Different

Knocking; such a bad way to wake up in the morning. I wasn't expecting guest at this time of the day. For that matter, I wasn't expecting anyone at all as this was my day off. I was told that we didn't work on weekends. I bolted up from my blanket bed and into my closet to transform back into my pony form. I found that this was the safest place as no one could possibly see the green light of my transformation unless standing directly in front of the closet door. Once done, I went back into my room to look at the mirror to ensure I didn't miss any details.

I had gone downstairs to see who was at my door. I peeked through the tiny hole in the door to see who was outside. Three royal guards were standing outside my cottage. I was a bit confused but opened the door to greet them.

"Good morning gentlemen, is there an issue?" I said, peeking my head around the door.

One of the royal guards stepped closer to the door. "Blue Shadow, you have been requested by name to see Princess Twilight Sparkle. She has requested we guide you to her castle to ensure you get inside with no issues. Please follow us."

I agreed and followed close behind. This was definitely strange, but I decided not to question it. The walk being filled with a strange silence as none of the guards were talking the entire time. I could feel as though they were doing this to give of a sense of professionalism. It was either that or the fact that it was still very early in the morning.

Upon entering town, I had noticed that it was eerily empty. This either had to do with the changeling that was caught the night prior, or the fact that ponies liked to sleep in on the weekends. Granted, there were still quite a few ponies out running specific stalls in the shopping district.

The castle, as expected, was heavily guarded. I was allowed to walk right past the guards outside the castle due to being escorted in. This was slightly nerve wrecking, but anyone being guided to the princess would be nervous. Even those who actually have nothing to hide would have been nervous.

The hallway had a glorious shine that reflected the lights in a way that caused a blazing aura. The walls were seemingly impossible in height. I swore that the place looked smaller on the outside. Crystals lined the walls, emanating a regal emotion of higher standing.

After what seemed like a very long walk through the halls, we made our way into this large circular room. It was a room with a large round table with what appeared to be a crystal map. Surrounding the map was seven large chairs that were seemingly made from the same material as the walls. Standing in the room just before the table was the Princess.

Once I had entered the room, the guards leading me in had saluted her and left the room. The large door closed very slowly behind them. I was now alone in the room with Princess Twilight Sparkle.

I quickly got down into a bowing position to show her respect. Twilight bowed back and we both stood looking at each other. "Do not worry too much about the professionalism, you can be relaxed around me. I actually wanted to talk to you about what happened near the cottages last night."

I looked at her, realizing where this conversation might have been going. "You mean you want to talk to me about the changeling we came across last night?"

"Yes, that is exactly why I brought you here. You see, this is the first changeling we have captured since putting up the fence. Do you remember a few night ago when you said the Pinkie Pie was acting weird? Well, as it turns out she suspects you to be a spy of some sort. It just seemed a bit too coincidental that on your second night here a changeling was spotted around your home." Twilight started, taking a seat at the table. "Go ahead, take a seat in any chair so we can talk more about this."

I nodded and sat down in a random chair. Twilight continued, "However, upon some thorough investigation and torture, we had discovered that changelings have been entering Ponyville using the area of fence that is just behind your back yard. They have been using your house as a hiding spot from the guards due to the guards never checking inside it. In their defense, the guards never checked the cottage because they didn't think any changelings had ever made it across the fence. Somehow the changelings have found out the average times that the area was patrolled by guards and use that time to simply fly over. Due to the fact that you moved in and locked the doors the changeling knew they couldn't hide there anymore. The changeling then went to look for a different entry point for the other changelings. That was the point in which you managed to come across it. Lucky that Izzy knew where to find a royal guard quickly."

Twilight paused for a second, changing her tone to a more serious one. "This changeling refused to give us any more information. Later today this changeling is slated to be killed. We placed it in the daily read that there will be a public execution. We are doing it publicly to hopefully send a message to any changeling hiding in town. We are having you kill the changeling to show us that you are not a spy. Are you up for the challenge?"

I was internally screaming at this point. She really did not suspect me of being a changeling. Surely, she had not, why else would she be making me kill this changeling. I figured that it would be best if I just played along. The best way for me to lose any suspicion that I did have on me. I didn't think any more about it. I looked up to Twilight after thinking for a few seconds. "I did not know that the Princess of Friendship was ok with public executions. Would it not make more sense to try to befriend the changelings?"

Twilight grinned, "The changelings are different as they are not ponies. These things are born killers led by a queen that only wants death and destruction. No amount of friendship thrown their way will give us back the hundreds of ponies they killed in the Canterlot Wedding fiasco. Those things are pure evil and will do anything to get what they wanted. As much as I would like, I do not think there will ever come a day that the changeling hive gets reformed. Plus, the changelings need to pay for all the ponies they killed."

That just made me even more worried. I kept my composure though. I did not want to go through with this, but I figured that if I wanted to gain their trust, I would have to kill this changeling. As sad as it is, changelings kill each other all the time. Granted this was mostly when opposing hives came across each other in the wild. I just have to think of the ponies as my new hive. My hope is that I can convince the ponies that not all of us changelings are actually bad. I plan on doing this by either creating a peace agreement between the changelings and the ponies, or by leading my own new hive of changelings who are thinking the same way I am. I do not want this war to happen. If a few changeling have to die first, then I suppose I must suck it up and do what they want. There are only two ways to survive a war. You either find a way to stop it from happening in the first place or do everything you must to ensure your survival.

After thinking about everything happening around me, I looked back up to Twilight. "Very well Princess, how will I be doing the job?"

Twilight levitated a picture towards me, placing it on the table. "You will be using this new tool we just got called a guillotine. We have been saving it for just this kind of thing. The towns ponies got excited the day we got it. I have been keeping it in one of the castle rooms. It is basically this large wooden tower. At the bottom is a place where the changeling will have its head poking through a small circle. At the top is a large heavy blade, designed in a way to cleanly slice its head off in a very quick and easy motion. It is also designed to leave the least amount of mess. There will be a basket that collects the changelings head, so it does not roll off the platform and land on somepony.

The only thing that I was thinking was that it would at least be a very quick death. That made me feel less guilty about killing one of my own kind. "Very well Princess, if I have to be the one to draw the first blood then so be it. I just want this to be done and over with."

"I am glad you are thinking this way. I know, war leads to very messy things. We are just hoping that when showing this to the public there happens to be another changeling in the audience. We will let that changeling get away, knowing that they will tell the hive that we are not playing around. If it is a war they want, it is a war that they will get. If they do not want friendship, then we are going to have to give them war. We will not back down easily. Now, the execution isn't to be until around lunch time today. This is to give ponies time to wake up and read about it. We also do not need to worry about what will happen if a changeling reads the paper. We worded it in a way that just says there will be an execution. No one knows about the changeling part yet. From what we know about changelings, hearing about getting to watch someone die publicly will excite them. Little will they know that it is one of them. Until then, you can either go back to your own business until then or you can wait in the castle. If you choose to leave, then you can just meet back up with me in front of the town hall."

"I think I am going to leave for now." I responded, my mind full of thought and emotion. "I need time to think about what it is that I am doing."

"I understand fully as this is a very big ask for someone who just moved here." Twilight said this as she stood up. "Follow me and I will guide you back outside."

I followed her back through the massive halls of her crystal tree castle. Once I was back outside, I found my way to the closest bench. A little bit of fresh air would help me get through this. It should be easy for me as I have killed other changelings from other hives before. This just felt a little different as it my way own hive.

When I was sitting on the bench, I noticed there were more ponies outside. This means that I was correct earlier is just assuming that ponies liked to sleep in on the weekends. They did not know about the changeling yet. This was a good thing as any other changelings hidden in Ponyville would not know either.

After a few minutes of sitting on the bench I had decided that maybe finding something for breakfast would also help clear my mind. I got up and walked into the shopping district to see what stalls they had. There was quite a bit of stalls to choose from. One of the stalls stood out the most with the smell of apple.

I walked up to this apple scented cart and found that it was being ran by Apple Jack. I waved to her, "Oh, good to see you again! My attention was grabbed by your cart." I looked at all the choices she had for sale. She had everything from straight apples to apple pies.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too! Come for breakfast ah'm assuming?" Apple Jack asked this while tilting her cowboy hat down as a greeting.

"I am, though I am having a hard time deciding on what to get. Lucky that most of it seems affordable. What would you recommend I try as a breakfast item?"

"Honestly, I would suggest you try our newest treats. We got this new item on our list called sour apple sweet tarts. They seem to be a popular choice. I also recommend them because they can help you after you have a bad morning." Apple Jack said that last line with a bit of heart in it. "I was watching you as you were walking into the district. You look as though you have been told some very bad news."

"I was. I do not know if I got a chance to read the daily news yet." I said this with my head held low.

"I did read it. It said something about there being a public execution in a little while. What does this have do to with you?"

I looked back up at her. "Well, I am going to be the one doing it. Twilight said something along the lines of me doing it to drop any allocations of me somehow being a spy."

Apple Jack very quickly changed to a more serious tune. "That... That actually makes sense. I am sure there is more to the story that I am not allowed to know about, right?"

I sighed before continuing. "Yeah, this isn't something I can talk about in detail to the public. I am ok with doing this. The only thing is that I only have so much time to prepare myself mentally to take another life in front of the public." After I had said this, I pointed at the sweet tart. "You know what? I think I will try one of those tarts. I just need something to eat to help me think."

"Alrighty then, that'll be doing ya’ two bits. Very cheap as we know they are a best seller."

I nod to her and give her the bits. She handed me the tart wrapped up for easy transportation. I looked back up to her one more time before heading out to find a place to sit and eat. "Thank you kindly. I hope you have a good weekend Apple Jack."

Apple Jack waved back at me. "Thank you for the business. I just hope all goes well for you in the near future. I know this must be a hard choice to make."

I waved back to her in response and headed out to find a bench to eat my breakfast on. Finding a bench did not end up taking that long as you can usually find a bench every three minutes of walking or so.

I sat down at a bench closer to the edge of town. I needed a bit of a walk to help me ease my mind just that much more. I took out the sweet tart and held it in my hooves, carefully removing it from the container. I took a bite from it not sure what to expect. That first bite almost instantly made me stop thinking about what was about to happen. It was so filled with flavor that it shocked me a bit. I didn't think that something as simple as a sour apple sweet tart would have such explosive taste. This was something I looked forward of getting again in the future. I made sure to take my time with eating it so as to savor as much flavor as possible. The sweet tart was only so big, however. It did not take me very long to enjoy this small breakfast item. It was more than enough to fill me up though
.

When I finished eating the sweet tart, I made my way to the nearest recycling bin I could find. I noticed that the streets of Ponyville were heaps better than the streets of Manehattan. I intended on being a good citizen of Ponyville and leave some of the bad habits I saw from Manehattan in the past. I also figured that the bin would be on the way back into the center of town.

I was correct in assuming so. As soon as I had made my way towards the town hall, I found some bins. While I was there, I noticed that there were a few guards making their way in and out of the town hall building. This was different from the first day I was in Ponyville. I had not realized that it would be done inside the town hall. I suppose it did make sense to do it this way as the inside had a stage. This would mean that everyone in the back of the crown would also be able to see what was going on. This was also smart because it would give the guards the perimeter. That way, anyone that came inside to see the execution would be forced to stay inside until it was over. Smart way of ensuring that any changelings hidden in the crowd would be forced to watch their fellow changeling die as a warning.

I headed inside, figuring that I could just wait inside until it was time to do the job. I trotted over to the entrance where there were some guards standing watch. They gave me a strange look but let me inside anyways. I knew that upon entering through the doors that there was no way I could turn back.

I was put into shock when I finally entered town hall. Standing in the middle of the stage was the guillotine. I had no idea that it would've been so massive. It was a scary beast to look at. That pour changeling had no idea what was headed their way. Knowing that I was going to be the first one to kill with it had put a huge weight on my shoulders.

I then spotted Princess Twilight helping to set it up. I trotted up to her, being very careful so as not to mess with the contraption. Being right next to it and looking up at the huge blade was not something that I would forget any time soon.

"Hello again Twilight, is there anything I can help with?" I asked, keeping a distance between me and the guillotine.

Twilight just looked back at me. "We just finished setting this bad boy up. You can help us by helping up test it. As you can see, we placed a coconut in the neck holder. All you need to do it grab this rope and pull down. Go ahead and get into position so that I can see it working properly."

I did just what she said and got in to position. The amount of power I held seemed too much at this point. I was waiting for a nod from Twilight as a sign to pull the rope. After a few seconds of Twilight walking around the contraption and ensuring that the coconut was properly set she gave the signal to pull.

I pulled the rope and sent my attention to the blade. It fell so fast that I also had a hard time keeping up with it. You could hear the sound of the blade hitting the bottom. The coconut fell with a perfectly clean cut. There was no resistance with the blade at all. It was almost like there was nothing in the way of the blade. I would hate to be the one placed under this contraption.

"Works perfectly!" Twilight exclaimed this as she was picking up the coconut halves. "Now we must reset the guillotine and wait until everyone gets here." Twilight walked up to the guillotine and lifted the blade again using the rope. We could tell it was in position when we were able to hear a loud click. "Only thing left to do now is wait."

A few minutes had passed before a few ponies had already started heading in to the building. Seemed as though the guards had started ushering ponies in from around town. It would not be that much longer before the inevitable happens.

I decided to go behind the stage and take a seat. When I had gone past the curtains, I had entered what seemed to be a storage room. For some reason, somepony had decided to make a place for gathering. I had taken a seat on the couch and waited there for my time to go back up front. It was quite comfortable to sit on.

I was just sitting there, waiting for the time to click on by. It was best for me to not think about anything at that moment. I knew that in times of war ponies are left to do what they have to. I knew that I might have to kill someone at some point. This is the reason why I have a dagger in my saddle bag. Granted, I did not plan to kill anyone outside of self-defense.

I spent the next hour or so just sitting in thought. Would I have to be a victim of this machine if they found me out? Would my plan to befriend the pony kind fail? Would they only see a monster if they did find me out? Am I any more of a monster pulling the rope for the ponies than if I were a drone consuming emotion for mother? This was going to be very hard for me, but I knew that in order to stop this war from getting too out of hoof I would have to keep pushing forward. Though I do wonder what would happen if the hive refuses to finally accept friendship. What would happen if the ponies never saw past our dark past? What if I really was the only changeling to see that peace is the only option?

My concentration had been broken by Twilight coming in to get me. "I hope you are ready to help us kill this bug. Everyone is waiting to see it." With that, she led me back past the curtains.

I was in awe with the amount of ponies who had shown up for this event. The entire town had made it, minus the children that is. My guess is that the kids were being watched over by royal guards as they were too young to understand the events that were about to unfold. The stage seemed so much smaller now than it had before. I got on stage and saw that everyone was looking at me. I kept my composure and simply stood next to the Princess.

"Good afternoon, everyone! As you all have seen, we will be having a public execution today. Our very first one during this time of war. Now, as the guards are now preventing anyone from leaving, I will tell you why. Last night, a changeling was caught in Ponyville thanks to our very own Izzy. This is going to be used as a warning to any other changelings that might have infiltrated our town. You changelings do not know anything but death and destruction! This is us showing you that we are perfectly ok with going to great lengths to ensure our survival. We will NOT be as easy target for you. What you see in front of you is just one of the many ways us ponies deal with murderers. We are not just friendship, magic, and rainbows. We have our limits to how much we will stand before we take measures into our own hooves to ensure our citizens do not get slaughtered again!"

Having said this, Twilight then looked to the guards on stage. "Go get the changeling and bring them here." Two of the royal guards saluted before turning around and walking through a hallway.

A few minutes later we see this changeling being dragged onto the stage. They were bloodied and bruised. You could tell that they had been starved for a while. I could only assume this changeling had tried making its way into Ponyville to try to feed on someone during the night due to being hungry. Upon closer inspection, you could see that the changeling's horn had been cut off to prevent it from using magic. This meant that even if it had somehow gotten away, it would not survive long out in this harsh world.

The changeling did not seem to be putting up a fight. Mostly because the changeling was too tired to any more. Guessing this torture that Twilight was talking about was essentially beating it until it was close to death. I must admit that I had to give them props for going that far to keep the hives secrets. I think the reason they weren't fighting was because death was preferable to more torture. Guess they also didn't know that these ponies were not as weak and defenseless as we had originally thought.

The changeling was placed into the contraption. I did not think that they knew what it was, but you could tell they had an idea of how it works. The changeling was just beaten enough to accept their fate and lay there.

I got into my position next to the guillotine and was standing by to pull the rope. Twilight spoke up again. "Now, this contraption is called a guillotine. It is designed to quickly chop off the head of its victim. We are using this tool today to show you that we are willing to kill quickly. Keep this as a warning though, we have other methods that make death long and painful if we need to use them. We will not be warning you next time. We know that there are more changelings in this room, though we do not know who they are. This will be the only time we let you escape so you can tell your queen that we mean business. Blue, end this changelings suffering."

Hearing those words sent a chill down my spine. I quickly pulled the rope just to get it over with. My eyes were closed as I had shuddered about what I just did. The sound was similar to the test run, matched up with the new sound of meat being chopped. This was quickly followed by a quick and heavy thud and the sound of blood dripping on the stage floor.

I opened my eyes, looking at the basket. It was a strange sensation as it seemed though the head was still alive for a few seconds. Blood dripping from its neck as the eyes quickly darted in my direction. We knew each other, and I could tell that this changeling realized that it was killed by its own kind following the orders of a pony princess. You could tell that it was trying to use the last bit of its strength to hiss at me. It did not have enough left in its system and all brain activity had stopped.

Green blood had pooled onto the stage. The room had gone silent for a few seconds before some of the crowd had started cheering. The death was so quick and efficient. I backed up away from the guillotine and got back behind Twilight. I looked back to the crowd and could tell there were some ponies who weren't as excited about this as others. Most of the ponies in this room were happy with what just happened due to how many ponies the changelings had killed over the years. Though, if you looked closer you could see a pony or two who looked terrified about what just happened. I was not sure if they were undercover changelings, or ponies who just had a weak stomach.

The door was finally opened again as the guards let the ponies continue their day. This was also to ventilate the building as the room had started smelling of changeling blood. Some ponies in what looked to be hazmat suits had started cleaning up the body and surrounding area. Twilight then looked back to me. "I know it might not seem like it, but you did a good thing here today. You have helped us make a huge impact on how the changelings think about us. This act showed the changeling in the room that we are not afraid to make an example out of them. This war is going to have many impacts on our society. Doing what we did today will hopefully get them to reconsider an all-out war with us ponies. We have better technology and weaponry. They refuse friendship so we are showing them that unless they stop messing with us death is the only thing coming their way. The changelings are a bunch of terrorists, and they know it."

Twilight signed a bit before continuing. "Now, that is not saying that this is what I wanted to do. This was the last resort type deal for this sort of thing. You do not know this, but while this changeling was in our custody, they attacked a few of my royal guards. They have been very badly hurt and sent to the hospital. Even when changelings are caught, they refuse to go out without a fight. I wish the world did not have to come to this but there are only so many things the magic of friendship can solve. We did not want to use violence as the answer, but they pushed us to it."

I looked up to her and thought for a second. "Do you think there could be changelings out there who also do not want this war to happen? You think that... maybe the changelings are also tired of taking command from their queen? I know the changelings only show hate and power, but surely there must be a few out there who want to try friendship?"

Twilight glared back at me. "Trust me, we have tried using friendship on the hive. They only seem to listen to their queen. I sadly do not think there are any chances of finding even one changeling who thinks the way ponies do. I appreciate the thought, but they are all monsters. I am going to help clean up this mess now. You are good to go enjoy the rest of your weekend. You do not need to worry anymore as the next execution will be done by someone else. We will be assigning the executioner job to someone else."

Twilight then turned to help clean up the guillotine. She was really convinced that I was a normal pony. It was in my best interest for her to keep thinking this way. I looked at the body one last time before heading towards the door. It seemed as though I was being waited on as Pinkie Pie was waiting outside for me to finish.

Pinkie gave me a look that was one I had not seen before. It gave off emotions of lowered suspicion and distilled entrustment. I jumped back slightly upon seeing her. She walked up to me in a manner that was different from a few days ago. She could sense that there was still something off about me.

"You know, you really are going the distance to ensure that no one finds you out. I can not say for sure what is going on, but I can feel that you are not trust worthy. Killing that changeling did not make me any less suspicious of you. You might have the others wrapped, but there is no getting around me. I am keeping a very close eye on you. We shall see how far you get before you manage your own downfall. However, in the meantime I can see that you are trying. I have to give credit where it is due. If you are a changeling, then killing your buddy must have been a tough decision. Doing so in front of everyone to help trick everyone into thinking differently of you was both smart and brave. I can't imagine that is an easy thing to bear. War is tough, but us ponies are tougher. If I find out that you are a changeling, I will see to it myself that you see what psychotic really looks like." Pinkie said this with a very serious tone.

I looked down to think about what she was telling me. Strangely, when I looked back up to respond to her she had seemingly disappeared from existence. I looked around the town and yet she was no where to been seen. I was not sure how she could have known, but then again, these ponies are strange creatures. Surely this pony didn't have the ability to just know these things like someone outside of the story had told her about it, did she?"

I shook it off and started walking through town. I did not know what to do next as I did not work this day and my house was still very empty. I did not have enough money to buy anything more for the cottage.

I trotted around town thinking about how these ponies just continued their weekend as if they did not just witness someone just get their head cut off. These ponies are very interesting creatures. I did half exact this though. Living in Manehattan, I saw a lot of unexpected violence. Seems there really was more to these ponies than making friends and being kind to each other.

I had noticed that as I was walking the streets, I was getting some eyes on me. These ponies really thought I was one of them. They really thought that what I did was a good thing. I didn't let this alter me in any way. I was now past this and wanted something to do so my mind was not on the subject any more.

"Hello again Blue!" I heard this from a distance and shot up. I was looking around to see who had just called out for me. I turned around to see Apple Jack again. Seemed she was only by the cart in the morning. I walked up to her to see what she wanted.

"Oh, Hello Apple Jack. Did you need something?" I asked out of curiosity.

Apple Jack smiled at me. "I was wondering if ya wanted to have dinner with us at the farm. I figured that since you are new here that you did not have much food in your home. That and I still wanted to give a proper thanks for savin' my sister at the park. That fall really could've done some damage. I also wanted to give thanks to the new town hero. Being the one to pull that rope like ya did shows guts."

Hero. That was not the name I had expected to hear after killing something. I was getting kind of hungry as that sweet tart only filled me up so much. "You know what, I'de love to meet your family. Will Izzy be going too?"

"I did ask if she wanted to come too but she said she was busy tending to her plants today. What do ya' say?"

"Sure." I said, wondering what other good foods I was about to have. "I have nothing else that I need to do later today anyways."

Apple Jack smiled at this. "Alright, now we won't be able to do this until later today. I have a few more chores to complete first. I just figured I'd ask ya' now, seein' as we happened to cross paths. You can head up to the barn in an hour or so. We should be ready for guests by that time."

"Very well then. I'll be seeing you in a little bit." I said this as I waved at her. Watching her leave to continue working, I thought about all the things I have done right so far. Continuing with my afternoon, I decided to just walk around Ponyville for the remaining time. Most of it was spent at the river just on the outside of the town. Looking at my reflection in the rippled currents just under the bridge. I had hoped that I would only be seeing good things from this town from this point on.