//------------------------------//
// 17- Settling in... almost 
// Story: The Flames of the Phoenix 
// by FrostTheWolf 
//------------------------------//


The Flames of the Phoenix- Settling in… Almost




By the time that she had returned from the Crystal Empire, Applejack was already adjusted to the effects that the Crystal Hearts magic had on her body. This wasn’t exactly the first time that she had her appearance changed because of the hearts magic, but in her mind, there were a couple of things that she had to take into account. First, there was her aunt Ember and Maeve. Sure, Ember had gone up to the Crystal Empire before once and Twilight told her all about it, she did not witness the Crystal Hearts magic activate. As for Maeve, it was probably likely that she herself did not even know what the Crystal Empire was, so she would probably be just as puzzled.

Of course, upon reaching the orchard and coming in through the front porch was for Big Mac to be pondering to himself. And just what he was saying alone made Applejack confused on what was going on. “It’s not what it looks like… It’s not what it looks like… It’s not… what it looks like…”

The earth pony herself just blinked at what she was seeing, before she spoke up to try and get his attention. “Uh… you okay, Mac-?”

“Thank goodness you’re back, kitten,” Applejack turned her head to the left to see Maeve leaning against a wall as the thief let out a sigh of relief. “You look pretty sparkly~”

“Thanks?” The earth pony replied back, raising an eyebrow as she looked back towards her brother, before looking back at Maeve. “Is something wrong with Big Mac? He didn’t even seem to notice me when ah came through the door just now.”

“He didn’t seem to take a hint to something I told him earlier. Now he’s been treating it like a brain teaser that needs to be solved for the last hour,” The thief let out a small breath. “This will take a bit of explaining… but I’m gonna have to ask you something first that might be a bit embarrassing. Did your parents ever explain to you about the birds and the bees?” The question alone was enough to have a small red shade appear on Applejack’s crystalline face as Maeve looked back at her. “You don’t need to answer that.”

“So why even bring that up?” Applejack then shot back, wanting to know the answers as to why Maeve would even think of bringing up a subject like that.

“Well, that’s the thing. You see, to the surprise of everyone, including me, Ember actually has a… what’s the term…?” She asked, putting a finger to her chin as she tried to think of the right thing to say, shortly before telling her. “Ah yes, a special somepony. Ember’s married to somepony named Amaryllis and when the two of them decided to spend some time together by themselves, your brother thought it was so they could catch up.”

“Okay… ah don’t see how-” Applejack did not have the chance to finish her sentence as Maeve soon cut her off. Picking up where she originally left off.

“In response, I told her that it was more likely that they might be doing more than that. But all that did was have your brother ask me what that was supposed to mean,” Of course, that just lead to the thief letting out a groan as she looked back towards the stallion at the table. “I told him that whatever he thinks they’re doing right now, it’s not what it looks like… which lead to him asking ‘Then what does it look like?!’ and now he’s been trying to figure out what that means. The only time he’s left that spot was to grab some water in the kitchen before getting back to trying to uncover what it means.”

Applejack could only facehoof herself in response to hearing that, letting out a deep sigh as she looked back at Maeve before sitting in a chair that was nearby where the thief was leaning against the wall. “To be frank, that just sounds like it’s kinda yer fault.”

“What? I thought he would get the meaning of that expression and leave Ember be for the moment. I just wanted to let my daughter have some privacy,” The thief told the farm pony in response. “I mean, if you were in my position, you would probably do the same thing.”

“If ah were in position, ah would just tell them that we should leave ‘em be and leave it at that. Ah mean, why didn’t ya just leave it at that? It woulda been easier for ya.”

“See, the thing about that Applejack,” Maeve was going to continue speaking, just before a realization hit her as she was talking. “… is that its an excellent idea that I wish that I thought about at the time. But hey, we all make mistakes right?”

“We do, but it doesn’t mean we just leave it at a mess. We should at least try to fix it.”

Maeve blinked for a moment, just before she looked back at the farm pony as Applejack was getting up off of the chair. “You sure? I’m a bit concerned that trying to fix this mess at this point will just do more harm than good. Besides, would you really want to have that kind of imagery of my daughter in his head right now?”

Applejack’s pupils shrank a bit as she looked back at Maeve. “Fair point… though, we have to do something. Ah mean, ah don’t even know a thing about this Amaryllis pony you were talking about.”

That was one thing that Maeve herself… was not quite sure if she was ready to explain that to her. But felt that it was necessary to at least tell her. “Yeah… about that… Amaryllis is, well not quite exactly a pony.”

Applejack just stopped walking, slowly before turning herself around and looking back at the thief now as she looked at Maeve with a raised eyebrow. “Care to explain that, sugarcube?”



Meanwhile…

“I see… it seems like you have been quite busy by yourself now Emmy,” Amaryllis said as she sat on the bed in Ember’s room. “I mean, coming here only to find that you’re an aunt and one of your nieces is an Element of Harmony? That would be kind of a lot to take in if I was in your position.”

“Don’t forget the fact that my mom told me that I now have a step-brother that I didn’t know about before coming here.” The pyromancer told her, sitting down next to the changeling. She had just spent the last hour or so telling Amaryllis about everything that had happened since the last time they saw each other and a lot of it caught the changeling by surprise. For one thing, she did not think it was possible for there to be more than one version of Equestria. But she could tell that Ember was telling her the truth because she did not feel any emotions that would come off if some creature was intentionally trying to deceive her.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the ‘multiple Equestria’s’ thing and the possibility of others from your kind ending up the same way,” Amaryllis explained, before she thought of something that had the changeling give off a small grin. “Though, the more that I think of that, the more that I remember that I’ve been working on something that I really want to show you~”

“If it’s trying to attract attention, then you kind of already doing it, Ama.” Ember chuckled.

“Cute, but it’s actually kind of different, dear. I was trying to come up with something for my transformations and… well… one time when I thought of you, this happened,” There was a soft white glow that began to flow over Amaryllis’ body and not long afterwards, Ember began to realize just what kind of a transformation it was. Within a matter of moments, the changeling’s entire form began to change into the last thing that the mancer would expect.

A human. A human girl that looked to be Ember’s age before being displaced. She had a short haircut that matched the color of her mane, had the same colored eyes and was around the same size as her as she playfully threw a light bed sheet over herself like a cloak. “Well? What do you think? I have spent weeks trying to make sure that I got this right.”

“I… just… wow…” Ember was baffled. Out of all the things that she had attempted to see Amaryllis turn into, this was not one of them. “You look amazing, dear. Though… there’s one thing I think you’re missing.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Well for one thing, a set of clothes.”

“Really? Are you sure that we need that right around now?” Amaryllis giggled, just before she playfully touched Ember’s nose with a finger to see how her lover would react. “I mean, it is just the two of us-”

SLAM!!

Just before she could say anything else, they heard somepony slam the door open as Applejack herself was seen on the other side. The door slam itself startling Amaryllis. “Get away from mah aunt, ya-” However, before she could say anything else, her eyes locked on to Amaryllis’ new form as she just stared for a moment. Not even noticing Maeve as she tackled the earth pony to the ground.

“Hang on just a moment,” Ember told Amaryllis as she got up from the bed. Walking her bed towards the door and looking out in the hallway. Watching as Maeve was struggling to hold down Applejack and prevent her from barging into the room a second time. “Just what the hell is going on out here?”

“S-sorry kitten! I tried to tell Applejack about what happened while she was away, but when I told her about Amaryllis-” Before the thief could be able to finish speaking, she felt one of Applejack’s hooves push her off as the earth pony tried to get back inside. Only to be blocked by Ember as she stood in front of the door.

“What did she do to ya?” Applejack spoke up as she looked at Ember. “What is she trying to hide?”

“Uh… nothing?” Ember told her. “Is something wrong? You seem kind of… agitated.”

“Oh ah don’t know. How do you think ah’m supposed to react when ah hear that my aunt is married to a changeling!? For all ah know, she can be-”

At that, Ember just cut off the earth pony before she could continue. “Okay, I’m going to need to stop you right there… I already had this conversation with everypony else and they took it a lot better than you are taking it right now based on the limited amount of information mom gave you,” The mancer looked back at the thief for a brief moment, just before taking a look back at Applejack. Her tone sounding quite serious now. “If you think that she is some kind of spy, then you can drop that notion right now.”

“Hard for me to be a spy for a kingdom I was already exiled from years ago anyways,” the two of them heard Amaryllis say. Ember turned her head around for a moment, seeing a small flash happen again just before the door opened. Allowing for Applejack to see the changeling in her true form. “I’m sorry if I… startled you earlier.”

“No no… Ah should be the one apologizing,” The earth pony commented. “When ah heard about how you were a changeling, ah… kinda got scared. Ah was worried about the possibility of a changeling spy infiltrating mah family. Many ponies are scared of changelings after what they’ve done at the Canterlot Wedding.”

“And I can assure you that I’m not like them. I changed a long time ago and for it, I was cast out… but that doesn’t mean that all of us are the same. There are other changelings who think that what Chrysalis is doing is wrong, but they’re scared to tell her,” Amaryllis sighed as she looked back to the mancer now, before changing back into the human form she had earlier. Keeping the bed sheet over herself. “Ember though, gave me a second chance. One that I thought that I didn’t deserve at first, but now I am thankful for. I just hope that you give me the same chance too.”

“W-what do ya mean by that?” Applejack asked.

“Well… as silly as it is to admit it, being here is the first time I feel like I’m included in something more. The feeling of being part of a family,” Amaryllis smiled as she looked back at the element of honesty. “I just really wanted to feel welcomed.”

That… had Applejack blink for a moment. “Ah… don’t really know what to say.”

“How about yes?” Ember told her. “You guys were able to accommodate for Maeve and I, so I think you can include her too… now, if you excuse me, we were supposed to be having some time to ourselves.”

“O-okay then, sure thing!” Applejack replied, finding herself trotting back downstairs with Maeve right behind her. One glance at Amaryllis’ human form made the thief whistle as she scurried on downstairs. Prompting Ember to close and lock the door before turning back around,  looking back to Amaryllis and sitting back down on the bed. Kissing her wife on the lips for a brief moment before asking her the first question that came to mind. 

“So, where were we? You know, before all of that happened?”



Amaryllis’ first night at Sweet Apple Acres was quite a good one. Dinner consisted of some of Granny Smith’s best dishes, including Apple Fritters for dessert and it was the first time that she was able to savor something other than Ember’s love… well, mostly because a lot of the dishes were actually made by Ember herself so she could actually taste them. It felt a bit odd to have Amaryllis at the table at first, but after a while, she was able to fit in with everypony else that was at the table.

Of course, it was after dinner that Ember needed to talk with Applejack and Amaryllis about something. It was not to revisit what happened earlier, but to discuss what the plan was going forward. Sure, everypony at Sweet Apple Acres might see her as a good changeling. But for a lot of other ponies that they knew, the words ‘good changeling’ were just as much of an oxymoron as ‘non violent yak’, 'charitable dragon' or ‘polite griffon’. So, they came up with a plan that they would try to introduce her to the girls one at a time to try and avoid having what happened the other day repeat itself.

Of course, after Amaryllis demonstrated the same transformation that she showed Ember to Applejack… and giving Big Mac a giant nosebleed in the process, it became clear who was the first of Applejack’s friends that they needed to see. “I don’t understand Emmy. Why would I need to have some clothes?”

“It’s because if you want to be able to be in that human form outside of the barn, you need to have to cover yourself up. You can’t go out with anything on in public.” Ember explained to her as they were walking along the outskirts of Ponyville. Currently, Amaryllis was in a form that made her appear like that of a unicorn mare as they were trotting to Carousel Boutique. Of course, her questions for Ember were not as comfortable as she had hoped.

“Ponykind and many other species, aside from yaks, go out with nothing on all the time. I don’t see the problem with it.”

“I can’t believe I’m actually having this discussion right now,” Ember thought to herself as she looked back at Amaryllis, who was walking alongside Applejack. “Back where I’m from, going around without any clothes on is a lot more taboo over there. Just trust me. Many people in the world do stupid crap back home just like that and it ususally ends up with them getting arrested by the police.”

“You have a police force back where ya come from, Aunt Ember?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, there’s a division in pretty much every known city, whether big or small. Yet they don’t always get along with the public and before I ended up getting displaced, there was a big argument about how much force should an officer use against an unarmed suspect,” She said, before turning towards the earth pony. “Why do you ask?”

“Sorry, but hearing that is kinda rare in Equestria. They’re only seen in big cities where the Royal Guard isn’t stationed like Manehattan, Fillydelphia or Baltimare,” Applejack replied back. “Honestly, it makes me wonder what other similarities there are between where ya came from and Equestria.”

“There’s a lot, that’s for sure,” The mancer replied back as she let out a sigh. “Though, one of the more noticeable ones is how some of the cities and places in Equestria sound like a pun of a particular place back home,” As she was speaking, she held up three fingers with her right hand and began to count off each one at a time. “For us, Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Baltimare sound a lot similar to Manhattan, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Not just in the name, but also the fact that each one of them is a big urban city with some of the landmarks being almost identical. With some minor changes.”

For a moment, Applejack was thinking about possibly mentioning the friend that Twilight had on the other side of the mirror portal she had in the castle library. But before she could say anything, the trio arrived at the front door to Carousel Boutique as Ember herself knocked on the door. The three of them waited for a short moment, yet since they did not hear anything from anypony inside, she was a bit concerned that nopony was home.

“Should I knock again?” Ember asked Applejack, who only gave her a slight shrug.

“Hey, Rarity! Somepony just knocked on the door outside. Do you want me to see who’s there?”

“Go ahead Spikey, I’ll be down in a couple of minutes,” The sing song voice of Rarity could be heard on the other side of the door as the door was pushed open a few moments later. Ember and Applejack recognize the small dragon that had opened the door for them as the earth pony let out a soft breath and smiled. Tipping her hat as well.

“Good morning, Sugarcube. Didn’t expect you to be over here this morning. Did Twilight need some help or-?” Applejack asked.

“No, Twilight asked for me to see if I can help out Rarity,” The dragon replied back. “Something regarding making sure that Starlight had a proper friendship lesson or something-” Of course, it was in that particular moment that Spike had seen Amaryllis, who was kind of surprised since he had not met her before. “Who’s your new friend?”

“I’m Amaryllis,” The unicorn now replied back. “And you look rather adorable for being so small.”

Spike himself… was not entirely sure how to respond to that as he looked back at the Unicorn. “U-uh… t-thanks?” He nervously told her, before looking back at Ember. “W-was there something that we can help you with?”

“Actually, now that you mention it,” The mancer replied back. “I was wondering if Rarity could help us. Amaryllis needed some clothes and Applejack told us that Rarity is the best seamstress in town. So we wanted to see if she could help us out at all. That is, if she’s not busy-.”

“Spike dear, who’s at the door?” They all heard the unicorn ask him as the dragon turned his head back around to find her right beside him. “Oh, well good morning Ember. Good morning to you as well, Applejack. How are you two?”

“Alright, for the most part,” Ember said, turning her head to where Amaryllis was standing. “Though, we wanted to ask you if you can help us with something. Can we come inside?”

“Why sure, dear! I was just getting ready to open up anyways. Come on in,” The unicorn replied, having Spike stand off to the side and let the three of them come into the boutique. “Sorry if it seems a bit disorganized. I had to move some of my materials around after coming back with some of the fabrics I picked up in the Crystal Empire,” Rarity turned around, focusing her attention on the other unicorn in the room. “Oh my. I don’t think we’ve ever met before. My name is Rarity.”

“I’m Amaryllis,” Amaryllis replied back, extending a hoof for Rarity to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rarity. You have quite a lovely establishment here.”

“Why thank you, darling,” She said, shaking the outstretched hoof before turning to Ember. “So, how can I help you today? Are you looking for something new? Maybe updating your look? I know a couple of things that we can try-”

“A-actually, it’s different,” The mancer shook her head, just as she noticed Spike standing next to Rarity. “It’s Amaryllis that needs clothes, not me. Yet… she needs some clothes that are similar to what I have on right now.”

“Really dear?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Forgive me if I sound a bit rude, but wouldn’t it be kinda hard for her to move around if she had the same kind of clothes you had? I mean, it’s not like I can’t be able to do them. I’m just confused as to why.”

For a moment, both Applejack and Ember looked back to each other as they took a few seconds to think. Shortly before looking back at Rarity and Spike. “You might want to have Spike look away first,” Ember suggested, before looking back at Amaryllis and nodding her head. “Go ahead, Ama.”

Amaryllis nodded her head as her horn began to glow a soft red, before she began to change forms. Unlike other changelings, who would have to switch back to her true form first before changing back, Amaryllis had figured out how to shapeshift more than one time before having to turn back to normal. Something that was demonstrated as she took her human form in the middle of Rarity’s boutique. The only things covering her this time being a series of bandages around her chest and a piece of navy cloth that Applejack whisked from a nearby table to cover her from the waist down.

Of course, that alone was enough in order to get both Rarity and Spike to stare at the newcomer with eyes as wide as saucers. It did not help any that the young dragon was beginning to have a massive nosebleed that forced him to rush to the bathroom, trying to cover his nose so that the blood did not soak Rarity’s carpet.

The fashionista herself though, was rather surprised by the sudden change. “Oh… well, this is a rather unusual development,” she said, shortly before looking back to Ember. “Is this why you wanted to ask for some similar clothing?”

“Sort of,” The mancer replied back. “It’s kind of complicated, but I wanted to ask if you can be able to help make some clothes for Ama that she feels comfortable with. It’s… not too hard of a task now, is it?”

“Why, of course not! How else can I call myself a designer if I don’t find a way to think outside the box and try new things!? You don’t really learn how to make anything new if you stick to doing the same thing over and over again!”

“Aw, why thank you so much,” Amaryllis giggled, before wrapping her arms around Ember for a moment and pulling her in for a kiss. “You too, Emmy.”

Around the time that the kiss happened though was when Rarity turned back around with some of the supplies that she had… and simultaneously dropping them from her magical grip as she looked at them. “Is… there something I should know about you two before I start?”

“Well, Amaryllis tends to get playful when she’s around me,” The mancer replied back, stretching out her neck as she looked back towards the unicorn. “Kind of been like that since we got married.”

“H-hold on… Y-you two are…” Before Rarity could finish her question, Ember just nodded her head as the unicorn looked back at Applejack. Who also nodded her head in response to what the mancer just said. Though, the follow up question from Rarity was something else entirely. “A-apologies if I sound a bit bold, b-but how long have you two been married for?”

Now it was Amaryllis’ turn to answer as she looked back at both of the ponies in front of her. Holding out a hand and having the palm of it face Applejack and Rarity as she gave them her answer. “As of now, Five years.”

Both ponies flinched at hearing that as they stared at the two of them, caught off guard by her answer. Especially Applejack, since she had just learned about their relationship only yesterday. She did not ask how long that the two of them had been together for, yet the answer was still a bit of a shock to her. “F-f-five years!?”

“We’ve known each other longer than that, but she’s right on how long we’ve been married for,” Ember replied back, scratching the back of her head with her left hand. “It’s just been hard to try and find a place to settle down with everything going on in the world.”

“Emmy’s right,” Amaryllis chuckled, smiling a bit as she looked back at the two of them. “We hope things do settle down a little… I’m really wanting to have kids~”

That sentence alone was enough for Applejack to faint right on the spot. And for Rarity to use a spell to pause her mid faint, summon her fainting couch and let her friend resume as the earth pony landed on the couch. The unicorn let out a sigh of relief upon catching her friend on the couch and looking back at both of them. “W-well, I’m really happy for the two of you. I can get those clothes done for you, Darling. Just give me a moment to check on Spike and we can get started.”

With that, Rarity trotted towards the back room as both Ember and Amaryllis let out a deep sigh. Despite the rather awkward start to today, things seemed to be looking up.

Of course, that thought only lasted for five seconds as they soon heard what sounded like Rarity screaming from the bathroom. For a much different reason than either of them thought of originally. “M-my bath towels!! What did you do, Spike!?”

“I-i’m sorry Rarity! T-this was the first thing I could find to stop the bleeding!”

“They were a gorgeous pearly white! Now they’re straight up scarlet!! Do you have any idea how many times I’m going to need to wash this?!”

Ember just looked back at Amaryllis, letting out a sigh. “Welcome to Ponyville… where normal lasts for only a few minutes every day.”

“I think we can manage that~” She was close to kissing Ember on the lips, but was interrupted as she began to look around the room. “Hey… not to ruin the moment or anything, but did you hear something?”

Ember looked around for a moment, a bit puzzled by what Amaryllis was saying as the mancer looked back at her. “Uh, no. Why do you ask-?”

Her question was soon interrupted when she heard somepony crash through the front door and ended up colliding with her wife. Causing some of the mannequins that were standing to fall over as she looked back to see that what crashed into Amaryllis was none other than Rainbow Dash. Yet, she was not focused on who exactly crashed into her… but because her face had landed directly into Amaryllis’ chest.

Not that the pegasus actually noticed. “R-rarity… is this some kind of pillow? Because it feels really soft.”

“Hehe… Why thank you~” Her comment was enough in order for Rainbow to immediately look up. Her eyes locking on to Amaryllis as the pegasus immediately backed away. All while Ember just let out a groan.

“And like that, those few minutes are up.”




End Chapter 17