Unchanging Truths

by Rego

Chapter 18: A Stray Astray

Exhaustion. It was the only word weighing on Applejack’s mind as she trudged behind her friends. She thought she’d have felt better after watching the musical, but even after a two-hour matinee, she was still all out of sorts. It wasn’t the fault of the Impulsion’s acting troupe either. Their performance of Heartland Stride was just as exciting as AJ remembered it on Bridleway, but she could barely muster the strength to enjoy it. At best, she was able to throw on a weary smile and nod along as the still-disguised Chrysalis tried to wrap her head around what she just experienced.

“I still don’t understand why there was so much singing,” Shutterbug remarked, still locked in a stagnant debate with Rainbow Dash.

“It’s a musical. Mus-ic-al. As in there’s a ton of music,” Rainbow explained for the umpteenth time. “Seriously, what aren’t you getting?”

“No explorer in their right mind would just start singing in an unknown wilderness. Why would you risk drawing attention to yourself?”

“It’s not real! It’s just fun! Why are you so hung up on the whole point of the show?”

“Because it’s bad acting. I didn’t believe that they were explorers for a second.”

Rainbow looked about two wing flaps away from an aneurysm. “You’re not supposed to! What kind of explorers have an entire orchestra following them around?”

“Exactly! How were they supposed to trick us into thinking it’s them?”

Rainbow pulled at her face as she hovered in front of the disguised changeling. “There’s no way you’re not messing with me. You can’t be this dumb, you just can’t be!”

Shutterbug’s temper flared. “Maybe if you explained it more clearly, I wouldn’t be so confused by this inaccurate musical retelling of history! They weren’t fooling anyone!”

“They weren’t trying to! Everypony knows if it was actually them, they’d be, like, three hundred years old by now! We’re supposed to be the ones pretending they are and have fun with it. It’s called… something, something disbelieving.”

“Suspension of disbelief?” Fluttershy offered.

Rainbow pointed to her friend and smiled. “Right! What she said!”

Shutterbug furrowed her brow in thought. “So what you’re saying is that if I sang well enough, ponies would pretend that I’m anypony I want them to?” She exploded in green fire, drawing the surprised attention of several passersby, and in her place stood an exact copy of Rainbow Dash.

“Hey! What do you think you’re—”

The fake Rainbow fluttered up and around the real deal as she hummed the starting bars of an unfamiliar song. The changeling performed an aerial pirouette before diving next to the other mare with a smirk and began to sing.

“I’m soaring through the open sky like always,
Blazing by with my spectral flash!
With a mere flap of my wings,
Everypony starts to sing.
With cries and screams they cheer,
Go, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow flared her wings, flushing red with either anger or embarrassment; Applejack wasn’t sure which. “I don’t sound like that!”

“Yeah!” Pinkie agreed with a broad smile. “Dashy doesn’t sing anywhere near that well!”

“Yeah! I—” Rainbow turned to her unhelpful, giggly friend. “Hey!”

Twilight stomped her hooves in applause. “That was great! You’re a really good singer, Chrysalis.”

“And so professional, too,” Rarity added. “I’d go as far to say operatic!”

Rainbow bowed as she flared back into an alicorn Shutterbug. She fluttered down and whisked away her wings. “Thanks for noticing. You have to be in order to fool certain lovers. Griffon mating rituals call for warbling, and then there’s always the risk of you ponies randomly bursting into song.”

“Whatever it was, ya sounded real nice there, sugarcube.” Applejack tried and failed to stifle a yawn. She shook her head, doing her best to stay awake. “Real pretty stuff.”

“You don’t sound like it was,” Shutterbug said.

“Naw, I promise it was good. Guess all that running around yesterday caught up to me earlier than I thought it would.”

“Are you sure, darling?” Rarity leaned in real close, giving the farmer a once-over. “Now that you mention it, you are looking rather pale.”

“Don’t you worry yourself none on my account. I’m right and ready to get going on whatever you wanna do, Chrys.”

“Maybe we should sit down for a little while?” Fluttershy suggested. Her eyes wandered over to a nearby set of tables on the outskirts of Canter Trail Park.

“We just got done sitting down for a whole spectacle,” Applejack complained. “Just need to get the hooves moving again and I’ll be right as rain, y’all.” She quickly cantered in place to punctuate her point. “Now, what’s next on our little friendship shindig?”

Shutterbug said nothing. She only furrowed her brow the longer she looked into AJ’s eyes.

“For peat’s sake! I swear I’m fine! Y’all are making a fuss over nothing.”

Casting her gaze up at the sky, Shutterbug rubbed her chin. “It’s around lunchtime, isn’t it?”

“Really? Ya don’t even like our food,” AJ spat back.

“No, I don’t. I don’t like many pony things.”

“And that’s why we’re all trying to figure out the things ya do. So what’cha wanna do next?”

“Nothing. Which is what we’re going to do next.”

Before Applejack could ask, she felt the familiar swarm of millipedes scurrying about her skin as the changeling’s magical aura enveloped her. Shutterbug quickly threw the farmer on her back and started trotting towards the tables. AJ wanted to fight it, but she didn’t have the strength to put up much of a resistance. Giving up the ghost, she let herself be shuffled around like an empty bushel barrel. It was downright irritating how good it felt to lay down.

“Hey, Chrys?” Applejack asked.

“What?” Shutterbug replied tersely.

“Weren’t you struggling to shake Apple Bloom off not too long ago?”

“Don’t remind me.”

A chuckle escaped AJ. “Guess you’re doing better than I thought.”

The changeling was silent for a spell before she muttered, “And you’re not.”

Another swarm of magic interrupted AJ’s train of thought as she found herself being carefully laid down in the nearby grass. The earth beneath her body felt softer than her bed at home. A soft breeze rustled the blades of grass in a hypnotic dance, waving back and forth, back and forth. If she wasn’t careful, she’d fall asleep right then and there. Applejack tried to push herself off the ground, but the world went brown as her hat was pushed over her eyes. Before long, that too went dark.

---

“Psst! Applejack?” Pinkie Pie whispered from the far end of a tunnel. “Hey, Applejack!”

Applejack slowly forced her eyes open to the call of her friend. She managed to roll over, knocking her hat off her head and revealing the bright sun above.

“Oh, good! You’re awake, sleepyhead!” Pinkie smiled as she helped Applejack to her haunches. She softened with concern. “Feeling better?”

Shaking the fuzziness from her head, Applejack landed somewhere between a snort and a yawn. “What happened?”

“You fell asleep,” Rarity answered as she entered her periphery. “Or rather, you took a nap here in the park.”

Applejack shot up in alarm at the news. “What?”

“Not to worry, Applejack. You only slept for maybe an hour or two. And it seems you really needed it.” Her horn lit up as a large paper cup hovered over in her aura. “By the way, we got smoothies while you were resting.”

“Oh, neat. Thanks.”

“I hope you don’t mind peach-pomegranate. They didn’t have apple,” Fluttershy apologized.

“Shucks, sugarcube. Didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. I am feeling a bit parched.” She took a sip to test the waters, only for the sweetness to hit her tongue and demand to be downed with gusto.

“Your complexion is looking far healthier than earlier,” Rarity noted with relief as she continued to inspect the farmer.

After another greedy gulp, AJ gave herself a break from inducing brain freeze. “Honestly, I feel better too. Thanks for letting me catch a few winks, everyone.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t just a normal nap, AJ,” Rainbow Dash chimed in from above. “You were, like, out-out. Pretty sure a roaming mare-iachi band rolled through at some point and you didn’t even flinch.”

“Luna’s light, that hit the spot! Goodness. I must’ve really been tuckered out.”

“You were completely drained,” Shutterbug corrected sharply.

Applejack shrugged. “I guess that’s one way to put it.”

The changeling shook her head. “I drained every last drop of love out of you. You had nothing left to give, but no. You just wouldn’t—” She bit her tongue before she could launch into a tirade. She crossed her legs and looked away. “Stupid bleeding hearts.”

“O-oh… I guess that’d explain why I was feeling a little short with y’all before.”

“Clearly,” Shutterbug huffed.

“I’m feeling much better now after that bit of R&R. Did you get anything to eat, Chrys?”

She said nothing, but swatted an empty paper tray away with the back of her fetlock, spilling out the remains of a fresh fruit salad.

“Luckily, the stall we went to made their smoothies with freshly picked fruit. I just picked one of everything and hoped for the best!” Twilight tittered nervously next to the grumpy changeling.

“That was mighty kind of ya, Twi. But did she get anything she could actually get something out of from any of y’all?” Applejack asked.

“I’m fine,” Shutterbug deflected.

“That ain’t what I asked, Chrys.”

“Then don’t ask!” Shutterbug barked back. “Even if I didn’t, it’s not like I can get any more from you.”

“But aren’t you hungry?”

She slammed her hooves on the table. “I’m always hungry! That’s the whole problem, you idiot! I’m the reason you passed out in the first place!” A bitter scowl crossed her face as she looked down at herself. “I told you. I can’t stop.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a smart mare underneath all that country-fried nonsense. What do you think I mean?”

The easy answer was on the tip of Applejack’s tongue, but something wasn’t sitting right with her. Applejack stood up and brushed the dirt and grass out of her fur to give her some time to think about what Chrys was saying. At least that was until Twilight decided to have an idea.

“Wait, are you saying that under certain conditions, your love consumption is completely involuntary?” the alicorn postulated.

Shutterbug said nothing and let the silence do the talking for her.

Twilight gasped. “Oh my gosh! That means any potential friendly close contact with you isn’t just giving you love, it’s force feeding it to you against your will!”

“Now hang on a minute!” Applejack interjected before Twilight could get too caught up in her head. “That can’t be the whole story. What about when Bloom was clinging to your leg?”

“What about it? That love was directed at you, not me.”

“Well, how about during the photoshoot?”

She tapped her chin until her eyes sparkled with recognition. “Ah yes, when I sneakily consumed the admiration that was leaking out of you?” Shutterbug recalled with a wicked grin.

“Ain’t nothing sneaky about that. I was enjoying spending a good time with my friend. I’m talking about when we were getting that last picture taken.”

The pointed question wiped the grin off of her face as her eyes widened at the thought. Shutterbug turned further away, retreating behind her mane. “I had to cast a spell. One that I couldn’t use and consume love at the same time.”

“Oh really? And what spell was that?”

“One you wouldn’t notice.”

“Considering I’m recalling it now, I beg to differ.”

“No,” she stated with absolute certainty, turning her sharpened eyes back to the accusing earth pony. “You didn’t.”

The conviction burning behind her fiery gaze nearly made Applejack back up a step. Chrysalis was telling the truth. The whole truth. Or, at least, the whole of the truth she was giving. There was still something hiding within that vicious mask she’d plastered on from before, but AJ felt as though she was already pushing her luck. With what little they’d salvaged so far, she wasn’t about to throw the rest of it under the cider press to squeeze the whole truth out of the mare.

“Well, alright then. Didn’t mean to pry. All things considered, I guess it doesn’t really matter that much, seeing as how I ended up sleeping through noon either way.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t. So—just don’t.” She looked away again and rubbed her foreleg. “I can’t stop.”

“What will happen if you take too much, Chrysalis?” Twilight asked, equal parts curious and concerned.

“I don’t know. You’re the first ponies foolish enough to shower me with love willingly. Most prey don’t make it very far after finding out who I am.” Shutterbug dropped her disguise around her mouth, letting her tongue snake along her fangs.

The princess shuddered slightly at the carnivorous implications, but did her best to shake her misgivings away. “That might’ve been true before, but that’s in the past. Now that we’re all friends, we want to make sure we’re taking good care of each other.”

Shutterbug pursed her lips and glanced upwards at Rainbow Dash. The others soon followed suit, giving various curious glances, stares, and smiles of their own.

The pegasus squirmed under the pressure. “I’m working on it, alright?” She whipped around and crossed her forelegs. “I still don’t trust her.”

Shutterbug smirked. “Smart mare.”

Rainbow whipped back around and stammered, before pointing at the changeling. “And saying grade-A villain stuff like that seriously doesn’t help!”

“Eh, I think that’s B-tier at best, Dashie,” Pinkie replied with a shrug. “Oh, I know! How about we kick it up a notch with a tophat and cape? And we can’t forget about the classic mustache for maximum mischievousness!” The mare reached behind her and drew a black cape from seemingly nowhere, twirling around as she donned said hat and revealed her freshly glued-on facial. She laughed with her best stallion gruff. “Now, where is my damsel in distress?”

“I don’t mind,” Fluttershy volunteered with a soft smile. “I’m good at being scared.”

“Excellent!” Pinkie broke into dastardly laughter that stopped almost as quickly as it started. “But wait, if I’m Maestro Maniacal and Fluttershy is Dame Distress, then who’s Buggy gonna be?”

“Annoyed,” Shutterbug answered.

“Huh. I don’t remember that part in the casting call.”

“Now, now. Let’s not get carried away,” Rarity hollered over the budding argument before it could start up again in earnest. “If our new friend doesn’t want to play in the park, perhaps we can figure out something else she’d like to do. Isn’t that right?”

“Right! Good thinking, Rarity,” Twilight said as she whisked her schedule back into existence in a sparkle of magic. “We still have the rest of the afternoon set aside to do whatever you want, as Shutterbug or Chrysalis.”

Shutterbug took a deep breath and leaned against her foreleg on the table. After turning a few ideas around in her head, a small smile crossed her lips. “You know, now that you mention it, something did spark my interest at Snapshots last night.”

---

“And this is the famed Saddle Row, the beating heart of Fashion District here in Manehattan!” Rarity announced as she swept her hoof over the long stretched before them.

If there was a word that could wrap its way around Saddle Row in AJ’s mind, it’d be “excessive.” Traditional Manehattan highrises lined the streets, stacking a bunch of boutiques and fancy shops on top of one another like trendy pancakes. A few of the other places were a bit more like Ponyville with stores on the first floor with living spaces rising above. Each building was covered with billboards and signage advertising just about everything a pony could dream of when gussying up for a shindig, barring Stinky Bottom’s Discount Hat Emporium. Apparently, if you’d made it anywhere, you were hoping to wind up here eventually. How anypony stayed in business around these parts with this much competition was mind boggling.

The buildings weren’t the only things done up fancy. The streets of the shopping area were packed full of some of the prettiest ponies AJ had ever laid eyes on. Even the shoppers were a cut above the cloth, wearing trendy tops, dazzling dresses, and majestic manes. She couldn’t believe ponies bothered to do themselves up to the point of impracticality in the middle of the day. If these ponies were anything like Rarity, each one of them had enough outfits to clothe everypony at an Apple Family Reunion.

“Some of the most fashion-forward designers and boutiques in Equestria have set up shop here, and I recently opened up my own, Shutterbug!”

Shutterbug nodded along and idly said “Uh-huh” as she took in the sights with disinterest.

“And here we are!” The fashionista trotted slightly ahead and swept her leg towards their destination: a modest first-floor store carved out of one of the local residential buildings. “Welcome to Rarity for You, a branch store from the Carousel Boutique I run in Ponyville. I’d absolutely love to design an outfit just for anyone you’d like. Shutterbug, Chrysalis, I’ll even whip up something simply adorable for Classy. I’ve always thought about getting into pet fashion.”

“Great,” the fake cameramare said as she walked right past the store.

“Umm… Shutterbug, the store’s back here.”

Shutterbug slowed down and wandered back to the store as Rarity’s smile strained. She snapped a quick picture with her new camera. “There. Saw it. Looks great.” She snatched the photo printout and stuffed it in her saddlebag before continuing on her way.

“Well, that’s not quite what I meant.”

“Later then. I need to see something else first. I heard from Glamour that there’s someplace hiring models.”

Rarity pursed her lips in thought. “Perhaps she meant the Fashion Week Tryouts at the Regality? While anypony is able to apply, it’s not exactly what I’d consider a public event. Why do you want to go there?”

The changeling smirked. “Exactly what you said. Any pony can apply.”

Another needling thought poked Applejack in the back of the head. “Now, wait just a doggone minute, Chrys.”

Ignoring the mare, Shutterbug pressed on. “And just where is this Regality place?”

“It’s the Regality Centre right before you hit Bronclyn. You can see it from here.” Rarity pointed towards a towering skyscraper at the far end of the road. “But more to the point, what was it that you heard through the grapevine?”

Without answering, Shutterbug sprouted a set of wings and took to the skies towards the building in a flash. She wasn’t booking it as fast as Dash could, but she more than made up for speed by deftly dodging every city flier as she sped away. Applejack knew Chrysalis was getting better mighty quick these days, but she was starting to worry just how much strength she’d already recovered if she was weaving around air traffic like a Wonderbolt.

“After her!” Twilight broke into a full gallop. The rest of the group fell in behind her as they raced after the rogue changeling.

The hoof traffic grew worse and worse as they drew closer to their goal. Regality’s tower was even bigger up close; something around thirty or forty stories by AJ’s reckoning. The gleaming blue and silver glass tower sprouted out of a convention center like a potted palm tree. Just getting near the front door was a struggle with the overflow of ponies waiting for the show to start. Twilight was the first to reach the doors and teleported the rest of the group next to her before they stormed the venue.

They followed a trail of signs to the tryouts. When they finally caught up to the changeling, Shutterbug was already inside accosting a pony sitting behind a table, having cut in front of several angry-looking models. Applejack snorted and ran in behind her.

“What the hay do ya think you’re doing?” Applejack yelled over the conversation.

Shutterbug perked her head up and smiled. “There you all are. And here I was thinking Twilight would’ve teleported you all behind me ages ago.”

“This one a friend of yours?” a very cross secretary asked from behind her table. “Maybe you could explain that we already did our casting call for the day.”

“Miss Manewitz!” Rarity called as she approached, keeping a heated eye trained on the troublesome changeling. “I’m terribly sorry for her incredibly rude behavior.”

Manewitz’s scowl brightened into something close to a smile. “Oh, Rarity! Hi, how are you? It feels like forever since I’ve seen you around here.”

“Yes, I’ve been busy with my store back Canterlot, along with other unexpected escapades. Namely, this one running off without us!”

“Just what is the holdup out here, Janine?” a proud voice called from a door just beyond the front desk. “We don’t have all day to process the candidates.”

A lithe earth pony with a commanding stride strutted towards the table with her head held high. Her gray coat was as solid as the stern frown resting on the face of the middle-aged mare. Her clean pink blazer matched her properly styled pink mane, angled to strict runway perfection as she glared at the rabble disrupting her day.

Janine Manewitz sighed. “Sorry Miss Hemline. We have another late applicant who just ran up to the table demanding to be put in the running.” The frustrated secretary pointed to the troublemaking mare in question.

“Looks like I might’ve found the queen bee around here,” Shutterbug said as she matched the other mare’s firm stance.

“Prim Hemline,” she corrected the little upstart. Her frown only deepened as her eyes ran up the cameramare’s horn and wings before they rolled away. “Furthermore, I don’t take kindly to my tight schedule being interrupted by a ridiculous pony pretending to be an alicorn.”

Shutterbug looked up at her horn and then back at her wings. “Right. I heard it was a little gauche to use illusions as a model.”

“Precisely. An earth pony like myself prefers to see effort being put into a natural look rather than having an unknown princess try to upstage on the runway. If you knew that already, one wonders why you’d trot in here so boldly with such an obvious disguise.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to get your attention.”

Prim Hemline narrowed her gaze as she inspected the new arrival. “You certainly have it, though I’m not sure you’ll be rewarded for your efforts the way you were expecting. Most would rightly guess that it’s unwise to upset a judge before you’ve even had a chance to step onto the catwalk.”

Applejack leaned over to the changeling. “What do you think you’re doing, Chrys?”

“Just having a little fun.”

“Well, it ain’t funny causing a ruckus for a bunch of ponies trying to get work done.”

“Twilight said I got to choose what we do, and this is what I’m interested in doing.”

Applejack fired back with a stubborn frown.

“Oh, come on,” Shutterbug whined. “You said you wouldn’t mind bending the truth a little for me, right?”

“I think your bending is starting to fold itself into a pretzel, sugarcube,” Applejack huffed.

“Just play along. Please?” Shutterbug’s eyes glistened like a pouty puppy dog begging for a walk.

The feeling behind it was about as real as a bag of counterfeit bits. Sadly, it worked just as well as an honest one. “Fine. But the moment this goes belly-up, you’re getting Luna’d. Got it?”

“Wonderful…” the villain smiled wickedly as she looked back to Prim Hemline still waiting on the two.

“Good. If you two are done chatting, perhaps you will kindly get out of my mane before you make me call security.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Shutterbug assured. She whisked away her wings and horn in a flash of blue magic, letting her errant bang fall across her muzzle again. All the fashion ponies gasped and balked at the swift change in appearance. “Is that better?”

“A changeling?” Prim Hemline asked while maintaining a stiff lip. Her widening eyes betrayed the true depth of her discomfort and she quickly looked away. “I will have you know that Fashion Week does not accept anyone pretending to be another pony model under any circumstances! Such sorcery is strictly forbidden!”

“So I’ve heard. I wasn’t planning on needing it anyway. Allow me to reintroduce myself.”

Shutterbug vanished in a flash of light blue magic. In her place stood a changeling only slightly taller than Twilight that Applejack almost recognized. She bore a chitin as white as fresh snow, with a familiar sky blue carapace akin to Chrys’ reformed self. However, everything else looked more like an older, color-swapped Ocellus. Her silver mane and tail shimmered in the light as she slowly opened her golden doe-eyes.

“Hello, everypony,” she said with a crisp, husky voice, running a hoof through her mane to savor her own beauty. “My name is Vivid Silk, and I’m here to win this discriminatory competition au naturale.”

Prim Hemline’s muzzle scrunched up at the accusation. “Discriminatory?”

“Word around town is that your precious model ponies are worried about a changeling like me upstaging them.”

The older mare’s mouth drew into a fine line, but she still couldn’t look Vivid in the eyes. “As I said, Illusory and illusionary magic of any kind have always been frowned upon in the fashion world. The only spectacle we are interested in is what our talent can showcase in reality.”

“And who says I need to use magic to run away with your runway competition?”

“Your disguise says it all, Vivid, if that is your real name. Everypony knows changelings don’t look like… whatever that is.”

“Oh my! So you don’t like changelings and you’re ignorant? Why am I not surprised? This is how we’ve looked ever since” - Vivid paused as she took a bracing breath, forced a smile, and rolled her eyes away - “ever since Chrysalis was defeated.”

That bit of news wrangled the old critic’s attention. Her eyes widened as she gave Vivid her full attention. “What did you just say?”

The disguised Chrysalis groaned. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I said Chrysalis was…” the changeling trailed as their eyes finally met. At once, all of her smarmy bravado vanished, replaced with a scuttling dread.

“Well? Chrysalis was what?” Prim reiterated with growing impatience. “Out with it!”

Vivid put her hoof up, shielding herself from Prim’s exacting gaze. “Actually, I think I might just skip this event and try my luck some other time.”

Prim scoffed. “Don’t bother. I doubt a cowardly little pest like you would last a second in the spotlight without hiding behind your shapeshifting.”

Rarity gasped in horror. “Miss Hemline! I cannot believe what I’m hearing! We may have been enemies in the past, but—”

“Drop it, now,” Vivid hissed with absolute authority.

“But Chr—Shutter—I mean Vivid! Comparing you to a pest is completely—”

“Is completely expected from her,” she finished, a tinge of desperation seeping into her voice. “Can we please get out of here before something actually bad happens?”

Rarity’s anger waned seeing the sudden change of heart in the changeling. Still, she harrumphed to herself. “The only thing bad I see happening here is Prim revealing her true colors,” she whispered loud enough to be heard by everypony, “but if you insist.”

“I do. The sooner the better.”

---

Chrysalis might’ve been fast before, but she was running at near rainboom speeds to get away from the tryouts. Applejack hadn’t seen her so stricken with fear since Twi’s castle. Luckily, Rainbow was ready this time and tracked her back to Rarity for You. By the time the rest of the group caught up, the shop’s staff were already outside ready to wave down the nearest officer. After assuring them that Chrysalis wasn’t attacking the boutique, she let them all head home with pay and closed up to deal with the sudden friendship emergency on their hooves.

“My, it is just one thing after the other on this friendship retreat,” Rarity sighed as she locked the front door and pulled the curtains down. “I’m certainly getting my steps in today.”

Applejack couldn’t help but sigh herself. Nothing was going right no matter how hard they tried. “Sorry, everypony.”

“None of that now. Miss Bobbin said Chrysalis had commandeered the upstairs sewing room. I doubt she was suddenly struck with inspiration, so we ought to go check on her.”

The group nodded in agreement as they turned their attention to the staircase. AJ took the lead as they climbed the staircase. She retraced her steps from the last time they’d toured the place and found Chrysalis in her normal self, sitting in the corner of the room. Her eyes were shut, but her horn was pulsing dimly with power. The mare was clearly focused on something, almost like she was meditating like Zecora, but Applejack had no idea what for.

“Chrys?” Applejack called out.

The changeling’s ear flicked, but she didn’t bother opening her eyes. “Rarity. You know Prim Hemline, right?”

“Oh, yes,” she replied, somewhat flummoxed by the unexpected question. “Why do you—”

“How long have you known her?”

“Personally? Not terribly long. I just recently broke into the fashion industry here in Manehattan, but I’ve known of her for quite some time.”

“How long?” she pressed.

“Well… It’s hard to say, really. She’s apparently been in the industry for many years, but I believe I only started hearing her name passed around in magazines starting around maybe three or four years ago?”

Chrysalis’ horn died down as she slowly opened her eyes and smiled ruefully. “Good. That narrows things down considerably.”

“Narrows what down?” Twilight asked warily.

To answer the question, Chrysalis burst into green flames, leaving a smaller, love-eating changeling in her place. She walked over to the room’s dressing mirror and inspected herself on all sides before changing again into an exact copy of Prim Hemline. She shifted back once more, and turned to face the group with a stern frown. After another moment, Rarity narrowed her eyes in thought as she measured up the mare in front of them.

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but is there a reason this changeling disguise of yours looks vaguely similar to Miss Hemline?”

“It’s not a disguise,” Chrysalis answered in a trilling facsimile of Prim’s haughty timbre. “This is Iridescent, one of my best infiltrators and current Prim Hemline.”

Author's Note:

If you find a simple mistake in the GSP (Grammar, Spelling, or Punctuation), please let me know through a private message rather than leaving it in the comment section. Thank you for reading!

Comments

[PlymouthFury58]

I like this update, and that twist at the end is definitely attention grabbing. I can't wait to see where this story develops.

[Zir]

Oooh nice

[FridayPie]

Bwahaha, that reveal is priceless

[Rego]

11869777 11869855 11870171
Twisty twist is twisty, but hopefully the twist will prove more interesting than where you might think the twist is turning.

[Razzy]

It lives!

Once you pop you can't stop, apparently.

What a tveest!