Applejack considered herself level-headed. Reliable. Dependable. A pony who would never shrink away from the truth.
Right now, the truth was that she really, really didn’t want to open her eyes and fully wake up..
Twilight must have noticed her stirring. “Are you all right, Applejack?” the befuddled alicorn asked. “I mean, apart from the obvious?”
No use faking it now. Applejack opened her eyes to an altered basement, brightly lit but with washed-out colors. Twilight was looking down at her, her wings flared in nervousness, and Rarity was nowhere to be seen. Delta Three was watching them both, her expression unreadable.
Applejack tentatively moved a leg, finding that it wasn’t sore, then rose on shaky hooves. “I think so,” she said. “I feel . . . sloshy. Like my guts are oatmeal, and my skin’s an iron bowl that’s keeping it all in.” She stared into Twilight’s eyes. “You can fix this, right?”
“Most likely,” Twilight said. “I’ll need to figure out exactly what just happened. I don’t know if--”
Applejack held up a holey hoof, gesturing her to silence. “Twi," she said, trying to speak firmly. "You can turn ponies into breezies, mice into horses, and I’m pretty sure that orange that hopped like a frog was your fault." She could feel a slight quaver in her throat, but the sound was lost in the discordance of her new voice. “If you can't fix this, nopony can. And you can fix this. Right?”
“I’ll do my best,” Twilight said. “I promise.”
A slight warmth pulsed out from around her, just barely strong enough to be noticeable. Applejack let it seep into where her bones used to be, and she began to find her balance.
Applejack was reliable and dependable, but she had no skill at lying to herself. Later, when there was less to do, she would think about what it would mean if she was stuck as a changeling forever. She knew she couldn't stay reliable or dependable if she thought about it now.
The newly minted changeling fished her hat off the floor. It didn’t fit over her horn, giving it a rakish tilt. “First things first.” She turned to look at the captive in the cage, who was still observing them, and seemed to be trying not to laugh. “Delta Three? Do you know anything about this?”
“You must have some changeling blood,” Delta Three explained. “If a pony’s mother or father was a changeling, changeling magic can awaken them. Changelings’ grandfoals can be awakened, too, and Queen Chrysalis can awaken great-grandfoals.”
Twilight stared at her. “You never told me this before!”
“You made assumptions,” Delta Three said. Her body language didn’t change, but Applejack could hear the shrug in her voice. “I didn’t correct them.”
“Wait a minute,” Applejack said. “Granny Smith told me once about my great-great-umpteen-great-grandpappy Margil Apple. He had a cutie mark of a heart, and most mares didn’t figure out what it really meant ‘til he left them behind. It was like he was always looking for somepony new to love. Was he a changeling?”
“Maybe,” Delta Three said.
“But he died before Granny Smith was born!” Applejack protested.
Delta Three looked over at Twilight and smirked. “I guess you really are more powerful than the queen, Element of Magic.”
“That’s not the problem,” Applejack said. “Margil was with an awful lot of mares, and most of those family lines are still going. A fifth of Ponyville has some Apple blood. If Twi’s magic did this to me . . .”
Delta Three smirked even wider, and Applejack nervously followed her gaze. Twilight’s eyes were rotating in circles, one clockwise and the other counterclockwise, and their veins were beginning to stand out.
“Twilight?” Rarity called from upstairs. “It wasn’t just Applejack. There are quite a few confused-looking changelings outside.”
Twilight’s eyes focused, and she snapped into action. “Tell them to meet in front of the hospital,” she ordered. “Some of them will probably be injured anyway. I’ll go find Spike and make sure he’s okay, and then I’ll send a message to Princess Celestia. I’ll follow you once I get a reply.”
“Now see here, Twilight,” Applejack said. “You’ve got to tell the Princess about--” She paused. “Wait, what?”
“This is way bigger than I can fix on my own,” Twilight said. “Besides, I learned my lesson from the Smarty Pants incident. I’m just scared of what Princess Celestia will think . . .”
“I screwed up, not you,” Applejack told her. “I won’t let you take the fall for it.” She attempted a smile, hoping her fangs wouldn’t prevent it from being reassuring. “Just be honest. The truth’s on your side.”
“Thank you, Applejack,” Twilight replied. Ruefully, she matched the smile. “If I was in your place, I’d be screaming in panic.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re you, Twi,” Applejack said. She put on a serious expression. “I’ll go help Rarity. There must be a lot of scared changelings up there, and maybe another changeling can calm them down. See you at the hospital!”
-- -- -- --
In the few years since Twilight had come to Ponyville, she’d seen Ponyville Hospital filled to capacity more than once, but she’d never seen it overwhelmed. Despite tainted baked goods, stampeding animals, and the occasional Ursa attack, it was almost unheard of for a pony to die in the hospital who wasn’t elderly or terminally ill. The nurses were swift, the doctors were learned, and the victims were often remarkably lucky.
Twilight prayed today wouldn’t be an exception.
A lot of the patients were former pegasi, injured when sudden pain knocked them from the sky. Others had been beaten and bruised by confused friends and family. Still more had simply hurt themselves in accidents, distracted from some dangerous task. There were far too many for the hospital staff to help--at least, not without outside assistance.
Outside the hospital, Pinkie Pie was doing her best to keep everypony calm and maintain order. (This apparently involved balloons.) Just inside, a changeling in a familiar brown hat was helping Nurse Redheart with triage. Twilight was working together with Dr. Stable and Nurse Tenderheart, using their experience and her raw magical power to provide emergency healing for the most seriously injured patients, while Rarity and Spike applied their more modest first-aid knowledge to cleaning and dressing smaller injuries. Only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were missing.
As the sea of injured slowly subsided, Twilight found herself treating a changeling with injuries from broken glass, gently pushing energy through her to stop the bleeding.
“More . . . More . . .” Dr. Stable ordered. “Stop! Tenderheart, check her.”
Most nurses are earth ponies, for much the same reason most farmers are. Tenderheart put an ear to the patient’s chest and focused on the flow of blood through her body, not unlike the flow of sap through a tree, or life through soil. “A bit of bleeding on the left foreleg,” she observed, “but it’s slowing. She’ll be fine.”
Dr. Stable looked up and down the sea of bodies on beds. There were several yellow tags--critical but stable--but no more red ones for now. “Twilight, you should rest now,” he said. “It wouldn’t do to tire yourself out.”
Twilight hadn’t told him yet that this was all her fault. Looking into his eyes, she wondered if he had guessed. It wasn’t like there were a lot of other ponies who could cause something like this.
“I can still help,” Twilight said. “I should--”
“No, Twilight,” Dr. Stable repeated sternly. “If another urgent patient comes in, I want you fresh and ready.” He gestured over to the far corner. “There’s an empty bed over there. Five minutes will do you some good.”
Twilight stumbled over to the corner, surprised to discover that her vision was blurry. Even a princess could wear herself out, it seemed. She closed her eyes for just a moment . . .
. . . And heard thudding hoofsteps rushing towards her.
“Twilight!” Pinkie yelled. “It’s an emergency!”
Twilight cracked an eye open. “What?”
“It’s Roseluck! She’s gone crazy!”
Twilight closed her eye again. “Roseluck’s always crazy, Pinkie.”
“And she’s got a bunch of other ponies with her! They’ve got rocks and shovels and pitchforks--”
The gust of wind from Twilight’s mad rush out the door added new curls to Pinkie’s mane.
There were about twenty armed ponies outside the hospital, for a given value of “armed,” all listening to Roseluck speak. A small wall of unarmed ponies blocked them from entering the hospital, looking scared but resolute.
“What do we do with changeling filth?” Roseluck asked the gathered crowd.
"Rip off their wings!" one mare shouted.
"Break off their horns!" another added.
"That's a good start, but neither of them rhyme with 'filth,'" Roseluck observed. "It'll make a better chant if it rhymes."
"“Um, I don’t want to rip off anypony’s wings,” somepony whimpered. "Or break off their horn."
“It’s rhetoric, Lilly,” Roseluck insisted. “We won’t sound serious if we just say we want them out of town. Now, how about 'filthy changelings'? Can we do a rhyme with that?"
Princess Luna, who had experience with angry mobs, had given Twilight advice on how to handle something like this. This was her first time putting it to use, though.
“I am Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight bellowed. “You are causing a public disturbance! In the name of the royal sisters, depart or be arrested!”
If nothing else, the volume of her voice momentarily cowed Roseluck, but the mare was surprisingly persistent. “Those wings don’t make you a princess, librarian.” Roseluck glared directly into Twilight’s eyes. “The real princesses raise the sun and moon, and the changelings put one of them in a dang cocoon! We’re taking revenge for her, and if you stand in our way, you’re a traitor!”
Twilight gaped at her, unsure which insult to respond to first.
Roseluck smirked grimly as she turned back to the crowd. “What do we do with pony traitors?”
"Rip off their wings!" one mare shouted.
"Break off their horns!" another added.
"It's a good start, but it still doesn't rhyme," Roseluck observed. "Maybe we can do something with 'fake,' or 'fraud,' or . . ."
Twilight rose up into the air without flapping her wings. Her coat turned bone white, and flames danced up and down her back.
“Go. Away!” she shouted.
Roseluck broke and fled, and the rest of the crowd soon followed.
Twilight sank to the ground in exhaustion. This was all too much . . .
“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash yelled. Twilight opened her eyes to find the pegasus carrying a bloody changeling who looked like she’d been bitten by something. “Ghastly Gorge. Quarray eels. She’s hurt bad!”
Maybe Twilight would have time to rest later. Much later. For now, she rushed into the hospital and called for Dr. Stable.
-- -- -- --
Several hours later, Twilight found herself on a small sleeping pad on the hospital floor. Moonlight shone in through the front window.
“Ughhhh,” she droned, still largely out of it. Then she realized where she was, and she snapped awake. “Oh Celestia, I’m sorry! Where’s Dr. Stable? I need to help--”
“Calm down, Twi,” Applejack said. “Everypony who was in danger is okay now. They’re just resting. Don’t wake ‘em up.”
The changeling was lying on the floor beside a bed, which was occupied by another of her kind whose leg was in a cast. Besides Twilight, she seemed to be the only one in the room who wasn’t sleeping.
“When the guards showed up, they said everypony could go home if they wanted to, but all us Apples stayed. It’s pretty well stuffed, but with those folks outside”--she nodded towards the window behind the bed--“it’s safer here than out at the farm.”
Twilight rose and walked to the window. Roseluck was still out there with a small crowd of protesters, but a full squadron of Night Guards was blocking them from coming in. Twilight’s letter to the princesses had evidently not been in vain.
“Betcha Roseluck’s a changeling, too,” Applejack said. “She’s a distant Apple, and the only other Apple who isn’t one is Pinkie. It’d be just like her to hide it.”
“Is that why you’re still . . .” Twilight fumbled for a word. “Holey? You don’t want to be dishonest?”
“You’ve got me pegged,” Applejack said. “This doesn’t feel like me at all, but I guess it’s what I am. It would be like lying if I put on orange fur, at least until you change me back for real.”
Twilight would have lain down next to Applejack, but there wasn’t enough room between the hospital beds. It felt too presumptuous to keep standing, so she laid in the middle of the aisle facing Applejack, and hoped nobody would rush through the room and trip over her.
“Applejack, I have to ask you this,” Twilight said. “I know you don’t want to tell me, but I need to know. How many?”
“It won’t help to know, Twi. It’ll just burn in your gut.”
“You know, don’t you?” Twilight asked. “You had to ask. You’re not the kind of pony who can just look away from things like that. I’m not that kind of pony, either. How many, Applejack?”
Applejack looked down at the floor for a moment before she spoke. “Three so far,” she said. “Thunderlane and Helia fell too far, and Ambrosia had an accident with some construction equipment. A lot of other ponies are missing. Twi, you won’t listen when I say this, but it’s my fault, not yours--”
“You were just the assistant,” Twilight interrupted. “It was my experiment. I should have set up better safety protocols. This is the kind of thing that gets ponies put in prison, Applejack! And since I’m a princess, the other princesses will be the jury.” She couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. “Princess Celestia is going to have to decide whether or not I’ll be punished for this. How am I going to look her in the eye?”
“Does this fancy princess court allow witnesses?” Applejack asked. “‘Cause I’m gonna tell ‘em you did everything you could. You didn’t know I was a changeling. Hay, I didn’t know I was a changeling. But you told me and Rares everything we needed to do, and she could have fixed it if I hadn’t botched it up.”
Twilight wiped at her eyes with her hoof, then quietly sighed. “We can argue later. I need to check on Spike. I should make certain he’s okay after . . . after today.”
“Er . . .” Applejack briefly trailed off. “I figured he would sleep better in his own bed, but I can’t cross Ponyville with Roseluck’s mob out there. And Rarity was watching Sweetie Belle, and Pinkie’s looking after some foals whose parents are missing, and nopony knows where Fluttershy is. That left . . .”
Twilight looked like she’d been hit in the head with a pickaxe. “Oh Celestia, no.”
-- -- -- --
“Oh hey Twilight,” Spike said, talking at twice his usual speed. “I waited up for you but you didn’t come so I waited more but you still didn’t come but I couldn’t sleep so . . .”
“How many aquamarines did he eat?” Twilight asked angrily.
“Just three,” Rainbow said. “He said he gets six, but that sounded like way too many.”
“He gets one!” Twilight yelled. “And not right before bed! He’ll be bouncing off the walls all night!”
“I tried that,” Spike said, “but it turns out I don’t bounce well so I just jumped on my basket but I can’t bounce there so I jumped on your bed but the bed broke . . .”
Twilight groaned. This was going to be a long night.