An Apple By Another Name

by Sky McFly

Stem

I flew over a gray landscape of towering, rocky peaks. Thousands of feet below me, the bases of these jagged mountains disappeared into the darkness. I had never seen a more barren, lifeless landscape. There was no sign of any plants or creatures for miles in any direction. I knew for certain that I never wanted to return to this place.

After what felt like hours of flying, I passed over one last ridge, and color spread out before me like somepony had spilled a paint can of every color of the rainbow. I now soared over a beautiful valley, full of rolling hills and deep green forests. On the horizon I could make out distant snowcapped mountains.

I descended from the clouds until the fields and meadows I was now passing over were no more than twenty or thirty feet below me. Waves rippled through the long grass as a cool breeze blew by. I skimmed over a glittering lake and felt the spray as I rose up above a waterfall that cascaded down from a huge mountain. On the side of the mountain was a palace that sparkled in the sun.

I curved around and headed down into the valley, where I could see the buildings and streets of a village. And among these buildings were ponies. Dozens and dozens of tiny ponies selling apples and flowers, ponies setting freshly baked pies on windowsills to cool, ponies sitting in cafes drinking tea and eating pastries. There were foals playing in the streets, ponies washing windows, pulling carts, sweeping front porches, opening their curtains to let in the sun. In the distance there were ponies working in fields, bucking apples, going for hikes in the countryside…

I had never seen anything more beautiful.

A few days later (or weeks, I couldn’t be sure) I woke with the sun and lay in bed, trying to hold on to a pleasant dream I had had but feeling it slip away as I returned to consciousness. I got out of bed and went downstairs with the ever-dwindling hope that the past few months (years?) had been nothing but a nightmare and I would find Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom in the kitchen, eating breakfast and getting ready for the day’s work. But there was no sound of eggs sizzling on the frying pan, or that of Apple Bloom’s always-audible yawns and complaints about rising so early in the morning. I heard nothing but silence as I entered the empty kitchen and poured myself a bowl of apple-cinnamon cereal for breakfast.

A few minutes later I glanced out the window and almost choked on a mouthful of cereal. Way out at the edge of the field, I saw the unmistakable, brightly colored form of Rainbow Dash. She was crouched low to the ground as if hoping to keep from being seen, and she was looking through the window straight at me. Our eyes met, and for a long moment, I couldn’t tear my eyes away. When Rainbow had remained where she was for long enough that I was pretty sure she wouldn’t vanish before my eyes, I turned and burst out the front door of the farmhouse, grabbing my lasso on the way out.

“Rainbow Dash!” I shouted, not knowing what else to say. I was surprised by the sound of my own voice after not using it for so long.

She rose to her hooves, seemed to experience a moment of indecision, and then turned and ran. Without wasting a second, I bolted after her.

“Rainbow Dash!” I called again, my voice cracking from desperation. “Come back here! What’s goin’ on? What happened to all the ponies? Where’re my friends and family?”

I couldn’t remember ever being so desperate to chase anypony down. I was gaining on Rainbow Dash and was about to tackle her when she starting flapping her wings and lifted off of the ground.

“Oh no you don’t!” I snarled and unraveled my lasso. I swung it around a few times over my head and then launched it in Rainbow’s direction. All of my experience herding sheep paid off. The lasso tightened around Rainbow Dash’s neck and after straining against the rope for a while, she eventually descended to the ground and landed in front of me.

“This is humiliating,” she grumbled.

“You’re not gonna take off again if I let ya go?” I asked.

“I’ll stay here,” she promised. I loosened the rope and coiled it up again.

“I want to know everything,” I demanded. “Where are the rest o’ the ponies? Why are ya tryin’ to hide from me? Tell me what’s goin’ on! Tell me my friends and family are okay!”

Rainbow Dash was expressionless.

“They’re not,” she sighed finally. “There are no more ponies.”

“Don’t lie to me!” I growled, already angry from having to chase down one of my best friends, but getting angrier at her lack of emotion. “I’m a pony! You’re a pony! If you’re here, then there must be others!”

“There are no others,” Rainbow said, still infuriatingly devoid of emotion. “There were no survivors after the pony massacre ended a week ago.”

“Stop tellin’ lies!” I snapped. Something felt very wrong. “I’ve been alone for months! There couldn’t’ve been a ‘massacre’ a week ago! Everypony disappeared long before that! And whadd’ya mean ‘there were no survivors’? We’re both still here! Why won’t you tell the truth? What happened to the element of loyalty?!”

“Element of what?” Rainbow Dash replied

Then I noticed what I had missed before. If Rainbow Dash had wanted to escape from somepony, she wouldn’t have run. She would’ve immediately taken to the skies. And she’s such a skilled flier, she would’ve eluded me too. Then again, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have abandoned any of her friends to begin with. And if she had been talking about the death of every pony we’d ever known, she would’ve at least shown some emotion, for Celestia’s sake!

“You ain’t the real Rainbow Dash,” I whispered, suddenly calm. “You’re not even really here. It’s finally happened. I’ve gone crazy. My mind is conjurin’ up imitations of my friends, and it ain’t even doin’ a good job!”

“I am real,” the fake Rainbow Dash said. “But—“

“That sounds like somethin’ a hallucination would say,” I interrupted, my eyes narrowed.

“Let me explain,” the projection of my subconscious continued. “I’m not a hallucination, but you’re right that I’m not the real…what did you say her name was?”

“Rainbow Dash,” I mumbled. “Then what are ya? And why’re ya here? Why’d ya steal my friend’s appearance?”

“I thought you would take it better if I looked like a pony,” the lying imposter said, “but I’ll show you my true form if you insist.”

There was a flash of green light, and I gasped when I saw what stood before me. It had a dark gray, pony-sized body with two pairs of translucent wings and legs that looked like Swiss cheese. It had two bright blue eyes without pupils, two large fangs, and an equally sharp horn on its head.

“You’re a changelin’,” I murmured.

The changeling nodded, and then said, “And so are you.”

Comments

[Muzikgyrl]

Good job. I like the premise and I can't wait to read what comes next!

[Sky McFly]

4900111 Thanks!

[Muzikgyrl]

4914085

The pleasure was mine!

[PaulAsaran]

WTF? This 100% different from anything I might have expected.

[The Real McCoy]

A few minutes later I glanced out the window and almost choked on a mouthful of cereal. Way out at the edge of the field, I saw the unmistakable, brightly colored form of Rainbow Dash.

Have some mood setting music!