Twilight Sparkle could barely believe her eyes.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash hissed beside her. “It’s planting eggs inside her!”

They were hidden on the slope of one of the small hills that rolled across Sweet Apple Acres, swathed in darkness and shaded from the starlight by the boughs of an old oak. Applejack’s cabin was dark inside and out, but that was little trouble for Twilight; she’d looked up a light amplification spell before setting out, and so both her and Rainbow were able to see what was going on inside through their friend’s bedroom window.

Still, it was a little hard to process.

It had been a couple days since Rainbow had come to her, speaking of Applejack’s strange behavior and the oddly familiar diamond dog following her through town. Twilight hadn’t put much stock in the gossip at first, but then after hearing about the unusual visit of a minotaur at her school—one that claimed to be a student yet wasn’t mentioned on any roster and had yet to show up for any classes—she’d had some concerns.

So she’d decided to investigate. It didn’t take too long to schedule out a block of time for her to scan Ponyville for unusual magic, and it took even less time to actually do it. What she hadn’t expected was to stumble across Applejack and Flicker in the midst of extremely excited coitus—hidden behind a veil of what was unmistakably changeling magic.

Which led to tonight, a tense stakeout on a hill outside her best friend’s home, praying to Celestia that she was just imagining things.

But as much as she might hope her eyes were tricking her, Rainbow was clearly seeing the same thing: Applejack on her back, a changeling between her legs, and its fangs sunk into her throat.

“Her eyes aren’t glowing,” Twilight whispered, half to herself. “And she’s been perfectly lucid, showing no signs of confusion, and it’s just one drone.” She shook her head, brow furrowing. “It makes no sense. She isn’t acting like she’s under anyone’s influence. And where’s Chrysalis in all this?”

“Who cares?” Rainbow shot to her hooves. “She’s in danger! We need to do something!”

“Wait!” Twilight grabbed Rainbow and dragged her back down. “There’s something we’re missing here, I’m sure of it! There’s no reason to rush into this blind; we need to talk to Applejack first.”

“Talk to her? She’s being controlled by a changeling!”

“But she isn’t showing any of the symptoms!” Twilight stomped a hoof into the grass. “I’ve gone through this before, with my brother, remember? I know what it looks like when somepony is thralled to a changeling, and I’d have noticed by now. Whatever’s happening here, she’s doing it of her own free will.”

“So what are you saying?” Rainbow asked slowly. “You think she’s cheating with Flick on their anniversary night?”

Twilight blinked. She looked back to the window, narrowing her eyes.

That changeling was an awfully familiar shade of orange.

And she had a lot of questions for Applejack.

Author's Note

Porn logic dictates that Rainbow and Twilight now must fuck Flicker. Plans are already in place for a sequel!