Ponyville
Carmel, no relation to CarAmel of the Apple Family as she was constantly forced to remind the ponies she met, had hoped that this would be a quiet evening. Night had already come to Ponyville and the last of the shops were closing up for the night. Laughing couples on dates passed her by, too consumed with each other to even wave. Mothers and fathers poked their heads out of buildings to call to the fillies and colts that it was time to come home.
Now, with the hustle and bustle finished, Carmel could finally enjoy one of life's small pleasures; her evening walk.
She tucked her brown wings down and set off at a lazy trot for the center of town. Once there, as she did most every night, she would walk about the empty park and contemplate life and all it's mysteries. Once that became boring, she would finally unfurl her wings and lift off into the sky to fly right home to Cloudsdale.
A simple, quiet, ordinary evening.
Until she appeared.
The mare's blue coat was absolutely filthy, mottled and clotted with dirt and debris, almost like the unicorn had been sleeping in a ditch, or rather the alley she had stumbled out of. Her yellow mane was even worse somehow with wild bits of hair sticking this way and that. Carmel supposed that she must have been quite the looker under ordinary circumstances but whatever had befallen her had reduced her to nothing less than a pony-sized dust bunny.
"Are you alright?" She asked on instinct.
She immediately regretted her choice to speak. The mare's glazed eyes suddenly focused on her. A wide, unnatural grin stretched across her face when she saw Carmel's wings. "Are you from Cloudsdale?" she asked in a sickly sweet tone of voice.
Carmel took an unconcious step back, her wings already tensed and ready to spread. "I am. Can I help you?"
The mare nodded frantically. "What a kind mare you are, to offer aid to a fellow pony in need! My name is Arpeggio and I am in just the most difficult spot you could imagine." She gestured at herself with a hoof. "As you can see, I'm afraid I've run out of bits and I am in desperate need of help." She pooched out her lower lip. "Could you help a fellow mare down on her luck? Just a few bits and I can get a room for the evening. Perhaps some food. Even a ticket to the morning train."
Carmel was liking this mare less and less. "Sorry, I'm afraid I'm fresh out of bits."
Arpeggio's demeanor changed instantly. Her face darkened and she lowered herself to the ground like a cat ready to pounce. "Fine. We'll cut out the middle-mare then. Nimbus. I need some."
Carmel's ears flattened. "Do I look like a dealer to you?"
"No. You look like a pegasus. That means you can fly up to Cloudsdale and get some for me. My other hook-up left me high and dry when I used my last bit."
Carmel began to slowly stretch out her wings. "Sorry, but I don't mess with that kind of stuff."
Arpeggio took a step forward. Her horn sparked dangerously. "Make a move and I'll pluck your feathers all at once."
"Is there a problem here?"
The two mares looked over to see a tall white stallion approaching from across the street. He stopped near them and flipped her long golden mane over her neck. "Well?"
"Stay out of this!" Arpeggio snapped.
The stallion looked into her glazed over eyes... and there came a flash of green from his own.
Arpeggio's eyes crossed. "I... I don't feel well."
Carmel and the stallion watched as the unicorn tried to turn, froze, vomited, and fell on her side, snoring heavily.
Carmel shook her head sadly. "Mare's been chasing the cloud."
The stallion raised an eyebrow. "Nimbus? Poor mare. I should get her help at once." His horn lit and lifted the now heavily snoring mare onto his back. He offered a smile to Carmel. "Should anypony inquire, just let them know that Prince Blueblood is insuring that she receives the best care possible." He turned and headed down the road, not galloping but at a lazy, almost disinterested trot.
Carmel considered what she had just witnessed; a severely impaired mare had just been taken to Celestia-knows-where by notorious scoundrel Prince Blueblood for some unknown purpose.
In a moment she would reflect on for years to come, Carmel decided that it was just none of her business.
With a final look at the departing stallion, Carmel spread her wings and lifted off into the peaceful night-time sky.
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As one pegasus flew westward towards her home in Cloudsdale, another drifted on the night air towards her final destination at Ponyville's eastern edge. There lay the most avoided site in town, a blight of sadness and misery in a community that prided itself on joy and laughter. It was a place of reflection on the inevitable and of quiet contemplation.
Rainbow Dash softly landed on the grass of Ponyville Cemetery.
Knowing her path by heart at this point, she made her way through Ponyville's entombed forebears. She paused a moment when her destination came in sight, gathered herself, and forced herself to keep walking until she was right in front of it.
The stone was polished limestone, hoof-crafted, as a compromise. Her family, naturally, had wanted her buried at home. When they saw what an effect she had had on the town, they'd agreed to let her lie there... so long as it was under a stone from the rock farm where she'd been born. There was a simple inscription carved beneath three stylized balloons;
PINKAMENA DIANE “PINKIE” APPLE-PIE
NEVER STOP LAUGHING
“Hey Pinks. Sorry to bother you so late. Had another fight with AJ and I just need to clear my head.” She sighed heavily and produced a bottle of hard cider from the satchel hanging around her neck. “Sometimes I wonder if that mare’s worth it.” She paused and chuckled. “Oh, who am I kidding? Of course she is. I mean, who else would put up with me for this long? She just doesn’t understand how hard it was to lose you. I mean, she does, but… it’s not the same.” She popped the cap and took a small swig, relishing the taste. “You were my best friend, Pinkie.”
She plopped onto the cool grass and leaned on the marker. “Hey, do you remember when you told me you wanted me to be your Mare of Honor? And then I asked you when the wedding was and you were all ‘Oh, just about an hour from now.’ I nearly created a tornado with how fast I was flying in circles. I had to, though. I had to be the best best mare, y’know? It’s what you deserved.” She took another swig. “You looked so beautiful in Granny Pie’s dress. I thought Caramel was going to drop dead from heart failure right there. And then Maud led the ceremony and compared you two to rocks for, like, half an hour?” She laughed. “Man, that day was something, wasn’t it?”
Her laughter died in her throat and her face darkened. “And then… and then you got sick. And then you died.” She swished the liquid in the bottle around. “And then I started drinking a whole lot more than I usually did. And then AJ and I started fighting.” She went to take another swig but stopped and sighed halfway. “It’s like everything started to suck the day you died.”
She sniffled. “Pinkie… I just miss you so much. I hate that I think of you and I just get sad instead of happy. I just see you in that hospital bed.” The images returned to her mind, independent and unbidden. “You were so thin and weak and you were barely breathing…and you were still smiling. You smiled every time we came and saw you. You smiled after every coughing fit. You smiled every time Caramel’s hoof touched yours.” She lifted the bottle for another swig. Her tears ran down her face and the sweet liquid tasted dead on her tongue. “You… you knew how little time you had left and you just kept smiling. You smiled at us when we said good-bye. Caramel told me you were smiling even when you left. I don’t know how. I just don’t know how!” She hurled the bottle and it vanished into the darkness. “Pinkie Pie, I miss you so much. Not a day goes by that I don’t wake up a little sadder knowing that you aren’t around anymore.”
She sobbed openly, hiding her face from the stars in her hooves. “I miss you…” She wiped her eyes and snout and took a long steadying breath. “But I can’t do this anymore. I can’t just mope and drown myself in hard cider. I can’t remember you how you were anymore. Towards the end, I mean. I want to remember how you looked on your wedding day.” New images replaced the hospital scene in her mind. “I want to remember how you looked when Caramel danced with you and how you laughed when you both tripped on the dress.” She smiled. “That’s the Pinkie I want to remember. That’s the Pinkie I know you’d want me to remember. I love you, Pinkie Pie. And I miss you. I always will. But… I have to carry on without you.” She leaned over and gently kissed the engraved balloons. “I have to smile enough for the both of us.”
She stood up and stretched her wings. “I’ll come and see you later. I’m gonna get some shut-eye. I think I’ll let Applejack cool down tonight and start fresh tomorrow.” She gave the marker one last look before lifting off into the sky. “Bye.”
As another pegasus flew home to Cloudsdale, the moon continued to shine down on the cemetery.
Passed out on the grass, his head resting on the back of Pinkie’s marker, Caramel Apple slept on. He dreamed of his wife.
He smiled.
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It was past midnight when Filthy Rich crossed the enormous lawn and knocked on the great wooden door to the Ponyville's new manor house. He looked around furtively to ensure that all the workers had gone for the evening and breathed a sigh of relief when the door swung open. Before he could be spotted, he ducked inside the house, kicking the door shut behind him.
He regretted this choice instantly as two hissing drones rushed him from down the far hallway.
"Wait!" He yelled, holding the parchment he'd just received in one outstretched foreleg. "I was invited!"
The drones stopped in mid-air and gave each other a look. Their eyes flashed as they tasted the fear pouring from Filthy's emotional spectrum. They sought lies and found none. Cutting eyes at the earth pony, they retreated back to their original positions and resumed their guard-like stance.
"Mr. Rich. How very prompt you are."
The voice came from beneath Filthy's hooves. For the first time he looked down...only to gasp in shock and back away several steps.
The entire floor of the manor had been removed. Below was the expansive wine cellar, or rather what remained of it. The Changelings had burrowed deeper into the earth, creating a pit nearly sixty feet deep with a series of tunnels leading off in different directions. Fluorescent sacs of jelly were suspended along the walls and provided plenty of eerie light. Changeling drones moved about, clearing debris from their 'renovations' and disappearing down the tunnels with flashes of emerald flame.
Filthy watched as one drone flew up until it was eye-level with him. It seemed older than the rest and it scratched unconciously at a long, thick membrane that stretched down from it's chin. "You must be Molt."
The drone smiled and nodded. "A pleasure, Mr. Rich."
Filthy held out the scroll. "Is there a reason I've been, for lack of a better term, summoned?" He peered down into the pit. "And is there a reason I'm not being greeted by your king and queen?"
Molt's smile widened. "Their majesties sent me to bring you to the nesting chamber. They are indisposed at the moment." Molt shouted at one of the guard drones, a series of sharp clicks and whistles. The drone dutifully lifted off and flew until he was hovering over the earth pony. "Please, follow me."
Filthy suppressed a shudder as the drone's legs encircled his barrel and lifted him into the air. The feeling of the hard shell against his fur was revolting but he managed to endure it. It carried him to the pit's floor and released him before returning to it's post.
Molt gestured at a tunnel. "This way."
Filthy follow the head drone at a close distance. He peered at the various tunnels. "Where do they go?"
"Everywhere, Mr. Rich." Molt landed and folded his wings across his back, opting to walk at an easy pace. "Our drones have fully infiltrated your little town. These tunnels allow us to easily transport... well, the spoils of war."
Filthy watched as a pair of Changeling drones flew past. Between them they carried a glowing green cocoon. A small dark shape could be seen through the membrane. "What happens to them? The ones you take?"
"We feed on emotions, Mr. Rich."
Filthy cleared his suddenly very dry throat. "They're a food source?"
"Temporarily, yes." Molt paused to hiss orders at another drone who buzzed off quickly down another tunnel. "The fluid in the pupae slowly converts the pony inside into one of us." He sighed and shook his head. "There are barely a dozen true Changelings anymore."
Filthy raised an eyebrow. "But I saw nearly a hundred when I first got in here."
"All conversions." Molt scratched at his beard again. "Even I myself am a convert. Most of the drones you see were runaways or were taken in raids."
"So which were you?" Filthy asked, stepping over a puddle of glowing slime. "Runaway or kidnapped?"
Molt looked back at his coldy. "I was willing, Mr. Rich." He stopped before a grand entrance. "We're here."
Filthy saw that he was now in a huge antechamber. The room was dome shaped and his attention was quickly drawn to a small dent in the center.
There were eggs.
"That was fast." Filthy whispered.
"Indeed." Molt could not stop smiling at the black, veiny ovals all piled together. They seemed to pulse in the dim green light of the room. "They came with greater speed and in greater number than we anticipated. There are forty nine in all. It would appear that the inherent magic of the king has affected the entire reproductive process." He buzzed over and stroked one, pouring love into it. It pulsed in response. "Our kind are saved."
"And when will they hatch?"
"Very soon."
Filthy looked over sharply to find a pair of glowing green eyes watching him from the shadows. As they came closer, there was a flash of emerald fire that briefly illuminated the thin and hardened body of the Changeling King. When the fire faded and the form stepped into the light, it was Prince Blueblood who offered a proud father's smile. He held out a cigar.
Filthy took it with an uneasy smile. "Haven't had one in years. Suri hates the smell."
"Life's too short. Particularly for those in Ponyville." Blueblood looked back in the shadows. Chrysalis was asleep, worn out from the laying process. She breathed quietly, her hooves wrapped tightly around something he could not quite make out. "Let's make this quick. I don't want to disturb my wife and tomorrow's a big day."
"Of course."
Blueblood nodded at a drone standing at the room's far end. It flew over and held out three glowing circles, each suspended from a strip of leather. "These talismans have been touched by both mine and my wife's magic. When you and your family wear them, then you will be able to move about my drones and my children unmolested."
Filthy took them gladly and tucked them into his jacket. "I take it that I had better move my plans up then?"
Blueblood grinned and narrowed his eyes. "I'd say the sooner the better."
Filthy nodded. He was ready to leave when a new noise came to his ears. It was a low, pleading sort of muffled crying. He looked back at the eggs and looked instead this time to the domed ceiling above them.
Dangling from a stretch of membrane in a half formed cocoon was a unicorn mare. Her blonde mane was tangled and her eyes peered into his desperately. She yelled against the hardened slime that was affixed to her mouth.
"Who is that?" Filthy tried to keep the horror out of his voice.
Blueblood shrugged. "Some nopony addict I found making a spectacle of herself. She's here actually serving a purpose."
"Which is?"
"My children's first meal."
Filthy took a cautious step back. "I thought your kind fed on emotions."
"Yes." Blueblood shivered as he tasted Filthy's fear. "Most do."
Filthy took that as his sign to make his exit. He gave a small bow. "I can find my way out. It's been a pleasure, your majesty." He backed out of the chamber and quickly began galloping back down the tunnel from where he'd come.
He had a lot of packing to do.
Arpeggio, watched as Filthy beat a hasty retreat and knew that she was watching the departure of her last hope. Tears began to run from her eyes as she ceased to struggle.
Molt left the eggs and settled next to his queen. "Maybe you were right, my precious queen." He looked back at the clutch of eggs. "Maybe this has all been worth it after all."
Blueblood shifted back into Carapace and watched Molt closely. He rolled his eyes and turned instead to the eggs.
The two watched as Arpeggio's tears ran down the cocoon's sides, forming two long rivers before dripping down onto the clutch.
And from where the tears made contact... the eggs began to crack.