When a changeling gets a bright idea

by Rarity Belle

Chapter 12

The day had been progressing slow and steady for Twilight. Her studies on the subject of friendship had come first as per usual, everything else second or even third. It was surprising to see that nopony had bothered with something during the day. Not that the princes really cared about it either, she was just glad for the fact that she could have continued on with her research and experiments.

Yet it was late in the evening that she and Spike had retreated to one of the living rooms of the castle. Just the two of them, a couple of good books, hot coco and a crisping fire. That was Twilight’s definition of a peaceful and calm evening. Even Spike had to admit that it was lovely, as he had received the latest issue of the Power Ponies earlier that day.

The two of them were just too deep within their own thoughts to be disturbed by anything. Inside the dragon’s mind it happened though. He had finished the issue of the comic and laid it aside. His eyes stared in the crisping, consuming fires of the fire place when the thought occurred to him. A thought which he hadn’t dared to think about previously but it had become much more of an issue in later times. A gentle sigh left his nostrils and he left his seat. He hurried over to the window which had a look over the peaceful, tranquil Ponyville.

The little quaint town was shrouded in the cool and calm cloak of the night, the moon watching over everything and everypony while it shone in the skies. It was a picture perfect moment for the dragon, yet the thought still gnawed hard at him consciousness. Something didn’t seem right and he had to talk about it. Something was just, off.

“Hey Twilight,” he started, turning back to the librarian.

Twilight rose her head from her book and smiled to him. “What’s the matter, Spike? Afraid that the Power Ponies won’t be able to defeat the villain this time?”

“They will, in the next issue,” he replied, feeling himself going off-track there for the moment. He shook his head and focused on the matter at hand. “It’s not that though, it’s our friends. Over the past days they have been...different, don’t you think?”

The alicorn took off her glasses and sighed deep to those words. The book was set aside and her body removed from the chair. There was no way in the world that she could have avoided the subject, because even she had noticed the facts as they were. “They are indeed behaving differently than we’re used to, Spike. But, on the other hoof, when aren’t they behaving differently? Each of them is unique in their own rights, everything is just...”

“Gone to Tartarus?”

Twilight’s head went over to Spike with a set of raised eyebrows, she hadn’t expected those words to have come from the dragon. A couple blinks were made before she shook the thought out of herself. An awkward giggle came forth before she petted the dragon on his head. “Not that, not that at all. No, I think it’s just another phase everypony is going through. Sometime soon they will set their differences aside and learn again that they are all better together than on their own.”

“And what book told you that little fact?” Spike returned in a sarcastic tone. He crossed his arms and glanced in the eyes of Twilight, who could only blush as a result. He knew more than enough at that moment. No amount of words could rectify that blush of hers.

Twilight realized that she had been caught and the alicorn didn’t knew what to do next, only to put Spike lightly in his place. “Spike, we’ve been through quarrels and turmoils ever since we defeated Nightmare Moon all that time ago. Just because we’re friends, doesn’t mean we don’t have to bicker with each other anymore. Besides, they are my friends, it doesn’t mean that they have to get along with the others.”

“You’re missing the point, Twilight.”

“How so?” the alicorn returned with a genuine surprised tone.

“Well,” the dragon started while he leaned against the window sill, “let’s just start with the fact that ever since that new stallion ca-”

“He’s a hunk, isn’t he?” Twilight interrupted. “And so smart too!”

Spike gagged and shook his head to those words. He hadn’t wanted to hear them, but he still heard them in infamy. “As I was saying, ever since he came, our friends have been acting strange.”

She was snapped out of her illusion and Twilight shot a glare to Spike, which turned to a look of curiosity. “You mean to say that, that stallion might have something to do with, everything?”

“Not saying he does, but I’m saying he might, given your history with certain characters.”

Just in that moment had the massive doors of the castle been opened and their signature sound went through the entirety of the place. Both Twilight and Spike shocked up from their thoughts and had a glance in the general direction of the door. Neither had expected a visitor.

“Who could that be?” Spike wondered aloud.

“At an hour this late,” added Twilight, “come on Spike, we’re going to find out.”

“Wish you hadn’t said that...”

And with that had the two of them left their room and headed straight for the entrance way.

When arrived they only saw the door being opened, but not a single pony who had entered. That was until they had a look at the floor. Muddy hoofprints could be seen and led them to the throne room. Who had entered and who had gone straight to there, were the questions asked.

Both Twilight and Spike moved with care through the castle, to the throne room and peeked their head inside, only to see a sobbing Fluttershy sitting there, crying to herself in silence. The two had a look to each other, not knowing why she was there of course, but the fact may have come to light fast.

“Uhm, hey Fluttershy,” began Spike while he walked further in the room. “What brings you here, at this hour? Shouldn’t you be, you know, be at your cottage?”

It wasn’t the best way to have started a conversation with the mare and Twilight knew that. So she took it to herself to interfere straight away. “What Spike means to say: what’s wrong?”

At the sounds of Twilight’s voice did the ears of Fluttershy perk up just a little bit. She was glad to hear a friendly voice that asked how she was doing, and she told them both the entire story of what happened at Sweet Apple Acres.

~~~~

“That’s terrible!” Twilight admitted when the whole tale was done. Spike just stood there with a glance of ‘I told you so’ in his eyes. Finally had Twilight began to see the cracks that her dragon had spoken about. Finally had she too seen the reason as to why everything felt different since the stallion’s arrival.

Twilight took place next to Fluttershy and laid a warm wing over the trembling body. The threat was one not to be taken lightly at all of course and they both knew that. But Fluttershy did seem to calm down when the wing was laid over her. It felt good to know that there were still ponies who wanted to do right in the world.

“Also just love the fact you aren’t running off to Sweet Apple Acres now, to see how the fruitbats are doing,” mumbled Spike to himself, shaking his head. Then he went off to get them both something to drink. It would have been a long, long night for the both of them. When they began talking, it would have been far after sunrise that they would be done. Spike wouldn’t spend longer in their presence than was necessary.

“But, why would Applejack do such a thing to you? You, of all ponies.” Twilight wondered aloud. Why would somepony like Applejack, hurt somepony like Fluttershy. Ideas began to roll ramped of course, but there was one that stuck out more than any of the others. One to which even Twilight had to give some right to. A deep sigh was released through her nostrils.

“I don’t, I don’t know!” Fluttershy sobbed loud.

Spike had returned with the drinks and Twilight levitated them to the table, nodding to him it was okay to leave. He gladly left the two mares alone since he wasn’t particularly interested in the drama that would unfurl, not while he could have some good sleep, that was.

The alicorn took a sip from her drink and allowed the thoughts to settle down for the moment. “Well, when you think about the first time that it happened, she wasn’t too happy either when you asked her if they could stay. But if you asked it this time again, there’s still no reason for her to just straight up hurt you. Maybe she’s just overreacting?”

Fluttershy just nodded in response, hoping with the most sincere of thoughts that it was indeed just the farmer overreacting. But what if it wasn’t? That was the thought that had send her trembling in the seat, the cup of cocoa was set down on the table and she buried her face deep in the flocks of her mane. “And if she, isn’t?”

It was something that Twilight hadn’t thought about before, she had to admit that. What if Applejack wasn’t overreacting and actually meant her words about the matter? It was a tough question to answer, but there was only one logical answer that she could have given to the fact. Twilight gave a gentle nod to herself before she answered. “Fluttershy, if it is indeed the truth about Applejack and she does want to hurt you because of it, I’ll be joining you the next time that you will encounter her, to face her for what she had done and said tonight. Because this is going just too far for comfort. And an enraged Applejack isn’t something to be taken lightly. If she comes here, to the castle tonight to ask me to get rid of them, we’ll have our talk.”

“But, what of the trees?” Fluttershy asked, peeking just her nose through the mane.

The sight was one that could be described as cute for Twilight, but the situation was much more serious to notice that little thing. “Well, if she doesn’t come, I’m sure she’s getting rid of them herself, however she wants to do that is a question beyond me. But how about you try and catch some sleep, Fluttershy, I’ll be here for the rest of the night, waiting for her to come and confront her about the matter.”

The timid pegasus gave a nod in response and left the caring wing of Twilight. Without a word and a weak, genuine calm smile had she left the throne room and headed for the guest rooms. Maybe a good night’s rest would have solved some of the problems that everypony was having. It was a long shot, but was the best one that they had.

~~~~

The air ceased of sound, the bats became silent and then they vanished from the trees. Everything had gone just according to plan for the mare. Applejack stood there, in the midst of the orchard, looking over the entire place with a set of diabolical eyes. She had terrified Fluttershy to the point of her galloping away. It was just amazing to see the pegasus spurt like that.

In a massive burst of red flames had Applejack left the spot and Chara taken the place again. The changeling grinned to herself while the trees were never hurt in any way. She had done the seemingly impossible and impersonated Applejack to the letter, or so she hoped of course.

“And that’s another crack that came,” she whispered while leaving the field. The real Applejack didn’t have a clue of what had happened in her own backyard, but certainly would get the blame of it. It was an encounter of a lifetime and one which the changeling wanted to see all too well. A sadistic laughter was released when she left the orchard as a whole and dove off the beaten path. Everything had gone just as she had planned, every step had gone to near perfection. Chara loved it when a plan came together in the way it did.

The changeling desired to return to the hidey hole that was hers. She wanted to go back to her secured place and from there device the plan to make everything shatter. The cracks were there in most friendships, it was time to take the hammer, set the nail on the weakest point and deliver a blow unlike anything ever seen before. The changeling had deemed it time, to finish what had been started just mere days ago.

While she darted through the plains, the changeling only had one thought to herself, one which she spoke aloud when the waters of the creek came rushing through her ears. “And so it will be written down, that a single, simple changeling can achieve what so many powerhouses of the past and present could not. The Elements of Harmony, shan’t be for much longer. Mark my words, because tomorrow, the red flow will choke Ponyville, and I will stand atop the highest tower, glancing over my creation of destruction!”

It was safe to say that Chara had gotten way ahead of herself…

~~~~

When the sun rose again, everything seemed to be going on smooth, everything promised to be just a normal day for a change. Fluttershy had awoken and felt a lot better than she had expected to feel. She had left the castle near the end of the morning and both Spike and Twilight were ready to have another cup of tea.

Unfortunately for them would the peace and calm have lasted only about a couple of hours.

It would have been near the middle of the afternoon that the doors of the castle had burst open again. Walking through the created opening was Rarity with her sister at her side. The glance in her eyes was one that stood to pure hatred, but not aimed to her sister. “Twilight!” she bellowed through the halls, using her magic as an amplifier. “We need to talk because Rainbow Dash’s gone too far this time!” Whatever had happened, it was serious for the lady to act like that.

Both Twilight and Spike jumped out of their seat and rushed over to the main hall of the castle once more. They wanted to know what had angered Rarity so much and what had caused her to act this way. It wasn’t an overreaction as they were used from the drama queen and Spike realized that she also had a side never seen by anypony, a much more violent side. He gulped at the thoughts going through him and stayed behind Twilight, using her as a shield.

“Rarity! What’s wrong, what happened?!” Twilight exclaimed when she came in the hall. Everything seemed to be normal for the matter, but Sweetie Belle was silent, looking even more bleak than normal. Almost, like the filly had seen a ghost of some kind. The alicorn could have tied the knots together here already, but she still had to know exactly what was going on. “Start from the beginning, why has Rainbow Dash gone too far this time?”

“This is not a matter to joke about, Twilight. This is of the utmost importance and this is all madness! She’s gone too far!” Rarity still bellowed with the aid of her magic.

Twilight’s horn lip up and she countered the spell, letting the unicorn talk on a normal level while at the same time also guiding them to the throne room. Something had cracked in the unicorn’s mind, that much was certain. It was just the question of what it was that caused her to act like that. The alicorn took a deep sigh since a matter with Rarity always had multiple layers.

Everypony seated themselves on one of the thrones and Rarity’s story would have been told. “The reason as to why Rainbow has gone too far today, is because my little sister almost died! That daredevil of nothing took both her and Scootaloo to watch her training, but Sweetie could sit on her back. If I wasn’t there to catch her after the looping that she made, I, I don’t even dare to think about what would have happened then.”

Twilight swallowed once, taking in the entire story as it was. So that was the reason why Sweetie looked like she had seen a ghost. It did explain a whole lot to the matter, but at the same time didn’t. It wasn’t something for Rainbow Dash to ask Sweetie up in the air. Unicorns were not the breed that loved to go in the air at all of course.

It was a curious tale, but for Twilight and her lack of sleep from the last night, the wrong conclusion was drawn out of it. She sighed deep and didn’t knew what to do next. Anything could have happened. But the first issue that had to be tackled was the one of rage and anger. Everypony just had to calm down for the moment. Because in anger, the most foolish decisions were made. And that was something that the alicorn wanted to prevent.

“Okay, okay, okay, so Rainbow asked you to fly with her, she accidently dropped you, but your sister caught you... What were you doing there, Rarity?” Twilight asked, wanted to know the finer details of the story.

Rarity huffed, crossed her forelegs and stared deep in the eyes of Twilight. “I was only there to bring Sweetie there of course. Not to mention the fact that it is quite mesmerizing to see a pegasus go through the air like that. But I decided to stay, because my little sister went up there. And that was the part that I just had to see. I have a legitimate reason to have been there, Twilight.”

Words that couldn’t be denied by any or all. Twilight had worked herself in a tough package and she knew it. Another exhale left her mouth while she leaned back in her throne. Everything was wrong about the past few days. “Okay, we need to calm down, one way or the other. We need to calm ourselves and look for a way out of this mess. Because things have been going on, I can’t tie together whatsoever. Rarity, come back here later tonight, it’s time for a good talk, friend to friend.”