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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 14: Who's the new guy?

The next day in Ponyville, Rarity was happily trotting back to Carousel Boutique with Spike in tow. He was carrying a tall stack of materials that she had just bought, and was doing his best to keep up without collapsing. Rarity paused for a moment, to take in the sweet morning air and sighed:

"Oh, Spikey-Wikey. Isn't it a lovely day today?"

"It... sure... is."

Rarity turned her head to look back and asked:

"Are you sure you don't need any help with those?"

"No worries! I got it!" he said, smiling as confidently as he could.

"It was very nice of you to help me, Spike."

"Hey, what are friends for?!” Spike gave a grunt then asked, “what are these materials for anyway?!"

"I'm glad you asked. I've been meaning to make a new line of hats more fitting to compliment the beauty of the crystal ponies. They deserve more than just my hay and drinking straw hat."

"I'm sure your straw hat was the best thing they've seen in centuries."

"Aww, thank you, Spike."

As she turned around to continue walking, Rarity saw Applejack pulling a cart of supplies.

"Applejack! What a surprise!"

Rarity trotted off to visit with her apple-farming friend, leaving Spike behind with the heavy stack of materials.

"Oh, uh... hi Rarity. How are you doing?" said Applejack, doing her best to keep up a natural, non-suspicious smile.

"Wonderful, Darling. I just finished some shopping for my next line of fashion."

Looking back at her cart, Rarity noticed that Applejack had bought some wood, a mattress, some bed sheets, and a tooth brush.

"Hmm? I can see that you've done some shopping yourself. Is one of your cousins moving in?"

"Well... uh... no. I mean... somepony is moving in, but... he's not family."

Rarity noticed that Applejack's face was getting all sweaty, and that she had that nervous smile on whenever she was trying to hide something. Thinking that she knew what was going on, Rarity gave a mischievous grin and said:

"Ooooo. Is he somepony special?"

Applejack's face turned bright red and she shouted:

"What?! No! It's nothing like that!"

"Well if it's not one of your cousins, and he's not a colt-friend, then who is it?"

Applejack took a quick glance to see if anypony was eavesdropping. Seeing it was safe, she brought Rarity in close and whispered:

"Look, I can't talk about it here with so many ponies around. If ya want ta know the truth, I can show ya, but it has to be at Sweet Apple Acres."

Rarity gave Applejack a skeptical look. Looking her in the eyes, Rarity whispered:

"Party?"

Applejack knew what Rarity was doing. She was testing to see if it was really her and not a changeling. Giving a reassuring smile, Applejack whispered back:

"Bonanza."

Rarity gave a small sigh of relief.

"Sorry Applejack. I was worried that maybe you were a changeling."

"Uh... funny you should mention that, because... this involves the changelings."

"Really? How so?"

"Like I said, I can't tell ya here with so many ponies around. I don't want to start a panic."

"Very well, Applejack. Once I get these materials to my house, I'll go gather the girls and we'll meet you at Sweet Apple Acres."

Nodding her head, Applejack replied:

"Much appreciated. I'll see ya in a little bit."

"See you later."

Rarity watched as her friend departed and said:

"Looks like my hats will have to wait, Spike."

To her surprise, he didn’t respond.

"Spike?"

Turning around, Rarity saw her pile of fabrics, but no Spike. Using her magic, she lifted her materials and found him; disoriented and flattened underneath.

"Uh... how's about I carry these the rest of the way?"

"Okay” he said in a dizzy manner, giving a thumbs up.

Having found everypony but one, Rarity led Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy to Sweet Apple Acres. According to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash was visiting her Grandpa Quick Silver for the weekend. Even now, Pinkie was going on, and on, and on, about how amazing this stallion was.

"... Did you know that it was Grandpa Quick Silver that told Dashie about the legend of the Sonic Rainboom?! Apparently it was his grandfather who created the first one! And he was the soul witness. Grandpa Quick Silver spent his entire life trying to convince everypony that the Sonic Rainboom was real, but nopony would believe him; not even his own parents and kids!

"Can you imagine how happy he was when he saw Dashie's first Sonic Rainboom? Everypony thought she was just making it up, to make her cutie-mark story sound all the more awesome. But Grandpa Quick Silver believed her. He told her that one day, she would be the greatest Wonderbolt Equestria has ever seen! Isn't that sweet?!"

"He is very nice." said Fluttershy, having met the stallion a few times before.

"Fascinating story Pinkie" said Twilight. "But did Dash tell you when she would be back?"

"Hmmmm? I forgot to ask!" said Pinkie, smiling as she did.

Twilight shook her head with amusement. All that information, and the one thing she wanted to know Pinkie Pie forgot to ask.

"Oh, look! It's Applejack! Hi Applejack! We're over here!"

Applejack chuckled softly as she watched Pinkie Pie jumping up and down, waving her hooves in the air as the gang and her made their way through the orchard towards the apple farmer. Pinkie wasn't the Element of Laughter for nothing. Hopefully being the Element of Honesty, she could convince her friends that Fruit Blender had really changed.

Applejack kind of wished that Apple Bloom and her friends didn't have school today. Having them here would have made things easier. She couldn't count on Big Mac because he was selling apples in town again, and as for Granny... she was in the middle of one of her naps. Best not to disturb her when she's napping.

"Hi Applejack!" said Twilight. "Rarity told us that you have somepony living with you now. And you say that it has something to do with the changelings?"

"It does, but... where's Rainbow Dash?"

Pinkie Pie took in a deep breath and was about to go into another long discussion of where Rainbow Dash was. But not wanting to listen to that story again, Rarity quickly shouted:

"She's at her Grandpa's!"

Pinkie gave Rarity a confused look, but then smiled and said:

"Yeah, what she said."

Applejack gave a sigh and said, “alright, I'll have ta write her a letter or something."

"So where is this stallion, Applejack?" asked Rarity. "I hate to imagine the kind of trauma he's going through, having lost his home to the changelings."

"He didn't lose his home to the changelings. And... he's not a stallion."

"Is he a buffalo? He's not a griffon, is he?"

"You'll see. Just... promise me that y'all won't freak out."

Everypony gave Applejack a nod. Once they did, Applejack turned her attention to the branches on the tree next to her and said:

"You can come out now!"

With that, Fruit Blender dropped out of the tree and landed on the ground with a thud, next to Applejack. All of her friends gasped in fear. All except Pinkie, who was happy to see him.

"CHANGELING!!!"

Fluttershy quickly dropped to the ground and covered her head with her hooves, whimpering in fear with her eyes shut tight. Fruit Blender raised an eyebrow and thought:

Sheesh. What did my brothers do to this poor pegasus?

Having recovered from the initial surprise, Twilight lit up her horn, and aimed to fire. But before she could, Applejack put herself between them and Fruit Blender shouting:

"Wait! Don't!"

Before her magical blast went off, Twilight quickly brought her head up, her magic missing Applejack but severing a tree branch which landed behind the farm pony and changeling. Seeing that she didn't hit Applejack, Twilight let out a sigh of relief then shouted:

"Applejack! Are you crazy! I could have hit you!"

"Sorry Twi, but I couldn't let ya hurt him."

"Wait, what?"

Stepping to the side so they could all see him, Applejack gave a wave of the hoof and said:

"Girls, this is Fruit Blender."

Mustering all the courage she could, Fluttershy opened her eyes. To her surprise, the changeling wasn't snarling and hissing at them like the ones before. It was smiling nervously as it waved its hoof slowly at her and her friends. This had a calming affect on Fluttershy. In a way, this changeling's approach reminded her of the first time she met her friend, Harry the Bear.

"Morning Fruit Blender." said Pinkie as she waved. "I hope you slept well last night."

"Last night?" said a surprised Twilight. "You knew about this changeling?!"

"Yup! Gave him the whole welcome song and everything last night! I wanted to throw a welcome party as well, but Applejack told me that it was kind of late for a party. Then I said: That's okay, I'll just throw him a welcome party tomorrow. But then Applejack said that we had to take things slowly, which made me sad at first, because I really, really wanted to throw a party for Fruit Blender, especially since he's never had a party before. But hey! Then I thought, once we let everypony know that Fruit Blender's a good changeling, then I can throw him a Welcome to Ponyville Party."

Twilight's expression quickly changed from shock to anger.

"You knew that there was a changeling in Ponyville, and you didn't you tell us?!"

Pinkie Pie giggled, finding Twilight's reaction amusing.

"Silly Twilight. That would have ruined the surprise. But now that you know, isn't this great?! Huh?! HUH?!!"

Pinkie smiled as she waited patiently for her friends to respond. Twilight looked at her with uncertainty, trying to decide if Pinkie Pie had been brainwashed or if she was being serious. Fluttershy stared at Fruit Blender with worry. Something about the changeling was bothering her. In the end, it was Rarity who broke the silence.

"Are you crazy Pinkie Pie?! This isn't some lost puppy that we found on the street! This is a changeling! A LOVE-SUCKING CHANGELING!!!"

"Not just any love-sucking changeling." Pinkie said in a sing-song manner, before she started hopping around Fruit Blender singing:

"For he's a jolly good changed-ling!
For he's a jolly good changed-ling!
For he's a jolly good changed-liiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
A bad guy he is no more!" (squee)

Looking around, Pinkie Pie saw that everypony was staring at her blankly, including Fruit Blender.

"What?"

Paying no mind to Pinkie's question, Fluttershy took a few steps forward and said:

"Um, Applejack?"

"Yeah Sugarcube?"

"Is Fruit Blender sick? He doesn't look so good."

"Huh?"

Applejack turned to look at Fruit Blender, raising an eyebrow as she tried to figure out why Fluttershy thought he was sick. After a couple of seconds it clicked.

White skin. Red eyes. These colors didn't match those of the changelings they've faced before.

"Oh... he's not sick, Fluttershy. He was born with those colors. He's a... he's uh..."

Applejack paused as she tried to think of the right words to finish that sentence. Fruit Blender said he was a defect, but she didn't like that word. Just because he was different, it didn't mean that he was broken. But how else could she put it?

"An Albino Changeling." said Twilight, both astonished and fascinated. Applejack turned towards her and said:

"Albi-what now?"

"An albino changeling. He has a rare genetic disorder that causes the skin, hair, and eyes to have little or no color. Amazing! Who would have thought that a shape-shifter could be susceptible to such a mutation?!"

Grabbing Twilight's face and turning it towards her, Rarity shouted:

"Twilight! Does it really matter what color this thing is?! It's still a changeling! And clearly it has brainwashed Pinkie and Applejack!"

Slamming a hoof to the ground, Applejack shouted:

"I ain't brainwashed, and neither is Pinkie!"

"Which is exactly what a brainwashed pony would say!" shouted Rarity, as she pointed an accusing hoof at Applejack.

"Girls! Stop!" shouted Twilight as she used her magic to separate Rarity and Applejack. Seeing that see had their attention, Twilight continued to speak.

"Look, I know a spell that can free a ponies' mind if they have been brainwashed."

"How do you know if it even works?" asked Rarity.

"Candance used a similar spell to free my brother from his trance. I know that it works."

In a flash, Pinkie Pie was in front of Twilight, hopping up and down with excitement, saying:

"Do me! Do me!"

Fruit Blender rolled his eyes and thought:

The white one's right; this mare's crazy.

Closing her eyes and focusing her magic, Twilight cast the spell. A little pink orb of light floated from the tip of her horn and flew gently to Pinkie Pie's forehead. As it made contact, Pinkie Pie giggled.

"Hee hee hee! That tickles!"

There was a bright flash of light. When everypony recovered from the flash, they all turned their attention to Pinkie Pie. The pink pony sat there on the ground, her head swaying back and forth as her eyes rolled around in circles.

"Pinkie, are you okay?" said Twilight as she steadied her friend. The earth pony shook her head vigorously. When she stopped, she gave a bright smile, saluted and said:

"Yes, indeed-e-doodle!"

Twilight sighed with relief.

"Okay Pinkie, now tell us... is this changeling on our side?"

Looking over at Fruit Blender and then back at Twilight, Pinkie Pie said:

"He's not on our side."

"I KNEW IT!!!" shouted Rarity, grinning with confidence.

"He's on Applejack's side, over there." said Pinkie as she pointed at Applejack and Fruit Blender, who then facehoofed himself.

Crazy and stupid.

Sighing with annoyance, Twilight changed her choice of words.

"I mean, is Fruit Blender a good changeling like you said?"

"Yep! If he's not a good changeling, I don't know what is."

Twilight and Rarity stared at Pinkie Pie, dumbfounded by her words. On the other hoof, Fluttershy was happy to hear that she didn't have to be scared of Fruit Blender anymore.

"How do you know he's a good changeling?" said Rarity, still not convinced that it was true.

"Easy! He saved Apple Bloom and Big Mac from a couple of mean timber wolves!"

"Timber wolves?!" said Twilight.

"Oh, my. Are they alright?" asked Fluttershy with concern.

"They're fine." said Applejack as she patted Fluttershy's shoulder. "Big Mac's leg is a little torn up, but it could've been worse."

Rarity gave Fruit Blender another skeptical look and said:

"And how do we know that those were actual timber wolves? What if those were just changelings in disguise. Maybe they're using this changeling to spy on us, to learn all of our secrets."

"Rarity, if the changelings wanted ta spy on us, couldn't they just send a changeling disguised as a pony ta do that?" said Applejack.

"Well... uh... maybe.... it's all just part of their new plan! Yes! To make us think that there are good changelings, and then strike us when our backs are turned!"

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"And what makes you so confident that that's not the case?!"

"If they wanted to do that, then Fruit Blender wouldn't have attacked me the first time we met."

There was a small pause.

"Wait a minute. First you tell us that he saved your brother and sister from some timber wolves, and now you're telling us that he attacked you? I'm confused." said Twilight.

"Let me start from the beginning... "

"... And then I gave him the Welcome Song and got us both covered in cake batter." said Pinkie Pie, giggling. Applejack told them most of the story that Apple Bloom told her, but when it got to the part where Pinkie Pie came in, the pink earth-pony begged Applejack to let her tell that part of the story.

"You should have seen it! He was all like 'ew' and I was like 'ha ha ha ha ha' then he was like 'grrr' and then he assaulted me with a cake batter ball, so I was all like 'Cake Batter Fight!!!' It was so much fun!"

Speak for yourself.

Yes, Fruit Blender threw a cake batter ball at her, but he wasn't trying to start a game. He just wanted to stop her from laughing at him. Had he known that she was going to start tossing cake batter at him at inpony speed, he would have bit her instead.

"Okay Pinkie. Anything else you wanted to add?" said Applejack.

"Nope."

"Anyways, Princess Luna told me that she would explain everything to her sister, leaving me in charge to tell y'all (along with the rest of Ponyville) about Fruit Blender."

"So who all knows besides us?" asked Twilight.

"Just my family, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo."

"Speaking of which, when I get home, my sister is going to get it!" said Rarity angrily. "Breaking and entering is bad enough; but risking her life getting near one of those vicious, horrendous, disgusting-"

Rarity paused when she noticed Applejack frowning and Fruit Blender snarling angrily.

"Um... no offense."

If you weren’t Sweetie Belle’s sister...

"Either way, she's in big trouble!"

"Calm down, Rarity." said Applejack, gesturing with her hooves to bring it down a notch. "I wouldn't be too hard on her. I already sent her and Scootaloo home without dinner last night."

Taking a deep breath and composing herself, Rarity said:

"I guess that will do. But I'm still gonna have a stern talking with her tonight."

"Fair enough."

"So, how are you going to tell the rest of Ponyville?" asked Twilight.

Applejack sat down, rubbing her shoulder as she stared at the ground, wishing that she had the answer to that question.

"That's why I wanted to tell y'all first. I don't know how I'm gonna do it. Sure, telling a few ponies is easy, but a whole town? How am I gonna do that?"

Everypony took a moment to sit down and think. What should they do? Pinkie Pie gave an excited gasp and shouted:

"Let's sing a heartfelt song! One with words like: why can't we imagine a changeling can change?!"

(cricket chirping in the background)

"What? It could work."

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