hug Chrysalis back. Once her head was to the side of the changeling's she moved her mouth to the other's ear. "You better watch out, Chrysalis, this castle has only room enough for one villain pretending to be Twilight's friend." Chrysalis withdrew from the embrace, a worried look on her face. "Oh dear," she said, bringing a hoof to her mouth, "that's a terrible policy. What if someone came in and pretended to be her friend? Does Twilight know about this? We should warn her, I mean, how can she not even be able to trust someone claiming to be her friend in her own castle?" Starlight gave her a perplexed look, tilting her head to the side. "Twilight, did she hit her head somewhere?" "Well, she smashed through a window, and she's been a little clumsy since then." Twilight walked up to Starlight's side. "But she's got nothing but the best of intentions. Isn't that right, Chrysalis?" The changeling did not answer. She was intent on studying Spike's wings. She accidentally dropped one of them over her eyes. She began to turn her head around, confused, and suddenly got up, beginning to move around. She then dashed off and hit a wall, which caused her to fall on her back, her legs curled up on top of her and jerkily twitching like those of a bug that had been turned upside down. Starlight looked on with a puzzled expression. "So, Twilight, what exactly happened in Canterlot?"
Harvester of Apples"Come on, please! She needs something to do, I can't just let her stay in the castle. She needs to learn how to do something." Twilight stood in front of Applejack, a pleading smile on her face. Applejack ignored her and kept pulling the boxes behind her through the rope held in her mouth. Twilight pouted, and used her magic to levitate the boxes on to the cart. Applejack dropped the rope and looked at her. "Fine," she muttered. Twilight smiled. "Chrysalis!" she called, "She said yes!" Chrysalis fell out of a nearby tree, hitting the ground with a thud. "Hurray!" she cheered while aimlessly tossing her hooves around, "The orange one has accepted me!" Applejack looked at the sky with a prolonged sound halfway between a growl and a sigh. "Twilight!" Chrysalis called, "Could you please set me back on my hooves?" Twilight sighed, looking at Chrysalis in the loving way a mother looks at her newborn after they've accidentally gotten their head stuck in a hole, and lifted the changeling's body off of the ground to turn her around and set her back down. "Thank you!" Chrysalis said with a smile. Applejack began to walk towards the trees, and Twilight motioned Chrysalis to follow her. "I'll leave her with you then," the purple alicorn said before taking flight and going back to her castle. Applejack kept walking towards the trees, eyes looking at the ground. Chrysalis bounced to her side. "Did you know your mane tastes like pears?" Applejack stopped for a moment, then went back to walking. Chrysalis kept bouncing at her side, and lowered her head to look at the pony's expression. "So?" she innocently asked. Applejack shook her head. She then looked at the way Chrysalis was moving and cocked an eyebrow. Chrysalis looked over herself. "Oh. This?" she asked, pointing with a hoof at the way the other three were bouncing her on the ground. "The pink one taught me how to do it," she explained with a smile. Applejack went back to looking ahead, and the two kept going forward for a little while. "What do you think my mane tastes like?" Chrysalis suddenly asked. Applejack looked at her with a confused expression, stopping. "Do you want to try it?" the changeling offered, stopping as well. Applejack hesitated. Chrysalis had a realisation. "Oh wait, you're right. What if it doesn't taste good?" She put her hoof to her chin and pondered for a moment. "I guess I'll have to try it for myself first." She grabbed a few strands of her mane and put them in her mouth, then began to chew. Applejack looked at her. Chrysalis swallowed. Applejack kept looking. "Weird. It tastes like lychees. Strangely enjoyable." Chrysalis returned to moving forward, this time walking. Applejack scratched her head and then trotted past her, guiding the changeling to their destination. She took a sharp turn to the right, into the rows of apple trees, the changeling following her, and kept walking forward in between the lines of trees devoid of any apple until they finally reached Big Macintosh, waiting for them where the trees began to have apples on them again with some empty baskets by his side. Applejack walked up to him and started to talk to him, as the stallion suspiciously eyed the changeling. After some words quietly exchanged between the two, he sighed in frustration and grabbed some baskets, moving on to a nearby tree and setting them down. Chrysalis walked up to Applejack. "So? What are we doing? Why does the red one look bothered? Has he not accepted me yet? What should I do? I'm here to help, right? So? What am I doing? Am I helping out with the apples? How do I do that? What-" Applejack silenced her with a hoof on her mouth, then pointed at her brother. Chrysalis watched, fascinated, as Big Mac reared on his front legs and hit the trunk of the tree with his back hooves, causing apples to fall down from the branches and land inside the baskets. "Oh..." the changeling commented. "Should I try to do that?" she asked, looking back to Applejack. The orange pony nodded. Chrysalis giggled with excitement as she neared the nearest tree and prepared herself. She gave her back to the trunk, looked back over her shoulder to make sure she was properly aligned, took a few deep breaths, steadied her hooves, hunched forward, frowned in concentration, pushed herself up with her hind legs and, while using her front legs to keep her balance, kicked at the surface of the tree. Nothing happened. Applejack stared at the changeling, unimpressed. Chrysalis stared back, a sheepish smile on her face as her mane partly covered one of her eyes. "Maybe I should, hum... put a little more strength in that?" Applejack pouted and raised an eyebrow. Chrysalis nervously giggled. "Yeah, hum... Yeah. Sorry." Applejack raised her other eyebrow. Chrysalis took another deep breath. "Okay. Here we go. I'll kick it as hard as I can." She pushed herself up again, but one of her front hooves slipped and she stumbled with a gasp. She managed to steady herself again by resting her hind legs on the tree, again without a single apple falling. Applejack rhythmically beat her hoof on the ground, impatiently. Chrysalis gulped. "Okay, here we go." She pushed herself slightly forward with her hind legs, just enough for her hooves to leave the trunk, and then came back to hit the tree. Apples might have fallen that time. Applejack didn't get to see it though. It would have been rather hard to see if anything had fallen from the branches, given the way the entire tree had been uprooted and launched sailing away through the air, leaving a hole on the ground and a trail of broken branches and snapped twigs as it kept flying between the rows of other trees. Big mac stared, his eyes wide and his mouth equally so, and his sister was in much of the same position as he was, shocked at what she had just witnessed. Chrysalis looked between their expressions, then glanced behind her where the tree wasn't. "Oh..." She cleared her throat and ran a hoof through her mane, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head and neck. "Sorry."
Damage"So how was Applejack?" Rarity asked, taking a sip of her tea. "She seemed a bit annoyed that I left her with Chrysalis, but not too much." Twilight took another biscuit out of the small porcelain jar on the table and ate it. "You really need to tell me where you bought these." Rarity smirked. "Now, darling, if I did that you would stop coming over for tea so often." Rarity took a biscuit out herself, letting her eyes run over the blue lines decorating the white surface of the jar. "What about her sore throat? Has she gotten over it or is it still bothering her?" She brought the biscuit to her lips and took a bite out of it. Twilight finished hers and swallowed it down. "It seems to have gotten better a bit. She still doesn't talk much, but it looks like it's not hurting any more." She brought her cup to her lips and drank some tea, then grabbed another biscuit from the jar. Rarity pouted in mock-indignation. "Twilight, really, leave some for Sweetie Belle. I'll have to take your measurements again if you keep this up, and you'll have to change your whole wardrobe." She giggled. Twilight smiled, stopping the biscuit in mid-air in front of her face. "And I suppose it would be a terrible tragedy if that happened, right? I mean, think of how much I would have to spend to get all those dresses back. The one who got to do them would certainly appreciate it." She put the whole biscuit in her mouth, and then grabbed another from the jar. Rarity laughed. "Oh, you know I'd be willing to offer a discount for my friend. But thank you." Twilight finished her biscuit, sending it down with another sip of tea. "You better. And it better be better than Suri's offer, otherwise I'll have her do it." She ate the second biscuit. It was rather hard to tell whether Rarity had gotten paler as she'd heard that, but the shift in her expression certainly seemed to indicate as much. She gave a nervous, somewhat awkward bout of laughter. "That... wasn't funny, Twilight." She brought her cup back up to drink some more tea. "It wasn't a joke." Twilight took another sip of tea. Rarity almost spat out hers. She managed to stop herself, but doing so had the unfortunate side effect of having some of it travel up her nose, a rather uncomfortable occurrence for the unicorn. She levitated her napkin up to her face to dry herself, setting her cup down on the table. "What? Twilight, what are you talking about?" "I'm saying I'd rather not spend a fortune on my new dresses, so I'll get them done by someone who has cheaper prices if you don't give me a discount. She's already stolen your designs anyway, so they'll be the same as the old ones I had." Twilight finished her tea. It was much easier to notice when Rarity's face got red, and it definitely did that time. "Twilight! I thought we were friends!" "We are. That's why I'm asking for a cheaper price. I don't know if you've noticed, but we aren't all rich like you are." Twilight set her empty cup down and grabbed another biscuit. Rarity snatched it away with her magic, and then grabbed the jar as well. "Twilight! How can you say something like that? You're a princess!" she yelled. "Princess is a title, not a job, Rarity. Do you even know what my job is?" Twilight's tone was flat, her face emotionless as she stared at the unicorn with a raised eyebrow. Rarity's face shifted uncomfortably. "I-hum-well... Of course I know what it is! You're, er... You're..." "I'm a librarian," Twilight flatly replied. "How much money do you think a librarian makes, Rarity? Do you think it's enough to afford an entire wardrobe filled with clothes personally designed and made by one of the most prestigious stylists in all of Equestria? Because trust me, it is not. I barely make enough money to put something away at the end of the month, and that's not counting all the times I have to pay for the damage we do to the city and my parents are forced to send me money." Twilight's tone progressively rose as she spoke. "But... But you have a castle!" Rarity retorted. "And it's a miracle that I don't have to pay taxes on it after Celestia put her word forth with the town hall!" Twilight yelled. "And seriously, I'd still rather have a normal house. Do you know how much it costs to keep that thing in order? Hundreds of bits just to polish all the crystal walls! I'd have sold it off if Celestia hadn't ordered me to stay inside it because a princess needs a castle, Twilight, and I don't think you want me to take those wings away." Twilight huffed in frustration. Rarity cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Isn't there something you can do? Like... Can't you rent some of the empty rooms?" Twilight threw her hooves up in the air with a bitter laugh. "Yeah, sure! As if I hadn't though of that already! I can't, Rarity, orders from above telling me that I need to preserve my royal image and all that. If only she had the dignity to send me something other than cheap store-bought food when I ask for support." She looked at Rarity. "Meanwhile, you've got shops all over Equestria and make thousands of bits every month." Rarity set down the cup. "Twilight, I'm... I'm sorry, really, I didn't realise your situation was like that. Isn't there... Can't you try with another job?" Twilight sat back and leaned in her chair. "Like what?" Rarity rubbed her chin. "Why... Why don't you try to become a teacher? I'm sure you'd be good at it." "Yeah, sure. What am I supposed to do, open a school?" Rarity's next words were covered by the sound of a tree flying through the house, demolishing a huge chunk of the wall and then continuing to sail through the air. Twilight stood and stared in disbelief, mouth hanging open, as light drifted in from the tree-sized hole in the wall of Rarity's house. Rarity got up as if nothing had happened. "I'll go grab my schoolfilly outfit and the ruler," she said as she walked away, going through the preprogrammed scenario Twilight had implanted in her mind. Twilight remained there in shock for a couple more seconds, then dashed after Rarity, passed in front of her and stopped the unicorn by touching her horn with her own. She remained there, panting, for a few moments, unsure of what was happening. She was about to take care of Rarity's memory when Chrysalis came running through the opened wall, Applejack and Big Machintosh on her back. "No time to stop, I'll explain as we go!" she yelled before exiting through the other side. Twilight watched her go, confused. She was about to focus back on Rarity when a lasso came flying towards her and snatched both her and the unicorn off of the ground. They landed on Chrysalis's back, the other end of the rope in Applejack's mouth, and the earth pony nudged the changeling on the back of her head. Chrysalis began to speak. "I accidentally kicked a tree too hard and now it's flying through Ponyville. Applejack still has a sore throat, so she can't speak. My mane tastes like lychees. Now we're chasing after the tree, and you two will help us stop it." She kept running, as the tree in front of them just narrowly dodged some houses. Applejack noticed the way Twilight was holding onto Rarity's body, the unicorn limp in her hooves. She grabbed a couple strands of Chrysalis's mane and began to pull on them. "The orange one wants to know why the white one seems to be passed out. Is she okay? Was she hurt by the tree?" the changeling asked. Twilight looked at Rarity's body in her hooves, the unicorn's eyes empty and glazed over. Her brain raced frantically to find an explanation. "She... She's just in shock for what happened to her house, that's all. I can fix her." Applejack nodded, then pulled another strand of the changeling's mane. "She wants you to do it quickly," Chrysalis said. Twilight awkwardly smiled, then turned around and leaned forward onto Rarity. "Back in your house we talked about nothing in particular, then the tree came flying through the wall. You were shocked and passed out because of it. Now I'm waking you up. You don't remember what our conversation was about, nor what we were going to do afterwards. Once you get back to your room you'll grab the stuff that's on your bed, the one we were going to use, mail it to me in a discreet package, and you won't find anything weird about it. And you'll never talk about it with anyone else." Twilight let go a sigh of relief, then touched Rarity's horn with hers once again, waking up the unicorn. Rarity opened her eyes. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?" she screamed as she realised her position on the back of a changeling, chasing a flying tree that had just brought down the walls of her kitchen. Twilight looked at the others for support, but they just stared at her. She sighed and turned back to Rarity. "Chrysalis kicked a tree too hard. We're chasing after it to stop it. Her mane tastes like lychees." Rarity stared into nothingness for a couple of seconds. "MY HOUSE HAS A HOLE IN IT!" Twilight smacked her face with a hoof. "Sorry about that," Chrysalis said from below them. Twilight turned around. "I swear I'll send that book back to Celestia as soon as this is over," she silently said to herself. "Do you think you'll be able to catch up to it?" she asked to Chrysalis while looking at the tree in front of them. "Maybe?" The changeling took a hard right turn to dodge a couple of ponies, running away in terror from the flying tree. "What do you mean maybe?" the alicorn yelled. Chrysalis jumped over a stallion paralysed by fear. "I think I'm faster, but I've got to keep dodging ponies." She moved to left to avoid running into a broken cart. "And the debris that thing leaves behind." Twilight huffed and threw her hooves up in the air. Behind her, Rarity posed dramatically. "My house!" she sighed, "My poor, poor house! Now I'll have to get new walls for the kitchen! Oh how terrible, terrible!" Applejack rolled her eyes and pulled a couple of strands of Chrysalis's mane. Chrysalis ducked to avoid a broken piece of wall flying towards them. "Twilight, do something useful. Rarity, stop complaining and help her, or we're letting you fall off." Twilight grunted and levitated a fallen stall away from the road, allowing the changeling to run straight forward. Rarity pouted and crossed her front legs in indignation. Twilight thought for a moment. "Okay, I've got a plan. I'm going to build a suspended bridge with the wreckage the tree is leaving behind. Rarity, you'll help me with your own magic. Applejack, you'll help me with your lasso. Big Mac, I'm sorry but we need to reduce the weight if we want to go faster." Big Macintosh looked at her, only to see her horn glow as he was lifted off of Chrysalis's back, held in the air for a couple of seconds and then dropped onto the ground, the changeling rapidly getting further away from him. Twilight began to build the bridge, the other two helping, and Chrysalis got up in it. "We're almost there!" the changeling exclaimed as she neared the tree, "Just a little more!" "Uh, Twilight?" Rarity asked, putting a hoof on the alicorn's shoulder. "What is it, Rarity?" Twilight asked, mildly annoyed, focused on building the bridge of rubble. The unicorn pointed forward. "Look where the tree is headed." Twilight looked up. "Oh. Oh no. Chrysalis!" She looked at the creature below her. "Run faster!" "I'm trying!" the creature replied. Twilight began to panic. "Girls, I'm sorry but we need to lose weight!" Applejack and Rarity were knocked off of the Changeling's back by Twilight's magic. "Faster!" the alicorn screamed, watching in horror as the tree quickly moved closer and closer to her castle. Below her, Chrysalis panted. "Twilight?" she called between breaths. "What is it?" "I'm not sure of how to say this, but, well... There's no bridge left." Twilight looked in front of her, where the bridge suddenly ended. "Oh. That is bad." "I think so, yeah." Chrysalis kept running. "It is bad, right?" she added. "Yes," Twilight replied. "Oh, thank goodness, I was afraid I'd distracted you with some useless information. So, well, what do we do?" Twilight looked at the road, then at the tree, then at her castle. "You can fly, right? At least, you remember you can, right?" Chrysalis chewed her lip for a moment. "Yeah, you're right, I can fly. Though you're sort of on top of my wings right now. At least, I think that's where my wings are, still getting used to this new body so I'm not totally sure about that." Twilight took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment to relax. "Twilight, I'm sorry but we need Chrysalis to fly if we want her to catch that tree," she said out loud. Twilight was knocked off of Chrysalis's back by a blast of her own magic. The changeling accelerated, and once she reached the end of the bridge she opened her wings and kicked herself forward, beginning to fly towards the tree. Twilight watched from below her with trepidation. Finally, with one last push of her wings, Chrysalis managed to reach the tree and grab it. "I did it!" she announced in the alicorn's direction. Twilight exulted. "You did!" she cheered. The changeling looked at her with a smile, then then blinked a couple of times. "Now what?" Twilight stopped celebrating and stared at her. "Oh. Right. That." The tree's path of destruction finally came to an end. It crashed into the castle, demolishing a section of the wall and lodging itself inside of it. Chrysalis was launched away by the impact. Twilight, instinctively and without even realising she was doing it, began to hum to herself the most depressing song her brain could remember. Out of the hole left in the wall walked Starlight Glimmer, covered in a towel and dripping water from her mane and tail. "Twilight?" she asked, looking at the purple pony, "Why is there a tree lodged into the side of the castle?" Twilight began to slowly move away from the scene. "Twilight!" 'If this is some sort of punishment for my actions, if this was your doing or that of some other invisible force of balance that rules over the justice of this world, if this was all just a coincidence, I don't care. I believe it is a sign, a sign that's telling me to stop walking down this path I have begun and turn back, otherwise terrible things will occur to me. I have decided to follow this sign, and stop before I suffer even worse consequences. Here is the book. I solemnly swear to never again use its contents for my own personal gain, disregarding the will of others. Yours truly, Princess Twilight Sparkle.' Celestia read the contents of the letter once again, then glanced at the old green book Twilight had sent along with it. "What is it, sister?" Luna asked, noticing her perturbed expression. The white alicorn sighed. "Nothing, really. I think a better story accidentally slipped inside this one for a moment, that's all."
