//------------------------------// // Apples to Apples // Story: Golly Interrupted // by Golly4Ever //------------------------------// The throne room of Ponyville's crystal castle was abuzz with chatter. Five of the six mane seats around the cutie map table were taken by their designated ponies while Twilight opted to stand instead. Sunburst stood on the room side of the door tinkering with a new installation as he finished up, "There! That should do it, I think." "Is it on?" asked Starlight. She stood on the other side of the door helping Sunburst. "It should be," he answered. "As long as the crystal remains part of the structure as the keystone, it should always be on." "Ok, Ocellus. Give it a try!" called Twilight from inside the room. "Will it hurt?" worried Ocellus. She paced nervously back and forth in the hallway in front of the door. "No?" doubted Sunburst. "I don't think so." He exchanged an unsure shrug and glance with Starlight. "It shouldn't." "That doesn't seem very reassuring," said Ocellus. "I'll be honest, Ocellus," started Starlight, "It might pinch a little. Or a lot. Maybe if you hurry on through, it'll be over that much faster." "Ok... Here I go, then." Twilight Sparkle approached the door, nervously examining the frame and threshold. "Here goes nothing!" she said as she stepped through, instantly reverting back into her natural changeling form. Ocellus shook off a sudden chill, now on the throne room side of the door. "Oh! It tingles. Kinda in a... good way," her cheeks began to blush. She smacked her lips together a few times, "Why do I taste apples?" "Apples?" asked Applejack. "I don't know," shrugged Sunburst. "Well, at least we know it works," said Fluttershy. 'so many apples...' thought Ocellus. "Well Girls, and Sunburst too," said Twilight, "I think as a safety measure, we should all step through and back. You can't be too careful. I know who I am, so I'll go first." The real Twilight Sparkle stepped through the door, leaving the room. A faint squeak and moan quietly escaped her muzzle as a bright red coloring filled out her face. She quickly cleared her throat, regaining her composure before turning to face the others through the door. "Oh! Apples!!" "I told you!" exclaimed Ocellus. "What kind of apples?" asked Applejack. Within moments, everypony had left and re-entered the room. "Oh my..." "It's simply Divine." "That was... kind of awesome!" "Tee-hee! I'm all tingly in my tingly parts!" "Ah don't know, y'all. There's somethin' wrong with them apples." "Yowzers!" 'I need to try this door again tonight when nopony is around.' * * * Shining Armor stood in front of the crystal heart, watching it as it spun silently and smoothly within its monument display. Its perfect balance was mesmerizing. All the love, light and adoration of an entire empire purified and concentrated within. Mesmerizing indeed, it drew Shining in closer. He wanted to touch it; any pony caught by its alluring spin would, but he knew he couldn't, not without upsetting its delicate balance. He did not want to have to explain a newly frozen empire to his wife, or to his sister. He was not sure which he should be more afraid of. "Father?" asked Flurry. She had silently entered the room to find him gazing closer to the centerpiece of the empire than usual. Shining jumped at being startled so abruptly, "Oh, hello daughter." He had not heard her come in. The stallion then realized just how close to the monument he was and took a step back, turning to face his daughter. Flurry kept her distance. "Where is mom?" "She wasn't feeling well, so I left her to hang out in our room for a while. Is there something wrong, honey?" ”I just got back from visiting Auntie with Cozy Glow." Shining raised an eyebrow with interest, "Cozy Glow, you say? And how is she doing?" Flurry stepped up to the spinning heart, looking it over as she spoke, "Dad, something's happened. We went to see the statue of Chrysalis and Tirek. Chrysalis... She's-" "Oh, I know, Sweetheart," interrupted Shining, "I wanted to come get you at the outpost after coming back from my overnight stay with your Aunt. I was worried. That place is no good for you, sweetie. I'm glad you've returned home to me." Flurry looked from the heart to Shining. She regarded her father for a moment before speaking, "Wh-What are we going to do?" "We must be very careful who we talk to and who we trust." Shining gestured to the spinning heart, "And we must protect this at all costs. The empire depends on it. I'm glad to see it's full and fully functioning." Flurry looked back at the heart, "It should be. We just had another fair just a couple of days ago, remember?" "Oh, Right. Of course." Flurry and Shining both looked on at the monument in silence for a moment before Shining spoke up again, "Flurry, dear..." "Yes, Father?" Shining looked down from the monument at Flurry. "Where is Cozy Glow now?" "Auntie took her home, to Ponyville. ...Why?" "It seems like Ponyville might be in danger soon. But don't you worry about it. Just... go to your room for now. I will call you down when it's time for a meal." "Well... Ok." Flurry turned to go upstairs. "Flurry Heart?" Flurry stopped and looked back, "Yes, father?" "You know I love you, right?" Flurry paused for a brief moment, "Yeah... I... love you too." * * * "Golly!" Cozy's mane, fur and feathers stood up on end. She was visibly disturbed and confused. "Apples?" "Yes, Cozy. We all know," said Applejack. Astral smoothed Cozy's mane and feathers down. "Cozy told me about her dream and going to see the statue. I figured this concerns her, and me, as much as it does all of you," she announced to the council. "This is the best place to be right now." "I think so too," said Twilight. "We are trying to figure out what Chrysalis' plan might be, if she might be targeting anypony in particular, or what." "Obviously anypony with love to share could be a target," said Applejack. "Do you know anything that might be helpful, Cozy?" "Me? No, I sure don't. We might have run together back when Grogar, I mean Discord had us all together, but she always had her own plans. We all did. It was all I could do to get us to work together even just a little bit. I even ended up having to do a pony song about it." Cozy shuddered as she remembered the silly memory. It wasn't usually her to break out into song like that. She usually had the willpower not to join in any time one was happening in her vicinity in the past, usually (Pinkie Pie could be very persuasive). "Let me guess," said Rainbow. "Take over the world type plans?" "Well, not exactly. Her big thing was getting her revenge on Starlight." Cozy shrugged. Starlight chuckled nervously. "She just wants her family back. Could you blame her?" asked Cozy. "Astral," said Twilight. "You've gone in and tried to work with her, right? Like you helped Cozy when she was a part of the statue. Is there anything you could tell us about her, about those 'sessions'?" Astral thought for a minute. "Not much more than I've already reported to you back when I tried. It's just hard to describe. Her mind wasn't like Cozy's. She'd made a whole new reality for herself. I couldn't even tell if she knew she was imprisoned, or if she just forgot over time. Visiting her was like going to another world, one that was always crumbling and decaying, getting worse and worse every time I visited. She didn't believe anything was wrong. When I would try talking to her about what she did and find out why, she always presented it as if she were right, and everypony else was wrong. She had no desire to change. I couldn't find a way to show her that there was a better way." She pulled Cozy in close. "I hate to say it, but you all really screwed up with these two." "Well, I wouldn't say really screwed up..." started Fluttershy, trying to diffuse a situation before it started. Twilight interrupted, "No, Astral is right. We may not have fired the blast that sealed them up that day, but we did nothing to stop it, and all this time, did nothing to correct it." She looked down at Cozy. "Nor did we do right by them in the time leading up to that day." "It's ok," said Cozy, softly. "I know I was a bad filly too." "How long do y'all suppose she's been free?" asked Applejack. "It couldn't have been more than a week," said Twilight. "Regardless, I need to put the guards on alert. I'll send Spike so we can send messages back and forth faster. I'll also get word to my brother of the situation as well." She took one last look at her friends before turning to Astral and Cozy. "Cozy, please, stay safe. And if you think of something that might help, anything, please, let us know. You're both welcome to stay here as long as you want to. I'll tell Spike to prepare the guest rooms for you both when he gets here." "Thank you," said Astral, followed by Cozy. Twilight glanced over to the door before igniting her horn and popping out of sight. "You think she wanted to use the door one last time?" asked Starlight to nopony in particular. * * * "I'll do my best!" saluted Spike. "Oh, by the way. Is Rarity still in Ponyville?" Twilight rolled her eyes, "Yes, Spike. If you hurry, you might be able to catch her at the castle, in the throne room at the cutie map table. But there's something I gotta tell you about the--" Spike turned and immediately ran off on his mission. "...door." Twilight sighed and made her way to the castle library, guards straightening up their posture and saluting her as she passed by them. "What to do, what to do... Surely there's something somewhere around here that will help." The guards paid no attention to Twilight's mumblings. She often had the habit of talking to herself when trying to solve a problem. Twilight entered Canterlot Castle's library and began going from shelf to shelf, collecting books to pour through. "I really need to reorganize this place, again. All these books on changelings should really be in one place." Stacks of books floated around her in a magical field as she walked up to a table getting ready for an enthralling study session when a small sound from a dark corner of the room made her freeze. "Hello? Is anypony there?" She perked up, ears twitching and swiveling to try and catch the faintest of sounds. It definitely came from the shadows. 'Note to self, for a library, there sure are a lot of dark places in here. Add more lighting,' she thought to herself as she quietly placed the books on the table, not turning her eye from the direction she heard the sound emanate. She slowly approached it, putting up a magical shield bubble around her for protection. "Show yourself!" she ordered. A weak and disheveled stallion unicorn with eyes of gray stumbled out into view before slumping onto the floor. "...Twily," uttered the pony with all his strength. "Protect... the Heart, ...both of them," spending the last of his energy, he closed his eyes and slipped into unconsciousness. * * * "Flurry Heart, deer. Come on down now. It's feeding time!" called up Shining. Movement could be heard upstairs. The opening of a door, a rush down a hall and the opening and closing of another door. "Flurry?" Shining headed upstairs, "Foals, really," he said to himself. "No matter. She'll learn her lesson soon enough." "Flurry's door was wide open. Shining peeked inside, but nopony was to be found. A voice and movement could be heard from the room at the end of the hall, the room he shared with Cadance. "Insolent foal," he spat as he marched down the hall, thrusting the door wide open as hard as he could with his magic. Flurry Heart stood in the center of the room over a downed changeling pod. She had torn it open, revealing and rousing a dazed and confused alicorn. Flurry looked up and scowled at Shining standing in the doorway. Shining furrowed his brow at the sight of it all. A flash of light materialized at his hooves, traveling up his body and revealing the form of the changeling queen. "So, you've figured it out. No matter. Soon, I'll have regained all my strength and then quite a bit more! With the love of the Crystal Empire and the Heart combined, I will be able to finally rebuild my hive tenfold! I will crush all who oppose me. First the castle. Then I will-" Flurry used teleport. It was super effective. * * * "Crysalis doesn't know Cozy's reformed, does she?" The mane six looked up from their various forms of fidgeting around the map table at Starlight. Sunburst spoke up, "What are you thinking?" "I'm thinking we could maybe set a trap for her. Have Cozy lead her straight into it." "Me?" asked Cozy. "I don't like this," objected Astral. "I don't either," agreed Cozy. "I think it's a great idea!" said Rainbow. "She's dangerous! The longer she's out there, the more damage she could do." "Rainbow's right," said Applejack. "Who knows how many ponies she's hurt already." "Even though she might be bad, we don't want to hurt her," said Fluttershy, softly. "I do!" countered Rainbow. The other ponies flashed Dash a dirty look. "Well, just a little." They continued to glare at her. "More of an annoyance really, I guess." Starlight looked up in thought, "Ok, maybe not a trap. But out of anypony here, Cozy might be the one she'll listen to the most what with their history together." "But what would I say to her?" asked Cozy. Starlight shrugged. "You know," started Astral, "When she wasn't being encouraged to be bad under Grogar's influence, I saw that Cozy herself wasn't necessarily bad." She pat Cozy on her head. Cozy looked down in shame. Astral continued, "I really have no reason to believe Chrysalis herself is bad too. The way I see it, she was only looking out for her kind, to keep them 'fed', as it were. She just didn't have a way to go about that without hurting anypony else." "But she did hurt other ponies, a lot of them. You remember how long it took for Canterlot to recover completely after the wedding incident," said Rarity. "I don't... I was kinda busy putting a town together at the time," said Starlight, sheepishly. "I don't either," said Astral. "I hadn't even been born yet." "Oh, right," said Rarity. The room went awkwardly quiet for a moment. Astral broke the silence, "Fluttershy, a spider's gotta eat, right?" she asked. "Well, of course, it does." "But we don't blame the spider for hurting the fly, do we?" The mane six each found a spot on the map table to stare at while contemplating Astral's question. "The spider doesn't have any other option for food to live off of," replied Ocellus, quietly. "We, the changelings, do." "...So what do we do with her?" asked Applejack. "First we gotta find her," said Starlight. "That part's easy!" exclaimed Pinkie. "We just gotta wait for the ponies to start dropping, and then follow the trail." "Pinkie, no," scolded Starlight, bopping her on the head, sternly. "Oh, you know I was just kidding. ...Or was I?" The others looked to Astral. "Oh, no. I'm not going in there to find that one out," she said. "Besides. It'd be rude." Astral turned up her nose to the side, closing her eyes with her brow raised. Pinkie smiled at Astral, "You're welcome any time!" she said with enthusiasm. Astral opened her eye to look over at Pinkie. "Um, no, thanks. I pass." "Ok, so we find her, and then what?" asked Applejack. "It's just her motherly instinct," chimed Ocellus. "Maybe we can draw it out of her, make her give her love away like Thorax did when he changed. If she gives enough of it at a time, it'll trigger the change that we all went through. She doesn't even have to completely change, just enough to see that she doesn't have to be hungry all the time." "I like it," said Starlight. "Me too," said Astral. The others shared their agreeance. "...But how?" asked Cozy. "I have an idea," said Ocellus. "But first things first, we have to find Chrysalis before it's too late!" "Ponies!" It was Spike, running down the castle hall to the throne room. Everypony turned to see Spike running in, through the door with a scroll held tightly in his grip. "Chrysalis! She's taken Shining Armor back in Canter- What the bucking apples was that!?!" "Yeah," explained Sunburst, casually. "The changes we made to the door will take some getting used to. It makes a changeling that might be disguised revert back when passing through by disrupting its magical field." "But... Apples!!" exclaimed Spike. "We know!" said the mane six simultaneously. Spike shook off a chill throughout his body. "The Crystal Empire! She's there, we've gotta stop her!" "Flurry!" called out Cozy, worriedly.