//------------------------------//
// Chapter 37 - Confrontations 
// Story: Second Chances, Many Changes 
// by ASGeek2012 
//------------------------------//

I stomped a hoof. "Oh, come on! I'm not some little foal who wandered in off the street! It's not like I'm going to be scared by the big, bad changeling!"

The bulky, light brown earth stallion who served as the sheriff of Ponyville set down his newspaper and gave me a tired look. "Miss Swirl, it ain't got nothin' to do with whether you're gonna be scared or not. Rules are rules."

"I'm sixteen. Almost seventeen!"

He raised a hoof and tipped his hat back slightly, fixing his stern eyes on me as he sighed. "Now, math ain't my forte, Miss, but I'm pretty sure both those numbers are below eighteen, an' that makes you underage. Underage visitors gotta be accompanied by a parent or guardian."

I frowned. "They obviously didn't have that rule in Appleloosa when the Crusaders 'visited' Troubleshoes."

The sheriff smirked. "An' now you know why we have that rule now. Miss Applejack suggested it herself."

I face-hoofed. "Of course she did. Thanks a lot, girls," I muttered.

"What was that, Miss?"

I lowered my hoof with a loud clop. "Never mind."

"Honest to Celestia, Miss, not sure why you wanna visit that critter anyway," the stallion drawled. "Even Princess Twilight couldn't get nothin' outta it."

The knee-jerk reaction was to get answers; if neither Michelle nor the infernal avatar would tell me anything, maybe the changeling would. Even as my blood boiled at the idea of seeing it again, I had to try, even if I feared it would devolve into me simply venting and screaming at it.

"Miss, why don't you just go talk to your parents about it?" said the sheriff.

I stiffened. I couldn't even bring myself to raise the topic to Rarity, and I suspected she was avoiding it. I shuddered when I remembered the tone of her voice when it appeared I had been slamming Sweetie Belle herself against the tree.

Did she think I was a monster and just didn't want to dwell on it? Was she hoping she could ignore it? Or did she think my behavior was okay because it was only a mere changeling I was trying to beat to a pulp? Somehow that prospect disturbed me the most.

"Miss?"

"Yeah, fine, okay," I grunted. I spun around. "Thanks for your time."

I stomped out. I looked down at my pendant and frowned. It still glowed in a privacy shield which Twilight maintained at my insistence. If Michelle was going to be that secretive, then two could play at that game.

As the sheriff's office fell behind me, I slowed and sighed. Again, my internal debate over what was right to feel towards Rarity refused to quiet down. Maybe this would be easier if I could finally resolve that.

As I wallowed in my own indecision, two voices drifted towards me. I paid little attention until they were loud enough that I recognized one. "--is not just some stupid obsession, Bon Bon, okay? I'm not crazy for wanting to know for sure!"

I turned my head at the sound of Lyra's voice. She and her friend were trotting down the street before me. Bon Bon rolled her eyes and sighed. "Lyra, I didn't mean that I think you're crazy."

"It sure sounded that way earlier."

"You're reading too much into what I said," Bon Bon declared. "And if anypony knows anything about chasing down things that are elusive, it would be me."

Lyra tilted her head as they slowed to a stop. "Huh?"

"Er, never mind," Bon Bon said quickly. "I'm just worried you're stressing out over this too much."

"Why wouldn't I, after what happened in the castle?" Lyra snapped.

"You might be reading too much into that, too."

Lyra lowered her voice and flicked her gaze about. "Look, there's a reason you're the only one I confided in. If anypony else found out, I--" Her gaze fell squarely on me. "Um ... ah ..."

Bon Bon gave her a puzzled look before following her friend's gaze. "Oh! Hello, Candy. Lyra, this is the filly I told you about who--"

"Yes," Lyra said in a cool voice. "We've met."

Great. Somepony probably told her. "Lyra, I'm sorry I ever suspected you were the changeling," I blurted.

Bon Bon's pupils shrank. "That was you?"

"Yeah, and if I had it to do over again, I would've taken another minute to actually think and--"

"It's okay, Candy, really," Lyra said in a more contrite voice. "Honestly, I'm not sure what happened on that train."

I had my own ideas. Obviously her memory had been messed with like the Crusaders' had. My guess was that she saw Sevfivtoo and Wuntusix outside the window headed for the last car just before the train stopped, and they altered her memory to make her a suspect.

Bon Bon slowly smiled. "Well, then, I'd say that Candy more than made up for it in the work she did on the dress."

Lyra smirked. "If you ever show it to me."

"I'm waiting for an appropriate moment. The anniversary of when we first met is coming up soon."

That might have seemed an odd thing to celebrate if I hadn't remembered down to the hour when I had first met Michelle. Not that we specifically celebrated it, but I supposed I did in my own head without realizing it. "Well, I need to get going."

"Oh, Candy, we were about to go to lunch," said Bon Bon. "Would you like to join us?"

Shit, I had forgotten. I had accepted an invitation to have lunch with Applejack's family. I had not expected to get side-tracked. "Oh, um, thanks, but you just reminded me, I already have a lunch date. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Candy," Bon Bon called out as I turned and galloped away.

"Yeah, see you," said Lyra's quickly fading voice.





I picked up my hooves carefully as Apple Bloom led me to a far corner of an orchard that I would never have guessed was part of Sweet Apple Acres. Had she not explained to me that this particular part of the farm had been left fallow, I would have been more shocked at the wild state of the trees, not to mention the thick underbrush.

"Jus' a l'il further, Candy," Apple Bloom said. Many of the trees had become so overgrown that their canopies merged, and only occasional, mottled sunlight illuminated the way. I might have lost her if it weren't for her big red bow.

"Where exactly are we going?" I said, my tone sounding distressingly like a kid intoning "are we there yet?"

"Right here!" Apple Bloom proclaimed as we stepped into a clearing.

In the center was ... an apple tree. Wow, big surprise. It did sit off on its own, however, and the sunlight gleamed from the skin of its fruit, as healthy and ripe as I might find on any other tree on the farm.

I turned my gaze from the tree. "So where is this reminder Sweetie Belle mentioned?"

Apple Bloom chuckled. "Ya were starin' right at it!" She trotted up to the tree and placed a hoof on its trunk, looking up lovingly into its branches. "This here tree is it."

I tilted my head as I approached. "A tree? Did something happen here?"

"Ya could say that. What color are the apples?"

I lifted my head. "Red. No, wait, some are green." I blinked. "Wait a minute ... is this some trick of the light? That one looks like ..."

Apple Bloom turned and gave the trunk a light buck. A few apples tumbled out of the tree. I levitated the nearest one before my eyes and turned it, my mouth falling open. The apple was exactly half red and half green.

"Betcha never saw apples like that before," Apple Bloom said.

The same could be said for a lot of things since I arrived in Equestria, but even by local standards this seemed odd. "So what gives? Some sort of magical apple?"

Apple Bloom's gaze glistened as she stepped up to me. "I guess in a way it is. Applejack showed me this here tree on the night she was gonna go fight Nightmare Moon. Said it was planted by my parents."

I stopped turning the apple around and looked at her. "They planted magical apples? How come they didn't do that everywhere?"

Apple Bloom moved into the shade of the tree and sat down. "Well, they kinda didn't mean it ta turn out that way," she said as I joined her. "See, as Applejack tells it, our parents had a big row when it came time ta plant this particular orchard. Mom wanted green apples. Dad wanted red."

I put down the apple I was still levitating. "But I've seen both red and green apples here."

Apple Bloom smiled. "Only 'cuz of this tree. They couldn't settle the argument, so each planted a single seed right here. One red, one green. Whichever grew best and bore fruit would decide it." She picked up the apple I had set down and held it in her fore-hooves. "Instead, they got this. They almost never argued 'bout nothin' ever again."

I said nothing, and simply stared at the apple.

"I didn't want Applejack ta go, so she showed me this ta try to explain ta me what she needed ta do," said Apple Bloom in a soft voice. "This tree woulda died if we had eternal night. I mean, yeah, lots of worse things woulda happened, but I kinda wasn't thinkin' about that. So Applejack had ta make it sound like she was protectin' this memory of our parents."

I swallowed hard. Maybe this had been a bad idea from the start. How was I supposed to explain to her that Earth was not the magic fairy land where friendship and love can create magic? "And you still have the tree," I said in a low voice.

"Yeah, I got the tree," said Apple Bloom. "But ya know somethin'? I don't need it."

I stared at her. "But you just said--"

"I said I did need it. Back then. An' I still don't wanna lose it. But if I did, I'd be sad fer a while, sure. But nothin' can take away my memories of 'em. Dontcha have good memories of yer Mom?"

I plucked the apple from her hooves in my magic and stared at it again. For a moment, the colors were not red and green, but black and white. My ninth birthday. Back then, my favorite flavors were vanilla and chocolate. My mother kept asking me which flavor I wanted for my ice cream and cake for my party and I simply could not decide. She had the caterers make everything both vanilla and chocolate swirled together.

It was a trivial memory, nothing compared to magically creating a tree to serve as a memorial to sustain me while somepony went off to do a heroic deed. Nor was she simply catering to a spoiled brat, as I would have been content with either flavor. But it was a memory, and a good one. It made me smile, even as tears welled up in my eyes.

Apple Bloom touched a fore-hoof to me. "Candy? Are ya okay?"

I took a deep breath as I returned the apple to her. "Can you tell me one more thing? You ever look to somepony else as a mother or father?"

Apple Bloom remained quiet for a long moment. "Can you keep a secret, Candy?"

"Of course."

"There was somepony. A very kind mare who was a good friend of the family. She don't live in Ponyville no more, but ... she was a lot like my Mom, an' she was doin' her best ta help us out when my parents passed on. I kinda wished I coulda called her 'Mom'."

"Why didn't you?"

"Didn't seem right. She wasn't lookin' ta do that fer us. An' I had a big family I was close ta, and we were all there fer each other." She paused. "But I know not everypony's that lucky."

I remained silent. My thoughts churned through all those years after my mother's death when all I had for family was an aunt who saw her responsibility to me as no more than a task to execute at best and a burden at worst. Michelle had become surrogate family for me. Just her, not even her parents, as she had not been on the best of terms with them. Perhaps that's why my recent row with her hurt so much. I felt like I had tossed my only remaining family to the curb.

"But ya are now!" Apple Bloom said.

I blinked. "Huh?"

"Well, ya got Rarity and Sweetie Belle. An' when ya meet their parents, I'm sure they'll like ya, too."

I actually smiled. Children always thought the world was so simple. Maybe it was. Maybe only adults complicated it. I was not even an adult yet, and I struggled to find the same simplicity that Apple Bloom had just nailed.

Would my birth mother have thought I was a bad person for what I had done? That was easy to answer: never. Would Rarity think I was a bad person? I wanted to answer the same. I almost could.

Perhaps I was looking for some greater power to step in and decide for me, or for Rarity to impose her will. It didn't work that way, and I had already rebelled against the latter. I had to let Rarity be my mother.

I rose to my hooves. "You know what, Apple Bloom? You're right. I am lucky. Sometimes I just get kind of blind to that."

Apple Bloom smiled and stood. "We should get back ta the house. Lunch is prob'ly ready by now."

I smiled. "Sure, I'd love to."





Rarity sighed as she cleaned up her work area, several items floating through the air glowing with her magic. "Honestly, Candy, I wish you would forget this idea."

I lent my own magic to the effort without even thinking. "I'm not getting answers fast enough. I have to know more, and I feel like there's not a lot of time left."

Rarity turned to me. "Time left before what?"

I had not expected that question. I paused to set some spools of thread away before replying. "Well ... time left before something happens."

"Like what?"

Was she serious? "I don't know! Before Sevfivtoo makes another move, maybe?"

Did Rarity look relieved? What did she think I was going to say? "Candy, I really think you should let Twilight handle this."

"Why?" I demanded.

"Why not?"

"That's not an answer!"

"Please, don't raise your voice to me, there's no need."

"This is something I feel I have to do," I declared. "I have to confront it."

Rarity looked away as she lifted several bolts of fabric onto a high shelf. "Haven't you already 'confronted' it enough?"

My heart pounded. "You think I just want to go beat it up again?"

Rarity paused. "No, Candy, I don't."

I swallowed. "You sure? You really sure of that?"

Rarity turned towards me. "I am. But I'm not sure you are."

I gave her a pained look. "Please, don't ... don't talk like Fluttershy. If I want that, I'll go to her."

"I just think maybe she can handle this better than me."

My eyes misted. I took a deep, quavering breath. "You don't mean that. You can't mean that."

Rarity gave me a look that was part concern and part confusion. "I only mean you've built up a rapport with her concerning this. I only want what's best for you. I ... I don't want to give you bad advice for such a sensitive topic."

I found it too easy to descend into the "I'm a monster" role and remain in a circle of pity that would go nowhere. What both her and Fluttershy were telling me was right, that in the end all that mattered was what I thought of myself. Yet I still felt this was a wedge between us somehow. "So how sensitive was it for you when you saw me beating up what looked like Sweetie Belle?"

"That's not a fair question to ask," Rarity said in a low voice.

"Why not?! You were horrified!"

"I didn't know what was happening!" Rarity cried. "Of course I was upset!"

"You've barely even talked about it since then."

"I didn't want to upset you. I didn't ... I didn't want you to get the wrong idea."

I stared. "Wrong idea?? What are you talking about?"

Only then did I realize Rarity was trembling. "I just ... I wanted to ... Candy, maybe you should tell me something. Why are you coming to me with this?"

My heart fluttered. The words were just there. I didn't have to force them, I only had to speak them. "Why wouldn't I? You're my mother, aren't you?"

For a very quiet moment, she simply stared at me. Suddenly, her eyes welled up, and she threw her fore-legs around me, hugging me more tightly than I ever remembered her doing. My own tears let loose, and we simply stood there for a long moment.

"Candy, I-I'm so sorry," Rarity whispered.

"Sorry for what?" I said in a shaky voice, sniffling once. "You didn't do anything wrong. I was the one who took so long to--"

"I don't mean that." Rarity drew back enough so she could look into my eyes. "Perhaps this sounds rather odd, but I don't know how else to put it. For the last few weeks, I wasn't sure how much of a mother I should be to you. When this arrangement first started, I controlled your life far too much."

"Well, yeah, but we got past that," I said as we slowly broke off the embrace.

"We did, but I never wanted to make that mistake again." She smiled. "As much as I sympathize with your continued plight concerning the pendant and your friend, it's been an utter delight to watch you slowly becoming more confident, more mature, more--"

I held up a hoof. "Whoa, wait, are we talking about the same pony?"

Rarity raised an eyebrow.

I gave her a tiny smile. "Okay, yeah, maybe I have matured a little, but I got a huge way to go."

"And I didn't want to get in the way of that," said Rarity. "When you spoke of not enough time left, I feared you referred to your time in Equestria."

My eyes widened. "Really?"

"It's a decision you eventually need to make, and as much as I would like you to stay, I cannot risk imposing my wishes on you. Thus my dilemma was compounded."

My eyes misted.

Rarity sighed. "When I brought Sweetie Belle to the hospital that day, I felt very guilty about leaving you to fend for yourself. I knew Fluttershy would be there for you, but I was unsure of what my role should be."

"Well, I admit, I did miss you," I said in a soft voice. "But I wasn't upset with you."

"So perhaps you understand now why I avoided the issue. It meant me adopting the role more deeply than perhaps you were ready for. I didn't feel I could just be your mother. You had to--"

I grinned. "To let you be my mother."

"Yes, exactly."

I ran a hoof through my mane. "Well ... I am. I want to. I mean ... look, I may not call you 'Mom' for a while yet. Just too many emotions wrapped up in that term, you know? But it's what I'm starting to think. And I guess it's what I really need right now."

Rarity drew me into another hug. "Which, of course, means we need to settle the matter of you wanting to confront this changeling again. I'm a bit torn as to what to tell you."

"How about 'yes'?" I suggested.

She broke off the hug and gave me another raised eyebrow.

"Can I at least consider that a 'maybe'?"

"Candy, I'm not at all sure levity is called for here."

I looked her in the eye. "Please, give it to me straight. Are you afraid I'm going to go crazy again?"

"No," Rarity replied without hesitation. "But I'm afraid you'll be hurt for no good reason."

"Uh, how to you figure that?"

"You either won't get any answers at all, or you'll hear something you're not ready for."

I instinctively frowned and tensed at the last part of her response, and I suddenly understood what she had meant about not knowing how much of a mother to be. "To be honest, I have a bad feeling that's going to happen eventually regardless."

Rarity sighed. "You may be right. Perhaps we should seize the chance where I can be there for you."





I could almost hear Rarity bristle as we stepped into the room in the back of the sheriff's office and peered at the little black creature that lay huddled in a far corner of the cell. The metal bars shimmered slightly, and when I drew close, I sensed a faint tingle of magic.

"Don't get too close, Miss," said the sheriff. "Bars got an enchantment on 'em. Might give you a bit of a shock if you touch 'em."

I nodded without taking my eyes from the changeling. The surge of rage I had feared would accompany this moment failed to materialize. All I had was the undifferentiated hatred I had for changelings in general, and even that did not leave me frothing at the mouth or instill a desire for exacting justice from it.

"And you're sure that thing cannot get out?" Rarity asked.

"Positive, ma'am," the sheriff drawled. "Princess Twilight herself cast the spell. Not that the critter's shown any sign of wantin' to do much of anythin'."

"Hey," I called out.

The creature remained still, lying on its belly, its wings twitching occasionally. Its head rested on its fore-hooves, turned away from me.

I frowned. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

The changeling shuddered once and was still again.

"Wuntusix!" I yelled. "Stop ignoring me!"

"Easy, dear," Rarity said in a soft voice.

The changeling shuddered again. It slowly turned its head towards me, and I steeled myself. Again, I saw nothing of what I had seen in Sevfivtoo. No cold gaze of heartless calculation peered back. What I had thought might be indifference looked more like resignation. It stared at me for a long moment, finally prompting me to say, "I'm not going away until you tell me what I want to know."

Slowly the creature rose to its hooves, only to fall back on its haunches and remain in the corner. It turned its faintly glowing pupil-less eyes towards me. "I meant what I said before," it said in a quavering voice that made its weird dual-frequency nature even more pronounced. "I never tried to drain you."

"I don't care what you were trying to do," I snapped. "That's not what I was going to ask you. I want to know what's going on! What does Sevfivtoo want? How do I get that monster to leave me alone?!"

"Miss? You okay?" the sheriff said, and I heard him take a step towards me.

"It's all right," said Rarity as she stepped up to me, laying a hoof on my shoulder. "I'll handle this. You need not worry yourself."

The changeling cast its gaze at the floor. "I don't know what Sev wants anymore."

"Liar," I snapped.

"I really don't, but I wish I did."

I stomped a hoof. "Stop lying to me! How can you not know? You're working for her!"

The changeling raised its head and looked at me. "I was supposed to be working for Queen Chrysalis and for the hive."

My jaw tightened. "Yeah, I'm sure that justifies killing somepony, huh?"

"That wasn't my choice to make."

I started to pace alongside the bars. "Yeah, sure, nice defense. Just following orders. That what you were doing when you helped capture Strong Wing? He's lucky Sweetie Belle stumbled on your camp."

The changeling's eyes widened. "Is ... is that pony okay?"

I frowned. "Huh? What do you care?"

"Please, tell me! Is he okay?"

I stared, nonplussed. "Well, yeah, last I heard, he was going to recover."

The creature nodded once. "Sweetie Belle didn't stumble on it. I dispelled the illusion so she'd find it."

Rarity gasped and stepped forward. "You lured her in there?!"

"No!" the changeling cried. "I mean ... it's not what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking you came close to replacing her then!" I yelled.

"That wasn't what I was trying to do!" the changeling pleaded. "I was trying to get Strong Wing rescued."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?!" I bellowed. "You later replaced Sweetie Belle anyway, and she was left at Sevfivtoo's mercy!"

"S-Sev wouldn't have drained her," the changeling said in a shaky voice. "She was s-supposed to be for me."

Rarity made a disgusted noise.

"And how is that better?!" I exclaimed.

"Because I wouldn't drain her!" the changeling cried. "I ... I tried to do the same for your friend. I tried to get Sev to let me appear as you and get her to peacefully hand over the pendant."

"Uh-huh," I muttered. "Sure. You know so much about what you supposedly wanted to do, and yet you won't tell us what Sevfivtoo really wants."

"Because I don't know!" the creature screeched, setting my teeth on edge. "After the summit, Queen Chrysalis banished Sev from the hive because she had killed. I think she got it in her head then to be a rival to our Queen. Or maybe she's been planning it for a while, I don't know. And I don't know why she still wants the pendant even after the Queen banished her."

I exchanged a look with Rarity. "I would be very judicious in what you choose to reveal, Candy," she said. "Perhaps further discussion should wait until Twilight can be summoned."

"Now you see why I didn't say anything to the Princess," said the creature in a softer voice. "I had nothing to tell her that she didn't already know, and I ... um ..." It cast its gaze downward again. "And nothing I can say will change my fate."

I had no idea what it meant and had no interest in pursuing it. I assumed it meant some sort of trial or judgment would take place. I truly was no longer interested in taking out my frustrations on this creature.

The changeling sighed and turned away. "Please, just leave me alone. Nothing I can say will help."

My instinct was to accuse it of lying again to protect its partner, but I quelled it before the words could reach my lips. I closed my eyes and lay a hoof on my pendant. "Do you even care that your partner left my friend with no body?"

After a pause, I heard the changeling say in a confused voice, "No body?"

I clenched my teeth and whirled around to face it. "It wasn't good enough that I had to watch her die!" I yelled. "Now her spirit is trapped in the pendant! It's almost worse than dying!"

The changeling's mouth fell open. "H-her spirit is inside the pendant??"

"What, you didn't know?"

"No, I didn't. All I knew was that the avatar of Starswirl the Bearded was within."

Rarity stepped forward. "What about Sevfivtoo? Does she know?"

The changeling swallowed hard. "I-I don't know. Maybe."

I narrowed my eyes. "More likely she knows and doesn't care. She killed my friend once, why not a second time, right? Chrysalis didn't care, either! She even tried to use the pendant when she briefly got hold of it!"

The changeling cringed. "I don't think the Queen knew, either, or she would've changed her strategy. She would've found a way to take advantage of the situation."

I felt a chill radiate down my spine, and I shivered hard. Rarity drew close and said, "Wuntusix, explain yourself. What did you mean by that?"

The changeling remained silent, its gaze darting.

"Answer her!" I bellowed.

The changeling swallowed hard. "Y-you're asking me to betray--"

"I'm asking you to help protect my friend!" I cried. "You keep claiming you never wanted to see anypony killed. You implied you didn't agree with how Sevfivtoo was doing things. Fine! Prove it! Tell us what we need to know!"

The changeling's jaw trembled. "I-I guess it doesn't matter now. Queen Chrysalis first found out about the pendant before the invasion of Canterlot when some drones found the ruins of a lab belonging to Starswirl the Bearded. She found where he had hidden his journals and learned everything he knew about the pendant. She also found where the pendant had been hidden, but it had already been plundered a long time ago. She wanted to use the pendant to further her control over Equestria once she conquered Canterlot, but abandoned that idea when she found the pendant was gone. Only after the invasion failed did she become obsessed with finding it."

"I had wondered why Chrysalis never bothered with us in all that time," said Rarity. "I suppose she was too busy pursuing this idea."

"Who sent it to Earth?" I demanded. "Who started this in the first place?"

"If our Queen knew, she never shared that information with me," said the changeling. "She didn't tell me very much about it at all. Most of what I know I learned from Sev. I doubted she told me everything she knew."

"Did she tell you anything about how the pendant worked or what it's purpose was?"

"Only what you likely already know, that it can draw in and contain a spirit."

I sighed. Another dead end.

"You still didn't answer the question," said Rarity in a stern voice. "How would Chrysalis have taken advantage of this situation?"

"I'm not sure," the creature said. "All I know is that spirit energy is very different from magical energy. I doubt even our Queen understood it completely. If she had known a spirit resided in the pendant, she would've wanted to study it."

My heart thundered. I could not stop trembling even after Rarity wrapped a fore-leg around me and drew me close. My throat tightened, but I forced the words out. "Are you saying Sevfivtoo wants the pendant because Cherry's spirit is inside it??"

The changeling's wings drooped. "I can't think of any other reason. I-I'm sorry."

For just a moment, I wanted to show how much I appreciated its apology by throwing it a few times against the far wall of the cell. Instead, I clenched my teeth until my jaw ached and the urge passed.

"Candy, we need to talk to Twilight at once," Rarity said.

I glared at the changeling. It just looked sadly back. "So why didn't you tell Twilight all of this?" I demanded.

"I didn't know your friend's spirit was in the pendant."

"And what difference does that make?!"

The changeling shivered. "We've b-been brought to the edge of ruin. But Sev could push us over into the abyss."

"Huh?"

The changeling turned away. "It doesn't matter. You wouldn't understand. Or care."

I had the urge to toss it again, but out of frustration rather than rage. Rarity tugged at me and said, "You're not going to get anything more out of it. We need to go."

"Fine," I muttered as I turned away.

Brink of ruin? Heading into the abyss? I had no intention of letting anything like that happen. Maybe the changeling had a fatalistic outlook, but I refused to give into it. I had finally started to get my head screwed on straight, and I saw a chance at a decent life. I had no intention of letting it slip away.

I might even want to actually stay in Equestria after all.