In a Far Away Land

by TheReaderAndWriter

Endless Questions

There had been so many questions in Twilight's mind that night. What was going on? How was Applejack. What were the details? What had happened during the passed years? Why was she deep underground? Twilight didn't believe this to be Promise Peak. While her group hadn't traveled 8,000 blocks underground, this could have been Promise Peak, but Twilight couldn't understand how Applejack could associate with ponies like those who had attacked at the village. These strangers surrounding her, while aggressive, at least tried to keep some of them alive. The pegasi with the bows seemed less interested in taking prisoners.

However, for whatever reason, after all the chaos that had ensued, Applejack hadn't even given Twilight a hug. Her old friend, apparently the 'chief', ordered Twilight's friends to go free, and then Applejack had disappeared.

Having been given a large shared cave with several beds,Twilight and her friends had been up for quite some time, talking to each other. They had nopony else to talk to, and the guards outside didn't really speak to them. Twilight noted, though, that it was clear they were not prisoners anymore. Twilight had left to get something to drink without even an objection from anyone. It wouldn't have mattered in any case, as they simply couldn't leave now. Applejack was here, but there were questions to be asked.

There was a strange atmosphere in the group after this sudden revelation. Big Macintosh was even more quiet than usual, looking both hopeful and confused as he was deep in thought. While Twilight felt relief that Applejack was alive, and seemingly well, they didn't know anything about the situation. Why was Applejack around these cold strangers? While not as keen to killing as the pegasi, they had still outright tried to kill Spike.

"Tomorrow I'm going to ask Applejack about everything, and Time... the changeling," said Twilight, right before they all had gone to bed.

***

If Twilight would have had a choice, then she would have first and foremost talked to Applejack, but she had been nowhere to be seen the next day. When asked, the guards had said she 'was out', though they had left her a message from Applejack, that she would be with Twilight soon. Without Applejack, Twilight had decided to get it over with: what was the deal with the changeling?

The whole group had been lead to the same prison they had been in the night before, thought they had been stopped by Clear Cut as they approached the door.

"The thing said that he wanted to talk to you before anyone else," said Clear Cut, pointing at Twilight.

"Is he alright?" asked Soarin.

"What do you care?" asked Clear Cut to Soarin. He didn't answer.

"Twilight, maybe you shouldn't do this alone," said Spike, suddenly taking a step towards her. Twilight turned to Spike, giving him a calming smile.

"It's alright, Spike. I can do this," said Twilight.

Spike seemed to hesitate, but he eventually relented. Instead, he gave Clear Cut a fierce glare.

"If anything happens to her in there, I will keep you responsible," said Spike.

"You seem to have a bit of an attitude problem," said Clear Cut, returning the stare.

"Only with those that have threatened the ponies I care about," said Spike.

"I do what's needed to protect my ponies."

"Clear Cut, I'm warning you, the same goes for me," said Spike.

Twilight gave Rainbow Dash and Rarity a look, subtly telling them to keep it from growing into an outright fight as she herself had to talk to the changeling. Clear Cut took his mind off Spike for a moment to pull a lever, opening the door.

Twilight walked in.

"I hate lizards," said Clear Cut.

"And I don't like you in general," said Spike just as the door closed behind Twilight. She tried to ignore their little argument and walk forward, looking in each cell she passed.

Once she rounded the corner, she saw him in the nearest cell. He was sitting in the corner on top of his bed, looking down at the floor. While his eyes were unsettlingly unreadable, his body language spoke of melancholy, uncertainty and shame. He didn't move or seemed to acknowledge her in the slightest, but Twilight understood he was aware. She waited for him to speak. It took a few uncomfortable moments, before he finally looked up at her.

"Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle," he said.

Twilight was almost taken aback. For some reason she had almost expected Time Turner's voice to come out, but instead it was raspy, screeching, and surprisingly high-pitched.

"Hey...," but she couldn't find anything else to say.

"I... suppose you want some answers, right?" Twilight nodded slightly. "What do you want me to start with?"

Taking a deep breath, Twilight thought through everything she wanted to know, but the most pressing matter relating to this must have been...

"Where's the real Time Turner?" she asked.

"All I know is that he should have been somewhere in Canterlot when we were transported."

"Why?"

"Me and my siblings had been instructed to... well, spy on you. They broke an expensive clock in Canterlot, Time Turner was the only pony qualified to repair it, and I copied Time Turner as he got on the train. He should have been gone a day or two. During that period, I was going to scout out Ponyville, find out who I could copy for a longer amount of time without getting suspected. However... well, you know what happened," said Time Turner.

"Yeah... I do. Wait, why were you going to spy on me?" asked Twilight.

"Because you had become a princess. Do you have any idea how dangerous a new monarch can be to my kind? Ever since Queen 'Esteemed Idiot' Chrysalis and her brood practically put on a show revealing us to the rest of the world, several kings, queens, princes and princesses all over has been trying to find us out, and exterminate us. We just want to feed and live in peace. We wanted to know who you really were, so that we knew if we would have been able to see you as a potential ally, or just another to avoid. You were about to get a lot of dangerous power. We wanted to know more."

"Wait, isn't Chrysalis-"

"No!" he suddenly yelled. "She is not my queen, she is worthless garbage! She made everyone think of my kind like we are a bunch of succubi! We aren't like that! We feed on the slightest residual love! Most of us even try to rekindle love that has faded! We're not demons, we are tricksters, the ponies you meet in the street who will talk to you about your problems with your true love! We are the ponies who talk just a bit too loud about what one's other half would like to get for a gift! We are there during your dinners, to make sure the atmosphere is just that extra bit roman-"

"Alright, alright! I didn't ask for your resume! So, you have nothing to do with her?"

"Not even slightly. There are several families, or 'communities', I guess you would call them. This doesn't mean anything to you, but I am the son of Queen Sioloc. Proud to be too, she has never wished any harm upon any creature." He squirmed a bit where he sat. "And, I'm sorry for yelling at you, my Princess."

"'My Princess', don't you- No, nevermind. In any case, it's not like I could trust anything you say. Because... you've lied to me all this time. You've lied to all of us."

"Accusing a changeling of lying is like blaming a pony for randomly breaking out into song; it's in their nature. Just because I've lied a lot, and is good at it, doesn't make me a bad individual."

"But you should have told us the truth! It's always best to tell the truth."

"Princess, you don't have the right to say that."

"Why?" asked Twilight, almost spitefully.

"Because you should practice what you preach. After all, I certainly haven't heard you tell anyone that it was you that brought us into this world."

"What?" she asked, suddenly feeling constricted.

"I passed you that fateful day, do you remember? And, as it was my job, I stayed not too far away to look at what you were doing. That little object started to spin quite rapidly, it looked quite strange."

"You, you saw?"

"Everything. Since you wanted to keep it a secret, you were quite lucky that the only ponies who had seen you and the cube together were either transported so far away we never saw them again, or were too stupid to put two and two together," said the changeling. He took a deep breath and then sighed. "But, if nothing else, I hope that this little revelation will prove to you that I am trustworthy. I did keep your secret for four years after all, and I intend to keep it forever."

"Why?" asked Twilight. She wasn't quite sure about this changeling yet, but his words did manage to make her sigh slightly in relief.

"Because... well, this is sort of embarrassing for me to say directly, but..." He seemed a bit deep in thought before he finally took another deep breath. "Changelings are a bit weird by pony standards. Like you, we have a sort of monarchy. Unlike you, who do it because of tradition, we have a biological need to have a monarch. It doesn't even need to be a direct bloodline or even a changeling, it could just be someone pointed out as a king, queen, prince or princess by somepony already a monarch. If we don't have somepony like that to... connect, to, then we usually just die. As you were the only princess around, and since I quickly grew to respect you, I sort of, became your changeling."

"Um, what?"

"Princess Twilight, I am your servant. In secret, I have been for quite some time. Since the cat's out of the bag, I might as well inform you of this. I will always want to keep your safe and help you, and do whatever you outright order me to, without hesitation or regret, until the day I die," said the changeling. He stared at her with quite a serious impression. For a moment he quickly looked at the floor. "I'm sorry that I'm not bowing to you or anything, but we changelings are really just sort of lazy about that. We don't have much in tradition. No trumpets or knighting or anything like that. Just talking and doing."

After he had finished talking there wasn't much talking or doing for quite some time. Twilight had to process it a bit.

"Um, new question. Why were you so strange yesterday?"

"I was... in a bad place. I was simply starving. I haven't had much love since I left Haven, and it had been my first transformation in years. I had to do a rush job when Spike threw his green fire. I walked among the ponies, just familiar enough to be overlooked, apparently. I broke off when I reached this cavern. It was hard to think, a whole new type of body and a sudden burst of changeling instinct. 'Save the queen', 'find the queen'. I don't think I was even able to care about our friends. You were the only one that mattered to my brain. It was very tiresome. My real form is much more bearable. You have no idea how good it feels to finally relax your brain after four years."

"So that's why you have never been able to carry much!"

"Right. Multitasking is tough for a changeling. We are usually multitasking by just walking around, so doing even more was almost impossible," he said.

"I, I think I've gotten all the answers I wanted. I suppose I could ask more about changeling culture to satisfy my curiosity, but I think I'll want to have a talk to Applejack before anything else right now."

"Very well, but I think I'll tell you at least this one tidbit first. Do you remember all those years ago when Rainbow Dash was bitten by a zombie? How Swift Digger was sure she had stolen his record? Me volunteering to go with you wasn't just my urge to help my new monarch, it was to-"

"To put back the record you had stolen from him!" Twilight yelled out in surprise. "It was back when he checked for it later!"

"Right."

"Why did you take it!?"

"Well, I was starving, out looking for something to eat. I noticed Rainbow Dash in the woods, she hadn't seen me. So, knowing Soarin was around, I took her form, planning on feeding on Soarin's appreciation of her, when I-"

"Soarin?"

"Haven't you noticed? He's crazy about Rainbow Dash, completely in love. It's one of the reasons I became his friend. He was good to hang around in more ways than one."

"Wow. Wait, you didn't become Rainbow Dash and... did anything, did you?"

"No, that's more of a Chrysalis brood thing to do. Anyway, I didn't see Soarin, but I did find this little house, and I could feel this faint bit of strong residual love beneath. I got inside, and found this record with a lot of love, just one sip of that fed me for a month. I put it back as soon as I could, especially when I noticed Swift would become upset. I knew we didn't need any fights," he said.

"So, despite that you might have done some bad things..."

"I'm still your friend. I promise you. I have not lied one bit today, I know you might never trust me, but there you have it."

"So... what's your name?"

"Changelings who are not royalty don't have names. We just sort of feel one another, so we don't need anything to identify each other. We always sort of know who we are talking about in our own language. You can call me Timey, if nothing else. Derpy calls me that, after all."

"Oh... She knows, doesn't she, Timey?"

"That clever mare figured it out from the first ten minutes with me. After I explained everything she decided to trust me, and later she became my good friend. She did always keep an eye on me just to be safe, though it was unnecessary. Apparently, she's the only one in the whole of Ponyville who clearly remembers that Time Turner doesn't actually talk like a wannabe higher class. She's the only one who remembers he has a limited vocabulary with a ridiculous accent."

"He has a ridiculous accent?"

"I was surprised too when she told me. Apparently Ponyvillians aren't very observant, perhaps another reason nopony put two and two together about you and the strange cube."

"I'm not from Ponyville and I never noticed an accent."

"When did he first talk to you?"

"On... the same day you passed me."

Timey nodded. "And there you have it. Now, as my leader, what will you have me do?"

"I don't know, really. Can you become Time Turner again?"

"It takes a little while to make up a convincing image from memory, but I will try once I have my strength back."

"For now I'd settle for just the voice. Right now you sound a bit creepy."

The changeling looked a bit surprised at Twilight's comment. He seemed to ponder something, and he suddenly started to talk. "Like this?" Timey asked, suddenly with the voice of his previous persona.

"B- Better," said Twilight, a bit shocked at the sudden change.

"Then, for the sake of comfort, I shall speak like I have all along, Princess," said Timey.

"I think I'll have to have a talk with my friend, Applejack, and the rest of them."

"Whatever you choose to tell them, I will respect it, my princess. Though... if it's not too much to ask, could you please tell Soarin that I'm sorry, and that I miss his friendship."

***

So, after perhaps the strangest conversation Twilight Sparkle had ever had except maybe for every single talk with Pinkie Pie, she walked out of the prison. It was still a lot to process, but at least she had been given just a bit of closure. Assuming Timey wasn't lying, Time Turner was probably unharmed somewhere back in Equestria.

As Twilight walked out of the door, she saw Rainbow Dash and Rarity struggling to restrain Spike.

"Say that again! Say that again! I dare you!" Spike shouted in Clear Cut's face.

"Double dare him, double dare him!" Soarin egged on.

"Spike! Enough!" said Twilight Sparkle. "What is this about."

"This pony keeps insulting me!" yelled Spike.

"You should be the bigger pon- dragon," said Twilight Sparkle.

Spike looked at Twilight for a moment, before he finally closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he calmed down, Rarity and Rainbow Dash slowly let go of his arms.

"You're lucky Twilight's here, otherwise it would get painful for you," said Spike.

"Not as painful as having to look at your face," said Clear Cut.

Big Macintosh had to get in the way to keep Clear Cut's muzzle from suddenly having a deep imprint of a scaly fist. It was for the best. Without knowing more about these ponies, it was not wise to create more conflict.

"So... what did he say?" asked Soarin.

***

Leaving out the slightly more sensitive subject of secrets, Twilight told her friends what Timey had said, and also asked Clear Cut to release him, but to no result.

"Not until the chief gives her approval," said Clear Cut.

"Then it's time for me to talk with the chief. Where is she?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

Having to wait for Applejack to return from somewhere unspecified, they instead returned to the place they had spent the night in. It wasn't much more than a cave, two floors connected with a ladder. It was mostly for beds. There were a few of the other ponies there, resting after apparently a day's hard work.

"Is it still night or day, by the way?" asked Twilight.

"Day," said about five surrounding ponies at the same time.

"You get used to it, after a while," said a nearby mare when she noticed Twilight's confused expression.

"Okay... Time Turner is a changeling, Applejack is the leader of some sort of... mole ponies?" asked Spike, as he sat down on a nearby bed.

"Nah, Spike. We're the rebellion," said a pony standing by the entrance. Everyone focused their attention on the mare. Applejack was back.

"Applejack!" yelled Spike. He rushed over to her first, hugging her tightly.

She looked sort of surprised, but returned the gesture in full.

"It's great to see ya, Spike. Look at you, you're taller than me! How you've grown!" said Applejack. Rainbow Dash and Rarity rushed over to hug her as well.

"Four years is too long to go without hearing your charming country voice," said Rarity, with a tear in her eye.

"I never doubted for a second you were dead! I mean, that you weren't dead, that you were alive! I knew I'd see you again, that's what I'm saying!" said Rainbow Dash, with much greater energy.

"I'm glad you're alright, girls," said Applejack.

"Applejack, is something wrong?" asked Twilight.

"Hm? What?" she asked.

"You're just... less. I mean, you just look barely happy," said Twilight. It was true. While her smile was definitely genuine, it was a bit restrained. It was like the pony Twilight remembered always being willing to give a big and a kind smile hadn't actually smiled much lately.

Applejack sighed a bit. "There's been... a lot in my life these four years," said Applejack. She paused from Twilight to notice the large red stallion in the room. Big Macintosh was there, but he wasn't looking at her, he was just steadfastly staring away from them all. "Hey there, big brother. It's been a while."

"Eeyup," he said.

"Still doesn't want anyone to see you cry?"

"N-nope!"

Applejack walked over to him, and put her hoof on his back. "I'm glad to see you're safe. Is Applebloom safe too?"

"Eeyup," said Big Macintosh.

"Good. I'll be here when you're done and ready to talk, alright?" asked Applejack. Big Macintosh was shivering a bit, and Applejack turned back to her friends. "So, is Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy alright?"

"So you don't know where they are either," said Spike, sounding worried.

"So they are not with you. How many of you are there?" asked Applejack.

"We've made a town, it's called Haven. It's pretty far away. Unless something bad has happened while we were gone, there lives 727 ponies there."

"Wow, that's a lot of ponies," said Applejack. "Good, that's good. I have been worrying about that for a long, long time. Well, right here we have 182, and in Promise Peak we have another 709, if nopony else have died."

"Wait... Twilight, that's it!" said Spike.

"I... I know!" said Twilight, she started to breathe a bit quicker.

"What?" asked Rainbow Dash and Soarin at once.

"That means that we have pretty much covered every single pony in Ponyville!" said Twilight. "They are alive! Yes!" She almost cheered, but then she realized a glaring issue. "Wait, that's not right. The math doesn't add up. 727 plus 182 plus 709 is 1618. That's at least 400 ponies more than everyone in Ponyville! How is that possible? And how do you not know where Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are?"

"Obviously that's because of the- Oh, you don't know, do you, sugarcube?" asked Applejack.

Spike seemed like he was experiencing some sort of euphoria the way he shuddered. "Oh, I have missed hearing you say that word so much."

"Please tell me, Applejack. What do you know about this? Why are you the 'chief'? Why are you living underground? Who are all these strangers in this place? What are your connection with the ponies that attacked us?" asked Twilight.

"Oh, you've met those, huh? At least you're unharmed. Okay, now, this whole thing has a bit of a story behind it. I'll tell you the important bits. You might want to sit down, Twilight, because, this has a little to do with you," said Applejack.

"With me?" asked Twilight.

"Yes. The basic idea of this story is that you weren't the only ones that got together and made a town. I think it's about time I tell you the story of Promise Peak."

Comments

[kingfish]

"...the story of Promise Peak."
Oooh! I'm so nervousited!

[ShadowBolt96]

4234468

For the last time, that ain't a real word Pinkie!