A Pierced Heart

Chapter 17: He can't be, She can't be, It can't be

In the restless blackness, in darkness visible, Rarity's mind wandered. For so long there was nothing she could grasp. When a scene of sense made its way to her mind she did not question it.

Rarity was lying on her bed in Carousel Boutique. Beside her lay Pokey Pierce, her love and her stallion. His silver mane intertwined with her own as he nuzzled her gently.

"How are you feeling my love?" Pokey asked.

"Wonderful darling, I can't think of how this moment could possibly be better." Rarity replied.

The blue stallion grinned. "I can think of a way to make it better." Pokey stood up and moved towards Rarity's backside. Before she could say anything a sharp pain shot up her body.

Rarity turned her head to protest. "Pokey, that hurts--!"

Rarity was struck dumb, where once her lover had been, a changeling was burrowing into her abdomen. Jets of blood shot out, crimson mixing with the royal purples of the sheets. All Rarity could do was scream out in agony as the changeling became embedded in her, leaving nothing but a bloated mass squirming inside of her. The pressure in her stomach built up, and a single, gargantuan maggot began chomping through Rarity's stomach wall, up her chest, crushing bone and shredding muscle, before it reached Rarity's neck, a scraping of metal on metal sounded out.

"Food."

*****

Rarity woke up screaming in her bed. She dragged hooves over her stomach as she gasped for air. She ran to her bathroom and vomited. She heaved and retched until bitter bile began passing through her lips. She lifted her face from the toilet and looked at herself in the mirror. Bags had formed under her eyes and she had taken on a gaunt appearance.

A knocking at the door sounded and Applejack called out. “Rarity! Is e’erything alright? Ah thought Ah heard screaming.”

“I’m fine!” the purple-maned mare yelled in response. “I just had a nightmare.” The fashionista rinsed her face and and flushed the toilet before stepping out of her room to greet her friend. Applejack had offered to stay with Rarity over the night in the guest room.

“Gosh Rarity, you look famished! Let’s get y’all something to eat.” Applejack helped Rarity down the stairs and set her on a chair in the dining room before heading to the kitchen.

“Let’s see, first off, some juice tah go with yer pills.” Applejack brought the mentioned items to the table and set them out in front of Rarity. Rarity quickly poured herself out a glass of juice and downed it with her pills. Then another glass, and another, until the carton was drained. “Woah Rarity, slow down! you must be really hungry, still, good fer yer immune system Ah guess,” Applejack chuckled as Rarity hopped down from her seat.

Rarity opened up a cabinet and then looked at the contents, her brow furrowed as she searched for something that piqued her interests. She brought out a jar of pickled beets and some graham crackers. She floated the contents to the table before opening the fridge and fishing out some tofu. The white mare mixed in the beets and graham crackers before lifting up a spoon and digging in.

Applejack simply stared slack-jawed as Rarity ate. When the fashionista finished she looked up and saw the farmer-pony in her dumbfounded state.

“Uh, Rares, are ya’ll feelin’ alright?” Applejack asked.

“Now that I’ve had a good solid meal, yes.” Rarity stood up and walked to the door. “Let’s get to Pokey’s place and investigate, shall we darling?”

The orange mare shook her head and soon followed suit, worry showing clearly on her face.

*****

“Ugh! We’ve searched for hours and not a single one of your animals has been able to help us!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I mean, how could they not notice a group of changelings carrying a bloody, blue unicorn!”

“I don’t know Rainbow, but we can’t just give up because we haven’t had any luck, its only been a few--”

A pained moaning echoed through the cliffs, cutting off Fluttershy. “Oh dear!” the yellow mare gasped. “That sounded like a very wounded animal! Come on Rainbow!” With that Fluttershy trotted down the path and around a corner with the cyan pegasus in tow.

The rounded a corner and saw a Quaray Eel hanging out of a nesting hole, tongue lolled out and moving along the dusty ground. Fluttershy walked tentatively to the creature while Rainbow hovered a few feet away, ready to dart in and save her friend if the animal became aggressive. The great red worm’s side heaved up and down as its yellowed eye inspected Fluttershy.

“Shhh, it’s okay, where are you hurting?” Fluttershy cooed.

In response the eel moaned again and tried lifting its head. It thumped back to the ground and then began hacking.

“Oh my! Was it something you ate?” asked Fluttershy as she stepped closer.

“Careful...” Rainbow said nervously.

Fluttershy lifted a hoof and put it onto the eel’s side. “There there, Momma Fluttershy is going to help make you feel all better. Now I’m going to have to trigger a gag reflex. Open wide.”

Rainbow Dash’s legs and wings quivered anxiously as the creature’s maw opened, hundreds of needle like teeth glinting in the late morning sun. The pink-maned pegasus stepped over to the mouth and reached in with a hoof. The creature retched when Fluttershy touched its massive uvula. It began heaving more and more and the animal caretaker stepped back as a ‘walumph’ sounded at the back of its throat.

Out came several chunks of acid-burned metal, jagged edged armor and they settled on the canyon floor. The creature withdrew back into its nest as the two pegasi examined the shaped metal.

“Uuuummm, Rarity said that the changeling that attacked her and Pokey had armor, right?” When Fluttershy nodded Rainbow continued. “And if we just found this armor, that means your eel ate the changeling.” Again Fluttershy nodded to her azure friend. “So why did we find that other changeling?”

“I don’t know Rainbow, but I think we should go see Twilight.”

*****

Applejack and Rarity were scrounging around in Pokey’s basement, having turned up no signs that he was being watched by changelings prior to the attack.

“Nothin’!” Applejack exclaimed with irritation. “Ah can’t find one scrap, why did Twi even think we would find something here?” questioned the stetson-bearing pony as she threw a cog over her shoulder. Rarity ducked her head and the cog passed over her horn, colliding with a door.

“Hang on,” the fashionista declared, “I don’t think we went in here yet.” She walked to the door and tried opening it. Locked. Applejack went over and tried twisting the handle with her teeth.

When the handle failed to yield the orange mare turned to the white and requested, “Stand back, a buck’s as good as a key when yer desperate.” Rarity back pedaled and Applejack delivered a mighty double-hooved strike to the door, causing it to buckle inwards.

The two mares walked in to see a cot nestled in a corner. A few brown stains and black flecks graced the ratty sheets.

“What is with this room? Smells like somepony went and soiled themselves in here!” Applejack declared as she held a hoof to her nose.

“I remember Pokey was down here when he was sick,” Rarity replied as she stepped over to the wall. “I don’t know why he would choose to recover in such dreadful-- WO-AAAAH!” Rarity’s hoof punched through a weakened floor board and an earthy smell puffed into her nostrils. The white mare pulled herself back to her friend as she looked at the hole.

“Burrowed in, makes sense now that’n ya think of it.” The orange mare adjusted her hat and walked over to peer into the hole. She looked in confusedly and tilted her head to examine what was within confusedly.

“What is it? Does it lead anywhere?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t think this is a burrow Rarity, come look.” Applejack beckoned Rarity beside her and the two looked in together.

Rarity lifted out one of the strange objects with her magic. It was black and smooth, with a slight curve to it and a jagged edge. The object was rotated in the unicorns magical grip. One side had a few splotches of dirt caked on with dried mucus underneath. Rarity’s eyes widened and the piece of chitin was dropped to the ground.

“Rarity? Are y’all right?” Applejack asked, casting a worried glance at Rarity.

The white mare shot a look at her stomach as her tail fell between her legs her lower lip quivered as she reached over her abdomen with a hoof. She bolted out of the door before Applejack could stop her.

“Dammit!” Applejack hissed. She looked to the piece of carapace laying on the floor. “Goddess what is that? Ah better go ask Twi.” She quickly grabbed the piece of carapace and shoved it into her saddle bag. She gagged at the texture and taste before galloping out of the door.

*****

Twilight lifted a stethoscope from Pokey’s chest. “He has a stable heart-rate, which is more than can be said from last night. I think it’s working you two.” The Element of Magic looked happily at Sweetie Belle and Pinkie.

When the sound of the library door slamming open reached the basement, Twilight’s ears twitched. “Hang on, I’ll go check it out.” She stepped out of the room and up into the library foyer. There she saw Applejack panting.

“Applejack! Where’s Rarity?”

“Twi, Ah don’t know, she bolted when we found this in one of Pokey’s rooms.” The orange mare reached back into her saddlebag and pulled out a black piece of exoskeleton. “Twi, now you tell me right now, is that what Ah think?”

Twilight looked at the fragments closely. Her eyes darted nervously to Applejack who huffed. Gulping, the unicorn answered, “Yes.”

“Buck!” screamed Applejack. “And Pokey is in Canterlot, we have to--”

“No he’s not Applejack, I lied about that.”

“WHAT? Twi, how could you?” Applejack was staring at Twilight in shock.

The door to the library slammed open again and a rainbow blur came in.

“Twilight! We’ve found something really important. Me and Fluttershy were searching the quarry when we found this eel that was sick and it vomited this armor and then I remembered that Rarity said that the changeling that attacked her and Pokey wore armor but the changeling we found didn’t have any armor so I think Pokey might have been...” Rainbow Dash gasped. “A changeling.”

“You’re right Rainbow,” Twilight replied.

“What!?” exclaimed Applejack and Rainbow Dash as Fluttershy galloped into the library.

“It would be easier if I showed you, follow me.” Twilight turned and headed for the basement.

In the basement below Twilight opened the door revealing Sweetie Belle and Pinkie Pie tending to Pokey.

“At first I wanted to hold the changeling so I could have Celestia’s guards take it away, interrogate it, see if they could find out where Pokey was,” Twilight explained. “But then the story didn’t mesh. Rarity said that the changeling wore armor and had green eyes. I put it up to hysterics, but when I cast a memory reading spell, well, it all matched up with what we all knew about Pokey.”

“He’s been a changeling all this time an’ nearly got himself killed tryin’ to save Rares? Huh.” Applejack turned her head and thought.

“AJ, where’s Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“She ran off when she and Applejack found Pokey’s moulting room,” Twilight explained, levitated the chunk of black carapace.

“Ooooooh Celestia!” Applejack was moving her hooves about like she was standing on coals. “Rarity slept with him after she had talked to him when he claimed he was sick.”

“So?” Rainbow interjected. “Even if she did do that and Pokey had been replaced, nopony in their right mind would blame her for that.”

“That ain’t the point RD,” the orange mare responded.

“Then what is is?” the cyan mare asked.

“She woke up this morning, drank a whole carton of juice, then ate tofu, graham crackers, and pickled beets in a bowl.”

Rainbow’s jaw would have hit the ground had she been capable of unhinging it. “No. Bucking. Way.”