Why me?

by Miner

Some fun and Problems

I am hating how easily I get hurt in this world. Maybe staying here is a bad idea. But then again, I don't have much of an option. After I got out of the Hospital, Berry keeps asking me why me and Applejack were trying to kill each other. I didn't give him a straight answer. Mainly because I am still trying to figure that out myself. But something about her just makes me angry. As long as we stay away from each other. We won't have any more problems. For me, anyway.

Nothing exciting happened for the next week. Okay, that is a total lie. Shortly after I woke up, some colorful insect-like ponies came into town. I believe they are good changelings that Exclusive told me about. From what I heard, they came here looking for any signs of that changeling I met the other day and were going to still be around town for a bit. I wanted to talk to the Princess again. But I saw that mare next to her; I exit stage right. I am sure that humanity can survive a few more days before the end arrives. Also, I am not in a hurry to go back to the hospital.

I thought I could talk with her later that day, but that wasn't meant to be. Applejack came by the Boutique shortly after I saw her with the Princess, but I wouldn't have anything to do with her. We played a game of hiding and never found. I don't mean to brag, but whenever I want to hide, no one will find me. No matter how hard they tried or for how long. Back in elementary, I played with some friends during lunch, and they spent the whole day trying to find me. They thought I went home or disappeared but little did they know, I was right under their noses the entire time. A little make-up and a wig, and I was a different kid. They never did find me. But I had to give up the act when my teacher started to get worried and call my parents. I was banned from playing hide n seek ever since.

Hiding from Applejack was child's play. The first day I waited under a bed until she left. When she came back in an hour, I was in the couch; then I was in the closet, and then in the tub. I made sure to never go to the same place twice. I made sure that Rarity and Sweetie knew I was in the house so that they wouldn't get worried, but I would hide the moment the door would open. This would go on for days. Applejack would come over bright and early to find me, but I would already be ready for her. One time I pretend to be Rarity on the sewing machine, and she didn't even notice. It was getting to the point that Applejack was starting to question whether I was living in the Boutique or not. One time she almost got me when I was having tea with Exclusive, but she blinked, and I was gone. I never knew that a mare could scream so loud. As fun as it is making her angry with me, I still need to talk with the Princess. Hopefully, I am not too late.

It's dawn right now, as I look out my window. One doesn't see much during this time. It's pitch dark with no pony in sight. No pony except for one. She thinks she is so smart moving from shadow to shadow, trying to hide from view from the windows of the Boutique. To make sure that I couldn't see her. But little did she know that I have no life right now and spent the whole week coming up with all possible entrance here along with every hiding spot in here. She is a Novice against a Master. I made sure to move everything in the Boutique around so that she has no idea where I could be hiding every time she comes here. I even made sure that some dummies are hiding along with me so that she would think I would be there, but I am not. If Rarity asks, I was nowhere near her leftover dresses. That was day three, and I would even sometimes hide amongst the dummies. She is a fool thinking that she could come into my house and get me so easily—game on Applejack.

I could see her at the house entrance and was reaching for the door when a voice called out to her. "Applejack!" I look to see a stallion marching over to her. I wonder who the newcomer is? "Might I ask what you are doing here?"

"Ah, Hi, big bro. Ah, I could ask you the same thing."

"I came here looking for why my little sister keeps leaving the farm so early. You have been doing this for over a week already."

"Really, that long. I didn't notice." There was a moment of silence before Applejack sighs, "Look, Big Mac. I came here to talk with Jessica, but for the last week, I haven't been able to talk with her."

"And you believe sneaking into Rarity's house so early will let you get a conversation with her? Why don't you wait for every pony to be awake first before somepony starts thinking that you are breaking into someponies house?"

"You don't think I tried that!" She has, "I have been coming here for the past week during the day trying to talk with her. I even made sure to talk with Rarity and Sweetie bell to make sure she is in only to find nothing!" That was a good day, "I would go to Pinkie or Rainbow for help finding her, but they are too busy helping Thorax and the others finding Chrysalis."

He nods at this before addressing her, "Okay, say you find her. What are you going to do once you find her?"

"First, make sure that she is not a changeling." I am not, "And second, to apologies for my actions at the castle the other day." Oh really?

His light up in realization as he glares at his sister, "I get it. She was the mare you hurt that day."

She rubs one of her legs over the other, "I didn't mean to. It happened so fast. But in my defense. She hit first." Okay, that's it. I open the window, stuck my head out,

"And that gives you the right to attack me?!" I shouted; both of them turn to face me, not expecting me to up this early.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Applejack yells at me. Man, I must have really got under her skin.

"APPLEJACK!" her brother scolded her. She grumbles to herself looking away. I clear my throat to get her attention.

"If you promise me that you won't hurt me anymore. I won't run away or hide from you again. Deal?"

"Deal."

---

She goes on about how she was sorry about what happened between us and wants to make it up to me. And I told her how she could. That all I wanted was to talk to the Princess. She was confused at first, but the moment I mention a possible changeling invasion, she practically dragged me to the castle with her brother right behind us. I was panting when we got to the castle I never ran so fast in my life, and that was to make sure that my face didn't smash onto the ground. Applejack wasted no time knocking on the door before opening them and entering the castle. While I was catching my breath, Applejack was calling out for the Princess, but no reply came for some reason.

"Twilight! Wake UP! It's me, Applejack! I got something important to talk with you about." Applejack moves deeper into the dark castle with nothing but our hooves' steps, and the echoes of Applejack call to greet our ears. I started to get a sense of uneasiness as I looked around. A glance at Big Mac confirms that I am not the only one. Slowly we flowed Applejack to the Princess bedchamber; Applejack wasted no time knocking on the door calling out to her. "Twilight, you night owl! I know that you are still up. Answer me already!" She was moving to open the door when a low growling voice calls out to us from behind.

"Be quiet you fiends," We turn to the voice to see the face of a horrible Spector starring at us with his dark green face and colorless eyes. We all screamed and back away from the phantom, "You are going to wake the princess." Huh?

It was then I notice the green lantern next to the face of the phantom floating next to it. Applejack was the first to find her voice, "DUSK SHINE! Don't do THAT!"

He hushes her, before changing the color of the lantern to white with his magic to which I got a good look at him. He is a purple unicorn stallion who looks like the Princess but no wings. Okay what is up with stallions looking just like mares I meet before. Am I the only one seeing this or is this normal?

"It is three in the morning." He replies, "Why are you trying to disturb the princess beauty rest?"

"Dusk now is not the time. I got something important to discuss with her. And what do you mean she is asleep? Twilight sleeps more in the day than a bat and only comes out when she is hungry or needed somewhere."

"Yes, I am aware of that. As a result, I have been giving her Highness sleeping aids to help correct this mistake; so that she is more available during the daytime to complete her duties. I have almost got The Princess on a correct sleeping schedule, and I am not going to let you ruin it with a small trivial matter." He uses his magic to move us away from the door, "So unless you have something important to discuss like the location of Queen Chrysalis or any sighting of new changelings. You three will wait until 8 for the Princess to be up and ready for the day."

"But it does involve changelings!"

He stops giving us a curious look, "In what way?"

"Jessica believes that the changelings plan to invade another dimension."

He taps a hoof to his chin, "I see. Are these speculations, or does she have proof that your claims are as you say?"

"Um..."

"Then it can wait." He drops us outside of the castle. "I will inform her highness that you wish to speak with her. And I suggest that between now and then that you bring hard evidence of your claims. I rather not waste Princess Twilight's time on such trivial matters. Good day." He turns his back on us as he closes the doors in our faces. Applejack grumbles, and I join her,

"I don't like that stallion." She looks down, "Especially when he is right."

I look towards her, "Was he's the reason you were so set on stopping me from meeting the Princess the other today."

"Eyeap. Ever since Twilight took in Dusk to be her butler, things haven't been the same. I mean, I still get to see Twilight, but now we all have to deal with all this red tape business." She then looks at me, "So you anything to show the Princess?"

I shrug my shoulders, "I got nothing. I came up with the idea one afternoon at Rarity's," We both let out a heavy sigh, "Sorry you two had to go through that."

"It's no big deal. I was just hoping we could meet with the Princess before he showed up, is all." I can see why, "But I am willing to believe you, Jessica. So long as you can bring some proof that the changelings are really going to do what you say. Then that old guard dog of Twilight's can't say nothing."

"Thank but where do I start looking?"

---

One year ago,

Queen Chrysalis has returned from her mission in Ponyville and has entered the Ever-Free forest. "Now I have everything I need," Maniacal laughter as she looks around and calls out, "Come forth, my elite six,"

Seven changelings emerge from the forest and bow before their Queen, "We are here, my Queen," they said unison,

"First off, I hereby order you to stop doing that. It's creepy," They nodded in acknowledgment together, "Second, it is time to begin phase two,"

"What are your orders?" The Drone in the middle asked,

"If we want to defeat Princess Twilight and her friends, we are going to need more power. And there is no greater power in Equestria than the Elements of Harmony. However, as you know, they can only be used by Twilight and her friends. So, you may be asking how we are going to use them?" She waits for her subjects for a reply but got nothing. She glares at them as they got the message,

"How are we going to use them?"

"I am glad you asked. You see, since we can't control the manesix. Then we will have to make our own."

"How?" Another Drone asked, "Our magic can only make us look different and change our physic. But We can't become them."

"That is where these come into play," She levitates a small stack of paper and six strands of hair, "Using my magic along with these. I can create a copy of anypony I desire. All I need is an image and a piece of the pony and an old changeling spell."

"But what if the clones don't listen to you?" A changeling on the far right asked,

"That is where you si-" She stops as she recounts her minions, "Mandible, why are there seven of you?"

"It's Hemolymph, your highness." Mandible said pointing to said changeling who is smiling, "We found him wandering the forest shortly after you left. He was lost for some time and wasn't there during the fall of our home,"

"I see. *Ahem* As I was saying, that is where you six come into play," She grins at them evilly as she moves the strands of hair to each one of them along with a picture of each of the manesix as well as move Hemolymph to the side. "Why create clones that might listen to me. When I can create loyal subjects to use them instead." She casts the spell surrounding her subjects, causing a blinding light on them, transforming them into the mane… six? Chrysalis rubs her eyes and looks at them again, confirming what she saw. They do look like Twilight and her friends, but something off. For some reason, they are male versions of the manesix. Confused as to why this happened, Chrysalis summons a small brown book with the title "Queen Spells by Mom" and opens it up.

The elite six looked at themselves, noticing the slight difference in appearance. Two of them didn't think much about it, three of them were panicking, and one of them, for some reason, checked between his back legs before letting out a sigh of relief.

Once Chrysalis found the spell, somehow, in some way, she overlooked the ample warning at the bottom. "Be sure when using the cloning spell not to use on living target. Details are on page 45." She flips to the page. "The Cloning spell will not be able to alter the gender of a living target regardless of hair sample used. However, there are side effects that vary depending on the target species. See the list on page 60 for further details." She grunts as she flips the pages again. Once she found the list, she searches until she finds changelings. "Changelings exposed to cloning spell are much harder to detect while in their new form. No amount of physical force or magic can reveal the disguised changeling unless the changeling wills it to. However, this does limit them to only being able to change between their regular selves and their new form. However, another changeling with higher authority can change them back to original forms with enough force or magic. Don't ask why. And if you have gotten this far, you must have already done this, and now you are stuck with a changeling that can only change between two forms. But that makes them the perfect spies. So, make sure that if you use the spell on them that it will be worth it. Because there is no way of undoing this." Chrysalis growls as she closes the book, "Mandible, are there any problems?"

He looks at his purple hooves and jumps a bit, "Besides the gender. We appear to be fine."

"Was this supposed to happen?" Male Rainbow asked,

Chrysalis shouts, "Regardless! Now that you are the manesix. You will be able to use the elements of harmony too."

"But they could have change into them on their own. What was with the spell?" Hemolymph said before Mandible smacks him on the back of the head.

As Hemolymph rubs his head, The male Rarity speaks up, "Although Hemolymph does have a point. What makes this different from our regular magic? Besides the gender mix-up?"

"With this spell, you six are no longer looking like them; you are them,"

"What?" Male Pinkie said before green flames covers him, "But I can still turn back into a changeling."

"Try and turn into a rock."

He nods as he focuses, but nothing is happening. He tries harder, but nothing happens. He breathes heavily and turns back into male Pinkie again. He changes between the forms before staying as Pinkie, "I can become Pinkie or Pink… Pinker?" He yells, slamming his hooves in the ground, "I am a male version of Pinkie Pie. What do I call myself now?!"

"How about Bubble Berry?" Hemolymph said,

Everyling looks at him before Mandible speaks up, "What?"

"And you can be Dusk Shine!" He then points to every changeling naming them as he goes down the line, "Rainbow Blitz, Exclusive, Butterscotch, and Applejack."

"Wait, why is my name the same as the original?"

Dusk interrupts him, "Where are you getting these names?"

Hemolymph reaches between his wings and shell and pulls out a brown book, "From this book."

Dusk leans in closer to read the title "On the cross and arrow? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything," Hemolymph then tells them of a story of where the manesix meet male versions of themselves. Dusk put a hoof on Hemolymph mouth, stopping him halfway through the story,

"Where did you get this? And why is it so perfect for our situation?"

"I found it while I was in Pony Ville. A pony made this story calling it a fanfic."

Queen Chrysalis lifts the book and reads it. "We can use this." Once she is done she moves it with the other one.

"But if this book is well known in the town. Won't they be suspicious?" Exclusive asks getting glare from Dusk,

"Ah, you see, that is the best part. No matter what the ponies come up with, they cannot force you back into your changeling's form." She starts pacing in front of them, "Now then. Each member of the Manesix most likely has one of the elements of harmony on them at all times or somewhere hidden that only each owner is aware of. Your orders are to infiltrate Ponyville become their friends, or whatever cover story you want to go with. And you are to find the elements of harmony and bring them back to me. And once each element is secure, we will begin phase three!"

"Yes, your highness." The elite six in unison,

"I said stop doing that! This is serious. We only get one shot at this. So, none of you are to make a move to get an element until the location of all six has been confirmed. Once each element is safely removed from Ponyville or wherever they are located. We can move on with Phase three. However, if even one of you is compromised, then the whole mission is ruined. There will be no timeframe to when this mission will be complete. You are to take your time to earn each mare's trust. Only until you are confident that you won't suspect you are betraying them will you make your moves. Do what you have to, but above all, don't bring any attention to yourselves from Discord or Thorax. They are the only ones who have to power to reveal your true identity. Dusk, you will be the only one to contact me for any reason during the duration of this mission."

"Yes, your Highness,"

"Then go to my elite six and bring me victory!" The elite six run off to Ponyville. Chrysalis smiles and starts to laugh evilly when she feels something touch her left foreleg. She looks down to see that Hemolymph is still here,

"And what about me, your Highness?"

Chrysalis scratches her chin in thought. She has already finished her evil plans for the day and has no use for an extra scout drone to be with her. If he was a soldier class, then maybe, but first. Chrysalis tosses one of the books away and sends the other away with magic not looking at them, "Do whatever you want. But do not interfere with their mission understood."

"Yes, my Queen." Chrysalis takes off to the castle of the two sisters as Hemolymph thinks of what to do. He then sees his book Chrysalis toss on the ground. He reaches for it but notices its not the same one he showed everyling. Curious he opens it and reads the title of the page, "Dimensional rifts?"

Author's Note:

If you having haven't heard of the On the cross and arrow it was made by Conner Cogwork. It was one of the first fanfic I read on this site. And the idea for this story.