“G-Grandma… what are you doing?” Berry Pinch asked, terror ringing through her voice.
“He knows about you, Pinchy dear. We cannot risk anypony knowing about what we really are. Therefore, I’m going to erase his memories.”
Berry Pinch’s eyes widened. “You can’t!” she shouted, shaking her head. “He’s known about me for a while now! If you erase his memories, he’ll-”
“That’s too bad,” Crunch Berry said. “But, it must be done. I must erase his memories, in order to protect my dear granddaughter.”
“I won’t let you!” a new voice cried out. The group was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Berry Punch, sporting both a pair of Pegasus wings, and a Unicorn’s horn. “Crunch Berry, if you want to erase this colt’s memories, then you’ll have to get past me!”
Crunch Berry grit her teeth in barely-controlled anger. “Berry dear, what do you think you’re doing?” she asked in as calm a tone as she could manage. “Not only do you endanger your own daughter’s life by allowing this colt to roam free, knowing full well that Pinchy is a changeling, but then you also defend him when I try and do what you know needs to be done?”
Berry Punch looked over her shoulder, at the trembling Pegasus colt standing behind her. “Run, Rumble! I’ll keep her at bay! You get out of here, fast!”
“Mommy…” Berry Pinch muttered, taking a step towards her mother.
“I won’t allow any friend of my daughter’s to fall under harm, and I’m certainly not going to abandon the colt that’s done so much to keep my our family’s secret.”
“Enough!” Crunch Berry shouted, drawing Berry Punch’s attention once more. “This is your last chance! Move aside now, or I will make you move!”
“RUN!” Berry Punch repeated to the colt behind her, as she charged forward, her horn alight, towards her mother.
As the two mares in front of him became engaged in a duel of magic, Rumble could only stare in awe at the display in front of him, until her felt something tugging his foreleg. He turned to see Berry Pinch, now in her usual disguise, motioning for him to follow her. “Come on! Let’s get out of here!”
Rumble nodded, but then remembered the mare lying nearby. “What about her?” he asked, pointing a hoof at Octavia.
“She’ll be fine. She’s out of the way of their duel, and her memory’s already been dealt with.”
Rumble looked over at the duelling mares one last time, and turned back to Berry Pinch and began to follow her out of the alleyway.
Crunch Berry noticed this, and attempted to run past her daughter to catch up to the two foals, only for her path to be blocked by an extended wing. “I told you, I won’t let you harm him!”
“You fool! I knew you were reckless, and insane, but to put your daughter’s safety at risk like that-”
“There’s no risk! I’ve been observing Rumble for a while now, and he’s a good kid, really! He won’t rat her out, and he won’t try to harm her!”
“Maybe not now, but one day!” Crunch Berry argued, rearing her head back and then thrusting it forward. Berry Punch mimicked the motion, and their heads butted against each other. “One day, he will betray her, and you, too! Because he’s a pony, and she’s a changeling!”
“I trust him!” Berry Punch shouted, casting a spell to make Crunch Berry back away. “He’s already done so much to help her, and even now, I don’t doubt he’ll keep our secret, even though revealing it to somepony would be his safest bet!”
Crunch Berry’s eyes widened. She hadn’t even considered that. She was so caught up in her fight with her daughter, that she hadn’t even considered that the colt would seek out somepony in this town with some power, and reveal that Berry Pinch and her family are changelings, in order to get some protection.
“MOVE ASIDE!” Crunch Berry shouted frantically. “I will not allow my granddaughter to be placed in harm’s way, just because you made the stupid decision of trusting a pony!”
“I will not!” Berry Punch responded, firmly standing her ground.
“Need I remind you of what happened the last time we fought?! This time, my daughter, you will not get away with just a burn mark!”
Berry Punch cringed, and brought a hoof to her forehead, rubbing slightly at the area just below the base of her horn.
“Fine then! I warned you, Berry Punch! Now feel the power of a changeling who has lived for over one hundred years!”
Rumble ran through the streets of Ponyville with Berry Pinch, the latter leading him by hoof, from one alleyway to the next. “Where are we going?!” Rumble shouted. “Why don’t we just lay low in a café or something? She can’t follow us in there!”
“She’s a changeling!” Berry Pinch shouted back. “She can just disguise herself as somepony in this town, erase your memories, and then flee and change her disguise again!”
“Oh… right…” Rumble noticed that he was slowing down, and listened to the ragged breaths that the filly took, and saw her starting to stumble over her own steps. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked, receiving a nod from Berry Pinch.
“I’m fine… I’m just not used to running this much, that’s all…”
Rumble cringed when he could clearly hear that the filly was in pain as she spoke. He recalled their times together in Gym class… and she was definitely not the most athletic filly in the school. Energetic, yes, but low in the stamina department.
He pulled on her hoof, forcing her to stop for a second. “W-What-”
“I’m gonna go on ahead,” he told her, earning a shocked look from the filly. “I’m the only one she wants! There’s no reason you have to put yourself in danger because of me!”
Berry Pinch shook her head rapidly. “No way! You’re my friend, Rumble! And you’ve done so much for me, by keeping me secret, and helping me to ‘feed’ whenever I have those… ‘urges’…”
“But you’re clearly wearing yourself out!” Rumble said, noticing that the filly was still panting heavily.
“Well, it’s worth it, to help a friend in trouble!” Berry Pinch’s face went red, and her voice grew weaker, as she asked her next question. “Wouldn’t you do the same for me?”
Rumble own face mimicked Berry Pinch’s, and he turned his head away to answer. “Of course I would, but-”
“Then, please, let me help you, Rumble.”
“But-”
“I’ve got you now.” The two foals jumped, and quickly spun around, to see the pink mare that they had been running from, Crunch Berry, approaching them, with an enraged look on her face. “No escape now, brat.”
“Grandma, please!” Berry Pinch pleaded, but it didn’t stop the mare’s approach. “He’s my friend, grandma! He’s somepony I care for, a lot!” Rumble turned even redder, and Crunch Berry stopped to listen to Berry Pinch’s pleas some more. “He’s done so much to help me, and, we’ve had so much fun together! So please, don’t hurt him, grandma! If you do, I’ll… I’ll never, ever forgive you!”
“… Pinchy, you must understand,” Crunch Berry said, taking a few more steps forward to approach her granddaughter, “He is a pony, and you are a changeling. To them, you are nothing more than a monster, that needs to be exterminated, at any cost.”
“That’s not true!” Rumble shouted, earning a sharp glare from Crunch Berry. “I-I don’t think of her that way! S-She’s not a monster, she’s my friend! She’s somepony I care for a lot, too!”
Crunch Berry didn’t respond, but instead, continued to glare at the Pegasus colt, as she examined him for any evidence of his lies.
“Grandma, he won’t tell anypony who I am! I trust him, and I know in my heart that he won’t sell us out!”
Crunch Berry turned her attention back to her granddaughter, and knelt down to talk to her. “Pinchy, you really care for this colt so much?” she asked quietly. Berry Pinch nodded. “… You love him?” Berry Pinch didn’t respond this time, other than turning beat red and stuttering as she stared wide-eyed at her grandmother. “… Love between ponies and changelings can never be, you know?”
“… Why?” Berry Pinch found herself asking. “What’s wrong ponies and changeling living together in peace? Why can’t our two races get along, and even… l-love each other?”
Crunch Berry closed her eyes in silent meditation.
‘This filly… She knows nothing of our race’s history. A history stained in blood, and betrayal…’
“Grandma?”
Crunch Berry opened her eyes once more, and extended a forehoof to pat Berry Pinch gently on the head. “I was hoping you would never had to, but I guess it’s inevitable… One day, you will learn for yourself, why our race is forever destined to live in solitude.”
Rumble took a step back when he saw the mare rising to her hooves, and turning to face the young colt. “Now then, as for you…”
“I’m off to school!” Berry Pinch shouted cheerfully as she left the house, the sound of the door slamming shut cutting off any ‘goodbye’ from her mother.
Berry Punch winced as she applied a fresh bandage to her foreleg, which was covered in cuts and scratches. “Well, isn’t she in an energetic mood today, considering what happen yesterday?”
“She certainly takes after you,” Crunch Berry said, grinning as she watched her daughter cringing in pain. “If I recall, before you drifted over to alcoholism, you were every bit as cheerful and energetic as young Pinchy.”
“Yeah, but then you drove that out of me,” Berry Punch said, glaring at her mother. “Anyway, I’m honestly quite surprised by what happened yesterday… Why did you suddenly deicide to let him go?”
“… Do not misunderstand. If I had erased his memory back there, I fear that Pinchy may have done something drastic.”
“Drastic?”
Crunch Berry shrugged. “Love makes you do some rather stupid things. Anyway, I couldn’t take the risk… And so, I’ve put that brat on probation, for now.”
“‘Probation’?” Berry Punch asked, raising an eyebrow. “Just what is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I’ll be watching him very closely. And, if I see even the slightest hint that he’s giving away her secret, or causing her any grief at all… I will erase his memories. Sounds fair, don’t you think?”
Berry Punch scowled at her mother. “And, you don’t mind that Pinchy is in love with a pony?”
Crunch Berry didn’t have anything to say to that. Thousands of thoughts whirled through her mind, but she struggled to pick out a single one and convert it to speech. So instead, she decided to end the conversation right there and then. “Well then, to that end, I shall be staying here in Ponyville, with my family, whilst I watch over that young Pegasus brat.”
“WHAT?!” Berry Punch shouted, bring a hoof to her forehead as she groaned. “Oh man. I think I need a drink… Or several.”
“Oh, and about Pinchy’s condition…” Berry Punch raised her head, and exchanged a serious look with her mother. “It’s rather unusual, for a changeling to give love, rather than take it.”
“She’s still my little Pinchy, no matter what happens.”
“I know. But, there’s something you should know… I’ve experienced changelings like that before.” Berry Punch’s eyes widened, and she listened intently to what Crunch Berry had to say. “… They’re almost exactly like regular changelings, but there is one major difference:
“Their lifespans are much shorter than ours.”
As Rumble walked into the classroom, he noticed everypony looking at him for a second, before getting back to their conversation with each other. He figured they must have thought he was their teacher for a second, and then made his way to his seat.
On his way, he passed by Berry Pinch, who pulled away from her conversation with Archer to give him a concerned look.
“I’m fine,” he said quietly to her, though it was obvious that she didn’t believe him. “I just didn’t sleep well last night, that’s all.”
Berry Pinch wanted to say something, but Rumble had already moved past her, and took his seat farther down the classroom. Archer leaned in to ask what that was all about, but before Berry Pinch could think up an excuse, the classroom door opened again, this time for Cheerilee… and a colt that nopony in the class recognised.
“Sorry I’m late, class, but that is because, starting today, there will be a new student joining us.” Cheerilee took her seat behind her desk, and looked over at the colt that was following her.
He was slightly taller than most of the other colts in the class, and most of the fillies swooned when they got a good look at his face. His skin was a very pale white, the kind that was rare to see here in Ponyville, and he had a long blond mane and tail, that looked very well-groomed. His eyes were a deep sapphire-blue, and he had a long, sharp-pointed horn on his forehead. His Cutie Mark was a crossbow, which got Archer excited at the idea of some healthy competition.
What many of the foals noticed about him was that he was wearing clothes. A black jacket that covered the upper half of his body, four brown cowpony boots, one on each hoof.
“Why don’t you introduce yourself, Junior?”
The colt nodded, and shot a smile to the foals in front of him. “My name is Blueblood Junior, or just ‘Junior’, if you please. I have just transferred here today from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. My hobbies include archery, fencing, kendo, jujitsu, and chess.”
‘Great. A talented pretty boy,’ Rumble thought to himself as he looked around at all of the fillies offering their undivided attention. ‘That’s the one thing I was thankful to get away from when I moved from Cloudsdale.’
“And,” Junior continued, “I am a changeling hunter.”