//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: When a changeling gets a bright idea // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// A red flame filled the cavern that was her home. The pony whom had entered was no longer present, never had been in fact. Wandering through the rocky cave was Chara, she had come home after her latest little problem-causing and mischief. She was delighted to see the reaction of Rainbow Dash and it surely must have caused a crack in the friendship between her and Pinkie. “I still don’t get it though,” the changeling mumbled to herself. She sat down on a flat stone with a bewildered glance. It made her feel at home more than the comforts of the bed in the inn. “Why would that pink mare have ever told me such things? I was the new pony around... Why did she tell me..?” Chara shook her head and had a gander to the ceiling. The roots of numerous trees hung down and she let out a single chuckle. “Maybe, just maybe, there’s a much larger force at hoof that is allowing me to do all of this. Dues Ex Machina’s aren’t that uncommon, especially here in this part of Equestria. Just, just don’t get cocky, Chara. You’re trying to break their friendship, but they can just as easily break you if they want. Or, that mysterious force, for that matter.” She shook her head again and left the rock for what it was. The changeling had discovered an underground pond earlier, located in one of the lower parts of the cavern. She had explored it the day before and her room in the pension had been cancelled immediately. For all Ponyville knew, Rusty Bucket had left town, never to be seen again, left to wander away until the ends of time. It took her a good minute or two before she had finally reached the spot. There was something magical about it though. The pond that laid in the middle of the opening was deep enough to submerged in, but it was the architecture that tickled the changeling imagination. With one flick of the horn were the candles ignited. The light revealed the structure to her eyes once more. It was a changeling pond, that much was certain to her. The water that it carried was different than Equestria was used too. Chara’s cavern was indeed part of an abandoned changeling-hive. Though what she stared at, was the bath of the queen. The very bath that allowed a queen to communicate directly to her children and get to know the past of the area surrounding the hive. Would Chara have submerged herself and see the past of the place? Maybe get to know a bit more about the locals? It was a tempting thought. A hoof was risen and set against the surface, but never further or deeper in. A deep breath was taken by her, wondering what was the right cause of action. If there was one to begin with. Chara was uncertain as to what she had to do, what she even wanted to do. But it maybe could have revealed something to her. A powerful nod was given and the red eyed changeling set her hoof in the water, taking another step, which was followed by another. All the way until she was fully submerged. The green flames above her turned orange and reddish when true fire emerged. Her horn shone a bright red color. Chara had activated the pond and was ready for whatever came next, whether it was the past or punishment, she didn’t knew nor did she really care. Just being in the waters alone was calming enough for the thoughts. The longer she remained submerged, the more the visions of the past came to her. Even though she wasn’t a queen, she was magically capable to activate it. Time didn’t rewind that long. It went back to the day where Chara the pegasus stallion’s party had been thrown. There were three little fillies that had made their way up to the entrance, had a peek in it and wanted to explore. Yet one of them, a white coated unicorn, said something that Chara couldn’t understand. Only one name she could hear though. “Rarity,” was the name that she heard and in the blink of an eye had the fillies left again. Never to be seen again, not in the past at least. The horn lost all of its magical charge and the changeling emerged again from the water, taking in a deep breath before leaving. Chara shook her head and couldn’t believe what she had seen. “Rarity, has a sister?” Chara mumbled to herself, wiping the water off her wings, letting them buzz for just a moment. “It certainly is something that could come to my aid.” Her lips morphed in a wicked grin of evil while a plan was already forged in her head. But Rarity’s precious little sister had to wait a little while longer. There was another pony whom she hadn’t taken a gander at, one whom she wanted to argue with for some time already. “And now, it’s your turn, farmer,” she said to the dirt that was the wall. Her hooves were kicked into motion. Chara left the pond and the fires died down. The gears in her head were working way harder than they should have and she wanted to come up with the perfect plan. During the entire deviousness and breaking had Applejack been given a free pass to some degree, not anymore. It was time to not just crack the friendship between her and another pony, but straight up shatter it to start the final phase. It would be time consuming, it would be hard to do, but it was just about the only way in which Chara saw it being possible. She had to lay low for a while, impersonate the stallion a bit more and get to know the farmer. Get to know her on a personal level. All in all, it would have been just another infiltration job for the changeling. She left her hidey hole and had a look over the forest of Everfree. All the disturbing sounds that left it were music to her ears. And there was one sound that she recognized beyond any other. The chirping sounds of the fruitbats that called the forest their home. “How many times..?” Chara wondered, adding the variable to her mental arsenal. The changeling would question Applejack, hard, but only when the time was there. ~~~~ Three times had the sun booth been rising and setting over Ponyville. Three days had come to pass and Chara wasn’t as busy as she used to be. She had offered her aid on the apple farm, which was happily accepted. She came to know a couple more things about Applejack and her family. Nothing noteworthy or new though, and nothing that she could work with either. She could curse herself for the lack of information that came from the mare, but on the other end, she did came to know the troubles with the local wildlife. Maybe it was with that, that she had to take her advantage of. The days had come and gone, Rainbow still didn’t spoke a word to Pinkie nor had Rarity even dared to approach Fluttershy. Everypony that had fallen under the tricks of the changeling was feeling the stress and burden. The red flow had increased between the six friends and Chara was just happy with that, as it meant that she had already a near constant food supply. But it would only get worse for them as time went on, or so she hoped. On the evening of the third day, while the changeling sat disguised as the stallion near the water of the creek, she was having a gander at both Sweet Apple Acres and Everfree forest. Of course could she have taken a look through the forest and probably gotten some fruitbats to use, but something wasn’t sitting right. No, she had to wait until the family was gone, then the bells of madness would ring. Yet was it remorse that she was feeling? Could it have been that she felt guilty about the fact of what she was about to do? It couldn’t have, right? Changelings didn’t feel those kind of emotions, did they? Chara wasn’t sure of the matter and she prayed to the divine entities that it was the case. Her eyes went up to the world, away from the scene for a while. Her mouth made motions but not a single word was spoken aloud. She was having an intimate moment with herself, the changeling whom she was and the belief that she was grown up with. She wasn’t supposed to live in this world of course, she was supposed to have perished a long, long time ago. If her very own queen could have seen the path she had taken, that very same queen would have rued the day she had banished Chara. On the other end, would Chara have been Chara if she hadn’t been banished? Who’s to say that she didn’t became an abominable monster if she remained within the walls of her hive? A difficult matter to think about for such a simple creature. A matter that hopefully wasn’t one that would have nagged too much on whatever it was she called a consciousness. The eyes of the stallion turned back to the road, seeing how the cart was pulled by the red coated brother of Applejack, with the three mares walking beside it. They had left for the market in the neighboring towns. Chara was surprised that they would have left that early in the evening though, but it mattered not. Applejack was out of town and she thus had the perfect story. Another smirk came to her face and her breathing slowed. Nopony was around her and nopony was even looking in the direction that the stallion sat. It happened in a flash and then the stallion was gone. On his place sat a hatless Applejack, whose hoof went through her mane, roughing it up. On the spot where usually a unicorn horn would have been did the green aura appear for the moment. It would create illusions that flew through the night, adding only to the trouble that was about to come. Chara had thought about every last little detail and she was ready to execute her plan of madness. Only one pony could have been the possible candidate. ~~~~ A dozen knocks were given to the door and the timid, shy, yellow coated pegasus jumped a few hooves up in the air. She was terrified since it was already that late, but it sounded like somepony was in distress. Who was she to deny anypony who needed help? With the aid of her wings she fluttered over to the door. With trembling hooves would the door be opened. The cold air of the night was the first thing noticed. After that, the much more disturbing sight appeared. Because out there stood Applejack with a ruffed up mane and tail, nearly out of breath and panting deeply. She wasn’t looking normal by any means, she had even lost her hat! Something terrible must have happened to the farmer. “A-Applejack, w-what happened to you?” Fluttershy asked with care, not sure as to why her friend was there. “Is, it something bad?” “Bad ain’t coverin’ it,” the farmer stated. She took a deep inhale, trembled on her own hooves even and had to come clean to the pegasus. “It’s ‘em fruitbats again, Flutters! They’re back again and if Ah don´t do som´thing quick, the entire orchard will be gone!” “But, why would you need my help with that? Don’t you know something that will get you rid of them?” Fluttershy asked, remembering the events from the last time clear as day. “I remember you not being too fond of them. So why are you looking at me now?” “Because... Because...” Applejack stammered, unsure what to say next. Her eyes dropped down while her ears drooped slight. “Because Ah don’t, want to get permanently rid of ‘em, if Ah don’t have to. Ya have better ways of dealing with ‘em than Ah’ll ever have...” Those words caused a smile to come to the face of Fluttershy, those words almost meant the world to her. She had waited just so long for Applejack to finally see the light in which she lived her life. Fluttershy would of course help her friend in such a manner. There was nothing else she rather wanted to do. A nod was given by the pegasus. “Okay Applejack, I’ll help you. Lead the way and I’ll figure out a way to talk to the fruitbats. And, I’m glad you found that my way might work better than just terminating them.” No words came from Applejack, but the genuine smile that stood on her face spoke more than enough. The two would have rushed over to the Acres with great haste, hoping to find that not all the trees had been devastated in the orchard yet. ~~~~ After a powerful gallop had the two arrived at the orchard and the fuitbats were all just swarming around. The sounds of apples being drained and falling to the ground was heard left and right, but never actually seen. Applejack was mortified while Fluttershy already stepped up to the case. She was about to do the one thing hopefully would have done the job. “Uhm, could you, please listen to me, for a moment?” the pegasus asked to all the fruitbats present. Though none of them even had the time nor attention span to look at her. They all continued to fly around, screeching every so often and then continue on with their little troublemaking. None of them threw anything to the pegasus though. But the lack of attention for Fluttershy could be viewed as heartbreaking. “Come on you guys, we need to have talk!” Fluttershy replied in a louder, higher pitched tone. It was a faint hope of her that they would at least listened to her. It was to no avail, the bats were still as arrogant and selfish as ever, enraging Fluttershy even more. She was getting fed up with the facts and she wanted to get the attention of the bats, their full attention. “Listen to me!” she shouted on the top of her lungs, looking around to see how all of the bats had indeed stopped. All of them finally gave their attention to the mare, who was happy that she got what she wanted. Though that glee was only short lived, the bats had their own schedule to keep. And in the middle of the night, they were the lord and master. Five seconds would the peace have lasted. Five seconds later had the madness of the bats returned. They flew all over the place, looking for delicious apples that they could devour in mere seconds. There was no stopping the onslaught to come, the pegasus had begun to realize this and she stood there already with tears in her eyes. She wanted to do something to help them of course, but there was just nothing. Applejack approached her and placed a hoof over her neck, tugging her in closer. The pegasus had a look to the farmer who began to speak. “It’s a shame ya couldn’t get ‘em under yar control, Fluttershy, but Ah reckon that they just don’t wanna listen to anypony anymore. Ah think it’s time to bring out the big guns.” The pegasus wiped away her tears with a hoof and shot a glare to her friend. She wouldn’t have seen any of the fruitbats being hurt in any way. Arguments of old would have resurfaced and for good reasons to boot. “No Applejack, I’m not going to stand here idle, while you do your thing with them. What did you even do to bring them back here again? You have taken all the precautions that I advised to you after the first time. ...Did you expand the orchard?” A gulp came from the farmer. “W-Well, A-Ah might’ve, just a little, bit...” “And that’s why they are back!” Fluttershy worked her way away from underneath the hold of the farmer and even took a step aside. She wasn’t done with Applejack in the least and wanted to give her a piece of her mind. A grumble followed soon enough while the sounds of horror came only closer to the both of them. She also knew that Applejack would have gone to much more extreme measures to get rid of the bats. A thing that the pegasus wouldn’t let happen. “Well Ah can’t keep up with the demand for mah apples, Flutters! Ah had to expand ‘gain in order to keep everything supplied! Ya can’t tell me that that little expansion caused the orchard to be big ‘nough for ‘em bats to return again,” the cowgirl huffed in return. She wasn’t in the mood to argue with Fluttershy at all, but it was a necessary evil to do and be in. “There’s no need for violence! Hear me out for the moment and we’ll see how it comes together,” the other mare protested. She really didn’t wanted to see the bats hurt, and who could have blamed her. Applejack on the other end was having more than enough of it all. Either Fluttershy had to go, or the bats had to go, and she didn’t care whom it was that went first. “Ah ain’s saying yar wrong, Fluttershy, but Ah’ve a business that Ah need to keep running. And if that means gettin’ rid of the vermin with magic, so it be!” “You’re going to terminate the entire population of fruitbats present here?!” Fluttershy barked in disbelief. She had never even dared to dream that Applejack was in fact that ruthless and that cold. It brought tears to her eyes and a stomp to the ground came. The farmer was surprised, that much was true. But was Fluttershy really going to stand in her way with this plan? Was there truly no other way to get rid of the fruitbats? Of course there was, but Chara just had to drive the final nail in the coffin. Fluttershy had put her hoof down, it was time for her to show that that was a giant mistake. “Partner, either these vermin are leaving the orchard via magical mumbo jumbo, or Ah’ll have to hurt you, badly, in order to get it done, Fluttershy.” Applejack wasn’t playing games anymore. The two stared each other deep in the eyes, seeing the fire that they both had for different reasons. A battle of titans had erupted. A battle which would chill the hearts of even the strongest and toughest stallions around. Both believed they were right, but who was more right?