Chapter 14 Part 1
Ditto stared with fear up at her queen. She could feel anger coming from Chrysalis. The changelings were in big trouble for this invasion, and they were about to be punished. Chrysalis walked through the crowd, changelings bowing as she passed them. Ditto did the same as she passed her, feeling her queen's gaze on her for a moment before continuing on.
The queen's hoofsteps stopped and she said, "High-General."
Double's here? Ditto wondered. She lifted her head up so she could see. The queen was speaking to a pale pink unicorn. The unicorn looked almost exactly like Twilight, except for the colors. She had purple eyes with a white mane and tail that each had a purple stripe going through them, and her cutie mark was five purple stars. Of course, Ditto knew this to be a disguised High-General Double, but why was her disguise so much like Twilight?
"Yes, my queen?" Double asked, nervousness in her voice.
Her voice is a lot like Twilight's, too. Ditto noted.
“…It’s good to see that you’ve been following my orders, at least. You’ve maintained control over the majority of the swarm in these difficult times, and you took action against those who would not follow you.” Chrysalis praised Double, smiling. “I’d expect nothing less from the second-in-command of the changeling swarm.”
Then she stopped smiling. “However, I’m aware of the fact that you seem to have known of this invasion long in advance. I would have expected you to have struck it down before it reached this stage.” Then the smile was back, mocking this time. “Letting our personal vendettas influence our decisions, are we?”
Ditto heard a nervous chuckle from Double, but was distracted as she saw Twilight with her horn glowing with magic. the unicorn released a flash of purple magic, getting Chrysalis's attention. The Queen turned to face them. Ditto quickly stood and trotted closer to Twilight. If Queen Chrysalis attacked, Ditto would try to protect her unicorn friend.
“Queen Chrysalis! So Applejack was right after all!” Twilight growled.
Applejack? Ditto wondered. Then she remembered. She had met Applejack before the invasion, and had run off to find Queen Chrysalis and stop it. Applejack had been half-changeling, which of course meant that Queen Chrysalis herself must have transformed her, for only the Queen could make the chrysalis that transformed ponies into changelings.
Queen Chrysalis gave a quick glance of acknowledgement to Ditto and Rarity before smirking at Twilight. She fluttered her wings and landed in front of Twilight. The unicorn fired a blast of purple magic at the changeling queen, but a green barrier sprung up in between them. The magic was deflected into the sky.
“Come now, Twilight, there’s no need for hostility; we’re all friends here. Isn’t that right, cousin dear?” Chrysalis said, lowering her magic shield. She looked to Rarity, who stared at her.
"Sparkler..." Rarity whispered, stunned.
Twilight glared at Chrysalis. “You! You were Sparkler this whole time!”
The queen nodded and smiled, not taking her eyes off of her 'cousin'. “That’s right. And I must admit, it was surprisingly…enjoyable, really.”
Ditto felt the traces affection coming from Chrysalis. She really does care for Rarity. But most changelings can't care for ponies. the mutant changeling thought. Does that mean... she has Empathy Sickness?
There were some quiet whispers from the crowd of changelings, and through her thoughts Ditto could hear their worries.
"Did she say what I thought she said?"
"Changelings can't feel love!"
"Our own queen..."
A message from Double silenced their whispering and Ditto focused on Chrysalis, who was now standing in the center of town square once more. “Now, I know you’re all just dying to know where I’ve been all this time. Rest assured, my beloved subjects, I have not abandoned you. Quite the opposite, in fact.” the queen began to speak again .“The first thing you all should know is that Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s barrier did nothing to strip me of my power, though being hit by such force did hurt…quite a bit.”
Ditto glanced at her own broken leg and thought, 'Quite a bit'? I thought I was going to die when it hitme.
“I formed a shield around myself just before crashing in the Whitetail Wood near Ponyville, and survived with minimal injuries. I soon found that the shock, however, had temporarily severed my connection with the swarm." Chrysalis stopped for a moment, waiting for a response, but when none was heard, she continued.
“My first instinct was to simply hide out and wait for my connection to reestablish itself, but I soon hit upon an idea; a question, if you will. For over one thousand years I’ve led and cared for the swarm, always giving them proper leadership as we searched numerous lands for food. So I thought to myself: what would happen if I left the swarm to decide and fend for itself? Left in the command of the High-General, would the changelings remain orderly and disciplined like they were trained to be, or would order collapse in a chaotic fight for power?" She glared over the crowd of changelings, her glare centered around where Double sat. Glancing over there, Ditto saw that the Queen was actually glaring at General Carbon, who was right next to Double. Ditto also spotted Mirror, Pinkie, and Fluttershy next to them. "Well, we’ve answered that question, haven’t we?”
"Wait, I don't understand." Next to Ditto, Twilight stepped forward. "Did you not know about the invasion?"
“Oh, I knew about it. That doesn't mean I authorized it, though.” Chrysalis responded. “I assumed the identity of a resident of Ponyville, taking advantage of her being out of town and of the changelings not yet being common knowledge. When you and your friends returned, the idea of feeding off an Element of Harmony was too much to resist. A quick search through Rarity’s memories revealed the perfect disguise, and I took the form of her cousin, the esteemed Sparkler.”
Twilight quickly became angry, glaring up at the changeling queen. “So you’ve been living with Rarity all this time. Did you do anything to her? And what about Applejack?”
"Er, what about Applejack, Twilight?" Rarity asked in a whisper. Both Ditto and Twilight froze at this question.
Chrysalis waved a hoof dismissively in response to Twilight's question. “Nothing as bad as what you’re thinking, likely. Just a simple hypnosis spell to keep her from suspecting I, or any of my children for that matter, could be changelings. Certainly nothing on the level of what I did to your brother.” Twilight unfroze and focused her attention back on the queen, giving an angry snort at the mention of her brother. “As for Applejack…well, let me finish my story.”
Chrysalis turned around a raised her voice so everypony in the crowd could hear her clearly. “Now, shortly after assuming my identity as Sparkler, I took a stroll through the marketplace. You can imagine my surprise at finding not only little Mirror with her horn broken…” Chrysalis glanced over at Mirror, who shrunk back as everypony looked at her. “…But also General Carbon in the form of Applejack, the Element of Honesty!”
Rarity gasped at the news and turned to Twilight, who nodded in confirmation. Everypony else must have known about General Carbon replacing Applejack, because no one else seemed surprised.
“In order to remain undetected by my subjects, I cut off my connection with the swarm.” Chrysalis continued, “For the most part, the severing works both ways. The swarm can’t hear or recognize me, and I can recognize, but not hear, the swarm. That is, unless I focus on their thoughts. A look into the general’s mind told me where Applejack was being held. Imagine my delight at having one of the Elements of Harmony practically gift-wrapped for me; the temptation was too much to resist.”
“So you tried to turn her into a changeling!” Twilight yelled. Nearly everypony in the crowd gasped, horrified.
Chrysalis frowned and rolled her eyes. “Well, technically it never got that far. Half-Changeling is a better term. After all, the process is gradual; it takes over a week to complete, and I cast an illusion spell over the chrysalis to keep any changeling from noticing. Besides, she escaped before a full conversion, didn’t she?”
“No thanks to you!” Twilight snorted.
Chrysalis smirked. “On the contrary, Twilight, her escape was all thanks to me.”
“What do you mean?” Ditto suddenly spoke up, “You changed Applejack. She knew you were here, didn’t she?”
Twilight turned to Ditto, surprised, obviously not knowing that Ditto knew about Applejack being half-changeling as well. Before Twilight could say anything, however, Chrysalis continued speaking.
“Yes, she did, when I came the second time to help her. You see, I caught a stray thought about the invasion shortly afterwards. Naturally, I looked into it, and what I found out made me absolutely furious.”
Anger rose from the Queen, and most changelings looked nervous or frightened. Ditto included, for she took a step back and inched closer to Twilight.
“Such blatant disobedience cannot be tolerated. I would have put a stop to it then and there, but the invasion force was only a small percentage of my changelings, and I needed to see how the rest of the swarm would act in response.” Chrysalis said, “But I anticipated the trouble this could bring, so I arranged for a sabotage.”
Chrysalis held her head up high as she heard gasps from both ponies and changelings in the crowd. “I weakened the chrysalis containing Applejack, so that she could escape and reveal the presence of changelings in Ponyville. Her appearance would have spoiled Carbon’s treasonous invasion and allowed me to personally teach him his place in the swarm!” The Queen ended her speech in a snarl, her wings buzzing angrily.
Chrysalis's anger subsided and she returned to her normal smug attitude. She smirked up at the roof of Town Hall and called, “Well, Applejack? Aren’t you going to come down and thank me?”
The eyes of everypony in the crowd were drawn up to the roof. Applejack's orange head appeared from behind it. She looked completely normal; her usual earth pony form. She hopped down to the ground, carrying an unconscious cyan pegasus on her back.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy cried out. She flew over to Applejack to help set Rainbow on the ground, followed by Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity. Ditto stayed where she was, watching the friends uncomfortably.
Chrysalis chuckled at their concern for their unconscious friend. “Ahem. Applejack? Don’t you have something to show us?”
Applejack's head jerked up and she folded her ears back. She looked at Twilight who attempted a comforting smile and motioned with her hoof to go ahead. Applejack sighed and closed her eyes. She surrounded herself in a green, fiery cocoon. When the fire disappeared, she was left in her true, half-changeling form. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy gasped in shock, while Rarity fainted.
Applejack cringed at the unicorn's overdramatic reaction. "Nopony else faint, please."
Twilight soon revived Rarity from her faint, but the white unicorn seemed to be struggling not to faint again. Applejack sighed sadly and hung her head. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped forward and wrapped her hooves around the half-changeling, to her shock. Fluttershy joined the hug, then Twilight, then finally Rarity. The four were now in a big group hug, Applejack sitting in the middle, confused.
She looked around at her friends in disbelief. “Ya…ya’ll don’t mind?”
“Of course we don’t mind, Applejack!” Fluttershy responded.
“Yeah, you’re our friend, no matter what you look like! No matter what, you’re still you!” Pinkie added.
“We still care about you, Applejack, even if you do look like…this…” Rarity said, grimacing slightly. She quickly covered it up with a smile and added, “But you make a lovely changeling, really!”
“Applejack, we’ve all been through too much together for us to reject you over this. And I promise, no, I Pinkie Promise, I will find a way to help you.” Twilight finished, performing the hoof motions of the promise. At the end she accidentally jabbed her hoof into her eye, letting out a shout of pain then rubbing her eye with an embarrassed grin.
Applejack’s expression changed to a wide smiled of gratitude. She happily returned the hug to her friends. “Thanks, girls.”
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Alright, I have a bit to say. Starting with; The is not the whole chapter! I've split up the chapter into smaller chapters for a two reasons:
I wanted to get something published today because I've made you poor readers wait much too long
Hitting the 'publish' button makes me feel as though I've accomplished something
Anyway, sorry for making you wait so long, everybrony. I'm working hard and I'm hoping to have the rest of this chapter and the last chapter done by the end of the week. Don't get your hopes up too high, though; my life likes making me busy when I really just need time to write. Oh, and this chapter is mostly dialogue, and since both Ditto and Mirror witness the same exact thing here, there probably won't be much difference in my chapter and Teapartycannon's chapter.
Holy shit, it updated!
Awwww great chapter mate /)
THE STORY! ITSZ ALIIIIVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I'm liking this. At least you did update, and although I didn't like the wait, I understand that things happen. Just please don't do it again
Added to watchlist so I can receive notice when revisions are complete.
Added to Read Later so I can quicknav to it
Er, okay... This is kinda weird. You should be careful when making changes in story direction. Up til now this has all been about Ditto mostly, now it's not clear why that's the case. It doesn't really make much sense, the two seem kinda like parts of different stories.
1492672
Time changes things.
Glad you have started on this again.
Whoa, you're alive! As is your story! And a welcome return to my favorites update list it is, too.
It took FOREVER for this story to finaly update, I thught it was abandoned.
dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw831_57609_-_DJ_P0n-3_artist_sweatshirt_reaction_image_vinyl_scratch.jpg
Now, if Smoke and Mirrors would just follow suit...
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Except that it doesn't really make sense. Time may change things, but not explaining them in depth via other routes than sudden narrative oratory is bad.
Blueheart, you updated! What a pleasant suprise! Not much to say here, but it's good to see an update from you again!
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Final chapter's coming up Friday or Saturday. Saturday at the latest.
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All of my yes!
It's good to have an update
I found 1 minor mistake:
"to die when it hitme.": missing space
And here I was worried that these stories were dead.
It's been so long I didn't recognize this story when I got the update notification.
Gonna have to reread all the previous chapters now, especially the ones where AJ becomes a half-changeling. I sure didn't remember that happening.
All I have to say is this.
Chrysalis is best changeling! Assuming she has a good explanation of course...
And don't be ashamed AJ, it wasn't your fault.
Yay can't wait for the update
I shall stalk you
Nice update. I just wonder what Applejack looks like now?:
been a wile but its good to see ur back again
Missing space and close single-quote is too soon.
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1501807 1500501 for anyone who wants to know about why Applejack is half-changeling, it's explained in much more detail in Smoke and Mirrors. Applejack isn't really a big part in this story, and since Smoke and Mirrors is A Changeling to Remember's counterpart I thought that leaving the half-changeling Applejack barely explained would prompt people to go read Smoke and Mirrors.
Make sure Morph gets what she deserves in the next part of this chapter
very very nice
MOAR!! Um... If that's not to much trouble...
That was actually a bit confusing and sometimes the characters seemed OOC
Ok I'll stop with the dumb puns, but seriously when there gonna be more
MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll be stalking you
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Rather than just screaming MOAR!
I will ask a question
when do you project that the next chapter of your story will be out? Are you having problems with it? If so what? I think I speak for all your fans when I say the story is very good, and we would really, really like to read more.
As a wirtter myself, I know that keeping the story going can be very hard, but we readers would still like to at least know when and/or if the story will continue in the foreseeable future.
Oh lawd. I don't even know what is going on! MOAR!
I don't see why they would act so dramatically. I mean, they were just told she was a half-changeling.
Heh, monologuing.