Telltales

by Hyperexponential

Telltales

“Just a minute!”

Rarity laid down her shears and hurried to answer the frantic pounding at the entrance of her boutique. It was not a time of night when she normally received visitors, but then “normally” ceased to have much meaning when one was an Element of Harmony. Releasing the latch and swinging open the door, Rarity confronted, there in the darkness, a face at once familiar and unexpected—her own. A rough hoof shoved Rarity back inside, and her caller, Rarity’s twin in figure as well as face, barged in after her.

Galloping hooves approached. Seconds later, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack stood in the light of the boutique’s open door. There before them stood two Raritys, indistinguishable, looking each other up and down in apparent shock.

“What’s going on?” cried one of the Raritys.

“Who is this?” wailed the other, pointing a shaky hoof at her double.

Twilight took immediate charge. “Hush! Both of you!”

The Raritys did as ordered and looked expectantly at Twilight for further commands. Twilight, winded from pursuit, took several deep breaths before continuing.

“Go to the center of the room and stand a pony’s length away from each other.”

The Raritys eyed each other suspiciously, but complied. They were out of easy reach of one another, but a single pony could now keep close watch on them both. If either were to bolt, there would be no escape from the purple magic pulsing through Twilight’s horn.

“I’d say we have us a problem,” whispered Applejack to Twilight from the corner of her mouth.

“I’d say you’re right,” Twilight whispered back, then addressed her captives. “One of you already knows exactly what is going on. But for the benefit of the other Rarity, the real Rarity, here’s the story.

“Late this afternoon, Fluttershy thought she saw a changeling lurking at the edge of the Everfree Forest. She alerted Applejack and me, and we’ve been tracking Fluttershy’s mystery creature ever since. We’ve been led quite a chase, playing cat and mouse over half of Ponyville. We must have finally gotten too close. The changeling broke and ran. We followed and, well, here we all are.”

“And now we gotta separate the sheep from the goats,” said Applejack.

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity Number One—the Rarity on the left—shot a venomous glance at Applejack.

Applejack coughed and corrected herself. “Make that separate the ponies from the changelin’s.”

“Let’s just say Rarity from the impostor,” suggested Twilight, shifting her gaze back and forth between Raritys.

“Only how’re we s’posed to do that, Twi?” Applejack had dropped back to a stage whisper. “You got some magic that’ll do the trick?”

“Sorry, Applejack. We just don’t have very much information about changelings. I don’t have a spell for telling them apart from ponies.”

“Shoot. Guess we’re gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way.”

Unnoticed throughout this exchange, Rarity’s cat lay curled in repose on her cushion. The confusion of the last few minutes had not been enough to rouse Opalescence, but now she rose, yawned, and stretched before looking around at the group encroaching on her space. She wore an expression suggesting that, as bad as one Rarity was, two could only be worse. Opal abandoned her cushion in search of a pony-free spot.

Applejack addressed herself to the mirror-image Raritys. “Oookay,” she said. “Time for a few questions.”

Applejack let a moment pass for the challenge to sink in, then began. “Who’s you sister?”

“Sweetie Belle,” the twin ponies said in unison.

“Who’s her best friend?”

“Your sister Apple Bloom,” said Rarity One.

“And Scootaloo,” said Rarity Two.

Applejack turned back to Twilight. “This could be harder than I thought.”

“You’ve got the right idea,” said Twilight. “We just need to ask the right question. Something only the real Rarity would know.” She then took her turn at quizzing the Raritys.

“Let’s see…” Twilight tapped a hoof against her chin. “Oh, I know. What exciting news did Rainbow Dash get last week?”

Rarity One jumped in first again. “She was invited to submit her application to the Wonderbolts!” she said, looking genuinely pleased.

Rarity Two made a dismissive noise. “That was all over town. What she told me was that Spitfire is writing her a personal recommendation.”

Rarity One’s lip curled.

“Time to up the stakes,” Applejack told Twilight. “Who is Tom?”

“I thought we agreed to—” said Rarity Two before cutting herself off. She shifted uneasily. “Oh, very well. Tom was somepony with whom I had a brief friendship.”

“Some… pony?” asked a smirking Applejack.

“He was a rock!” Rarity Two spat. “A big dumb rock! Does that answer your question?”

“It surely does, darlin’.”

“If that ain’t Rarity,” said Applejack to Twilight, “it’s the next best thing to.”

“I’m hoping for more than second best,” said Twilight.

Rarity One watched this banter in what appeared open-mouthed astonishment. “I must be having a nightmare! Assaulted, held prisoner in my own boutique, my own home, and now my secrets casually bandied about by some two-bit imitation!” Rarity One, eyes smouldering with hatred, rounded on her twin. “You—yes, I say you—are the Worst. Possible. Thing!”

“She’s not half bad either,” Applejack said to Twilight.

Rarity Two had endured her twin’s tirade impassively. Now it was her turn again.

Clomp, clomp, clomp…

Rarity Two beat out a slow, deliberate applause. “Bra-vo,” she said in a voice dripping acid. “It’s performances like that that give drama queens a bad name.” Facing her questioners, she continued. “If that pitiable bit of play-acting is even remotely representative of my behavior, then you have every reason to lead both of us away in chains.”

“We could sell tickets to either one o’ these two,” said Applejack, “but we’re gettin’ nowhere, and we ain’t gettin’ there in much of a hurry neither.”

Twilight spoke to both Raritys. “Applejack’s right. We have a stalemate and no way to resolve it. If we can’t find out which one of you is the real Rarity, we’re going to have to call for the Princesses and hope they can break the deadlock.”

“But even Princess Celestia was fooled by Queen Chrysalis,” said Applejack. “Are you sure they can help?”

“No… I’m not,” said a despairing Twilight, “but I’m out of things to try.” She cried out to the captives. “Rarity, you have to come up with something to convince us that it’s you, something that leaves no doubt that you’re the real one. Whichever one you are, there must be something that only you could possibly know—something that you’ve shared with only Applejack or me.”

Silence, then the clearing of a throat.

“Well, Twilight,” said Rarity Two, a blush rising in her cheeks, “perhaps you remember that little bit of girl talk we had here last week. I told you about a certain… garment I’m making for myself…”

Furious, Rarity One wheeled on her twin. “And just how do you know about that?”

Rarity Two snickered. “Nice try.”

Rarity One turned back to Twilight. “Yes, we had that talk. It was me that was here! I mentioned a letter from a certain gentlestallion admirer.”

Applejack’s eyes were as big as they could get. “Yeah? Keep goin’.”

Twilight glared at Applejack. “Not now!” she hissed.

Opal chose this moment to reappear, making her entrance with head and tail erect, possessing all the aloof dignity of which cats are the undisputed masters. She deigned to approach Rarity One, then wound her way through the immaculate white legs, rubbing up against them, arching her back, and emitting a series of affectionate purrs. Opal disengaged herself and strode off, pausing just long enough to glance back at Rarity Two with a look of disdain bordering on contempt. Judgment rendered, Opal departed, bound, no doubt, for more important business.

Everypony stood frozen for the time of a single heartbeat, then Rarity One took a sudden step forward. Twilight reacted instantly. The look of confusion on the face of Rarity One gave way to one of almost comic surprise as a blast of purple energy caught her squarely in the chest. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she slumped to the floor. She was barely still before the others surrounded her.

“She’s not breathin’!” cried Applejack.

“Is it… Is she dead?” stammered Rarity Two.

Twilight put an ear against the still chest and heard nothing. “I don’t even know if changelings have hearts!” she said.

Twilight stood, grief etched on her face. “I don’t understand. I didn’t hit her any harder than the changelings that attacked Canterlot. I didn’t mean to kill her, just stop her.”

“Easy, Twi,” said Applejack. “It’s like you said. We don’t know nothin’ about these changelin’ things.”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide, and she took a step back. “You don’t suppose—”

“Don’t go there, sugarcube! We both saw it. That cat ain’t never gave the time o’ day to anypony ’ceptin’ Fluttershy. No way that thing layin’ there is Rarity.”

Rarity Two spoke up. “Shouldn’t she turn back into a changeling or something?” she asked timidly.

Twilight, her eyes fixed on the body on the floor, spoke as if in a dream. “A changeling would need to maintain its disguise in its sleep. If they sleep. Maybe they need to be conscious to change shape.”

“Sure, that’s gotta be it,” said Applejack. She gave the body of Rarity One a hard stare before turning back to Twilight. “But you know… could be she’s playin’ possum.”

“You’re right!” said Twilight, grasping at the idea that the thing on the floor might still be alive.

“You’re not fooling us!” Twilight shouted at the inert form. “I’m going to count to three, and then I’m going to burn you up. For real. So you better get up. Now.” Twilight bowed her head and added a plaintive “please.”

They waited. Rarity One stirred not a hair.

“Okay,” said Twilight, “I’m counting. One… two… two and a half…” Twilight reached out a hoof and shook the body to no avail. “Three.”

Twilight bit her lip, frustrated by Rarity One’s obstinance.

“All right. You heard what I said,” said Twilight in a wavering voice.

A purple glow enveloped Rarity One and lifted her from the floor. Even then it was not too late for a last-second confession, but then phantom flames began to lick at the body, starting at the hooves. There was never so much as a twitch. The alabaster coat shimmered and dissolved as the flames marched up the legs. Soon the body and then the head were engulfed in pale purple fire. The mane and tail waved and flowed in a way that made Twilight think of the Princesses. The flames consumed it all. No smoke, no ash—within seconds, Rarity One was gone.

Twilight wept. “Even if she was a changeling, she had a life, and I took it from her.”

Rarity, now the one and only, took Twilight in a sympathetic embrace. “You couldn’t have known,” she said.

Rarity released Twilight and spoke to her face to face. “Thank you.” Rarity turned to include Applejack. “Both of you. I don’t know what might have happened if you hadn’t arrived when you did, not just to me, but to Ponyville. To all of Equestria. We may never know what you stopped, but I think you might just have saved us all.”

Twilight’s sniffles slowed. Rarity levitated a hanky and dabbed the tears from Twilight’s eyes. Rarity’s tone changed from consoling to mock scolding. “No more crying. You did what you had to do. Write to the Princess, and she’ll tell you the same.”

Applejack approached Rarity. “And how ’bout you? You gonna be okay? Maybe you oughta come stay with me ’n’ Twilight tonight.”

“Another slumber party?” Rarity suppressed a smile. “Thank you, Applejack, but Twilight’s the one who needs you right now. Besides, I have a big order to fill tomorrow and a lot of sewing to get done tonight. Still, if it will help Twilight, dressmaking can wait.”

“That’s okay, Rarity. I got it covered. On the farm, we see critters get hurt bad. Sometimes they die. Twilight ain’t got much experience with that. Maybe I can help her see that what happened was an accident, pure ’n’ simple.”

“If you need me,” said Rarity, “you know where I’ll be.”

“Take ’er easy,” said Applejack.

Rarity touched Applejack’s shoulder. “And you take good care of Twilight, for both of us.”

With a last look back, Twilight and Applejack stepped through the front door.

The door clicked shut behind Twilight and Applejack. After so much turmoil, there was now only the drone of crickets in the night.

“C’mon, Twilight. Let’s get you back to the library. Me ’n’ Spike’ll make ya some herb tea and put ya to bed. I’ll stay the night. Things’ll look better in the mornin’. I promise.”

The two ponies set out at a walk. Beneath a star-filled sky, they had the streets of Ponyville to themselves. There would be time for unhurried talk on their way to the library.

“Thank you, Applejack. This is so hard. Changelings…” Twilight shivered at the thought of them.

“I’m just glad we were able to nip whatever this was in the bud,” said Applejack.

“Did we?” asked Twilight. The whirlwind in her head was beginning to subside.

“Course we did. You may o’ been rougher than what ya wanted, but that’s one less changelin’ up to no good.”

“And what if there’s more than one?”

There was a long pause before Applejack answered. “Well, we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“But how do we know they’re not already here?”

Applejack laughed. “We’d know it if they were. Lookit tonight. It took some doin’, but that phony Rarity let herself get tripped up. Them changelin’s would have to know an awful lot to keep us fooled.”

“But that changeling did know an awfully lot. She knew things that happened when Rarity and I were the only two in the room. How?” Twilight looked straight ahead into the blackness. “We’ll have to raise our defenses. I’ll research ways to tell ponies apart from changelings.”

A far-off look came over Twilight as she pondered the problem. “The animals must hold the key. It was so easy for Opal to tell which Rarity was real.”

Twilight’s mind raced with ideas. Two of them collided. The result brought a troubled look to her face.

“What if they’re already here?” Twilight asked again, half to herself. “An advance force to gather intelligence for the main attack.”

Again Applejack laughed. “It’s like I told you. We’d know.”

“But what if they’re not ponies?”

Applejack stopped in the circle of light cast by a streetlamp and gave Twilight an uncomprehending look. “Then what would they be?”

Twilight’s insides went cold. It couldn’t possibly be. The implications didn’t bear thinking of. Her every fiber insisted she must be wrong.

“What if they’re animals, our animals?” Twilight’s eyes pleaded for Applejack to tell her it was a silly idea, that her imagination was running away with her. “What better spy than a rabbit or a tortoise… or a cat—”

“Or a farm dog?”

Twilight barely felt the poisoned blade pierce her side. Her legs went numb, and she sank to her knees.

“Dang it, Twi,” said Applejack mournfully, “you never did know when to let somethin’ go.”

With the last of her failing strength, Twilight looked up at Applejack and found nothing but pity in her eyes. Pity—and a luminous toxic green.