At first, you were my sister; now I love you like a mother
Late in the afternoon on the day of the accident, quite some time after Twilight lapsed into unconsciousness, a green wheelbarrow barreled through the front doors of Ponyville Hospital. Loaded inside it was a terrified-looking donkey with one of his legs in an improvised splint. Pushing from behind were three excitable young fillies--all ponies, so far as any onlooker could tell.
“Cutie Mark Crusader Search and Rescue!” Apple Bloom shouted, and the other crusaders echoed her. It had taken an hour for whatever had changeling-fied her to wear off a little, and twenty minutes for her to figure out how to look and sound like her old self, and she was still giddy to be speaking with her old accent instead of a buzz.
An earth pony nurse met them just inside--Nurse Snowheart, Apple Bloom recalled. “What do we have here?” the mare asked, trying to look caring, but simply looking half-asleep.
“Those pegasus movers turned into changelings and dropped a piano on my leg,” the donkey explained. “Then these kids hit every bump in Ponyville bringing me here!”
“Are you dying?” Nurse Snowheart asked, her words slightly slurred from exhaustion.
“No,” the donkey said, “but--”
“Hemorrhaging?”
“No, but--”
“Stung by a manticore?”
“NO! But--”
“Please wait right there. Somepony will be with you soon.” She nearly collapsed as she turned around, but regained her balance and lumbered off.
“Come back here, you--”
“Don’t mind her,” a changeling in a familiar brown hat said. “She’s plumb tired from all the folks who’ve come through. I can take a look if you want--I know a little farm medicine.”
Apple Bloom couldn’t stop herself from staring. “Applejack?” she asked.
The changeling smiled in what was probably supposed to be a friendly display of fangs, and Apple Bloom felt a pleasant sensation surround her. It was warm and cold at the same time, like a chilled drink on a hot day, and it tasted like apples.
“Apple Bloom!” Applejack exclaimed. “I was worried sick about you! Just let me take a look at Cranky here, and then I’ll be right over.”
The exam was over quickly. Applejack knew more about hurt plants than hurt donkeys, so the most she could really do was check the splint. “It’s good work for something makeshift,” she said. “It should hold until a real doctor looks you over. I’m afraid I can’t give you anything for the pain, though--I don’t know what pony painkillers do to donkeys.” She stood behind the wheelbarrow and prepared to lift. “I’ll get you out of the entrance, just in case somepony comes rushing through--”
The doors slammed open, and Rainbow Dash zoomed by, carrying a changeling who appeared to have been bludgeoned repeatedly. She flew low enough to take Cranky’s toupee with her.
“Just in case somepony else comes rushing through,” the changeling amended.
Once Cranky was safely out of the way, Applejack returned and looked the foals over. “Thank Celestia none of you are hurt,” Applejack said. “Sweetie Belle, you should go find Rarity--she’s in here somewhere helping patients. She was afraid you were hurt or something. And Scootaloo, uh, find . . . somepony,” she lamely added.
Both fillies shuffled off, one more awkwardly than the other.
“How are you, little sis?” Applejack asked.
“Applejack . . .” Apple Bloom attempted. “Were we . . . always changelings?”
“Of course we weren’t!” Applejack said firmly. “We don’t pretend to be folks we aren’t. We just . . . had something in us, I guess. Like a seed or something.”
“Were Ma and Pa really our Ma and Pa?” Apple Bloom asked. “And what about Granny?”
Applejack’s grin was almost roguish, an unusual expression for her. “Granny’s dancing around like a little filly ‘cause she can look like she’s young again. She’s our granny all right, and that means we really came from Ma and Pa.”
More seriously, she continued, “Maybe it’s more like an allergy than a seed. Some folks can’t eat strawberries--if they try, their throats swell up. If your pa and grandpa and great-grandpa are allergic, but they never eat strawberries, you won’t know until you eat one. I guess the Apples are allergic to changeling magic, only we don’t get red and itchy, we get black and holey. But we’re still Apples, and we can still get through this.”
She nuzzled up against the younger changeling, and though her chitin was cold and hard against Apple Bloom’s disguised flesh, something about the motion was still recognizable as Applejack’s. “Don’t let anypony tell you otherwise.”
“I won’t,” Apple Bloom promised.
“Now let’s clear out of the entrance,” Applejack suggested. “I should go see how Granny’s getting along--she may look young now, but she was getting pretty wheezy last time I checked. And I ought to check on Big Mac, too.” It took Apple Bloom a moment to realize that the buzzing sound Applejack made was a giggle. Applejack, of all ponies, was giggling. “I know I shouldn’t find it funny, him being so broken up to find there aren’t any changeling stallions, but I’ve been a mare since I was born--he can at least handle it until he heals up enough to try changing.”
Apple Bloom followed her transformed sister deeper into the hospital, pondering changelings, strawberries, and Apples.
-- -- -- --
The next morning, colts and fillies filtered into Cheerilee’s classroom under the watchful eye of a royal guard, who was standing outside the front door and keeping a close watch for some unspecified threat. A couple of foals tried to converse with the guard, intrigued by the new presence, but were soon foiled by his staunch passivity. Others stayed as far away from him as possible. Apple Bloom fell into the latter category.
“Quiet down, please,” Cheerilee said. “I have an important announcement. Because of what happened yesterday, I’m moving our unit on magical creatures to now instead of spring. Today, we’ll be learning about changelings. Now, who can tell me what a changeling is?”
Snails, of all ponies, raised his hoof. “They’re monsters! They stick ponies in cocoons and eat their love!”
“That’s close, but it’s not quite right,” Cheerilee gently chided. “Changelings are actually ponies.”
A chorus of “No way!” ran through the class.
“Yes, it’s true,” Cheerilee said. “Every changeling is born a pony, just like you or me.” She pulled the top sheet from the easel at the front of the class, revealing a diagram of the possibilities. “She can grow up, get a cutie mark, and be just like any other pony. But because one of her parents, or grandparents, or other ancestors was a changeling, she’ll carry their magic in their blood. If a changeling uses strong magic on her . . .” She tapped a drawing of a changeling. “She’ll change, just like that. She’ll lose her cutie mark, and all her magic will become changeling magic. But she’ll still be the same pony, with all the same memories.”
“Uh, Miss Cheerilee?” Truffle Shuffle asked. “How do you know all this? Has . . .” He fumbled for a word. “Has this stuff happened before?”
“A few times, yes,” Cheerilee explained, “though it’s always been just one or two ponies. There was one in Canterlot who became a therapist, using his magic to help ponies control their emotions. Another one in Hollow Shades became a royal guard.” There was something oddly firm in her voice. “They lived long, happy lives, even without their cutie marks. Now, class, what else can you tell me about changelings?”
Silver Spoon raised her hoof. “They don’t get cutie marks.”
Cheerilee looked confused. “Yes, that’s right. Didn’t I say that?”
Silver Spoon looked around the classroom, her eyes lingering on each of the Crusaders. A dark cloud began to build around her, but only Apple Bloom seemed to notice it. “They don’t have special talents.”
“That’s not quite--” Cheerilee began.
Silver Spoon stared into Apple Bloom’s eyes, and the force of her hatred pressed into her soul. It was a small hate, a childish one, but it tasted so vile that Apple Bloom thought she might vomit. The young changeling couldn’t stop herself from crying out, a wordless yelp that died halfway out of her throat.
“No talents at all,” Silver Spoon said. “Ever. That’s why they have to fake--”
“Stop it stop it stop it!” Diamond Tiara screamed.
The whole class stared at her in surprise. She looked tired and shaken, and her tiara was nowhere to be seen. Apple Bloom looked closely at her cutie mark--it looked smudgy, and she thought it had one less point than before.
Tentatively, afraid of more hatred, the young changeling reached out with her other senses. She felt nothing at all from Diamond Tiara, like the filly had turned into a lifelike ponnequin--or so thoroughly walled in her true emotions that she might as well be a ponnequin. She hadn’t seen anything like this since yesterday . . . since Roseluck . . .
Apple Bloom had never heard Cheerilee’s voice so cold. “You just earned detention, Silver Spoon.”
“I was just--” Silver Spoon attempted.
Cheerilee ignored her. “Let’s skip ahead a little, class. I’ve--I’ve been thinking about whether or not to do this.” She tore another sheet from the easel, revealing a more detailed diagram of a changeling. “I could just teach you from sheets like this. Or I could, well . . .” Green fire rippled across Cheerilee’s body, burning away fur and blackening skin. “This.”
Every colt and filly in the classroom suddenly drew in a breath. A few of them let it out again, yelping in surprise, while Featherweight fell out of his seat and scrambled backwards two rows. The others just sat and stared.
“I’m a changeling,” Cheerilee explained, “but I haven’t changed. I’m still your teacher. I know some ponies won’t like that, but it’s what I was meant to do, even without my cutie mark.”
Apple Bloom looked her over, then giggled.
“What is it, Apple Bloom?” Cheerilee asked, looking slightly annoyed.
“I’m sorry, Miss Cheerilee,” Apple Bloom said. “It’s just . . . you look just like my sister. Your voice is like hers, too, but you don’t say the words the same way. It’s kind of funny to think of her talking like you.”
Silver Spoon stared at Apple Bloom. “Wait,” she asked, “you really are a changeling?”
Apple Bloom considered that, then let her disguise drop. After a few seconds, Truffle Shuffle matched her (much to her surprise--his cutie mark was perfect.) Diamond Tiara looked back and forth, apparently deciding which side of the battle line to be on, then sighed and followed suit.
Featherweight finally lost his nerve completely and ran ran out of the room. Silver Spoon turned pale through her fur, and Snips started laughing like somepony had set off a fart bomb. Most of the rest of the class just stared in silence.
Archer looked Apple Bloom up and down, as if coming to a decision, then shouted “Cool!” She got up out of her seat and walked up close. “Your skin looks like armor. Can I touch it?”
“Um, I guess so,” Apple Bloom said nervously.
Archer reached out a hoof and ran it along Apple Bloom’s cheek, almost too softly to feel. “It’s cold,” she said. “Are you cold in there, or does it keep all the heat in?”
Apple Bloom hadn’t even thought about that. “Your hoof feels warm,” she said, “so I guess I’m cold. I don’t feel cold, though. I just feel like me.”
Archer smiled, and a little bit of warmth passed from her to Apple Bloom. “I guess most ponies would say that.”
The blue filly looked over at the teacher. “I’m sorry for interrupting, Miss Cheerilee. I’ll go back to my seat now.”
“It’s all right,” Cheerilee said. “But as long as you’re out of your seat, would you please go fetch Featherweight?”
Apple Bloom took another look around the classroom. Most of the foals still looked confused, but apart from Silver Spoon, none of them seemed scared. A few were even smiling at her, though she didn’t feel much love from them.
She didn’t know what would happen next, and she knew that some ponies might never trust changelings. But at that moment, she was absolutely certain that everything would be all right.
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DT too? Ooh, I love this fic!
This is getting better and better
I suspect that DT might well have been one of the more vehement haters if she'd managed to get her disguise perfect. Right up until Cheerilee revealed that changelings can detect other changelings - at which point she could have become a denier.
Ok...so what's going to happen when Chrysalis finds out that a good chunk of Ponyville, including at least two Element bearers, has gone changeling? Also, if all changelings are born from ponies, does that include queens too?
GAH! I can't get the song "Cotton Eyed Joe" out of my head whenever I start reading this.
I love this fic. But it reminds me of that song every time.
Applelings. Applelings everywhere!
Poor Mac.
4822878 Diamond Tiara is actually an Apple? No wonder you never see Filthy's wife...
LAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
You keep getting better and better.
4823161
Probably one of the reasons there's a guard there (and probably in other places)
Dude. Gender swapping? REALLY?
I could go into lengthy detail and sketch out the genome chart to explain why this wouldn't work and would eventually lead to extinction of both species.... but suffice it to say that it would. Even ants and bees have males.
AND WHERE IS FLUTTERSHY?? You forgot all about her!
4823500
Bet FlutterShy is one fat Flutterling from all that lil' critter love.
4823249
4823024
Personally, I was waiting for Silver Spoon to suddenly break down at the end, hug Diamond Tiara and beg forgiveness. She went from thinking she was helping DT to pick on Applebloom, to realizing that she was picking on her best friend! That HAS to burn her non-existent britches.
4823313
Yeah, that had me crossing my legs uncomfortably, too.
Don't be sad, Mac. The male social insect's lot is not a happy one. Assuming that changelings even have gender as we understand it...
The Granny Smith aside was fantastic, and the scene in the classroom was downright heartwarming. Well done. I look forward to more.
4823472
Or AJ is making assumptions based on imperfect knowledge, not having seen any male changelings. Or changelings can shapeshift the appropriate components on an as-needed basis. It's not like their biology and magic are widely understood topics with concrete, established canon.
4823500
We last saw a disguised Assertive Flutterguy saving Applebloom and then running off. I suspect that 'her' issues will be the foccus of chapter 5, as the author has stated that chapter 5 was going to necessitate changes to chapter 2. And as we all remember, the main area of chapter 2 that kept needing to be rewritten was Fluttershy's segment.
4823472 It's magic, and changelings can at least change into males for the sake of mating. Pegasi and unicorns already make genetics and heredity confusing, so I'd just let it go.
Don't know where this extra 'ran' came from.
4823378
Danger Zone.
So far, the fiction is moving quite fast, especially how most of the residents learned how to transform back to normal in just 1-2 days and how fast Roseluck rallied a mob on the same day in just one afternoon. At least it feels like it. It's like every pony in town is used to this within the first hour of turning into a changeling. I don't think Ponyville has gotten affected on a personal and widespread level this deep before, amongst the other disasters they previously encountered.
It would be great if you lower the pace by a bit. You seem to be writing it at a steady, but fast pace. Go into what the half changeling-ponies is making this situation out to be. That might help slower and gives the chance for the readers to digest.
The class's reaction was adorable. Maybe Diamond Tiara will be a bit less bitchy now?
How is Fluttershy doing? We sort of haven't seen her since she figured out how to disguise herself. Hopefully she's fine, but I could see more paranoid trouble popping up from Roseluck & Co. if they find out that one of the new changelings is actively taking on forms other than their own.
4823609 You mean like the fact that she could change immediately after getting transformed?
Or maybe how 'Little Red' was putting off emotions just fine unlike DT?
If old chapters need to be changed for the next chapter or future chapters to make sense they need to be changed before the chapter that references them is published. By doing it in this order you are forcing us to reread not just the chapter you changed after every update but this chapter as well... and every other chapter you release before making the changes.
4823472
Well, certain species of fish have what is known as super-female genes, and some amphibians can change gender if there aren't enough males or females to go around. I expect that changelings are similar in that regard, except with more conscious control over when they swap genders. Or subconscious as the case may be. Big Mackie may have changed due to a dread that he would switch teams and not because of an actual imperitive.to do so.
On the other hand, what Miss Cheerilee is teaching sounds suspiciously more like carefully constructed politically approved propaganda than actual researched historical data. Sure, some (or even most) of it may be true, but to make a blanket statement that all Changelings were born ponies is a bit much without citing a source for her information. Unless some of those head-canons out there are true, and Queen Chrysalis and her followers were cursed to be what they are now.
4824280 For what it's worth, the fact that Fluttershy could change relatively quickly won't change in the rewrite--I'll just be more explicit about why. (I wasn't planning to change Little Red's emotions, either, but now that I think about it, I may need to put in some clarifying statements. Thanks for pointing that out.)
("Up to three hours, depending on distance" really doesn't seem to have worked so well. The first half got a lot more notice than the second.)
4824668
Not really, if it still had enough power to transform a mixed-blood that is too diluted for even the Queen to turn then it should definitely not have weakened enough to be mere minutes. Unless you're going to reveal that one of Fluttershy's parents was a full-blooded changeling... that would fix the issue with it transforming her while being diluted to minimum strength. Though since Big Mac is taking a while to be able to get his junk back you would also have to have Fluttershy live a significant ways further away from the library than Sweet Apple Acres.
But I'm still moving this from favs to read-later until the re-writes are done.
For Granny, I image seeing her doing something like this:
4824144
They've had everything from Nightmare Moon to Tirek. Including Discord-as-villain and Discord-as-resident-pest. Hell, Discord is probably the Ponyville Mascot.
After awhile, I can easily see them going from "OMC, ZEBRA!" to "Well. This is a thing that has happened. I wonder if I still go to the bathroom the same way?"
How does this chapter's title have anything to do with the content of the chapter? I was expecting Applebloom to start seeing AJ as a mother figure, but that didn't happen.
4823472
Insect gender works very different than a mammalian's. If I remember correctly bee and ant queens will lay fertilized eggs which become female workers, or under special cercomstances a new queen. If the queen lays an unfertilized egg it becomes a male drone. So Big Mac as the offspring of two individuals dispite his pony genome would be a female changeling.
Overall though I really like the idea that all changeling start as ponies, since it plays more into the original changeling myth.
4825521 Makes sense to specify they were pegasi. Lets the nurse know how far the piano fell and about how much damage it did.
4825386 I was waiting for someone to ask about the chapter titles.
4825795
You're welcome. I thought they might have been a reference to something, but I didn't know what.
4825891 Good point. Fixed!
(If anyone's wondering why I'm not responding to some of the bigger comments, it's because I feel like I should be avoiding spoilers. One of them actually made me realize I should change where one plot point is going.)
Edit: Oh, I just realized I can respond a little to one of your earlier posts. Applejack differentiates herself by her hat. (How other changelings differentiate themselves will come up in . . . three chapters, I think.)
4824772
Think about it like this: The length of the intended effect (blocking transformation) is determined by the amount of power left once the spell hits them. This is where distance fits in. The unintended side effect (Changeling Awakening) is determined by the quality of that power. A little spark of Alicorn-powered Changeling magic (Fluttershy) is just as effective as being at ground zero (Applejack).
4826583 That, is ludicrous. What the author PMed me to avoid spoilers however makes much more sense. Plus it confirms that that is incorrect. In fact the truth would have been great... if it wasn't for the whole re-write thing. The big thing with re-writes is that mistakes and foreshadowing get all jumbled together into a real mess which ruins the "oooooooooh" moment when you suddenly understand all those little things from before.
...
No really, it would have been a brilliant "oooooooooh" moment.
GG mate
4827173
Fair enough. Word of God trumps extrapolated data from faulty text.
I love Changelings, and certain types of chaos. This fic has both in equal measure! Hooray!
Sorry for the tiny comment... I have to use a tablet at the moment, and it's a bit annoying to type.
Wow, this is a great story! I've had it in my read later section for a while now, but now I read it, and love it! Also, if you ever need any OCs for the story (probably not
) I can give ya some. 
4823024 where does she say changeling's can detect other changeling's i never saw that.
4829873 She doesn't, specifically, but she most likely would if that was the case - and a lot of changeling fics have changelings being able to detect each other in various ways. It was more of a "this may be likely to happen" than a "this did happen".
Are these hybrids receiving nourishment from each other's love? Because some bits seemed to imply it.
This fic is what all true warriors strive for! The pacing is spot-on, and the scenes can be anywhere from heartfelt to humorous or even creepy and chilling at times. The classroom scene was perfect, and the Diamond Tiara reveal was a great moment after the previous line of said redacted character. I take back my first problem- The only thing wrong with this story is the lack of chapters, despite one coming out today.
Also, I don't understand chitin (the material) anymore after playing Morrowind for so long.
4832768 Changelings can pass love back and forth between each other, like ants regurgitating their food. They can't sustain themselves long-term that way, though, which will lead to complications down the line.
4834552
So, basically, AJ just horked into Bloom's mouth?
Good to know.
Why is this story tagged "Alternate Universe"?
Why is this story also tagged "Sex"?
4879495
It must have changed
4879607 It's alternate universe because it takes place between seasons 3 and 4, and 4 couldn't happen in the same way after this. It has a sex tag for one future scene, which is also why it has a trigger warning.
So yeah, if you thought ponies dying was grimdark . . . I'll try to be tasteful, but there are some really awful implications to giving a fifth of a community their own Ring of Gyges.
4880562 I think an invisible rapist plot may be a bit too realistic, but that's just me. Also, it's unclear how chaotic the current situation is in terms of rioting. The last I heard was a few people giving Apple Bloom angry looks.
Also Also, didn't both of the most famous pony grimdarks become grimdarks by ponies dying and leaving a substantial mess?
Finally, I think it would be interesting if Queen Chrysalis came into the picture sometime, as that would open up several interesting plot points. Does she want to take the changeling ponies back to the hive? Does she want to help cure them? Is Twilight's changeling (forgot his name .-.) still playing 2048 in his cage while this all goes down?