Saturday, for many foals in Equestria, is supposed to be a day to unwind after a long week of schoolwork. A day to hang out with friends, maybe go to see a movie or play some ball at the park. But not today. Not for Rumble, at least.
‘I know what I saw. That filly, Berry Pinch… she was casting some sort of strange spell on that pony. But when I went to check if she was okay…’
“Hm? What d’ya mean? What little filly?”
“The one that attacked you at the farm! The one who cast that strange spell on you that made you pass out!”
The farm pony, who Rumble had learned was named Applejack, simply laughed in response. “Ah think somepony has let their imagine get away from them.”
“But I-”
“Listen, ah’d love ta stay an’ answer some more of your questions, but ah really need ta be goin’ now. Ah have ta find Rarity, fast.”
The orange mare ran off before Rumble could say anything more, leaving him alone and confused in the middle of the road leading towards the farm.
“What was that all about, anyway? Why can’t she remember anything?”
Rumble found the place that he had spent the entire morning looking for. When he heard that the library was a giant tree, naturally, he was a little sceptical at first. However, standing before Rumble, at the address he had received from his teacher, was indeed a giant tree, with windows and a front door.
“Golden Oaks Library… I might be able to find something here.” At first, Rumble thought that it would be best to tell his brother about what had happened. But he then remembered that he was no longer speaking to his brother, so this was really all he had left. Cloud Kicker would just laugh and tease him, and Flitter would just think he was playing a game, and try to play along.
Opening the door to the library, Rumble walked inside and looked around. It was a nice, quiet place, filled with many, many books (duh, it’s a library, after all), and even had a baby dragon cleaning the shelv-Wait…
“AH!”
“WHOA?!”
“A-A dragon?!” Rumble shouted, backing away but finding that the door behind him has already closed.
“That’s right! And who are you?” The baby dragon asked, seemingly annoyed at Rumble’s shouting.
“What’s all the noise in here?” a female voice asked form another room. A blue mare walked from the top of the stairs, yawning loudly as she reached the bottom, and eyed the colt and baby dragon standing at opposite ends of the library. “… Well?”
“I’m not sure,” the dragon replied. “He just walked in and started screaming when I was trying to dust the shelves.”
Rumble tensed when he saw the mare direct her attention towards him, and decided to apologise. “I-I’m sorry. It’s just, I’ve never seen a dragon before, just heard about them. And I… I’m sorry…”
The baby dragon scratched his head, and then leapt down from his small stepladder and walked towards Rumble. “Well, no harm done. I’m Spike. What’s yours?”
“R-Rumble,” Rumble answered, extending his hoof to shake Spike’s claw… ‘Okay, this just feels weird.’
The blue mare behind Spike yawned loudly once again, and walked towards a doorway on the other side of the room. “Well, since Trixie is up now, she may as well make a start on breakfast.”
“Um, are you the librarian here?” Rumble asked, stopping the mare in her tracks.
“No, the Great and Powerful Trixie just lives here,” Trixie responded. “Twilight Sparkle, the one in charge of this place, is still asleep right now. So keep it down, okay?”
“Um, okay… Then, do you know where I can find a certain book?”
“I can help with that!” Spike offered, seeming all-too-excited to help Rumble out. “What’re ya looking for? Cooking guide? Cleaning guide? Something Daring Do?”
“A-Any books on mythical creatures?”
“Ah, I know just the book!” Spike ran toward one of the bookshelves, and quickly scanned across until he came to a particular book with a purple cover. “Here it is! Equestrian myths and legends – A Reference Guide!”
“Thanks,” Rumble said as he walked over to Spike to collect the book. “Do you mind if I read it in here?”
“Not at all! Just try to keep it down, okay?”
Rumble nodded, and then moved towards the table in the middle of the room to read the book, whilst Spike moved back to his stepladder to resume his dusting.
‘Let’s see here… Sea Ponies… Humans… Vamponies… Changelings… Headless Hors-Wait, that last one…’
Rumble flipped back to the page about changelings, and looked at the artist renderings section of them. One of the pictures… A changeling disguised as a pony, ‘feeding off of another pony’s love’, bu shooting a green beam fo magic towards their forehead.
‘Just like Berry Pinch did to Applejack… Could she be a…’ Rumble quickly shook the thought from his head. That was absurd. There’s no way she could be one of these ‘changeling’ things, right? They had revealed themselves just recently, and from what he had heard about them in Cloudsdale, they were vicious, savage beasts. Not cute, meek little fillies. ‘Cute? Where’d that come from? I mean, I guess she’s not unattractive, but…’
Before he got off-track, Rumble cleared his head and poked his head up from the book. “Um…” Spike stopped his dusting, and turned to face the Pegasus colt. “S-Sorry, but, do you know where I can find more information on changelings?”
“Changelings?” Spike asked, receiving a nod from Rumble. “Well, I know one book,” he said, hopping down from his stepladder once more and walking towards a different bookshelf from before. “Why do you wanna know about the changelings, anyway?”
“Um, it’s for… a school project?”
“Really? What kind of project?”
“Um… it’s a creative writing assignment.”
“Cool,” Spike said, grabbing a thick green book from the shelf and bringing it over to Rumble. “Here it is. I don’t know if there’s anything good in there, but I think it’s all we’ve got.”
Rumble took the book and took a quick peek inside. “Can I… borrow this book, please?”
“Sure! Just let me get the item register real quick.”
After checking out the book on a two week loan, Rumble left the library and decided to head towards the park. Why? Because a very reliable source had told him that that’s where Berry Pinch would be in about fifteen minutes. That is, he overheard Berry Pinch discussing her weekend plans with her friend Archer yesterday after school.
Berry Pinch laughed and joked with her friends in the distance, the three fillies enjoying some ice-cream together under the hot sun. Rumble watched in disbelief as the filly he suspected may not actually be a filly dropped her ice-cream, and almost broke into tears, before Archer offered to share her own.
Changelings have no grasp on pony emotions or feelings. Even when disguised as ponies, they are cold, unfeeling creatures.
A filly even younger than Berry Pinch ran past the three, and tripped over onto the ground. She began crying as she held her hind leg, and Berry Pinch quickly rushed over to calm the filly down.
“… No feelings, huh?”
Changelings are very afraid of water. Even small droplets cause them to back away in fright. That’s why, when it rains, you need not fear a changeling attack.
Berry Pinch giggled as she ran around the park with her two friends, spraying water from her water gun whilst simultaneously avoiding incoming water bomb attacks from her friends.
To a changelings, foods like garlic and onions are like poison. Simply get them to take a whiff, and they will retreat immediately.
Rumble waited, and waited, and waited… but no matter how long Berry Pinch and her friends chatted whilst standing next to the garlic stand, the filly showed no signs of wanting to run away.
“Either this book is useless… or I’m just losing my mind,” Rumble said with a defeated sigh. He had been following Berry Pinch all day, and not one thing mentioned in this book about changelings applied to her.
He was about ready to give up, when he noticed that Berry Pinch’s breathing had increased, and she was walking around in a daze.
“Berry, what’s up?” Archer asked, looking concerned for her friend.
“N-Nothing, just feeling a bit tired, that’s all.” Berry Pinch turned her head to look at something to her side, and Rumble followed her gaze to try to find what she was looking at. But whatever it was, it was hidden behind a building that he couldn’t see from where he was sitting. “Sorry guys, but I’m gonna go home and get some rest.”
“It’s fine,” Archer said. “D’you want us to walk you home?”
Berry Pinch shook her head. “It’s not too far. I can get there on my own.”
“Well, alright then. If you say so.”
The three friends waved goodbye, and Berry Pinch ran away down the street in the opposite direction to the other two fillies.
Rumble at first decided to call it a day, and just head on home. After all, he had pretty much confirmed that she wasn’t a changeling, and that whatever he had seen at the farm was probably some kind of misunderstanding. At the very least, she doesn’t seem to be dangerous, so why bother investigating this further, right?
“… Well, my home just happens to be that way, too,” Rumble said to himself as he got up, the library book on his back, and took off down the street after Berry Pinch.
It didn’t take him long to catch up to the filly, and he noticed that she was still looking a little feverish as she continued walking down the street. He decided to go and make sure that she was okay, but before he could get close to her, Berry Pinch turned to move towards a familiar looking house…
‘Wait, that’s my house, Rumble thought to himself as he stopped and hid behind some nearby bushes. ‘What’s she doing here?’
Berry Pinch reached her hoof towards the door, presumably to knock. But what she actually did took Rumble by surprise. She pulled down on the door handle, and just walked in, as if she owned the place.
“What the?” Rumble quickly jumped out of the bushes, and ran into his house to see what was going on. He heard some noises coming from the living room, followed by a bright green glow that reminded him of what he saw at the farm.
He quickly sprinted around the corner, and into the living room, to see what was going on. “Thunderlane?” he asked as he entered the room, only to stop and back away in horror at the sight before him: Berry Pinch, standing above a downed Thunderlane, shooting a green beam of magical energy into the Pegasus’ forehead.
Berry Pinch stopped whatever it was that she was doing, and slowly turned her head to face the now-fuming Pegasus colt standing behind her. Her eyes widened, and she let out a frightened squeak as she herself began to back away. “R-Rumb-”
“W-What did you do to my brother?!"