//------------------------------//
// 11 - Trading Places 
// Story: Queen of Equestria 
// by BlackWater 
//------------------------------//








Comfy place,” Applejack grinned as she kicked back into the old-fashioned sofa.
Coloratura’s travel trailer was a necessity for all the touring she did, but it was like no covered wagon Applejack had ever seen. It had to be a good sixty hooves long. Must take at least four big stallions just to move around. The interior might as well have been an entire home. Living room, kitchen, large bedroom, and even a bathroom that looked big enough for a princess. Truly a work of modern ingenuity to get all that in a movable hard-cover wagon trailer.
“I guess I just expected it,” Applejack went on and kept looking in awe around her, “to be more modern. I ain’t no Rarity, but looks like an ol’ fashioned camp cabin. Reminds me o’ friendship camp.”
Coloratura was at the kitchen sink, looking very out of place and like she knew she needed to be over there for some reason but wasn’t sure why. “Y-yes,” she stuttered back in response.
What was eating at her, Applejack wondered.
“Um, do you like grape juice?” the singer asked after shuffling around and then opening the fridge.
That’s when it dawned on Applejack something had been off this whole time. Maybe Rara had changed. Maybe she had forgotten. But then why would she have changed or forgotten so much when her trailer was clearly right out of a page of their youth. That disparity that bothered her traveled the hivemind. First to the relay and then to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and the guards as well.
The hivemind returned the most likely answer that hadn’t yet visited her mind on its own. The farmpony’s eyes widened and her muscles tensed up. She looked hard at the pony. But she wasn’t a pony, was she?
Movement down the other side of the trailer made Applejack jump from her seat with the fur of her coat on end.
Two changelings stepped forward from the rear bathroom. “Good job, 720,” one of them snickered.
Coloratura vanished in a flash of green in the kitchen, the cover blown away to reveal the changeling beneath. The hivemind was right and the fact Applejack’s unease was justified was no comfort to her. What happened to the real Rara was far more of a concern.
“Hey,” the Rara changeling complained. “Why am I the only one with a number for a name, Cell Block?”
One of the two changelings in front of Applejack rolled his eyes.
“Mind telling me where my friend is and who gave y’all the idea three changelings could take me on?” Applejack let herself relax just a bit as she felt the Hive Power warm her blood. If they had been cautious enough to notice, the changelings would have seen tiny green sparks begin to form in the mare’s irises.
“Queen Flux of course!” Cell Block put his chest out proudly. “And your friend was taken along with all the others for us to feed from. You’ll join her just as soon as we drag your pony hide back to base.”
“I don’t want to hurt none y’all,” Applejack narrowed her eyes at them. “Haven’t figured where my magic sends stuff so how ‘bout we skip it and y’all just release Rara to me.”
All of the changelings laughed. That’s when Applejack had to decide. It wasn’t easy. She knew very well how changelings were capable of making independent decisions and turning around. Maybe only the queens could but this situation didn’t allow for debate.
“Not goin' to mess up her nice lil’ home either, so...” Applejack gave a sideways grin and darted out of the unlocked door to the outside.
It was more of a dive since the door simply swung open. She rolled and sprung away to the open half-dirt half-grass field that made up the backstage area. The fact that no other concert staff were around must have meant this was either planned or, more likely, the staff had already been taken with Rara. In any case, the lack of other concerns would make this easy. The three opponents flew out at her, seemingly irritated that the Earth pony had managed to get even a small distance away before they could pounce.
“Give up now and nopony gets hurt,” Applejack stared back and tried putting as much resolve into her tone and face as she could to convince them.
All three changelings lunged towards her at once.
Before igniting her Power, Applejack ducked. The first changeling soared overhead. The second landed just to the side and rear of her while the third collided with her front legs. She took the impact with ease due to her raw physical strength and bucked hard at the one slightly behind her. The black creature gave a shriek as it was sent tumbling through the air all the way onto the backstage platform.
The changeling at her forelegs growled and she smirked back. “Wrong choice,” she declared.
A light-sucking black void suddenly expanded into existence when Applejack turned up her forehoof at the shape-shifter. It then thundered with green lightning even as light around it warped and pulled into nothing. The changeling, in spite of being much larger than the roughly head-sized orb, distorted along with the light and was pulled into it in an instant. There was no sound. Only the terrified look on the creature’s face as he was yanked in and disappeared.
Thankfully, the changeling that had overshot had seen this and flew back to give more distance between them. His fear and horror was obvious in his trembling legs and unsteady hover.
“Don’t worry none,” Applejack almost shrugged and then extinguished the void with little more than a flick of her hoof. “We figure it just teleports or suspends between dimensions. I ain’t no killer. Probably,” she added with an upward tick in her grin. “Now, I happen to like this friend o’ mine y’all stole. So we settle this the easy way or I do the same to the two of you and still get my way.”
The changeling on the backstage stood up, exchanged a look with her remaining companion, and then gulped. “Maybe we can make a deal?”
“I doubt it,” Applejack frowned. “I just want my friend back.”
“We free her and you let us feed off your love,” the kicked changeling offered with as much nervousness as appeared on her face.
“720!” the other changeling seemed as surprised by the idea as Applejack. “Flux can-”
“She’s weakened!” 720 argued back. “She’s not paying attention. We can do this. I don’t want to starve anymore and I’ve felt the love between these ponies!”
That seemed to shut up changeling no-name.
“What’s this here feedin’ like?” Applejack felt she knew already because of the hivemind but needed to be sure of the deal. She also kept her eyes on both changelings just in case they felt they could surprise her.
“Just don’t mind us and we can absorb it by being near-”
“That’s not enough to feed both of us,” Changeling No-Name barked back.
“Their love is strong!” 720 countered.
“Skimming doesn’t work-”
“-it does for two under one power-”
“Hey,” Applejack interjected with an annoyed tick of her brow. “Y’all goin’ to show me to Rara or do I have to break y’all up?”
The changeling looked to her, each other, and then her again. “Fine,” 720 answered in spite of No-Name’s scowl. “But you let us do what we need to survive off the connection you have with Rara.”
It was odd at first for Applejack to hear her friend’s nickname from a changeling but then this was the one that impersonated her so maybe she knew a little more than otherwise assumed. Given Applejack’s worry over the real Rara’s safety, she agreed. It might take too long to find the mare on her own. Besides, this couldn’t cause problems down the road, right?









As a filly, Storm Sword had gotten used to other foals pointing out or even laughing at her unusual accent. Her parents were from Unidee, an island off the northeast coast of Equestria that flew the flag of the two sisters. Even after they moved to the mainland, they hadn’t lost their accent and gave it to her in turn. She rolled “R”s and sometimes stretched out her “A”s. Most ponies understood her just fine, which was more than could be said of her parents’ much thicker accents.
The only reason accents were on her mind right this moment was because her successful escape from the prisoner caravan had landed her far into the wilderness. It was here that she came across a large camp clearing that told her very well where she was in Equestria. Or rather, that she was no longer in Equestria.
Thick pine trees with bark nearly as dark as coal. Snow like powered sugar and layers beneath as thick as ice. It covered everything and could blow gently from the pines in little clouds of white haze. She had endured such weather before, but knew she wouldn’t have to do so much longer without proper gear.
Storm Sword hopped over the snow-covered log she had been hiding behind to view the encampment. The writing was in one of the northern and very foreign languages. What was crucial was that it was the Union font that was marked on what appeared to be the command tent. This was a military camp and the inhabitants were of the Pony’s Union of Marescow-Stalliongrad that had aligned with her own division during one of the northern skirmishes against a griffon tribe.
“Здравствуйте!” Storm hailed as she stepped through the snow to catch the attention of some guards coming around on their patrol. She stumbled over the greeting as much as she did last time she spoke it. But she could speak well enough to be intelligible.
The guards approached her quickly and cautiously but had a curious squint in their eyes due to her greeting. Storm Sword bowed her head to them to indicate she was giving herself over peacefully to capture. She knew their procedures and let them take her to the confinement tent with three guards inside, pointing their strange tube-like projectile weapons at her. Five minutes was what it took for the commander to show up, and the flap of the tent opened right on time.
The old grizzled stallion’s eyes widened and his crusted lips formed a big toothy smile. “St’rm!” he bellowed out in an accent that made her own simple to understand. The guards all relaxed and left the tent after he trotted up to her and embraced her fully, heavy cloak flowing out in his wake.
Storm hugged back and then released. “Sorry to drop in, Strat. Caught the wrong wagon,” she explained. “Don’t suppose you’ve been dealing with changelings lately?”
“Pushed ‘em down five days past,” he responded with less cheer. “Took below the border, so we had to let ‘em go. Had to set up here to protect the flight test.”
“Flight test?” Storm quirked a brow as he led her out and into his own personal tent, vented campfire and all inside. She wanted to get back in the field as soon as possible both to ensure the safety of her unit and to protect Equestria. However, she knew at least part of her physical position now and getting where she needed to be without flight might take too long. “Finally got some pegasi to sign on with you?”
General Stratosphere made a “kcht” sound and curled his lip. “Those worthless beggars wouldn’t lift a hoe for their own grandmothers. No, we’ve got a machine now. Dead good,” he rubbed his battered hooves together in front of the fire. “Test goes right, we’ll be half as far as your Luna.”
“That far?!” Storm was truly shocked. She had seen the technological ingenuity of the Union tribes before but the last flight machine she had seen them use was far more rudimentary. Only out of a debt did she agree to withhold the intelligence from the princesses. That debt was looking to stretch farther now.
He reached over and tapped her shoulder. His big grin from earlier was back once more. “Two more tribes have joined us south of Marescow and northwest of Stalliongrad. Some very clever ponies. Council says we’ll be exploring stars only two moons after I’m dead!”
Storm would have laughed along with him but the idea of losing her best contact in the north tribes Union was too gloomy for her. Not to mention the sadness she felt for losing him as a personal friend and old comrade. 
“I don’t suppose,” Storm began to think of how to get where she needed to be as quickly as possible, “that you could possibly take me somewhere in this flight machine.”
“Not me,” the old general shook his head. “The test is in an hour. If it passes, I’ll have the pilot take you anywhere in a million hooves. Least I could do for the filly that saved my life.”
“You saved mine too, you know,” Storm stuck her tongue out and then tucked it back in quickly when it felt the biting cold. She cozied up closer to the fire even though Stratosphere had put extra coats on her back. “Now about the caravan that was carrying me.”
“Blacksail’s slavers I bet. Only ones that travel that route,” Stratosphere broke his smile. “No doubt they’ll be captured in Stalliongrad, but how in the stars did you wind up with them?”
“Long story,” Storm admitted with a sigh. “But if that test is in an hour, I guess we have the time. Honestly, I’m not sure about the last part. If I was sold off after capture then they must have needed a lot of bits for something they couldn’t fake their way into...”









The train ride was over. Thank Celestia. Again Twilight wished that magic practice hadn’t required so much time and that she and Chrysalis could have arrived sooner. It turned out to be a good idea to practice in the end, though. She almost botched the spell, which would have vaporized herself. Learning new spells was easy for her but not when it involved an entirely different magical medium.
The two were now standing just a few dozen hooves into the forest northeast of Vanhoover. It was cold, the ground was hard, and the sky was so overcast that it felt more like the eerie time after sunset in which only residual light remained. It may also have just begun to sprinkle. If they were lucky, it would not pour too heavily upon them.
“Mmmm, hey there, Ms. Sexy Queen,” Chrysalis fluttered her eyes at Twilight.
Twilight rolled her eyes. Only they weren’t Twilight’s eyes. They were hers and yet not hers. They had a green tint instead of white. There were two irises instead of one, each a darker shade of green, and her pupils were practically slits. For once, Twilight stood as tall as Chrysalis.
Because she was Chrysalis.
“Really,” Chrysalis continued in her very pleased and hum-buzzy voice. “I knew I was pretty, but I had no idea I was a sexual tyrannosaurus!”
“You’re a real work of art alright,” Twilight responded deadpan, her voice exactly the same as her changeling’s. “Come on. It’s your turn.”
“I had to get the boring spell,” Chrysalis pursed her lips and whined. A green glow lit her horn as well and then died.
Twilight held back a counter and did her scan. When she used her magic, the tall changeling spire on her head lit in the proper green rather than purple hue. It worked. When scanned with the changeling-medium mask detection spell, the signature came back as being a small purple alicorn with stars for Cutie marks. The deception should be adequate to get Sombra to take the bait.
“It’s going to be so weird when we’re in the bedroom and I’m making out with myself,” Chrysalis snickered.
“Let’s get this over with,” Twilight groaned and started them further into the forest. It would take them only about an hour or less to get to the coordinates they had been given. Honestly, she did prefer to have private time with her changeling over this. Then again, who wanted to find and outsmart a thousand-year old villain?









“It’s a plausible theory!” Sunburst insisted.
“No,” Rarity deadpanned.
“Just a small kiss,” he insisted. “It’s not like I’m asking you to kiss me. I was under the impression the two of you had already...”
A fire lit in the white mare’s eyes. “Already what?”
Spike covered his mouth with his claws to keep in the laughter. Rarity was still being indignant about it, but he hardly cared as much. The Empire already knew they were in love and supported them for it. What was the big deal?
“Actually,” Sunburst changed his tone to an even more feverishly interested one. He pushed his glasses up and stepped closer. “I’d really like to know the details if possible. The knowledge could revolutionize foreign rela-”
“I never!” Rarity harrumphed. “Spike, we’re leaving!”
“But it’s cozy in here,” the comparatively tall dragon whined. He had stacked some of Sunburst’s generous private library pillows around him and the stallion’s fireplace did an excellent job of heating the room. Perhaps more than the heat, which Spike needed far less than Rarity, it was the smell of old books that comforted the reptilian. Memories of the Golden Oaks Library back in Ponyville warmed his heart even now.
“Perhaps if I wrote a book on the subject, it would enlighten the rest of Equestria!” Sunburst enthused. “Oh, illustrations would help too! What position did you two-?”
THUMP!
All three sets of eyes shot up to the ceiling, which had just made the noise. Then there was a clop-clop like a pony running along the roof. It stopped only when the thing jumped off at the edge facing the front door, which then resounded with a knock-knock.
“Open up in there! It’s Pinkie Pie! Your friend!!”
Rarity was first to click the lock open with her magic and ease the large door open. Some snow drifted in along with a half-frozen pink pony buckled into a large black flying contraction. Her changeling flight machine, which only fit through the frame because the wings folded in.
“Darling!” the white unicorn hurried to the shivering mare. She flicked off an icicle that had formed below the forward tip of her mane’s long curl. “Let’s get you to the fire. Spike, help me get this thing off her.”
Sunburst got an extra pillow for her to sit on before the fireplace and a thick blanket that he put up around her shoulders. Pinkie Pie continued to shudder for a while but took kindly to the heat until she was a half-melted look of bliss.
“Got any cupcakes for a lonely and tired traveler?” Pinkie Pie faked an old voice while still rubbing her forehooves in front of the flames.
Rarity rolled her eyes while Sunburst took her seriously and went to the kitchen. Spike began to consider his own hunger.
“Wait, why are you here?” Spike then realized. “Aren’t you supposed to be recovering?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Pinkie looked sideways at Spike and Rarity.
“Us? Recover?” Rarity scoffed. “Why, whatever from, darling?”
Pinkie’s eyebrows wiggled. “Baby-making,” she smirked as evilly as possible.
For once, it wasn’t Cadance that Rarity lost her temper with in a fit of expletive expressions.