Appleloosa, Day 1, 35 Days Ago
"'At least it ain't snowin' in Appleloosa, Twiligh' Applejack said. I knew I should have packed my snow boots and my snow survival guide." Twilight Sparkle, indomitable friend and Equestria's number 1 skeptic, sighed, mostly to herself. A thick puff of steam rose forth from her muzzle into the slow but constant snowfall. She pulled the gold and crimson scarf and pure white wind-breaker tighter about herself against the snowy wind.
"I can summarize the entire snow survival guide for you." said Spike, number 1 assistant to Twilight Sparkle, bottomless supply of wit, walking mailbox and Equestria's number 2 skeptic, as he trailed behind his boss, leaping from hoofprint to hoofprint to avoid trudging through the thick snow. "Stay inside."
"At least the snow didn't stop us seeing Chief Thunderhooves to discuss Buffalo divination. That made this trip entirely worth it." Twilight said, brightly.
"Yeah. I mean, who would've thought the future lies hidden in, of all things, buffalo doo? You don't know how much that's changed my life." Spike said, spreading his paws wide as if painting a dramatic picture in the air. "Just picture it, from now on my future's aaaaall dung."
"Spike, they divine the future from the patterns they see within. The best amongst them can predict finer details by watching the changes as it dries and...." Twilight began to explain.
"All I saw was a load of bull." Spike muttered, before quickly changing the subject. "Think of all the more interesting things we could've been doing in Appleloosa. Like see apples, talk about apples, taste apples and try out the local sport, apple-staring. Hey, Twilight, do you know what's really really cool about apple-staring?"
"No, what?" Twilight asked, with genuine curiosity.
"Nothing." Spike said flatly.
"Speaking of which, Fluttershy gave it a try last night. She got dragged into it by the regulars at the town saloon." Twilight said with an amused snigger at the memory. "She told me it was quite fun, actually. She won all those apples we had for breakfast."
"Oh, yeah, those were surprisingly good red apples." Spike said.
"They were green before." Twilight chuckled. "Fluttershy made them all blush red."
"...." Spike blinked. "Riiiiiight."
"Now Applejack should be wrapping up the deal on those apple tree sapplings we came for this afternoon and we should be able to return to Ponyville later in the evening. We need to make sure we get our souvenirs for the others by then." Twilight said, referring to her sizeable weatherproof checklist.
"Yeah, I mean, it'll take forever to decide between apples, apples, and, yeah, apples." Spike muttered. "Pinkie? They've got some neat joke apples. They look like apples, but they are, in fact, apples. Rainbow? We can tell her it's a make-your-own-cider kit. Rarity..." Spike's eyes suddenly glazed over dreamily. "Rarity..." He sighed, wistfully. "If my heart were an apple, I'd so give it to you, Rarity.."
"Well, we're definitely spoilt for choice." Twilight said quickly, pretending she hadn't noticed Spike turning all googly-eyed. "There are exactly 3.5 souvenir shops in Appleloosa selling a whole variety of the town's apple-based signature products." Twilight said, almost as if she had double and triple-checked the fact. "I double and triple-checked this last night." She added, with a touch of pride.
"Wait, how exactly do you get half a souvenir shop?" Spike asked, quizzically, snapping out of his reverie.
"Oh, one shop only sells souvenirs half the time. The other half it's just a regular apple store." Twilight explained.
"Oooh, I get it. It's sort of, like, 'today I'm going to sell apples as souvenirs', and tomorrow it'd be sort of, like, 'today I'm just selling apples'." Spike said in mock excitement.
"Anything's fine as long as we actually-oooof!" Twilight gasped as she sank all the way up to her flank in a particularly deep yet loose pile of snow. "...get there..." she muttered, aiming a glowing horn at the offending snow. They seemed to melt out of embarrassment under her stare. "Spike, add to checklist. Ask Rainbow Dash why we're delaying the Winter Wrap-up again." The young mare grumbled as she began vapourizing a trail through the snow. There were admittedly guilty occasions (just a few, honest!) when Twilight felt Equestria was, to put it bluntly, lazy. Almost every natural phenomena from sunrise to autumn leaves falling had to be in some way managed by its sentient inhabitants. But then it's their home, it's their chores, she sighed inwardly. It's the price to pay for order over chaos, and knowing chaos' power (and sense of humour), it was a small price to pay.
"Can I just reuse yesterday's list, Twilight?" Spike asked innocently. "I mean, you only put that item on the list about, I don't know, 20 times yesterday? And the answer's the same. That blizzard extended all the way south to Foalida so the weather teams need to start cleaning up down there. Speaking of Foalida, you sure we're not going to end up there the way we're lost and all? I knew we should've accepted Little Strongheart's offer to guide us back to town."
"Oh, Spike, we're not lost." Twilight chided her little dragon companion with a chuckle. "I memorized the map inside 'Absolutely Appleloosa, the Other Big Apple'."
"Oh, the little filly and colt's guide?" Spike remarked, eyebrow at risk of snapping in its arc as he pulled the aforementioned tourist pamphlet out the saddlebags Twilight wore over her jacket, "Yeah, I think we made a wrong turn at the giant smily sun. Don't blame ya, difficult to see it behind all the big creepy red hearts around it." He said, pointing at the cartoony little map.
"Spike, I assure you, we're...." Twilight looked around. There was nothing but snowy desert and the occasional spindly dead tree dotted about stretching all the way out to the horizon. In front of them rose a jagged row of rocky hills, beyond which a dark cloud sat low and menacing, hissing at them with fangs of lightning and roars of thunder. "....not lost."
"Oh, I guess we don't have to worry about ending up in Foalida." Spike said, looking down at the map, "Cause there's no way we're getting through the Badlands alive." He pointed at the jagged outcroppings in the distance. "I remember Daring Do once said the name's like Equestria's biggest understatement. It's home to Equestria's biggest cragadilles, manticores, sheep, quarray eels, giant spiders and..." He gulped, "...changelings...entire hives of changelings."
"Alright, I admit it, we're lost. Happy now?" Twilight said quickly, her voice just a pitch higher.
"I will be..." Spike said, shivering visibly, "...when we're away from all the things that go bump and roar and..."
"Meep!" There was a squee. Then silence.
"Twilight..." Spike chuckled nervously, patting her comfortingly on her side, "There's no need to be that upset."
"That...wasn't me." Twilight whispered stiffly.
Spike froze, and most definitely not from the cold.
The duo slowly edged closed together until they were tail to flank. "See anything...?" Spike whispered, voice shaking.
"Err....I see hoofprints." Twilight looked down at the snow closely for the first time and noticed miniature hoofprints slowly disappearing under the falling snow.
"Where do they lead?" Spike asked in an increasingly urgent whisper.
Her eyes followed the little trail, pupils widening, heart quickening. Horror rose as she realized the unsteady and winding trail of hoofprints lead closer and closer. Straight to her in fact. "Me..." Twilight barely whispered.
With a gulp she looked down at her forehooves. There the little trail of hoofprints ended in a small, quivering mound, almost entirely covered by snow flakes. Bits of dark blue hid under the mass of white threatening to bury it. A small pair of quivering appendages suddenly reached out of the mound and took hold of her around one forehoof. Her heart leapt into her throat, beating the yelp of fright on its way to her mouth. The tensed muscles in her legs uncoiled like a wound spring as she leapt back, bowling Spike over into the snow.
She skid backwards into a standstill, digging her hooves deep into the snow. She stood on shaky hooves, stance low, ready to bolt. Obeying her unicorn instincts, she raised her horn up towards the mound, just as ready to fight. She watched, eyes narrowing, as arcane light coursed up the spiral of her horn, feeding into the tip, casting a brilliant lilac light across the snow.
As she finally allowed herself a moment for her prided logic to catch up, she suddenly put 2 and 2 together. Small hoofprints, tiny mound in the snow. She almost slapped herself as she realized how she had allowed a conversation to rile her up and suppress any semblance of reason. More importantly, there might be a foal there in need of help.
"A little help here..." Spike muttered, spitting out snow as he picked himself up just in time to see Twilight approach the trembling little mound. "Or, yeah, help the menacing little mound of snow." He muttered. He recognized that look on her face, it was one of curiosity, the sort she wore right before the doo hits the windmill. "Err...Twilight?"
Twilight was too busy examining the mound, now almost entirely covered in white. It seemed to flinch at her approach but made no attempt to escape. Two watery pools of turquoise looked up at her. It took her a moment to register that they were eyes. It was a teeny logical jump, considering the two orbs lacked pupils of any shape or form. 'So...maybe not a foal', another thought rose up treacherously in her mind. But before she could let fear get the better of her again, she heard something.
"W-Was g-grAnmE..." A tremulous little voice, every syllable full of fear and dread, rose up. The little mound of snow was visibly shaking even more. "Was grAnmE ga yorr r.h.e p-p-pwEsia....pwEsia r.w. mama!" It was a language not only foreign but entirely alien to Twilight's ears, filled with not only wide swinging variations in pitch but also throaty echoes, all woven together into a short melody. While the meaning was entirely lost upon her, Twilight could almost feel the emotion behind it - it was one of determination amidst a torrent of mortally gripping fear. "...r.w. mama! PwEsia r.w. mama!" The voice pleaded louder in desperation.
"It speaks!" Spike gasped, "...and it doesn't go rawr." He added, thoughtfully.
The small pair of, yes, they were tiny hooves, slowly reached out and grasped Twilight's forehooves once more. With a weak, quavering but determined tug the little creature seemed to plead for her to....come? To follow it?
With a gentle probing of her magic she brushed aside the snow covering the quivering little creature. It tensed up, curling up into a protective little ball. It mewled weakly as what little determination and courage allowed it to speak out seemed to die away entirely. A little more brushing revealed a small, shuddering stubby pair of wings wrapped around the creature protectively. Then a little horn atop the creature's head came into view. It was unlike any horn she had ever encountered, being all angles and edges, lacking the usual spiral groove common to unicorn horns, ending in a narrow blunt tip. Then came the mane hugging the horn, a long, lustrous wave of silky silver white highlighted by a single streak of dark blue hair, soft and springy to the touch, so delicate and smooth it almost merged seamlessly with the snow. Beneath it were the pair of crystalline turquoise pools, now gripped in a tearful display of fear.
"By golly, it's a little foal." Spike breathed. Sure he hadn't noticed the finer features that said otherwise, but from a distance it was the shape of a foal. It spoke like a foal. It acted like a foal. It was scared like a foal lost and alone in the middle of the dangerous monster-infested wilderness.
Maternal instincts overrode logic as Twilight pulled off her scarf slowly. "Don't be afraid." She said, as comfortingly as she could. She put on the most reassuring smile she could as she reached down with the scarf in her forehooves, "I won't harm you, I promise."
With a weak squeak and a feeble token attempt at struggling against her, the little creature was scooped up into the scarf and quickly wrapped up and pulled into Twilight's forehooves. She sat back on her haunches, struggling to cradle the weakly thrashing foal. Finally, something, probably the warmth from the scarf, probably Twilight's comforting hold, perhaps just the sheer exhaustion, calmed the little foal down.
As captor and captive both calmed down Twilight allowed herself some time to assess things further. She felt soft, delicate fur underneath, which was to be expected. What she didn't expect was something hard that clunked hollowly against her hooves. She looked down and found that the little foal's chest and torso were bound in a silver gold armour. On closer inspection it looked a little too naturally hewn to be hoofmade armour, however. If anything it looked like it had grown, like an insect's carapace.
Then it hit her. Pupil-less pool-like eyes, dark fur, wings and horn, insectoid carapace...
"You're....a changeling." Twilight said, half-disbelieving herself.
"Ch-ch-changeling?!" Spike dove for cover underneath Twilight's rear hooves. "Y-y-you're serious?!"
"A changeling filly from the looks of it." Twilight said, slowly processing her own words in her head. "Her features are a little too soft for a changeling though. She's more...pony-like if anything." Twilight said, brushing the mane out of the filly's face gently with a pinch of her magic. The round tear-stained cheeks, the cute little muzzle, the little face was devoid of the angular features she had come to associate with changelings.
"B-but that's what they're good at, looking like things they're not!" Spike pointed out.
"Granted. But this filly doesn't look like she's trying to trick us." Twilight said, "I'm tempted to say this is her real form."
As Twilight watched, the blank pools of turquoise green that were the little changeling's eyes seemed to...slide sideways? No, rather, something overlying them was. 'It's an eyelid, a third eyelid' Twilight thought to herself, her inner scientist suddenly exploding with curiosity. The third eyelids slid away horizontally, revealing the filly's real eyes beneath, a pair of lavender eyes lying on glowing turquoise pools. At their centre were catlike pupils, gleaming like jetblack harlequin gems.
She had read about them, 'nictitating membranes', otherwise known as third eyelids, common to some creatures such as gryphons, phoenixes and manticores. While they were as protective as the first and second eyelids common to most creatures, they were also often transparent, allowing normal vision.
"Meep..." The little filly mewled weakly, pointing a shivering hoof out towards the wilderness. "W-Was grAnmE ga yorr r.h.e...pwEsia r.w. mama." She whispered weakly, "P-PwEsia...PwEsia r.w. mama." A pair of pleading eyes locked with Twilight's once more.
For such a little creature to approach a complete stranger, an entirely different species, while gripped in such soul-shaking fear....what could drive such a young child to show this much courage and determination?
"'Mama', you say?" Twilight repeated the filly's words.
The little filly nodded, suddenly letting out a little sob of relief as tears of happiness filled her eyes. "Yessie! Yessie! Mama!" She nodded, waving her little hoof into the distance.
"....Spike, we have a mother changeling to find." Twilight suddenly declared, lifting the little filly with her magic and planting her safely on her back in between her saddle bags.
"M-mother changeling?! A-are you sure, Twilight?!" Spike gasped.
"We took on an entire army before. Worst case scenario, I can handle one changeling. But I daresay we won't have to worry about ourselves. This child's mother is in trouble of some sort." Twilight said, lowering her horn to the faint hoofmarks left behind in the filly's wake. They had almost entirely been obliterated by the falling snow and wind, but a simple tracking spell was all it took to make them glow a brilliant violet against the pure pristine white around them.
"Come on." Twilight said to a reluctant Spike. With that, they set off. The trail wound back and forth through the frozen wilderness, showing just how panicked and aimless the little filly had been. The hoofmarks seemed to come together haphazardly in some places, splay out in others, where Twilight could only imagine the child falling over before picking herself up and struggling on with her search for help.
All throughout their search the little filly remained quiet, little hooves clutching the back of Twilight's neck fearfully. From time to time Twilight heard quiet sniffling, interspersed with muffled sobs. The child had fought back tears throughout the time she was begging for help, only breaking into tears at the very end. For her to show so much courage at such a young age, Twilight couldn't help but wonder, what sort of upbringing do changeling foals go through?
Much to Spike and Twilight's growing trepidation, the trail brought them closer and closer to the row of jagged mountains that heralded the beginning of the Badlands. It took all of half an hour to finally find the end of the trail. To their relief it was still far away from the foreboding mountain range. Twilight couldn't help but wonder how long the child had been labouring in her search. Hours it must have been.
They came to yet another a mound in the snow, this one much bigger. The snow around it was dirtied in some places with wide dark stains. Twilight was hoping she was only imagining them to be a very dark shade of red.
The little filly leapt off Twilight's back, landing with a plop in the snow. She dug herself out of the tiny crater she made with her landing and began running the remainder of the distance, albeit unsteadily, towards the mound. "Mama! Mama!" She cried in her wheezing voice.
"Spike, get ready to write a letter for help." Twilight said, approaching the mound with her horn glowing. The little filly was already by its side, little hooves digging into the snow desperately.
"B-but this is a changeling. Who'd help a changeling?" Spike asked, nervously.
"Fluttershy and Applejack for starters." Twilight said, putting faith in her friends. With a sweep of her magic she cleared off the snow covering the mound.
Twilight's eyes widened. Then narrowed. What the snow revealed summoned up memories that left a bitter taste in her already dry mouth. A feeling foul and horrid rose up from some deep dark pit she didn't even know she had, feelings that burned with both righteous fury and searing guilt. "Hold off on the letter, Spike." She barely managed to avoid screaming, lowering her voice to a low growl.
"Huh?" Spike looked around, little scroll of parchment ready to be sent in his claws.
Twilight watched as the little filly whimpered helplessly, nuzzling the unconscious form of her mother lying on her side. "Mama?" She mewled, "Mama, zEnva! GrAnmE ga yorr r.h.e pwEsia zEnva! Mama, zEnva!" She nudged her mother's sleeping face more and more desperately. "PwEsia....zEnva..." She sobbed, her eyes overflowing with fresh tears. She gritted her little teeth, digging her hooves into the snow and butting her horn against her mother's forehead. She strained, her face contorted into one of intense concentration. Small dark blue sparks spurted from her tiny horn. Whatever it was meant to do, the best she achieved was lighting up her mother's sleeping face, all the better for Twilight to see. The already weak little filly finally fell over, spent, her magic dimming pitifully. "Mama...." She sobbed helplessly, dragging herself hoof by hoof, as close as she could to her mother. "Mama..." She cried, pleadingly, as if hoping for some miracle. "MAMAAAAAAA!" One last desperate wail rang out across the frozen wilderness, before dissolving away into the howling wind.
"Twilight, you want me to send the letter or not?" Spike asked, "Uuh...Twilight? You look like you saw a ghost."
Despite the scene before her Twilight heard a low growl. She was surprised to recognize it as her own. "Worse. It's Chrysalis."