Evenfall: Waves in a Haven

by Yinglung

Chapter 7 - An Apple Red as Blood

The news that Discord and Rosencross succeeded in activating another slab gave the apple pony both hope and a big headache.

Already, due to her experiences with building the railroads down south, she was tasked again with organizing the newcomers as several Railroad Corps to work on the Northern Railroad.

However, between her farming businesses, railroad businesses, and now not only having to accommodate, but also to do something with Chrysalis – she presumed, she was out of her wits completely.

She already allowed the changelings to live on her ground, what more did the Tree of Harmony want? What’s up with Pinkie’s doozy that paired her up with the changeling queen herself? Was she supposed to accept her with open hooves?

Twilight’s return, even with her amnesia, was something to celebrate. The orange mare was of course delighted. But she never figured out her friends’ obsession with the one changeling that sent their plans to tatters in the first place.

It was clear there was a ‘friendship lesson’ down the road. But what was she to do? Put up a friendly face and cosy up to her, and act like nothing had happened before? She could never do that, not least because of her adherence to her Element.

At least Discord owned up to his fault immediately, Chrysalis, on the other hoof, was barely apologetic. She wasn’t particularly thankful for her accommodation even.

Applejack grumbled as she punched a red mark on the balance sheet using her typewriter.

The Apples had rapidly grown from borderline subsistence farming to a respectful and vertically integrated business in a little more than a year’s time. It was nothing short of a miracle to an outsider, but she knew well that she’s merely making use of ideas and skills she inherited from a certain amnesiac.

Compared to Raritan’s bleeding financial status, the Apple Company was growing relatively healthily with her prudent management.

But however wondrous the business practices and managerial techniques were, they didn’t solve some very basic problems. When all they did was farming, it was relatively easy to manage. But now that they expanded to more complicated sectors like manufacture and logistics, there were a woeful dearth of middle managerial staff to look after the burgeoning businesses, forcing her to halt or even cut back on the scale in some cases.

And as her businesses grew, it was becoming increasingly hard to track how many bits and assets that she really had – those she could take out to use readily.

The most ominous threat, however, was paradoxically the increase in production. The mass-production of foodstuffs and consumables had driven down the prices and made the choices for the townsfolk much more varied than before. However, the sale was going softer and softer, despite the fact that she had driven the price down to almost its cost. It was apparent that there were simply not enough costumers with enough buying power in Ponyville, despite its boomtown status.

She couldn’t lay off the workers either, and this was not because she had as strong a reservation as Rarity. If she fired her workers, then they would simply left Ponyville. And even if they stayed, they would have even less power to buy her products, her businesses being one of the largest employers in Ponyville.

Suddenly, a burst of laughter rang through the wooden walls. It pulled her mind back from her adult troubles to the reality, and she warmly smiled.

Ever since Rainbow Dash came back, the happiest filly had to be Scootaloo. Her hero finally came back from her ‘adventure’, and lo, she didn’t only bring back somepony who was thought to be dead for moons, she herself even got herself a position of nobility. Above all, her hero did not forget about her at all. She got special tours of the camp, and was introduced to the Cruzesians like she was the Grand Duchess’s daughter.

This injected so much life into the moribund Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the three could once again be seen playing in their treehouse and around her farm.

The orange mare sighed. Their happy faces somehow made her feel a little bit guilty at seemingly putting her attention to her businesses instead of Twilight. She was all too aware that she was running away from the problem.

Not that Twilight had ever pressured them into doing anything, in fact, it was the exact opposite. Every time she visited Twilight, the purple mare was like mortification personified. Twilight was so apologetic about her inability to take action that she almost begged them to just leave her as it was, a demand, of course, rejected right out of hoof by Applejack.

But still, her conscience ate away at her day by day, and she did not know what to do with Chrysalis and herself to help Twilight.

“Hey, chief!” The voice of a stallion rang aloud outside her office.

“Come in!” She yelled back.

A large, panting brown stallion entered her office.

“Howdy there, cousin Styre!”

“Howdy, chief AJ!”

“You look ‘bit spooked. What takes you up north? Somethin’ wrong with the orchards in Appleloosa?”

“Not jus’ somethin’, chief. It’s somethin’ ‘orrible!”

“Oh...” Applejack felt like her eyes were popping out of her sockets. What could have hit the settlements down south? At this inconvenient moment no less? If anything went awry at this moment, then she would be neck deep in trouble.

She prayed to every higher being that would listen that the buffalos weren’t getting annoyed again, and asked. “Tell me… Are the buffalos gettin’ rowdy again’?”

“Nah, chief.”

“Crops failin’?”

“Enope.”

“Then pray tell, what’s goin’ wrong in the south?”

“Our farm workin’ cousins have turned into a bunch of lyin’ mobs and almost burned down Appleloosa!”

Applejack drew in a breath through clenched teeth. “Explain, cousin, what does that mean?”

“Ya see, since a moon ago, we’ve been seein’ a sharp rise of assault and theft on our plantations. It was okay at first, but every time the perp never admit he or she did the crime. Also, the victim one day would suddenly become the perp the next day! The sheriff’s out o’ his wits.”

Styre crossed his hooves and sighed. “Ah was almost framed once! Some silly duds said Ah was out in the field choppin’ off apple trees for no reason. But Ah was out in the pub drinkin’ cider, and the barkeep as well as the customers there proved mah a-li-li…”

“Alibi?”

“Yeah, that’s the word. Our Chief’s always got the right word in the saddlebag!”

“Less apple-polishin’, cousin Styre. This is somethin’ real troublesome. No wonder the Appleloosa plantation was in deep red last moon. Ah will look into it personally.”

“Whoa, thanks chief! Ah can’t express mah thanks enough!”

“Fer now, cousin, you should stay here and keep a tab on things alongside mah brother and granny. Ah would pack things up an’ go south very soon.”

“Cheers, chief. Ah’ll!”

“Cheers, cousin Styre.” Applejack pulled an unconvincing smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This is no ordinary brawling…” Applejack breathed out heavily.

Ponies acting out of their characters and started attacking each other. There were many explanations that could have fit the bills, but the most likely one was obviously…

“Hey, apple-bucker.”

Applejack turned in surprise. It appeared to be her sister, Apple Bloom, but the irreverent tone was clearly out of place.

She narrowed one eye and glared. “You ain’t mah sis. Which black bug exactly are you, huh?”

“What kind o’ manner’s that, huh? Black bug? Is it what you call yer guest these days?”

“Cut it out wit’ yer phony ‘acksent’ and tell me who you’re.”

“Tsk. I take on this form because it’s the only form who can run all over the farm without rousing suspicion. And who else could I be? The one and only Chrysalis, of course.”

“Still so pompous after losin’ yer crown, huh?”

“It’s none of your concern. I only come here because I heard the news.”

“Sneaky wall-ears again, huh? Ah don’t appreciate being eavesdropped by impersonators, you know that.”

Chrysalis sneered. “I have absolutely no interest in knowing your boring business, how many crates of dang Big Macs from the south, how much are you going to pay the Cherries… yada, yada.”

Applejack said unamusedly. “From yer words, it’s clearly that you did listen up on us these few days.”

“Whatever! I only caught wind of the news of the disturbance down south. It bears the classical mark of what a detached band of changelings would engage – raiding the nearest settlement and cause disruption, but failing to enact love-absorption because of the lack of coordination.”

“… So what do you want from me? Rescuin’ yer kin?”

“Of cour-”

“Hey Apple Bloom-!”

A loud yell boomed behind the two. They both turned to find two eager fillies looking at Chrysalis in Apple Bloom’s disguise.

“Apple Bloom!”

Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “I thought you’ve gone to Manehattan to visit your cousin!”

Scootaloo pouted. “Why are you prancing around here but not coming with me to tour the Ca- Cam-”

“Campo Militar de Fortaleza da Grã Cruzesia?” Sweetie Belle pronounced the Cruzesian word with almost native fluency.

“Tsk, Sweetie, you’re a walking dictionary, of course you can pronounce that ridiculous tongue-twister... But hey! You’ve absolutely missed out, Apple Bloom! It’s loads of fun! Rainbow Dash even let us play hide-and-seek in the giant tent in the middle of the camp!”

Chrysalis looked towards Applejack uncertainly, but the orange pony only gave her a somewhat plastic smile.

She gulped and smiled difficultly. “H- Heheh, Ah’m sorry, uh, Ah’ve come back early, because, uh… Applejack needs me here.”

Applejack slightly widened her eyes. Chrysalis threw the ball directly back to her, and she knew that she hated lying and was bad at it.

Grumbling mentally, she reluctantly nodded. “Y- Yeah, Ah’ve called back Apple Bloom because Ah miss mah sis so much!”

“Oooo-!” The two fillies gazed at ‘Apple Bloom’ with big grins, causing the disguised changeling to furiously sweat.

Sweetie Belle’s grin fell soon afterwards. “Aw… I hope that my sister pay me this much attention! She’s always so busy nowadays, trotting everywhere with Miss Verna all day!”

Scootaloo gulped and kept quiet. Surely Rainbow Dash was too cool to snuggle up with her?

Still, the orange filly was already feeling like she’s in heaven after moons of dejected wait.

Applejack brightly smiled. She extended her hoof and brought ‘Apple Bloom’ into her embrace tightly, and snuggled with her in front of the fillies.

The changeling went ‘eep’. It was less a squeak of embarrassment, but rather horror. She briefly kicked her hoof viciously to get herself out.

“Woooo-!” The fillies again made excited noises at the intimate play in front of them.

Applejack tried to ignore the very physical feelings in her chest. Even though she knew well the one she’s holding was not the real Apple Bloom. But she could swear to the Spirits of Harmony that not only was she physically identical, she even smelled like Apple Bloom. How was that possible?

Still, she turned and said to the fillies. “You don’t have t’ wait, young’uns. It’s only natural t’ be close to yer family, am Ah right, Apple Bloom? Hmmmm?”

“Ah- I- Ah-”

“So!”

Applejack grinned again. “You two would do well t’ just ask the one you want to snuggle with if you can snuggle wit’ them!”

“R- Really?” Scootaloo said.

“Ah guarantee it. Even Rainbow Dash!”

Before Applejack even finished her sentence, Scootaloo already launched herself towards the farm entrance on her scooter, leaving Sweetie Belle to trail behind yelling ‘wait up’.

After the two fillies went off the horizons, Chrysalis finally got out of Applejack’s death grip. She furiously blushed as she complained loudly. “W- What the Tartarus is wrong with you?”

Applejack grinned ferociously. “Said the one usin’ mah little sis’s guise to do yer dirty work! Now you know how Ah feel, huh?”

“I- you-”

Chrysalis yelled in frustration. “It was a mistake to turn to you after all!”

Applejack tutted. “Talk about mistake! Ah wonder if Ah did one in keepin’ y’all on mah land.”

“Enough! I’ll look for a way of my own to deal with this! I’m not going to let any of my hivelings fall foul of you ponies!”

“Do you think you can just go without mah approval?”

“Hah, do you think I need your approval to go?”

Applejack’s tone turned cold. “You can go, but if you do, don’t you dream of a day when we’d welcome you back with open hooves. At least Ah never would.”

Chrysalis sneered. “I don’t-”

Applejack cut her off forcefully however. “Chrysalis! For so long Ah’ve questioned Twilight and mah other friends’ kindness. Ah never really bought that. We showed you grace, no doubt, but in mah eyes, it’s just cheap grace if this goes on.”

The changeling was about to ignore the orange mare and go. But she was somehow hooked by the issue of forgiveness. She gritted her teeth and glared. “What do you mean exactly?”

Applejack drew in a breath. She then slowly said in a measured tone. “We showed Discord grace, as we now show grace to you. It’s unmerited, we don’t ask you or he anythin’ beforehoof. But let me tell ya, our grace is free, but it is not cheap, not something you can just sneer on and cast away. Cheap grace is mercy without accountability, liberty without commitment, forgiveness without repentance, and above all, love without truth. Ah can’t possibly accept that.”

Chrysalis breathed through her clenched teeth. She was still slowly gauging what the orange mare meant.

She always thought the farm mare was the most simple-minded among the six Element-bearers, and she never thought about anything she said in a deep way, not helping by her accent.

But it was exactly what she had just said that hit something the changeling herself had been thinking over since her arrival, since her long talk with Discord on the ship.

“Ponies had made their marks on the world. But clearly, there are so many more sapient species walkin’ the earth, carvin’ out a place to live. That includes changelings, it remains so however many conflicts we had in the past. But Ah always believed there’s one thing that ties us all together. It is a naturally upward yearnin’, a limitless seed of change. For growth, therefore one expands; for grace, therefore one improves; for truth, therefore one learns. And yet your stubbornness made it hard for me to buy into that anymore.”

The orange mare gazed directly into Chrysalis’s eyes. “… Can Ah ever trust you to stop treading on the same step? Can you ever show grace to us as we have shown you?”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “… How can you say your ‘grace’ is no-strings-attached, if you demand us to conform?”

Applejack slightly widened her eyes. She did not expect the changeling to give a nuanced answer. “… Ah don’t want you to just conform, and Ah don’t want you to think that our grace is conditional. Ah just want you to think why. Why Twilight did what she did, why Discord walked on the long road of absolution, why you are here.”

Chrysalis gritted her teeth. “I’m not here to follow your goals, pony.”

“Ah never said that. We don’t see others as steppin’ stone, Chrysalis. Like just now, you’ve put up with the little show in front o’ the fillies, when you could’ve ruined their day by goin’ all out on them. Why did you do what you did instead? You didn’t do that because you fear reprisal, you didn’t do that because I would give you somethin’ in return. You did that for somethin’ else.”

Chrysalis spluttered. And Applejack pushed on. “And if you were to ask me to help you rescue your kin, Ah would agree… For the very same reason, for the very same motivation.”

“Y- You would help me?”

“Ah…”

Applejack gulped. She was incredibly unsure, and she was usually not one pony to bet on something this important. But she felt that she must try to do something both for implausible task of reforming Chrysalis, as well as mission given by the Tree of Harmony. She hesitated, as Chrysalis wasn’t even aware of the latter yet.

She lightly shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Ah said Ah would, and that’s it. But at the same time, Ah want you to catch onto that glimpse of spontaneity Ah talked about. Drill on it, dwell on it, think on it.”

Chrysalis mumbled. Her words seemed to make sense, but also seemed not. She shook her head and instead asked with a low tone. “I might consider what you’ve said a bit. But how are you going to help me?”

“Ah’ll go to the south very soon. Ah originally wanted to bring Rosencross along. But Ah have a naggin’ feelin’ that she might be a bit touchy about helpin’ yer hive. Now that you show up, then great. Ah can organize mah workers as an effective unit. They knew the drill as frontier ponies. If ya want us to bring yer hivelings back alive, however, it’s yer job t’ tell us what to do would be the best.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Speakin’ of which, Ah don’t see you bringin’ any of yer ‘hivelings’ along wit’ you? It’s a-wastin’ mah arranged spaces on the train, which could’ve been used t’ filled wit’ supplies.”

Applejack chewed a blade of grass casually, as she sat opposite the disguised changeling, still disguised as her little sister.

“I can’t help it!”

She said with visible exasperation. “It’s Allela, that heartless traitor of a changeling!”

Suppressing the urge to mock Chrysalis’s choice of words, Applejack asked. “What about her?”

“She was all ‘I want to protect my hivelings from harm’ before, and yet she refuses to lend out any hivelings in our mission! She gave me all kinds of reasons, but they’re so transparently excuses, she might’ve thought me a fool to believe them!”

“Ah guess among all reasons, she claimed that they’re too hungry to do any work? Ya know, the whole thing ‘bout not consumin’ energy from Twilight till she’s better.”

“… Yeah.”

“But what ‘bout you? Are you also fastin’? How can you be all energetic and stuff if you hadn’t been eating sneakily?”

“I hadn’t!”

Chrysalis sounded less like an angry queen, but more like a filly falsely accused of stealing from a cookie jar. “I’m… I was a queen changeling, my energy reserve is much, much larger than the average changeling, it’s almost limitless. When Twilight Sparkle sent large blasts through our links, I can store all of it and use it slowly, unlike the hivelings who unfortunately lose most of it like water off a duck’s back.”

“So Allela has a legitimate concern after all?”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and harrumphed, turning her head petulantly away from Applejack.

The orange mare smiled wryly. “Well, we don’t really need any more changelings with the plan we’ve discussed. No offense, but changelings are weak-”

“W- What?!” Chrysalis abruptly turned back and angrily hissed. “How dare you?”

“Ah mean physically weak, Chrysalis. Compared to an earth pony-”

“Bah! You earth ponies are dumb muscles anyway!”

The orange mare tutted and let it slip, but Chrysalis continued. “We are a race of superior intelligence, subterfuge and mental strength.”

“Yeah, right. Preach on. The fact remains that changelings lose their disguise easily when smacked lightly. And if you can’t fool somepony into thinkin’ that yer their loved one, you can’t cast yer mind control spell in the first place. In your current level of power, Ah doubt you can even wrestle anything substantial from anyone if you use brute mental force.”

“H- How’d you know about the limits to my power?”

Applejack coughed and began to speak with a refined Manehattan accent. “You should be germane to the fact that I, like most other earth ponies, am not just some ‘dumb muscle’. You may have observed my provincial disposition and rustic articulation, and wrongly concluded that I am lacking in intellectual faculty. That’s patently untrue, as I only speak thusly because I am steadfast to my roots. My fundamental deduction skill is still intact.”

“… You aren’t one of my hivelings just to mess with my head, are you?”

“Ha, ha, very funny.”

She grinned, and then further shocked Chrysalis by speaking in the Trotian tongue1.

“I've always wondered. Do you actually speak Trotian?”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “How do you know about the Trotian tongue?”

“Ah’ll tell you after you tell me why you changelings have Trotian names despite originating from West Zebrica.”

“Nosy pony, you huh? Alright, I’ll tell you. I don’t know.”

Applejack was unamused. “… What.”

“I’m not deceiving you on this one. What good can there be? The truth is, I have no idea. The changelings are much faster language learner than you ponies, and we usually adopt the dominant language in the area swiftly. But our names came from the tongue of the first changelings. They’re, as legend told, born from a very magical pitcher in the middle of West Zebrican swamps, and they spoke their language immediately after birth.”

She looked to the West in thought. “For long, changelings, even though we have largely forgone this ancestral tongue in favor for Zebrikaans and other Zebrican tongue, still thought that it was our own divine tongue, and we use part of it to name our kin. That was until I found out in the invasion of Timbucktu that our names are apparently almost identical to names in Trotian tongue in pony archives. That’s what prompted me to lead an oversea expedition to Trot. We almost didn’t make it, and it wasn’t a particularly bountiful conquest. What’s more, I still have no idea why our ancestor seemed to speak Trotian, as none of the Trotians have a sliver of idea.”

“Ah see.”

Applejack then asked after a pause. “Does the magical pitcher still exist?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s a long, long ago. If it still exists, we would certainly know it as we swept across West Zebrica.”

“That’s just a possibility, but Ah suppose some past Trotian visitor to Zebrica might be related to the magical pitcher.”

“Maybe, maybe. But I don’t think we’d ever know. I didn’t manage to squeeze anything out of Trotians back then, and surely now the city would just be a shell of its former self.”

Chrysalis then glared at Applejack. “… Well?”

“Fine, fine. My Trotian knowledge came from Twilight.”

Chrysalis raised a brow. “That seems obvious in hindsight. But did she really just… randomly teach her friends obscure language that they might never have to chance to speak?”

Applejack’s gaze flickered. She deliberately avoided the term ‘teaching’, as the thing Twilight did to them wasn’t really teaching. She only muttered with a strain in her voice. “… She also let us know a lot o’ other things, not just foreign tongues.”

“Such as?”

“… Magic, history, government, politics, technology, all kinds of things. She’s a walkin’ almanac.”

“That I won’t disagree. She did have the unnerving skill of knowing things that others would never expect her to know. But why would the other five of you be roped in anyway? Except for her, none of you look particularly like the studious type. Why would you, an apple farmer, be interested in learning about ancient pegasi?”

Applejack began to feel some pressure, as she felt that she had to weave some excuses to explain her knowledge. “Ah… well, we’re the Element-bearers, we have the obligation to equip ourselves with knowledge, both practical an’ theoretical, in order to protect Equestria.”

“… Huh. I guess. Come to think of it, you six are probably more elite and professional than the lousy bunch I met in Canterlot, and before that, in Fillydelphia. Moreover, I never thought I would praise someone for not only for being formidable, but also honorable… but you’re. After all, Twilight Sparkle did force me to engage in one-on-one duel after beating back my swarm on her own, while Celestia let those hapless city guards wore us down before blasting us when we’re the weakest.”

Applejack’s gaze was complicated. “We still drew on the emotional energy of the citizenry.”

Chrysalis suddenly grinned. “Strangely changeling-like strategy, I must say I like it somewhat.”

“We won’t throw away any strategy just ‘cos it has been used by our opponents, unless it’s actively harmful… except to our enemies of course, which is kinda the point of a battle.”

“Ha, I don’t know you can joke, apple farmer.”

“Ah don’t know you can take a joke too, Chrysalis. Yer more touchy than a Macintosh.”

“What does that have to do with your brother?”

Applejack snorted loudly. “Laws a mercy! Ah don’t mean mah big brother! Macintosh is the name fer an easily bruised apple cultivar, and you must harvest it by hooves, not kick it down a tree.”

Chrysalis gritted her teeth and glared at Applejack. “… I’m not gonna prove your point by getting all up.”

“Okay, Chrysalis, Ah’m sorry if you feel offended and all.”

“… Huh? Did you just apologize to me?”

“Ah’ll admit it if Ah’m in the wrong, of course. So far you’ve been quite frank and open wit’ me, and Ah shouldn’t have mocked you.”

Chrysalis gulped. “… Apology accepted.”

“Great. Now let’s return our original discussion. We don’t really need any more changelings by our side. If it really, regretfully, comes down to hoof-fights, my workers and Ah will have ways to deal wit’ impersonators once they know what’s going on. We have the absolute advantage in numbers, and Ah have plans. But of course, we’re goin’ to try diplomacy first, as in any cases.”

“I can’t really complain, since this is about my hivelings. But if it’s about any other creature, I would be questioning your approach given the overwhelming power difference.”

“Chrysalis, mercy and restraint is the privilege of the strong, not the weak.”

The changeling sharply raised her head and looked at the orange mare.

Applejack continued. “Showin’ mercy and forgiveness is not equal to capitulation. You can only afford to pull back when you have the upper hoof-”

A loud blaring horn then interrupted their conversation, and they turned their heads sharply towards the source of the sound.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When they both looked out of the window, they discovered that the train had left its semi-desert landscape behind and slowly pulled into a train station with an arched overhead.

The train station had a clean, white façade. Multiple railways fed into the space under the overhead, and there were a few small cranes loading different kinds of crops onto the open cars on an outgoing train.

Their train slowly stopped at the outermost platform, and the two quickly departed the train, only to be greeted by a familiar face.

“Hey, cou- nah, boss! And Apple Bloom too!”

Applejack raised a brow and glanced at Chrysalis, and took a strange amusement at how the changeling was uncomfortable being addressed as Applejack’s little sister.

She then turned to and said. “Oh golly, Braeburn, how come ya know we’re comin’?”

“Actually, Ah’m jus’ expectin’ Styre. He said he’s gonna bring help from Ponyville, Ah certainly didn’t expect he would manage to bring you here!”

“Ah good. Ah suspect what’s happenin’ here isn’t jus’ ponies gettin’ all crazed up.”

“Then what could be it?”

“Changelings, of course.”

Braeburn’s face immediately turned white. “Ch- changelings? Those who attacked Canterlot moons ago and caused a great ruckus?”

Chrysalis pouted, and Applejack waved him down with a wry grin. “Judgin’ from how often the attacks happen, there’re probably less than a couple dozens of them, much less than what we had to deal with in Canterlot. And they’re leaderless, and a trusted source told me this means they can’t absorb love in a mass scale.”

Chrysalis looked at Applejack in surprise when she heard she was described as a trusted source.

“But how are we goin’ to tell if any of us have been impersonated?” Braeburn said worriedly.

“We’re goin’ to hold off work for a day tomorrow to check whether we have changelings among us.”

“How exactly would you single them out, boss AJ?”

“Just in case, Braeburn. Ah’m gonna ask you one thing. Can you tell me what special thing happened when you came to Ponyville the first time after I was born?”

“Oh, Ah see now, a test! That’s easy, AJ, you puked out the entire apple fritter onto my face, because Granny Smith mixed up the sugar for salt.”

Applejack half-snorted and half-winced in embarrassment. “Yer Braeburn, alright. And yes, since changelings can’t access the memories of those they impersonated, and those hungry and disorganized changelings can most certainly do little changeling magic, a simple cross-checkin’ will get them all out. Afterwards, Ah’ll personally deal with them.”

“But first, we must quarantine the entire Appleloosa first.” She narrowed her eyes.

Seeing the concerned look from Braeburn, Applejack reassured. “Don’t worry, it’ll only be temporary.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack let out a phew and leaned back on her chair in the small office.

“Just as Ah thought, no changelings, if any, is going to be stupid enough to be caught in mah face.”

“Or could there be no changelin’ here actually?” Braeburn frowned.

“It’s not impossible, but it’s also worth notin’ that there’s no strange incident o’ assault and theft in the Appleloosa plantation today, when it happens by a daily basis before today.”

“So what should we do now?” Chrysalis asked.

“… Uh, no offense, boss AJ, Ah’ve been wonderin’ since the beginnin’… Why did you bring in Apple Bloom? Isn’t it kinda dangerous for what we’re doin’ here?”

Applejack rolled up her eyes and sighed. “Braeburn…”

“Yes?”

“She’s not actually mah little sis.”

“Y- You mean-”

“She’s a changelin’ that’s on our side, and she’s here to help me double-check whether the pony who came in is actually a changelin’.”

Braeburn stepped back in great suspicion. “Are you really mah cousin AJ?”

“Are you really the cousin who kicked a small foal into a ditch and then pretended that the dirt on me was just chocolate bits?”

“Hey, it was an accident!”

“See, Ah’m AJ, since you lied to Granny and Big Mac’s faces about this.” Applejack smirked amusedly.

“But a changelin’, she’s dangerous!”

“Ah-”

Chrysalis coughed and put up an unamused face. “If I want to act up, it would be long before we have this inevitable chat.”

“She’s a threat if she acts up indeed. But Ah don’t think she will, even though she’s Chrysalis.”

“Wait-” Chrysalis widened her eyes.

“C- C- Chrysalis?! The changeling queen herself?! AJ, have you lost your min- nah, you must’ve been controlled by her because she deceived you with her look!”

“What are you thinking, Applejack?! Telling him just like this? He’s gonna freak out, go out and start a bucking lynching!” Chrysalis almost yelled.

“See, ponies and changelings have some similarity after all, at least in the volume of blowin’ mah ears out.”

Applejack covered her ears and winced. “Can we turn down the volume a bit, since we’re talkin’ ‘bout a very important matter?”

The two both stepped back from touching distance with Applejack, but maintained a highly cautious gaze with each other.

“Okay, cousin Braeburn. Ah’m of very sound mind, and not under any mind control, thanks fer yer concern. Ah just want to be completely honest wit’ you, since yer the most important community leader in Appleloosa other than Sheriff Silverstar, and Ah want you to have some mental preparation comes the day of reveal. In fact, yer the first pony outside of a close circle of Twilight’s friends whom Ah told of this guarded secret.”

“And you, Chrysalis, please calm down too. Ah’m here to build bridges, and Ah’ll not allow anything as horrible as that to happen to either side.”

“… Ah need some explanation, okay cousin?”

“Good, now yer less hysterical, hear me out then…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack looked at her cousin cautiously. She had omitted the most incriminating part of Chrysalis’s wrongdoing, namely how she tried to steal Twilight’s identity.

Braeburn adjusted his hat and said. “Ah appreciate yer honesty, boss AJ. Ah still feel like that if this string of violence is due to these stray changelings, there must be some kind o’ reckonin’ after that. But after hearin’ the incredible journey yer friends made, Ah guess not all changelings are automatically bad, and they can be talked to just like now.”

“Ah appreciate yer understandin’ as well, Braeburn. And Ah think we’ll all understand the importance of kinship. That’s the same even for changelings, therefore Ah’m determined to help them reunite. This way, we can also put a stop to the disruption here.”

Applejack gave a glance to Chrysalis, who was looking at her in a seemingly judging gaze.

Then to her surprise, the changeling looked to the side and said. “I… am grateful, I guess.”

Delighted, Applejack grinned. “See? She’s not at all a bad’un, huh?”

Braeburn scratched his head. “Well, Ah guess if mah cousin AJ says so. But how are we gonna find them out, now that they’ve all hid up?”

“First, Braeburn, Ah want to double-check wit’ you. Are all o’ our workers now fenced in this parcel of orchard now? Buddy system and password system all implemented?”

“Sure do, boss mare.” Braeburn nodded.

“Good, keep it goin’. Based on when and where these cases of disruption took place, Ah’ve asked one of mah friends to calculate where they might be from. And Ah can tell you with 99% confidence that they sneaked in from the west side of the small mesa outside of the town.”

“Well, what are we waitin’ fer then, let’s go get ‘em!” Braeburn exclaimed.

“No, Braeburn, you have to stay here. We’ve made sure that there’s no infiltratin’ changelings here, and we have to keep it this way. She and I will go to check whether there really is some changelings holin’ up in there.”

“Don’t ya think that it’d be dangerous, boss?”

“Ah trust her to offer me adequate protection if anythin’ goes wrong.”

Chrysalis sharply turned in shock, and Braeburn raised a brow in doubt, but he shrugged.

“If you say so, AJ. You clearly have a plan right from you arrived at Appleloosa. Just don’t endanger yerself, okay?”

“Ah’ll try. Ah’ll try.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a dark, windy cell, Chrysalis weakly complained towards Applejack. The former changeling queen had reverted to her original form.

“What the Tartarus are you thinking? Just walking here like that! Now let’s what you’ve got ourselves into…!”

Applejack shrugged. “Well, you showed yerself, and they don’t give a buck. Ah couldn’t have predicted that.”

“You whole plan depends on they bowing their heads down upon seeing me?!”

“Is that unreasonable now? Ah thought they still regarded you as their queen.”

“I- I…”

Chrysalis spluttered. She was also deeply bemused by her former underlings’ action. Why did they act like they’d totally forgotten about her? She could call some of them by name, and yet she was smacked on the face like any other intruder.

Her magic was also strangely suppressed in this dried up desert waterhole, so was her stamina. What could be the reason?

She groaned and said. “But you said you have your strong earth pony workers to help! Why didn’t you bring them along? And what about your waterproof plan, huh?”

“If we came up in a formation, it’s just invitin’ fights, innit?”

“So you just raised your hooves and surrendered? Great! Now we’re caught and I don’t know what they want to do with us!”

“… Whatever happens, Ah want to say thank you.”

Chrysalis widened her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Applejack closed her eyes and said. “Ah’m not gonna lie, Ah didn’t resist very strongly because Ah want to see how you’ll act in time of distress. Prosperity and care makes friends, but adversity and threat tries them. And you shielded me from the heaviest of blows out there. You can’t fake natural responses like that.”

Chrysalis was livid. “I can’t believe it… You’ve been playing me for a fool, huh Applejack?!”

“You call me by mah name, that’s the first.”

The changeling was stunned for a moment. “Huh?”

“And Ah know you’d think that Ah’ve manipulated you. If so, Ah apologize. Feel free to do whatever you want, Ah promise not to return any blow.”

Chrysalis drew in a breath through her gritted teeth, and sat on the stone floor dejectedly.

“… What’s the point? Besides, I barely have any stamina to move.”

“Hey now. Ah didn’t go into this with no preparation. Ah have set up a fail-safe, and if Ah didn’t report to Appleloosa in a few more hours, they will alert Ponyville and storm this place. So far we only see at most fifty changelings here, and they’d be easily dealt with when reinforcement arrives.”

“Tch-”

The door to the cell swung open, and out there stood an unfamiliar-looking changeling. Interestingly, she sported a mane of bright ruby, indicating that she was not a common changeling. Her spotted shell showed that she was a member of Chrysalis’s hive, however.

However, Applejack was surprised when Chrysalis at first did not quite see her face clearly against the light behind her. She narrowed her eyes and said. “Who are you, hiveling? Why did you attack me on sight?”

“Of course there’s a reason.”

“Wait, that voice…” Chrysalis raised her brows in shock.

“Whoa nelly, Ah got roped into some sort of internal changeling drama, didn’t Ah?”

“I regret bringing you into this, Miss Applejack, I mean you no harm. I really have no choice, however. I know that some of you have been questioning my motives ever since the Chrysalis’s deposition, so I gotta speed up my plan.”

“So you really are Allela?” Applejack asked in part curiosity and part concern.

The changeling looked a bit displeased. “I’m as much Allela as Phalena is Rosencross.”

“… Is that a riddle?” Applejack muttered.

“I don’t mean to be confusing, I just want to use my sister as an exam-”

“Did you just say Rose- Pha- she is your sister?” Applejack was stunned.

“She’s my sister of the same brood, back in the days, when she’s still Phalena, I was called Philyra. Well, until I was forcefully absorbed into Chrysalis’s hive that is.”

She then took out a sharp, black object. It was apparently an obsidian blade, and curiously, it glowed an eerie green even when there was little light.

Then to Applejack’s shock and horror, the ruby-maned changeling cantered towards the seemingly weakening Chrysalis and casually shoved the blade into her underbelly, causing the latter to stumble onto the floor in agonizing pain.

“What the buck do you think yer doin’?! Are you tryin’ to commit murder in front of me?!”

“Miss Applejack, please do not interfere. As you have pointed out, this is internal changeling affairs.”

“Ah don’t care! Ah couldn’t let this go on anymore, she’s bleeding out onto the ground!”

“Don’t be silly, Miss Applejack. Obsidian blade will not kill her... yet. Changeling physiology is unlike you ponies, and obsidian will only seep her strength and prevented her from escaping until I wrangled her life out, after I dealt her sufficient pain and suffering with my own hooves.”

“What for?! I thought you said you dislike her bad leadership, not that much that you’re downright murderous?”

“I wasn’t obligated to tell you everything, Miss Applejack, not when I’m not in a place of relative security and high control.”

Applejack gritted her teeth and turned to Chrysalis, who was whimpering on the floor. “Why don’t you speak up, Chrysalis?”

The ruby-maned changeling waved her mane and only answered her second question. “Well, I punctured her chest. She’d still be able to breathe, but it’s a tall order to have her speak.”

“You shan’t kill someone however horrible they are!”

“How about criticizing someone who took over our hive and brainwashed me into serving her?”

Applejack sharply inhaled, and ‘Philyra’ wryly sighed. “I must thank Twilight Sparkle, without her who disturbed the Green Stigmata, I would not have regained my pre-assimilated memories. In a sense, I was trying to act out how the Allela before that would act, and it was a reasonable success, since she’s clearly fooled, so were all of you.”

She shrugged and hissed. “I don’t want the crown, I don’t want power, I only want to see her suffer, torn carapace by carapace, and eventually left for dead in a forgotten corner no one will ever visit.”

“W- What’s your game?” Applejack asked, spooked at the immense hate emanated from the ruby-maned changeling.

“I’m not playing a game!” Philyra furiously thundered, stunning the orange mare and caused her to stumble backwards.

“This one right here.”

Her fury was quickly replaced, again, by an unnervingly savory look on her face. She pointed towards the half-conscious Chrysalis. “She had the temerity of thinking about redemption. Do you guys ever realize what she had done?”

“Ah…” Applejack difficultly winced.

“Phalena and I was close. It’s quite unusual for a brood of queen candidates. Life in the hive was quiet but happy. But… everything changed when Chrysalis came. I heard that she destroyed countless hives before, and all I had expected was that if she showed up, she would beat us up and disperse us, while claiming those hivelings who were willing to switch allegiance.”

“… That’s not what happened?”

“I was a naïve changeling in many ways. Aside from believing she would show mercy, I also took walk outside the hive without defense.”

Philyra’s face was distorted by hate and anger. “She captured me and turned me into her mind slave in order to infiltrate my very own hive. At the end of it, she even striped me of my own identity and brainwashed me into one of her own because she thought I was a good fighter and quick thinker… My subconscious distaste for her lingers, so I acted out of place at times. But despite my mutated form and mutilated mind, I still worked towards the top, driven by what I now knew as a desire for revenge. Laughably, by the time I rose through the ranks, she had probably already forgotten about how I came to be, because she did the same to countless hivemates of mine, and certainly many more.”

She grinned. “And when my first memories came back to me after we just landed in West Zebrica, I almost flew into an enraged craze. I bit back my desire of revenge though. I was still weak compared to her, and a quick death by ambush would be a mercy to her and a mess for me. So I waited, I planned. I even hypnotized myself into suppressing my rage, because I need her to be weak, isolated and powerless. I still managed to pressure her into surrendering her own crown, which was great. Twilight Sparkle’s blast of power some time ago not only replenished my power so much for me to break the spell and return to my true form, so I immediately set out to finish my unfinished business.”

“Sorry, may Ah ask somethin’?”

“Go ahead, we all have all the time in the world.”

“So you said she… assimilated you, and controlled yer mind. Did she personally…?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care! The end result was I walked around like a brain-dead follower of hers, and this stomped on and crushed my very sense of self!”

Applejack gulped. “Ah see… But if Ah remember right, you’re a squadron leader. It’s pretty important in a hive, right?”

“Squadron leaders answer only to the queen.”

“So yeah, if she had half a brain, she would know that you’d hate her with a burning passion after bein’ forced into her hive.”

“I certainly do.”

“So why did she promote you at all? From what Ah know from Twi and Discord, mind control, while always horrendous and condemnable, is a tricky stuff. I would not place somepony who might slip and would then hate me with the heat of a thousand suns in such important position. And why did she seem to treat you… for a lack of a better word, normally? From what Ah’ve heard from Discord, she said she thought you carried out the coup for what you thought would be good for yer own hivelings, and she didn’t even particularly expect yer ‘betrayal’, so to speak. If she knew that yer a brainwashed bitter enemy, how come she’s so clueless?”

Philyra slightly widened her eyes. It appeared that she never thought of these questions before.

She then tutted and huffed. “Maybe she’s just stupid. After all, she did think me as an ‘independent’ but efficient squadron leader before all that.”

Applejack took note of her answer. That’s one big hole in her story, but the fact remained that she was intently murderous, and she had to talk her out of it.

The orange mare then asked. “You seem to be the one who cause the changelings to act out here, but the disturbance began way before you guys arrived.”

“Huh, Miss Applejack, you’ve had a sharp mind. Indeed, this marauding band of changelings were indeed simply acting on their own, but after I became lucid, I swooped in and took control of them, and kept on generating noise to attract Chrysalis. It’s a shame that it happens to be on Apple lands and attracted your attention, I’m sorry for that.”

Applejack raised a brow on part of her words though. “… Taking control of them?”

“Yeah, taking control of them. I just borrowed their minds using my newly restored power a bit-”

“A- Philyra, don’t you see the hypocrisy here?”

“What, you mean halting their free will briefly to pursuit my vendetta? And you’re equating this to what she’s done?”

“Nopony is doing any equatin’, Philyra. What she’s done had to be judged, but it still had nothin’ to do with what you did, and what you should or should not do. Why do you keep on referrin’ back to Chrysalis’s deeds? Are you’re tryin’ to convince yerself or justify them to me?”

Applejack leaned forward and pressed on. “You know it’s wrong, don’t you?”

Philyra spat. ”Tsk... Like what you ponies say, you can’t make an omelette without cracking some eggs. I want to cut her into ribbons for what she did to us. When she was queen, I can’t do that. When she was outside, I can’t do that. Now that she was here, isolated from all and weak as a hatchling, I can finally exact my revenge.”

“Why is she so weak in here? Why did you do?”

“When I was on your farm, I noticed that a number of our hivelings got sick after roaming your fields. And then I found this.”

Philyra carefully elevated a metal canister out of her saddlebag.

Applejack momentarily thought whether it was a joke.

“… That is a can of pest repellent.”

“Oh, I saw your workers sprayed this incredible poison onto the field, and figured that you probably did that to keep our hivelings away-”

“Actually, this has nothin’ to do with changelings at all. It repels all insect who would eat the crops we planted. It’s all natural, and Ah’m… okay, Ah was sure it was not poisonous to any equine.”

“We aren’t equine, Miss Applejack.”

Applejack gulped. “So, are you telling me that you stole the pest repellent to weaken Chrysalis?”

“We sprayed a can of this on her face when we’re hoof-fighting at the entrance. This darned thing is so potent that the hivelings who used it are still sick in their bay.”

Applejack was still absorbing how ridiculous it was for Chrysalis and changelings in general to fall foul of a mere can of pest repellent. Even with the breadth of her knowledge and visions from a second life, she would never expect it to work at all.

Now she couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if she had brought a can with her when Chrysalis invaded Canterlot.

Applejack vigorously shook her head and stopped herself from bemoaning lost opportunity. She couldn’t let the shock of her discovery get to her.

She coughed. “But they-”

“I’ll of course relinquish my control over them once this is all over. I don’t want to squander the energy Twilight Sparkle gave me anyway. I still care about these hivelings who battled with me, and this was why I’ve tried to ensure their safety otherwise. If after that, if they still resent me, I welcome their hatred.”

“And let the cycle of retribution continue?”

“Do you not have canned morals in your repertoire of speech, Miss Applejack?”

“Hey, Ah resent that remark! Canned morals or not, it’s still wrong to take control of other’s minds or take Chrysalis’s life!”

Applejack drew in a breath and said. “We’ve been livin’ on the same farm for some time now, and you know me. I’ll never allow somethin’ like that to happen before mah own eyes.”

“Miss Applejack, you’re making this supremely difficult for me. I respect Twilight Sparkle’s help, so I facilitated the transfer of the changeling crown to her-”

“She doesn’t and she wouldn’t care about the changeling crown, or any crown fer that matter! And speakin’ of which, why did you let Chrysalis go through with the Soul Dust plan and let Twilight fall foul of it if you felt so grateful fer her then?”

“Oh, Miss Applejack, Twilight Sparkle was never in danger of anything, because I’ve taken care of it long ago. I wouldn’t want to harm Twilight Sparkle by accident just because I want to take revenge on Chrysalis, right?”

“… Huh?”

“Real, pure Soul Dust does have the amazing property of overwhelming mental and physical domination. I knew this better than everyone because changelings from Phalena’s hive were intimately familiar with mind-altering substances found in the Great Desert. But before Chrysalis got her hooves on it, I’ve already adulterated it. Even without your intervention, she would eventually lose grip on Twilight Sparkle. And had that come to pass, I would then continue to push her into the hole of powerlessness and desperation. But now that all of you have come into the picture, it’s harder for me to go with the slow route.”

Applejack wryly sighed, as she thought about what Discord would think of this new information that his contribution might be a bit pointless. “Well, Ah… okay, you might have shown due consideration for Twi, kudos to that. But Ah still can’t accept that you’ve made Twilight a prisoner in her own body in order to advance your plan.”

Philyra looked reluctant. “It’s but a small price-”

“A small price to pay…?”

Applejack gazed at the changeling fiercely. “Ah’m not goin’ to be mad at you fer leavin’ Twi to her device. Ah’m not goin’ to argue wit’ you whether it’s okay to control someone’s mind fer a while or fer a long time. Nor am Ah gonna go over yer or her laundry list of questionable behaviors. Those are important, but not fer now. Ah just want to focus on one thing: What do you want to get out from all of these?”

“Revenge, I’ve told you that!”

“Do you think revenge will give you satisfaction?”

“What a stupid question! Of course it would!”

Applejack paused, and then slowly exhaled. “… Ah don’t disagree. Revenge feels good. Sometimes strikin’ yer hated foe right in the face is easily the most satisfyin’ thing you could’ve done, harmony be darned.”

Philyra looked a bit suspicious and surprised at this sudden shift in tone.

“So, what do you want to do after bustin’ her plot?”

“What do I… What do you want to ask?”

“Nah, mah question’s pretty straightforward. Where do you see yerself bein’ after this episode?”

“That depends on your response, Miss Applejack. Would you-”

“What Ah’m goin’ to do matters little, innit? Ah’m not an important pony to you anyway, but fer what it’s worth, Ah won’t hate you. Mah friends won’t either. We would just feel sad and disappointed that you have to resort to taking someone’s life just for a moment of thrill.”

“A- A moment of thrill? How dare you! I- I have prepared…”

“What else is there after takin’ her life? She would’ve crumbled to dust, like we all eventually would. You might feel slightly better to have taken the hated sight of her out of the world. But let me tell you, the respite is goin’ to be short, and you’ll soon be taken back by your regret and anger for the past.”

“How could you tell?!”

“Ah don’t need to be a mind-reader to recognize someone who’s been entirely consumed in her desire to revenge, and Ah don’t need to be a fortune-teller to know what would happen next. Ah’m gonna be blunt here, but yer just livin’ fer her at this point. You’re givin’ up everythin’ just to get back at her, and you have no plan fer the future afterwards. What’s the point?”

“She took away my everything! I’m going to make her pay the ultimate price! Everything else is irrelevant!”

“If you give in yer impulse, you’ll truly lose everything to her. Don’t you still have Phalena?”

The mention of her estranged sister seemed to have shaken the changeling in a way Applejack hadn’t observed prior to this point. She felt that it was a crucial point to cut into Philyra’s psyche, and pushed on.

“Phalena has already come to terms with her distaste with Chrysalis, why can’t you…?”

“Don’t you use my sister as your foil!” Philyra hissed.

Applejack decided to pull the conversation away from direct confrontation. “Ah’m terribly sorry if Ah offended you, Philyra. Ah’m not too familiar about yer relationship wit’ her. How come she didn’t recognize you back on the ship if yer her sister?”

Prodded by the orange mare, Philyra reluctantly said. “My assimilation into Chrysalis’s hive had changed not only my mind, but also gradually altered my physiology and physical signal. Moreover, I was under disguise at the time. So I recognized her, but she didn’t recognize me.”

She looked to the ground with a hint of dejection. “I doubt she remember me that well anyway. We were both very young, and I was only one of her many sisters.”

Applejack frowned. “Not necessarily…”

Philyra shook her head and added bitterly. “… But I’m afraid she and I may be the only ones left. In fact, finding her among Twilight Sparkle’s side during the siege almost stunned me into total confusion. Compounded with the fear and anger of having my memories recovered shortly before that, I had to break away from the command line to calm myself down. Ironically, it’s the reason that my squadron survived the disastrous rout. I’m happy for her survival, but I also see that she had changed, and she’s not the kind and pure Phalena I knew anymore. And thanks to who?”

Philyra gritted her teeth angrily and pointed towards Chrysalis. “Her!”

“… You clearly adore yer sister, Ah can hear that. Ah bet you felt really anxious having to swallow yer desire to reconnect with her.”

Philyra’s anger again subsided when she heard about her sister. “… She always shared the love she earned generously to her sisters. In other hives, lost candidates for queenship were expelled out of the hive… or outright killed, to preserve stability, but she refused to do so. Her own life was threatened in a few coup attempts afterwards, but that didn’t change her disposition at all.”

Heavily sighing, she said with a hint of self-mocking. “Well, her kindness paid off. One of her foolish sisters got ensnared and became the mindless pawn of devious invaders. With her own hoof, she turned against her past sisters and hivelings, and broke her home hive from the inside, opening a wide path for invasion…. I’m a traitor, I have nothing of worth left in me, except for the desire of my liberation through revenge!”

“You won’t find any liberation that way, Philyra. Phalena-”

“She was and is still way too kind. But my hoof is already soiled, I can do this, and I have to!”

Applejack narrowed her eyes. This was going nowhere, and she had to be sterner and firmer.

She got close to the changeling and held her in her hooves. Philyra froze in shock.

“It wasn’t yer fault, because it wasn’t you! Why must you let yerself be tangled in the past? Up until this point, every single one of yer actions is about Chrysalis. If you so resent her forceful influence over yer life, then why do you still focus on her right here and right now?”

Applejack stomped on the floor and asked loudly. “What do you want? Justice?”

“O- Of course!”

“Well, revenge isn’t justice, because revenge is just payback, an animal reflex, it’s just hitting back when we’re hit. You dismissed my notion that it just feeds into the cycle of revenge, but it’s true, and it’s just what it is – endlessly striking each other’s cheek, till one loses all her teeth. True justice brings fairness, and fairness brings joy to ourselves and others. What joy is there to have in senseless torture and killing?”

Applejack then tackled her reckless self-abandon. “And even if you don’t care about yerself, think about the one you love and the one you care, like Phalena! What would she want in this situation?”

“S- She-”

“Ah tell you what, what she immediately wants would not be revenge… or even forgiveness. What she wants would be you, her only living blood sibling, to be safe and sound!”

Philyra trembled, as she began to tear up. “She doesn’t know me, and you don’t know her!”

From the emotional reaction, Applejack knew that she touched upon something the vengeful changeling cared about deeply. “Well, you never asked, did you?”

Philyra turned aside and bit her lips. “I… I didn’t dare to. I must be a terrible traitor in her eyes. She would never care about me however I explain myself.”

Applejack smiled. “Don’t you worry, Ah can see that you have good in yer eyes. Ah will be yer character witness, but Ah don’t think it’s really needed.”

“… Huh…?”

“She might’ve swallowed her pride to beg for love amongst ponies, she might’ve even forgone her name, but she certainly haven’t forgotten the unaffected kindness that made her yer respected sister. She’s even willing to give consideration to the idea of forgivin’ even the most hated enemy of hers.”

Applejack paused to note whether Philyra was listening. The ruby-maned changeling looked a bit disoriented, her fierce look had all but dissolved into immense sadness and self-blame.

She shook her head and said. “You said Ah don’t know her. That might be true. Ah only really talked with her once. It was just after the changeling hive settled in. She came and checked in on… you won’t believe who.”

“You don’t mean…”

“Yep, Chrysalis. The one changeling that destroyed her hive and ruined her peaceful reign.”

“… Why?”

“Ah’ll not say she’s forgiven her. Clearly, what Chrysalis did to yer hive is heinous, what she did to you and yer former hivemates were revoltin’ and disgustin’. Even though we shan’t forget the past, what we can do now is preservin’ the good in the present, and she knew that. To forgive is divine, and so she walked the high road and reached out, and even though it was a chilly meetin’, but it was some startin’ point to peace and reconciliation.”

Before Philyra could ponder and retort, Applejack immediately tagged on. “She also talked to me about what she remembered about her own hive.”

Philyra screeched to a halt. “W- What?”

“To be honest, it wasn’t a long talk. After swingin’ by, she took a rest in one of mah farmhouses. We’re havin’ a family reunion that day, so she threw an off-hoof comment about pony family, and I seized the chance to chat with her.”

The ruby-maned changeling did not speak, although her curiosity was apparent.

“She said she’d learnt to put aside her memories for her hive fer a long time, but seeing the Apples reuniting with each other made her think about her own. Even though changelings and ponies are obviously different in how we’re organized, there’s an undeniable similarity in how living creatures in the world bond with each other. Despite everything, we’re tied together by blood to someone, be it hot or cold, red or blue. It’s from there our relationships branch out.”

Applejack then waved her hoof. “… Under all that weathered look, Phalena was still young. She was forced to grow up by circumstances, and even though she felt that being with Twi and her friends is… well, passable, she still longs fer her old days. Not fer bein’ a queen, but fer how carefree and peaceful it was to spend time with her small hive.”

“E- Even with the attempts on her lives?”

“She didn’t mention the exact details, though she hinted at the fact that life at the hive wasn’t all candies and rainbows. But she had only good things to say about the days. Ah never knew changelings can be as social as she said, because of… no offense, the reputation y’all have in Equestria.”

“None taken. Changelings led by Chrysalis were indeed barely social. It’s not like we’re biologically unable to understand social relationships, it’s just heavily discouraged.”

“Ah see.”

Applejack sighed. “She was sadder and sadder as she went, though. And it’s not just because she thought of how she lost her hive.”

Philyra turned despondent. She said nothing, but she looked like a foal scorned.

“Ah think you might’ve misunderstood. She’s not blaming anyone in particular. She didn’t even directly mention any ‘betrayal’ or sorts. That’s why I was shocked to hear the story from yer side.”

Applejack shook her head. “But now that Ah think of it, what she said had a whole ‘nother meaning. Ah thought she was merely regretful about what she’d done wrong that she lost the hive. But now Ah think that she meant what she’d done wrong to cause someone who loved and cared fer her so much to turn against her.”

Philyra let out a pitiful whelp, and collapsed onto the floor in inconsolable tears.

Applejack again held the changeling with her strong hooves, and forced her head up to look her directly in the eyes. “Now is the time and the chance fer you to tell her the truth, not the time to wander and wallow in yer vengefulness. We all must face the consequence of what we’ve done some day, but fer now, there’re more burnin’ need fer truth in some place other than here.”

Before Philyra gave a response, the ground began to shake with incredible force. Philyra’s head shot up in surprise. She then said fearfully. “E- Earthquake? There’re earthquakes around this area?”

“No, that ain’t earthquake. The Ghastly Gorge is a canyon, not a fault. The south seldom sees a quake stronger than a hoof shake. If the ground shook a lot, there won’t be so many strangely-shaped rock formation out there.”

Applejack smirked. “Don’t you worry, just wait here and see.”

Another series of loud, grounding sound blasted from one side of the wall, and a shower of rocks rained down the cell.

A large, elongated machine fell out with a loud clunk. It had a drill attached to its front, and a long series of tube at its back. There were apparently somepony inside the box, as seen from the narrow visor, but it was too dark to see clearly.

“W- W- What the Tartarus was that thing?!” Philyra yelped.

Applejack, however, just shouted with half-excitement and half-annoyance. “Watch out y’all!”

A muffled male voice came from inside the machine. “Aw, aw, aw! Brother, you should’ve inflated the protective airbags before drilling the wall open!”

Another annoyed male voice said. “Come now, brother, you know well that driving a bulldozer and driving a mechanical mole is very different!”

Applejack turned to Philyra. “Well, they’re Flim and Flam, our resident mechanical experts who work fer us.”

“How do they get… What is that?!”

“We’re glad you asked… uh, madam changeling?” Flim exited the machine via a small side door. He was surprised, but didn’t flinch a bit seeing the face of the ruby-maned changeling. To him, she was just another potential customer.

Flam immediately continued. “It’s a tunnel borer, or mechanical mole as we like to call it. Ever since there was a need to build a railroad in the mountainous north, there’s a practical need fer powerful machine to break the frozen mold and bring much needed progress to our new frontier!”

“And wherever there is a demand, there is a need for supply!”

“And wherever there is a need for supply, there are Flim Flam Brothers!”

“Okay, that was a good pitch y’all.” Applejack chuckled.

“I still need to know how they knew you’re here.”

“We’ve always been lookin’ fer ways to improve communications across settlements. It’s slow and expensive to send out ponies every time. So we’ve been experimentin’ with some new ways. A few weeks ago, we’ve finally cleared the permission and hooked electric wires along the Southern Rail from Ponyville to Appleloosa. Apart from powerin’ the trains, we can also send message over great distance at a blink of an eye.”

Philyra raised a brow and sighed. “Pony witcheries… But I don’t see you holding any… uh, wires?”

“Nah, Ah had a ‘top-secret’, experimental device given to me by Pinkie. It’s something she’s been workin’ on with Twi before… whoa, before the whole invasion of Canterlot took place. It allows wireless transmission of signal over a distance, and it ran on portable power source. It’s a prototype, and it can only send message over a woefully short distance, but it already allowed me to send distress signal to mah cousins in Appleloosa, who then called Ponyville to look fer the Flim Flam from their workshop.”

Just as Philyra slowly took in the new information, Applejack turned and smiled to the Flim Flam brothers. “Thanks a lot y’all, you’ve been great life-savers.”

“Of course you can count on the Flim Flam brothers to deliver, boss AJ.” Flim gestured to himself proudly.

Flam looked more eager. “Well, does that mean we’re getting a raise or bonus this moon?”

Applejack laughed and shook her head. “As if you two ain’t already two giant moneybags from all the patent agreements. But actually, you’ve been doin’ quite well recently, and you’ve been doin’ honest business fer quite a while.”

The brothers straightened their ears in enthusiastic expectation.

“… It’s about time that Ah made good of mah promise and allowed you to spin off the heavy equipment business into a company that you shall own the majority of.”

“R- Really?!” The brothers almost squealed together.

“Yes, Ah won’t lie about things like that. We’re in a pinch here, so before we dealt with the urgent matters, Ah’d be concise. You two will receive a controlling stake that is 51% of the stocks, while the remaining 49% will be held by me personally as well as the Apple Company. I will not make you pay with cash, since Ah know you two probably don’t have enough. Instead, Ah can lend you money that is tied to the future revenue and stock interest of the company, and you can pay me back slowly over the years.”

Flam mentally calculated the trajectory of income, and gasped. “A- Applejack, ma’am, you really want to just hand out the company to us… like that?”

“You two deserve it. Ah always want to make it a point that honest work begets honest rewards.”

She then smirked. “But there’s indeed one string attached. Not that Ah think you two will run the company into the ground, but as a matter of caution, Ah’d like to arrange a buyback option that will activate only if the company sees red fer a whole year or goes busted. You won’t make me do that though, right?”

“O- Of course not!” The brothers shouted.

“Great, Ah’ll go make this formal when Ah’m out. Now please wait outside.”

Applejack turned and gazed at Philyra. “… Ah have some unfinished business here as well.”

The brothers quickly scrambled to the tunnel opening and entered the vehicle. With a simple button press, the tunnel borer retreated back into the tunnel like a lasso, and the brothers soon disappeared from their sight again.

“… You’re a surprising bunch, aren’t you?”

“Ah’d like to keep somethin’ in mah sleeves, even though Ah don’t actually wear any sleeves like that frou-frou Rarity.”

Philyra blinked, and then laughed aloud dryly. “Ha… Perhaps I should listen to someone as resourceful as you.”

“Hmm?”

“I guess there’s a reason Phalena was willing to follow Twilight Sparkle around. If nothing else, she and her friends surely had a tongue of silver.”

“But mine never lie just for the sake to persuade.”

“I didn’t say you did, Miss Applejack. I… guess I should own up to my mistake to Phalena first before I take any action.”

Philyra raised a hoof hurriedly. “Don’t mistake me. I’d still pretty much prefer-”

Applejack suddenly pushed Philyra aside. Philyra widened her eyes, first in shock, then in anger.

“What are you-”

Philyra turned and gasped. A gravely stern Chrysalis stood limply behind her, stepping the obsidian blade on the ground with one of her hooves.

The ruby-maned changeling grunted and jumped next to Applejack, immediately assuming a battle stance.

Chrysalis opened her mouth, but only shrill hissing came from her mouth. With a pained look, she plugged the chest wound with her hoof, and said difficultly.

“… Sorry.”

Like a bucket of ice water, the one single word caused Philyra to froze and gasp at the same time. Her vengeful thoughts were replaced by a miring swirl of confusion.

“I h-”

Chrysalis coughed wincingly, and continued. “I heard everything… While I know that you were a member of Phalena’s hive, I swear I had no knowledge about your… particular situation. I might have threaten to do so as a mean to terrify unruly changelings, and I did briefly consider to act on it when Phalena showed up..."

Philyra snarled. "You!"

"B-But I have never used mind control to force a fellow changeling to work for me! Not least because of my principle, but also because like Applejack said, it’s way too finicky to make sure it’s secure.”

Boiling anger again burst from the surface of Philyra’s mind. “You disgusting liar! Why else would I act totally against my and my hive’s interests?! Why else would I strike Phalena with my own hoof?! I bet you’re trying to salvage your non-existent reputation now that you’re sure you’re under their protection!”

“No! I don’t care what they’ve thought of this particular incident. They know that I’ve done other things, many worse in their eyes. I just want you to believe me!”

Philyra looked darkly amused. “Why? I’m none other than a laughably stupid pawn in your eyes, shouldn’t I be?”

“No! I never said this out loud, because I thought that power and domination is enough to rule a hive. But I would never see any hiveling as a disposable pawn! And you… in particular… I never thought…”

Chrysalis sounded truly sad. “This must’ve been a mistake.”

Before Philyra offered another mocking retort, Applejack lightly interjected. “Chrysalis, you said you’d never coerced her into serving you, but how come she lost herself still? Can you tell me what you’ve done with her?”

Chrysalis sighed. “I dreamt of leading the changeling race to a glorious future of endless sustenance. But since we were disunited, I led a campaign to bring the hive together. And so we did conquer many a hive, and I’d be the first to admit that it wasn’t pretty. The unification had almost bled out the changeling race.”

Philyra glared at Chrysalis. She was angered by the implications of Chrysalis’s words, but she was also surprised at the lack of anger or theatrics that she had expected from her. The former changeling queen was also unusually subdued, making her too confused and suspicious to actually castigate her.

Chrysalis then turned somewhat more assertive, even though it was apparent that her speech was labored and agonizing.

“We’re weak, and so I’d doubled up the efforts to absorb any changeling from the hive we conquered. Usually, we brought in changelings who are captured, but not actively hostile, into our breeding chamber. There we’ll… uh, persuade them to join our hive.”

“… Persuade?”

Not just Philyra, but Applejack was eyeing Chrysalis with doubt.

Chrysalis gulped. “There was certainly a degree of physical threat involved. Why else would we isolate each of them and surround them with our own in our own hive? But I tell you what, there was never a case of explicit mind control. That’s just something I would not do to a fellow changeling, both for practical reasons and out of principle.”

“Then how the Tartarus do you explain me?!” Philyra shouted.

“… I really don’t know!” Chrysalis nervously yelled.

Applejack asked intently. “But can you tell us what exactly you did to her when she… uh, entered yer hive?”

“… For each of them, if they had a modicum of willingness after all our relentless efforts, they will be brought before me, and I will anoint them with the power of the Green Stigmata. This was to change the signal they emanate to match our hive. Afterwards, I would cast a spell to link them to our network of changeling magic. They shall then be recognized as a member of our hive, and promptly assigned to one of the existing squadrons.”

“But was that what happened to her?” Applejack frowned.

“Give me a moment! I’ve had done this to thousands and thousands of hivelings, it’s hard to remember a particu-”

She suddenly stopped and widened her eyes, her gaze turned both nervous and shifty.

Applejack narrowed her eyes slightly. “It seems that you’ve remember somethin’.”

Chrysalis gulped. “… It’s still a mistake.”

“What is it?!” Philyra angrily huffed.

“I swear to the Great Pitcher, I thought you were vetted when you’re brought in!”

Chrysalis gasped for air for a moment and continued. “It was two days before the invasion, and some of our scouts caught you unaware. When you’re brought before me, you were unconscious, probably because they were a bit overzealous and knocked you out.”

She shifted a bit and said. “It’s common changeling knowledge that the queenship candidates were always dumped the moment a new queen takes the throne. In all of our previous encounter, we simply got rid of the queens who always fought to their last breath, and we never encountered the situation of capturing one alive. But we assumed that Philyra was one of the expelled candidates, and would have no issue joining in our attack. So I simply...”

Applejack suddenly thought of something and asked. “… Would you expel Imago too?”

“Who?” Philyra looked bemused.

“D- Discord told you?” Chrysalis looked surprised and a little bit betrayed.

“A male broodmate of hers, they were on good terms.”

Applejack said to the surprise of Philyra, and the orange mare quickly turned to Chrysalis.

“And feel free to grill his loose cannon of a mouth back in Ponyville, but answer me first.”

Chrysalis was shaken, but she shook her head. “Perhaps not… but what’s past was gone. That’s why I now said what we did with Allela was a mistake.”

She bit her lips. “I remember her specifically because when I casted the spell, there was an unusually strong reaction, and it blew up half of the cave we were hiding in. In hindsight, I should’ve been more careful casting that spell on higher changelings like queens and queenship candidates, but hindsight is crystal clear. But seeing how she performed in the invasion, I decided to push on and fully absorb her into the hive, and I thought there would no longer be irregularities, once she finally changed into the form she was.”

“So you’re saying you didn’t mean to distort her mind, and it was just an accident that she became like thi-”

“Liar! You’re a liar!”

Philyra thundered and interrupted Applejack, tears fell off the corners of her eyes uncontrollably. “Are you saying that I myself decided to do those horrible traitorous actions to Phalena and my own hive?!”

Chrysalis winced. “I didn’t mean that. T- That wasn’t you, probably. I don’t know how exactly it could happen, because the anointment spell isn’t otherwise mind-altering. I would wager many of my hivelings remember the time before they join this hive, it’s just that they never speak up about it. And since you never brought it up, I never asked either.”

The green-maned changeling sighed. “Allela-”

“Stop calling me that! I’m not your Tartarus-forsaken Allela! It’s you who gave me that ridiculous name!”

“F- Fine, Philyra! This does not change the fact that I had greatly valued you and your contribution! I- I… You’ve been one of my favorite hivelings, and you still are!”

“… Huh?”

“Yes, I’ve had issues with your seeming abeyance at times, and my words might sound acid, but I chalked it up to the fact that you’re originally from a different hive. I know mentioning this will upset you, but it’s exactly your actions during the invasion that brings you to the forefront of my mind. Your daring actions and intelligent planning helped us through a lot of tight spots, and that’s why I promoted you to such a high position. I never thought your actions are anything but voluntary.”

The green-maned changelings drew in a breath through her teeth. “I knew I’m in the wrong. It’s only natural for you to want to take revenge.”

She sighed again. Then her legs finally shook too much and buckled, causing her to fall onto the ground gracelessly.

She let out a yelp of pain, but she labored on. “I had now been mad at you about the crown. But after hearing all these, I’ve realized that without you, I’d have perished at the gate of Timbucktu, at the port of Fillydelphia, or at the fiery moat of Trot. Even though your goal was to do… this, I still can’t blame you. I owe you for all the help you gave me, and for the… injustice that you endured.”

Philyra was deadly quiet. She gazed emptily at the floor for a good while.

As Applejack looked on uneasily, the ruby-maned changeling muttered with an eerily ghostly voice. “You say these to me now… What do you want me to do?”

Chrysalis shook her head, but stayed quiet. Philyra looked at her with a breathless gaze.

She mindlessly ran through her messy ruby mane and said. “I honestly don’t know if you’re being sincere about your feeling, nor does it matter. What you’ve said about my induction… even though I want to believe that you’re lying to protect your chitinous shell, I must say it makes some sense. I’ve been ignoring all the evidences since I swore to take revenge on you. I… I just don’t know what to do now.”

Applejack poked Philyra, who lightly gasped. “We should go back first. We don’t have to solve every problem in the world inside this damp dark cave. Just remember to release your control over the changelings here, and told them to move north with us.”

Philyra reluctantly nodded. Applejack then smiled, it seemed that Philyra shared at least one thing with her sister, which was her deep-lying affinity to forgiveness.

The orange mare looked to Chrysalis. In a sense, she was even more amazed at the readiness that the former queen owned up to her mistakes. Her tact, sometimes grovelingly apologetic, was almost completely unlike the mocking and calculating character that she knew.

She wondered what had prompted Chrysalis to have such a show of remorse. Was it her abdication, Twilight’s influence, her time on the farm, the shock at discovering the true reason of her trusted lieutenant’s betrayal… or more?

“Uh…”

Applejack turned to look at Chrysalis, who looked uncharacteristically pleading in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Applejack raised a brow.

Chrysalis looked a bit flustered. “I had to channel some energy to heal the puncture, and I have to spare a hoof to plug the wound up. I would be glad if you can give me a hoof on our way back.”

“Psst, just that huh?”

Applejack immediately lifted the changeling queen up. She realized how incredibly light changelings were for the first time.

“Don’t mention it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What do you call me here for, Applejack?”

Rosencross eyed the orange mare strangely. The two of them were not the closest acquaintances, and they met at most one or two times a week.

“Ah have someone Ah think you might be interested to meet.”

“Huh?”

Rosencross was more than a bit surprised. She knew literally no one in this foreign land except for Twilight’s associates, and she thought she had met everyone she would be interested to see. She also caught on the use of ‘someone’ other than ‘somepony’ and began to ponder.

Applejack then went to the door and extended her head through the gap, seemingly talking to someone outside. The hushed voice was somewhat familiar, but it was too faint and nervous-sounding to make sure of.

Finally, the orange mare seemed to run out of patience, as she simply dragged that particular person inside with her hooves.

Rosencross frowned. It was… Allela? What’s so special about a former lieutenant of Chrysalis that she had met already?

Applejack pushed the changeling, cladded in her grey earth pony disguise, in front of Rosencross.

“Applejack, I have met her already. What’s-”

“Shh, Rosencross, let her explain herself.”

Applejack then quickly trotted out the room and slammed the door shut.

‘Allela’ saw her only exit was blocked and gasped. She then gingerly turned towards Rosencross and gulped uneasily.

Rosencross tilted her head and looked at the grey mare uncertainly, when ‘Allela’ suddenly lit up in an aura of green, and transformed into her changeling form. Ruby mane billowed in the soft wind, gently reflecting the morning sun.

The red mare blinked blankly, and then blinked some more. She then wryly sighed and looked up to the ceiling.

“Okay, Discord, the game’s up. I don’t know how you manage to dig up the memories of mine so long ago, also nice try to use Applejack as your front, but you’ve definitely crossed the line by involving those related to my home hive.”

“H- huh?” Philyra was befuddled.

“Seriously, I told you countless times that your pranks are tasteless and not funny. Will you ever learn, huh?”

“I- I’m not Discord, and I’m not pranking you, Phalena! It’s me, Philyra!”

“Now, you’re either really bad at acting, or you’ve missing something in your gross invasion of my privacy. Philyra hated my gut, and she certainly won’t stutter in front of me like some demure debutante. And why would she be Allela? That barely makes sense!”

Philyra felt as if she took a punch to the stomach, as she almost teared up anxiously.

Rosencross frowned. Usually Discord’s pranks wouldn’t last this long, and he would just transform back and tease her. Getting so in-character was not his style.

“Okay… what’s going on in here?”

“I… I’m sorry, Phalena. I am a horrible traitor to you and the hive, I deserve all the scorn you can throw at me. But I just want to say that I was not myself at the time, and it was due to Chrysalis’s warped attempt to assimilate me into her hive using the magic of anointment. Not that it absolves me of any crime, but I just want you to know…”

“… Are you trying to say that you really are Philyra?”

There was not a hint of calculation previously seen on the ruby-maned changeling’s face. Only a sincere pleading look remained. “Yes! Please believe me!”

Rosencross’s gaze burrowed into Philyra’s emerald eyes. She then tried to heighten her changeling sense. And then without a word, she embraced the ruby-maned changeling. Even though the perforated shell wasn’t the comfiest to hug, but that did not make the red mare hold her sister less tight.

Philyra gasped for air as she was overwhelmed by elation and surprise. Her sister simply took her words at face value and hugged her unreservedly.

“I’m just happy to see one of my own with my very own eyes…”

“Y- You just believe me like that?”

“Why won’t I believe you?”

“I struck you with my very own hooves! I betrayed you!”

“You’re too highstrung. Even if you weren’t under control, I will still be unable to hate you now that you’ve come to me with such a candid apology.”

Rosencross brightly smiled. “I’m happier yet to know that you didn’t turn against me because I somehow wronged you.”

“No, never! I… I’m just glad that you still remember me. I love my hive, and I adore you. If I were in any way lucid, I would bite off my own tongue before lifting my hooves against my blood sister!”

“… So Chrysalis took control of you to infiltrate us, and then assimilated you for her to use as her pawn?”

Rosencross lowly growled. “This… I cannot overlook…”

“… Please don’t. I don’t deserve it.”

Rosencross widened her eyes, and she’s more surprised to see Philyra sighing weakly.

“But she had crossed the line this time…!”

“I have already tried to exact my revenge. I planned and waited. I even got myself an obsidian blade, and was close to do the deed if not for Applejack.”

Philyra sadly gazed at her sister. “But I’m tired, sister. Moreover, I’m sad. Not just at our misfortune, but at the change imposed on us by fate.”

Rosencross inhaled sharply, as Philyra continued with a deeply wistful tone. “We are no longer who we were. What I’ve learnt these few days had made me wonder… how much of my change was forced on me, and how much was out of my own volition. My care for you hasn’t changed of course, sister, but I was shocked that I had turned so ready to forgo everything just for revenge, before Applejack reminded me that I should have turned to you first.”

Rosencross winced and lowered her head. “Philyra, I’m no longer the good and upright sister that you once knew. I’ve sold off my dignity long ago, there’s no reason for you to look up to me in any way.”

“No sister, I’ll always look up to you.”

Philyra then wryly chuckled. “… Not the least because I’ve reached the lowest of the low by being a traitor.”

Rosencross frowned. “You keep saying that, but aren’t you involuntarily controlled by Chrysalis? If so, then it’s not your fault!”

“You’re so eager to defend me even though I’m unworthy… This makes me remember the old days.”

Philyra smiled, even though it was full of regret. “Philonia wanted the crown for herself, but you not only pardoned her after she tried to bury you in a rock slide, but you’ve personally cared for her injuries that came from her botched plot. I always thought with bewilderment, like, how could you be this tolerant to such a traitor? And yet, here I am.”

Rosencross lightly knitted her brow. She looked up and away from Philyra. “… No matter what you’ve done, you’re my blood, my brood sister. It’s the same reason I didn’t expel Philonia.”

She then sadly chuckled. “Although come to think of it, she might’ve been better off out of the hive at the time.”

Philyra looked mortified and dejected, which led Rosencross to hurriedly add. “Phily, I’m not blaming you or anything, I’m just a bit caught up in the past.”

“Ph- Phily…?”

Philyra gulped. “… It’s been a long time you called me that.”

Rosencross chuckled. “But you’re always the adorable Phily to me, and I’m glad that you still think highly of me.”

“S- Stop that, sister!”

Although red-faced, Philyra’s gaze then turned inquisitive. “I just don’t understand though, why are you holding onto this particular pony’s identity? I can’t be happier to shed the falsehood that was the life of ‘Allela’, and I couldn’t do it fast enough.”

“It was an accident of fate. I couldn’t quite change my guise after the hive broke down and I lost most of my power. At the last moment, I was taken away by an old stallion. He knew well that I was not his Rosencross, but he still cared for me until he passed away. And after that, I continued to use this form as my pony identity, and worked in inns and taverns, squeezing whatever love I can get from the customers.”

Rosencross’s gaze swept across the ground. “I just got used to my pony identity, since I’ve probably spent a longer time in this guise than in my original form. It’s become my second life. But Phily, if you’re uncomfortable with my form, then I…”

“N- No, sister, I’m okay with whatever form you chose. You’re my sister no matter the appearance, right?”

“… I’m glad you think so, Phily. Sometimes even changelings like us may get a little bit carried away in the constantly changing environment and our constantly changing identities. Even though we can change appearance at our whim, the deeds we do are still a part of us. For me, I had to do a lot of demeaning things just to survive in Timbucktu, because I had no any other skills.”

“… Sister, you…”

“It’s just kind of a slippery slope, a continuation of what we’ve been doing in our hive – pleasing ponies using a veil of falsehood to extract love. But as West Zebrica fell into disarray after Chrysalis’s wars, less and less ponies went to these entertainment venues. The line was pushed farther and farther, and when Twilight found me, I was probably on the verge of breaking down from the lines I had to cross daily.”

She raised her hoof and gazed at it. “But when I look back now, all these bitter days are undoubtedly still part of my experiences. When you’ve been the actor for so long, you can’t help but become the character a little bit. That is not to condone or accept what had transpired, but to come to term and find a way to deal with it.”

She walked to the window and quietly looked outside. Groups of earth pony farm workers worked tirelessly in a field. The smell of freshly turned soil and the sound of farming equipment clanking entered her ears.

“Life in Ponyville is fresh, but also peaceful. I have all the time to think about everything.”

She rolled her eyes. “At least when I’m not annoyed by Discord’s antics.”

“You two seem to be… ‘hitting it off’. I think that's what it's called by the ponies.”

Rosencross did a spit-take, fortunately it was towards the outside.

“W- What?”

“That’s what ponies say, don’t they? You two stick together all the time. I once caught Miss Fluttershy commenting on it.”

“When? Where?!”

“When I was not tending to my hivelings here, I was spying on all the friends of Twilight Sparkle in order to gather information, to see if they have any hidden agenda and also to look for a time to… um, take Chrysalis out without causing major ruckus. While I had failed to do the second part obviously, I did unexpectedly know a little juicy bits about them.”

Philyra clasped her hooves. “For instance, once I knocked out Miss Fluttershy’s bunny in order to do some eavesdropping. Shrinking my size this small was very tiring, but I knew she always talks secret to her bunny, so I did it anyway.”

“… That doesn’t seem…”

“Meh, I got busted by her pretty quickly.”

“Wait, you got found out? Why did I never hear of it before?”

“She was graceful enough to just reprimand me and let me go, and she promised not to publicize my involvement on condition that I do no further spying. I complied partly out of a code of honor, and partly because I’ve already come to the conclusion that they are just this hopelessly good.”

“Hopelessly good…” Rosencross shook her head with a wry smile.

“Still, in the brief moment that she thought I was her bunny, she sadly complained that Discord was paying her less and less attention in favor of spending time with you.”

Rosencross’s face turned a strange shade of red and green.

“If you really want him, go take him, sister. That’s the changeling way.”

“I- I- I think this is enough for this topic, Phily. W- We’ve been losing track of what we’ve been talking about!”

Rosencross raised a hoof and pointed it to Philyra. “Point is, even though my time as Rosencross wasn’t the best of times, I still see it as a time of trial and a time of experiences. Without which I would probably never meet Twilight and her friends, and without which there will be no joy from such a reunion.”

Philyra looked conflicted. “… You sound like you would like me to call you by Rosencross as well.”

“No, Phily. You overthink this. I’m your brood sister no matter what, and I’d be happy whichever way you call me. I said this not because of me, but because of you.”

“M- Me?”

“I always knew you’re a bright hiveling, but you were always quite stubborn.”

“Am not!”

“Yes, you’re. No offense meant, but I still remember you walked out of the hive that fateful day because you were angry about Philonia walking free.”

Philyra lowered her head and went quiet. Rosencross lightly jabbed her side and said. “I know it might be a sensitive and hurtful issue, but can you tell me more about how you come to be assimilated into Chrysalis’s hive? As far as I know, no changeling queen had attempted to assimilate a queenship candidate from a foreign hive before.”

“I don’t know… My earliest memories in Chrysalis’s hive were all jumbled. However, I still remember my last lucid moments... I was walking down the dry river bed, when a swarm of foreign changelings came out from behind a boulder and tackled me. I was knocked back onto the ground and hit my head.”

She paused and difficultly swallowed. “… In my half-consciousness, I was brought before Chrysalis, and she casted her spell on me. She claimed that it was just a common anointment spell, but the fact was it completely warped my psyche. The next moment that I remember was standing in the ruin of my own hive and grinning at the destruction of everything that I loved!”

She deeply inhaled. “… Just after I was assimilated, I had no recollections of my life before. All I felt was a slavish dedication to her hive and her.”

Her teeth clattered in fear and ire. “It was as if she had written herself into my mind and replaced you.”

Rosencross simply looked sadly at her clearly traumatized sister, and lightly brushed her wavy ruby mane.

Philyra looked up and said. “Perhaps fortunately, I was feeling more and more independent of this affliction as time progressed. I began to feel a natural dissonance. My form felt wrong. My lack of memories before a certain point felt wrong. And my respect and adoration towards Chrysalis felt wrong. I began to show some resistance, but it was not until our mysterious translocation back to West Zebrica that I became completely lucid. And that was when I began to plot to get my revenge.”

Her lip quivered. “But if her claim is true, that she had done nothing but changing my physical signal, then does that mean it was all me? I blamed her for my own reprehensible betrayal, but it turns out-”

Philyra again broke down in tears. She was too hurt to keep pondering the possibility that she was the one responsible for all the terrible things she did as ‘Allela’.

Rosencross winced. “My good Phily… If it was you, then what did it mean to be out of its control?”

Philyra wiped her tears, but avoided her sister’s gaze.

“Phily, the very fact that there is a distinction between you of now and you of then means that you don’t need to beat yourself over it.”

“But-”

“I don’t suppose you heard about the story of the Equestrian princesses?”

Philyra widened her eyes at this sudden conversational detour. “I know who they are. The younger princess only came back a year or so ago from banishment to the moon for a thousand years.”

She crossed her hooves and said suspiciously. “The bickering of ponies concerns us not.”

“Your tongue did become sharper much like me.”

Rosencross smiled. “But they weren’t just bickering fools. They were powerful magic users who raise the sun, the moon and the stars, but they were still flesh and blood, bounded by mundane desires. That’s why when they go bad, things foul up very quickly.”

Philyra sensed where her sister was going. She wistfully sighed and said. “… I’ve heard that. The younger princess had been corrupted by dark thoughts and transformed into the so-called Nightmare. A comparison too convenient for me.”

“She fell foul of her own jealousy, but you… Phily, you weren’t even responsible for your own fall. If the elder princess can just accept her own sister graciously, why can’t I?”

Rosencross again ran through her sister’s mane and chuckled awkwardly. “Even though we don’t have a hive or a nation to rule over, the principle is still the same.”

Philyra lightly nodded and smiled. “… Does this make us a poor changeling’s version of them?”

Rosencross laughed aloud. She then jabbed her sister lightly. “Now you know how to joke. Just pick yourself up, Phily, we still have a long way to go.”

Philyra sadly sighed, prompting Rosencross to ask gently. “What’s wrong again, Phily?”

“I really regret wasting the energy Twilight Sparkle gave to me to carry out this plan. Not only I’m going to go hungry sooner, it was simply wrong to squander her gift for my vengeful thrill. Moreover…”

“Moreover…?”

“When I set up the trap in Appleloosa for Chrysalis, I used the mental domination spell I thought Chrysalis used on me. I used them on the small swarm of hivelings there in order to make them obey my orders…”

“Phily…”

Philyra smiled weakly. “Miss Applejack was right. If it’s so bad for Chrysalis to bend my will to her own, then my explicit mind control over those few stray hivelings was much worse. I can’t even meet their eyes without thinking about how low I was, and their scorn once they found out.”

Rosencross suddenly playfully smacked Philyra’s head.

“Aw! S- Sister!”

“What use is there to just sulk? You have to take action! If you’re sorry for doing that, then be good to them!”

“Even if they’re hivelings from Chrysalis’s hive?”

“Chrysalis might be nasty, but her hivelings came from all hives. Even though you think Allela the squadron leader was a fabrication, they still look up to you as a higher changeling. They don’t deserve being punished just because they followed her. And don’t you say you don’t care for any of them. If not, you wouldn’t say those words to me.”

Rosencross placed a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “You’ve got to go face them. Make up for it and right the wrongs with your own hooves, even if that means taking up a façade. A façade is not inherently wrong, it’s our choice that makes it good or bad.”

“… Sister, you’re so thoughtful and understanding, it’s beyond my wildest expectation before I stepped into this room.”

“Silly Phily, if there’s anyone in the world that we should act understanding towards, it’s always our blood family.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Not disguisin’ as mah sis no more, huh?”

Chrysalis flexed her orange wings. She was walking beside Applejack in the guise she used once on the ship, an orange pegasus with a mane of light green.

“It’s too weird. I prefer being asked who I am rather than having to pretend to be ‘yer sis’.”

Applejack tutted. “Cheeky varmint. Who’s that anyway?”

“I don’t know for sure. I saw it on a wall painting when I sacked Timbuktu. Maybe a relation to the Timbucktuan king? I just think it’s regal enough to suit me. The green mane is also a plus. By the way, if there’s any pony nearby, call me ‘Saiph’.”

“Pardon me, but what on earth is a ‘Saiph’?”

“I just picked the name in some random encyclopedia I found in Twilight Sparkle’s library.”

“Alright, Saiph.”

Applejack tilted her head. “Anyway, Ah gotta say mah impression of you had improved over the past few days.”

“Hah? Your impression of me improved after finding out that I had been involved in slaving one of my hivelings so much she turned against me? I don’t know you guys actually adore so-called ‘evil’ stuffs.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Of course Ah’m not referrin’ to that. Ah’m more about how tactful you’re with Alle… Phily… ugh, ya know who Ah’m talkin’ about.”

Chrysalis went uncharacteristically quiet. Applejack turned and asked. “What’s wrong, huh?”

“I just feel like I have wasted the entirety of my time on earth.”

Applejack frowned. “How come? Even though Ah’d disapprove of yer gloryseekin’ conquests, it’s still objectively impressive to pull off so many military successes. After all, who in Equestria can say, ‘Hey, Ah’ve sacked both Trot and Timbucktu!’”

Chrysalis looked at Applejack amusingly. “It’s funny coming from the mouth of one of the friends of Twilight Sparkle. I thought you guys are all seriously committed to your brand of peace and harmony.”

“It’s mostly a joke to soothe yer nerve. But why would you say that anyway?”

Chrysalis shrugged. “First I lost the battle, then I lost the war, next I lost the hive, and almost lost myself. The garnish on top of all these is to find out that one of my top lieutenants actually hate my guts because of some mind control mishaps, despite my conviction that I’d not use that on hivelings.”

She kicked a small rock on the road. “The last one, though. Allela was a hiveling that I always feel fascinated with. She talked relatively little. In fact, I was a bit bewildered how talkative she became after coming to West Zebrica, but I now know why. Anyway, I always liked how efficient she was. Even though she would increasingly flaunt her disapproval with my order, which I never knew why, but she never did it publicly. Still, when she was tasked with something, she finished it with style and results. For instance, when we were blasted with Celestia’s mega-spell in Fillydelphia, it was her who crafted a way to escape through the impenetrable southern swamps into the open sea. She even stood as our rears to ensure the safe escape of other hivelings. I also relied on her for a lot of tactical micromanagement, and I grew to think of her as a stern but reliable lieutenant and advisor.”

She grinned. “It’s tough being this changeling in my hive, as I was a willful queen, quick to anger and punishment. I had beaten her and order her to hard labor for more than once, and yet she just took it with her usual cool indifference. It was quite a shock when she said she wanted to depose me.”

Sighing weakly, Chrysalis continued. “I thought I had reached such a state of failure that even she felt that I can’t be salvaged. For a time I yelled that she’s a horrible traitor, but it was just to cover up my own feeling of failure. To an extent, I’m relieved that her actions were merely because of her anger of being controlled against her will.”

She inhaled deeply. “But now it’s also clear that my accord with her is but a laughable illusion. I had thought what she did to me was just something we can get over with. But it’s impossible now. A shame really, she’s about the only other changeling in the hive who can spar with me intellectually.”

Applejack lightly interjected. “So can Ah say you saw her as… yer friend?”

Chrysalis huffed, though her tone was mild. “You ponies are quick to push forth your idea of friendship. I never saw her as my ‘friend’, that concept is not necessary in a hive as militarized as mine, and she certainly didn’t in light of what had transpired. But I… like her, I guess. Now I seem to have lost my last vestige of the olden days, I just feel empty and devoid of purpose.”

Applejack took note of her ‘friendship’ speech, but she did not comment on it. Instead, she joked. “Well, if you want purpose, help me buck apples. At least you can find purpose in payin’ back yer back-rent through work.”

Expecting a biting retort, Applejack was shocked to see a limping nod.

“Fine, which field do you want me to go?”

“Wait a moment, Ah was just kiddin’… You shan’t overexert yerself now that you guys are fastin’.”

“As long as I don’t use spells like Allel- I mean, Philyra did, I should be fine. Remember, I have a larger magical reserve than other hivelings. And even they can keep going for at least another moon.”

“Ah ain’t devoid of any sense of morality! If Ah make you work, then it’s just like usin’ slave labor.”

“But you said back-rent. I thought paying for squatting at places is what you ponies do.”

Chrysalis waved down Applejack’s protest. “Fine, Applejack. If you still have any reservation, then don’t think of this as me helping you, think of this as me wanting to do something else for a change and clear my mind up. I don’t want to lock myself up in the damp dark farmhouse any longer than necessary.”

She said candidly. “The gazes from my former underlings were too withering to bear with. At least apples aren’t going to grow eyes and judge me.”

Applejack then watched Chrysalis walked towards the apple fields with wide eyes. Shaking her head with defeat, she quickly trotted and caught up with her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two figures, one unicorn and one antelope, were trotting on the newly-laid but already somewhat worn cobblestone road towards the Sweet Apple Acres under the afternoon sun.

“Lady Rarity, you really can leave this to one of the workers in staffing. Your attention can be used better on things larger than procuring food for catering.”

Verna shook her head and sighed. “The larger environs are working against us now.”

“Vernie, I know about all that. But to tell you the truth, I just want to visit Applejack on work hours. I need to let off some steam, so to speak.”

“… Very well.”

“Applejack is actually holding a family day for her workers. Even though it’s called family day, all are welcome. Geuse will be there with everyone else too.”

“R- Really?”

Rarity chuckled. “Look at how excited you are, young doe!”

“Hey, I just miss Lady Geuse for a little bit! I wonder how her life with Lady Pie is.”

Rarity covered her mouth to prevent a spit-take. “L- Lady Pie? I thought you call her Pinkie just like us.”

Verna scratched her head and grinned. “Just my verbal tic.”

After a long pause, Rarity looked up to the sky and sighed.

Verna quietly said. “I see that you still can’t put your mind away.”

“Darling, I have put much faith on the royal gendarmerie before. But after they have achieved precisely nothing in catching the saboteur of our mine, I am starting to feel that they were, frankly, useless.”

“Don’t say that, Lady Rarity. The Equestrian police force is already more efficient and much less corrupted than what I’ve seen elsewhere. If this is in Timbucktu, nopony would care about a wounded doe more than a chipper piece of pebble.”

Rarity wincingly stressed. “Vernie, darling, comparing downwards makes us feel good, but it does us no good. That’s why I sent in the lambasting piece on the Mirror. I know it would offend some big wigs, but if this is what it takes to put some sense into their collective foreheads, then harmony wills it I’m going to do ten.”

Thinking about the media maelstrom it caused, Verna chuckled. “It was certainly something, Lady Rarity.”

“If not for that, we’d still be solely relying on private guards of our own to keep security around Raritan! The sheer bureaucracy and red tape in the Equestrian government is unbelievable!”

Rarity huffed, and turned to the antelope. “So, Vernie.”

“Yes?”

“I must thank you regardless of how Raritan would turn out. You’ve stimulated so much new thought in me, and helped us through this different financial hurdle. You’ve even risked your safety in helping me. I’m glad that you’ve come to us along with Twilight.”

“Don’t mention it, Lady Rarity. You also don’t have to be this grim about the company.”

“I wish I can be happier. The contraction of welfare had definitely impacted the worker’s morale, even though they remain largely content.”

Rarity sighed. “I thought the return of Crystal Empire would stimulate demands and can only be good for us, but I never expect that there would be so much disturbance in the north.”

“I think it’s only natural for some place which had disappeared for so long to be a bit messy when it comes back.”

Rarity frowned in a disagreeing tone. “They kick ponies out! This is no longer the level of ‘a bit messy’. Knowing Cadance, I don’t think she’s the type who would expel anypony from the Empire for speaking up. But the truth is that a good portion of new arrivals in Raritan and Ponyville are crystal pony laborers who have nothing good to say about the government… and their princess.”

“At least they can come to a place with someone who speaks their tongue, Serenità.”

Rarity bashfully chuckled. “I do what I can to help. Props to the Mirror for spreading the news that we’re welcoming them.”

She then turned severe swiftly. “But all of these are already harming the market confidence, and it’s in turn diminishing our capacity to absorb these workers. We also can’t keep on increasing production when there’s no demand to support it, we’re winning through efficiency, not size… If only we can know what’s going on in the Empire.”

“The Empire had been a strict autocracy under the previous king. I guess we can’t blame them for running things tight, even though it was a bit heavy-hoofed.”

“Crystal Empire isn’t supposed to be like that! King Sombra should only be a phase!”

“How’d you know?” Verna asked curiously.

Rarity widened her eyes. “J- Just a hunch, you know? Cadance is a really nice pony, she only has the welfare of her ponies in mind!”

“But they have already explained why they move them away in the Canterlot Times. I know it might be a bit hypocritical for me to say that, but if there really is a shortage of housing and food up there, then it’s understandable for them to move these migrant workers out of the city proper who don’t have household registration first, even though they might be crystal ponies. It’s not like they do it because they are heartless evil-doers.”

“Vernie, they’re migrant workers a thousand years ago. Where do they expect these workers to go? Their homes outside of the city have presumably been turned to dust by the desolation of time. In a sense, they’ve been residents for more than a thousand years, and now they want to throw these ponies out? That just shows a lack of basic decency and really tarnishes their whole claim of being the city of love.”

“I don’t disagree, but to be fair, their hooves might be forced.”

Rarity pouted. “Or it might just be because of the influence from a certain advisor…”

“Consul Sunset, you mean?”

Rarity lightly nodded, and Verna tilted her head. “If anything, I don’t expect someone who vanquished a previous tyrant to be particularly fond of tyranny herself. Surely Princess Celestia can’t be this bad a judge of character?”

Rarity suppressed an urge to mock sardonically, and instead went for a placid tone. “… Maybe and maybe not, but not necessarily.”

Verna rolled her eyes. “Why else would Sunset Shimmer immediately establishes correspondence and trade deals with Vanhoofer and Ville de Platine, as well as diplomatic channels with the Griffons and the Cruzesians? Even the Royal Government published a glowing press release for her extensive diplomatic work. She seems like a bridge builder.”

“I can only hope so. But the tired and fearful eyes don’t lie. I really hope Sunset Shimmer is a good pony, otherwise something might be rotten in the state of Crystal Empire.”

“Howdy do, Rarity. Busy quotin’ famous author Ah see?”

The two looked to the front with wide eyes, and saw Applejack walking with a large group of earth ponies behind her. They were all carrying buckets of apple on them.

“Hello Applejack, how do you know we’re here?”

“Ah don’t know you’re here, Ah just know yer comin’. Ah was just showing these new helpers around.”

“Wait, you’re hiring? I thought you said you’ve got your hooves full when the crystal ponies came!”

Facing the scornful look from her friend, Applejack quickly raised her hooves and said. “Hey now, hey now! Ah’m not a lyin’ sack of apples! These aren’t your run-of-the-mill workers.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes and gasped. She pointed to the three ponies in the front of the small crowd. The disguises were familiar to her eyes, they were Rosencross, Allela and Chrysalis.

Rarity turned to Applejack quizzically. “How do you manage to get them work together and work for you?”

“Long story, Rarity, long story. But Ah tell you what, there might be some hope fer them to integrate into the community here.”

Verna blinked and asked. “What’s going on here? Why are they so helpful?”

She gazed at the red-maned changeling in disguise, who had approached her along with the other two changelings.

She pointed and asked. “Rosencross, I thought you can’t stand the sight of them!”

“That might be true before, but I always have a lot of time for my sister.”

“… Que la Tartare?” Rarity let out a completely befuddled interjection.

“Ah said it was a long story, but Ah’ll try to finish it before we find a shaded place to sit down.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group had settled into a small pavilion next to the workers’ quarter on the farm. A lot of ponies were already assembling to wait for the festivities to begin. Even the majority of the changelings were sent away to ‘observe pony culture’ by Philyra.

As they sat down, a veil of silence persisted between them, until Verna gulped and asked. “So basically, you guys earn the good will from the workers by doing their work for them?”

Philyra said. “It’s not as fulfilling as pure love, and we aren’t equipped physiologically to do such hard labor, but I will take it over going hungry soon.”

“Pfft. This is a blatant understatement. The milquetoast ‘love’ we got from here barely fill the space between my fangs.”

Chrysalis shrugged. “I’m only doing this because I have nothing else to do.”

Rosencross tutted. “She’s not being forthright as usual. She clearly does this to thank Applejack for saving her shell from my willful sister.”

Chrysalis gave a glare to Rosencross, but she quickly turned her head aside. “Tsk. Mock me when I can command no hivelings.”

Rarity chuckled awkwardly. “W- Well, I’m happy for any kind of happy reunion. This is the best case scenario really, nobody is hurt, right?”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and touched her chest wound, but she remained silent. ‘Allela’ remained one of the sorest topics she would prefer not touch upon.

Philyra also glanced at Chrysalis. She still distrusted her former queen, but at the same time, she felt a great void where her intense hate was. She would never admit it, but her time as Chrysalis’s trusted lieutenant was still sharp in her memories. She really did not know how to view her after the tumultuous encounter. Their current strange bedfellow situation was a jumbled mix of discomfort and readjustment.

Working in the field was a weird but novel experience, and she wasn’t opposed to it exactly, but Chrysalis was not lying about the paltry emotions that they could gather by helping out. Love adulterated by money and rewards was not quite as delectable.

If only love among changelings could be consumed like love from others, she sighed.

Rosencross looked to her sister, then to Chrysalis. “One thing we all agree, it’s that while we’re okay with doing this, both to pay back Applejack for her accommodation, and to earn some bitty changes in good will. This is no way for us changelings to sustain ourselves long-term.”

“Indeed.”

Philyra nodded. “If Twilight isn’t restored to full health soon, we’re going to turn into dried husks before the first snow fell.”

Chrysalis sounded even more frivolous. “And you know, even though I’m not responsible for the hivelings now, I can’t guarantee to you that a swarm of hungry changelings will sit there obediently in your sheds with our very food sources nearby. Meh, even I might fly into a hunger-fueled craze.”

Verna narrowed her eyes. “Is that a threat? Also, you’re going to get into trouble throwing around the term ‘food sources’ here.”

“We can only eat love and affections, just like how you guys eat your veggies. That’s like getting mad at calling the soil you tilled or the apple trees you planted ‘food sources’.”

Chrysalis bent her head backwards. “Also, hypocritical much? At least when we eat, we only leave ponies and others exhausted to the core at most, and they can return to health with attentive care. Try nursing a piece of meat gnawed on by the lions, griffons, bugbears, arimaspis or the assorted Tartarus-spawns south of the border to health.”

Verna frowned, but Applejack shrugged and sighed. “Well, she’s not wrong.”

“Miss Applejack! Are you siding with them now?” Verna widened her eyes. Chrysalis, too, looked a bit surprised at the verbal support.

“Verna, fact doesn’t take sides. And if there’s a side Ah’ll take, it’s the side of peace and harmony.”

“Excellent witticism, Applejack. I better craft one for my own element.”

Applejack sardonically curtsied. “You jest, mah lady.”

Rarity smirked. “You too. But if even you think that they’re trustworthy, then I can’t object. Are they aware of the roadmap to Twilight’s recovery anyhow?”

“Ah was going to ask you three if it’s okay to tell them.”

“What the Tartarus are you two talking about?” Chrysalis frowned.

“… Sister?” Philyra blinked.

Rarity said. “Well, I thought Pinkie’s idea to put you and them together was a bit far-fetched at first, but perhaps her prophetic sense is right on again.”

Verna pouted, but reluctantly nodded. “If that’s what it takes to help Lady Twilight, then I’m okay with it. The most dangerous phase seemed to have passed anyway.”

Rosencross looked a bit flustered looking at the intense quizzical face of her sister. “Um, this is actually a plan to restore Twilight’s health, magic and even memories through a trial given by the Tree of Harmony in the Everfree. None of us had thought it would work, but it turned out that it recognized my time with Discord as well as Rainbow Dash’s time with Mistral Trail, her lieutenant. So far, we’re literally healing Twilight bit-by-bit, waking her up and then returning her hearing.”

Rarity added. “We think that it will take a showing of solidarity and reaffirmation of our Elements to truly restore Twilight. And so we arrange to pair us up to mirror how they did it.”

Applejack stressed. “Technically though, we drew lots from Pinkie’s jar. Ah don’t know why she thought to include you guys.”

She pointed at the changelings and lightly chuckled. “But it’s workin’ out fine enough now.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us before!” Chrysalis and Philyra protested at the same time, and then looked to each other in shock.

“Because we deem it safe enough to tell you. You know, just a few whiles ago we’re enemies! And Rosencross, we all know yer sis was, forgive me, plottin’ somethin’. Now that everythin’ is cleared up, and we’re sure that Twi wasn’t in danger of anythin’, we can and we should let you know. Maybe you’d help us out if you can, hmm? ”

Philyra exhaled. “I have nothing against Twilight Sparkle at all. In fact, with how she treated my sister when she’s down, I really should work on repaying that.”

Chrysalis showed a candid grin and huffed. “Holy smoke, Twilight Sparkle… She literally drove me crazy, but I tell you what, I don’t know what she thought about me, but she’s now alright in my book. Her kindness is dangerously disarming, but I’ve got no qualms with that, now that I barely had any fangs.”

“So how can we help exactly?” Philyra knitted her brows and asked.

Rarity sighed. “Except keep living together in peace, I don’t know for sure. They must have done something right by sticking together and doing something highly meaningful for their lives together.”

Chrysalis looked skeptical. “Sounds a bit like wishful thinking. You can’t mimic someone’s outward behaviors to get the things they got.”

Rarity and Applejack snickered, while Verna sported a mocking glance. “… Are you serious or are you being facetious? No offense, but I can’t tell when that’s spoken by a changeling.”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “Screw you all. How come I don’t get a pass when I try to be a bit nicer?”

“Alright, alright.”

Applejack made a T-sign with her hooves. “I’m more then glad to make peace with the changelings. This may be as good as a time to announce this, but Ah’ve started negotiating with the Princesses to move the few captured changelings since the invasion to here. Ah’ve also singled out a few places where similar disturbances were detected in Equestria. It might be a tall order to recover all lost changelings, but that might be a start.”

Chrysalis widened her eyes. “Really…? You will help us this much?”

“Ah’m no Element-bearer of Generosity. That’s what that frou-frou over there is.”

“Hey now, darling.”

Applejack smirked. “But Ah’m still always strivin’ to be fair. Of course Ah’m happy to have received help with mah farm work, the more important things are the facts that you guys are willing to resolve yer conflicts peacefully and be candid with me as well. Trust always starts with honesty, and Ah believe it’d be a relatively easy matter fer us to find both the ways to make ponies trust you and make you have your fill liberally without turnin’ everypony into droolin’ fools inside green cocoons.”

Chrysalis exhaled loudly in wry amusement.

Philyra looked conflicted despite Applejack’s upbeat attitude. “No offense, Miss Applejack. I know very well the opposition to changelings in this quarter of the world. Even though we aren’t hated as much in Equestria as in, say, Timbucktu, but to reveal ourselves en masse without getting attacked is rather unlikely.”

“Of course Ah’m not suggestin’ you to show yerself right here and now. There’s a place and time fer everythin’. What the good time will be, Ah dunno, but we have somethin’ in our saddlebag to deal with public opinions.”

“What are you talking about, Applejack?” Rarity asked.

Applejack reached into her somewhat oversized saddlebag and took out an elongated device with an antenna on it. The device was still connected to something in her saddlebag.

Rarity narrowed her eyes, and then let out a yelp of surprise. “Oh my, is that a portable radio transceiver? I don’t even know Twilight has finished with her land-bound prototype yet!”

“Bingo! Well, Pinkie and the Flim Flam has been workin’ on it fer a while now, and even with Twi’s current state, she helpfully dug up some study notes of hers, but what yer seein’ is indeed the newest, proudest and most advanced non-magical communication device produced in Equestria.”

“What is a ‘transceiver’?” Philyra asked, which was corroborated by several others next to her.

Rarity nodded with a smile. “Transceiver is a portmanteau of transmitter and receiver. It emits low-powered radiant energy similar to visible light, but cannot be seen by most of the creatures in the world. It allows the user – any user – to press a button and talk to anyone within a certain distance, if they have one of the transceivers adjusted to the same energy frequency.”

“Whoa.” Verna let out a sigh of amazement, her mind turning to the myriad possible uses of the device already.

“Isn’t that kind of like changeling communications?” Rosencross suggested.

“Yes. When we’re doin’ fine-tuning of the system, we do model after what we’ve already known of changeling communication to maximize radio coverage.”

Philyra smirked. “I’ve had a feeling that attaching to you guys may be a good strategic choice. Now I’m surer than before. Even within the advanced pony society, you girls maintain an edge over a lot in terms of magical and non-magical means such as bits and technology. This can only be good when it comes a time that less than peaceful means are necessary.”

Rarity sighed, her thoughts drifted towards the north again. Applejack chuckled drily. “Let’s not think of that grim possibility first.”

Chrysalis frowned. “But I don’t get it. How is this ‘transceiver’ thing helps to make ponies less hostile to our presence?”

Applejack scratched her head. “Oh well… Ah have yet to talk with Fluttershy about that, eh?”

Chrysalis asked quizzically. “That shy yellow pegasus? What does she have to do with this?”

Rarity chipped in. “You see, a radio transceiver both transmit and receive message. In other words, it is a two-way communication device. But suppose if we make it one-way only, and one transmitter would send message to a multitude of receivers.”

“… And what would that possibly achieve?”

Applejack grinned. “It’ll become a whole new type of media! Think about it, it’s just like newspaper, but it can actually talk and update throughout the day! It’ll another major boost of our presence in media. If we can lower the cost of the receiver unit and improve the strength of the transmitter, we can then immediately start a radio station with Mirror staffs and bring in singers and celebrities to spice things up. I’ll be perfectly honest, it will become an incredibly powerful tool for us to promote our ideas to the public!”

Rarity clasped her hooves. “In short, if we want to include changeling acceptance into one of the issues that we want to push, then it will very likely become accepted by a majority of the populace soon. We will call it radio broadcasting, and this will revolutionize how we spread information.”

Chrysalis widened her eyes, and then began to chortle. “What a wonderfully devious idea! I thought you’re in general overly idealistic and don’t have it in you, but you somehow cook up such a sneakily scheme of subtle mind control. It’s admittedly more artful than cocoons and magic.”

Applejack protested immediately. “That’s not mind control, that’s just plain old persuasion!”

“Call it what you want. And I shan’t be this ungrateful since this is going to benefit us. I’m just pointing out the similarity between blasting an idea to someone’s ear 24 hours a day and plain old ramming open their minds.”

Rarity extended a hoof to stop the irritated Applejack from getting worked up. “We understand. Although we’ll contest that whatever we’ll introduce, we always leave ponies with ample space for critical thinking, we also understand that ponies are hysterical and open to suggestion, so we’d definitely be doubly careful in transmitting our message without turning the whole thing into a big indoctrination session. It’ll be hard, but we’ll always try.”

Chrysalis thought for a short while, and then revealed her fangs in her grin. “Whatever you say, missus. Props to you if it can be done.”

Suddenly, a scratchy voice came through from seemingly out of nowhere.

“Main lounge to AJ, main lounge to AJ.”

Applejack raised her brows and picked up her transceiver. “Go ahead.”

“It’s me, Styre. The pegasus lady is waitin’ fer her antelope friend fer quite some time now.”

“Uh oh.” Applejack glanced at Verna, who was still amazed by this long-distance communication method.

“Tell her we’re be there in a few minutes.”

“Roger that. And also chief, Miss Pie and cousin Big Mac wanted me to tell you that the decoration and catering had almost been done, and the guests had mostly arrived. We can begin the festivities soon.”

“Roger that, Styre. Thanks a lot fer informin’ me.”

“No, thank you fer lettin’ me try out this wondermachine! Ha ha, Ah can’t wait to see the face of Braeburn when he saw this.”

“Ha, we can joke more when we meet, let’s put off fer now.”

“Alright, clear.”

“Clear.”

The voice from the transceiver went quiet, and Applejack gestured the others to get up and move.

As they walked out of the pavilion, Rosencross asked curiously. “So that’s how you use this thing, huh?”

Applejack nodded. “Yep, so far it can only reach about half a mile, and its power source will need to be recharged every two hours. But Flim and Flam is workin’ on improving that, and they’re workin’ on making batteries that go with the units and provide the power as well. It’s a lot of works to do, but with the incentive of havin’ a company of their own hangin’ above their horns, they will certainly throw in more than enough efforts into this.”

“You’re letting them loose?” Rarity asked suspiciously.

“They’ve done enough to convince me they’re fer real. They might’ve got questionable names and a questionable past, but they do have a talent in gadgeteerin’. They’ve even registered the name of the new company, Flim-Flam Industrial Manufacturing, or FIM in short.”

“Heh.” Rarity chuckled in amusement.

“Vernie, bokkie! Come quick!”

As they walked close to the main building, a great crowd had already gathered around. An enthusiastic-looking Geuse waved at Verna, who quickly trotted near the pegasus for some reconnection. The others looked to each other with smiles and smirks, and joined in on the festivities.

Author's Note:

1: Greek analogue