Author's Note

This is one of the two chapters added today. Explanations is in the Author's Notes of the new Chapter 4.

Chapter 2.5: Equestria Under Stress

“Rainbow, catch him!”

“Alright!”

“Don’t step any closer! *HISSSS* I’ll strike and it’ll hurt!”

“Rarity, magic that alley shut with boxes!”

“On it!”

A lone juvenile changeling galloped away as his five chasers continued to stick behind her tail. Panic doubled and tripled as his mind muddled itself with a thousand horror scenarios that he might find himself in once he was caught. The alleyway weaved around itself like a maze, confusing the changeling even further. Fear chilled his core, for each turn might very well be a dead end.

And then it finally happened.

His last turn brought him into a corner with rows of clotheslines above it. His flight was nowhere near the rainbow-maned pegasus chasing him, and his magic was pitiful compared to the purple unicorn leading the hunter group.

Slowly backing onto the wall, he hissed and growled, trying to get his captors to back off to no avail. Without strenuous movements, he found his heart rate slowing down as it felt like it was no longer needed as much.

“Y- you won’t t- take me alive,” he tried to intimidate, only for his words to come out in whimpers.

Twilight inspected the shivering changeling. Nondescript as the next changeling, but with green eyes and elytra. She relaxed her stance and motioned her friends to do the same. “Listen, sir. We are not here to hurt you.”

“Lies! Nonsense! You chased me to the end, flexed your powers to me, and now you’re saying that you’re giving me mercy?” The changeling shook his head and hid it under his hooves. “J- just make it quick. No pain, please-”

The five bit their retort of how the changeling had been hissing and threatening ponies all around, gasping instead. It wasn’t the first time a changeling asked for the snuff of their fire, but hearing it was never easier. “No, no no no no no, we’re not here to hurt you, buggy sir,” Fluttershy softly said as she inched closer.

The changeling wrapped himself in a fetal position, tense and shivering. The touch of Fluttershy’s hoof completely froze him, but her soft strokes against his head fins slowly calmed him down.

“Please, sir, we are not to hurt you in any way. If you formally declare a peaceful surrender, we will take you to the refugee camps set around Canterlot, okay? Not the prison, jail, or dungeon, okay? I promise.”

The changeling snorted between his sobs, a mix between incredulity and actually inhaling his snot back in.

“Changeling, sir, do you have a name I can call you?” Fluttershy gently asked.

The changeling nodded once, but refused to answer. Twilight and Rainbow both opened their mouths, but Fluttershy gestured for them to stand down. She turned back towards the changeling, who had stopped shivering as much. “I- I’m… My name is Duster. N- no titles.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Okay then, Duster, can you tell us where you come from? The refugee camps are coded by area so those with a family will have little chance of being separated. Please, sir, help us help you, and tell us where you are from. I- if you’re willing to, I mean...”

“U- umm, Middle Section, Puddinghead Sector. House number 35.”

Fluttershy patted him some more. “Thank you kindly, sir.” She turned to face her friends and shook her head while pointing at her forehead. It was code to not use magic, and instead let the changeling ride on one of their backs.

They carried the changeling to the nearest Royal Guard posts and hoofed him over, stating that he surrendered peacefully and had to be treated as per protocol. The zombie-like guards nodded before trudging through the post, slowly leading the changeling into the census.

Rarity yawned. “Well, that was… what, twentieth changeling today?” she asked.

“Twenty first,” Twilight corrected. “Oh Celestia, I’m exhausted. Based on the moon and stars’ position, it should be around 1 a.m right now. How about we finally hit the hay, girls?”

Her suggestion was agreed upon, and soon they were on the track back towards the castle.

Rainbow walked along the group. Her tired wings twitched every so often as she snorted here and there, stomping her hooves occasionally. Twilight picked up the body language and asked, “Rainbow, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Rainbow answered, although more to convince herself than anypony else.

“Oh, I can see it in your wrinkly eyebrows, Dashie,” Pinkie said. “Is it a cupcake problem? I still have a stash of them.” She then offered Rainbow a cupcake she produced from her mane.

Rainbow snagged the cupcake and devoured it, sighing in relief as she did. “Thanks, Pinks, that really hit the spot.” She turned towards the other girls. “Okay, here’s the deal: I’m sick and tired of waiting, damn it! I want to see Applejack again! Buck the city, I want to search for her!”

“So are we, Rainbow, but you heard what the princesses said: they have assigned Luna’s personal guards to specifically look for her. A changeling in stetson, or an orange earth pony mare with three apples as cutie mark. They will find her in no time, I promise,” Twilight reassured.

“Oh yeah, sending a military search team consisting of actual purposefully-creepy batponies make sooo much sense,” Rainbow said sarcastically.

Twilight frowned. “Now what does that mean, huh?”

“Twilight, I know you are a bit hung up over the princesses, but this is Luna we’re talking about. I don’t know how pony history with changelings was a thousand years ago, but I’m sure it’s not pretty.” Rainbow switched her hovering position to look at the swarm of changelings flying north of Canterlot. “I mean, based on what Tyrant Sun said-”

“Rainbow! You can’t talk about the princess like that!” Twilight scolded, aghast.

“Oh don’t deny it, Twilight. You were also scared back then when Princess Celestia went full on supernova. I’m at least 120% sure that that was her version of Nightmare Moon,” Rainbow pointed. “That’s not the point though. The point is we have one ancient princess only several years away from the last war she fought, and one overworked, underslept princess so jittery that she would’ve probably killed Applejack if it weren’t for Fluttershy. The only thing a princess-ordered batpony task force will do is make her double her hiding efforts, and possibly even fly out of Equestria!”

“Rainbow darling, while you made perfect sense with your explanation, what makes you so sure that that changeling was actually Applejack?” Rarity asked. “Overlooking the fact that she looks utterly hideous, I firmly believe that Applejack, being an Element of Honesty, will never lie to us about her upbringing.”

“She did say being a hypocrite is different from being a liar,” Pinkie said.

“And how exactly, Pinkie dear?”

Twilight coughed, turning attention to her. “Lying is an act where one admits a piece of statement or fact that is not the truth. For example: If I were to say everytime that Princess Celestia is my mother, somepony would believe it. It being not the truth, will make me a liar.”

“She’s practically your second mother anyways,” Rainbow grumbled inaudibly.

“A hypocrite on the other hoof, is an act of not following your own teachings. The problem here is that those teachings might be genuinely good things, but that doesn’t mean she followed that teaching. Applejack always preached about her being honest, and it’s the truth. If that changeling was indeed her, however, that doesn’t mean she outright lied. Instead, she wasn’t telling the whole truth,” Twilight explained. “It’s not like anypony would straight up ask her ‘are you a changeling’, either.”

“That was her!” Rainbow exclaimed, again. “You two might not be convinced, but I know who I saw. Under those red eyes I saw was the same cowpony I had known for years! I can’t sit still in this prissy-arse city when OUR FRIEND is struggling out there, suffering in Luna knows where!”

“Rainbow, please calm down,” Fluttershy pleaded. “I know that you’re angry at Princess Celestia, a- and I am too, but raising a fuss now won’t get us anywhere. We are only a few ponies against millions of hiding places all over Equestria. I- If it’s not too much trouble, can we agree to just get some sleep first?”

Rainbow locked eyes with Twilight and Rarity. She was inches from exploding when her steam evaporated. Fluttershy had a point. There were only 6 of them, and dozens of towns and cities they needed to explore. Not to mention small, fringe settlements that would be logical hiding places. She doubted that Applejack could fly out of Equestria within a day, because even she herself can’t.

Rainbow huffed and turned her head, but didn’t complain as they headed back towards the castle.