Somewhere in the centre of Ponyville was a bright pink building that looked like a huge balloon. Real balloons were attached to the sides and entrance, and passers-by wondered how they never seemed to deflate or fly away. There were balloons of all colors: yellow, white, red, grey, even orange and blue. There weren’t any purple balloons, though. Not anymore.
Inside, an unusual Changeling was buzzing around, gathering multicolored goop from vats and equally colorful powders from bags. The Changeling was clearly a convert…her original skin color was still there, albeit darker, and a web-like mess of hair around her head and hindquarters signified what was one a mane and tail. And there was still the unique sparkle in her compound eyes. Her entirely pink coloration made it clear which pony she was before.
Pinkie Pie was humming merrily to herself as she worked. She was gonna try a new recipe for her Changeling friends today, and it was gonna be so much fun! It was gonna have Happiness frosting, and Joy filling, and Contentment sprinkles! It’ll be just the thing to take her mind off what happened a month ago…
The pink convert stopped humming and groaned sourly. She’d just thought about it. She promised herself she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t think about how Fluttershy and her hatchlings were nearly killed. She wouldn’t think about the insurgents. She wouldn’t think about…her.
Her. They were best friends once, and now she couldn’t even think about her name.
It didn’t matter. She was thinking about it now, and there was no way she could NOT think about it. As she got the rest of the ingredients together, Pinkie decided that as long as she was thinking about it, she might as well think about how it all began.
Pinkie could understand her concerns after what had happened after the wedding rehearsal. Everypony was nervous about the Changelings and their new ruler, and for good reason. After what happened to Celestia, they had every right to be worried. But over time, everypony realized that Changelings weren’t all like Chrysalis’ swarm. Under their new Ruler, they were actually really decent. And when ponies found out that they were more like distant relatives than aliens, it really helped them get along.
Not that there weren’t problems, oh no. There were still problems. But the problems back then seemed a bit…bigger at the time.
First, there was the matter of Conversion. A lot of ponies, including…her were concerned, thinking that the Changelings would force Conversion. That they would assimilate everypony into their hivemind or kill them. But the Ruler assured them that wouldn’t happen. Conversion was a voluntary process, and over time quite a few ponies converted into Changelings willingly.
Including Pinkie.
They’d all asked why, Pinkie remembered. Some of them asked really loudly. Why would Pinkie, of all ponies, convert?
There were a lot of reasons. Of course, Pinkie was curious about how the Changelings worked, and she loved trying out new things. Besides, Granny Pie had once told her that the best way to understand somepony was to walk a mile in their shoes. If she could understand, she could make them all get along and throw good parties for both ponies and Changelings alike, and the best way to understand was to be one of them. Fluttershy had disagreed, but that was what Pinkie had felt.
Not to mention, when she heard that Changelings could use their magic to make edible emotions, that she could actually make cookies of pure Joy and cupcakes out of Love, Pinkie leapt at the chance!
The Hivemind didn’t override her thoughts or anything. Sure, the collective mind of the Changelings would often speak to her (like the time she used the Hivemind Alarm to tell a joke, that didn’t go over very well), and she got a LOT of advice from everyling. But it wasn’t like she was being assimilated into the Borg or anything. It was more like constantly perfoming for a really big audience. And she was already very good at that!
Of course, she didn’t hear any of that. She just kept going on about how this was some sort of conspiracy to take over Equestria, which always puzzled Pinkie. She knew the ruler. How could she think that there was an evil conspiracy? The ruler was anything but a liar.
After the fuss about conversion had died down (more or less) she started attacking Pinkie's bakery! Not literally, thank goodness, but she kept accusing the baked emotions of manipulating the population. Drugging them to make them enjoy the new rule. And honestly, Pinkie could see where she was coming from. You see, although changelings could eat emotion like it was cake, when Ponies ate or drank the Changeling’s concoctions, they’d automatically feel whatever emotion it was, and if they had a lot of it, it could get…dangerous. Like a pony who took too many ‘feel-good’ herbs at once. She’d seen it herself…as funny as it was, there was something scary about Fluttershy jumping around and singing like she was Pinkie Pie on a sugar high.
The Ruler responded, and a law was passed to keep those concoctions in check. Emotions were restricted in Pony food, while Changeling food was clearly marked. This kind of frustrated Pinkie just a teensy bit, but she knew it was for the best. As much as she’d love to feed everypony concentrated fun cookies, she wouldn’t dream of hurting anypony or disobeying the Ruler.
…She and her followers had gotten quiet after that, and Pinkie hoped that after she had done a little thinking and calmed down, they could be friends again, just like the old days. It didn’t look like that would happen after Rainbow got arrested, but Pinkie had held out hope.
And then that horrible night happened.
If a Changeling was in serious peril, or if something very important had happened, they sent a distress signal throughout the hivemind. If the signal was…strong enough, the other Changelings would experience that peril themselves.
Pinkie felt the hatchlings’ terror as the ponies in the dark came after them. Pinkie was cut by the rocks and blades being magically thrown into the nest. Pinkie could hear the cries of “Monsters! Abominations! Liars!” alongside the sobs of the children. Pinkie was desperately clawing at the cocoon one of the Hatchlings was being torn away from. Pinkie felt the hatred from the ponies, burning her throat like icy flames. Pinkie felt the caretaker’s tears on her cheeks as the insurgent leader cast the most painful spell she could possibly imagine. She saw her, a sick gleam in her eye.
Pinkie died with the caretaker.
Pinkie felt the eternal gratitude of the hatchlings as Fluttershy drove them away from the nest. She’d heard that Fluttershy was to be honored as soon as she had recovered enough. The Hatchlings had all been saved. But it didn’t change anything.
It was hard for Pinkie to smile again for weeks. Pinkie couldn’t unsee what she’d seen. She couldn’t forget what she’d felt. She was there. She had done this. There was nothing that could justify this in Pinkie’s eyes. Not after having experienced it like she had. She was dead to Pinkie now.
Pinkie hit her head on the table, letting out a depressed sigh. Well, now she’d thought about it. Relived that entire experience. Now maybe she could get back to baking. She got back up, quickly mixed the emotions together and began stirring the batter. I mean, with that out of the way, at least today couldn’t get any MORE depressing, right?
THIS IS CHANGELING GUARD, CONTINGENT 24! I HAVE LOCATED ONE OF THE INSURGENTS, EARTH PONY APPLEJACK! LOCATION IS CANTERLOT WAREHOUSE, ADDRESS 166 STARPONY ROAD! SHE IS ALONE AND IN CRITICAL CONDITION! MULTIPLE FRACTURES, DEEP LACERATIONS AND POSSIBLE MAGIC TRAUMA! I REQUEST MEDICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRANSPORT FROM ANY NEARBY CHANGELING IMMEDIATELY!
The bowl Pinkie was carrying clattered to the floor.