//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Changelings Are-A Changing 
// by ScarlettDaze 
//------------------------------//

"Ugh... I don't know what it was I ate, but it is kickin my flank right now!"

Granny Smith raises an eye at the language, with a look shared between her and her grandson. Applebloom is already tucked into bed, probably the only reason Applejack was willing to cuss at all, but since she is cussing and gripping her stomach, barely able to look at her meal without looking green in the gills, it's pretty clear that whatever stomach bug her granddaughter managed to catch is real bad. She knows exactly how sturdy Applejack is, so for her to actually complain?

"Mayhaps you should turn in early? Doesn't look like you're gonna be able to handle any dinner at this rate."

Applejack hesitates, but actually nods in agreement without any fuss. Now, Applejack had definitely mellowed out ever since that Sparkle girlie came 'round town, but no insistence at all? Now Granny really does know that she's come down with somethin bad.

"That'd probably be fer the best, yeah. Y-you want any help cleanin up before I hit the hay?"

"Naw, I want to see you cleaned up and in bed missy! Mac and I can get things cleaned up right quick, but you look like you can barely stand. Now you let me know if that bug gets too bad, we'll get you to the doctor right-quick, y'hear?"

"Sure thing, Granny..."

Applejack definitely looks sheepish, probably some nonsense in her head about not pulling her weight, but she shuffles off to bed without another word. She really hopes that all that it is is a stomach bug. Apparently she and her friends had a little picnic in the park earlier today, so hopefully some potato salad just went bad or something and her granddaughter will sweat it out by tomorrow, maybe the day after. 

Either way, worry won't do nothin for the last few chores of the day, but between Big Mac and herself it don't take too long. By the time Luna's moon is in the air, the crickets singing along with the cicadas in the early night, everything is set and ready for bed, Granny Smith following along soon after. It is odd, though, that she ends up tossin and turnin in bed for a little while. Something just seems... off for some reason. It takes a bit to figure it out, but the house is creaking and moaning more than usual at this time of year-and Granny would know, she's lived in barns for mosta her life! Hopefully it's just a loose board or something kickin up a fuss in the wind.





Granny Smith is jolted out of her tumultuous sleep by the sound of Applebloom screaming, sending her leaping outta bed and running for the door before she's even really awake enough to realize why she's moving, little lances of arthritic pain and the sudden adrenaline working better to wake her up than any coffee she'd ever had. The thick smell of rotting leaves and sawdust hits her like a physical wall once she bursts outta her room, and she hesitates just for a moment at what she sees.

Her home is...warped, the hallway for the bedrooms nearly three times as long as it should be. It almost looks like her home has been fragmented and pulled apart, some sort of cloudy, burnt orange material that almost looks like amber filling in the new space alongside oddly familiar black branches, some tiny, some nearly as thick as Mac's barrel. Most importantly though, are the alien critters swarming all over the hallway.

They're vaguely pony-like, but as big as Mac, if not bigger, maybe more like the size of a buffalo. Instead of being bulked out with fur though, these critters are all muscle and some kinda shell, like big beetles or somethin. A mix of black and orange, it's pretty obvious who's the culprit for the new additions to the decor, though with the weird bug jaws and the massive horns on their heads, Granny isn't willing to complain. 'Least, not yet. More important is trying to figure out how to get through the varmints and get to Applebloom's room, a bit tricky since Granny ain't the spring chicken she once was.

Thankfully, from the bruised and dizzy handful of critters between Mac's and Applebloom's rooms, it seems that her grandson is already on it. Only moments later, Granny lets out a sigh of relief when another buggy breaks through Applebloom's door, Mac marching out right after with Applebloom sat on his back.

"Over here Mac sonny! We gotta git!"

Mac snaps his head over to look at her, and Granny can't help just a smidge of satisfaction seeing how he immediately relaxes, just a little around the shoulders. Her grandson's version of letting out a big sigh of relief, as she's learned over the years. Thankfully, the critters don't seem to ornery, more focused on doing whatever it is they're doing to the house than focusing on her and her grandkids. With a couple body checks, Mac is at Granny's side, and she pulls a shivering Applebloom down off his withers and onto her own. Better to have her boy freed up without having to worry about a passenger, just in case the bugs do decide to get violent.

"You seen Applejack in all this mess?"

"Nnope."

"Darnation! Well, she's a big girl, one o' the Elements fer a reason after all. I say we get otta the thick of it so she don't gotta worry about us, wait fer her or her friends to pop up."

"Eeyep."

Mac-boy nods resolutely, though Granny can tell from the tension in him that he's worried about his sister. Well, 'course he is, he's an Apple, and Apples don't just leave family high-and-dry! But Granny knows her granddaughter like the back of her hoof, and she knows that even with two legs tied behind her back she could kick the snot out of these critters. And so they start making their way through the house, sometimes having to move through stretches of resin-y stuff to get back to the actual wood parts of the house, or needing to push through tree branches that almost act like bushes and brambles, considering where they're placed.

Mac-boy keeps to the front, bulling through any clusters of the bug-ponies in their way to freedom. Thankfully, they continue to be pretty non-aggressive, almost docile, like a herd of particularly stubborn sheep that don't care fer your scheduling. At most, they might hiss a little at being interrupted, but once they spot their little group they just... go back to business. Applebloom even swears that she saw one of them wave at the group once they passed by, though Granny chocked that up to stress and the filly being scared.

Finally though, they manage to find the kitchen, and the back door on the other side of it. After shuffling past a trio of the critters (were they rifflin through the pantry? ... were they working the stove?), they finally manage to get out the door, only to find themselves not in the backyard, but standing on some kind of orange-black bridge in the sky. Well, that's what Granny thought at first anyways, but after a moment to adjust to the odd sight, she takes a look around and realizes what's really goin on.

Their house is stuck in a tree. It's like someone planted a seed in the middle of the house and pressed fast-forward a coupla times-their first floor is suddenly nearly five stories up in the air, different rooms broken away from each other and spread through the orange-black barked tree, resin and random dead wood gathered from nearby building bridges between the remnants of their home. A quick look over the edge of the branch they'd ended up on shows that the foundations and some of the bottom bits of wood are still down there, scattered around the roots, 

"Well I'll be darned! What the hay are we gonna do about this little situation, eh?"

A tap on the shoulder brings her back out of her thoughts, and Granny turns to see Mac looking out at the horizon, a concerned expression on his face.

"Mmm? What's wrong, Mac-boy?"

He simply gestures with a hoof, and she looks out to where he's pointing to see something that puts her stomach down more near her feet than anything. With the height boost being on the tree gives them, it's clear to see that there are more of these trees out nearby. A yellow-tinted one out in the Everfree, two in Ponyville proper, one further out on the outskirts of Ponyville, close to the mountains, and even one floating up in the sky, rooted into a black mass of stormy, flashing cloud that sends shivers down Granny's spine.

Somethin ain't right here, but most of all Granny can't help but wonder where her granddaughter has gotten off to.