//------------------------------// // Chapter 07 // Story: When a changeling gets a bright idea // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// With the hoof of Chara still placed gentle on her back, Applejack had taken her hat off. The earth pony took a gander through the skies above. Something about the leaving Rainbow was unusual, something about her was even stranger than usual. A deep sigh would have left her and shook her head. It was strange though. Strange to see a friend of hers leaving with such a temper tantrum. It must have been the cider from the night before, there was no other way to explain the matter. Applejack quietly removed the hoof of the stallion from her back. The two had a long look at each other and they both thought about words to speak. A matter that was done more easily in the mind. One of them had to break the ice of the conversation and start with the facts as they were. Applejack turned her head away from him and followed her nose a little bit. The hooves made a few turns left and right, letting her wander without a true aim for a couple minutes. Chara found it the best chance to speak in that moment. The earth pony was confused, terrified maybe. Calm and gentle words that could have come to her aid, must have been more than welcome. A natural process of thought, one which the disguised changeling wanted to exploit. “It bothers you, doesn’t it?” Chara asked after Applejack had come to her again. The farmer nodded to him, letting out another sigh while she set her hat back on her head. It just didn’t make sense for Rainbow to do such a thing. “Bother ain’t even covering the basics, Chara. Ah haven’t her like that in a long, long time. Last time she acted like this, it was just after the Running of the Leaves, she threw a temper tantrum which was prevented by Twilight in the nick of time.” Nods were made by the stallion, both agreeing and understanding what the mare had said to him. Whether it was the truth was another matter to be discovered through. Chara wasn’t in the mood for a history lesson but had to suck it up if she wanted to remain close to the farmer. “But what makes you think that she loses her temper like that?” He had sat down through his hunches and wanted to hear every last word that Applejack could say. He was truly caring about her wellbeing, a pegasus that wasn’t Fluttershy for a change, a dream she never had dared to think come true. The orange mare smiled faintly before she laid down in the grass. Perhaps he did require a bit more of an explanation on the matter. She would have given that to him, to some degree. “Well, ya know, Chara, it’s a difficult matter to discuss, but Rainbow’s never been that good of a loser. She’s always blamin’ it to somepony else, she wants to be the best of the best even when she knows she can’t be. Yesterday, she was drunk of mah family’s cider, nearly half the town was! Problem with Rainbow happens to be, she can’t handle too much of the stuff. And that was what made h’r downfall today. That’s why she wasn’t able to do anything, why she wasn’t able to win, and why she ended up in the creek. Should’ve woken her up though, if anythin’ else.” The changeling listened to the story with open ears. She was gathering all the information that was required to take the pegasus back to earth even harder. All the juicy news about Rainbow was tasty indeed. But in the end he just nodded to Applejack. “Sounds to me like she’s indeed a sore loser. Truth be told, I don’t know how she ended up in that creek though, but I remember that branch hanging dangerously low while passing it,” the changeling answered. “And with her bein’ a pegasi, no offence, she wanted to fly. We forgot to strap in her wings and Ah guess that she just flew straight against it and, well, yah can guess the rest, Ah presume.” A gentle chuckle came from the stallion, he could indeed predict what happened. It wasn’t the truth though, far from it. It was never Rainbow Dash herself who had crashed against the tree branch alone. Instead had it been Chara who played a few tricks. Her mastery of illusion magic and own strength had created the near perfect trap. While Rainbow was galloping to the branch, Chara took it in her mouth and cast a spell. Hidden in the bushes had the hat of Applejack appeared. It was brightly visible for Rainbow. Fractions before Rainbow would have passed the branch had the stallion let go and turned again to a galloping pace. The impact was caught in the ears, followed by the splash of water. That was it, that was what caused the pegasus to lose her temper and the changeling adored it. “No offense taken, Applejack, it’s difficult to hide where you’re from as it does shine through your personality. I reckon that she will be the old one in a few hours,” the stallion replied kindly, giving her a reassuring smile to boot. “Ah hope that yar right on that one, partner,” replied Applejack, rising back on her legs. “But the race’s over and Ah won the honor fair and square. Ah won’t be holding ya any longer, it might be best if we separate our ways here and meet again someday.” Chara rose back to his hooves and opened up for a hug. “If that’s what you think is best, I’m not the one to complain about it.” The two fell in each other’s hold and the warmth between them was shared. Applejack was oddly comfortable in his hold. It made her feel like she wasn’t the one who had to be tough for a change. For one of those precious few times could she have shone her true personality through. It was also one of the times where Chara again began to filter out the red flow from the air. Applejack had produced it, doubting whether or not Rainbow should remain a friend of hers. Not that it mattered too much really, the whole fact that she was doubting had given the changeling more than enough energy to survive just that bit longer. While they held each other firm in the hug, a chuckle came from the mare. Chara ceased the filtration and had a look down, wondering what on earth was meant with the sound. In the worst case had she been discovered. “May I ask, what’s so funny?” the stallion asked her. Applejack shook her head slight against his chest, letting out an adorable little sigh. “It’s strange, ya know. The temper tantrum, the accident, the race, everything, it’s all part of the Rainbow Dash we came to know and love. Who knows, maybe Ah indeed need to give her a couple of hours to calm down. She can’t stay up there forever, nor can she be mad forever.” Those two thoughts closed the red flow from Applejack. Chara wanted to filter more out of the air, but there wasn’t anything left. It angered the changeling and caused it to chirps and rasp without sound. The game had to be played even smarter than before. Chara let out an exhale before he nodded to the farmer. She was still troubled and he was a new pony in town with a fresh look at everypony. It could have been the deciding factor. He was meeting everypony for the first time, the advantage had to be made with that. The time had come to play the game even more daring than it had been done before. Chara held Applejack a bit closer to him, letting her face touch the fur of his chest. “It’s how you all came to know her as, but here’s another little question for you: is it worth it? Is it worth to go through time and time again for the recklessness of that mare? She’s certainly having a problem with her cider and can’t stand losing. I’m sorry to say, Applejack, but that is not what friends do with each other. I do doubt that you have very little happy memories that particular mare.” Now were the gears turning in her head. The seed of doubt had been planted and the farmer didn’t knew how to continue on from there. Everything could have come next and it terrified her. But it also brought her back numerous memories. Memories that went all the way up and down from everything to everypony. All the memories that she had from Rainbow were analyzed. Yet she began to notice that the bad ones began to outweigh the good ones. She held more bad memories from Rainbow then she held good ones, not a thing she had anticipated. It didn’t mean to say that they weren’t there of course. Chara’s mind game was that of deception and turns. Turns and twists that Applejack didn’t notice and fell straight for, with her eyes wide open. It was a horrible tactic, but one that at the same end of things, worked just as well. “Ah hate to admit it partner, but yah might be right on it,” she returned. She began to nuzzle the chest of the stallion ever so slight. Showing the affection that he had showed her, letting a much more compassionate Applejack shine through for a moment. An Applejack that wasn’t all just rough and tough cowgirl. “But it makes me wonder, how do yah know all of this?” A chuckle came from the stallion, who then loosened his hold around her a little bit. “It’s quite simple, actually, it’s a pegasus thing. Pegasi feel those sort of things between each other, how terrible it may sound.” “It does make sense, yeah.” Soon after that had the hug been broken between the two of them and Applejack was ready to leave the place. She waved to Chara with a hoof and wanted to leave, but he had one last remark to make about the matter. “Applejack, if you want to, you could come to my place and calm down a bit. You still seem rather shaken by the matter.” “’Preciate the concern partner, but Ah’ll be fine! Yah just worry about yar own things and everything’s gonna be just right,” she replied with a forged smile across her muzzle. Not the smile that she had wanted to give, but perhaps the one that made him leave for the moment. She wasn’t in the mood to continue talking to the stallion and nopony could have blamed her. “Suit yourself! But if you need me, I’ll probably be wandering around town for a while longer. Shouldn’t be too hard to miss. Have a good afternoon!” The wings of the stallion were spread and given powerful flaps. One jump later and he was airborne, soaring through the skies with speed and aggression, though never out to hurt somepony. He went for the skies, probably to find his own peace and quiet. Chara had left Applejack on the ground with her own troubles and thoughts of concern. Pretty much the way the changeling intended it to be. The farmer would have returned to Sweet Apple Acres to do her daily chores and routine of life. Applejack was still wondering though, she was wondering about everything that had happened during their race, the outburst and the conversation that followed. It all seemed to be so, convenient, at one end. On the other, it might have been just a cruel constriction of fate that just happened to be that way. Suffice to say, her rhythm for the day was thrown out the window. All while a constant storm of thought went through her mind. The farmer didn’t knew what to think of it, nor what to do about it. But there was also something strange about that very same stallion. Something of which she couldn’t place her hoof on, but just felt it. Time would have been the judge of the matter and she was happy with it. Time would have decided who was right and who owed who an apology. Confusion was one thing that she couldn’t use for herself and not even her family could have helped with the matter. None of them would have even understood the matter. In the end, Applejack just laid down against a tree and pulled her hat over her eyes. Some shut-eye might have done her good, she hoped. ~~~~ Chara soared through the skies, looking for anything that resembled the likes of Rainbow Dash. If there was one fabricator of red flow still active, it was that very mare. She wanted to consume everything that was around her. The taste of the negativity was strong in one particular direction and Chara decided to follow it. Where it ended up, she didn’t knew. Minutes went by while she flew through the thick clouds, feeling the flow becoming only stronger as she went on. In the end, she had ended up by a cloud palace at the edge of town. One that was adorned with rainbows and ponds of rain water. No doubt that this was either the home of Rainbow herself, or her parents. It was worth a shot to knock at the door and see what came next. Anything could have happened, Chara was prepared for just that, anything and everything. A knock was given on the cloud door, which rang through the entire house. “Coming!” the voice of Rainbow echoed from the bathroom. Chara had one gander up the structure to see steam leaving any part of the building, but couldn’t see it at the front of it. The attention was shifted down to the door, whose lock was being turned. In the opening she then appeared, wearing a white towel around her body and her mane covered in one as well. Rainbow was a different mare but still filled with anger. Her expression changed the second that she saw Chara standing before her door. A huff left through the nostrils before the words followed through the mouth. “And what are you doing here? Come to rub it in that I came in last?” Chara was visually shocked to hear those words coming out of Rainbow, but the air filtration was just marvelous. The sheer amounts of anger that Rainbow had for the earth pony was beautiful! “N-No! Why would I ever do such a thing, to such a lovely mare as yourself? Applejack won, you came in last, but given what happened, I’m more concerned about your wellbeing than some stupid race for glory. Mind if I, come in for a moment?” Rainbow’s reaction was surprising. She left the doorway and gestured him to come in. He was welcome in her home, a place whom few ponies had ever seen actually. He went through the doorway and shut it behind him, Rainbow pointed to the living room and he took place on the sofa there. The interior of the place was pretty much what everypony would have expected, a lot of furniture made from the clouds while posters and memorabilia from the Wonderbolts were scattered around. It was both curious and fun to behold. It was all valuable information for Chara. The cyan mare eventually returned with two glasses of soda. She set them atop the table and dove straight in her comfy arm chair. “So, you’re concerned about me, aren’t you?” she said with suspicion in her tone. “Isn’t that normal for a pony to be concerned after such a display?” “You mean what happened after the race? I was just confronting the dirty cheater for what she was, Chara. AJ had it coming a long time for her but that she would pull off a stunt like that was just low. She sat there in the bushes, waiting for me to come by and she smacked that branch right in my face! I’m just glad it doesn’t create a scar!” “It was a mighty fine sized branch indeed, yeah,” the disguised changeling commented, remembering the race as it had gone in Rainbow’s eyes. The pegasus should have known in what for a hole she had ended up. It was glorious to see how she was dealing with the situation. He took a sip from his drink and smiled to her. “But it does look like you’re getting over it.” “Don’t even start. At points like these, I do even wonder why I’m even considering everything with the way it goes. Why do we keep on being friends? Why do we keep on forgiving one another like we do?” A deep huff came from the pegasus while she set her glass back down. Not a single path in her mind was leading down to the right track. A deep exhale was released soon afterward. “Chara, could you please leave me be? I’m not in the mood to meet anypony else today and your company isn’t really good either. Maybe tomorrow, but not today.” Chara gave a nod to the other pegasus. He understood the direction where she came from. “Not a problem, Rainbow. But may I suggest that you take another shower and then go to bed? It does look like that you need it.” “That obvious?” It was followed by a nod. Rainbow shrugged for the moment and she then let Chara out of her house again. She was having more than enough of everypony for the moment. The stallion left her home, gave her one last salute from the air and then just disappeared within the clouds. Rainbow shook her head, thinking back to the moment of the betrayal. She shut her door again, only to return to her chair and laid down in it. Nothing made sense and she was the only pony that could be blamed. ~~~~ Wandering through the dark, musky cavern, chirping like a cricket and buzzing like a wasp, Chara’s mood was unlike ever before. The first shatters between the friendships of the Element bearers had been made. Applejack was getting over it though, but Rainbow Dash had a couple of doubts which could be exploited. But alas, everything had to be done with time and care though. There were still three other ponies whom she should have come to know. Fortunately for the changeling, she did have one pony on her side who could have told her all about the others. It was time pay Pinkie Pie another visit, and for Rusty Bucket to leave Ponyville for what it was. A deep, sinister laugh was given by the changeling. A laugh that echoed through the entire cavern system and even up to the surface of the creek. Any animals that were close enough could hear the insanity and diabolical troubles. It was perfect and insane, and above all, it was in harmony.