In a single act of true love, a blast of pink energy rippled through Canterlot. And with it, it took all the Changelings as it moved on. It picked up the Changelings that had captured the Royal Guards, it picked up the ones that were chasing civilians, and it eagerly grabbed up the ones that had surrounded and were doing battle with Octavia Melody.

And the one Changeling still in disguise was taken, too.

All of these were dragged across Equestria, sent careening through the skies, as the little ponies on the ground looked up in confusion, watching an army of strange, carapaced monsters shot across the sky at dangerous speeds.

And the single, pink dot that traveled with them.

Chrysalis opened her eyes, struggling to her hooves, as she looked around herself. They'd landed back in their hive, seemingly. She shook herself, then hissed.

"My Queen?"

She turned, seeing the captain of her guards come close. "Yes, Pharynx?"

Pharynx bowed down low. "I apologize for my inadequacy," he said.

Chrysalis hissed. "You'll do better next time, I trust," she said.

"Yes, My Queen."

"Gather, warriors! Assess injuries. Get infiltrators working on harvesting love again. Our next invasion will have to be good to make up for this failure." She marched along a row of Changelings, who groaned as they rose. But rise they did; her people did not bow to injuries. "Gather tools. Start training. Life resumes as normal, for now. When we strike again, then we will claim Equestria for ourselves!"

Cheers rang up amongst her people, and she smiled to herself. Yes, as expected.

She paused, then looked to one specific Changeling she noticed. "What are you still doing in that ridiculous disguise?" she demanded. "Change to your normal form. I can't possibly take you seriously like that."

The bright-pink Earth pony blinked, then chuckled awkwardly. "Oh, uh...sorry, Your Majesty, um..." In a flash of green fire, a drone stood before her.

One Chrysalis did not immediately recognize.

Thankfully, Chrysalis didn't stay long and question Pinkie Pie, who now had a whole host of awkward questions and situations floating through her head. But in the midst of all those were plans, plans with which to get out of the Changeling hive, back to her friends.

Across the Badlands, and several hundred miles of Equestria, without her coin purse.

Well, nothing she hadn't done before, right? She'd been out on plenty of excursions. She could hoof it for that distance, right?

She looked down at her hooves. They were full of holes. They were Changeling hooves, obviously.

Hooves that she hadn't seen in quite some time.

Oh, bleh. I don't have time for flashbacks! she told herself, slapping her face. Figure it out, Pinkie! Slip out of one of the exits...oh, what was the layout again?

She blinked to herself, then began counting the tunnels. "One...one..." She pointed to the next tunnel. "That one splits into two, then that into three, and then five, then start over."

A simple sequence. It had a name, or at least, ponies had a name for it. Changelings didn't call it anything; it was just how they built their hives. Little Changelings would play shift-tag, where they would chase each other through the tunnels, and had to remember where they all went.

It was ingrained in every Changeling's mind. Even all these years later, Pinkie remembered it like the back of her hooves!

Hooves with...holes in them. That...that didn't look right.

"Well, a little looking wouldn't hurt," she muttered, hopping down one of the tunnels. If she remembered correctly, there was a bathing area where she could see her reflection. Or she could find a mirror. There were some scattered around the hive, she remembered.

In the bathing area, I believe.

Pinkie hesitated, seeing other Changelings walk past, groaning and holding their heads. They'll see me...wait... She slapped her face. What do I care? I'm a Changeling.

She walked past them confidently, smiling to herself. They were still reeling from their forceful eviction from Canterlot, and they had no reason to be suspicious of her.

Unhindered, she stepped into a massive open area. Changelings moved past, carrying eggs, and tending to the light injuries of their failed invasion. She winced, trotting into the room.

Medicine was not usually prevalent amongst Changelings. It was more of a matter of shifting into another form and letting the magic repair damage, so Changelings often just rested more when hurt, and that was that. While definitely easier than how ponies healed, Pinkie did notice a lot of Changelings lying down, soaking in the spring, or just sitting and groaning in pain.

"Hey," she said to the nurse.

"Injuries?" the nurse asked, turning. "Hold on, let me get some bandages..."

"No, no, I was just...wondering if any...buddy was really badly hurt." How had she managed that before? 'Everybody' just made so much more sense.

"No, thankfully, the landing wasn't so hard," the nurse said, looking out over the spring. "Mostly just some bumped noggins, but everybug's drained as bloody Tartarus. And I mean, absolutely drained. Not a drop of love in any of them. We got reserves, but..." She looked out over the Changelings, then sighed. "Some teas to dull the pain, and some bandages for sore parts. That's all I got for them."

"Well, maybe...maybe one day we can find a way to make everything better," Pinkie said slowly.

The nurse considered that. "Well, I'm assuming that the invasion didn't work. Which might mean centuries planning for the next one. Up to the Queen to decide the proper course of action."

"Y-yeah. Up to...her." Queen Chrysalis might have changed considerably since Pinkie had last been in the hive. But from what she had seen, not nearly enough.

Chrysalis was still the same old bug that wanted to conquer the world, to make everypony, every creature, bow to the Changelings.

Twilight and her friends had changed Nightmare Moon's mind, but Luna was...well, she wasn't evil like Chrysalis was. Luna had been a meanie, but meanness and evilness were considerably different.

"Um, is there a mirror I could borrow?" Pinkie asked.

"Eh? Uh, sure, there's one back there somewhere," the nurse said, pointing down another tunnel.

"Thanks. Have a wonderful day!"

"Uh..."

Right, we're not nice, Pinkie thought, moving quickly down the tunnels. Maybe she could change that? A big party later and...

No. She'd be caught as a strange, unknown Changeling too fast, and Chrysalis held too much sway. There'd have to be something major to change their minds, something that showed that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they could live in peace with the ponies.

Well, she lived in peace with them. But she hadn't revealed herself to them. So she couldn't use herself as an example for them.

Pinkie stood in front of the mirror. What stood was just...another Changeling. During battles, they would all change to look a like to trick enemies, but here, she stood as what her Changeling form looked like. Somewhat taller than average. Lighter carapace color. A few holes in her legs that symbolized a Changeling having reached significant maturity--

Oh, Tartarus.

Only Changeling queens got the holey-legs. Chrysalis had probably recognized that right away. Pinkie shifted, making herself look like another drone. Horn, shorter, definitely. Crystalline wings, normalized.

What the hay?

She undid that part of the transformation, examining her intensely crystalline wing structure. She hadn't taken this form since her childhood, but...she hadn't remembered that. Was it new? Or was it the Elements of Harmony?

She was also taller than she'd been. Huh.

Pinkie shifted back into a regular drone, thinking. After Cadence and Shining Armor had promptly applied a swift buck to the Changeling's collective flank, all the Changelings were out of sorts...to put it one way, anyhoo. She doubted any of them had noticed her odd appearance.

Chrysalis had said one thing, and then left immediately.

Oh, snap.

Pinkie shifted into an entirely different Changeling, then left the mirror room. She passed the nurse, who looked up but said nothing.

No body suspects a thing, she thought. You'd think they'd pay more attention to this stuff.

Or, perhaps it just didn't come up? The Changelings tended to be unified. Life born of hardship, centered around their queen, and spent gathering food, that any sort of inter-Changeling subterfuge was completely out of the ordinary. The young sometimes bullied each other, but the ponies had that too, right?

Well, I guess it's different because we play rougher than they do, Pinkie amended. She'd been glad that Maude, had been up for it, at least.

Pinkie slid down one of the tunnels, then paused. She crawled along the walls (boy, had she missed that), and out into another small room. A small Changeling was sitting there, sniffling.

"Everything alright?" Pinkie asked.

The Changeling immediately shifted into a snake, sliding away and hissing, but quickly stopped. She shifted back, saying, "Don't...don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Heh, sorry," Pinkie said, dropping down onto her fours. "You seemed upset. Everything alright?"

"I..." The small Changeling curled up, hooves beneath her, and lay down. "No, not really."

Pinkie mimicked her pose. "Well, what's up? Now that I'm no longer on the ceiling, anyhow."

The Changeling stared at her.

Right, that's not weird to them. Whenever she used her shapeshifting to do things like end up places she shouldn't when her pony friends couldn't see her, it tended to freak them out.

Though, thinking about it, they'd have freaked out if they saw her shift...

"Well, it's just...it was supposed to be better, wasn't it? But the invasion...failed. And...some of the grown-ups were saying...there may be shortages."

Pinkie frowned. Foods filled up Changelings, yes, but more of an 'excess'. Like how sugar wasn't strictly necessary for ponies, but still gave energy. So baking three-hundred-dozen cupcakes would not fix this.

"I don't...don't know what to do," the little Changeling continued. "Everybug's talking about how bad it's going to be, how it's going to be harder, b-because the ponies know about us, and..."

"Hey, hey, hey," Pinkie said, throwing her hoof over her shoulders. "It's okay. Things will get better."

The little Changeling sniffled, looking up into Pinkie's face.

"Maybe things are rough, but they can always get better," Pinkie said. "You'll have some trouble for a bit. There might be shortages, yes. But...there is one thing that is always, always free."

"C-conflict?"

"Uh, I was going to say 'smiles'," Pinkie chuckled.

The Changeling frowned at her.

"Feeling bad about it all doesn't help. But if you stay positive, maybe you'll find a solution you wouldn't have," Pinkie elaborated.

"Really?"

"Absolutely. Always works for me." Pinkie touched her cheek. "Come on, give me a smile."

The little Changeling gave a smile. Then she winced. "I don't know how the ponies do that," she said.

"Well, they have a different outlook on everything as a result of their differing culture and societal values--"

"No, I...I just lack most of the muscles to do that in this form," she said.

"Oh. Well, that'll probably come with practice," Pinkie said, thinking.

"...Probably? Didn't you say this works for you?"

"Let's just say I spend a lot of time undercover," Pinkie chuckled. "Speaking of which, I have places to be." She stood up, adding, "An old pony once wrote something wise. 'Hardship is inevitable. Suffering is optional'."

"I'm not sure ponies know how these things work," the little Changeling said.

"Eh. They do their best," Pinkie said. "The point is, just smile. Work hard, never give up, and you'll get a happy ending someday."

"Ocellus?"

The little Changeling looked past Pinkie, as Pinkie herself turned around to see an all-to-familiar Changeling slip into the small room, despite her large size.

Chrysalis dropped down onto her hooves, looking at the little Changeling. "You're caretakers were looking for you," she said.

"Oh, uh...sorry, Your Majesty." 'Ocellus' looked back to Pinkie. "Thanks for helping me, but I've got to go now. Mom and Dad are looking for me!"

"Eh, don't keep them waiting," Pinkie said, waving her along. "Remember! Smile!"

Ocellus leapt back out into the tunnels, Chrysalis watching her as she left. "You must have been quite comforting."

"Well, I try my best," Pinkie said. "I just don't like seeing p--MY FELLOW CHANGELINGS--" Nailed it. "--be upset."

"A good trait to have in a Queen."

"I mean, I guess, but--OH CUPCAKES." She leapt back, panic-shifting into a different random Changeling. "No, I am...uh, ze normal mare, from...Germary. I no spy."

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Walk with me," she commanded.

"Yes, Ma'am," Pinkie said, thinking quickly. She followed Chrysalis back into the tunnels, head bowed. Okay, okay...keep calm. She must be exhausted after the wedding. Maybe I could take her...actually, she did thrash Princess Celestia. And maybe I should just leave anyway.

Chrysalis lead the way, occasionally pausing to shout orders at some random Changeling. Once she paused to watch some workers burrowing a new tunnel, but said nothing and moved on.

She said nothing to Pinkie, nor did she look back. Intimidation technique, Pinkie recalled. Mom trained me in those well. She's trying to make me feel small, going all, "See? I can turn my back to you because you're not a threat!" Well, guess what? I...oh, wait, I'm actually not a threat to her. Hmm.

Chrysalis gestured with one hoof, and the only other Changelings in her throne room left without a word.

"So," Chrysalis said, hopping onto her throne. "Let's talk."

"Um...okay. Have you ever had a cumquat?"

"A...what?"

"A cumquat. Of course, you can't have because I made it up. It's just a funny-sounding word. I should name a pastry that--"

"Not about pathetic pony pastries!" Chrysalis hissed.

"Really? Because you look like you could use a cinnamon roll. No, make it two. And an apple fritter. Come over to Ponyville some time and we can talk over our differences and come to a reasonable understanding like grown, civilized mares."

Chrysalis stared at her.

Pinkie cleared her throat. "Uh, sorry. I talk a lot. Were, uh, you wanting a turn?"

Chrysalis sighed. "Can you at least take your true form? I cannot take you seriously like that."

"I'm more comfortable like this," Pinkie said.

Chrysalis said nothing. Pinkie sighed, then shifted into...well, her 'true' form, but she didn't have to like it.

Chrysalis stared at her, hopping down. She was still a full head taller than Pinkie, with longer limbs and more holes in her hooves.

And, of course, her wings weren't crystalline.

Pinkie fluttered her wings, looking back at them. "Well, I'm not sure what that's about. I think it's because I made true friends and am sharing the love with them?"

"They aren't your friends. Not anymore."

"What? Yeah, they are!"

"Oh, really?" Chrysalis walked around Pinkie, standing just behind her. Don't look! Pinkie told herself. Show HER that SHE'S no threat! Ha!

"By this point, they've realized you're no longer in Canterlot," Chrysalis said. "And from there, it won't take them long to figure out why."

"Well, no, not really," Pinkie admitted. "I should bake a 'Sorry' cake. My least favorite type of cake, but it's not for me."

Chrysalis hissed in annoyance.

"Sorry, shutting up!"

"They won't accept you, now that they know what you are," Chrysalis said. "They claim friendship, but they breed contempt."

Chrysalis came into view on her other side, in the form of Twilight. "How dare you show your face here again!" she snapped. "Did you really think we're stupid enough to let you back in here?"

"Hey, that's not what she sounds like," Pinkie said as Chrysalis stopped in front of her.

"I've seen it before," Chrysalis said. "Countless times. We stand by each other, they stand by each other. Every species to their own kind." She shifted back to her true form, looking at Pinkie with an expression of pity. "Their will be no peace with the ponies, Pupae. Even if you found a way to banish the hunger with 'friendship', there can be no peace, for they will never accept us."

"That's not my name. And you're wrong," Pinkie informed her.

"And if I'm not?"

"Well, I owe them an apology at least," Pinkie said. "But you're wrong. You don't understand how friendship works. We're still friends even though I messed up. We'll always be friends, so long as we try."

"They won't try," Chrysalis insisted.

"Well, you'll see," Pinkie said. "I...do appreciate what you're trying to do here. I really do. But..." Pinkie looked behind her, at the maddeningly twisted tunnel systems. "I found friends. And...maybe I can bring peace to you, too. If you'd come with me, we can..."

"No," Chrysalis said. "That isn't happening, 'Pinkie'."

"But...it'll work!" Pinkie said. "Pleaes. Come with me. I don't want you guys to suffer."

"Then stay. With you, the next invasion will surely succeed. With what you know, and with your infiltration capabilities, they won't stand a chance."

"I can't, Chrysalis."

Chrysalis hissed. "You would side with them over your own--" She gritted her teeth, cutting off.

"You don't want to go there," Pinkie said. "You won't like what I have to say."

Chrysalis fell silent.

"I thank you...for everything," Pinkie said. "But I've found a place where I belong. It's...it's not here, but I'd love to come back some day. Maybe we can be friends then."

Chrysalis stared at her for a second. "I can't let you leave," she admitted. "If they find out where my hive is--"

"Then I won't tell them."

"It won't work like that," Chrysalis said. "They'll make you tell them, telling you then you'll be friends again. Then they'll turn on you."

"Ah—" Pinkie hesitated. "I mean, that is efficient, but it's also way more ruthless than ponies usually are."

Chrysalis snorted. "We were not defeated by weaklings, 'Pinkie'."

"Well, you were kind of defeated by the magic of true love," Pinkie replied. "Rather ironic, but honestly, just roll with it."

"You never shut up, do you?" Chrysalis muttered.

"Nope!" Pinkie said proudly. "Now, anyway, I'd best be going. If I'm quick, I might make it in time for Princess Cadenza's actual wedding."

"You're going nowhere," Chrysalis reaffirmed.

A half dozen Changelings jumped out of the corners of the room, including one tougher looking Changeling right behind Pinkie, in front of the throne room's main exit.

Pinkie used her magic to whip out a small party cannon out of her mane, pointing it directly into Chrysalis's face.

"Oh, you don't want to throw down with Pinkie!" she said, shoving a party favor into her mouth.

Chrysalis dropped a large, very un-party cannon, leveled right into Pinkie's face.

"Using alternate forms to store items? Clever, but nothing that hasn't been done before," Chrysalis said. "You'll have to do better than that."

"Two can play at that game," Pinkie muttered. She dropped a very, very large party cannon in front of Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen actually hesitated, briefly.

Pinkie fired without warning, immediately engulfing the room in a cloud of pink smoke and sprinkles. The Changeling guards charged in, hissing, disappearing in a cloud of carnage, hoofticuffs, and sprinkles.

Chrysalis swept the cloud aside, snarling. "AFTER HER!" she bellowed, pointing at the exit.

The guards hissed, running out. With a single gesture, they split into two groups to head out both tunnels from the throne room's entrance.

Chrysalis hesitated, then shifted back into Pinkie Pie. "Well, that was easy," she muttered. She looked over her shoulder, seeing where the real Chrysalis was rising, a hoof to her head.

"Well, it was fun, but I really, really got to go now," Pinkie said apologetically. She ran out, changing into a drone. Just as she dived down one of the tunnels, she heard Chrysalis's roar of rage.

She shuddered. Chrysalis had been known amongst Changelings as especially brutal. It was how she'd kept control of the Hive for so long. Everyone was too scared to try and usurp her.

Coincidentally, she was also so feared that when she screamed, "go that way!", all her guards went without questioning it too much.

Footsteps echoed behind her. Pinkie blinked, then frantically searched for a hiding spot. She spotted a side tunnel, then lit up in a burst of green flame.

Chrysalis bounded into the room, looking down at the three other tunnels. She narrowed her eyes, stepping forward slowly.

Then she looked down.

A large pie sat in the middle of the room.

"Oh, please," Chrysalis muttered. "You might have fooled a pony with that, but I know we can't turn into inanimate objects. You'll have to do better than that, Pupae."

Rocks clattering down a tunnel drew her attention. She grinned, then lunged down a tunnel, skittering across the ceiling.

The pie moved out of its tin, Pinkie Pie gasp for breath as she climbed out of it. "Okay, not doing that again," she muttered. She licked some of the custard off her face. "Eh. Still good, though" She put the pie back in its tin, set it up on a rock, then ran down a different tunnel than Chrysalis had gone.

Without too much time wasted, Pinkie arrived at the front of the hive, stopping before the two gaurds.

"The intruder!" Pinkie gasped, stumbling forward. "Did...you...huuuuf...see her?"

"In...intruder?" one guard asked.

"Have you not heard?" Pinkie shouted. "The Queen has the entire hive looking for her!"

"How did it get in?" the other guard asked.

"I don't know, but it doesn't seem like it wants to get out," Pinkie said. "It had to have come right past here."

The guards looked at each other. "We, uh, didn't see anything."

"Darn it!" Pinkie said. "Queen Chrysalis will be absolutely furious. So furious, I can't even imagine."

"O-oh. Yeah, I bet."

"Absolutely furious. So scathingly furious, I don't even want to think about what she'd do to those who failed her!"

The guards shared a look.

"I bet she is, right now, also looking for every Changeling not doing their absolute maximum to find the intruder, and is just standing around doing nothing, and doing horrible things to them."

The hive shook as, in the distance, Chrysalis's voice roared, "FIND! HEEEER!"

"Well, uh, which way did she go?" the first guard said.

"Yeah, there's no way some random intruder can navigate the hive," the second said. "It's got to be so lost."

"Well, I think it went that-away?" Pinkie said, pointing down a random tunnel.

"That's a dead end!" the first one said. "Hah! We've got you now!" They both rushed off, down the tunnel, without a backwards glance.

Pinkie shook her head. "Oh, Chrysalis," she muttered. Then, she ran out of the hive.

Pinkie, gasping, climbed over yet another bland, boring, and distressingly pointy rock.

"Okay," she admitted to herself, "maybe...this wasn't my brightest idea. But...I'm heading for Equestria...I'll hit...the border..." She gasped once more, clambering over another rock. She tripped, falling on her head, and then rolled ten feet forwards. She groaned. "Soon," she muttered. She wobbled to her hooves, unsteadily.

"Maybe there's some water nearby?" she muttered, looking around.

Nope. Just rocks.

"Well, what about back that way?"

More rocks.

Pinkie groaned again. "Come on! Is my thirstiness really so comedic that you just had to put this in here?" She angrily trotted on, but paused. A light buzzing sound was heard overhead.

Pinkie immediately shifted into a snake, looking up as a small group of Changelings passed overhead. She slithered away, hiding under rocks as they flew past.

After a long moment, a scorpion clambered out from the rocks thirty feet away. It clicked its pincers for a moment, then shifted back into Pinkie. "Ugh," she groaned. "Well, okay. They won't be able to search towns as quickly, so where am I most likely to be able to find one?"

She looked left, then right, then, hopefully, behind her.

With a sigh, she turned back the direction the Changeling flight had gone.

Chrysalis paused her pacing as the first group of Changeling scouts returned. "Well?" she demanded.

"I-I'm sorry, my Queen," the leader said. "We lost her."

"Get out of my sight, before I do something unpleasant," Chrysalis snarled, turning back to the map of the surrounding areas.

The scouts fled, as Chrysalis examined the map.

"My Queen," Pharynx said hesitantly.

"Speak."

"If we have lost the trail, then finding her before she reaches Canterlot will be impossible," he said.

"No. Because, Pharynx, we know she's going to Canterlot." She tapped the closest town with her hoof. "There. That is where she is headed."

"I shall lead a troop there at once," Pharynx said, but Chrysalis interrupted him.

"No. You guard the hive. I will attend to this hunt myself."

Pinkie Pie paused, listening to a vaguely familiar clanking and whirring sound. She peeked around a boulder, quickly spotting the source.

An all-too familiar massive contraption was slowly wheeling along, though, rather than the cider press she'd last seen on it, it was a pair of mechanical arms reaching over and grabbing random rocks off the ground.

Wait! I know those two! And Chrysalis doesn't know that I know them! Also, if she did, she wouldn't try to trick me into coming over to them, of all ponies.

Pinkie trotted over, waving to the two unicorns driving. "Hey! Hello!"

The first looked up from their random rock collection, blinking in surprise. "Well, look at this, o brother of mine!"

"If it isn't Pinkamena, Applejack's friend!" the second said.

"Hi, Flim-Flam!" Pinkie said. "You wouldn't happen to be using your autonomous locomotive to traverse towards the vicinity of an advanced civilization of prismatic equines, would you?"

The two stared at her.

Pinkie stared back.

"Why, yes, actually," Flim admitted.

"Perfect! Mind if I hop on?"

They shared a look. "Twenty bits?" Flim proposed.

"Twenty-five," Flam countered.

"What?" Pinkie's mane deflated slightly. "I'm afraid I don't have my wallet on me at the moment. Could I just hop on?"

"Flim-Flam brothers? Offering a service for free?" Flim said, aghast.

"When pigs fly!" Flam stated proudly.

"What about a bet?" Pinkie offered.

"Against...two professional con-colts?" Flim questioned.

"She always was rather strange, o brother of mine," Flam put in.

"What kind of bet?" Flim asked.

"If I prove I can lie better than the both of you, you let me hop on," Pinkie said.

"Call her bluff?" Flim said, looking to Flam.

Flam nodded. "Please. We've been doing this for years, Pinkamena! You think you could do it?"

"I've been lying since I was in diapers," Pinkie retorted.

"Well, we'll take your bet--"

"—and you're going to regret--"

"—because we're the best there's ever been!" they finished together.

"Is that really the reference you want to make there?" Pinkie asked slowly.

"Go on! Prove that you really have been doing this since you were in diapers!"

"Well, I have, because I'm really a queen of a species of emotion-eating insects that can shapeshift and live in a hive and normally replace ponies to feed off their loved ones but I didn't like that so I went out into Equestria to prove that we could get the love we need to survive by sharing love with the ponies so I went to live with a group of rock farmers up in the mountains who took me in and I learned to love them like family and they loved me back but it was all boring and we didn't have much entertainment so after I saw this great big rainbow I felt joy for the first time and I wanted to share it with them so I threw them a great big party and I've been throwing parties ever since and ponies really care for me but I also feel bad because I'm kind of eating their emotions just a little not that much but I'm still doing it and feel really really bad because I should be more honest with them!" She gasped for breath, finally pausing.

Flim and Flam stared at her. Then they stared at each other.

Then they laughed.

"Please," Flim said between laughs. "You can't...you can't just throw out this random nonsense and expect us to believe that!"

"You wouldn't happen to have any, ahem, proof, would you?" Flam asked, snorted with more laughter.

Pinkie smiled. "Now that you mention it..." She shifted into her true form. "Yes."

They went slack-jawed.

"I'll go on and hop up there," Pinkie said, hopping onto their pile of rocks. "What's with the all sedimentary rocks, anyway?"

"Thanks for the ride!" Pinkie said, back in pony form as she hopped off their cart.

"Yes, yes," Flim said, clearly fuming still. "Have a wonderful trip."

"Thanks for telling us every detail about every rock in our blasted cart," Flam muttered.

"You're welcome!" Pinkie said, though she had a hunch that they were not as thankful for that as they claimed.

They were named Flim and Flam, after all.

Pinkie trotted into town, looking about. A small town, predominantly thestrals...and way farther south than most towns would be. Manesylvania?

Pinkie went further into town, looking about. Already, she noted several ponies with ladybug Cutie Marks. That, she remembered, was a symbol to let other Changelings know where you were.

Perhaps they didn't expect her to remember that. Or perhaps they didn't care. Do they want me to see them? she thought. That was a thought. Perhaps they wanted her to panic.

Well, the joke was on them! She never panicked!

She trotted quickly over to the train station, pointedly not looking over her shoulder.

"Hey, is there any train that can take me to Canterlot?" she asked the ticket master.

"Hmm, Canterlot..." the ticket master said, examining the map behind him. "Ah, if you take the train to Morrow, you can get to Canterlot from there."

"Eh? I'm kind of in a hurry. I need to leave today."

"Well, you can," the ticket master said.

"But...which train?"

"Yes!"

"What?" Pinkie put a hoof to her head.

"What train would take you east. Which train will take you to Morrow."

"How am I supposed to know?"

"That one would take you south," he said.

"Huh? Which one?"

"No, which one will you to Morrow."

"What train is leaving today?"

"Well, what train is also leaving today, but it won't go to Morrow."

"I don't need—" She paused. "Can I, um, see the list of trains?"

He pulled out a small sheet of paper. Pinkie examined it, then rolled her eyes. "Ugh, who named these things?"

"Eeyup!"

"What's his name?"

"No, What's the name of the guy who owns the convenience store. Who's the one who owns the train station."

"I—" Pinkie paused, then allowed herself a single peek over her shoulder.

The Changelings were close, but not close enough to hear. And they wouldn't think to ask politely.

"Listen carefully," Pinkie told the ticket master. "A bunch of ponies are about to coming asking which train I'm taking."

"Which train?"

"I need you to tell 'em exactly which one."

"Uh...okay?"

Pinkie hesitated. "Shoot, I don't have bits for a ticket."

"That might make changing trains hard, but I'll go ahead and give ya a ticket," he said, pulling one out. "Not many ponies come out here, so we've got seats to spare."

"Oh, thanks," Pinkie said, taking a ticket. "Gotta run, don't let the Changelings bite!"

"The...what?"

Pinkie trotted away without answering.

Pinkie headed up, watching the first ponies step onto the train. She let out a sigh of relief, trotting towards it.

"Well?"

Pinkie froze, turning slowly to a light green Earth pony with a ladybug Cutie Mark. The face was unfamiliar, but the voice was purposefully so.

"Hi, Chrysalis," she said. "You, uh...left yourself to handle this?"

"Of course. I spend time even for the ordinary wayward hatchlings, Pinkie. And you are far from ordinary."

"Well, I'm also not staying," Pinkie replied. "You know I can't stay."

"I know you won't stay," Chrysalis replied.

"You can't make me stay, either," Pinkie added. "And you're still in no condition to fight me, and you'd reveal yourself to everypony around us."

Chrysalis hissed in annoyance. "And these pretty pastel ponies are truly worth this to you?"

"Yes."

She sucked in a breath, turned away. Chrysalis didn't say anything for a long moment.

"Do as you will," she said quietly.

"I...I'm sorry. I'll be back some day, Chrysalis, to make things better...between...between us."

Chrysalis didn't reply. Pinkie almost reached out to touch her, but...

"ALL ABOARD!"

She winced, then ran onto the train.

The train, with a creak and a jolt, began moving out of the station as the rest of the Changelings arrived.

"Blasted ponies, with their...blasted pony names!" their leader muttered. "We weren't able to track down which train she was on."

"It is no matter. The Queen figured it out," 'Chrysalis' said simply. "She's laid her trap, and the runaway took the bait. Now, we must only wait here until she returns with the captive."

Pinkie Pie watched the country transform outside, but it couldn't transform fast enough for her liking.

Every minute was a minute that she wasn't with her friends, that they were waiting for an explanation—and one heck of an apology cake, to boot.

And worse still, every minute was one where Chrysalis's jabs sunk a little deeper. She slapped herself in the face, with hooves, and shook herself. No, no, no, Pinkie! They still want you back. Even if they are, understandably, very mad at you.

"Pinkie Pie?"

Pinkie looked up as Lyra Heartstrings came over.

"Lyra? Weren't you at Canterlot this morning?"

"Well, yeah, but I went out to Manesylvania with Bonnie," Lyra answered.

"Yeah, but...what about Princess Cadence? Weren't you her bridesmaid?"

Lyra shook her head. "Yeah, but I wanted a day or so to clear my head. Besides, the actual wedding isn't for another few days."

"Oh, right...Chrysalis and all."

Lyra sat down opposite Pinkie. "If I had a bit for every time I was the bridesmaid at my friend's wedding but my friend turned out to have been replaced by a shapeshifting bug thing that mind controlled me, I'd have two whole gosh-darn bits. Not a lot, but it is extremely weird that it's happened twice."

"Huh. You're right, that is weird," Pinkie said.

"What about you? Why were you in Manesylvania, of all places?"

"Oh, gosh, where do I start?" Pinkie moaned.

"The beginning?"

"Heh. Then we'd be here all night," Pinkie said. "I'm just...sorting out my thoughts. Got to tell it to them. It's...complicated. During this whole situation, they...kinda found out the big secret I've been hiding from them for years, so...I think they're mad at me."

"It hardly matters, though? I mean, you're still Pinkie Pie," Lyra said, shrugging.

"Eh? I...I mean, I am, but..."

"Then don't worry about it! Didn't you fight Nightmare Moon and Discord with them? Whatever happened, they'll cool down and forgive you! Especially one long ride to Manesylvania later."

"Guess that's the kind of thing that Chrysalis would never understand," Pinkie said quietly. "Yeah, you're right. What does it matter if I've secretly been a Changeling the whole time? I'm still Pinkamena Diane Pie the Fourth, and they all know it!"

"Wait, secretly a--" Lyra frowned.

Pinkie shifted into her true form. "Surprise!" she said, waving.

"Huh. You know, that actually explains so much," Lyra said slowly. "You don't, y'know, coccoon ponies?"

"Nope! All I really need's a smile, smile smile from the happy friends of mine!"

"I thought that was just a...huh." Lyra shrugged. "Oh, well, thanks for being honest."

There was a stunned silence for a moment. A pony trotted past with a snack cart, and Pinkie pulled off a snack with her telekinesis—oh, boy, have I missed that.

She looked around the train. "Really? No pony says anything?"

"Pinkie," a pony across from her said, "none of us are really surprised by you anymore."

"Might have to rework your birthday plans for next month, then," Pinkie muttered. "Okay. Guess Chrysalis was really, absolutely wrong then."

Green flame lit up the train car behind her. "Oh, you just had to use up those twelve-thousand words, didn't you?" Pinkie groaned, before leaping out of her seat.

Chrysalis snarled down at her as a group of other Changelings appeared behind her. "This chase has gone on long enough!" she snarled. "Give it up, Pinkie, if you insist on calling yourself that. You are--"

The door to their car burst open. "Lyra!" Bon-Bon shouted. "Quickly! Carmilla got on board the train, and we've got to stop her before--!" She paused, meeting the Changeling queen's gaze.

"I'll just, um," Lyra said, scooting along the wall behind Chrysalis. "'Scuse me..." She exitted the car, then waved at Pinkie. "See ya, Pinks!"

"See ya!" Pinkie Pie called back.

Chrysalis slammed the door shut. "You may have escaped me this long, but this is the end. Give it up before somepony gets seriously hurt."

"Who, exactly, are you even threatening?" Pinkie muttered. "Whatever. The point is, I will never give up on my friends, Chrysalis. Just like I know they won't give up on me. That's what you'll never understand, and it's why you'll lose!"

"Please! You have nowhere to run!"

Pinkie Pie shifted into Bulk Biceps, then screamed, "YEAH!" With a mighty shove, she leapt, bursting a whole in the roof of the train. She shifted back into her true form as she flung past in a rush of wind. She stuck her hooves to the roof, stopping herself from flying off the train.

"Careful," Chrysalis chided mockingly, "at this speed, taking to the air might present a problem. If you're not careful, you might end up taking quite the tumble."

Chrysalis strode forward, her Changelings climbing onto the roof behind her. Pinkie stepped away, stumbling briefly over the gap between the train cars.

"Where are your friends, anyway?" Chrysalis asked. "That's right! They're not here. You're alone, Pinkie, and why? Because Cadenza threw you out of her city with the rest of the trash. With the rest of us. Even if, by some miracle, your so-called friends accepted you--"

"Just like the ponies on the train?" Pinkie scoffed. "You don't understand friendship, Chrysalis." She paused. "Darn it! I have to make a second apology cake for doubting them! Ugh. It's going to be a looooong day."

"DON'T YOU EVER SHUT UP?" Chrysalis screamed, shooting a blast of magic. Pinkie jumped aside, then found herself flying backwards. With a cry, she frantically clung back to the train, sticking to it but slamming her face into the cold metal. The world spun, stars in her vision, as she looked up at Chrysalis, striding forward confidently.

"You're just another runaway little Changeling I shouldn't have that much hope in," Chrysalis snarled. "You don't have your kind on your side. You don't have their kind on your side. And you don't even have your friends."

Pinkie looked up at Chrysalis, who grinned maliciously. But Pinkie looked past her.

To the skies above Canterlot.

To a small pegasus shaping clouds to look like a trio of balloons.

As the pegasus move, rainbow light shone behind her, and reflected off Pinkie's eyes.

"You're wrong!" she said, standing.

Chrysalis snarled, but Pinkie didn't yield. "I always have my friends. I may be alone, but I've outrun you this far because of them! Because I never stopped thinking about them, for even a moment! And even when I didn't have them, I made more! Because that's what friendship is, Chrysalis! It's not about usefulness! It's about all the good times. All the bad times. It is about forever being together!" She puffed up her wings, then shot a pink blast into the air. It exploded, into fireworks shaped like her Cutie Mark.

Chrysalis hissed, but Pinkie continued. "We're never alone as long as we have even the memory of our friends with us, Chrysalis. It's how I've survived all these years! If you make peace with us, then the Changelings won't need to feel hunger anymore!"

Some of the Changelings actually hesitated.

"Please. Spare me the wishful thinking!" Chrysalis snapped. "They won't accept you!"

"I figured you would still think that," Pinkie said. "But you need to let me go. I don't think anypony deserves to land face-first into a cactus patch."

"Will you ever make sense?" Chrysalis screamed.

Pinkie smiled sadly. "Don't you see, Chrysalis? I always have. RAINBOW DASH, CATCH ME!"

Pinkie jumped. With a berserk cry, Chrysalis jumped off, lunging for her. The Changelings, after only a split second's hesitation, jumped as well.

But none of them reached her before Rainbow Dash did.

With a sonic rainboom shaking the train behind them, Rainbow shot through the Changelings, past Chrysalis, and picked up Pinkie, then shot back into the sky in a curve.

"NOOOOOO!" screamed Chrysalis, stretching out her wings. She slowed down, just enough to see where she was about to land.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the massive cactus patch. She screamed, just before she and the other Changelings landed directly in the middle of it. Screams of pain echoed around as they pulled their heads above the stout, thorny barrels.

"It got between my plates!" one screamed. "Oh! Oh, the agony!"

"Why haven't the ponies burned all these yet?" another cried.

With a burst of magic, Chrysalis uprooted the blasted plants around her, throwing them as far as she could. She winced, pulling a thorn out of her jaw, then looked back at the rainbow streak shooting for Canterlot.

"Until next time...Pupae."

Twilight put the last of the books back on the shelf. The Canterlot library had taken a beating during the invasion, and Twilight had just finished putting a list of the books that needed to be replaced. "With that," she announced, "we are finished."

Sighs of relief came from her friends, before an eerie, uncomfortable silence.

A silence that wasn't filled by a declaration of a party.

"W-well," Rarity said awkwardly, "how about, we...we relax at the spa?"

"I wish Pinkie Pie was here," Twilight said quietly.

An eerie rumbling filled the air. The other ponies paused, looking around, before something burst through the roof of the library. A rainbow blur shot past the group, colliding with a bookshelf, toppling it and sending books scattered everywhere.

Rainbow Dash groaned, rising. "Okay, that's the last time I catch you from a moving train, Pinkie."

A Changeling--it sort of looked like a Changeling?--stood up besides her with a groan. "Last time I jump from one, hopefully," she said.

"PINKIE!" the friends shouted, crowding around.

"Wait, wait!" Twilight suddenly said, backing away. "How do I know that's really you and not another Changeling?"

Pinkie Pie paused, then stuck a hoof in her mane before pulling out a folder. "Let's see...ah! Here we go. 'Twilight Sparkle's Party Notes: she likes vanilla ice cream, red balloons, and dancing, but she is afraid of quesadillas.'"

"I am not!" Twilight snapped, cringing back. "They're just so...cheesy.

"That really is you!" Applejack said. "I'm sure that's one heck of a story there."

Pinkie Pie stretched, joins popping louder than most ponies. "Aw, geez...did I at least make it in time for Princess Cadenza's actual wedding?"

"It's, uh...actually been..." Twilight cleared her throat. "Delayed, a little bit."

"WHAT?" Pinkie screamed, blowing Twilight's mane back. "Ugh! Sorry, but I've got to go right now and fix it up! Rarity, make sure everypony's dresses are ready, the wedding is happening this evening!"

"WHAT!" Rarity screamed.

"Wait, Pinkie--"

Pinkie screeched to a halt, hoof on the door knob, before looking back to her friends.

Twilight wiped tears from her eyes. "It's great to have you back, Pinkie."

"Heh. It's great to be back," Pinkie said. "I'll explain everything, girls. I really will...but first, I have a party to plan!"

Author's Note

And that is that!

With that said, I am now done with the Earth ponies in the Alternate Views. I didn't mean to separate them by species, and this was probably unfair to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, whose stories are of a lower quality. Pinkie Pie herself I went through a couple of alternate ideas--one was 'eldritch horror' but I couldn't quite figure out how to string a plot for that one. One was definitely a unique story concept, but in the end, I decided it didn't fit as an 'alternate view'...the real kicker is that it also wouldn't have qualified for the contest, either.

My initial idea for the contest entry was one centered around the Student Six, barring Sandbar--there was even going to be a joke about him having to stay behind and talk to Twilight because he'd accidentally broken a contest rule. I do regret, on some level, not doing that, but I think this turned out better.

Anyways, God bless you all, and have a nice day! Good luck to the other contestants!