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Chapter 1: Never let your guard down2,279 words
Chapter 2: 4-8-22,484 words
Chapter 3: What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her1,393 words
Chapter 4: A series of unusual questions2,352 words
Chapter 5: The white changeling of the Swarm2,244 words
Chapter 6: If you love something, let it go2,245 words
Chapter 7: Looks like the changeling’s out of the barn3,270 words
Chapter 8: Home is where the heart is971 words
Chapter 9: Fruit Blender2,300 words
Chapter 10: Uh... I can explain1,379 words
Chapter 11: Don't sell yourself short936 words
Chapter 12: Better late than never1,772 words
Chapter 13: I think we forgot something1,604 words
Chapter 14: Who's the new guy?3,050 words
Chapter 15: Cliff hanger3,004 words

Chapter 11: Don't sell yourself short

Back in Ponyville, Big Mac was getting ready to call it a day. Aside from ponies asking him how he hurt his leg, it was just another average day selling apples.

"Have a nice day Big Mac!" said Lyra Heartstrings as she walked off with her new batch of apples.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac said, waving as she left.

Big Mac closed his eyes, inhaled, and exhaled slowly with a smile on his face. He was looking forward to dinner and bedtime. Luna knows that he needed the sleep after what happened last night. He had just opened his eyes when-

"Hiya Big Mac!"

"WAAAHH!!!"

The big red stallion fell backwards, hitting his head against the apple cart on his way down. Recovering from the blow, he sat up and rubbed his head gingerly. Opening his eyes, he found that the culprit who scared him half to death was

"Pinkie?"

"Oops. Sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare you."

Big Mac furrowed his brows in frustration. This wasn't the first time that Pinkie just appeared out of nowhere and shouted 'hi' to his face. Three inches away from his face!

Seriously Pinkie, do ya even know what personal boundaries are?!

He got back up on his three good legs and started to dust himself off when he realized something important.

"Wait a minute! Yer back?!"

"Of course I'm back silly! So's Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike. Wait until I tell you all about the Crystal Empire. You're gonna love it! They- "

To Pinkie Pie's surprise, Big Mac wasn't in front of her anymore.

"Huh?"

She turned her head right to see Big Mac running towards Sweet Apple Acres at a fast pace.

"Hey! You didn't give me a chance to tell you about the Crystal Empire yet!

"THEY'VE GOT FLUGEL HORNS!!!"

With Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to keep him company, Fruit Blender sat patiently on Apple Bloom's bed as they waited for Granny Smith to return. They had managed to stop the bleeding by stuffing some tissues up his nose, but to reduce the swelling Granny Smith needed something from downstairs.

As they waited, Scootaloo noticed that Fruit Blender was mad about something. Maybe it had something to do with them leaving him alone, with nopony to vouch for him when Applejack returned. Wanting to resolve the problem, she decided that it was time she apologized.

"Sorry Fruit Blender."

Fruit Blender turned his attention to Scootaloo and gave her a confused look.

"What?"

"I'm sorry that we weren't there when Applejack returned. She might not have attacked you had we been downstairs with you."

"It's okay."

He said that it was okay, but Scootaloo saw that it did nothing to improve his mood. In fact, he just shrugged off her apology and continued to stare angrily at the wall.

Why is he still mad? Hmm. Wait a minute! Sweetie Belle!

Scootaloo lightly smacked Sweetie Belle's shoulder. When the little unicorn turned to smack her back, Scootaloo leaned her head towards Fruit Blender, hinting to Sweetie Belle that she didn't apologized yet.

"Oooh. (cough) I'm sorry too Fruit Blender."

"It's fine."

This time he didn't even turn to look back at them. Scootaloo was beginning to think that he was really mad at them.

"We're really sorry Fruit Blender! Please don't be mad at us!"

Fruit Blender's anger turned into confusion as he turned his attention back to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

"I'm not mad at you two."

"Then why are you upset?"

Fruit Blender sighed in frustration before he answered her question.

"Because I'm a freaking idiot!"

"Come on Fruit Blender. You're not an idiot." said Sweetie Belle as she patted his knee gently.

"Yes I am! First I slap Applejack's hoof after she saves me, and what do I do when she returns?! I put on her dead father's hat! What part of that isn't idiotic?!"

"You didn't know. How could you? We weren't there to tell you not to touch it." countered Scootaloo.

(sigh) "Still, I probably ruined any chance I have of her forgiving me. I might have even ruined my chances of living here."

"Now don't be ridiculous. It'll take more than touch'n an old family heirloom ta get ya kicked outta here."

They all turned around to see that Granny Smith was back with the ice pack that she was looking for. Fruit Blender was surprised to see that she wasn't mad about the whole hat thing like Applejack was.

"Wait a minute, your not mad that I wore your son's hat?"

"Hats are for wear'n aren't they? Heh heh heh! Joking aside, nopony told ya about how my son and daughter-in-law passed away. I can't be mad at a pony, or changeling, who did something like that out of ignorance."

"I don't know... maybe I deserved this." said Fruit Blender, pointing at his nose.

"That happened because Applejack didn't know the whole story. Had she known, I imagine the end results would have been much different."

"Yeah!"

"Totally!"

Fruit Blender smiled, seeing that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo agreed with Granny. He still felt bad about how he treated Applejack after she saved him.

First thing I'm gonna do when I see you, I'm going to treat you with the honor and respect fit for a changeling queen.

"Speak'n of which, let's get back to fix'n that nose of yers."

"Okay. Uh... this isn't going to hurt, right?"

"Nooo. Might be a little cold at first, but it ain't that bad."

"How cold?"

Granny Smith figured that the best way to answer that question was through experience.

"AAAHHHH!!!!!"