An Apple By Another Name

by Sky McFly

Skin

Low branches whipped my face as I tore through the forest. The pain in my wounded leg was becoming unbearable, but I had to get out into the open. The forest, apparently, was not a safe place to hide.

The sound of the howls and pounding footsteps behind me were becoming more distant, but I didn’t dare get my hopes up. Even if I escaped the terrifying creatures that were chasing me, I could very well die from the injury in my leg if I didn’t find help soon.

I crashed through one last wall of bushes and found myself in a large moonlit field. At the end of the field I could see a large farmhouse, whose windows glowed with a warm light. If I could make it to the farmhouse, maybe I would be okay. No longer able to run, I began to crawl toward the light.

When I was several yards from the front door I felt the last of my energy dwindle away. Blackness was creeping in from the edges of my vision when a small animal trotted up and began sniffing me. It let out a bark, and then I heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching from inside the farmhouse. I heard the creak of a screen door opening and a pony’s voice say, “What’s wrong, Winona?”

After coming closer, the pony seemed to catch sight of me, and then yelled, “Granny! Come quick! There’s somethin’ outside and it looks like it’s hurt pretty bad!”

I stared at the changeling.

“No I’m not,” I said. “Now you’re the crazy one. I’m a pony. I’ve been a pony my whole life. I was born here at Sweet Apple Acres and I’ve lived and worked here with Granny and my siblings pretty much my entire life.” I glared at the changeling and received a blank gaze in return.

“Uh… D’ya think you could change back into Rainbow Dash?” I asked after a pause. “Yer startin’ to make me feel uncomfortable.”

“You always did have such a strange fascination with ponies,” the changeling said, after assuming Rainbow Dash’s form once again.

“Quit it!” I snapped. “I am a pony! I’ve always been a pony!”

“Do you really want to know what happened to your family?” the changeling asked. I nodded.

“You’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you,” the changeling said.

“Git on with it already,” I insisted.

“We were both high-ranking officers in the Swarm,” the changeling began, “but when Queen Chrysalis announced her plans to invade Canterlot, I could tell you didn’t want to go along with it. For some reason none of us could understand, you never wanted to harm a pony.

“Eventually I suppose you had had enough. One day you just left the Hive. When Queen Chrysalis found out, she was furious. Deserting the swarm is a serious offense.

“We finally found you here on this farm. The pony family that lived here must have taken you in, treated your injuries, and cared for you while you healed. Since you seemed to have such a connection to ponies, Queen Chrysalis decided to give you a special punishment instead of just killing you. She actually offered to let you back into the Swarm if you would agree to kill the pony family that took care of you. But you refused, so she did it instead. Then she went on to destroy every last pony in Equestria.”

“Stop! Shut up!” I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. “That ain’t true.” It was just too horrifying. Even after all this time, I had never seriously considered the possibility that everypony was dead. I preferred to think that they had all just gone somewhere else and left me behind.

After a minute I managed to gather myself. “Let’s say yer tellin’ the truth,” I said skeptically. “Why’m I still here? Why didn’t she jus’ kill me after that?”

“She wanted to at first,” the changeling said. “It took a lot of convincing to persuade her to let you live. But eventually she decided it would be more painful for you to live on without your precious ponies.”

“That still doesn’t make sense,” I said. “I grew up here on the farm. If all this is true, then why don’t I remember any of it?”

“You were a threat to the Swarm. Allowing you to live meant the Swarm would be in danger unless she did something about it. So she cast a spell and replaced your memories with those of the Apple pony, and created the false memories of the sudden disappearance of the ponies and your months of loneliness. She seemed to think that, coming from a Swarm, being the only one of your kind would be a sufficient punishment, even if you wouldn’t remember the deaths of the ponies.”

For a long time I was silent. With the enormity of this news came an overwhelming multitude of thoughts. I didn’t want to believe the changeling. The implications were too horrible to fathom, but I couldn’t help but admit that some things were starting to make sense. Certain recurring dreams that felt just a little too real now had an explanation. And of course, the changeling’s story explained why I was the only pony left.

Finally I said, “So all this happened—“

“Just a week ago,” the changeling finished for me.

“Why’d ya come back?” I asked after a pause.

“Queen Chrysalis wanted a changeling officer to check on you periodically, to make sure there was no chance of you becoming a threat to the Swarm. I volunteered.”

“And why’d ya argue to let me live?”

The changeling hesitated for a long moment. “I can’t hope to understand the concept of friendship that the ponies made such a big deal out of,” it said slowly, “but I know I didn’t want to see you die.”

The changeling looked uncomfortable. “I have to return to the Hive,” it said, and rose back up into the air. I watched it shrink as it flew away until it was too small to see. Within minutes I began to wonder if it had ever really been here at all, or if the entire encounter had only taken place in my mind.

Comments

[FluffyDoom]

o.O

[Evilpresident]

Wait, so Chryssy committed genocide to spite one wayward changeling? Talk about anger management issues.

[PaulAsaran]

I give you kudos for a good idea... but the presentation has been lacking so far. We're talking about the genocide of an entire race and – perhaps worse – the slaughter of characters we all know and love, but the revelation and comprehension comes so quickly that the impact is lost. At the moment I am admittedly horrified, but only by the concept of the events, not the way you've written the explanation.

Also, how will the changelings survive if there's no pony love to feed on?