Forever a Changeling
by Scootaloo-009, a.k.a. Mechsrule1
My Little Pony and related names, images, and scenarios are property of Hasbro Inc.
Chapter 2
“What are you talking about, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Don’t play stupid, we ain’t blind!” Applejack shouted.
“What’s going on here? Why can’t I move?” Rainbow Dash asked back.
Twilight’s horn glowed. “Where. Is. She.”
“What has gotten into you? The last thing I remember was Twilight casting her anti-changeling spell. Did something happen?”
“I’ll say something happened!” Pinkie Pie replied.
“We found the one changeling in the world stupid enough to hurt one of our friends. The only thing keeping you alive right now is the fact only you know where she is,” Twilight snarled.
“Who? We’re all here!”
“Rainbow!” Applejack shouted. “Now start talkin’ or Ah start hurtin’!”
“I am Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“You’re not!” Fluttershy yelled from the other side of the room. Everypony in the room was shocked at her outburst.
Rarity got up and walked over to Rainbow Dash. “I find that very hard to believe. Without your disguise I don’t know why you bother continuing to lie.”
“What is wrong with you?” Rainbow Dash growled. “I wish somepony would just tell me what’s going on instead of asking me a bunch of questions that don’t make any sense!”
“You want to know what’s wrong? This is what’s wrong!” Rarity snapped. She cast a spell that made a mirror appear in thin air.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes then looked in the mirror. The five other ponies clamped their hooves over their ears as she screamed.
The two limbs she treasured most were gone, feathers replaced with some sort of bluish green membrane. Her coat was now black instead of cyan. By twisting to the side she could see a bluish shell on her back.
Looking up she saw the only familiar features left. Her eyes were still the same color, though they were all magenta now, and her prismatic mane was intact, albeit with a few holes in it, though there was a black spike sticking out of it now.
“How- what... what?” she stammered. She had finally stopped screaming but was breathing heavily.
“Enough theatrics. Tell us where are friend is!” Rarity demanded.
Rainbow Dash stopped hyperventilating and began nervously chuckling. “Heh- good prank, Pinkie. Can you let me down now?”
“This isn’t a joke!” Twilight snapped.
“It has to be!” Rainbow Dash whined. “I can’t be a changeling!”
“Oh Ah guess yah just look like one. Our bad,” Applejack retorted.
“Look, there’s just no way. I remember the invasion at Canterlot, Discord, I remember us beating Nightmare Moon, going to Appleloosa, Gilda, flight camp, doing the sonic rainboom, even being a foal!”
“You just saying that doesn’t prove anything,” Twilight stated.
“Pinkie, when you came to town, I remember it. You invited everypony in town to a party but since you didn’t know about the mail system, you hoof delivered every invitation, only you couldn’t get one to my house so you sent it with a firecracker. It took me days to fix my house!” Rainbow Dash said. “And Fluttershy, I remember on the first day of flight camp the teacher accidently tripped on your tail. You were so scared of being expelled you hid in the bathroom for two days.”
Pinkie Pie glared at her. “You promised to stop bringing that up!”
“Yeah, yeah, losing a friends trust, well I think our friendship kind of died when you strapped me to a wall and yelled at me for no good reason!” Rainbow Dash retorted.
“So you’re not going to tell us when you replaced Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.
“I already told you, I’m Rainbow Dash! And even if I’m not, I don’t remember.”
Twilight sighed. “I didn’t want to have to do this. It’s tricky but it’s the only way to know for sure. Pinkie, Applejack, hold it still.”
The two ponies nodded and stepped forward. They grabbed the sides of Rainbow Dash’s head and forced her to look forward.
“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously.
“I’m going to look through your memories and find out for myself,” Twilight replied.
“My memories!” Rainbow Dash’s ears drooped even lower. “But- but-”
“This isn’t exactly a fun spell for anypony but you’re not giving me a choice.”
Twilight got really close again and looked into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. The gaze was entrancing. Rainbow Dash couldn’t, didn’t want to look away. It just felt so nice looking into those-
Suddenly she was in Canterlot facing down a duplicate of herself. Then she was in a dragon costume. Then she was on a treadmill next to Big Macintosh.
The images flashed by quickly, like a movie on fast forward. It only seemed to slow down whenever she was looking in a mirror or at her reflection. She decided to just relax and enjoy the free show of her awesome life.
There she was as Commander hurricane, then chasing Mare Do Well, now she was meeting Tank. If she could have closed her eyes, she would have when Discord began running through her mind.
Pinkie going crazy, then meeting the buffalo. Saving Rarity. Gilda.
The memories were going faster now. Rainbow Dash idling wondered how far back Twilight was going to go.
There was Nightmare Moon, then moving to Ponyville. Leaving flight school. Doing the sonic rainboom. More flight school. Meeting Gilda.
Rainbow Dash was getting worried. Twilight didn’t show any sign of stopping.
“No,” she muttered.
She was getting closer to when she first came to flight school.
“No!” she said, struggling, trying to do anything to make it stop. Anything to avoid reliving that day.
She was being dropped of at flight school now.
“NO!” Rainbow Dash shouted. The image was torn away, leaving her with an even worse headache. There was a loud crash and she felt the hooves leave her head. She opened her eyes, not realizing they had been closed before.
Twilight was on the far side of the room and the rest were crowded around her.
“What just happened,” Rainbow Dash groaned, the pain not going away.
“Yah just blasted her, that’s what!” Applejack snapped.
“I what?”
Twilight finally regained her composure and stood up. “It’s okay. You just knocked me back is all. I wasn’t expecting you to cast any magic.”
“I can do magic?”
“So?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Girls, she is Rainbow Dash,” Twilight declared.
“Thank you. I didn’t know that,” Rainbow Dash said, grumbling.
“Or at least she’s the Rainbow Dash we know.” Twilight went on. “I was stopped before I could go back to her foalhood, but I can be certain that from the day she started flight school onward, this changeling was Rainbow Dash. The switch happened before any of us met her.”
“Could they be false memories?” Rarity asked.
Twilight shook her head. “No. I’ve performed a memory erase spell on myself so I know the signs. I would know if anything had been tampered with.”
“You erased some of your own memories? Why?” Fluttershy asked.
“I don’t remember. I think it was to see if I could do it, but I had to erase why I did it so there would be nothing left to trigger the memory. I only know I did a good job. The only reason I know is I left myself a note saying I was going to try it.”
“Maybe she was always a changeling,” Applejack suggested. “And there never was a pony.”
“I-” Rainbow Dash started. “Maybe my parents were changelings too and never told me...”
“Why don’t you ask them?” Rarity suggested.
“They’re... not around any more,” Rainbow Dash replied quietly.
There was a knock on the door and Princess Celestia strode into the small room, leaving her guards outside.
“Have you learned anything, Twilight?” she asked.
“She’s a changeling but she’s also Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie Pie declared.
“I don’t know when it was switched for the real Rainbow Dash if there was one, but it was before any of us knew her,” Twilight explained.
“Hmm...” Princess Celestia hummed.
“What do we do?” Rarity asked.
Princess Celestia was quiet for several minutes, examining Rainbow Dash. “She is the same Rainbow Dash who defeated Discord and Nightmare Moon. If the Element of Loyalty chose her, that alone tells me enough about her character. If she wishes to become Rainbow Dash again and go back to Ponyville then I see no reason to stop her. I will not hold her here.”
Whatever was holding Rainbow Dash to the wall opened up, allowing her to fall to the floor. She let herself hit the ground and just lay there, face down.
“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked.
“My whole life’s been ruined, but yeah, I’m fine,” Rainbow Dash grunted from the floor.
“Don’t think about it like that,” Pinkie Pie said, standing over her. “You just learned something new about yourself is all.”
“Ah’m sorry bout that, Rainbow. Ah thought yah had been kidnapped and some changeling had tried tah take yer place.”
“I’m still a love stealing monster.”
“You’re not,” Fluttershy said.
“Yeah, Ah bet us being friends has been yer food,” Applejack.
“It would explain all the times I went without eating and never got hungry,” Rainbow Dash said, looking up.
“The only thing I’m confused about is why you weren’t affected by Princess Cadance and Shining Armor’s magic,” Rarity said.
“Maybe it only worked on hostile changelings,” Princess Celestia suggested. “Magic can be funny at times.”
“Come on, Rainbow Dash, we’ve got to get back to Ponyville ASAP!” Pinkie Pie said, forcing her to stand up.
“What for?” Rainbow Dash snapped.
“So I can start setting up the party!”
“How can you be thinking of parties at a time like this?” Twilight exclaimed.
“How else are we going to tell everypony in town Rainbow Dash is a super cool changeling?” Pinkie Pie replied.
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Rainbow Dash stared out the opposite window of the train as it rolled along. It was easier than looking at all the ponies staring at her.
“Okay, I admit it, taking the train was a bad idea,” she said.
“Well if you would just disguise yourself again, it would be fine,” Twilight replied snidely.
“I don’t know how. I don’t know anything about being a changeling,” Rainbow Dash replied. She lifted up a hoof and looked at it. She’d spent an hour trying to get it to turn back to it’s normal blue but it stayed stubbornly black.
“Isn’t there someone who can tell you how?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Queen Chrysalis’s whereabouts are unknown. We have no way of locating her, even if we wanted to,” Twilight explained.
“There is another changeling hive,” Rainbow Dash said thoughtfully.
“Huh?” Applejack asked.
“By Los Pegasus. I can’t believe I forgot about it.”
“You’re not talking about-” Fluttershy started to say.
“I am,” Rainbow Dash finished. “The ‘What’s Your Fantasy’ brothel. I’ve never gone there myself but I know a lot of ponies who have. Everypony there is a changeling. There has to be at least one who can tell us where their queen is.”
“Well you can go by yourself. I’m going no where near that filthy place,” Rarity said.
“This train line goes through Los Pegasus. If we stay on we can go there and talk to the changelings there,” Twilight said. “Maybe you can go back to your hive.”
“Twilight, what’s with you?” Fluttershy asked sternly.
“Yeah, she’s our friend. Yah’ve been treatin’ her somethin’ awful!” Applejack added.
Twilight’s look softened. “... You’re right. Rainbow Dash, if you want, I’ll go with you.”
“Alright,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “To Los Pegasus!”
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If you like this story, you should check out some of my other works:
The Seven Tribes, a rather long fanfic that, like many stories, tries to explain the past.
Samurai Applejack, a drastically different kind of story. It’s rated mature for violence and some suggestive lines.
Night of the Werepony, what I consider to be my worst story, but it’s my most popular. It’s just one chapter long.
My tumblr, an alternate universe mixing MLP and Cyborg 009.
Whoo! FIRST
Actually, I think you could've dragged out Twilight being hostile a bit farther. It was pretty awesome when Twilight went overkill in The Seven Tribes.
1326317 And what explosion was that! I mean, dayum!
If you promise me such quality of... "explosions" then I will gladly read it!
For now adding to the to-read list.
Interesting.
Tracked, and waiting for more.
Hm... this is a very nice concept that i would like to see continue. But it needs a bit of work.
I knew lingering by this page for all eternity would eventually bear fruit!
This is intriguing.
Tracked because it's an interesting concept, but disliked because it lacks polish and needs work.
> Brothel in Los Pegasus made up of changelings
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9kom41kUJ1rso5ng.gif
1327234
Ditto. The concept, good. Everything else? SO, SO BAD!
Ever heard the phrase 'adult fear?' http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdultFear Basically it's the things even as rational adults that can strike fear into us.
RD suddenly finding all her friends against her? Her identity being a lie? Unable to get the face back she recognizes her own? If not for Twilight's memory spell they'd have likely beaten her to death trying to wring out of her where the 'real' Rainbow Dash was.
1327340 I think I once saw a R34 comic with this idea. It wasn't very good but I always thought it would be a logical thing for changelings to do. Allow ponies to experience fantasies they couldn't normally (or legally), get love and money in exchange? Sounds like the perfect arrangement to me.
un-freaking believable...so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MORE!
Colour my interests piqued. To read!
1327535
Actually, it was Chrysalis's older sister, Cocoon, sacrificing her already-doomed life to save their younger sister, Pupa, and Rarity's lives by merging Rarity and Pupa's souls in the young changeling's body.
Here's me reading it aloud:
Interesting......
It's...nice.
I liked and request moar whenever you have it.
Okay, I can see where you're going with this, but you have to work in with your dialogue. To be blunt, it's flat. It doesn't do justice to the story you're trying to tell. I love "X is a Changeling" stories, and I can see the actual potential in this one, but seriously. The reactions are off. Never mind that RD was too polite at the beginning; you have scenes where's there's a debate going on and the punctuation makes it so that Rei Ayanami is voice-acting for the whole cast.
Work on character reactions, both in dialogue and physical. Basically, what you have here is a blue-print of what it should be. And a little bit of double checking each character's speech and personality would also do wonders.
1326915 For shame, bro.
Very nice story. Definately going on my watch list. Though it makes me sad for Rainbowdash...
The changeling with the best hair.
scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw7794-Shes_all_awesome.jpg
Need this to continue. Faster. More. MORE. MOAR, AHHAHAHAHA...
Give me all your love
How many featured *insert character* is a changeling stories do we have to go through in the span of two weeks?!
iambrony.jsmart.web.id/mlp/gif/84710%20-%20animated%20gif%20Hubble%20macro%20make_it_stop%20pinkie_pie.gif?1328632735
so did dash change back to dash
1328098 *saw that picture, leaned so far away from the computer I fell out of my chair* Creepy as all hell! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Octavia_O_O.png
The ego never goes away, easiest way to test for the real Dash.
This got featured?
Now, don't get me wrong, the story is nice and the idea is pretty good, but like this guy said: 1325891
It is not without it's flaws, flaws i'm surprised a featured story got away with, but meh. Guess it just goes to show: add Rainbow Dash, changlings, a decent concept and cool cover art and you can get featured rather easily I guess. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_Sparkle.png
Regardless, it's still defiantly thumbs up and fav worthy, though I recommend taking the things he said to heart.
Good job. I like the ordinality of this story. Great job! Please do go on.
A good story. I like it so far. This is the first 'Rainbow Dash is a changeling' fic I've come across. I know many people complain about 'so-and-so is a changeling' fics being overused, but personally, they're some of my favorites. I love the interesting dynamics that such a situation brings up. So many possibilities!
I hope you will continue with this story.
Neat. I'm not the only person who's had the idea of a changeling brothel. It's sort of the obvious direction to go with 'good' changelings.
1328152
There were more for the first month after the last episode. I remember thinking a Rarity one was ok. I think I also read a Lyra one.
1327417
Well... I did find this some time ago. The guy hasn't updated in a long time though, which makes me sad.
Well.... Uh... After reading the Twilight version of this... want me need,... argh can't remember the title... this seems a little unoriginal. Though you may not have read that one in the first place so this is just me. One thing for certain. Too much dialogue, not enough character reaction/surprise/emotions. You need a little more of the Mane 6 perspective besides rainbow, I mean this should be the shock of their lives right now. Not to mentions Celestia at least should be a more than just meh I'm going to release her since she's rainbow dash. Plotwise and premise-wise it works, but you need more character development.
1327535 Yes, I understand that you aren't referring to Who we Are. I was the one who referred to it. I had said in that original reply, that I then quoted, that I had only read Who we Are, and not any other fics with Rarity as a changeling.
1327974 Shame? I'm not ashamed. I haven't gotten around to reading Three Sisters. Heck, I've been avoiding a lot of your blog posts so I don't ruin anything for myself. I've been busy getting ready for college, and reading about fifty or so fics, all at once. The updates I get while here are crazy! I still have fics from a few months ago that I have yet to read, and I feel bad about that. Not to mention that I've been putting off writing for myself so I could help my friends edit.
So is there member of the Mane6 who hasn't bee written as a changeling yet?
We've got multiple Twilight ones,
At least one Fluttershy, one with Rarity, and I think there is one with Pinkie Pie.
Also, a funny one where everypony is a changeling.
I don't think there has been one where Applejack is the lone changeling.
This story. I read the two chapters, and it's not well written enough for me to follow it or give it a thumbs up, but there's nothing bad that would mean giving this a thumbs down.
twilight just has no respect for the sanctuary of the mind does she?
1328296 Shhhh. It's actually Rainbow Dash, you can tell by the eye color. Calling herself cool as usual.
I REQUIRE MORE.... I wish to read of the brothel.... cuz brothels and Ponies are cool.
1327340 I, too, like that idea.
So you ask the changelings who know how to change form, for their queen's location, so she can teach you how to change form?
Also, I think that none of the changelings will give up the queen's location execpt for one bozo who's partner tries to shush him. But what do I know?
1329396 XD Still creepy-as-all-hell...
A damned good fic, but I think it's Las, not Los
Wait, never mind I just found this.
1326915 I was going to read that, but now that you mentioned the changeling in it I don't think it would make much sense anymore. Oh well.
ok. how many changeling fanfic do we have to receive before the topic gets boring? allthough i like the way this one sounds interesting
Wait, there is anoher Hive near Los Pegasus and it not alarmed ponies, how do Flutthershy and RainbowDash know about it, why Equestria did not took any hostile actions if they knew there was changeling hive near by.
I wonder do this hive will be friendly, keep up with the story/
First things first, I really like this story. Despite the outlandish situation, everyone remains pretty well in-character. If I had to nitpick (and I do), although I realize that Dash is cool, I think this chapter would have had more punch if she actually broke down crying. This is the most dramatic event of her life, and who she really is is being called into question. With her egotism, this would be devastating. If she maintains her non-crying cool persona, the revelation has less weight than it deserves.
That is so like Twilight, try something just to see if you can do it. At lest she used herself as a Guinea-pig and not one of her friends or Spike.
The bit with the 'only affecting hostile changelings' is something I've thought long about since the Canterlot Wedding came out, and i believe I have a proper, short theory. I'm not really good with words, but here goes:
It takes a lot of strength to put up a force field of that magnitude, but it's Shining's special talent, so he can do it easily. The headaches come from having a threat on the inside of the force field, in this case, Queen Chrysalis. The hostility of the Queen caused his headaches to flare every time he reinforced the wall, more than likely a 'warning' system built in. It didn't help at all that the Queen had been slowly draining the love from him and 'hypnotizing' him into a personal slave.
When Cadence and Shining Armor blow all the changelings out of Canterlot at the end, he has no headache surge at all, reinforcing the idea.
Shortly put, Shining's spell will work around unknown threats, but he gets headaches that warn him of traitors/changelings/threats to the throne if it does happen.
Well, that's my short theory. It is a good story so far, and I can't wait to read more.
I just didn't like it. It just felt like it was rushing through scenes and scenes without much of interest happening in them. The actual scenes with Rainbow Dash being revealed as a changeling is... flat and boring and confusing.
Memory-reading and memory-altering is a very, very, very scary concept.
Overall, everything feels forced and rushing over itself.
Then Rainbow started whining that "bohohoho, I'm a changeling!", after just escaping life imprisonment or exile or whatever. At this point ,I just lost interest. You do not present a compelling vision of the ponies, nor do you make their reactions seem truly believable.
I'm sorry, but I don't think this story is good, especially not good enough to merit a featured box.
GO TO A BROTHEL IN LASPEGAS TO LEARNTO BEA CHNAGELING...
WHOREYOURSELVEWHENYOU RETURNTO PONYVILLE
1326524 Here's a couple featuring Twilight Sparkle as a changeling. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/26961/Mirror%27s-Image And http://www.fimfiction.net/story/49666/Want-Me%2C-Need-Me%2C-Love-Me
Apart from that I think Who we are is the only other one I've read.
I think it's more that a lot of Changeling orientated stories are about at the moment, but that's not so much a bad thing in my opinion.