Life on a rock farm was simple to the untrained eye. All you had to do was move rocks. How boring is that? Yet there are several intrinsic facts that most ponies don’t get. There’s evaluating the land, knowing the strength of the stones, and countless other factors that take years to master. Yes, the life of a rock farmer was tough on both the mind and body. The very family that called this land their home was a testament to that. If you were to ask them, they would tell you that they loved their line of work.
All except one of them.
A little dull pink filly nudged along a stone. Her long, straight mane fell past her eyes and she was lucky it wasn’t long enough to drag on the ground. She never really cared for having straight hair, but her sister’s liked it so she wouldn’t complain. She usually stuck to her twin sister, Marble, but today she was out on her own.
This filly was bored out of her mind. She wanted something more than what she had to live with, but she was afraid to say it. Her parents would never beat her or anything. They were good folk. It was just that she didn’t want to disappoint anyone. So she kept working. Day in and out. Nothing ever changed. She could feel something was wrong. None of her family knew what to do.
Maud, her elder sister, was a good shoulder to cry and talk to but even she was at a loss on how to help her little sister. So the little filly anguished as her heart felt like breaking every time she woke up.
This little filly was none other than Pinkamena Diana Pie. Pinkie for short. This is her story and the amazing tale that happens to her just about…. Now.
“What’s starting now, mister sky voice?” the little filly asked.
….Little filly, I’m trying to tell a story. Could you please ignore me? Not trying to be rude here, but the good people reading this might get a little confused with this fourth wall break.
“I don’t know what a fourth wall break is, but okay.” And then she went back to pushing her stone.
Yes, many wondered what sort of voices she sometimes talks to are. I would wager that some are rather dashing myself, but uhem… It was another concern for her that her family had. None of my doing, but what can you do?
Pinkie kept pushing her stone all the way back to the house till it got stuck in a hole. No matter how much she pushed, she couldn’t budge it. It was at that moment she envied her big sister’s strength. So she started to dig around the stone to nudge it out. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the best of ideas. The ground under her started to crack open and all she could do was scream as she plummeted down into the depths of the earth.
She fell down what could only be called a chute of some kind until she smacked her little booty onto the ground. She sighed in relief. Earth ponies are especially tough so the fall didn’t hurt her much. She was a little sore, but that could wait to be addressed later. Right now she had some place new to explore. Afterall, she needed to find a way out and see if there were any good rocks down here.
Just as she turned the corner, she bumped into something. Falling backwards on her rump, she cutely snorted. Picking herself up, she looked over what she had bumped into. It wasn’t actually a thing but it wasn’t alive either. ‘Maybe it’s a statue,’ she thought to herself. It was a strange statue. It was black and fanged. There were holes in its legs. She didn’t think anything of it then it looked silly in a nice way. There was of course the metal plating that covered the left side of it’s face.
Pinkie did the one thing she could think of. She booped it’s nose, “You’re funny.” She giggled.
She then noticed that the room had a shining glow to it and let her eyes roam. Then they widened. Right there in the middle of the room was a large and glowing sickly green sphere. “Ooooh, shiny.” She smiled and walked on towards it. As she got closer, she couldn’t help but want to touch it. It was like something was drawing her in. It wanted her to touch it and it seemed friendly. She couldn’t help herself. That stopped when she heard a yawn.
Turning around, she saw the statue get up. “Ahhh, a statue!”
“Oi'm not a bleedin statue,” he, the voice was obviously male, said. It had a strange accent that she had never heard before. He didn’t seem completely black now that she looked at him better. He seemed to be graying and slight blue flames licked out from the metal plating covering half of his face. “A pony? What’s a pony doin’ down ‘ere?”
She gulped as she looked up at the funny looking creature. “I… got lost.”
The creature sighed, “T'be sure yer did. you're lucky dat oi'm a nice changelin', so i'll jist take yer on home.”
“Changeling?” Pinkie asked with a tilted head. “I’ve never heard of you before.”
“You’re lucky den,” the changeling nudged her away. Before he got far, he started to hack and cough. His body shook and the flames grew larger from the metallic sides.
“Mister changeling,” Pinkie gasped and held his leg like that would help. “Are you okay? Do you need my mommy to kiss your booboo?”
The changeling’s hacking stopped and he calmed down, “Nah, it’s fine. Just an ol’ war wound acting up.” That’s when the sphere’s glow started to brighten. “Oh what now?”
Suddenly, a spectral figure popped into existence. She was tall and elegant but still clearly the same species as the changeling with little Pinkie. Even if it was just an image, it radiated immense power. Her fanged filled mouth leered down at Pinkie, “I sensed it.”
The changeling looked down at Pinkie, “Ah bleedin’ Tartarus, ye don’t mean dis pony do ye?”
“I mean exactly that,” her voice still carried the same accent, but it was more refined. Chrysalis smiled down at the little filly. “Yer the chosen one.”
“Really?” Both Pinkie and the changeling said at the same time. The former was in awe, the latter was slightly agitated by this.
“What does that mean?” Pinkie asked.
“It means ye will take yer rightly place as a changelin’ monarch,” the large changeling grinned.
“About dat,” the changeling piped up. “She’s a pony.”
“And we will change her,” the large changeling snorted. “Do ye doubt yer queen, Crascius?”
Crascius bowed his head, “Never, but about this whole ‘chosen one’ bit. I don’t rightly recall us ever havin’ that before.”
“I didn’t make it up if that’s what you were thinking,”the large changeling said rather quickly. At the raised eyebrow, she snorted. “Maybe a bit, but it’s kind of true…. I got bored!” She then realized Pinkie Pie was still there and cleared her throat, “Now then-” her accent was missing this time and she was speaking clear Equish. “Who are you?”
“Pinkamena Diana Pie,” the little filly gulped.
“Well Pinkamena Diana Pie,” the large changeling hummmed in thought. “I’m going to call you ‘Pinkie’ for short. I don’t have the time to deal with such long names at the moment. Don’t start on the whole ‘I have all the time in the world’ thing since I’m dead. I’m not exactly dead, but you get the picture.”
“Okay,” the filly smiled. She seemed nice enough. “So… what now?”
“We change you,” the large changeling said. “It will be long and arduous,” she didn’t notice the filly go towards the orb as she started to talk, since her eyes were closed for this bit of exposition. “But I, Queen Chrysalis, do promise that-”
*phwoom*
Upon touching the orb, green fire burst over the little filly. Within an instant, there stood Pinkie Pie, the new changeling queen. The changeling filly giggled, “This feels funny.”
Chrysalis and Crascius stared at her in shock, “That’s… not supposed to happen. That can’t happen. I… huh… what?” Chrysalis muttered.
“Well this calls fer a celebration, don’tcha think?” Crascius smiled up at Chrysalis.
“A celebration?” Pinkie blinked in confusion.
“A party,” Crascius said, to which the filly was still confused. “Bloody Tartarus, haven’t ye been to a party before?” Pinkie shook her head, “That needs to change now! No filly is going to be partyless on my watch. Isn't that right, my queen?”
Chrysalis was still trying to process Pinkie Pie's action just a minute ago, "Filly... changeling... but...."
Crascius sighed, "This is goin' to be one of those type of days."
_________________________________________________________________
Cloud Quartz hummed a little rock farmer song as she washed the dishes. It had been a rather long day, but they’d been able to find some rather good hauls. They were good enough that they didn’t have to worry about food for quite some time. The markets would pay out the noses for them. Of course, that didn’t still her nerves completely. Her daughter, Pinkamina Diana Pie, wasn’t back yet. It wasn’t unusual for her family to stay out late, but Pinkamina was always early. The little filly just didn’t seem to like working on the farm.
Cloudy couldn’t help but feel her heartbreak as she watched her daughter trudge along like a zombie. ‘I’d give anything to have her smile and be happy.’
That’s when her little Maud came walking in. She was a rather… stoic filly. It was worrying at first how she never did emote that much, but now the family knew she just did it her own special way. Her family was strange and her husband had to get used to it. She had her own special senses and quirks after all.
“Mother, Pinkie is at the door.”
Cloudy blinked in confused, “Pinkamena?” Maud nodded. “Then let her in.”
“She brought friends.”
Cloudy furrowed her brow, “Who could she have met all the way out here?” She put down the dish and dried her hooves. Walking to the door, she opened it up….
“Hi mommy,” her little girl was a pink changeling.
“‘Ello,” a changeling with metal plating over half his face and light blue flames licked out from the sides. He wore strange green clothes and a green top hat.
“It is nice to meet the mother of my new temporary replacement,” and… a changeling queen ghost…..
Cloud had only one response.
She fainted.