//------------------------------//
// Everything you know is wrong 
// Story: Sky's Changing Secret 
// by Sky Sprinter 
//------------------------------//

“Exactly how did you get caught, Sky?” Candy asked Sky as the two snacked on some Hayburgers that Spike had laid out, thankfully the Princess had quite a big appetite when it came to them.

“Well… I have this duck out hole that I sometimes use when the pressure gets too much for me or when I just feel like I need to give myself some bits of freedom every now and again,” Sky said as he explained the process of how he was captured.

“Oh my poor foals, I should have gotten here earlier! After that horrid creature came around stealing everypony's magic I should have at least visited!” Candy exclaimed.

“Mom, it's alright,” Sky said trying to calm her down.

“No, it's not alright! Sky, the pain you must have gone through as all your magic was sucked away from you! And what about your sisters?” Candy said.

“Mom, they are fine, I'm sure of it,” Sky said not liking that panicky tone.

“N-no, it's not alright! Oh Sky, I'm so sorry! I should have been there for you!” Candy replied.

“If you had come looking for me then you wouldn't have known where I was, I was in the dungeon,” Sky said still trying to calm her.

“Even then, Sky! The moment I would have found out about your predicament I wouldn't let anypony get in my way!” Candy replied.

“Mom, it's nothing, I'm fine now, and I've spoken to Redwind and she's taken this whole thing really well,” Sky tried to explain.

“And what about Stardust? Have you seen her? Did she seem OK to you?” Candy asked.

“Yes… she's suspicious… but…” Sky said trying to answer without outright saying how much Stardust didn't trust him.

“I can tell by your tone that there's something more there, Sky. I'm going to see for myself!” Candy said as she saw through Sky's try at deception.

“What do you-“ Sky had tried to ask before his mother flew off, sans-disguise. “Mom, your disguise!” Sky yelled before he took off after her. “Oh no, that is not good!” he exclaimed.

Sky wondered if he should have told Twilight before leaving but it was too late now. “Darn it mom, now is not the time to go crazy!” Sky yelled as he flew. He noticed the path his mother had taken by the wide-eyed ponies on the ground and a few Pegasi in the air. “One would think they'd be used to a Changeling appearing after having me around like this for the past week or so,” he said to himself.

Sky soon reached his sister's home, formerly his own as well. “I wonder if my jars are still there?” he asked himself before he reached the open door. 
“I'm your mother! Don't you recognize… oh…” Sky heard his mother say.


Sky looked inside and he saw his mother looking about herself whilst standing in front of a confused Stardust and a slightly terrified and somehow curious looking Redwind. A taste of the emotions swirling in the air certainly confirmed that, but somehow there was some excitement in the air as well.

“Mom! What are you doing? You just exposed yourself to Stardust and Redwind!” Sky yelled.

“Oh. Oh my, I… well…” Candy said sheepishly.

“I-I… M-mom too?” Stardust said.

“Yay! Mommy's a changeling too!” Redwind meanwhile said. That certainly explained the excitement in the air. “Does that mean that I am too?” she asked before her strained her face in concentration. “Become Scootaloo!” she loudly said to her herself with no hint of changing..

“N-no, Redwind, t-this is definitely a trick! You are not a bug-pony, a-and neither am I!” Stardust said as her fear seemed to engulf her.

“Stardust you-“ Sky started to say.

“Shut it bug!” Stardust interrupted, “I was willing to think that perhaps Mom and Dad just a-adopted you or something! B-but there's no way that my mother is a changeling! I'm a pony and I'm definitely not some insectoid deceiver!” She pulled Redwind away from the two changelings, both of whom wore a hurt expression.

“Stardust, sweetie, surely you don't believe that nonsense on those newspapers? Nopony in Cloudsdale took them seriously, and I'm sure few would here as well,” Candy said hoping that Stardust would listen.

Newspapers? Thought Sky.

“Enough of it seemed truthful enough, 'Mother,'” Stardust said disgust flowing from her mouth. The way she said “Mother” made both changelings wince.

“Stardust! I will not have my own daughter call me a liar and deceiver! I am NOT one of those fools who follow the Queen! I carried Sky, you, and Redwind to your births and then I held you as you were foals!” Candy said angrily.

“You? Not a liar nor a deceiver? You've been lying to us ever since we were born and to Dad if he doesn't already know! Seriously, first I find out that my, so called, big brother has been a lie all this time, and now my own mother is one of the bug-ponies as well! Am I a lie as well?” Stardust rebutted.

“I may have lied about who I was, but it was to protect myself and Sky! When I came near to Cloudsdale, pregnant with Sky and starving for love, your father saved me! I thankfully had enough strength to keep up the disguise I had or I would have likely have been sent to a dungeon or some scientist's examination table! Candy Happiness was the disguise I also had when I first met him so many years earlier,” Candy said as her eyes began to water.

All three siblings, ponies and changeling, stood shocked. They had all heard their mother say that their father had saved her from a dark time in her life but even Sky didn't think that it was THAT type of dark!

“M-mom? Y-your saying that you almost died out there? After you escaped from the hive?” Sky asked shocked.

“Yes. If nopony had helped me in the next week or so, then nopony in this room would be in here arguing.”

“What happened back then, mom?” Sky asked.

“Yeah, tell us Bug! Let's see if your story checks out!” Stardust yelled.

Candy looked defeated and pleaded with her eyes, to Sky and Stardust, hoping to not need to tell the story, but all she got was silence. She sighed and began...