//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Determination 
// Story: The Advent of Applejack 
// by Mister Friendly 
//------------------------------//

	
Princess Celestia strode purposefully down a wide, stone-laid path that wound up a gently sloping, grassy hillside bathed in early day sunlight.

She moved at a pace that forced the contingent of guards surrounding her to practically sprint just to match their princess’ strides, though not one thought of complaining. She rarely used the full length of her step, preferring instead to match the pace of everypony around her. But at the moment, she was too preoccupied to notice she was failing to do so now.

She paid no attention to the looming shape of a lopsided tower rising atop the hill she was climbing, or the Equestrian royal flags lining the pathway she strode down.

Her sister moved more easily alongside her, eyes forward, but routinely she glanced towards the blank, composed façade affixed to the Princess of the Sun’s countenance. Every time Luna looked towards her sister, a slight crease formed on her own brow, worry tugging at her heart.

Celestia didn’t meet anypony’s gaze. It was like she wasn’t aware of anything moving in front of her at all. Her eyes were unfocused and aimed at some unseen point far away on the horizon, beyond the nearing Guard Post. But her mind was not wandering in the slightest.

Celestia may not be hurt physically, but she’d been wounded, Luna could see that. The guarded composure in her face told the Princess of the Night that much at least.

“Sister,” Luna muttered softly, keeping her voice down.

Even so, Celestia jolted, her eyes refocusing in an instant. She snapped them onto her sister, then immediately relaxed.

“I’m… sorry, Luna. My mind was elsewhere. Is everything alright?”

Luna pursed her lips. “Should I be asking the same of you?” she asked in return.

Celestia paused, then almost sadly, the corner of her mouth turned down, her expression deflating ever so slightly. “I think we both know the answer to that question,” she said quietly, turning back towards the road ahead.

For a moment, her eyes unfocused, her mind boiling over once again. “… I should have listened to him more, shouldn’t I? If I’d taken the Spymaster’s misgivings more to heart, perhaps we would’ve been more prepared for something like this. If I’d convinced him to approach Applejack sooner, could we have avoided so much heartache?”

Luna didn’t answer immediately. She instead glanced discretely around, eying the twenty or so guards moving in a protective formation around them, but none were paying them any mind. Eavesdropping on the royal sisters was currently taking a backseat to keeping a wary eye out for any would-be attackers, and such a thing was not to their fancy to begin with. 

At their backs, Cadance and Shining were trotting close behind – Cadance with some reluctance and more than a few worried looks thrown over her shoulder towards the evacuated town behind. It was clear that, if she’d had her way, she’d be back there and not headed in the opposite direction. But Shining Armor was done with taking chances with his wife that day, and that was clear by the firm set to his scowl and close proximity to the pink alicorn.

Roseluck and her congregation had long-since rushed on ahead towards the distant shape of the Guard Post, leaving only a single cloaked changeling to follow the princesses. The last time Luna had seen Roseluck, however, she’d looked somehow more plagued with stress and worries than even Celestia did now, if such a thing was possible.

“I thought I was distracting the Sylphid,” Celestia muttered nearly under her breath, regaining Luna’s attention. “I thought I was keeping it distracted away from my little ponies. I should have been, if it’d been more than a phantom in the first place. Why couldn’t I have seen through it…?”

“The illusion fooled me as well, sister,” Luna admitted, her eyes flashing. “Do not belittle yourself over it.” For a moment though, her expression scrunched up with a hint of indignity. “I still do not understand why you had me stay back while you faced the Sylphid alone.”

Celestia turned a bitterly bemused look on the midnight blue alicorn. “Really? You cannot understand why I’d keep my younger sister, who I’ve been deprived of for a thousand years, out of danger?”

Luna frowned, looking like she had something she very much wanted to say to that, but in the end she bottled it up; there’d be time enough when they had some real privacy.

“But even so,” Celestia sighed, letting her gaze drift again, “it was all just a shadow designed to keep all of us distracted in the first place. But for what purpose? And to use such dark magic…”

A disquieted look crossed Celestia’s eyes. “How could the Changeling Court resort to such dark arts? Have I been too optimistic of late?”

A shadow moved over Luna’s face. “I do not know, sister, but I’m starting to suspect that there is something else going on here. The Court’s actions are too direct, unlike before, and too reckless. To give us forewarning goes against everything we’ve learned about them over these past months. They are arrogant, yes, but not foolish. The only reason they nearly bested us before was because they had the element of surprise, yet now they have completely cast it aside.”

Now it was Luna’s turn to have her gaze drift off to the horizon, a crease forming on her brow. “Perhaps I am making assumptions, but it seems to me that their vendetta against Applejack is just the tip of something much larger.”

Celestia nodded minutely. “My thoughts, as well. Why declare war, and why now? And Rainbow Dash… I fear that we are missing something very important, dear sister. And this is not a matter in which we can afford to be one step behind for long.”


~~***~~


Rainbow stared back at the set of frigid blue eyes that bore into hers from mere inches away. Even if she wasn’t shackled to the wall at the moment, she was too dumbfounded to make a move.

“Y-your daughter?” she repeated – almost squeaked, actually.

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her brain was struggling to corral the seemingly senseless herd of thoughts stampeding around and around in her head, but… it just didn’t make any sense no matter how she processed it. 

It seemed like an impossibility – a joke, even. In any other situation, she might’ve assumed she’d heard wrong, or that somepony was trying to pull some poorly thought out prank on her. 

Agave – little, sweet Agave – related to this thing? There was just no way that sunny filly could be related to the towering, menacing creature looming over the pegasus like a cat over a mouse.

Rainbow was still reeling from the shock of being confronted by a fully grown, silver-maned changeling queen in all her terrifying regality; how was she supposed to adjust to this, too?

But the queen was real. For one thing, having said changeling queen standing nose to nose with her was far closer than Rainbow ever wanted to be to such an individual.

Rainbow could feel the sheer strength in Queen Aconita’s magic pinning the pegasus’ jaws shut hard enough to make them ache. And the feeling of the queen’s hot breath rolling over her muzzle… it was like each one robbed just a little bit of warmth from Rainbow’s very body – like she was slowly, but surely, going to freeze to death.

Queen Aconita was so close to her that Rainbow could see the micro movements in her eyes, even in the low light of the extravagantly furnished chamber. It was like she was reading the pegasus’ very thoughts through the back of her magenta eyes, scanning for the slightest nuance of deception.

Fortunately for the stunned pony, she seemed to wait, as if silently demanding a much better response from Rainbow. The imperious pause was just long enough for Rainbow to gather herself again, and even force her face to resemble something other than a scared filly.

“W-well, that’s news to me,” she said bravely, struggling to speak around clamped jaws, “and even if it wasn’t, why should I tell you where she is, huh? Y-you’re crazy to think I’d help out an enemy.”

Queen Aconita’s eyes narrowed slightly for a moment. If it was possible for the humorless changeling to become somehow less amused, Rainbow had somehow managed to achieve it. Rainbow braced, fully expecting a much more painful reprimand from before.

When Aconita moved, Rainbow flinched defensively, bracing for anything – only for the imposing changeling to turn away in a quick, sweeping motion.

“It appears,” she said with clear disappointment, striding away, “that I’ve overestimated you… somehow.”

Rainbow was too busy trying to calm her breathing to feel incensed at the insult; she was more aware of her heart trembling in her chest than the sting of being affronted. She had to buy time – stall, do something. Applejack would be looking for her, and so would everypony else. There had to be some way out of her situation – she just had to find it.

Yeah… no problem… yep… Just keep your cool, and you’ll be golden, Dash. Nothing to it…

Aconita still wasn’t looking at her. With the queen’s attention turned elsewhere, Rainbow tugged experimentally on one of her trapped hooves as discretely as she could. It was the oldest trick in the book; secretly slip one’s cuffs, wait for the right opportunity, and then make an awesome escape. If Daring Do could do it half a dozen times over the course of her saga, so could Rainbow.

But she quickly learned the difference between fantasy and reality when her hoof didn’t even slip inside the manacle. It was like the metal was glued to her coat. And by now, her hooves were starting to grow tingly from supporting all of her weight.

Queen Aconita continued to pay Dash no mind. It was as if she’d grown bored with the mare’s presence altogether. She seemed more intent on crossing the room towards an elegantly carved pedestal made from what looked to be jagged obsidian.

Wait… when did that get there?

As out of place as the pedestal was, Rainbow just couldn’t figure out how she might’ve overlooked it, especially since there was a single jet black candlestick resting atop it that emitted one of the few sources of light in the room – even if it was a caustic green, flickering light that seemed to make even the faintest of shadows dance. 

“I do not know if you simply wish to protect the child,” Queen Aconita said, her velvety voice sounding as blunt as a mallet, “or if you are simply an ignorant fool.”

After a pause, the burning green aura enveloping Queen Aconita’s long, twisted horn went out like a snuffed candle. To Rainbow’s immense relief, the vice grip on her muzzle relinquished its painful hold, leaving her teeth aching in her mouth.

Rainbow took a couple seconds flexing the acute pain out of her jaws before putting them to use. “Yeah? And why’s that?” she said, doing her best to sound as un-challenging as possible. It didn’t go well, and even Rainbow could tell that much.

But again, Aconita seemed to overlook the pegasus’ insolent tone. As Rainbow spoke, the towering changeling came to a stop right before the obsidian table, not even glancing for a second in the pegasus’ direction.

“Because,” Aconita responded without looking around, “the attack that took place today happened because of her.” 

Rainbow’s eye widened in shock, her blood running cold. “What?”

Aconita merely glanced Rainbow's way with a look in her eye that sent a shiver down Rainbow's spine. “As long as Agave is here in Equestria, she will continue to draw the Court's fury down on her and everypony around her. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can spare everypony from the consequences. Or, at the very least, your friends.”


~~***~~


Silence ruled over the changeling district; a jarring contrast to the usually hustling and bustling borough. Hardly even a leaf moved in the sprawling canopy above. Bell Peppers hung still and quiet on their vines, and flowerbeds sat motionless, like crowds of aghast spectators that were too scared to move.

But perhaps the most unsettling thing was the lack of commotion; the little buzzing wings, the voices chirping in the trees and down the alleyways, the younglings laughing gleefully as they played hither and thither in their own little worlds – all gone, their owners long-since fled.

To Twilight Sparkle, that silence felt so incredibly out of place, and even more unsettling for feeling that way to begin with. She kept catching herself looking this way and that while walking down an abandoned street, fully anticipating catching a glimpse of something black. Yet, she was only met with disappointment each time, and the longer she went without seeing anyone, the more she began to bite her lip.

The closest she got was when she spotted a couple of scraggly black stalks sticking up out of a garden in front of an empty home, or vivid blue flowers that looked – at first glance – alarmingly like Poison Joke that’d been lovingly decorated around a mail box. But all of those were poor substitutes for the real thing.

It felt so weird; seven or eight months ago, a fly buzzing in her ear would have put her on edge and her eyes scanning for those bright blue-eyed menaces that’d attacked Canterlot. Every time she so much as thought of a changeling, she imagined that terrible queen’s laughter, taunting her again and again in that crystalline cavern.

Now she found the lack of their forms… wrong, like a puzzle missing some of its pieces. Whenever she thought of changelings nowadays, it wasn’t a snarling, hissing or maliciously cackling beast that leapt to her mind. It was their bright, excitedly smiling faces that she thought of – always eager to please, always willing to help. The two images were so irreconcilable that it was like regarding two completely different entities altogether that were as different as day and night.

Such a change in such a short time span…

Again, Twilight shook herself as she trotted alone down the verdant lanes, horn lit and eyes sweeping this way and that. She had to remind herself once more to stay on task; now was not the time for thinking about such things. She had to stay focused, more than ever.

Come on, Rainbow… where are you…?

Ever since the fiasco with Vigil, Twilight had been practicing various forms of magically tracking her friends, some with slightly more success than others. It wasn’t an exact science – in some cases, she was becoming something of a pioneer, actually – and simply magically tagging each and every one of her friends like a herd of cattle was definitely not an option, no matter how much easier it could potentially make her life. But spells like that need to be renewed and maintained regularly, and the spellweaving involved…

She’d at least gotten it to the point where she could narrow down the general area of where each of her friends was based on their magical signature alone, but right now, generalities were not acceptable. It had worked just fine during the incident with Starswirl’s incomplete spell, but back then, their lives hadn’t been hanging in the balance.

In the back of her mind, she kept track of the rest of her friends. It was important to, or else their signals could easily get tangled together if she wasn’t careful.

Rarity and Fluttershy were, to no surprise to Twilight, on the far end of town, likely at one of their houses. As messed up as the fashionista’s appearance had become, it was unlikely they’d be moving anytime soon, but it was still worth keeping track in case that changed.

Pinkie Pie however… she was nearly impossible to nail down. The best Twilight could figure was that she was somewhere on the western end of town, but she was moving so fast and so sporadically that it was like trying to follow a faint blur of motion one had to squint at to even see.

But then there was Applejack…

Twilight bit her lip. She very much didn’t want to think about what the apple farmer was going through. She’d hardly said a word before she’d rushed off to find Rainbow, along with the rest of those cloaked changelings.

And the look on her face…

Twilight shook herself yet again. Stay focused, Twilight. You can worry about Applejack after you find Rainbow. She's only worried. All you have to do is follow the signal, and everything will be just fine.

And she had a signal, this was true. She could tell that Rainbow was indeed still in Ponyville… but that was it.

To her immense frustration and almost equal confusion, the tug on her horn seemed to keep changing directions radically, pulling her one way, then another, like the spell itself couldn’t quite make up its mind. She’d never experienced feedback like this before, not even with Pinkie, and it worried her to no end what it could mean.

Dash… Where are you…?

That was precisely the moment when she heard something clatter to her right, immediately followed by a small squeak.

On a normal day, the sound would’ve been minute and easily missed. Now, however, it seemed to ring out across the empty street, drawing out Twilight’s voice as well as she spun around to confront the source of that sound with a threateningly crackling horn.

She was met with the sight of an abandoned vendor cart set up on the side of the street, much like dozens of others around it. It’d been painted with all manner of pinks, yellows and baby blue swirls, and already it’d been set up for would-be customers. Bundles of the multi-colored cotton candy and caramel corn hung tantalizingly from several wracks on the sides, each one matching the color scheme of the stand.

Curiously, however, Twilight noticed an empty rack just near the bottom… and a small, shaded gap beneath it, just between the ground and the skirt that ran all along the front of the wheeled vendor stall. And as still as the air was, there was no reason for the corner to be swaying like that.

Twilight blinked, then carefully, she crouched down while tilting her head to one side to better see underneath the stall.

And there, in the dark, were a twin set of glints that inhaled sharply upon seeing the alicorn’s eyes.

“Agave?” Twilight spoke, inching a little closer and squinting her eyes. “Is that you, Agave?”

The form didn’t respond, but as Twilight grew closer, she thought she could just make out more of the small figure trembling in the shadows. She could just discern her tiny body, scrunched up as tight as she could get it in the cramped space beneath the wheeled vendor stall. About the only thing she could clearly define, however, was the fluffy, festively wrapped bundle of pink cotton candy the little filly seemed to be attempting fruitlessly to hide herself with.

What Twilight could see for sure, however, was the indistinct shape of the filly’s small fearful eyes… and the glistening streaks on the cheeks underneath them.

Agave sniffed a bit, doing everything she could to keep her voice down. Only her eyes peeked up over a bundle of pilfered cotton candy, but it was all Twilight needed to see.

“It’s okay, Agave,” Twilight said as reassuringly as she could, taking a step closer. “It’s okay. Are you alright?”

Agave didn’t respond right away. She watched Twilight for a moment, sniffing again, before her eyes drifted downward – to the fluffy sugar in front of her.

“I… I never got a chance to try some,” she muttered miserably. “There’s so much I wanted to try… so much I wanted to do. I just go so…”

Her head sagged, hiding behind the cotton candy, her trembling redoubling. “This is all my fault. It’s all my fault! I… I only wanted to… to help…”

Twilight felt her heart sag in her chest. Internally, the purple alicorn couldn’t help but wish Fluttershy was with her, or even Pinkie Pie. Little fillies just weren’t in her area of expertise, especially upset ones. 

“Why are you blaming yourself?” she said. “The Changeling Court is at fault here, not you. Why don’t you come out from under there so that we can talk about it, okay?”

Twilight saw Agave’s head move, and once again she spotted the shine off of the filly’s eyes. So, Twilight gave her best, supporting smile and extended one hoof. “Please? Nopony is mad at you, if that’s what you think. We just want to make sure you’re safe, I promise.”

Agave hesitated further, however. She eyed Twilight, glanced to the presented hoof, then glanced back up to her smiling face. “Are… are you sure?” she asked meekly.

Twilight nodded. “Of course!”

The filly continued to hold her gaze however. “… Cross your heart, hope to fly?”

Twilight nodded enthusiastically. “Stick a cupcake in my – ow!”

Agave, however, continued to remain motionless. She looked down, at nothing in particular.

It took her nearly half a minute to make up her mind, but when she did, she tentatively raised her gaze back towards Twilight, who was massaging one eyelid.

“Well… alright,” Agave mumbled at last. “I guess… I guess it’d be the right thing to do, anyway. Yeah… O-okay, I’m coming out.”

Then, very slowly, Agave began to scoot her way out of the tiny, confined space underneath the wheeled stall. 

Twilight was still rubbing her eye when a pair of jet black, hole-ridden forelegs reaching out into the open air, looking for purchase. They were soon followed by a fanged muzzle, razor sharp horn, the first locks of a precisely trimmed, peerlessly sapphire mane…

Twilight saw that, but for the longest time, she couldn’t quite make the connection. Drones didn’t have manes like that, but ponies didn’t have legs like that, either…

It wasn’t until Twilight witnessed Agave’s bright purple eyes come into contact with the outside light that it suddenly made sense. She watched as Agave’s pupils contracted under the ambient light, going from almond shaped ovals to razor thin slights corralled within a twin set of mulberry irises within moments.

It was a tight fit underneath the cart; even as slight as she was, Agave had to wriggle a little bit to work her midriff free, exposing a shining sapphire carapace that gleamed like a priceless gemstone, along with a set of gossamer, translucent wings. 

Twilight couldn’t help but stare, her mind abruptly grinding to a halt, as the small filly changeling queen picked herself up and stood in place, looking as vulnerable and frail as a wet kitten.

Agave couldn’t quite meet Twilight’s eye, but considering how motionless she’d become, Agave had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

“I… I-I guess it’s, um… it’s time to start talking, isn’t it?”

Twilight merely stared back, eyes far too wide for how small her pupils had become. “Yes,” she said in a voice a few octaves too high, “I think it is.”

Agave nodded, sniffed, then wiped her eyes roughly on one foreleg. “A-alright… Please, take me to Applejack. I’ll explain everything. I promise.”

For a long time, however, Twilight could just stare, her mind uncharacteristically blank.

A queen… a changeling queen… That didn’t make any sense. Yet there she was, clearly a changeling, but clearly something other than a drone.

Agave was smaller than Applejack, true, and there was absolutely no comparing her to the queen that’d attacked Canterlot so many months ago. She was shorter than Twilight herself, but not by much. Her short, precisely trimmed mane fell just short of her shoulders in a very straight, orderly fashion, regardless of a bit of recent ruffling and dirtying from her escape and subsequent concealment.

A simple green badge hung from her neck on a length of roughly spun twine. It was the only thing she was wearing, in fact – no crown, no nothing. Somehow, that fact made her appear even smaller and more insignificant than any other detail about her.

But the more Twilight stared at miserable little Agave – standing alone like some condemned pony on her way to her fate – the more she saw another changeling, standing amid the wreckage and ruin of a collapsed tower, her amber mane plastered to her neck and shoulders by torrential rain while a pair of raw, weary eyes turned to meet hers.

Howdy, girls…

Twilight bit her lip. There were so many concerns and warnings floating around in her head. There was so much confusion in her head – so many questions warring with each other. And yet…

“Alright,” she said at last, composing herself again. “Okay… I guess I’ll have to trust you, then.”

For the first time, the changeling’s eyes lit up slightly with barely repressed hope. “R-really?”

However, she faltered just as quickly when she noticed the look the purple alicorn was giving her. “But the only reason I’m doing that is because you tried to warn my friend,” Twilight said evenly. “I may not know all that much about changelings, but I do know one thing when it comes to queens; Applejack is the exception, not the example. So you’d better be on your best behavior. Understand?”

No pony in the history of Equestria ever managed to nod their head quite as frantically as Agave did the moment Twilight stopped speaking. Even so, the hope in her eyes hadn’t vanished. She had a chance now – an actual chance!

“Y-yes! I understand Miss Sparkle, or Your Highness or –,”

“Twilight is fine,” the purple alicorn said, and even as determined as she was to stay critical of the situation, she couldn’t quite fight back a single bemused sigh.

“R-right,” Agave said with a nod. “Twilight. I promise – Pinkie promise, even – I’ll tell you everything I know!”

“Well that’s too bad.”

Twilight hesitated only for a second, confusion quickly giving way to warning bells shrieking in her head.

In a split second, she registered three things; Firstly, that those words had not come from a suddenly petrified Agave, who’d frozen completely and utterly in place. Secondly, that the voice had come from a short distance behind Twilight herself, and thirdly – arguably the most important thing she could’ve realized at the time – that Agave had, in fact, been hiding for a very good reason.

Her next true warning sign was the sight of Agave’s ashen face getting very pale indeed as her eyes shifted towards something directly behind Twilight – something that was making her eyes grow in terror.

Twilight acted purely on instinct. In a flash, she and Agave disappeared, just as a bolt of acidic light seared a hole through the side of a cotton candy machine, exactly in line with where Twilight’s head had been.

Both filly and mare reappeared a few feet away with a loud crack, Agave behind Twilight, who stood at the ready – wings flared and horn presented towards the threat.

She found herself confronted by somepony who really didn’t look like they should’ve been a threat, and yet one she already knew from experience was anything but harmless.

It wasn’t some fanged and clawed beast, or weapon-wielding adversary who crouched before her. No; it was a rather stately-looking golden stallion with an immaculate, slicked black mane – and a very remorseless scowl on his face.

But what really sent a chill down the young princess’s spine was the feeling of a particular searing heat against the back of her head, like the lingering scald of an open flame she’d been sitting a little too close to. That spell, she realized, had most certainly not been a falsity.

“Well at least I don’t need to worry about whose side you're on,” Twilight shot bitterly, all the while holding her wings out in front of the little changeling behind her.

The stallion’s expression didn’t so much as falter. It was so unnerving – like Twilight was merely staring at a mask and not a real face. “It’s nothing personal, ‘Your Highness’. You’re just in the wrong place at the right time.”

He snorted quietly to himself, all the while eying Twilight like some trapped rodent. “Even so… I’m going to enjoy this. I may make the Queen of Queens angry by killing you… but I can at least die knowing I ended one of you pathetic princesses in time.”

Twilight’s ear twitched. “In time for what?”

The stallion only leered. “Something you won’t be living long enough to see for yourself!”

Without warning, he pounced, hissing like a savage beast as he sprang straight for Twilight.

There was only a few feet between himself and Twilight – too short a distance for the alicorn to perform any kind of complicated spell. Anything that would be coming his way – stunning spells, transfiguring spells, whatever this peace-loving mare could think of – would be hastily cast, and he’d already dealt with enough unicorns over the years to be able to handle anything somepony as young as Twilight could throw his way.

He did not, however, see the stall coming.

One second, he was leaping through the air, deadly focused on his target. The next, a few hundred pounds of timber, metal and sugar broadsided him like a freight train before squashing him against the side of a building with a mighty crash that sent bits of wood and nails flying in every direction.

Suffice to say, his response to that would not be forthcoming anytime soon.

Yet, the only one who could’ve possibly been more surprised than the unfortunate changeling twitching beneath a pile of rubble was Twilight herself.

She blinked, taken completely off guard, her charging spell fizzling out before it could fully manifest. Twilight straightened up, still completely at a loss. “Um… what just happened?”

Her answer, however, came in the form of crunching gravel somewhere off to her left.

Instantly she spun around, ready to face another adversary. Yet, the individual strolling towards her didn’t give off even the faintest sense of hostility.

He moved at his own pace, humming pleasantly to himself like he was simply out for a morning stroll.

But his black, chitinous body told a different story to Twilight, as did the countless holes in his slender legs and the ominous glow surrounding his razor sharp, crackling horn. But it was his eye-patch that really made Twilight’s skin crawl, as did the complete and utter lack of a badge hanging from his neck.

“Ah, there you are,” said the one-eyed changeling pleasantly, his gaze never once faltering from the on-guard princess. “Just the chicas I was looking for. Do you know how hard it is to find two ponies in a town this size?”

“Who are you?” Twilight shot warily, assuming a ready stance.

The changeling actually halted, as if completely disarmed by the alicorn’s behavior.

But what happened next completely took Twilight by surprise. For the one to move next wasn’t her, or the cyclopean changeling. No – it was Agave.

“Cassava!” she cried, her voice filled with relief of all things. And before Twilight could think to stop her, the small changeling bounded past her, scampered towards the new intruder and gave him a great big hug around the neck.

“I knew you’d find me!” Agave cheered, all the while the changeling she’d called Cassava chuckled almost sheepishly.

“You certainly didn’t make it easy for me, Your Highness,” he said with a polite smile. “Next time, stick to our plan, okay?”

“Oh… Sorry…”

“Hold on, you two!” cried Twilight in exasperation.

Both changelings looked up then, as if only then realizing that there was a rather indignant princess standing in their midst.

“Would one of you please tell me what the hay is going on?! Who the hay are you, anyway?” Twilight cried, thrusting a hoof at the one-eyed changeling.

To that, he simply took a bow. “Forgive me, potra maniática. Where are my manners? I am called Cassava, servant to Queen Aconita and, more importantly, Princess Agave’s personal guardian.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. Call her crazy, but she had the sneaking suspicion that she’d just been insulted.

As he straightened up, Cassava flashed a big, cavalier smile full of sharp, pointy teeth. “Now… how about we go find your friends, yes? I think we have quite a bit to discuss, and if I’m not mistaken, a pony to find.”


~~***~~


A million and one thoughts raced through Rainbow’s mind, each one jumbling up the last. She could only really stare at the towering form of Aconita, trying in vain to make all the pieces fit. 

The problem was that it wasn’t like trying to fit a square block through a round hole; it was like taking all the blocks and trying to force them through the same hole at once.

“Agave?” Rainbow replied, failing quite spectacularly to cover up her confusion. “What could Agave possibly do to get the Court so angry at her?”

Aconita glanced over her shoulder at Rainbow, and with a single look, silenced her. In the low light of the eerie room surrounding Rainbow, she could only really see the reflection of the ghostly candlelight striking her piercing eyes glinting out of a blackened silhouette.

“She is a child,” Aconita stated tersely. “Children are never fully aware of the consequences of their actions. In choosing to come here based on some… misguided idealism, all she has accomplished has been to force the Court into action.”

Rainbow couldn’t help but frown back at Aconita. Instead of giving answers, each word the changeling said only created more questions in need of answering.

“So, wait,” Rainbow started slowly, “because your daughter’s here… you decided to start a war? Am I missing something? Cuz, that doesn’t make any sense.”

Aconita did not answer right away. She did, however, scrutinize Rainbow still further in a way that made the pegasus squirm. “And what do we stand to gain from a war?”

Rainbow’s brow only furrowed more at that. “Why are you asking me?” 

For some reason, Aconita’s eyes narrowed slightly at Rainbow’s response, as if her response had been far from acceptable. Then, after a moment, she slowly began to circle the obsidian table like a slinking panther.

“Make no mistake; Applejack is the main priority of the Court. But my foolish daughter’s presence here has jeopardized a plan that is nearing its final stages. And the Court does not tolerate interruptions of any kind.”

Rainbow frowned at that. She hastily tried to scour her brain in order to put the pieces together. The Court was after Agave because she knew something… something that could unravel their plans for Applejack. But what? And what was the Court’s plan?

For a moment, Rainbow remembered how Agave had shouted at Applejack just before all Tartaurus broke out. But what had she said…?

Unbeknownst to the pegasus, however, Aconita continued to watch her out of the corner of her eye with an unreadable, dissecting gaze.

“So,” Rainbow said at last, forcing herself to meet the queen’s eye at last, “That must mean you’re here to deal with her yourself, then Applejack, huh?”

An unpleasant look crossed Aconita’s features, stymieing any further questions from Rainbow, at least for a time. 

Yet, after a moment, the only thing Aconita did was stop on the opposite end of the table from Rainbow before turning her head face the mare.

“Yet again, you are mistaken,” Aconita said shortly, “Unlike the rest of the Court, I want my one and only heir to remain alive. And I will not have her gallivanting around with Applejack, chasing after rumors while throwing my legacy in jeopardy in the process.”

Rainbow ears picked up at that. Rumors? What rumors?

But before she could figure out some way to work the answer out of Aconita, a truly sinister look crossed the changeling queen’s eyes that put the hairs on the back of Rainbow’s neck on end.

“Applejack, on the other hoof, is a different story.”

Rainbow tried to fight back her glare. It was hard, but that warning voice in her head was back; now was not the time to pick a fight. Then again, if she angered the changeling queen too much, the result would likely not be called a ‘fight’.

Once again, Aconita paid no mind to the pegasus’ reaction. She continued to eye the table as if searching for some sort of imperfection to hold against it.

“Bothersome as Applejack has become,” Queen Aconita said, speaking while slowly pacing around and around the table again, “she has no concept of what it means to be a changeling queen. No matter the strides she has taken, she is – ultimately – flawed.”

Rainbow was glaring before she could stop herself. “Yeah, she sucks at your way of ruling. You want to know why? It’s because she’s –”

“Nothing like us?” Aconita suddenly shot, eyes snapping up towards the pegasus again while her voice abruptly became very sharp indeed. “Is that what you think? Do you believe that, because she lives among your kind, she has nothing in common with her own race?”

Rainbow hesitated, caught off guard. “Um… yeah?” she asked, though there was confusion in her voice.

A cold look crossed Aconita’s features. “Then you are just as wrong as Applejack is.”

Rainbow’s heart clenched in her chest, causing her to inhale sharply.

“You will learn, just like she will,” Aconita hissed in a low, cold tone. “There is only our way.” 

In one fluid movement, Aconita came to a halt. And without missing a beat, her long, gnarled horn ignited with a caustic, humming light.

Rainbow braced, expecting the worst. But this time, Aconita’s magic was not meant for her.

Almost reverently, Aconita’s crown rose off of her platinum head, carried by a burning green aura of magic. It floated through the air, before stopping only a foot or so over the center of that black, glassy table.

“The world Applejack envisions,” Aconita said softly, her eyes falling on her crown. “Is nothing but an illusion.”

All of a sudden, Aconita’s horn flared brighter than ever, magic leaping off of it like actual flames. Her eyes surged with burning light as the very air around her started to reverberate.

And then, only a heartbeat later, Queen Aconita’s crown exploded.

Rainbow yelped as changeling fire shot towards the ceiling, towards the obsidian table and everywhere in between. It was as if Aconita had thrown open the hatch to a blast furnace.

But as Rainbow squinted against the burning, blinding light that’d grown to fill the room, she began to make something out within the fire’s heart.

Aconita was still there, unfazed by the flames licking across her body. And right in front of her – at the very epicenter of the firestorm – something was glowing with a superheated, white-hot light amid a shattered nebula of black shards… something round…

“Do you see?” asked Aconita’s voice, and when she heard it, Rainbow jumped. It was so clear, as if the queen were whispering right in her ear. “You may slightly understand changelings. But what do you know about queens, pegasus?”

Rainbow’s heart was jackhammering inside her, as if trying to break out and escape in terror.

Something was terribly wrong with that thing, she could feel it. Just seeing it made her skin crawl; she didn’t want to be near it, not even this close. It wasn’t just the way the shadows danced along the walls like fanatical worshippers. It wasn’t even the way the epicenter of the fire pulsed rhythmically with light, pounding in Rainbow’s ears. It was something else that ate at Rainbow – something far more primordial.

“What do you know of power, or the ruler’s mantle?” shot Aconita disdainfully. “What do you know of magic ancient and potent enough to shape an entire species? Love is what gives us strength, yes, but we are the ones that drive us forward. We are the ones that carry the weight of our entire race upon our shoulders. Our will is their will – our happiness, our sadness, theirs. We maintain control so that our people do not rip themselves apart in savagery.”

Suddenly, Aconita turned her head to one side, and when a transfixed Rainbow turned to follow her gaze, she about jumped out of her skin.

Changelings were appearing all around her. Rainbow could hardly see their bodies, even in the blinding light of the burning crown. All she saw were their cold, heartless eyes gazing out from behind the curtains lining the walls.

There must’ve been dozens of them, perhaps more. As if responding to some unknown signal, they materialized as if the curtains obscured a much, much more vast room than Rainbow could’ve ever imagined.

“Queens exist to rule,” Aconita stated with absolute finality, like a judge handing down a sentence. “Drones exist to serve. These are facts of nature that transcend ideals, motives – what have you. There is no alternative.”

Aconita’s horn flashed brighter still. The flames roared at a deafening pitch… And all at once, it was over.

Like a vacuum, the flames erupting out of Aconita’s crown were very swiftly and very suddenly sucked back in like an explosion in reverse.

The moment the fires had withdrawn, the shards swarming around the crown’s heart shot together faster than the blink of an eye. And just like that, Aconita’s crown reforged itself, and darkness ruled the chamber once again.

A lingering glow emanated from within the crown itself, like a superheated coal that was slowly but surely cooling once again.

Rainbow’s ears were ringing in the sudden silence. Her breaths came out a lot more feverishly than she’d thought, and no matter what she tried, her pulse would not settle down.

After a moment, Aconita magically lifted her crown back atop her head, just as the last bit of light faded from it. She acted just as before – calm, regal, and in Rainbow’s eyes, very scary.

“Make no mistake, pegasus,” Aconita said evenly, filling the deafening silence in the room, “one way or another, Applejack will come to realize this for herself. And when her hour of advent comes, it will be her undoing.”

Rainbow’s eyes got huge, her breath freezing in her lungs. “W…What?”

Aconita returned her gaze to Rainbow, and through the burning sheen coating the queen’s eyes, Dash just thought she saw the shape of Aconita’s eyes glaring mercilessly straight towards her. 

“Applejack will either submit to her – to our – birthright,” Aconita stated decisively, “or she will fail, and someone else will rise to take her place.” 

Rainbow’s gut jolted almost painfully inside of her. Before she could stop to think about what she was doing, her body bristled – her muscles tensed, ready for action. For a moment, she couldn’t understand why her wrists hurt so much, until she realized how much she was pulling against their restraints. “What did you say?” she snarled.

The fear was ebbing away. Something else more potent was rising to take its place, and it burned in Rainbow’s veins like lava.

“Sooner or later,” Aconita said – almost purred –, indifferent to Rainbow’s building hostility, “Applejack, Equestria, our pilfered drones… it will all resolve itself, and we will have Applejack herself to thank. She will either rise to our ranks, or she will die.”

“Shut up!”

It took Rainbow a second to comprehend how loud her voice had exploded out of her, but even then, it was only a background observation not worthy of her time. Her rage was in full control, smashing aside any warning or cautionary instinct inside of her. “You think Applejack is going to fix all your problems for you?! Well think again! She’s a thousand times better than every last one of you put together, and the day she helps you monsters out is the day Tartaurus freezes over!”

“Is that so?” Aconita responded, only now her tone was absolutely frigid.

“Yeah!” Rainbow said back, defiant and resolute. Nothing would dissuade her now – not even the terrified quaver to her heart.

Aconita’s eyes narrowed in a look that seemed to chill the very air. Again, Rainbow heard the warning bells tolling in her head, but she ignored them. She was incensed – too incensed to think straight. At least, until Aconita spoke once more.

“Tell me, pegasus. How are Applejack’s growing pains?”

Rainbow faltered at that, missing a beat. Unfortunately, that was the only, miniscule window Aconita gave her to respond.

“Have they reached her knees?” the changeling queen shot, advancing towards the helpless pegasus with each question she fired off. “Her shoulders? Perhaps her back, or maybe her horn? How is her temper; her patience? How has her magic been behaving? I will ask you again, little pegasus – How much do you know about being a changeling?”

Aconita shot each question so quick that Rainbow had no way to saying anything to them – if she had an answer for them to begin with.

Her assault of questions rattled around Rainbow’s head, rattling her in turn. Her rage failed her in confusion, caving beneath the queen’s onslaught. Because, deep down, her words rang a bell.

“You see now, don’t you?” 

Rainbow jumped when she suddenly realized how close Aconita was. She’d closed the gap between them with relatively few, long strides, until there was nothing between them but a few spare inches of open air.

“You don’t have all the pieces. You’re starting to understand that you, little pegasus, know nothing but your own assumptions,” Aconita hissed.

For a moment, Aconita’s eyes flicked down, as if reluctantly taking in the dark changeling armor still clad across Rainbow’s chest. She didn’t bother hiding her disdain at the sight of a pegasus wearing such a thing, either, like it was some great insult she was only just above addressing.

Rainbow flinched when she saw Aconita raise her hoof, and then slowly graze it over the pegasus’ breastplate – so slowly, as if considering just what to do with it.

She could feel the pressure of Aconita’s hoof, even through the solid metal of the breastplate, and the rasp of it dragging ever so slowly over the armor plating jarred Rainbows already frayed nerves.

“If you are so determined to chase Applejack into our world,” Aconita added quietly for only Dash to hear, “you had best learn that lesson as well.”

Rainbow’s heart thumped painfully in her chest, like it was writhing in agony. She tried her best to throw Aconita’s words out of her head – to not let them fester in her mind. But even as she tried, a memory bubbled up from deep within her – a memory of a cloud, and a sunset.

It means… after Ah shed… Ah ain’t gonna look like a pony in this form no more… Ah ain’t gonna look like me no more…

Pff, what are you saying…?

“All I need to know is who Applejack is,” Rainbow said, her voice uneven but her balance regained, if only just. “It doesn’t matter how much I know or don’t know; Applejack will always be Applejack, and I know more about her than you ever will.”

Aconita actually raised an eyebrow at that. “Really? And what if she were to turn on your friends? What if she were to crush Equestria under her hoof? Will you remain so confident in your allegiance?”

Rainbow didn’t even miss a beat. “There’s not a doubt in my mind.” she shot, steady now. “And that’s because I’ll never let that happen. I will never, ever let Applejack go! And if you… you… nags think you can take her from me…”

She glared at Aconita – actually glared, her eyes burning with rage and hate unbounded by any self-control while leaning even closer towards the queen. “Good luck,” she snarled dangerously. “You'll need it.”

Aconita didn’t seem to react to Rainbow’s declaration. For a moment, she looked at the steadfast mare, her piercing gaze unflinching and unblinking, as if judging her every little action.

Even after everything she’d said, Rainbow hadn’t waivered in the slightest. If anything, it was like her convictions had grown somehow stronger.

Aconita stared at Rainbow, and Rainbow stared back – determined, unwavering, daring the queen to challenge her, even as turmoil raged behind those magenta eyes.

The silver-maned queen’s eyes narrowed, her patience reaching the end of its rope at last.

“If that is what you believe, pegasus—”

“You better believe it is,” Rainbow hissed, but Aconita ignored her.

“—Then I have no more use for a fool like you.” The changeling queen finished with threatening finality through pursed lips. And in the next moment, her long, jagged horn combusted with fiery green light.

Rainbow braced, but she was not about to give Aconita the satisfaction of seeing any more fear in her eyes. If this was going to be how it ended, she would face it with—

clunk

Rainbow heard the sound, but by the time she thought to look towards its source, she was falling. Like a sack of potatoes, she collapsed onto the ground in a heap of very confused pony.

She blinked, completely taken aback. She was lying on the floor – she could both see and feel the carpet underneath her – but it didn’t truly hit her what’d happened for several long, long moments.

She glanced back over her shoulder, but sure enough, there were the manacles – still bolted into the wall, right where they should’ve been. Only, now they were unlatched – and not fastened around Rainbow’s hooves.

Then, slowly, she glanced around in the other direction, towards the looming shape of changeling queen standing menacingly over her.

Aconita’s face was unreadable behind its cold, stony demeanor. She only stared down her muzzle at the pegasus like she was some annoying rodent that'd dared cross her path.

After a moment, her horn flashed again, and with a resounding bang, the doors behind her were thrown open so hard they nearly bounced shut again.

“Go, then,” Aconita prompted, jerking her head over her shoulder towards the unbarred exit. “Go. Try proving me wrong; it will not matter. Deny it if you must. Struggle against it if you wish to waste your time, as I’m sure you will. Applejack will forever be out of your reach, and there is nothing you can do to change that.”

Aconita took a menacing step forward, lowering her head like a stalking predator. “There is nothing you can do to save her from herself.”

Rainbow’s heart had been pounding so hard for so long already – yet, in that moment, it reached a thunderous pitch unlike anything before. It pounded like it was trying to physically escape her by beating its way past her rib cage, and each thump sent a wave of pain, adrenaline and burning determination rushing through her system. “Bull.” she snarled through clenched teeth in a low, vicious growl.

She did not spare Aconita second look. She didn’t wait for her to fill her head with any more poisonous words, or change her mind about letting the pegasus go.

In one move, Rainbow rocketed herself out the open door with all the strength she possessed. She didn’t take in any of her surroundings – not the dusty old corridor, the bare walls and floor – any of it.

Her heart was bashing itself against her rib cage. She had to find Applejack right now. She was going to prove Aconita wrong – no matter what.

That resolution cemented itself into her heart. It wasn’t a burning, roiling fire or frothing surge. It was solid, unyielding – ironclad. Aconita was not, under any circumstances, going to be right. She was not going to take Applejack away from her!

There was a door at the end of the corridor, blocking her path – temporarily. Rainbow didn’t slow down in the slightest; in fact, she only registered the obstruction long enough to put on an extra burst of speed as she struck the door hard enough with her hooves to bash it to pieces.

And just like that, she was in the open air again.

Rainbow reeled for a moment after having the sunlight hit her right in her face, nearly throwing her right out of the air with surprise. 

But it only lasted a moment. 

Instead of braking, Rainbow shot up over fifty feet into the air before she bled too much speed and had to come to an anxious hover.

Her head whipped this way and that in order to get her bearings as fast as possible. She could easily tell that she was on the edge of Ponyville, what with the thatched roof skyline right in front of her.

She only paused for a moment however. She turned herself in the direction of the rising sun – towards the heart of Ponyville, before she took off at top speed with only one, Stetson-wearing thing in mind.

And she didn’t once look back towards the dilapidated house with the sagging roof and cracked, grimy windows she left behind.


~~***~~


Queen Aconita stood in silence, watching the open door with a speculative eye. Whatever occupied her mind, she let none of it show itself in her features. She merely watched the door, as if expecting someone to walk through it at any moment.

But she was not alone for long.

A shadow peeled itself away from the wall, slipping out from behind a deep purple curtain.

For a moment, Vanity glanced towards the door, then turned a deeply troubled and confused look towards the motionless queen.

“You… you let her go? After telling her so much?”

Aconita ignored her soundly, however.

So, Vanity took a quick step forward, looking anxious. “Your Highness, if Rainbow is allowed to reunite with Applejack and tell her and her friends what she's learned here, they’ll never let Princess Agave out of their si—”

And then Vanity’s eyes got huge as realization struck her like a lightning bolt.

Aconita did not move. She did not speak. She merely stared after Rainbow Dash with an unsettling glint in her unfathomable, chilly eyes.