Things Changed

by Equimorto

Damage

"So how was Applejack?" Rarity asked, taking a sip of her tea.

"She seemed a bit annoyed that I left her with Chrysalis, but not too much." Twilight took another biscuit out of the small porcelain jar on the table and ate it. "You really need to tell me where you bought these."

Rarity smirked. "Now, darling, if I did that you would stop coming over for tea so often." Rarity took a biscuit out herself, letting her eyes run over the blue lines decorating the white surface of the jar. "What about her sore throat? Has she gotten over it or is it still bothering her?" She brought the biscuit to her lips and took a bite out of it.

Twilight finished hers and swallowed it down. "It seems to have gotten better a bit. She still doesn't talk much, but it looks like it's not hurting any more." She brought her cup to her lips and drank some tea, then grabbed another biscuit from the jar.

Rarity pouted in mock-indignation. "Twilight, really, leave some for Sweetie Belle. I'll have to take your measurements again if you keep this up, and you'll have to change your whole wardrobe." She giggled.

Twilight smiled, stopping the biscuit in mid-air in front of her face. "And I suppose it would be a terrible tragedy if that happened, right? I mean, think of how much I would have to spend to get all those dresses back. The one who got to do them would certainly appreciate it." She put the whole biscuit in her mouth, and then grabbed another from the jar.

Rarity laughed. "Oh, you know I'd be willing to offer a discount for my friend. But thank you."

Twilight finished her biscuit, sending it down with another sip of tea. "You better. And it better be better than Suri's offer, otherwise I'll have her do it." She ate the second biscuit.

It was rather hard to tell whether Rarity had gotten paler as she'd heard that, but the shift in her expression certainly seemed to indicate as much. She gave a nervous, somewhat awkward bout of laughter. "That... wasn't funny, Twilight." She brought her cup back up to drink some more tea.

"It wasn't a joke." Twilight took another sip of tea.

Rarity almost spat out hers. She managed to stop herself, but doing so had the unfortunate side effect of having some of it travel up her nose, a rather uncomfortable occurrence for the unicorn. She levitated her napkin up to her face to dry herself, setting her cup down on the table. "What? Twilight, what are you talking about?"

"I'm saying I'd rather not spend a fortune on my new dresses, so I'll get them done by someone who has cheaper prices if you don't give me a discount. She's already stolen your designs anyway, so they'll be the same as the old ones I had." Twilight finished her tea.

It was much easier to notice when Rarity's face got red, and it definitely did that time. "Twilight! I thought we were friends!"

"We are. That's why I'm asking for a cheaper price. I don't know if you've noticed, but we aren't all rich like you are." Twilight set her empty cup down and grabbed another biscuit.

Rarity snatched it away with her magic, and then grabbed the jar as well. "Twilight! How can you say something like that? You're a princess!" she yelled.

"Princess is a title, not a job, Rarity. Do you even know what my job is?" Twilight's tone was flat, her face emotionless as she stared at the unicorn with a raised eyebrow.

Rarity's face shifted uncomfortably. "I-hum-well... Of course I know what it is! You're, er... You're..."

"I'm a librarian," Twilight flatly replied. "How much money do you think a librarian makes, Rarity? Do you think it's enough to afford an entire wardrobe filled with clothes personally designed and made by one of the most prestigious stylists in all of Equestria? Because trust me, it is not. I barely make enough money to put something away at the end of the month, and that's not counting all the times I have to pay for the damage we do to the city and my parents are forced to send me money." Twilight's tone progressively rose as she spoke.

"But... But you have a castle!" Rarity retorted.

"And it's a miracle that I don't have to pay taxes on it after Celestia put her word forth with the town hall!" Twilight yelled. "And seriously, I'd still rather have a normal house. Do you know how much it costs to keep that thing in order? Hundreds of bits just to polish all the crystal walls! I'd have sold it off if Celestia hadn't ordered me to stay inside it because a princess needs a castle, Twilight, and I don't think you want me to take those wings away." Twilight huffed in frustration.

Rarity cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Isn't there something you can do? Like... Can't you rent some of the empty rooms?"

Twilight threw her hooves up in the air with a bitter laugh. "Yeah, sure! As if I hadn't though of that already! I can't, Rarity, orders from above telling me that I need to preserve my royal image and all that. If only she had the dignity to send me something other than cheap store-bought food when I ask for support." She looked at Rarity. "Meanwhile, you've got shops all over Equestria and make thousands of bits every month."

Rarity set down the cup. "Twilight, I'm... I'm sorry, really, I didn't realise your situation was like that. Isn't there... Can't you try with another job?"

Twilight sat back and leaned in her chair. "Like what?"

Rarity rubbed her chin. "Why... Why don't you try to become a teacher? I'm sure you'd be good at it."

"Yeah, sure. What am I supposed to do, open a school?"

Rarity's next words were covered by the sound of a tree flying through the house, demolishing a huge chunk of the wall and then continuing to sail through the air.

Twilight stood and stared in disbelief, mouth hanging open, as light drifted in from the tree-sized hole in the wall of Rarity's house.

Rarity got up as if nothing had happened. "I'll go grab my schoolfilly outfit and the ruler," she said as she walked away, going through the preprogrammed scenario Twilight had implanted in her mind.

Twilight remained there in shock for a couple more seconds, then dashed after Rarity, passed in front of her and stopped the unicorn by touching her horn with her own. She remained there, panting, for a few moments, unsure of what was happening. She was about to take care of Rarity's memory when Chrysalis came running through the opened wall, Applejack and Big Machintosh on her back.

"No time to stop, I'll explain as we go!" she yelled before exiting through the other side.

Twilight watched her go, confused. She was about to focus back on Rarity when a lasso came flying towards her and snatched both her and the unicorn off of the ground.

They landed on Chrysalis's back, the other end of the rope in Applejack's mouth, and the earth pony nudged the changeling on the back of her head.

Chrysalis began to speak. "I accidentally kicked a tree too hard and now it's flying through Ponyville. Applejack still has a sore throat, so she can't speak. My mane tastes like lychees. Now we're chasing after the tree, and you two will help us stop it." She kept running, as the tree in front of them just narrowly dodged some houses.

Applejack noticed the way Twilight was holding onto Rarity's body, the unicorn limp in her hooves. She grabbed a couple strands of Chrysalis's mane and began to pull on them.

"The orange one wants to know why the white one seems to be passed out. Is she okay? Was she hurt by the tree?" the changeling asked.

Twilight looked at Rarity's body in her hooves, the unicorn's eyes empty and glazed over. Her brain raced frantically to find an explanation. "She... She's just in shock for what happened to her house, that's all. I can fix her."

Applejack nodded, then pulled another strand of the changeling's mane.

"She wants you to do it quickly," Chrysalis said.

Twilight awkwardly smiled, then turned around and leaned forward onto Rarity. "Back in your house we talked about nothing in particular, then the tree came flying through the wall. You were shocked and passed out because of it. Now I'm waking you up. You don't remember what our conversation was about, nor what we were going to do afterwards. Once you get back to your room you'll grab the stuff that's on your bed, the one we were going to use, mail it to me in a discreet package, and you won't find anything weird about it. And you'll never talk about it with anyone else." Twilight let go a sigh of relief, then touched Rarity's horn with hers once again, waking up the unicorn.

Rarity opened her eyes. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?" she screamed as she realised her position on the back of a changeling, chasing a flying tree that had just brought down the walls of her kitchen.

Twilight looked at the others for support, but they just stared at her. She sighed and turned back to Rarity. "Chrysalis kicked a tree too hard. We're chasing after it to stop it. Her mane tastes like lychees."

Rarity stared into nothingness for a couple of seconds. "MY HOUSE HAS A HOLE IN IT!"

Twilight smacked her face with a hoof.

"Sorry about that," Chrysalis said from below them.

Twilight turned around. "I swear I'll send that book back to Celestia as soon as this is over," she silently said to herself. "Do you think you'll be able to catch up to it?" she asked to Chrysalis while looking at the tree in front of them.

"Maybe?" The changeling took a hard right turn to dodge a couple of ponies, running away in terror from the flying tree.

"What do you mean maybe?" the alicorn yelled.

Chrysalis jumped over a stallion paralysed by fear. "I think I'm faster, but I've got to keep dodging ponies." She moved to left to avoid running into a broken cart. "And the debris that thing leaves behind."

Twilight huffed and threw her hooves up in the air.

Behind her, Rarity posed dramatically. "My house!" she sighed, "My poor, poor house! Now I'll have to get new walls for the kitchen! Oh how terrible, terrible!"

Applejack rolled her eyes and pulled a couple of strands of Chrysalis's mane.

Chrysalis ducked to avoid a broken piece of wall flying towards them. "Twilight, do something useful. Rarity, stop complaining and help her, or we're letting you fall off."

Twilight grunted and levitated a fallen stall away from the road, allowing the changeling to run straight forward.

Rarity pouted and crossed her front legs in indignation.

Twilight thought for a moment. "Okay, I've got a plan. I'm going to build a suspended bridge with the wreckage the tree is leaving behind. Rarity, you'll help me with your own magic. Applejack, you'll help me with your lasso. Big Mac, I'm sorry but we need to reduce the weight if we want to go faster."

Big Macintosh looked at her, only to see her horn glow as he was lifted off of Chrysalis's back, held in the air for a couple of seconds and then dropped onto the ground, the changeling rapidly getting further away from him.

Twilight began to build the bridge, the other two helping, and Chrysalis got up in it.

"We're almost there!" the changeling exclaimed as she neared the tree, "Just a little more!"

"Uh, Twilight?" Rarity asked, putting a hoof on the alicorn's shoulder.

"What is it, Rarity?" Twilight asked, mildly annoyed, focused on building the bridge of rubble.

The unicorn pointed forward. "Look where the tree is headed."

Twilight looked up. "Oh. Oh no. Chrysalis!" She looked at the creature below her. "Run faster!"

"I'm trying!" the creature replied.

Twilight began to panic. "Girls, I'm sorry but we need to lose weight!"

Applejack and Rarity were knocked off of the Changeling's back by Twilight's magic.

"Faster!" the alicorn screamed, watching in horror as the tree quickly moved closer and closer to her castle.

Below her, Chrysalis panted. "Twilight?" she called between breaths.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure of how to say this, but, well... There's no bridge left."

Twilight looked in front of her, where the bridge suddenly ended. "Oh. That is bad."

"I think so, yeah." Chrysalis kept running. "It is bad, right?" she added.

"Yes," Twilight replied.

"Oh, thank goodness, I was afraid I'd distracted you with some useless information. So, well, what do we do?"

Twilight looked at the road, then at the tree, then at her castle. "You can fly, right? At least, you remember you can, right?"

Chrysalis chewed her lip for a moment. "Yeah, you're right, I can fly. Though you're sort of on top of my wings right now. At least, I think that's where my wings are, still getting used to this new body so I'm not totally sure about that."

Twilight took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment to relax. "Twilight, I'm sorry but we need Chrysalis to fly if we want her to catch that tree," she said out loud.

Twilight was knocked off of Chrysalis's back by a blast of her own magic.

The changeling accelerated, and once she reached the end of the bridge she opened her wings and kicked herself forward, beginning to fly towards the tree.

Twilight watched from below her with trepidation.

Finally, with one last push of her wings, Chrysalis managed to reach the tree and grab it. "I did it!" she announced in the alicorn's direction.

Twilight exulted. "You did!" she cheered.

The changeling looked at her with a smile, then then blinked a couple of times. "Now what?"

Twilight stopped celebrating and stared at her. "Oh. Right. That."

The tree's path of destruction finally came to an end. It crashed into the castle, demolishing a section of the wall and lodging itself inside of it. Chrysalis was launched away by the impact.

Twilight, instinctively and without even realising she was doing it, began to hum to herself the most depressing song her brain could remember.

Out of the hole left in the wall walked Starlight Glimmer, covered in a towel and dripping water from her mane and tail. "Twilight?" she asked, looking at the purple pony, "Why is there a tree lodged into the side of the castle?"

Twilight began to slowly move away from the scene.

"Twilight!"

---

'If this is some sort of punishment for my actions, if this was your doing or that of some other invisible force of balance that rules over the justice of this world, if this was all just a coincidence, I don't care. I believe it is a sign, a sign that's telling me to stop walking down this path I have begun and turn back, otherwise terrible things will occur to me. I have decided to follow this sign, and stop before I suffer even worse consequences. Here is the book. I solemnly swear to never again use its contents for my own personal gain, disregarding the will of others. Yours truly, Princess Twilight Sparkle.'

Celestia read the contents of the letter once again, then glanced at the old green book Twilight had sent along with it.

"What is it, sister?" Luna asked, noticing her perturbed expression.

The white alicorn sighed. "Nothing, really. I think a better story accidentally slipped inside this one for a moment, that's all."

Comments

[Direct Access]

Da fuq is going on?
I know this fic is crazy, but this chapter, like, 60% crazier. It made some sense before, now none.

[Little_Draco]

I'm lost... Badly

[Hillbe]

I'm moving in with Spike

You can thank me later when I pay you rent and foal support payments
What a deal Twilight ! Think about the bits!
Yeah, Naughty bits!
bits is bits, even mare bits

What do you expect after my home was wrecked...
A hearty thank you and a reward?

[livinthelife]

Dang, Wintermist needs to write faster. Clearly FiMC is backing up and starting to leak out of other writers’ fics.

[Dreypike]

9455865
But its been finished since 2016!

[Vaguely Demented]

So I’m guessing we have crossed over with a mind control smut story...somehow.

[livinthelife]

9456589
Sorry. FiMC:C.

[Dreypike]

9457151
Yeah, I should've thought to put that in my comment, well happens to everyone at some point. Happy reading!

[Rabe]

9515495

To lie: (of a person or animal) be in or assume a horizontal or resting position on a supporting surface

.

[FinalFan]

9515748
lie (as in lie down)
past tense: lay ("I walked in as she lay there") (This is what Xanni properly identified as correct)
past participle: lain ("She had lain there for hours")

lie (as in tell a lie)
lied (This is what Xanni properly identified as incorrect)
lied

lay (as in lay something down)
laid
laid

[Iron Comet]

I really want to know about what Twilight had planned for Rarity. In detail. Lots of glorious detail.

[Animatorsnake]

What is this other story by the way?

[Illi]

This story finished?