Stormageddon: Changeling Spy

by Shakespearicles

Fumble Beginnings

A false start.

Stealing the Crystal Heart wasn't the beginning. It was past the point of no return. The fatal choice already made, and it would get worse before the end.

The past is a puzzle, like a broken mirror. As you piece it together you cut yourself, your image keeps shifting, and you change with it. You see the choices that you didn't know you made.

Sitting in this cell, I think of the cold laws of cause and effect...

...and I think of home.

---

Home was an orchard back in Ponyville called Sweet Apple Acres. I'm not sure where my life began. But my story starts there. It's a fine little establishment in a fine little town. A real story-book kind of place that you read about in fairy tales, if you know what I mean. Princess Twilight Sparkle is the ruler, and has her castle there, but everypony knows that old Mayor Mare is the one that really runs the place behind the scenes.

Sweet Apple Acres is run by an earth pony named Applejack, and her brother, Big Macintosh. They inherited it from their grandmother, who died shortly before I came on the scene. If you ever visited the place, you'd likely see their younger sister, Apple Bloom, doing most of the legwork in the orchard.

And me.

But I'm no 'Apple'. From what Applejack was willing to tell me, I showed up on her doorstep in a basket at the hooves of somepony whose identity she promised to keep a secret, even from me. She promised me that the truth about my parents would be revealed when 'the time was right'.

You may have noticed that I began my story with a quick, snappy scene of danger and tension — but then quickly moved on to a more boring discussion of my childhood. Well, that's because I wanted to prove something to you: I am not a nice pony. Would a nice pony begin with such an exciting scene, then make you wait almost the entire book to read about it?

No. I am not a nice pony.

I'm not even a pony at all.

I'm a changeling. My birth name is Stormageddon. (A name given to me, I assume, because my father wanted me to have a lifetime of awkward introductions.)

But those are the only two true things I know about myself. Everything else, I've made up along the way.

With my sudden appearance, a lot of ponies widely whispered that I was the bastard colt of Applejack. I never said anything to confirm that rumor, but neither did I make any real effort to deny it. With something like that, it doesn't matter what you say one way or the other. Ponies will believe whatever they want to believe.

Quite in fact, it was a rather pleasant fiction that even I found myself indulging in from time to time, quietly hoping that it was somehow true, that Applejack really was my mother. It was a nice story that I would tell myself as I laid down to sleep at night. But in the morning, when I looked at the black carapace staring back at me in the bathroom mirror, I knew it wasn't real.

Even after I would shape-shift into my pony form, it was still impossible. As a changeling, I fed off of love. And Applejack had none for me. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't that she was cruel to me, or even unpleasant. Quiet the opposite. She was a wonderful friend and caregiver. But she could never love me like a mother, or a sister. In our hearts, we both knew that.

I never knew my parents. It was something that Apple Bloom and I shared. She and Applejack never talked about them. And Big Mac never talked about much in general. AJ only mentioned in passing that she had a few memories from when she was very young, but never talked about the manner of their passing. I never pressed the issue.

The farm was all I knew in the world. I was rarely allowed to venture far from it. Occasionally I would go into town with AJ. She introduced me as Pineapple, and the name stuck to me like a bad stink. I was some kind of distant cousin, she would say, adopted because of extenuating circumstances or some such nonsense. I could always tell when Applejack lied because she was never any good at it.

I, myself, grew to be an excellent liar.

I had to.

My entire existence was one big fabrication. And I had to keep my story straight.

But hey, at least I could kick trees and lift heavy things.

---

"Come on, Pineapple, we gotta clear out the west orchard by the end of this week!" Applebloom said. Applejack's little sister was mare of yellow fur and a deep red mane.

"I really wish you wouldn't call me that," I said. She stopped, putting down one of the apple baskets.

"But Don, Applejack says we should 'practice like we play'," she said. Don was my nickname for Stormageddon, which, admittedly, was a muzzle-full. Or Dawn if I felt like being the fairer gender that day. "We need to both get used to the name."

"She could have picked anything else and it would have been better!" I said.

"Well, with your yellow fur and spiky green mane, you kinda did look like a-"

"Yeah, and now I have to give myself this every morning!" I said, pointing at my 'cutie mark' of a pineapple. "Like, how is that even a special talent? I'm good at pineapple...ing?"

"Hmmf," she huffed, "When I was younger, I would have given anything to be able to give myself a cutie mark like that. Even if it was a pineapple."

"I just wish that she had sat me down that morning and told me that she was going to introduce me to other ponies. And that whatever I was wearing that day, I was going to have to wear forever! I certainly wouldn't have picked- *bleh* -yellow and green. What was I thinking!?"

"Sounds to me like you should have been-" she kicked a tree, "Hyah! -should have been Sour Apple." She smirked.

I shape-shifted into her form, including her voice.

"Maybe you should have been-" I changed her cutie mark on my flank "Rotten Apple" I teased, mocking her in her own voice. Apple Bloom panicked, looking around for anypony that might have seen me.

"Hey come on, Don! Applejack said you're not supposed to do that! What if somepony sees you!?"

"I honestly don't give a flying feather at this point!" I barked. "I'm tired of living a lie! I'm tired of getting up every morning at dawn and kicking trees all day. I'm tired of moving buckets of apples from sunrise to sunset. Is this really my destiny!?" I kicked a basket of apples over, spilling them onto the grass.

"Hey! Pick up this mess!" she shouted. I rolled my eyes and shape-shifted into Princess Twilight Sparkle's form. She was the resident purple alicorn, with both a unicorn's horn and pegasus wings. Unlike the other princesses of Equestria, she kept her violet mane combed straight down.

"Ooh! I read a book about this once!" I said in her voice and using my horn to levitate the apples back into the basket. It was somewhat appropriate, as Twilight herself did come by once a week in my youth to secretly tutor me in magic. I don't know if the Princess knew who my parents were or not.

She was much better at lying than Applejack was.

"Don! Stop it!" Apple Bloom begged. I relented, shifting back to Pineapple. "Why don't we call it an early stop. Tonight's the big night!"

"No, it's not," I grumbled.

"Don-"

"It's not my birthday. It's the anniversary of the day I showed up in a basket."

"It's cake and presents."

"I never get what I want," I growled, storming off to the farm house for the night.

"Nopony does," she sighed.

---

"... happy birthday dear Pineapple," the three Apple siblings sang together to me at the dinner table. For Big Mac, it was among the most he'd said in weeks.

"I hate that name." I muttered under my breath

"Happy birthday tooo youuu!" they finished, clapping their hooves for me. It was the eighteenth anniversary of the day I showed up on their doorstep. And apparently that meant 'cake and presents'.

"Blow out your candles and make a wish," Apple Bloom said.

As I sat there, staring at the small flames melting the wax sticks, the cynic in me scoffed at the mere concept of wishing. But part of me, a big part of me, wanted to believe. Maybe, just maybe, it would work this time. Maybe this would be the year.

I regarded my life as I knew it. There was a lot that I was dissatisfied with. There was a lot that I wanted to wish for.

But I wasn't so blind to not see that I had a lot to be grateful for as well. Just the same, I made my wish and blew.

"Yay!" the mares cheered. I cut into the cake, serving myself a slice.

"Apple cake," I deadpanned in complete lack of surprise, "groundbreaking."

"The best in the land!" Applejack said, beaming with pride.

"So what did you wish for?" Apple Bloom asked. I said nothing, taking a bite of the apple cake. It tasted like apples. Big Mac spoke up.

"Now Apple Bloom, if you say what you wished for out loud, it might not come true," he said. His big, deep voice came out of an equally large, red pony. I didn't really subscribe to that theory. But in the realm of superstition, you don't want to take any chances.

"Eeyup," I agreed, borrowing the stallion's catch phrase.

"Besides," Applejack said, "this year is a special one." I perked up in my seat. Could it be? Would my wish finally come true?

"I'm finally going to know who my parents are!?" I asked excitedly. Her smile faded.

"Are we really going to do this every year?" she asked.

"That's entirely up to you," I told her. "You could tell me and we'd never have to fight about this again."

"You know I don't like not being able to tell you. You know that. But I made a promise to somepony important to me," she said.

"More important than me!?" I said. She frowned, sinking into her seat without an answer to give. Looking back now, I realize how much those words must have hurt her.

"Pineapple,"

"Don't call me that!" I shouted, shedding my disguise and slamming the table with my hard, chitin hoof. None of them wanted to look me in the eyes. I wasn't the only one that wanted to pretend that I really was a normal pony. A real member of the family. But nopony at the table wanted to face the angry, black changeling in the room. Nopony wanted to face the truth.

Least of all, myself.

Apple Bloom put her hoof on mine.

"Don, please," she asked. I huffed and calmed down, putting on my familiar appearance of the yellow and green pony.

"We have something special for a present for you this year," Applejack said, lifting the large box up from under the table, pushing it across towards me with her orange hooves. It was big, and heavy. She brushed her blonde bangs aside and waited with excitement. Apple Bloom was likewise fidgeting in her seat. Even the usually-stoic Mac looked anxious. That alone was enough to earn my curiosity.

I tore away the wrapping paper, decorative ribbons and bow. It was a plain brown box underneath, held closed with a bit of tape. I snapped it open and lifted the lid. I looked inside and paused, in a brief moment of disbelief, dubious of what my eyes were reporting. I looked up and Big Mac, and back inside again.

It was a large, round and wooden ring, with two metal pegs sticking out of the top of it. The inside of it had been worn smooth from years of use. It was Big Mac's old yoke, given to me. I lifted it out of the box, looking through it at the three of them. I felt the weight of in in my hooves. It felt heavy. Burdensome. In fact it felt exactly like that.

A burden.

"Congratulation!" Applejack said, moving around the table towards me. "Here, let me help you try it on!"

She took it from my hooves, as I sat there and she moved it towards my head. In that moment, I realized that this would be the anchor, tying me to this place for the rest of my life. That if I put this on now, I was never going to be taking it off again. At least not for many years until I could find some young colt to pass it off on, as Big Macintosh had. The walls started closing in on me. The heavy, wooden sides of it passed my face, enclosing me in it. My world shrank. I suddenly felt very claustrophobic. Something inside of me screamed.

"NO!" I panicked and jumped out of my chair before she could put it on me.

"Don, are you okay!?" Apple Bloom asked.

"No, I mean yeah, I mean, I just- I just need a minute!" I stammered, inching towards the door. "It's just- it's just such a- an honor, I- I wasn't expecting this! I just need some, some air!" I ran outside, into the cool air of the evening. I needed to be outdoors. I needed space. Wide open space.

The sun had just set, but the sky was still light red. I looked down the hill of the orchard. I could still see the details of the trees, which ones still needed to be harvested. I looked beyond. I could see the houses of Ponyville. I could see the silhouette of Castle of Canterlot in the distance, dark against the sky, perched on the side of the mountain. All my life I've heard so much about the city of Canterlot. But I have never been there. Even as I could see it, every day of my life, up there, taunting me as an adventure I would never have.

"Don," Apple Bloom asked from behind me. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Of course I wasn't, and we both plainly knew it. But as much as I had acquired a comfort with lying, I never like doing it to her. So I did the next best thing and avoided the question.

"I just, need to take a walk I think." She didn't argue or make any movement to stop me.

I took a walk. It usually worked to clear my head. Most often I'd find something that needed to be done around the farm and work on that. And before long, I had forgotten all about whatever was bothering me and it was time for bed.

I walked down the path to the farm's entrance gate. Shortly beyond that was the main road. To the left, it led into Ponyville. That was where my walks usually went. I'd go into town. Maybe get something to eat that wasn't apple. Say hi to some ponies. Impersonate a few of the locals, commit some petty theft, and walk back. Did I mention that I was not a nice pony?

All that was off to the left. To the right...

Actually, now that I had stopped to think about it, I hadn't ever gone right. Not really. Not very far anyways. I felt a small voice in the back of my mind, urging me on.

Go right.

I looked back over my shoulder. Apple Bloom hadn't followed me. I swapped out my yellow and green for something a bit more subtle. Some nice, dark, earth tones.

I went right.

If you asked me now why I did it, I couldn't tell you. I should have gone left. I should have just headed into town, had a cider or six, and went home with a headache. I would have calmed down by the next day and accepted my role as a farmpony for good at last. In time I would have seen the wisdom in it, in a nice stable life. But I was young, and reckless.

And I went right.

It went in the general direction of Canterlot. I think it was the old hoof path to the city before the advent of the railroad. I don't know how long I had been walking on it. But it was long enough for it to get properly dark. And that was when I met her.

"Howdy stranger," I heard her say, from seemingly nowhere. I looked all around myself, out into the dark. "Hey, up here." I looked up in the tree nearby. In the pale moonlight I could see the pegasus fluttered down from one of the branches. "I haven't seen you around here before. What's your name?" she asked.

"Don. And you?"

"Call me Sweet Leaf."

"Hello."

"So where are you headed off to at this late hour? Don't you know it's dangerous to be on this road at night?" she said.

"I'm not afraid."

"Oh, but you should be," she said with a wide smile, her teeth shining bright white in the moonlight. "You really should be. There's no knowing who or what might be out here, waiting to pounce on you from the darkness," she said in a predatory tone that could only be described as sultry as she walked in a small circle around me.

"What about you? What are you doing out here in a tree?" I asked her.

"Sleeping."

"Sleeping?"

"Mhmm. Most ponies do that at night. And a tree is a pretty safe place to sleep when you're traveling."

"It doesn't seem like you were sleeping to me."

"I'm a very light sleeper. You woke me up."

"I was being pretty quiet,"

"So you never told me where you were going," she said.

"That's correct."

"..."

"Has anypony ever told you that you're very shrewd?" she asked.

"I get that a lot. But then I did just meet you. Maybe I just don't trust you."

"Well that's smart, on your part," she said. "Mind if I walk with you for a while then?"

"If you want."

"Yes. Then we can talk and get to know each other. Then you'll trust me and you can tell me where you're going."

"I don't know."

"What? What wrong with that plan?" she asked.

"Nothing. You asked me where I'm going and honestly, the answer is 'I don't know'."

"Oh."

"What about you? You said you were traveling. Where are you going?" I asked. She smiled again.

"I'm going to the train station," she said.

"The train station isn't a destination. A train station by its very nature is a means to an end. So to be looking for that mean you're looking for a means to do... what?" She walked with me, quietly for a time, and then she smirked.

"Don, let me ask you something. Have you ever been to the Crystal Empire?"

Comments

[harts fire]

this is showing to be a good story.

[Shakespearicles]

7671434 ikr?

[ThatBadGuy]

I am not a nice pony. Would a nice pony begin with such an exciting scene, then make you wait almost the entire book to read about it?

No. I am not a nice pony.

Oh YOU! I like you!

[Shakespearicles]

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