The Changeling Princess

"Hey, Joker!" A changeling called.

A young Joker looked up from the strange flower she had found to the topmost branches of a tall tree not too far from where she stood. In those branches sat two changelings, the same size as Joker.

"Come here! Look what I found!" Emerald Flame sat up the tree with Poison Leaf. She was urging Joker to come up.

Emerald Flame and Poison Leaf were both converted ponies, changed by Chrysalis herself. Emerald Flame had a deep green coat with a bright green mane and tail. When the wind blew, her mane and tail looked like green flames. Her eyes were a green-blue. Poison Leaf was Emerald's older brother, so he also had a green mane and tail. The green was far darker than the colour of his sister's mane and tail. His body was a similar shade of blue as the petals of Poison Joke and his eyes were more blue.

However, both had features typical of a changeling. They had holes in their legs, manes, tails and wings; they had a blue chitinous on their backs where two, delicate, light blue wings were attached.

"What did you find?" Joker asked, her blue wings buzzing as she hovered next to two of her friends.

"Look!" Emerald bounced on the branch, her hoof pointing to a village in the distance. "It looks nothing like the hive! Shall we explore?"

"And get into even bigger trouble?" Joker frowned before cracking a smile. "Sure! I would love to explore! You in, Poison? Or are you chickening out again?"

"I'm in," Poison growled, not wanting to look weak in front of the two girls. "But you might want to ditch the tiara."

"He makes a valid point, Joke," Emerald sat still, her green pupil and iris-less eyes looked concerned. "If any thing caught you and saw with that, they may use you to bargain with Chrysalis."

"True," Joker sighed. She took her black tiara from her head and placed it carefully on the branch in the tree. "It'll be safe up here. Mother will kill me if I lose it."

"You won't!" Emerald Flame took off from the branch and was bouncing excitedly in the air, her emerald wings a blur of green. "Now, come on! I wanna explore!"

"Be careful, Emerald!" Joker shouted as she and Poinson shot after the young changeling. "We need to catch her or something before she gets caught and killed."

"I agree," Poison nodded. "How does she even bounce in the air? It's impossible!"

"Not for Emerald," Joker smiled. "When it comes to impossible, the definition changes for Emerald."

A scream caught the duo off guard. It was Emerald Flame. The young changeling had been caught.

"HANG ON, EMERALD!!" Poison and Joker shouted as they followed the sound of the scream.

"Follow her fear, Poison!" Joker ordered her friend. "It's easier!"

"JOKER! POISON!!" Emerald screamed. "HELP!"

Poison charged his stumpy horn with green light as he saw the ground. Joker's eyes scanned the ground. She spotted her friend being crammed into a cage by a group of colts, not much older than they were.

"Stop that," Joker ordered. "A trio of colts. We can take them."

Poison stopped charging his horn and angled himself so he and Joker would land right behind the colts. They only held out their wings to slow their descent, wanting to have the element of surprise on their side. They landed silently as the colts turned their eyes skywards.

"Looks like her friends abandoned her," one said. "Pitty, we'll lose out. But, hay, one is better than nothing."

"I have a question, boys," Joker said softly. "How about a trade? I trade the normal changeling for the princess."

"Joker," Poison hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Taking a risk," Joker whispered. "The moment Emerald is free, get back to the forest. I'll meet you there."

"Promise?" Poison asked.

"Promise," Joker smiled comfortingly at Poison before her gaze turned upon the colts and into a hard glare. "Well?! The changeling for this princess?"

"Let it out," one colt gestured the cage Emerald Flame had been locked in. "Grab her!"

Joker's plan meant she would fly away the moment Emerald was free. This had bummed that plan. But she always had a backup plan, even if it meant random biting and shooting spells.

The colts grabbed her while Emerald and Poison fled. Joker hissed, baring her fangs. They literally threw her into the cage and slammed the door shut. The slamming made her flinch as the noise hit her sensitive ears. Joker charged her horn and aimed it at the cage door. When she gathered enough power, she released it. The cage door burst open. Joker shot out and hovered over the stunned colts.

"Rule one of a changeling clan; never leave anyone behind!" Joker growled before shooting after her friends, who were giggling at the colt's stunned faces.

". . . never leave anyone behind . . ."

". . . never leave anyone behind . . ."

Joker's eyes snapped open. She sat up and glanced around. It was dawn and she was the first to wake. They did have a late night, so Joker was hardly surprised.

"It has been so long," she whispered to herself as she got to hooves, deciding she was going for a walk. "Why are the memories coming back to me now?"

"You'll never forget us, will you Joker?" Insanity asked as the manticore cornered the two of them. His wonky silver eyes bore into Joker. "No matter what happens, you'll never forget me, Emerald Flame or Poison Leaf, will you?"

"Of course not," Joker assured the slightly insane changeling with a smile. "I promise I will never forget."

"That was all I needed to hear," Insanity smiled before charging the manticore.

Joker bit her lip. So much time had passed since she made the promise. So little time has passed since she broke it.

"Oh I have been such a fool, my friends!" Joker cried no one. "I locked my memories away in fear of what I would become! Now I only see that if I lock away those memories, I become what I fear! I'm such a fool! I broke the promise. I forgot."

"You forgot because you thought it was the way forward," Emerald Flame's voice echoed inside Joker's head.

"You broke the promise because it hurt to remember," Poison Leaf's voice echoed not long after.

"Stop beating yourself up about it," Poison said softly. "You're forgiven. It was my fault, not yours."

"Your mother found out about my betrayal and you couldn't do anything to change her mind," Emerald assured Joker.

"As for me, well, I should have thought about what was going to happen before I decided to magically enhance that manticore, not after," Insanity said, putting aside his insanity for one moment.

"Remember the other promise?" Emerald asked. "The one we promised?"

"I sadly cannot recall," Joker sighed.

"We promised, that in life or death, we would protect you," Three voices chorused at once.

"Deep down, you still remembered us . . ." Emerald began.

". . . You always remembered us. You never forgot . . ." Poison continued.

". . . That, combined with our promise, is what allows us to protect you," Insanity finished off.

Their voices echoed until they became nothingness. They were gone from her head, but Joker could still feel their presence. Somehow she had ended up on the edge of the forest further south. She glanced at the sky and knew her friends would be awaking soon. She turned and headed back, her memories feeling no longer like a burden or something she should keep locked away.

When Joker got back to her friends, they were all up,eating and chatting. A certain cyan pegasus glared at Joker as the changeling sat away from the rest of the group.

"And where have you been?" Rainbow Dash sneered. "Killing ponies?"

"You should know that I cannot fly and that the nearest portal to Equestria is two day's walk  from here," Joker said matter-of-factly. "Besides, changelings don't eat ponies."

"Then why do you have fangs?"

"Sometimes we use it to transform ponies into changelings," Joker said flatly. "It's a lot easier than waiting for-"

"I don't think I want to know," Rainbow Dash went back to eating.

"Hey, if you want to hold a grudge, I'm fine," Joker said. "But I forgive and forget."

"Forgive and forget?" Rainbow frowned, looking up from her food. "Forgive and forget you crushing my dreams like an apple? Sorry, Jokes, but I don't roll like that."

"Jokes?" Joker raised an eyebrow. "Out of all the nicknames possible, you choose Jokes?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Rainbow asked.

"I prefer to be called Joker," Joker said through her teeth. "No-pony abbreviates my name."

"No-pony, huh?" Rainbow smirked. "What does mummy call you then? Jokie? Joke? Jokester?"

"Excuse me," Joker growled through her teeth. "But I'm going to leave for a few moments before I snap a certain pegasi's neck!"

Joker turned and walked out of the clearing. The moment she was out of sight and sound of the ponies and Spike, she broke into a gallop. She didn't stop until she was in a clearing further up the mountain. Even on her own, Joker fought it back. Those names were the names her friends called her. The last one was what her mother used to used if she was pleased.

"Hey, Jokes!" Emerald called from the edge of a murky pond.

What's up, Jokie?" Poison smiled comfortingly, showing his fangs.

"Joke! Over here!" Insanity called, his eyes looking in two different directions.

"Good work, Jokester," Chrysalis smile proudly.

"Damn it!" Joker cursed.

"Joker?" Applejack was standing further back. "Are y'all right?"

"Honestly?" Joker asked, her good wing twitching.

Applejack nodded, sitting next to the changeling.

"Those names Rainbow said aren't insults," Joker sighed. "They were what my friends called me and what Chrysalis would when she was proud of me. It brings back memories I locked away. Only now do I realise how stupid that was."

"Maybe talkin' 'bout it would make you feel better?" Applejack wondered.

"Talking about my friends and how they were killed?" Joker sighed. "Well, Emerald Flame was the first. When I found the stallion and the portal to Equestria, I told my friends. They came with me to Equestria a few times. I told them that if they came through without me there to be careful on the way there and back. Emerald was caught. She was taken back to the castle where she was killed for betrayal by Chrysalis.

"Poison was the second. He knew I wouldn't back down from a challenge. He said I would be able to attack him. Back then, I didn't have the restraint I do now. I attacked him and ended up killing him. It was a mistake! He never knew I really would!

"Then there's Insanity. He was insane and every changeling knew it. He would always be asking me for help when he was experimenting on something. We knew one day our experiments could kill us, but being that young, we didn't really care. One day, Insanity said he saw a manticore had come through the portal. We went to find it. Being as young as we were, we wanting it as a pet, after we magically enhanced it. When we did, it went on a rampage. But it was only after us. Insanity, staying true to his name, attacked the manticore and ended up getting ripped to shreds while I escaped."

Applejack wasn't expecting that.

"I could have saved them all had I thought," Joker sighed sadly. "I could have persuaded Chrysalis to let Emerald live. I could have stopped myself from attacking and killing Poison. I could have helped Insanity defeat that manticore or saved him from getting mauled by it. All these things I could have done to make sure they lived. And yet I just stood by and watched Emerald die because she kept our secret. I watched myself kill Poison because of a stupid dare. I watched as Insanity got ripped to shreds because of a stupid mistake."

Silence fell between the two.

"Sound like you have a lot on yer mind," Applejack placed a hoof on Joker's shoulder. "When we get back to Equestria, you need to talk to some-pony 'bout it. Don't keep it locked away, it won' help."

"I guess you're right," Joker got to her hooves. "It'd probably be for the best."

"Now, we need to move," Applejack said, walking back to where they left the other ponies and Spike. "Each time we delay, the bigger the chance that Rarity and Twilight are in danger."

"I agree," Joker nodded, following Applejack. "The sooner we move, the better."

Applejack glanced around. Joker did the same, her sensitive ears listening intently for any noise that didn't belong to them.

"Do you get that feeling that some thing else is here besides the two of us?" Joker asked, forcing her voice to sound casual.

"Eeyup," Applejack nodded, doing an impression of her brother, Big Macintosh.

"Nice impression," Joker giggled, but her ears still listened. "Maybe we should quicken the pace."

Applejack nodded in agreement and sped up. Joker kept pace easily, her senses scanning the area, trying to figure out what was making them edgy.