This story is a sequel to The Guard of a Different Stripe
Despite the world around her changing constantly, Applejack has remained firm in her simple, country life. The world may change around her, but as long as she's got her family, her friends, and her farm, the old-fashioned apple bucker of Ponyville has no reason to change herself.
However, when a mysterious Equestrian Collie emerges one night from the Everfree Forest, her stable farming life takes a turn for the stranger when the pompous pup needs more than just her affection.
Takes place after The Guard of a Different Stripe, but can be read alone.
Edited by: TheAncientPolitzanian
Proofread by: Alchemik
Preread by: King (AKA Kingsredarmy)
Cover Found Here: Sweet Apple Acres by ZIG-WORD
Special Thanks to Bicyclette for helping with the Short and Long Descriptions.
It feels like this will be a different story than we are used to, and I am excited to see where this goes! I wonder if Winona could smell the other dog on her and knew AJ had cheated on her?
Chrysalis tag and dog that doesn't like Starlight. I'm sure it is just a coincidence. 😄
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Winona:
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You'll be one of the first to know, King! Thanks for your help on this one.
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Sometimes you want to keep a secret. Other times, you know there's a tag. Here's to hoping the payoff is worth the setup.
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Not to mention "Unchanging" in the title.... haha. :) But it makes it all worth it to see the reveal in the fic!
If this what I think this is... all I can say is finally. I had thought of making this ship for years, but never got around to it.(Though a rough draft of the first chapter maybe be floating around somewhere.)
Look forward to more.
Ah, an intriguing premise that's well-characterized, well-paced, and well narrated
And back to back with the rhyming duo that's most elated
I'm reading this with a big smile on my face, and with high hopes of seeing it updated
Brilliant, what an absolutely lovely start to this longfic! I'm already sold on this dynamic, with Chryssi wanting to earn love more than stealing it. Seems like a more palatable way of going around her reformation without breaking her character.
Well, the saying does go that the fastest way to someone's heart is through the stomach.
In before AJ decides to use a watering can to resuscitate her
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As per the usual, glad you're enjoying what my brain comes up with.
One of the reasons I tried to get both of these chapters out around the same time was for this reason. Chapter 1 is the lead in, but 2 is the hook. Glad it worked!
Why bother with the small stuff when Discord's the town guard's water boy?
Did Fleur say that? It would explain why it didn't exactly rhyme. :D
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Nope, that was Zecora. When I said it aloud, it was a slant rhyme. Sometimes, you gotta stretch it.
The attribution is unclear though. Fixing it.
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A stretch it is. :)
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Oh crap. I just realized that I read it that way with my accent not Zecora's. Gonna have to fix that. Dammit, I really liked that one too.
Post-edit: Well, I guess we'll let Zecora's mind wander where it does.
Post-edit edit: And then I had to edit everything below that too. The hazards of self-proofing.
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The new one is likeable too, while more rhymy. ;)
Could I ask what accent you have?
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It's a bland, American suburban one with a Texan flair. I read it as "Friens" and "Lesbiens". I can turn on the twang if I want to though, which is why AJ is very easy to write for me. She's from my neck of the woods.
Thanks for the catch. If you do find anything else that looks needing of fixing, please let me know in a PM. I'd rather not have the comments eaten by edits.
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That's cool. :)
So far nothing alse comes to mind in this chapter.
I look forward to next chapter and more of... Applelis? ChryJack? Chrapple? ^^
"Can't," hm?
Interesting....
according to the laws of nature "the consumer can never generate more energy than it consumes" so I still don't understand how changelings can reform by sharing all their love with others and not die in the process.
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There's plenty of head canons one could come up with to explain it away magically. Purifying a curse of consumption, they didn't need love to survive in the first place, the metamorphosis itself changing them from love consumers to love producers by switching to a different mana input becoming more tied to harmony itself; but I'm not so much concerned with the "how" and am dealing with the "what now" afterwards.
I mean, my biggest question for the official G4 and G5 universe is if it's a geocentric universe or not with how the sun and moon are moved by the princesses. I haven't seen anything in G5 past the movie and I still haven't seen G4's season 9, but ultimately, it's not super important to get bogged down in details.
That being said, I do have rules I'm playing with that I won't reveal now.
Awww, what a cute and completely normal doggie.
Well, that was grueling. Good that she pulled through.
Can't, huh? Well, she is different than all the other changelings, so maybe it works different for her. I mean, even reformed Thorax and Pharynx look more like overgrown regular crayonlings with extra headgear, still no other changelings hands real hair or non-compound eyes, or her slim proportions.
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Well, I have watched only some episodes of the series, since I'm pretty much only interested in Chrysalis and gryphons, but we've seen the crayonlings eat normal food, no? I always thought that now they simply generate love how unicorns generate magic, from energy acquired by digesting food. Maybe they can't even draw love from external sources anymore i mean I don't think we've seen them so this after reformation. Would also mean that they can't actually grow more powerful by devouring love, though I guess it's a fair exchange for having it much easier gathering food.
Stubborn fool, they are perfect for each other.
lol. I don't know what Chrysalis is up to, even if the "potential execution" doesn't frighten her and even having the opportunity to escape she doesn't do it on principle, but for some reason her behavior seems Mega cute to me:3
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They really are two sides of the same coin: One honest to a fault, the other never so. Equally rock-headed. Opinionated and certain of what they want at all times. Snappy dressers.
Applejack's concern for Chrysalis continues to warm my heart. :)
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I flipped-flopped between giggling and being genuinely engaged by both the subplot of AJ's attachment to sick family members and the ominous looming ray of the friendship laser. Lovely chapter Rego! Thank you for writing it!
I suppose Chryssi is in too much of a rough shape to want to take another swing at the mane six. I get she's still angry and pissed off, but maybe these slight showings of hospitality are sufficient to at least have her relax. I mean, I lol'd hard when Twilight forgot to cover the windows. Either Chryssi isn't considered that big a threat or Twilight's a bigger airhead than Chryssi ever gave her credit for, and yet she's still her prisoner. Taking it slow is the way to go, though with Chrysalis not being properly restrained, we'll need to see if she's still in her room by the next chapter.
Last I heard, involuntary laser treatment is still "treatment"
Lulu vehemently agrees with me.
Huzzah! Readership dividends!
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Thanks for reading it.
We'll just have to see, won't we?
I always pay off loyal readership.
Tsun Tsun Tsun.
Yyyyeah, probably should've checked that those rings actually work on her.
Well, they're certainly eager to off her just because she should possibly grow very powerful. And didn't Discord get several chances?
It'd be hilarious if the elements of harmony had no effect.
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In the show, Discord was defeated by Celestia and Luna centuries ago, then once be Twilight and her friends, and then given the chance to reform and he accepted friendship.
Chrysalis is likely thwarted at least once in the past since changelings are known about when Cadance reveals the false Cadance at the wedding, Chrysalis is then defeated once by Cadance and Shining Armor. Later, she rejects Starlight's friendship in the season finale when she's beaten again.
In my mind, they've had the same number of chances, but AJ is still bothered by what's going on. She can tell something’s changed, but what that means is the crux of it.
11303945 Well, the past part is debatable, since we do have in-show confirmation of Discord's past actions, but not so much for Chrysalis.
Plus it's not like he really reformed completely with how he keeps going back to screw someone over whenever he feels like it. :B
In canon ponies did give Pharynx another chance and gong by that count he'd have resisted friendship as many times as Chrysalis had here.
Just that whole scene with Luna felt a bit weird, with her using a completely assumption-based simulation designed to show the subject in the worst light possible as definite proof that they should deal with the situation as she wants. Maybe she's just cranky she got element'd and wants someone else to get it too. :B Or she hadn't had her morning coffee yet.
Still, this is an AU, so characters may vary. And I like the story, i just also like to paint ponies in a bad light. :B Especially if I feel that they're being a tad hypocritical or using double standards.
So my comments like that aren't meant as a critique, but musings of someone who's staying in the fandom pretty much only for Chrysalis stories and because of this always has a heavy bias pro her. :3
Yeah, I get the last part. I like AJ in this story so far.
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She also might be a little salty about getting caught off-guard... twice.
i.pinimg.com/736x/30/12/d0/3012d068c1906602ca57c86a19cb26b9--pony--princess-luna.jpg
11304286 Just the tiniest bit. XD
Well, look at it this way Chryssie, you are at rock bottom now...only way left to go is up.
Oh, snap!
"Don't interfere, Twilight. This is a family matter."
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She's a resourceful changeling. Don't underestimate her ability to break through.
Ouch, talk about kicking the poor queen while she's down. >.O
Damn, she really needs her own mess hall, pun intended.
On the plus side, she could probably clonk someone in the head with her crown something fierce now.
"And you had to spend a thousand years on the moon, HA-HA!"
'decision. That being said' - decision. "That being said.
'metamorphose Pharynx' - metamorphosed Pharynx
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And she's got a rock crown to match. Yay her!
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Gotta love that Luna's also perceptive.
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Let's hope not. I thought I'd already started her on rock bottom. I didn't realize I could send her lower.
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/668/622/7ca.gif
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Maybe Starlight can give her a few pointers...
i.chzbgr.com/full/8984826624/hB074B2FB/plan-a-hit-it-with-a-rock
Thanks for the catches! If you find anymore, please PM them to me.
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to the other side?
Here you go. See? and you said you couldn't do it. Turns out it only takes a little bit of magic (and a bit of a poisonous plant mixture.)
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Exactly! Problem solved! You're beautiful, Chryssi!
i.ytimg.com/vi/ep4oaIeMLdQ/maxresdefault.jpg
Just don't read the next paragraph...I admit I'm hoping she can't be reformed, and that the power of friendship turns out to be some big mistake that Chrysalis has to save her hive from.
I don't think the Chrysalis disguise in the first chapter (the dog) looks like it's going to suit her. Her current behavior is more like my cat. She also pretends that she does not need attachments, but at the same time, if she is ignored, she herself begins to rub against her legs.
real tsundere
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according to the laws of thermodynamics: "a consumer can never generate more energy than he consumes."
Honestly, I like this angle a lot better than... petty jealousy? I guess it wasn't really petty, but....
This chapter actually tells us basically where everything we need to know about how Crystal's got into this current state. She doesn't really hate ponies. But she had a job; her one job, and that was the keep her changelings fed, and she struggled with it constantly. No matter what she did, no matter what you tried, it was never enough. And then, along comes Starlight Glimmer, and suddenly everything's fine! If I struggled like that with my one job, and then somebody comes along and just makes it look completely effortless, I think I'd be pretty peeved too, pardon my language.
I'd be willing to bet she even tried the whole "giving others her love" thing, Only fort to go horrifically wrong almost immediately and completely turning her and every other changing off to the idea completely. I mean, maybe the other changelings not completely, because we saw that they were able to slip into it pretty easily once Thorax showed them that it was possible. But Chrysalis? We all saw it right here: It's pretty hard to love yourself when you're convinced that you aren't worthy of love.
Oh silly love bug...some of us get up at 0300.
Ouch, lotsa baggage there. Still, progress!
11317111 That'd be fun to read.
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We'll just have to see how it plays out I guess.
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I can see how she can be seen as tsundere, but hopefully it doesn't cheapen the character for anyone. It's hard to keep her both villainous without being too off-putting.
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This guy almost gets it!
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What time do these people go to bed?
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And there is the fact that everyling treats her as enemy right after the great metamorphosis or even a monster (if Ocellus' nightmare is anything to go by). Where is gratitude for keeping the hive alive for all these centuries? Where is "Yeah, you were wrong about stealing being the only way to keep us fed, but you're welcome to stay with us. We are still family after all!"? I can understand why Thorax would be angry with Chrysalis (what with her trying to kill him), but shouldn't everyling else have at least mixed feelings about their former ruler?
It would be a pretty hard hit to your self-worth, if your former subjects/children quickly abandoned you without so much as "So long and thanks for all the love!" and then seemingly came to hate you. No wonder Chrysalis is so hard on herself. Perhaps that is the reason the Elements couldn't change her to reformed state even though she wanted to be "fixed". She needs to learn she deserves to be loved for who she is. Physical change wouldn't have fixed the psychical issues she has right now.