Alice Sawyer.

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Rarity had been struggling for the last hour with her latest creation. A navy blue dress with white flowers around the waist and frills at the end of the skirt. The dress was displayed on a ponyquin where she had been fiddling with it for who-knows-how-long, but she was never satisfied. With a defeated sigh, she decided to finish her work for the day.

“Oh my!” The Unicorn exclaimed as she glanced at the clock that was on one of the boutiques walls. “I’m late for the party,” she exclaimed as she made her way to her room. She could manage to be a little late, but she couldn’t manage to let other ponies see her on the streets when she wasn’t looking a hundred percent perfect. Thankfully, it only took her five minutes to fix the small imperfection on her mane. “Perfect.”

She made her way back to the first floor, “Sweetie Belle!” She called out to her sister while she changed the sign of the boutique from open to closed.

“Yes, sis?” A little white unicorn walked out from the kitchen. She was completely covered in flour and had a few pieces of eggshell on the mane.

“I will be out now to Twilight’s party,” She paused for a moment. She wondered if she should ask what her little sister was doing in the kitchen, but she was running out of time. “Same rules as always. Don’t open to strangers, don’t go inside my inspiration room and don’t burn down the boutique.”

“It was only one time,” The little filly protested, “and the fireponies came quickly.”

“Just follow the rules. I’ll be back in a few hours,” Rarity opened the door before turning around to give a last glance to her sister. “I’m serious about the rules.” And with that, she made her way out of the boutique.

Rarity walked down the street in direction to Sugarcube Corner. She was giving small skips of happiness as she walked. It wasn’t something she would do normally, but she just couldn’t help it. There were good news, excellent news, and those news were the reason of the party. ‘I should hurry up if I want to make i-’ Rarity landed on her rump after colliding with somepony, interrupting her thoughts.

“Oh! I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” the other pony said while trying to help Rarity back to her hooves. Rarity thought for a moment that she had stumbled into Fluttershy, because the other pony spoke so quietly that was barely audible.

“No, it’s okay, I wasn’t looking either.” The unicorn said as she dusted her rump in the more lady like way she could manage. When she finished cleaning herself, she took a better look at the pony she had just collided with.

It was a mare, a cream coated earth pony with green hair and a cart that seemed to be loaded with far too much wood for a pony of her size. As the Element of Generosity (and as a way to apologize), Rarity was about to offer her help when she remembered that she was running late for the party. She struggled for a moment, thinking of what to do.

“I’m sorry, but I must go,” Rarity said as she walked away from the other mare. ‘I don’t think I have ever seen her around Ponyville before.’ She turned her head to see the other mare walking away, pulling the cart with difficulty. Rarity managed to see the cutie mark of the mare, a saw with a red handle. ‘But then again, I don’t know everypony in town like Pinkie.’ The other mare had took a moment to rest, she looked really exhausted. Rarity really wanted to help her, but she had to meet with her friends ‘I should ask Pinkie if she knows who that pony is.’ She then continued her fast walk to the bakery.

Fortunately, it didn’t take Rarity much longer to arrive at her destination. She grabbed the knob of the door with her magic and opened it. The jingling from the bell over the door announced her arrival. “Surprise!” Pinkie shouted while firing streamers and confetti with her party cannon.

“Pinkie, that’s not Twilight, and this is not supposed to be surprise party.” Applejack stated while she drank some punch from the snack table.

“I know that, but that's no reason for not surprising somepony, and I think I accomplished my objective,” Pinkie said as she gestured to the unicorn that was covered on a pile of streamers near the door.

Rarity used her magic to levitate the pile that was over her and placed it in one corner of the room. “Well, you certainly surprised me, darling.” Rarity took a quick look around her. “I see that I’m not the last one.”

A blue pegasus that was rolling on the floor, laughing at Pinkie’s surprise for Rarity stood on her hooves and approached the unicorn, “Hey Rares. Yeah, Fluttershy and Twilight aren’t here yet.”

“That’s a relief, I thought I was running late.” Rarity walked to the snack table for some punch, passing by Applejack side.

“Hey Rarity, what happened to you? You have dirt on your flank.” Applejack said.

“Oh Celestia!” Rarity exclaimed. “I can’t believe I walked by the streets with my flank covered in dirt.”

“Relax sugarcube, it’s just a bit of dirt. Ah barely noticed.” Applejack reassured the white unicorn before she freaked out. “What happened? Your sister?”

“No,” Rarity said while using a wet napkin to clean herself. “I stumbled with somepony on my way here.” When she was finished cleaning her flank, she turned to look at Pinkie. “Darling, I wanted to ask if you know a pony wi-”

“Of course I know a pony.” Pinkie said as she started to bounce around the room. “In fact, I know a bunch of ponies. I know you, I know Applejack, I know Dashie, I know Fluttershy, I know Twilight, I know the cakes, I know the princesses, I-”

“Pinkie! Let me finish”

“Okie-Dokie-Lokie”

Rarity let a sigh escape. “As I was saying, it’s a cream coated earth pony with green hair. You know her?”

Pinkie stood still for a moment before letting a gasp escape, “Oh my gosh, I don’t know her, she must be new here, I have to make her a party, but I’m having a party right now, oh my gosh, what do I do?”

“Easy Pinks, just do another party for her tomorrow. We have to focus on Twilight’s party right now, ‘cause this is going to be the most awesome party ever.” Rainbow cheered.

“I totally agree,” came a new voice from the entrance. “Hello girls.”

“Twilight!” The four ponies in the room greeted the arrival of their friend. “Now we just have to wait for Fluttershy to start the party,” added Applejack.

“No need to wait, she’s right behind of me,” Twilight stepped to the side to show a yellow pegasus standing outside the building. “So, let’s start my welcome back party.”

“Yeah!” everyone cheered.

The six friends enjoyed of some party activities before gathering in a circle to ask Twilight one thing, “What made you stay here, Twilight? Just two days ago we were saying our goodbyes to you.” Asked Rainbow Dash.

“Well,” Twilight started before looking at the pony next to her, Fluttershy. “The reason why I’m staying will be clear when I tell you some good news.” Twilight got closer to Fluttershy while the pegasus buried her face on Twilight’s mane. “Fluttershy and I...” Twilight paused for a moment to take a breath. “We are together.”

There was silence in the room for a few seconds. Applejack was the first to speak again. “Together, you mean like a-”

“Couple,” Twilight finished. “We are marefriends.”

“Oh, how wonderful!” exclaimed Rarity.

“Congratulations,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Yeehaw!” Applejack.

“This is unacceptable!” Shouted Pinkie, which made every pony in the room to turn and look at her, this was one of the few times they had seen Pinkie frown. Pinkie then walked to stand just in front of Twilight. “What do you think this is?”

“P-Pinkie, I thought you would be happy for us.” Twilight said in a quiet tone, she could feel Fluttershy trembling right next to her.

“Happy?” Pinkie walked away and stood just below the banner that read ‘Welcome back Twilight’. “Of course I’m happy for you, but I wasn’t prepared for this, this is not the banner for this occasion, I’ll have to arrange another party with the correct elements, it’s just unacceptable that the banner doesn’t say ‘Congratulations Twilight and Fluttershy’, and this are not the streamers to celebrate this news, I’m just not prepared for this, how can I keep up with everypony’s expectations of being the greatest party planner when I’m not prepared for this incredible moment...”

“She’s happy for you sugarcube,” Applejack said while ignoring Pinkie’s rambling. “We all are.”

“Thank you girls, I was a bit scared there.” Twilight smiled at all her friends.

“Oh, darling, you must tell us. How did this happen?” Rarity said as she hugged the new couple.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight called to her marefriend that was still hiding on her mane. “Would you mind telling them how this happened?”

Love me... I mean, if that's ok with you.

“... And after that she said ‘I love you... I mean, if that’s okay with you.’ I could barely contain my laugh, but a few giggles managed to escape. After that we...” Twilight trailed off as her face started to blush for the fourth time.

“Kissed again.” Fluttershy finished, she had a bigger blush on her face than Twilight. She then got back to hide on her marefriend’s mane.

“Awwww, how sweet!” Pinkie said as she clapped her hooves together.

“Just take a look at that,” Rainbow Dash started, she took a sip of the punch and continued. “Our Fluttershy isn’t hiding behind her own mane, she’s hiding behind Twilight’s.” At that statement, the yellow pegasus retreated from her hiding while her face got to the same shade as Big Mac’s coat. “Come on ‘Shy, theres’ nothing wrong with it. If it makes you feel secure, keep at that.” And so did Fluttershy.

After calming her laughter from the pegasus behaviour, Applejack talked. “Ah just have to say that I’m surprised. If ah was told that one of us had fallen for another mare, ah had bet all ma money on Rainbow.”

“Hey!” Rainbow gave a light punch to her friend, all the ponies in the room laughed.

“But seriously, I’m really happy for both of you,” Applejack said with a warm smile. “And I see that Fluttershy beat Rarity to it.”

“She beat me at what?” Asked Rarity as she glared at Applejack.

“She beat you at wooing one member of the royalty,” The country pony said as she pointed at Twilight.

Rarity huffed before answering, “She did beat me at finding that special pony, but I’m no longer interested on any member of the royalty, not since that incident with Blueblood.”

“No royalty?” Rainbow asked while rubbing her chin. “Then what are you looking for now?”

Rarity thought about it for a moment until something came to her mind, “I don’t know.” It was true, she didn’t know what she wanted. She had stopped thinking of romance a long time ago. She felt lost at the moment. Had she stopped thinking in finding love because she had totally gave up? Her worries were showing on her face.

“It’s okay Rarity,” said Fluttershy, that had left Twilight side to hug Rarity after hearing her. “At the correct time, you will meet the perfect pony. He may not be from royalty, but he will be your prince.” She gave a quick glance and a smile to Twilight, and she smiled back.

“Thanks, darling.” Rarity stood firmly on her hooves and shook all her previous thoughts. “We still have a party to enjoy,” and so they did for a few hours.

“Well, this was one awesome party Pinkie, can’t wait for the next one.” Rainbow said as she stretched her wings to prepare her flight back home.

“And you won't have to wait long for that. After all, there’s a new mare in the town,” She pulled a musket out of nowhere. “Let the hunt begin.” She loaded the weapon.

“What the hay girl? Where are you going with that?” Applejack said as she took the gun out of the pink pony’s hooves. “And what is that of the ‘hunt’?”

“Relax, silly country pony. I’m just saying that I’m going to look for her.” Pinkie then took back her musket. “And this is a new portable model of the party cannon that I have been working on.” She aimed to one of the walls and fired, a black mark of powder was left on it. Pinkie gave a sheepish laugh. “It’s a prototype.”

Twilight used her magic to grab the musket and place it out of reach of the party pony, “You should go with your normal party cannon Pinkie. Also,” Twilight took a look at the room, more than a party, it looked like a rodeo had just took place in the building. “You should clean the bakery before the cakes see this mess.”

“Awwww, I guess you are right,” Pinkie said, her mane a little deflated, but in less than a second, she got back to her usual self. “I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow.” She then approached Twilight to give her a big hug. “I’m happy that you are staying here in Ponyville, Twilight.” She let go of the alicorn to hug the pony next to her. “And I’m super duper happy for both of you, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy pulled away from Pinkie and walked to the entrance where Twilight was waiting for her. “Thank you Pinkie. See you all tomorrow.” She said before walking on the direction of the library with Twilight.

“Umm, sugarcube,” Applejack called out to Fluttershy. “Isn’t your home on the other direction?”

Fluttershy squeaked before turning her face, “Well, I am, kind of... staying with Twilight.” She finished with her face totally red.

Applejack formed a little ‘o’ with her mouth, “Aren’t yo-”

“Okay, darling. See you both tomorrow.” Rarity interrupted Applejack, waving her hoof at the parting couple. When she couldn’t see them anymore, she turned to look at the other four. “They make such a cute couple.”

“They sure do,” Applejack said. “But aren’t they moving kind of fast?”

“Of course not,” answered Rainbow before Rarity could say anything. “They’ve know each other for three years now, and Fluttershy’s been in love with Twilight since day one. I think they’ve taken it slow enough.” Rainbow then walked outside the building and spread her wings. “Well guys, see ya.” She shot up to the sky and banished in no time.

“Yeah, better go and hit the hay soon, got to buck some trees tomorrow. Bye Rarity, bye Pinkie.” Applejack walked in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

“Bye Pinkie,” Rarity said before walking out of the bakery. She had only one thought in her head while walking back to her home. ‘Don’t be on fire, don’t be on fire.’ She quickened the pace, partly for her concern, and partly because it was late and the sun had already settled.

The boutique was intact, apparently. Rarity couldn’t relax yet. The exterior looked good, but who knows what “wonders” wait for her in the interior. As she got closer, she managed to see a cart loaded with wood on the side of the building. She got closer to inspect it.

There, next to the cart, lay the mare that Rarity had seen that afternoon, curled in a ball, apparently sleeping. Rarity took a moment to get a better look of the mare, she was slightly dirty. The mare seemed to be around the same age as her. Rarity wasn’t sure what to think of the scene, but she couldn’t let somepony sleep on the streets.

“Hey, wake up,” She said while nudging the mare with one huff. The mare stirred a little before opening her eyes. She lifted her head until she locked her eyes with Rarity. A pair of blue eyes looked back at a pair of blue eyes. The mare lowered her head without breaking eye contact with Rarity, pressing her body as much as she could against the ground.

“What are you doing here?” The other mare winced. Rarity didn’t knew why, she was sure she had used a sweet tone of voice when she asked.

“I’m sorry. I just needed to rest for a bit and I think I fell asleep. I’ll leave now,” The mare said in a panicked way. She got on her hooves in no time and locked the cart around her waist. She was moving with great difficulty.

“Wait, let me help you,” Rarity said as she used her magic to push the cart. “Where is your home.”

The mare stood still for a moment. “I... I don’t have a home.”

“What?!” Rarity asked before looking at the pile of wood. “Then, where are you taking all this?”

The mare turned her head to look directly at Rarity. “This are my stuffs, my belongings.”

“This pile of junk?” Rarity immediately regretted the use of that word as she saw the other mare ears press against her head. “I-I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. It is junk, but it also is the raw material I use for my work.”

“Your work?”

“Yes,” the mare unfastened herself and walked next to the cart. She started to dig on the pile of wood until she grabbed something. It was a little statuette of a unicorn striking a fashionable pose, crafted in wood. “I’m a carpenter. I make different objects with wood and, Um, sell them.”

“It’s beautiful,” Rarity said as she grabbed the statuette with her magic.

“Do you like it?” Asked the mare.

“Like it? I love it! It looks so detailed.”

The mare smiled, “Then it’s yours.”

“Mine? But I can’t take this, at least let me pay you for it.”

“NO!” The mare shouted but immediately covered her mouth with her hooves. “I mean, I can’t accept your money. It’s...” The mare seemed that she was trying to think something up. “It’s... It’s for having been a nuisance. Please, accept it.”

Rarity eyed the mare for a moment and then looked back at the statuette. “Very well, if you insist.”

“It’s not that I’m forcing it on you, if you don’t really like it-”

“No, no. I really love it. It’s so beautiful that I’m going to put it in a safe place. Thank you,” Rarity finished with a smile.

The other mare seemed a bit more energetic after that. “Well, I’m leaving then.”

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“I... I don’t know. To look for someplace to sleep.”

“To look for someplace to sleep, or to sleep on the streets somewhere else?” Rarity’s question made the mare drop her head. “I thought so. I can’t let anypony sleep on the streets, and less when they are so generous to give something in exchange for nothing.” The other mare winced a little at that sentence, but Rarity didn’t noticed it. “Please, come with me to my house.” Rarity gestured to the building next to her.

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“And you aren’t. Please, accept my offer.” The other mare looked uncertain. “I’m a really stubborn pony. I won’t let you go until you accept.”

“O-Okay, If you insist.”

“Perfect. Now, If you have something important for you in the cart, I recommend you to take it inside and we can leave the cart right there next to my home.” Rarity watched as the mare dug one more time into the pile of wood. This time, she pulled out a pair of saddlebags, a large case of what Rarity assumed were tools and a little wooden box. The mare put the two boxes in her saddlebags before placing them on her back.

“All done,” the other mare nodded.

“Then come with me.” Rarity led the short trip to the door. She opened it and let her guest enter first. The first thing that caught Rarity’s attention was the trail of broken eggs that went from the kitchen to the bathroom. “Ummm, wait here while I take care of something.” She placed the statuette that she had been holding with her magic on one table of the boutique.

The other mare sat on the floor while she watched Rarity entering the kitchen. A muffled cry sounded. “Sweetie Belle! Come here right now!” Rarity shouted. A few seconds later, a little unicorn filly came down the stairs, ran to the kitchen and disappeared from view.

After an hour of cleaning, Rarity and Sweetie Belle reappeared out of the kitchen. “I understand you wanted you cutie mark on bakery, but next time, remember to clean,” Rarity said to her sister.

“At least this time I didn’t burn the whole kitchen,” Sweetie Belle was walking back to the stairs when she stopped after seeing an unfamiliar pony sitting on the floor of the main room. Sweetie Belle Hadn’t noticed her before in her haste to clean the kitchen. “Ummm... Rarity. Who is she?”

“Oh right. Sweetie, we have a guest for the night. She’s...” Rarity just realized that she didn’t know who that pony was. She gave a sheepish laugh. “Sorry darling. What is your name?”

“I-I-”

“Oh! Where are my manners, I should introduce myself first.” Rarity cleared her voice and placed a hoof on her chest. “I’m Rarity, proud owner of Carousel Boutique, my business, my passion and my home. And this is my little sister, Sweetie Belle.”

“Hello.” Sweetie Belle waved at the mare.

The mare stood from her place on the floor to introduce herself. “I-I’m Alice Sawyer.”

Just for today.

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“Alice Sawyer? That’s not a name one normally hears.” Alice fidgeted at the floor. Rarity was curious how she got this name, but as a good host, she didn’t ask her guest something she clearly wasn’t comfortable telling. “Well, Alice, it’s late and I suppose you haven’t eaten.” Rarity turned to look at her sister. “Sweetie, please go up and prepare the bath for our guest. I’ll be preparing something for the three of us.” The little filly made her way upstairs while Rarity walked back to the kitchen.

Alice was left alone in the main room of the boutique. Unsure of what to do, she gave a quick look to her surrounding. She hadn’t paid much attention when she first got inside the building, but now, she was awed at the place. The mirrors, the decorations, the ponyquins, and more amazing than anything else, the dresses. This wonderful dresses.

Alice made her way to one of the dresses to inspect it. “Beautiful” was the only word to describe it. She lifted a hoof to touch it, Her eyes glistened as she got closer to it. She couldn’t help licking her lips.

“I hope you like the daisy sandwich I made,” Rarity said as she got out of the kitchen, startling the other pony in the room. Rarity watched as Alice squeaked and gave a small jump to the front, causing her hoof to connect with the ponyquin that was in front of her. “Oh my.” Rarity said as the ponyquin that got pushed collided with another one that was near, starting a domino effect with five more ponyquins.

“I’m sorry, it was an accident. Please, don’t be mad. I’m really sorry.” Alice said as she moved backwards, accidentally stepping on the dress that was lying on the floor. Alice gasped and tried to clean the print that she had left on the dress, only making it worse due to how dirty her hooves were. Alice gave up and curled in a ball, giving a quick look at the wide eyed unicorn that had her jaw loose.

“Alice...” Rarity said as she placed a hoof on the earth pony’s shoulder that started to tremble. “Don’t worry, darling, I’m not mad at you. I know it was an accident. And this...” She said as she looked at the stained dress. “I can wash it later, so don’t worry.”

Alice met Rarity’s eyes with hesitance. “You... You aren’t mad?”

“Of course not. Just help me cleaning this mess, okay?” Rarity saw Alice answer with a nod and started to help her return the order to the boutique. Rarity picked up a ponyquin with her magic, while Alice tried to lift another one without touching the dress it was wearing with her hooves.

After setting the last ponyquin in its original position, Alice retreated a bit before causing more problems. She gave a small jump in surprise, thankfully not crashing with anything this time, after her flank brushed against something. She turned to look that Rarity was standing behind her. “Sorry!”

“Relax and come here to eat.” Rarity waved at Alice to come to the table. “I wish I could make something more for you to eat, but after the little incident that my sister caused in the kitchen, we should be thankful that at least there is this.”

Alice stood and walked to the table. She sat down and accidentally placed one of her hooves over Rarity’s. She immediately took it back. “Sorry!”

Rarity gave a small laugh, “You apologize too much, Alice.” She watched as Alice was about to take the sandwich with her hooves before taking a look at them, they were dirty, so Alice craned her head and gave a small bite. “So, you were looking at the dresses?” Rarity asked.

Alice swallowed before answering, “Umm, yes. They are really beautiful.”

“I’m glad you think so. I try very hard to make them the best that I can. When ponies that are not from Ponyville come to my boutique, they ask if I brought them from Canterlot-”

“No, they are more beautiful than the ones in Canterlot.” Interrupted Alice before giving another bite to the sandwich. She almost choked after noticing what she had just said. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t be. It’s flattering that you think my dresses are nicer than those from Canterlot.” Rarity said with a smile.

“It’s not flattering. It’s the truth, those dresses in Canterlot lack something that yours clearly have, looouuvvv..., passion? Yes! Passion.” Alice said with a nervous grin. She then shook her head and turned it to look at the dress. “All the dresses in Canterlot are either mass produced or just made fancy to sell expensively, while I can see that you take your time with yours, not stopping until you make them the best as possible. Not for you, but for the pony that might buy it.”

Rarity gave a proud smile. “Well, thank you very much, but, how can you notice something like that? Only my friends know how I am when working on a dress, but that’s because they have known me for a while. This is the first time we have met.”

Alice rubbed the back of her head. “Emm, I-I...it just felt this way to me.” She gestured to the ponyquins. “Like with every stitch you were worried how it would look on the one buying it, planning how to put in the colors together and the way to cut it to make it perfect for just the right customer. None of your dresses looks the same and they all got something special to it unlike the same clothes off the rack or the overly jewel and sparkles draped fancy dresses in Canterlot.” Alice paused and turned to look at the little statuette that was over a table, the one she gave to Rarity. “That’s how I’m while working in something.”

Rarity felt how her interest to know more grew. “And what things do you do in your work?”

“Uhh? Oh, Well, I normally do statuettes like that one. And, I also make some toys.”

“You make toys?”

“Ummm, yes, but not only that. I can also make other things like furniture, but I prefer to make toys.”

“I’m sure the colts and fillies love your toys.”

“I work really hard to make sure of that,” there was silence after that. Alice got back to her sandwich.

“Alice,” Rarity finally said, “where exactly do you work?”

“I don’t work anywhere at the moment. I’m a traveller. I just make some small stuffs with the wood I gather from my surroundings and when I meet someone interested in them...” She trailed off before giving another bite to her sandwich.

“So, you have travelled all your life?”

“Oh no. I had a little workshop in Canterlot a year ago.”

“Oh, so you lived in Canterlot.” Rarity looked to her dresses. “I guess you saw a lot of dresses there. That’s how you can tell this are not from Canterlot.”

“Ummm, yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“And?”

Alice looked directly at Rarity, “and what?”

“What happened with your workshop?”

“Oh! Emmm, I-I, you see...” Alice paused and took a breath. “I had to close it because of some problem I encountered.” Alice lowered her head. It was clear that it was a topic that she didn’t like to talk about.

“I’m sorry.” Rarity couldn’t believe herself. It was the second time in the night that she had managed to upset the poor mare. She was trying to think of something to make Alice mind think on something else. “Sweetie sure is taking her time, I hope there’s not another problem like the one in the kitchen.”

Alice lifted her head and met Rarity’s eyes with a smile. “She causes a lot of problems around here?”

“Yes, she does, but I wouldn’t change her for nothing. She usually manages to make me angry in a way or another, but I know is not in purpose. She’s full of good intentions and initiative when doing something, but...” She leaned closer to Alice and whispered, “she has four left hooves.” She sat straight again while laughing warmly. “Oh, how mean of me to talk of her like that.” Rarity sighed. “Even if she causes a lot of problems here, I just can’t help to keep loving her.”

“Yes, I can see that you love her alot.” Alice said. Before anyone could continue with the conversation, Sweetie Belle got down the stairs.

“The bath is ready.” She said as she made her way to the table to eat her sandwich.

“Thank you Sweetie. Alice, when you finish eating, you can go ahead and clean yourself.”

“Why are you doing all this for someone like me?”

“Someone like you?”

Alice panicked for a moment. “Oh, um, I mean, for a total stranger.”

Rarity gave a warm smile before answering, “Because it’s the right thing to do, so don’t worry about it. And, you are no longer a stranger to me. You just shared a piece of your life with me when you didn’t have to, and that’s enough to consider you a friend.” She wouldn’t normally consider a pony she had just met a friend. That was something Pinkie would do, not her. But... it felt right.

‘A friend?’ Alice was incredulous.

“Now go and clean yourself.” Rarity waited for Alice to finish eating her sandwich. She then grabbed the plates and watched as Alice made her way to the second floor. “That mare feels so mysterious, but as a lady, I should respect her privacy.”

Alice entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She took the saddlebags from her back and placed them next to the door. She then walked to the tub and slowly submerged one hoof in the hot water. It felt almost weird, but relaxing at the same time. She proceeded to enter the tub, one hoof at the time, and slowly lowering her body. She let out a sigh of relief while allowing this “magical” water do its job.

“Friend,” She said as she started to clean herself, The water got slightly darker. “I don’t remember the last time someone considered me a friend.” She paused for a moment. “It’s... nice. But I shouldn’t stay here for long. Just this night and that’s it. If I stay for long, if I get too attached, I could risk getting discovered, again.” She continued washing herself in silence, aplying shampoo to her mane and washing it off. She finished cleaning herself and got out of the tub, pulled the plug and let the slightly dark water drain. “Just this night.”

“Alice, is everything fine in there?” Rarity called from the other side of the door.

“Waa!” Alice almost slipped on the wet floor after the voice of Rarity surprised her. She managed to stand steady on her legs. “Y-yes! Everything is fine.”

“Okay, darling. Could you open the door? I forgot to give you a towel before your bath.” Rarity could hear steps from inside the bathroom, and just a moment later, the door opened. “Here you go...” Rarity’s voice trailed off as she absorbed the view in front of her.

Rarity couldn’t help but think how stunning looked Alice. Her coat was glistening with little droplets of water, her mane was like a cascade of beautiful green. Those sparkling blue eyes that looked like they could see through her. ‘If I could put some makeup on her and style her mane, she would look simply amazing.’

“...R-Rarity?”

Rarity shook her head. “I’m sorry, darling. You need something?”

Alice was shaking. “C-could you give me the t-towel? I’m getting a bi-bit cold.”

“Oh! Of course, sorry about that.” Rarity smiled sheepishly and gave the towel to Alice. She stood still while watching how Alice dried herself, she could feel her cheeks getting a bit warmer.

“Thank you, for everything. Where should I put this.” Alice asked when she finished drying herself.

“Just give me that. You can go back down stairs. Sweetie will keep you company while I organize the guest room.” Alice gave the towel to Rarity, then grabbed her saddlebags from the floor a put them back on before walking down the stairs. Rarity watched her carefully until she disappeared from view. She then made her way to the guest room.

Rarity finished preparing the guest room and made her way to the first floor. There, she found Sweetie Belle narrating her adventures with the other crusaders to Alice, while the mare used her tools to craft something in some wooden planks she probably brought from her cart.

“Your room is ready, Alice.” Rarity then turned her attention to her sister. “And you, Sweetie. You should go to sleep now. You have to wake up soon tomorrow to go back to our parents house.”

“Ooooohh, okay, Sis.” Sweetie Belle made her slow walk to her sister. “Goodnight, Alice.” She waved at the earth pony, who waved back at her. “Goodnight, Sis.” She said as she gave a quick hug to Rarity. Alice turned her attention back to her little project. Sweetie made her way to the second floor.

“So,” Rarity started, “What are you working on, Alice?”

“You see, after Sweetie Belle started to talk about her adventures with her friends, I just got the idea of giving them something special. Something like an emblem.” Alice then continued working with her tools.

“Oh, that’s really generous of you.”

Alice cut her work to a halt. “Ummmm, is the least I could do for the... hospitality.”

“Well, stop it for now. Go to sleep, I know you must be exhausted. After all, I found you sleeping outside.”

“Y-yeah, just let me gather my tools.” Alice grabbed all her things, including the planks she was working on, and placed them in her saddlebag. Rarity managed to catch a glimpse of the small wooden box in the saddle.

“What is inside the little box?” She asked while walking to the stairs, Alice followed behind.

“Ummm, my treasures. I put the things that mean a lot to me inside the box.”

“It’s really small.” Rarity rowed back quickly trying to avoid the mine she had stepped on again. “What treasures do you have in there?” Alice was silent the rest of the way to the guest room. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. This is your room.” Rarity opened the door.

Alice took a look at the guest room. It was beautiful, not because of the silky covers of the bed or the curtains. Not because of the expensive looking furniture in the room. Not because of the puffy pillows and mattress. But because she could feel the caring Rarity had put in to organize it for her. She just turned around and hugged Rarity.

Rarity was lost for a moment. She didn’t know what to do,what was happening, but she just went with the flow. She hugged back Alice, enjoying the embrace for a moment before Alice broke it.

“I-I’m sorry.” She looked more panicked than the other times. “I just- I’m really grateful for all you have done. It’s been awhile since...” Alice lowered her body a bit, her ears were pressed against her head.

The word ‘cute’ crossed Rarity’s mind. “It’s okay, darling. Now go and rest. See you tomorrow.” Alice nodded and walked inside the room. Rarity closed the door with her magic and was about to go to her room when she remembered something. She quickly made her way to the first floor and walked to a table. “There you are,” she said as she used her magic to grab the little statuette that Alice gave her.

Rarity took a moment to observe it with more detail. She knew little of carpentry, but enough to appreciate an exquisite job. A unicorn standing on her hind legs, a cutie mark with the form of a ribbon. No dress, no accessories. As she plazed her gaze on the statue’s head, she got the feeling that, despite the smile on the statue’s face, it was emotionless. She shrugged it off and carried it up to her room, where she placed it on her nightstand. Rarity proceeded to get on her bed, allowing her consciousness to drift away of this world.

‘What did I almost do? It’s been so long since I last consumed this much, this house is so full of it. I wonder if... No, it’s just for today, I shouldn’t get too close to her,’ Alice thought while lying on the bed. ‘I don’t want to make the same mistakes like the last time. I don’t want to hurt anyone.’ Alice rolled on the bed for a while. ‘I’ll leave tomorrow before... I can’t...’ Alice fell asleep.

The next morning, Rarity woke to the sound of activity coming from the first floor. ‘Please, Celestia, don’t let it be Sweetie Belle preparing breakfast again.’ Rarity stood from her bed and made her way to the bathroom. She set to the task of making herself presentable for the day. She did it as quickly as she could, without lowering the quality of her work.

When she was done, she made her out of her room.She felt relieved when she didn’t smelt burned milk and cereal when she got to the first floor.

“Rarity!” The high pitched voice of Sweetie Belle called her. Rarity found her little sister sitting in the kitchen table in front of Alice. “Come here, look at this,” Sweetie said as she gestured to three little objects that were lying in front of her on the table. Rarity made walked to her little sister. “Don’t you think this are awesome?”

Rarity eyed the three little objects. All three were almost identical, three little wooden badges with the letters “CMC” carved on them. They were heater-shaped shield badges with little dents to the sides. Rarity took one of them with her magic and placed it on her hoof. At closer look, she could see the little details in the badge, it was expertly crafted and polished. Rarity took another badge on her magic and placed it next to the first one. What was different between them was that one had a pair of wings to the sides, just above the dents, with little feathers carved on each of them. The other had a horn shaped nub at the top, with a line that went in a spiral from bottom to top of the nub. The last badge that was on the table had a horseshoe in the top.

“This certainly is the work of an artist.” Rarity turned to look at Alice that was now playing with her hooves. Rarity could see how much time and work had been put into it. ‘A way to return the hospitality she received, very generous of her.’ “I see that you did this as best as possible, Alice. Was this in what you were working last night?”

“Yes. After Sweetie Belle told me about her stories with her friends, I thought that she would like something like this, for her and her friends.”

“That’s very nice of you, darling. I’m sure Sweetie is really happy with this.”

“I sure am. Just wait till Scoots and Bloom take a look at this, they’re gonna love it!” Sweetie Belle stood from her place in the table and rounded it to give a big hug to Alice. “Thank you so much, Miss Sawyer.”

Alice just kept still, Rarity could see a few droplets of sweat appearing on Alice head. Alice only talked when Sweetie Belle ended the hug, “I-it’s n-nothing.”

Sweetie Belle grinned as she held the badges on her hooves. She then let out a loud gasp before turning to look at her sister. “Oh! I forgot I was going to make breakfast for us. I’ll get right to it!” She got on her hooves and ran in the direction of the kitchen.

“Sweetie, wait!” Rarity called out to her sister, causing the little filly to stop and look back at her. “Umm...” Rarity was thinking of something to say. She couldn’t just be blunt and say that Sweetie was a disaster on the kitchen. Finally, something popped on her mind. “Do you have everything ready? You know there’s no much time before our parents come to get you.”

“Not yet, sis, but after I finish preparing breakfast, I’ll-”

“No!” Rarity shouted. She cleared her voice. “I mean, no, you go get everything ready, I will prepare breakfast.”

Sweetie Belle looked directly at Rarity for a moment with a frown on her face that was getting bigger and bigger. “Okay!” She suddenly said, with a happy grin, while walking up the stairs.

“I should be on my way. Thank you for letting me stay here for the night.” Alice stood and walked towards the entrance, she already had her saddlebag prepared for her leave. She didn’t managed to get to the door.

“Alice, don’t leave yet. I had planned to take you to a certain place.”

“Huh?”

“Pinkie would never forgive me if she discovered that I met the new pony in town and let her go, before she even could throw you a party.”

“P-party?”

Self control.

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“Goodbye, Sweetie Belle, see you next week.” Rarity waved at her little sister, who was walking between a pair of Unicorns, Rarity’s parents. They walked away from the boutique and disappeared from view as they turned the corner. “Well, Alice, I guess is time for us to make our way to… Alice?” Rarity looked around, but couldn’t see her most recent friend. “Where is that mare?” Rarity made her way inside the boutique.

‘No… no… Don’t do it... That love… is not for... me.’ Alice thought between breaths as she kept hidden behind her cart. She was curled in a ball, with her hooves pressed against her temples. She felt as the feeling of the couple and the little filly disappeared in the distance. Letting a small sigh escape, she lowered her hooves. ‘I… I almost did it… again.’ Alice dropped her head, a single tear fell to the ground. ‘I have to hold these urges.’

The moment Rarity’s parents had shown up in the boutique, the moment they hugged Sweetie Belle, the moment of reunion of the family, was when the love felt the strongest. Alice, at the moment, had been next to her cart, looking for a good log to work in while Rarity finished cleaning the kitchen. Thank Celestia Alice was at a good distance from the display of love, or she could have done something that she would regret.

In the year that Alice had been “traveling”, she had little, almost no contact with other ponies. Only what was necessary to not die from starvation. Sometimes, she would grab one of the logs from her cart and her tools, and with it, she would make a little train, a little wooden doll or a little statue. She would walk until she met another traveler, or a house by the road, or until she reached a town. She would show her work, and after that, she would give it away, not accepting a single bit for it.

But it wasn’t that she didn’t obtained anything from it. She obtained love. Not the deep, unconditional love from a caring mother or the friendly but abundant love from a friend. She obtained the small amount of love that a foal expressed when he obtained something new, something that would make him or her happy. It was harder to obtain something from a grown up pony, but there was always a small amount of thankfulness. After getting enough to last for a week or so, she would leave the town, and continue her journey to nowhere in particular.

So, after witnessing that display of love from that close, one of the strongest kinds of love, how the family of Unicorns hugged, Alice almost lost control. She was like a starving manticore looking at a defenseless rabbit in the forest. She wanted all that love for herself, but she couldn’t take it. If she dared to absorb that love, it could bring problems for the family, she could destroy their unity.

But there was something more. Seeing that display of love in the family, that made Alice mind go back about twelve years. It made her remember a certain family of unicorns. She could feel a pain in her heart, her eyes started to fill with more tears.

That’s why she had to leave. Being exposed to this much love all of a sudden, it was dangerous for the ponies and herself. She was risking getting discovered. And that party that Rarity had talked about, it was just-

“There you are.”

“Ahhhh!” Alice jumped a meter and a half to the air and then landed on the pile of wood, thankfully, not hurting herself with something.

“Oh my, Alice, I’m sorry for startling you like that.” Rarity extended a hoof and helped Alice get down from the cart. “I didn’t mean to scare you, darling, I was just… Alice, are you okay?” the unicorn asked as she watched directly at Alice eyes. They were slightly red.

“Of course, I just ummm, emmm… got a little dust in my eyes!” Alice wiped her eyes and forced a smile, “You know, while looking for something over here.” She pointed at the cart as she forced a bigger smile. “It’s nothing, really.”

Rarity held Alice’s gaze for a moment. “Very well. So, as I was saying, we should go and see Pinkie. Don’t be afraid of her, she’s a bit strange...” Rarity rubbed her chin as she thought of something. “No, forget that, she’s very weird, but she’s one of the kindest ponies in all Equestria, and she throws the greatest and most enjoyable parties. She does one for each new pony in town. Now, follow me, darling.” Rarity started to walk in the direction of her friends workplace and home, but stopped as she hadn't heard the steps of another pony following. “Alice?” Rarity asked as she turned her head.

“Emmm, Rarity, I…” Alice needed to think of some excuse to not go meet Rarity’s friend. She just couldn’t risk going to that party. Why? Because a party meant that a lot of ponies would gather and they would have fun. They would talk, dance and eat. Why was that a bad thing? Because that would mean love would fill the party. And even worse, with a lot of ponies, there was bound to be at least one couple. The love from a friendship was tasty, but the romantic love was something from another world. She had barely managed to contain herself with Rarity’s family, but if she went to that party, full o-

“Alice!”

“Ahhhh” Alice jumped in surprise and landed again in the pile of wood.

Rarity sighed and used her magic to levitate Alice out of the pile. “Is something bothering you, Alice?” She asked as the mare reached the ground.

“I don’t want to keep bothering you, I think I should go now. You are very generous, but I don’t want to keep imposing on you. I will- Wa!” Alice speech got cut of as Rarity wrapped her again in her magic.

“Nonsense, darling. You are not a bother.” Rarity started to walk to Sugarcube Corner.

“But, emmm, doesn’t a party take a lot of time to organize, I don’t see the need for-”

“Don’t worry about details, Pinkie can organize a party faster than Rainbow Dash can clear the sky from clouds.”

“Who… Who’s Rainbow Dash?” Alice asked as she tried to get out of the magic aura.

“She’s a good friend of mine. You will meet all the girls in the party. Pinkie always invites every pony in town.”

“E-e-everypony?” This was worse than Alice had thought. Sure, she imagined that there would be a good number of ponies. But she thought it would be twenty ponies at most, not the whole town. She needed to think of something.

“Rarity, wait!” Rarity stopped and turned to look at Alice. “I-I… I’m scared of ponies!” Alice fell to the floor when the magic aura around her disappeared.

“You are? But… You were fine with me and Sweetie.” Rarity surrounded Alice with her magic again, but just for a moment to help her stand. “And you had a workshop where you sold things to ponies.”

“Emmm, I-I, you see… I’m scared of large group of ponies.” Alice was sweating bullets by this moment. “When I sell something I make, I just deal with the pony interested.”

“Oh, I understand.” Rarity rubbed her chin for a moment. “Don’t worry Alice, you can still enjoy the party. If I talk with Pinkie, I can make it so just a few ponies come to the party.”

“I-I’m not sure-”

“Please, Alice. It will be just my friends.” At that moment, something struck Rarity as odd. Why was she so determined to convince Alice of go to the party? She just shrugged it off as just wanting her friend to have a good day.

“I think…” Alice looked directly to Rarity’s eyes, the same blue eyes that had looked at her last night, the eyes of the mare that allowed Alice stay under a roof for the night. The eyes of the mare that had fed her, even if she hadn’t known she was doing so. The eyes of her friend, as Rarity had stated last night. “I think I can go if it’s only your friends.”

“Excellent!” Rarity gave a light hug to Alice. “Follow me, we are almost there.” Rarity continued her walk to the bakery, followed closely by Alice.

As they approached the door of Sugarcube Corner, Alice stopped one more time. “Then, it will be only a few ponies in the party?”

“Yes, darling, I’ll make sure that only my five friends and the two of us will be present.” Rarity opened the door with her magic, but before she could enter…

“Surprise!” A pink pony shouted, and before there could be any reaction from the two ponies outside the building, two pink hooves grabbed each pony and pulled them inside.

When the pink hooves let go of Rarity and Alice, they both looked around the place. The inside of the store was completely dark. “Pinkie! Tell me what’s happening, right now.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Pinkie answered from somewhere in the dark room, but that darkness wouldn’t last long. The lights of the shop turned on after a low click was heard in the room. The sudden light blinded Rarity and Alice just momentarily.

“Surprise!” Ponies shouted from every corner of the room.

“Pinkie! What is the meaning of this?” Rarity said while taking look of all the ponies in the bakery.

“You silly Rarity, this is a surprise party! I always make one for the new pony in town!”

“But… How did you know Alice was coming? How did you manage to prepare this party so quickly? And why did you invite everypony?”

“So her name is Alice? That’s a weird name for a pony.” Pinkie put a hoof to her chin for a moment but shrugged it off a second later. She continued to talk with Rarity. “Well, after you left the bakery yesterday, my Pinkie sense told me the new pony was coming here today, so I decided to leave the decorations as they were.”

“I see, that answers the two first question, I think. But why did you invite everypony?”

“Oh, Rarity, I always do it for this kind of party. It’s the best way for the new pony to make tons of friends.” Pinkie beamed a smile at Rarity.

“Oh no, this is bad.”

“What do you mean? Why would it be bad for everypony to assist the party?”

“Pinkie, Alice is afraid of ponies. I was hoping I could convince you to only invite the six of us this time.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that, but, I don’t think that’s a problem.” Pinkie turned to look around the room. “Is she really afraid of ponies?” Pinkie pointed to one side and Rarity followed with her gaze.

In the middle of the room, stood the cream coated earth pony. She didn’t look afraid, she didn’t try to hide, she just stood there, looking at a gathered ponies.

Rarity walked up to her, “Alice, are you alright?” There was no answer. Rarity walked around so she could see Alice face to face. “Alice?” The mare had her eyes focused on something while slowly liking her lips. “Alice?” This time, Rarity got a reaction.

Alice shook her head and looked back at Rarity, “Sorry, you were saying something?”

“Alice, are you okay?”

“Yes, why wou-” Alice caught herself, she was supposed to act scared, but she had completely forgotten that the moment she had entered the shop. “I mean, for the moment, but I had better leave. I don’t know how much I can hold this.”

‘How much time can I hold myself before sucking the love of those mares over there.’ Alice returned her look where it was prior Rarity called her. One unicorn with a cutie mark of some instrument and an earth pony with some candies as her cutie mark were talking happily to each other.

“I understand, Alice, but…” Rarity hesitated for a moment on what she was about to say, “Could you give this a chance? Maybe, this is what you need to overcome your fear. Don’t worry, I’ll stay by your side, and if things come to worse, I will be there to help, to support you.” Rarity looked around her, “I know this must be hard for you-”

‘You have no idea.’ Alice tried her best not to drool at all the love in the air.

“But everypony took their time to come to the party to greet you. Do you think you could stay?”

“I…” Alice was about to say no, but… ‘There is so much love. I want to taste- No! This is dangerous. I can’t stay in a place with this amount of love when I have barely tasted it in so long. I have to taste all of this delicious- Agh!’ She was starting to hesitate. ‘Maybe, I could stay. I mean, this party is for me, right? There is free love in the air, if I absorb only that love, there won't be any problem for the others. I just have to stay away from that couple over there.’

“I think I can stay for a-”

“Oh, Alice, I’m so proud of you.” Rarity interrupted Alice with a hug. “You are willing to stay here to overcome your fears, how brave!”

Alice cringed at that. “Y-yeah, brave.”

“Now, if you can follow me, I simply must introduce you to my friends; I’m sure they are enjoying the party over there. And, if you feel scared at any point, just tell me and I will get you out of here.” Rarity said as she led the way, making sure to not get close to the larger group of ponies, while Alice followed closely.

Alice was slowly absorbing as much love from the air as she could. While doing that, she felt a good amount of love with a familiar taste, something she had just tasted yesterday, and it was coming from Rarity, ‘She really thinks of me as a friend, while I’m nothing but lies.’

“Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy!” Rarity called as they approached a trio of ponies that were chatting in a corner of the shop.

“Howdy, sugarcube.” Applejack waved at the unicorn. “Ah suppose that that mare following ya is the party girl.”

“That’s right, and she’s my new friend, Alice Sawyer. I got the pleasure of knowing her yesterday after Twilight’s party.” Rarity moved to the side so Alice could get closer to the others.

“Howdy Alice, Name’s Applejack.” Applejack grabbed one of Alice hooves between her own and shaked it with more energy than necessary. “Tell me Alice, I have never heard a name like yours, where are ya from?”

Alice took a moment to recover from the shake. “I-I’m from Canterlot.”

“Some fancy names they got over there. Well, Alice, welcome to Ponyville, Ah hope you like it over here.” Applejack moved so Alice could meet the others.

Dash was eating some cupcakes but stopped when she noticed Alice approaching her. “Hwey, mway nwame is Rwainbow Dwash.”

“Dash, could you swallow before speaking. I swear, your manners just get worse with each day that pass.” Rarity said as she rubbed her temple.

Rainbow rolled her eyes before swallowing. “Hello, I’m Rainbow Dash, but you probably have heard about me already.”

“Ummm, no, I-I think this is the first time I have heard of you.”

“What? You haven’t heard about me? But I’m the winner of the Best young Flyer competition. I have saved Equestria like four times. I have pulled the legendary Sonic Rainboom three times and-”

“Wait, Sonic Rainboom?” Alice asked with curiosity.

Rainbow grinned, “Yeah, you’re in front of the only pegasus that has pulled the Sonic Rainboom.”

“T-this Sonic Rainboom is like an explosion of bright colors in the sky, right?”

“Yeah! You have seen it?”

“Only once, when I was just a little… pony. I would love to see it again.” Alice eyes were sparkling.

“Heh, I might pull one for you, and I could give you an autograph after that.” Rainbow made a cocky grin.

“Ummmm, sure. It was a pleasure to meet you.” Alice then moved next to Rarity.

“Alice, I must say that I’m impressed. You’re taking this better than I thought.”

“What do you mean, Rarity?”

Rarity rose a brow as she looked at Alice. “Your fear of ponies. You were talking without any problem. I mean, you look more relaxed now than when I first met you.”

“Well, I-I…” Another slip, but Alice had to admit, that once she decided to just absorb the love in the air, she felt more secure, that there was no risk in getting caught. But, how to explain that she wasn’t acting scared? “Well, these ponies look like they are nice, and I have you looking out for me.”

Rarity smiled, “I’m glad to hear that. Now, this is Fluttershy.” Rarity pointed at the yellow coated pegasus.

Alice walked up to the pegasus, “Hello, Fluttershy. My name is Alice.” Fluttershy looked at Alice for a moment, then hid behind her mane and murmured something. “Ummm, what was that?” Another murmure, still, Alice didn’t understood what the pegasus said.

“She probably is saying ‘nice to meet you’.” Rarity translated. “You see, Fluttershy is really timid with new ponies. That’s how I expected you would act.” Rarity then looked around. “Well, Pinkie is busy taking care of the party, so you will meet her later. Fluttershy, where’s Twilight?”

Still hiding in her mane, Fluttershy walked next to Rarity and whispered something in her ear.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope she can get away from her royal duties long enough to come to the party.”

“Royal duties?” Alice asked.

“Yes, you see, Twilight is the new princess of Equestria. I’m surprised you haven’t heard.”

“Oh, you see, I have been traveling for a year, that’s probably why I haven’t heard anything.”

“Very well, I suppose it’s time to enjoy your party.”

Alice talked with a some ponies, danced for a moment with Rarity, and was totally confused by the Antics of a certain pink mare. She was enjoying the party, she didn’t worried much about getting discovered, it was getting easier to control herself. She was slowly getting enough love from the air to fill her needs.

There were a few slips, she absorbed the love that was directed to other ponies, causing those ponies to turn a bit pale, they would stop smiling and their gazes would turn dull. Thankfully, Alice managed to stop before anything serious could really happen. Even if she could control her impulses, she decided she still needed to keep her distance from the couples.

After a pointless attempt to comprehend Pinkie Pie, Alice got back to Rarity’s group and started to talk a bit of herself. She only told what she had told Rarity last night and a bit of her work in Canterlot, but never revealed why she had left. While she was at that, she got interrupted by the pony she least expected to interrupt.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy shouted and ran to the entrance of the shop to meet the lavender pony that had just entered.

Alice watched as the pegasus nuzzled affectionately the lavender mare. ‘Oh no, don’t tell me they are-’

“Alice, that’s Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity said as she waved at her lavender friend who was approaching them. “She’s one of my best friends, and, as you have probably guessed, she and Fluttershy are together.”

“Together? As in a...”

“Relationship,” Rarity finished. “They just told us yesterday, and I’m so happy for them.” Rarity looked at Alice. “I hope you don’t have any problem with two mares being-”

“Oh, nononono, I’m totally fine with it.” ‘My problem is something else.’ Alice thought as she felt the great amount of love coming to her.

“Hello girls,” Twilight greeted the group while Fluttershy kept close to her. “And hello to you, miss…”

Alice was so focused in trying to contain herself, ‘Come on, I have been fine so far, keep calm, take a breath and don’t even think of absorbing that love.’ Alice started to take deep breaths.

Rarity watching that Alice couldn't answer due to her breathing exercises. ‘Maybe that helps her with her fear to crowds,’ decided to help. “Twilight, this is Alice Sawyer. She’s from Canterlot, like you.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Alice.” Alice kept silent. “Ooookay?”

“So, Twilight,” Rarity spoke, “Fluttershy told me you were busy with some royal duties.” Rarity said as she offered a beverage to her friend.

“Yes, I have been busy all the morning, it’s a little tiring, and the royal guards,” Twilight sighed, drunk a bit of her beverage and continued. “They just arrived this morning, they insist that they have to keep an eye on me. I tried to convince them that there was no need for that, but it was useless. Thankfully, I got them to agree to keep their distance.”

“So they are…”

“Outside, watching the entrance for any kind of “risk”.” Twilight finished her drink and pulled closer to Fluttershy. “I’m just happy I can relax now with my special pony.”

Alice saw how Twilights eye sparkled when she looked directly at Fluttershy, causing a shiver to cross her spine. Alice caught Fluttershy blushing lightly, which caused a lump to form in her throat. When Twilight nuzzled Fluttershy, Alice stomach grumbled loudly. Pinkie offered her a muffin and she ate it without thinking, even if it wouldn’t fill her real hunger. And finally, Twilight kissed her marefriend’s cheek.

That was it, Alice was losing all the control she had after that display of affection at such a short distance. “S-sorry, I-I have to eat- I mean, I need lo- to go to the Bathroom!”

“Alice, are you-” Before Rarity could ask anything, Alice moved away, in the direction of the bathroom.

‘I need to hold…’ Alice moved between large group of ponies. ‘Just… hold… a bit… more.’ It was getting hard as she no longer tried to keep her distance from the couples, the delicious romantic love was pushing her to the limit. The bathroom was in front of her. Alice pushed the door and caught sight of a gray coated pegasus, she grabbed her and pushed her outside.

“What’s the-” Derpy stopped as a chill washed over her.

After locking the door, green flames engulfed Alice, ‘I… what did I do?’

Bathroom.

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“How… How much love did I drain from that pegasus?” Alice said with her buzzing voice as she slowly walked up to the mirror. Her cream coat was replaced by black. A pair of large, sharp fangs were poking out of her mouth. Two translucent wings buzzed on her back, one of them was missing half of it. There was a slight change in Alice’s eyes, but they remained the same color blue. She brought one of her holed hoofs up to touch her black sharp horn. It was emanating a low green light that dissipated the second she touched it a second. “Please... I hope nothing bad had happened.”

Alice pulled out from the mirror when she heard a noise from the other side of the door. It sounded like someone had collapsed to the floor. She quickly made her way to the door, and pressed her ear to it.

“Derpy! Are you alright?” a voice of a mare asked. After a second of silence the voice sounded again. “We need help over here!”

Panic started to fill Alice chest. ‘What did I do?’ She gave a few steps back, she heard the voices of some ponies talking, but couldn’t discern what they were saying, she didn’t care for what they were saying. ‘I… I have to get out of here.’ She looked around the bathroom.

There were three stalls on the left side of the bathroom, four sinks on the right, and a small window high on the wall opposite the entrance. Alice ran to the window and had to jump and flutter her wings a bit to reach it. Alice used one of her black hooves to open the window.

Just as Alice was about to make use of her escape route, she froze in place at what she saw, a cold shiver ran down her spine. Two royal guards in golden armor were standing at the other side of the window, thankfully with their backs to her. Alice dropped to the ground. ‘No.’ The royal guards, Alice remembered how a year ago she had to escape from them, and now, they were here.

The voice of the guard came through the open window. “There seems to be a problem at the party. Keep watch here while I go ask the others what’s happening.” Alice could hear the guard walking away.

‘T-The others? How many guards are out there?’ The panic that had filled Alice chest, moved to fill her whole body. The window was no longer an option, she had to go back to her earth pony appearance and go out through the door. ‘Yes, I will just turn back to normal and-’

“Is someone in there?” The voice of a full grown stallion sounded from the other side of the door. Alice was sweating panic, her body no longer able to keep it inside. “You sure you saw a pony entering the bathroom?” The voice asked.

“Of course, how else would the door be locked from inside?” The muffled voice of another stallion said. “I saw a cream coated pony entering and shoving of that mailmare. She must have done something.”

Alice gathered energy on the tip of her horn and tried to cast the green flames that would turn her back. It didn’t work, her mind was in such a state of panic that she couldn’t concentrate enough to make the transformation work.

A loud knock was heard. “Open up, this is an order from the royal guard!” The loud bangs at the door continued for a moment. “Forget this, I need a unicorn to use it’s magic to open this door!”

At those words, Alice ran to one of the bathroom stalls, the furthest one from the door. After getting inside, she gave a quick look at the mirror in the opposite side. She took a few seconds to give a second look at her appearance. Memories of guards chasing her surged in her mind. A single tear went down as she closed the door of the stall.

‘They are going to discover me,’ Alice thought as she pressed her back against the door. ‘I never wanted to do anything bad, I just want to-’

Alice thoughts stopped when she heard a click, followed by the grind of the door opening. Alice tried one last time to transform back to a pony, but with each step that sounded from outside the stall, her mind was slowly falling into desperation. It was a matter of seconds before the guards grabbed her and threw her in a dungeon for stealing the love of a pony. What could she say in her defence? “It was an accident”? No, they wouldn’t accept that, and… she wouldn’t either.

‘I promised myself I wouldn’t hurt another pony...’ She kept silent, dropping her head, the desperation in her head turned in resignation. A few strands of mane covered her eyes.

“Alice?” Was her mind playing with her? She could swear that the guard that had entered the bathroom sounded like- “Darling, are you alright in there?”

“R-Rarity?” Apparently, her last attempt to turn back into a pony wasn’t a total failure. Alice’s voice sounded normal, like her usual ponyself, without buzzing like an insect. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t wanted to harm that pegasus. It’s just… I couldn’t…” She said between sobs, “Please, don’t hate me.”

“Darling, why would I hate you? It was an accident and there’s nothing to be sorry about.” Rarity said in a reassuring tone of voice from the other side of the door.

“But… that pegasus. I-”

“Nothing bad happened to Derpy.” Rarity reassured again. The bathroom was silent for a moment, so Rarity decided to keep talking. “We got really worried when Derpy collapsed but Derpy is fine. She just felt a bit dizzy after the… short encounter.”

“But I-”

“I’m sorry, Alice.” That caught Alice off guard. Why would Rarity apologize? “You told me that you were afraid of crowds of ponies, and I insisted that you stay at the party anyway.” Right, the lie, “I’m really sorry, this must have been such a bad experience for you. Take your time to calm down. I’ll wait until you feel better. After that, we can go back to the boutique.”

“But… I did something to that pegasus. And what about the guards? I mean, won’t they-”

“Relax, darling. As I told you, Derpy is fine.” Rarity interrupted. “And I talked with those guards. I know they have to keep an eye for any kind of problem that might appear while guarding one the new princess, but they overreacted right there. Don’t worry about them, Twilight is talking to her guards. And...” Rarity trailed off for a moment, but continued almost instantly. “I already explained to the girls about your fear and that I would take care of the situation. I hope that’s okay with you, maybe you wanted to be the one to tell them that. I needed to tell them so I could explain your behaviour.”

“No, thanks for that, Rarity.” Not exactly for telling the others her little lie, but for saving her from the encounter with the guards. It was nice to have a… a friend by her side.

They kept silent. Rarity stood next to the door, waiting for Alice to come out. Alice took her time, she took a few deep breaths that helped her get her mind back to a normal state. When she finally felt better, Alice was about to cast her green flames, just stopping a second before it.

“Rarity, could you bring me something to drink? Anything is fine, I just need something…”

“Of course, darling. I’ll be back in a second.”

Alice listened the hoofsteps getting away from the stall, moving to the direction of the bathroom entrance. After she heard the door closing, she gathered energy in the tip of her horn. A strong green light covered the stall. When the light faded out, Alice took a look at her body. The cream coat was back and without holes in her legs. Her red saw cutie mark was back on her flanks. She brought one hoof to her head, there wasn’t sign of fangs or a horn.

Hesitantly, Alice opened the stalls door. The mirror at the other side of the room showed an earth pony, which made Alice sigh in relief. Walking slowly out of the stall, Alice took a look around her; she was alone. No sign of guards, no sign of other ponies, no sign of Rarity.

Now that she was back in her casual form, she felt secure... And she felt guilty. She had to apologize to that pegasus. Obviously, she couldn’t say “Hey, I’m sorry I drained some of your love. I couldn’t help it, being a vampire of feelings and that.” So just an apology for pushing her would have to do.

The grind of the door caught Alice attention. She turned her head to see a white unicorn walking towards her, holding a glass of juice with her magic. “Here you go, darling.” Rarity said with a smile on her face, levitating the glass next to Alice so she could hold it with her own hooves.

“Thanks,” was all Alice said, grabbing the juice. She drank it slowly, with a downcast expression that Rarity noticed. Rarity walked to Alice and took her in a hug that surprised the cream coated mare. The surprise moved to the side, to let happiness and security take place.

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes.” Alice slowly pulled away from the hug. She drank the rest of the juice in one go, it wasn’t as tasty as what Rarity had just gave her. “I think I have partied enough.”

“Yes, of course. Let’s get out and say a quick goodbye to the girls, and don’t forget to thank Pinkie for the party.” Rarity lead the way to the door, opening it with her magic.

The party had calmed down, there were a few ponies still chatting, but it seemed that a good number had already left. In one corner of the shop, Alice saw the purple alicorn talking with two of her guards. One of them locked eyes with Alice when she and Rarity walked out of the bathroom. Alice immediately looked away, changing her focus to the snack table, where some of Rarity’s friends were chatting. Fluttershy was currently taking care of a gray coated pegasus next to the group.

Rarity walked up to them while Alice stood in place, watching the pegasus that was laying over a few pillows. After a short talk and some hugs, Rarity signaled Alice to approach the group, which she did slowly.

“Hey, thanks for everything, especially to you, Pinkie Pie.” Alice said with a smile.

“No problemo, Alice. I hope you enjoyed everything, well, except for the bathroom incident. I mean, why were those meanie guards even trying to go in the little fillies room. If they wanted to go, they should have used the colt’s bathroom.” Pinkie crossed her hooves and finished with a nod.

“Pinkie, Ah already told ya that… Never mind,” Applejack turned to look at Alice. “Ah have ta say, Ah was about to go mah self and pull you out of there when ah heard ya did somethin’ to Derpy.” Applejack pointed at the named pegasus. “But Rarity told me about your little problem, and it seems nothing serious really happened.”

Alice looked down at her hooves, her ears pressing against her head. “I know. I’m really sorry, I couldn’t help it. I just… I just… I’m sorry.”

Rainbow patted Alice in the back. “Hey, don’t worry, we aren’t mad. But you should apologize to the other pony.”

“Yes, I will do that.” Alice walked up to Fluttershy and Derpy. She stood in front of the pegasus, thinking of what to say, when she saw something that made her chest go hollow, her eyes shooting wide open.

‘Oh no, Did I… Is this my fault? Her eyes are... But I have never seen something like this happen before. I-’

“Hey there.” Derpy interrupted Alice train of thoughts. “Sorry I caused some problems for you with the guards. I just felt a bit dizzy. And with the way my eyes are, I couldn’t help but trip over my hooves, like always.”

Alice relaxed a bit, happy to know she hadn’t caused any serious problem to the pegasus. “No, I’m sorry for pushing you, I just… I just…”

“Really needed to use the bathroom?” Derpy said with a chuckle.

Alice smiled. “Yeah, you could say that.” She sighed. “It was a pleasure to meet you,” she looked at the group, “to meet all of you, but I guess is time to take my leave.” She focused her eyes on the white unicorn. “Rarity, I’ll be going.”

“I’ll be with you in a second, Alice. I’m just going to talk something with the girls.”

Alice nodded and made her way to the exit. She took a quick glance at the ponies who had shared hours of fun with her. When was the last time she had enjoyed a day with other ponies? Right, way before leaving Canterlot, her fears of being discovered and hated had created a wall between her and others. Today, those fears had been banished momentarily, but reappeared the second she made contact with the pegasus. That moment in which she was in the bathroom and the Ro-

Alice collided with something, or more precisely, someone. She shook her head. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention where I…” She trailed off, pupils shrinking to little dots.

Two Royal guards, both of them earth ponies, were standing in front of Alice, and she had collided with one of them. She took a step back. “Ma’am,” the guard in the left started. “We want to apologize for our behaviour. We overreacted, with the bangging and the yelling.” He finished, taking a look back. Twilight stood a few meters behind the guards, with a serious expression. She signaled something, which made the first guard look at his fellow guard, an earth pony, who hadn’t said anything yet.

He was just standing there, his eyes locked in Alice. The first guard elbowed the second in the ribs, which pulled the earth pony out from his trance. “Uh, Yes, we are sorry.” He said, keeping his eyes on Alice.

That look Alice was receiving, she couldn’t help but shudder. Thankfully, Rarity appeared just in time next to her, “Alice, let’s go.” She said before turning to the guards. “Gentlecolts,” she said with nod before the two mares moved to where Twilight was, giving a quick hug to her friend, Alice just shook hooves. They walked out the bakery, moving in the direction of the boutique. The second guard keep looking at Alice as she walked away.

“Hey, pal, stop staring so much at that mares flank, you’re on duty.” The first guard said.

“Huh? No, that’s not it. I just… I have seen that mare before.” He rubbed his chin, “Princess Twilight’s friend called her Alice, Right?”

“Yes, what about that?”

“Nothing special.” ‘I have only heard that name once before, but I don’t remember exactly where. I’ll have to investigate a little.’ With that, the two guards returned to their positions until their Princess was ready to leave the place.

Alice and Rarity walked side to side as they made their way to the boutique. The earth pony took quick glance back at the bakery. At least four more royal guards were watching the surroundings of the store. Alice was happy to get away from there. The guards were to her like clowns are to certain ponies, a nightmare. And she was so close to live that nightmare. But thankfully, Rarity was there. Her friend, the pony that saved her from… from… Who knows what might had happened if Rarity wasn’t there.

Rarity had done so much for her. She gave her a roof for the night and fed her, with love and real food. Even after the incident, she had to admit that she had lot’s of fun during the party, the most fun she had had in a long, long time.

“Alice?” Rarity said, snapping Alice from her thoughts. Apparently, she had been staring intently at the unicorn for a while now. She shook her head and saw that they were already standing outside the boutique.

“Sorry,” a little tint of pink adorned her face. “I guess I will just take my things and leave. I just need to take my saddlebags.” Alice tried to go inside the building, but Rarity was in the way. “Ummm, Rarity?”

“Alice,” Rarity looked her right in the eyes. “Please, stay here with me.”

The tint of pink got a shade darker, “S-stay with you?” Her heartbeat quickened. “Y-you want me to stay here with you?”

“Of course, darling. I can’t let you go when the sun is about to set.”

They both looked at the horizon. It was a matter of minutes before the sun gave place to the moon, and with it, the night.

“Oh, right,” Alice said with a sheepish laugh. “I guess I can stay for another night.” ‘Am I crazy? After what just happened today? I can’t stay any longer, it’s way too risky.’ She looked at Rarity, who kept her eyes focused in the horizon. The light coming from the sunset brightened Rarity’s eyes and enhanced her coat’s pristine look. ‘One more day won’t hurt.’

“Perfect.”

Dresses.

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“Perfect.” Rarity said with a grin. “Then let’s go inside, shall we?” Rarity opened the door with her magic and stood to the side to let Alice enter first.

“Thanks for letting me stay, again.”

“Don’t mention it, darling, it will be good for both of us. Without Sweetie Belle here, this place just feels so empty. That’s why I got Opal in the first place.”

“Opal?” Alice asked.

Rarity turned and looked at Alice. “Yes, Opal, my cat.”

“You have a cat?”

“Oh my, I didn’t showed her to you yesterday?” Alice just shook her head. “I can’t believe I totally forgot to present her to you.” Rarity walked in the direction of the stairs. “Come on, Alice, I believe Opal must be sleeping in my bedroom.”

Alice followed swiftly after Rarity. ‘Rarity’s room,’ Alice just wondered why her heart was beating faster. As they walked upstairs, the tip of Rarity’s tail touched Alice snout, making a sweet fragrance fill Alice nostrils. ‘What’s wrong with my heart?’ She shook her head, but the scent of Rarity’s tail just wouldn’t leave her nose.

They finally reached Rarity’s room. The unicorn, with her magic, opened the door. “Opal likes to stay the most part of the day here in this room, and because I didn’t gave you the full tour yesterday around the boutique, I suppose there wasn’t a chance for you to meet her.” Rarity got inside the room and started to look after her cat. “Where could she be hiding?”

Alice walked inside the room, and looked all the objects that composed the unicorns room. Apart from there being the usual things that should be in a bedroom, like the bed, a night table, a mirror, a wardrobe and others, there were other things like a few sketches of dresses and some ponyquins around the room. Everything was incredible organized and clean, except for a few scraps of clothes that were lying on the ground. Alice walked up to them to pick them up, but before she could do that...

“Waaa!” Alice shouted in surprise, backing next to a table, as the she saw the clothes in the floor move.

“What’s wrong, Alice?” Rarity asked, looking at Alice that was pointing at the… thing on the floor. “Oh no, Opal!” Rarity used her magic, and from inside the scraps of clothes, emerged a white cat that looked kind of grumpy. “What did you do to my Marc Jacolts scarf?” Rarity walked to the pile of what used to be a very beautiful scarf, still holding Opal with her magic. “Just for that, Momma won’t brush your fur for two days.” Rarity said, at which Opal just seemed indifferent.

Rarity let go of Opal. The cat walked up to where Alice was standing and got over the table. She looked at the earth pony for a second before hissing and running to the door, causing a few papers over the table to fall to the floor.

“I think Opal doesn’t like me.” Alice said, looking at the cats route of escape.

“Don’t worry about that, Darling,” Rarity moved to the table and started lo lift the papers that had fallen to the floor. “She just acts like that with each new pony she meets. It takes time to get in her good side, a lot of…” Rarity trailed off when she picked up one of the papers, “Oh no,” She said barely audible before turning around and leaving the bedroom.

“Rarity!” Alice quickly followed after the unicorn down the corridor, in the direction of other room she hadn’t seen the day before.

“Oh my! Oh my! I completely forgot about it!” Alice heard Rarity saying as the unicorn entered the new room. Alice got inside as well, but stopped in awe as her eyes digested what was around her.

In Rarity’s room, there were a few sketches and ponyquins, but this room, it was filled with ponyquins in a vast variation of dresses, sketches covered the walls, a pair of sewing machines at one corner of the room, and a few shelves filled with bolts of cloths, threads of different colors, boxes full of little ornaments and a vault with so many kinds of jewels.

This made Alice remember her little workshop in Canterlot, tons of little statues in the walls, sketches with new ideas for toys, different kinds of wood sampling in one corner of the shop and a few machines that made her work easier.

In the middle of this room, stood a ponyquin that was wearing a navy blue cocktail dress with white flowers around the waist and frills at the end of the skirt. Rarity was pacing around this dress. “No, no, no, no.” The unicorn mumbled as she changed the angle from where she looked at the dress.

“Rarity, what’s wrong?” She walked up to the center of the room.

“Oh!” Rarity said with a bit of surprise, “Alice, I’m sorry, but I won’t be a good host for the rest of the night.”

“What’s wrong, Rarity?” Alice asked with a bit of concern.

“I totally forgot, Alice,” Rarity brought one hoof to her temple. “That paper, it was an order, I was supposed to finish two matching dresses for tomorrow, but I completely forgot about them. I was too busy with you and the party.”

Alice ears folded back, “I’m sorry for keeping you away from your job.”

Rarity put a hoof on Alice shoulder, a smile adorning her face. “Darling, you really apologize a lot. I just have to work extra hard this night if I want to make it,” Rarity sighed, “but I don’t know if I will make it on time. I struggled so much yesterday with this dress,” she gestured at the one in the center of the room, “but I just can’t get it right. I have tried but I just can’t get past this… artistic block. I don’t know what-”

“Let me help you.”

“What?”

“I could help you with these, I could help you finish them. It’s the least I could do for… everything.” Alice said quite cheery.

“I… I don’t…” Rarity halted as she remembered the way Alice had talked about her dresses last night. She knew Alice had a kind eye for the details, and just with the little statue and the three badges Rarity had seen, she knew that Alice could provide the creativity she was missing at the moment. But she sighed, “Alice, I don’t want to impose on you-”

“Please, Rarity, let me help you. I just wish I can be useful, I don’t have experience with this.” She looked directly at the unicorn.

Rarity, apart from seeing her reflection in those blue eyes, saw determination. “Very well, darling,” she returned her attention to the dress in the middle of the room. “This dress is almost complete, but… it doesn’t have that little spark, and I’m afraid as it is right now, it won’t be enough to fulfill the clients expectations.”

Alice started to move around the dress, not moving her eyes away from it. In her time living in Canterlot, a few of the high class ponies had asked her to make a real size statue of themselves, and fewer times have they asked to make it with a dazzling dress, and each time, she had managed to achieve the clients expectations. That’s the most experience she had ever had with something like this, but it was what she needed. Visualising the ponyquin as if it was one of her works, she could see what Rarity meant with the missing spark.

With a grin on her face, she turned back to look at Rarity, “I know what this dress is missing, just lent me a paper and a pencil.” Rarity complied immediately and grabbed the objects with her magic. She gave them to Alice, who started to make a rough sketch of the dress, writing a few annotations in certain parts. When she finished, she showed it to Rarity.

Rarity took a moment to see the drawing, another to read the little annotations with the changes that Alice suggested, that while Alice watched a bit nervous. Rarity finally looked up at Alice and gave herself a unlady like facehoof.

“You… you didn’t like it? I’m sorry, I don’t really have much experience with this kind of thing.” Alice said quite sadly.

“No, darling, that’s not it,” she lifted the paper, “this is magnificent, changing the form of the neck, adjusting the waist and removing the frills from the front. I just can’t believe I didn’t see it before, it will look so much better. It could seem like just some minor details without importance, but when you take it all as a whole, it makes a big difference. Actually, this just gave me a few more ideas to improve it even more, my mind is now saturated with fresh ideas.”

Alice smiled happily, she had helped Rarity with her block. “I’m happy that I helped, I think you can take care of what’s left to-”

“Wait, darling, I still need your help. Would you mind assisting me making the changes to this dress, and, designing the new dress that’s supposed to match this one.”

“Designing a dress from zero? I don’t know if I could. You probably have now better ideas of what to do than whatever I can come u-”

Rarity interrupted Alice as she grabbed the cream hoof between her white ones. “You can, Alice. I do have some good ideas, but … I want to see what magnificent creation you might come up with, I just hope I’m not being too… pushy.”

Alice looked at her hoof that was being held by Rarity. Her heart was going faster and her muzzle was getting hotter. “I-I… I will try.”

Rarity smiled brightly, “then let’s begin.”

Both of them started to work in the navy blue dress, but after a moment, Rarity decided to take care of it by herself. Alice was doing a good job, but Rarity wanted to give Alice enough time to come up with a design that most likely would leave her speechless. It didn’t took long for Rarity to make all the adjustments that Alice had indicated in the sketch and a few more of her own ideas. She took a few steps back to look up the result.

“This is… is… magnifique!” Rarity made a little dance in delight, then turned to look at her friend. Alice was still drawing, her face wore an expression of complete concentration, kind of ‘cute.’ Rarity sat to the side of the table where Alice was working, a smile on her face, silently watching how the other mare struggled.

A few minutes passed before Alice dropped the pencil she had in her mouth. To her eyes, it looked good, but would Rarity like it? She turned her head to look for the unicorn, task that was quickly accomplished. “Oh! Rarity, I-I just finished.”

Rarity just smiled as a light glow showed around her horn and the paper Alice was working in. She brought it to eye level and took her time to examine the draw. It was an impressive design, not perfect, but very good for being the first time. “This is amazing, Alice, but if you don’t mind, could I make a few adjustments to it?” Alice nodded and Rarity started to make some adjustments.

When she was done, Rarity grabbed the bolts of cloth needed for the dress and a pair of scissors to start working on it, a few improvements were made midway. They worked side by side, Alice helping with whichever way she could and Rarity doing most of the job as she was the one with the experience and the magic. Alice help surely made the job go faster and… more enjoyable.

The dress took form, it just needed a few adjustments and add some details. Rarity was about to put the dress in one of her ponyquins when an idea formed in her mind. “Alice, would you mind modeling for me?”

“W-what?”

“I would like you to put on this dress, that would help me see if there’s something that needs to be fixed.”

Alice had her doubts, but all of them seemed to turn into nothing when she locked eyes with the fashionista. “O-Okay, if that helps you.”

Rarity smiled as she grabbed the dress with her magic and helped Alice put it on. Alice closed her eyes while the dress set around her. She was quite nervous, this was the first time she had put on a dress, would she look good? Would Rarity think she looked good? Why was the second question more important to her than the first one? With everything in place, Rarity stopped her magic and gave a few steps back.

She was surprised of how amazing Alice looked right now. She stood a moment to admire the mare. If Alice looked this good with this dress, how would she look with a finished dress? Or, one designed specifically for her. Rarity caught sight that Alice was shifting uncomfortably under her gaze, so she forced herself to continue with the work.

Alice stood still while Rarity worked on the dress. The unicorn being so gentle and careful, Alice felt the soft touches over the fabric, a few of them around her flank, but they were just attempts of Rarity trying not to poke Alice with the needle. Alice was nervous that Rarity would hear the wild beating of her heart, that turned even wilder when she managed to feel Rarity’s breath against her..

“Just one last stitch here and… Perfect!” A cocktail dress with V neck and a length that completely covered the flank, made of a beautiful light green chiffon, with a few frills around the waist. Rarity took the full picture of the mare in dress. She used her magic to bring a mirror so Alice could see herself, while Alice waited with closed eyes.

Slowly, Alice opened one of her eyes. “Rarity, this is incredible!” She said while Turning around and giggling as she admired her reflection in the mirror.

“Amazing,” Rarity just couldn’t stop watching the other mare. It was a pity the show would have to end. She made a mental note to make Alice her own dress, as this one was for a client. She helped the mare out from the dress and put it on one ponyquin.

Rarity moved the ponyquin with the new dress next to the first one, admiring her and Alice’s job. She took a deep breath, turned to look at Alice, and hugged her. “You are so amazing. I would be freaking out right now, thinking different ways to apologize with the client. Without your help, I don’t think I would had managed to finish this.” She added a bit more of strenght to the hug. “Thank you.”

Alice was surprised at first, ‘I’m amazing?’ This was the first time anypony had said that to her. Her body was rigid, but slowly, she let it enjoy the moment. She placed her own hooves around Rarity’s torso, feeling the soft and warm coat against her own. In that position, Alice nose was just half inch from Rarity’s mane, and with each breath she took, her mind drowned in that sweet scent from earlier. This hug was better than the one at the party, so much affection overflowed from the unicorn right now.

Rarity opened her eyes and looked through one of the windows in the room. How curious, the sun was still setting at the horizont, how is that even possi- Wait a second, the sun wasn’t setting, it was rising.

“Oh my!” Rarity pulled away from the hug, “I can’t believe we stood awake the whole night, it just felt like a few hours had pass...” She lifted a hoof to cover her mouth as a yawn attempted to escape. “I think we deserve a good nap.”

Rarity’s yawn spread like a virus, as Alice got affected by it. “Yes, a nap right now sounds perfect.”

“Then go ahead to the guest room, darling. I will just organize a few things before moving to my ro-” a growl from her stomach interrupted her. She smiled sheepishly, “I think I will eat something before heading to bed. What about you, Alice, are you hungry?”

No, she wasn’t, after that moment with Rarity, she wouldn’t feel hunger for at least a month. Alice shook her head, “I’m more tired than hungry. I’ll see you later, Rarity.” She walked to the door and made her way to her temporary room. She just closed the curtains and flopped on the bed. ‘She thinks I’m amazing,’ she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The time has come. Today, is the day of your test.” The black figure got closer, “you better not disappoint me.”

“I won’t, mother.” The little black figure answered.

The larger walked away, “then go, everything has been prepared for you. Gather as much love as you can, then come back. And don’t forget. They. Are. Food.”

“Yes, mother.” With a little bow, she retreated from the dark room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Catch me if you can, daddy!” The little filly was running through the flowers

“Hahaha, you can’t escape from me.” A stallion said as he followed his daughter. The stallion stopped to catch his breath.

“Haha, you can’t catch me, daddy.” The little filly said cockily.

“I guess you are right, I will need reinforcements.”

“Reinforce- Waaa!!” The filly shouted when a pair of hooves grabbed her from behind. The little filly looked up to see a grown mare smiling at her. “Mom! Don’t help daddy!” She said with a frown.

“Sorry, sweetie, but you have played enough. Let’s go inside to eat.” The mare talked with a sweet, silky voice.

“But I’m not hungry!”

“You always say that you are not hungry,” The stallion had got closer to his wife and daughter, “but you always devour it like you have been starving for weeks.” He shared a small laugh with his wife, then nuzzled her and the filly. “Come on, we can play again tomorrow.”

The filly smiled. “Yay! I love you dad! I love you mom!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You! What did you do to our daughter?!” The stallion shouted as his wife cried behind him.

“Daddy, I… I’m-” Before the black little creature could finish, the stallion had used his magic to knock her back.

“Don’t call me Daddy! You are not my daughter! You are a monster!” He stomped his hoof against the floor, a crack appearing on it. “What did you do to her?! Where is she?!”

“I… I… I’m sorry.” The black creature ran away.

“What did you do to my daughter?!!” The stallion shouted before dropping his head, his jaw clenched and a single tear falling next to where his wife was wailing on the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I don’t want to keep doing this!” The black creature finally found the strength to say it.

“I had big plans for you, but you dissapoint me. You are weak! A disgrace to our race! Get out of here and never come back!”

The little black creature felt how her link to the hive mind had been severed, she was now on her own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Help!!!” The creature had its back against a rocky wall.

‘BOOMMM!!!’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There’s another one of those monsters!” One of the royal guards shouted.

“No! I-I’m not like-”

“Shut up! We will show you what you get when you invade our homes and try control us!” Other guard shouted, they were getting closer to the black creature.

“NO!” It ran away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You… you were using me.” A white unicorn said.

“It’s not like that! I-”

“You are a changeling, you are a monster.”

“No! Rarity! Please…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Rarity!” Alice eyes shot wide open. As she looked around, she saw that she was in the guest room, her temporary room. She saw the clock on the wall, it read quarter to one. She stood from the bed to see that her whole body was covered in sweat. That dream, it was… it was… A tear popped from her eye and made it’s way to her chin, where it later fell to the floor.

Alice saw her saddlebags at one corner of the room. She slowly walked to it and opened them. Inside where her tools, she usually started to work on something when she felt uneasy, but there were moments when that wasn’t enough. She kept searching inside the bag until she found the little wooden box. She took it out and opened it.

There were three things inside, a piece of wood with the shape of a fang, a little statuette of herself, her true self, and a picture. She took the picture out of the box. There was a little unicorn filly with light blue coat and golden hair, she was standing between two older unicorns. A mare to the right side, with blue coat and gray mane and a stallion to the left, with brown coat and golden mane.

That picture helped her feel better. ‘I’m sorry,’ she took a deep breath, scenes of the dream crossed her mind.

‘Rarity...’ The dream, the thought of the unicorn discovering her identity and calling her a monster, that thought made her heart ache. It hurt more than when she had to leave Canterlot, more than when she had to leave the hive, more than… than any other moment in her life.

I chose.

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Why, why, why, WHY?! Alice just didn’t know. She put her front hooves on her temples as she continued with the questions. Why did the thought of Rarity discovering her secret hurt so much? And why did it hurt more than anything she had felt before? She had just known her for a little less than two days. Was it because Rarity had given her a place to stay? Was it because she had fed her when she was starving for affection? Why, why, why, WHY?!

This was something that hadn’t happened since that time with her fam… with that family. While living in Canterlot, she hadn’t felt something like this for anyone there. She had kept her distance from the ponies there, and ponies there made it easy for her as they were busy with their own business.

But Rarity… the moment the unicorn saw her sleeping in the street, the moment Rarity insisted on Alice spending the night in the boutique. ‘She is so kind, so friendly, so generous, so beautif-’
She stopped her thinking as the whys had just been answered. She had fallen in love with the pristine unicorn. ‘I got too close to her.’

She took that old picture and put it back in the little box, along with the statuette and the fang. She then grabbed her saddlebags and put the box inside. With the saddlebags on her back, she made her way to the door. It was time to leave. In the hall, Alice noticed that the door to Rarity’s inspiration room was opened. She walked there, expecting to meet with the unicorn. She had to say goodbye.

She stopped again, and again, she felt her heart ache. Saying goodbye to Rarity, a goodbye that would mean forever. There was a part of her that didn’t wanted to leave, but another part of her shouted that she didn’t belong here. She wasn’t a pony and it would be just matter of time for her to be discovered. After what had happened in Canterlot, she had decided to keep moving and to never stay in one place.

Sighing, she resumed her walk to Rarity’s inspiration room. “Rarity?” She called when she entered the room, but it was empty. A quick look around was enough to see that something was missing, two somethings. The pair of dresses in which she and Rarity had worked last night and this morning. ‘You are amazing.’ Rarity’s words echoed in her mind.

Shaking her head and trying not to think more about it, she made her way to look for Rarity in the boutique. She knocked at Rarity’s room, but there came no answer, so she decided to move her search to the first floor. “Rarity!” She called again, and again, there came no answer. She moved to the kitchen, and there, she saw a little note attached to the fridge.

Alice,
Something urgent happened so I have to go and deliver the dresses to the client, it’ll probably take the whole afternoon. I’m sorry for leaving you alone. If you’re hungry, feel free to eat anything you want from the fridge.
Rarity.

Alice sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck. ‘I’m not really hungry. I could travel for at least two weeks without feeling the need for more love.’ There was nothing stopping her from leaving. Alice stood there silently for a moment. She had her saddlebags on her back and her cart was waiting for her outside.

She really wanted to see Rarity one last time before leaving. She wanted to thank her and give her one last hug.She had stayed in Ponyville way longer than intended. What was originally just a stop to gather enough love to move to the next location, had surely become a time she would appreciate for the rest of her life.

Alice walked out of the kitchen, in the direction of the boutique entrance, but not before leaving a note saying: ‘Thank you for everything’. Alice opened the door, stepped outside and turned to close it, but stopped just a second before. Was it okay to leave the house without someone looking after it? She didn’t have the keys to lock the door, What if something happened to the boutique between the time she would leave and before Rarity came back.

Alice shook her head, she was just making an excuse to stay a bit more, but that was a no. She had to leave before-

“Hello, Alice.”

“Waaaa!” Alice did a small jump in surprise after hearing the new voice. She turned around, while using one hoof to control her hammering heart, to see one of Rarity’s friend, the lavender Alicorn.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t wanted to startle you.”

“It’s… It’s okay.” Alice took a few breaths to calm herself, but it was hard when she realized she was talking with the new princess of Equestria, the one that was followed by royal guards.

“Are you alright? You look a bit pale.” Twilight got closer as she tried to find any signs of sickness on the earth pony.

“Y-yes, I’m fine, ummm, Princess Twilight.” She said with a little bow.

“Please, just call me Twilight. I still feel a bit uncomfortable when ponies call me that.”

“Alright, Twilight.” Twilight smiled. “I’m fine, it’s just, ummm…” Alice looked around, hoping to see the a few guards looking at her with icy glares, but there was none. “Huh? Shouldn’t there be guards, ummm, guarding you?”

“Well, after that little incident yesterday at the party, I had a little talk with them. You see, I have confronted evil unicorns, a god of chaos, and swarms of love sucking monsters,” Alice winced at that last one, but Twilight didn’t noticed. “And each time I have managed to deal with them, I mean, with the help of my friends, so there’s not really need for a group of guards looking after me each moment of the day.”

“So, there are no guards…” Alice trailed off.

“Not exactly. I made a deal with them, there will be only two royal guards here in Ponyville, but they won’t be following me around. They will keep an eye on the area, making sure everything is peaceful, and in case something happens, I gave them a quick communication spell to contact Canterlot. I don’t really think there’s a need for that, as the only problems around here are the ones me and my friends cause.” Twilight gave a hearty laugh and then looked how the color returned to Alice face. “That was a bad experience with the guards yesterday for you, I suppose.”

“I… Yeah.” There was silence between the two of them for a moment.

“Well, it was nice to see you, Alice.” Twilight said as she moved past Alice, knocking at the open door.

“Are you looking for Rarity?”

Twilight turned. “Yes, I wanted to talk to her and see if…” A small smile appeared on her mouth. “If she could recommend me a good restaurant, you know, to take Fluttershy in a proper date.”

Alice could feel great amounts of love emanating from the Alicorn, and thankfully, she had absorbed enough free love that she no longer would lose control with this levels of affection.

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but Rarity isn’t at home. She had to go for the afternoon, you will have to wait until this evening, or ask her tomorrow.”

Twilight frowned, “I will have to wait until tomorrow. I have to go and do a few errands later in the day.” She changed the frown to a smile. “Well, Alice, I’ll see you later.” She started to move away.

“I don’t think we will see each other again.” Alice said in a whisper.

Twilight stopped and looked back. “What do you mean?”

“Right, we barely spoke yesterday, we just exchanged a few words.” Alice looked in the direction where her cart was parked. “I’m going to leave Ponyville today and continue with my travel.”

“Oh, so Ponyville was just a breakpoint in your journey. And where are you going?”

“I… I don’t really know, I don’t have a destination, I just… move from place to place.”

“Are you looking for something, or maybe someone?” Twilight asked kind of excited to hear the adventures of this pony.

“N-not really, I just… I just can’t stay here.” Alice wondered why was she being so open right now. She would normally never tell this things to anyone.

“Huh? Why not? You don’t like it here?”

“That’s not it, it’s the complete opposite.” Alice started to shake a little. “The time I have spent here has been the happiest in a long time. But… but I don’t belong here.” She dropped her head.

“Where do you belong then?”

Alice shook her head. “I… I don’t know. Maybe, maybe nowhere.”

“Why are you saying that?” Twilight put a hoof on Alice shoulder. “Everypony belongs somewhere. You can choose where you belong.”

“I… I-” Twilight interrupted alice before she could say anything.

“When I first arrived to Ponyville, I came with the intentions of fulfilling a mission. I had planned to just, ummm, save Equestria and return to my home, to Canterlot. But when that was over, I just couldn’t say goodbye to the ponies I had met here, even if I had just know them for a day. So I chose to stay here, I chose to belong here.”

‘But I’m not like you. I’m not like any other pony around here, I’m not a pony at all.’ Alice thought as she kept looking at the ground. The silence extended for moment, until Twilight broke it again.

“Alice, you seem conflicted. Just by looking at you, I can see that you don’t want to leave. You want to stay, but I think you are afraid that something might happen, and that's why you say that you have to leave. You yourself said that this has been the happiest time of your life. There’s a reason why you are happy here. I want you to think about that reason, there’s no need to tell me what it is. Just close your eyes, and think.”

Alice closed her eyes and thought about what had made her so happy in here. ‘Rarity...’

Twilight saw a small smile appear on Alice face. “Alice, if you leave, there’s a chance you won’t find that happiness again. It’s your life, you choose what to do. If you want to leave, well, I won’t stop you, but, do not miss the opportunities life gives you, because the day will come that you will regret it. Just… give it some thought.” Twilight turned and walked away, not looking back at Alice.

‘That. Was. So. Amazing! “You can choose where you belong?” “I chose to stay here, I chose to belong here?” Where did all that come from? That was so cool, I was just like Princess Celestia.’ Twilight squealed in joy. ‘This week’s letter to the Princess will be so great.’ Twilight continued to walk away. ‘I chose to stay here, and thanks to that I’m together with Fluttershy now.’ Twilight smiled. ‘I will buy her some flowers.’

Back in the boutique’s entrance, Alice was giving some thought to what Twilight had just told her. ‘“Do not miss the opportunities life gives you, because the day will come that you will regret it? You could say the same might happen if I stay here, if someone discovers what I really am. The day will come that I will regret it.’ Alice closed the door and walked to her cart.

A few lamp posts illuminated Rarity’s walk as she made her way back to the boutique.She was exhausted due to the lack of sleep from finishing the dresses and the long journey of the day. She just wanted to return home, relax with a good cup of tea and maybe have a little talk with Alice. She sure wanted to tell the earth pony how much this client had loved the dresses she and Alice had done.

She finally got close to her home, but the lights weren’t on as she was expecting them to be. Rarity used her magic to open the door and get inside, “Alice?” She called as she turn on the lights from the first floor. Silence wasn’t the answer she got, but neither was the voice of a pony.

Opal mewled as she popped her head out from the kitchen entrance.

“Oh, my poor Opal, you haven’t eaten since I left.” Rarity walked to the kitchen and looked for the bag of cat food, a special mark as nothing else seemed to be of Opal’s taste. She took the bag with her magic and poured a bit in an empty plate, next to this one she poured a bit of milk in another one. She put the bag and the milk back in their respective places. As she was about to leave the kitchen, a little piece of paper over the table caught her attention.

She grabbed it with her magic. “Thank you for everything,” she read. Rarity sat there where she was standing, reading the note one more time. ‘She left,’ she thought, feeling a bit sad, or at least she thought it was just a bit. She knew Alice would leave, but not that she would leave without saying goodbye, or where she was going. ‘I would have liked to take her to the spa with me. Have her model for me one more time and make her a dress.’ Rarity sighed. “I really wish she had stayed for at least one more day.”

“Who, me?” Asked a voice from behind Rarity.

Rarity turned her head, a big smile showing in her face as she saw who it was. “Alice!” She moved to give her a ribcage breaking hug comparable to the ones given by Pinkie Pie, and after a few seconds, she pulled out with a blush on her face as this wasn’t a very lady like action. “Sorry, I… I thought you had left.” She said, gesturing to the piece of note.

“Oh, that. Yes, I was planning to leave this afternoon, but after a lot of thought, I just, ummm, didn’t really wanted to leave. So, would it be alright if I stayed with you a bit longer?”

“Darling, you can stay as long as you want.”

“Is there really no problem if-”

“There’s no problem at all, your company this two days has been really delightful.” Rarity placed one hoof over one of Alice. “I’m really happy you decided to stay.”

Alice smiled, her heart pounding faster. “Thanks, Rarity. I… I don’t want to be a bother, I will pay you rent until I have enough bits to get my own place. I-I-”

“Alice, you are not a bother, and I won't charge you for staying here.” Alice was about to protest, but Rarity didn’t let her. “What kind of friend would I be if I did that.”

Friend, that word made Alice happy just as much as made her uneasy. “But,” Rarity continued, “if you want to pay me in some way, you could always model for me.” She said with a wink. “now, I’m feeling famished. I will prepare something for us.”

“Okay, but I will go and clean myself first, I got a bit dirty working on something this afternoon.” Alice went up the stairs while Rarity started supper. Rarity opened the fridge and pulled out a few ingredients she needed to prepare a good salad, that while humming a song, something she did when she was really happy.

In the second floor, Alice just finished cleaning herself and moved to the guest room. She took her saddlebags from her back and put them gently on the floor. She opened them and pulled out her little treasure box. Opening it, she pulled out her fourth and newest treasure. A little statuette of a unicorn with a stylish mane and a trinity of diamonds as cutie mark. She set the little statuette on the night table.

“Alice!” Rarity called from downstairs, “Supper is ready.”

“Coming,” Alice walked happily to the first floor and sat next to Rarity, “So, how was your trip?”

“Exhausting and fantastic. The client loved our dresses~” They kept a friendly talk for the rest of the night.

The record room. Guards from Canterlot had to keep records from each job they were assigned to, and each of them was stored in this room. The room kept all the documentation, from just a simple spat between ponies, to major incidents like when Discord broke free. The room only kept documents from the last five years, the older were moved to a different room.

“Come on, Iron. You have been reading folder after folder since we came back from Ponyville. It’s been two days, you should take a break. Come on, let’s buy some drinks, on my tab.” One guard say to his partner.

“Later, Stone, I’m busy right now.”

“Busy with what? Reading records from…” He grabbed one of the documents to see the date. “Almost a year ago? What are you trying to find.”

“It’s just something that’s been stuck in my head.”

“You mean that Alice? Damn man, you sure fell hard for that mare.”

“I did not fall for anyone.” Iron said, hitting Stone with one hoof.

“Yeah, yeah.” He rubbed his shoulder. “But what does that have to do with the records?”

“There’s just something… I have heard that name before, or more precisely, I have read it. I think it must be from one of this records.” He closed the one he had between his hooves and placed it in a pile with the other folders he had already read.

Stone sighed, “Well, I’m going out for a drink, see you later.”

Iron nodded and grabbed the next document, ‘The changeling invasion’, said the cover. He read through it. Just some common information about the invasion that had happened a year ago. He passed page after page until he reached a certain list. ‘Missing ponies’, a total of ten ponies that couldn’t be found after the invasion, and most likely, were dead. This ponies probably had been replaced before the changelings attacked. He read through the names, they were in alphabetical order.

“Number 8: Sawyer,” His eyes widened. “Alice.”

It's all over.

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A few rays of sunlight managed to pass through a small gap between the curtains, hitting a spot in Alice’s pillow. The light wouldn’t have disturbed Alice if she had kept her head facing the opposite direction, but she couldn’t control her actions while sleeping. She rolled to the side, allowing the sun to get to her eyes.

This was the scariest moment of Alice’s day. She would close hard her eyes and wish with all her heart. She would wish that what had happened recently wasn’t just a dream, that she was no longer sleeping in the streets, that she now had a place that she could call home.

Alice took a deep breath, and ever so slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around her. She was lying on a bed in the guest ro… Correction, she was sleeping on her bed, in her own room. Alice let go the breath she was holding and allowed a smile to show on her face. She got up from the bed and moved to the night table, where she had positioned a calendar. She marked the day with a bright red X. She had started doing this two days ago, when she decided to stay.

“Two days,” Alice said in a low, but happy, tone of voice and remembered what had happened in these two days. She hadn’t had troubles looking for a job where she could use her knowledge and abilities, as the job had showed up even before she started looking for one.

Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle, had shown up at the door with two other fillies. First, they were there to thank Alice for the amazing badges she had made, and second, they were there looking for help. In one of their adventures as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the three fillies managed to break Granny Smith rocking chair. They had tried to fix it themselves, but didn’t get far. They lacked the tools to fix it, as Applejack had hidden them, so the CMC wouldn't be able to build another catapult.

They gave the broken parts of the chair to Alice, and she took them to her cart, where she started to work in it. Fixing the chair wouldn’t take much time, it only required to get all the parts together, and change a few that were too damaged.

When Alice was done with the work, she looked up to see a pair of ponies that had watched her work. They asked if she could fix a few things for them, and of course, they would pay. So she now had a small job, something from where she could start. It wasn’t much, but she would go up from there.

Other than working in these days, Alice spent as much time as she could with Rarity. Talking, eating, walking through the town, and spending a bit of time with Rarity’s friends.

A knock sounded at the door, “Alice, darling,” called Rarity from the other side.

Alice smiled, no better way to start the day than hearing the voice of the pony she loved. Alice moved to the door and opened it. “Good morning, Rarity.”

“Good morning, Alice. Did you slept well?”

“Yes, Rarity, thanks for asking.” Alice walked to the window and moved the curtains so the light could fill the room, she then started to make the bed. When she was done, she looked back at the door to see that Rarity was still standing there. “It’s something wrong?”

Rarity smiled at Alice, “No, darling, I was just thinking.”

“Thinking? About what?”

“Well, I have a lunch scheduled with the others this afternoon, and I was thinking that you could tag along, if you want.”

It made Alice happy that Rarity wanted to bring her to this lunch with her friends. That meant that Rarity wanted to spent as much time with her as with the friends she had known for years.

“Sure, if the others are okay with that.”

“I think they will be fine with it, darling. Now, let’s go have some breakfast.” Rarity walked out from the room. Alice just took a moment to finish organizing her room before moving downstairs.

Later in the day, Alice and Rarity left the town and walked in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage, as the lunch was taking place right there. Alice saw a few beautiful flowers right next the road. A thought came to her mind, she would pick one of them and would place it on Rarity's mane. She contemplated the idea for a moment, but finally decided not to do it. She didn't had the courage to do something like that, what would Rarity think?

Walking a bit faster, the two ponies reached the cottage and knocked the door. Not hearing an answer, Rarity knocked a bit harder.

“We’re back here!” Came the voice of Rainbow Dash from the other side of the humble home.

Rarity and Alice circled the cottage and arrived to an open area behind it. There were Rarity’s friends, sitting around a large wooden table. The only one missing was Fluttershy.

“Hi Rarity! Hi Alice!” Pinkie greeted from her seat to which she was being tied by Applejack. That caught Alice attention.

“Hello, girls, I hope there’s no problem that I brought Alice with me.” Rarity said as she sat right next to Applejack. Alice followed sweet and sat right next to her.

“Of course there’s no problem,” Twilight, who was sitting at the other side of the table, between an empty seat and Rainbow Dash, answered. “We are actually glad you brought her. The more, the merrier.”

“Ah’m surely glad ya brought her. Ah wanted to talk to her.” Applejack said after she made one last knot to Pinkie’s binding.

“You wanted to talk to me? About what?” Alice asked with curiosity.

“Well, Ah actually wanted to thank ya for what you did with Granny Smith’s chair. She said it’s better now than before. How can Ah pay you?”

“Oh, there’s no need for that. You don’t have to pay me for a favor.”

“Then at least let me give ya something.” AJ scratched her chin as she thought of something. “Ah know, ah’ll ask Granny to bake you one of her magnificent Apple pies. Ah’d bake it mahself, but it wouldn’t be as good as one of hers.”

“You don’t really-”

“Ah won’t take no for an answer. We apples owe ya one for that favor.”

Alice was about to keep saying there was no need for that when Rarity leaned close to her. “Accept her offer, she’s serious when she says she won’t take a no for an answer,” she whispered. “And, if you aren’t a big fan of apple pies, I could help you with that. Granny Smith’s pies are just so exquisite.” She finished with a wink.

“Ummm, okay, I will accept your offer, Applejack.”

“Perfect, Ah’ll pass by the boutique tomorrow to give you the pie, so-”

“AAAgggghhh, I’m really hungry right now, and all this talk about pies is not helping it!” Rainbow shouted before banging her face against the table.

“Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash, here comes Fluttershy to the rescue.” Twilight bobbed her head in the direction of the cottage.

Fluttershy was walking in their direction with a few dishes balanced on her back and wings. Three of Fluttershy’s animal friends helped her carry the other dishes. With the lunch set over the table, Fluttershy thanked her animal friends for the help and promised to make something special for them. She then walked around and sat right next to Twilight.

“Fluttershy, this all looks so delicious.” Twilight said before nuzzling Fluttershy lovingly. “You should have let me help you.”

“Ah have to thank Fluttershy for not allowing you help. Cooking’s not exactly your strong suit.” Applejack gave a bite to her salad.

“Hey, I’m getting better. Right, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked down to her plate. “Emmm, we should start eating before it gets cold.”

“How can a salad get cold? You’re avoiding my question.” Twilight pouted while the others around laughed.

Alice was about to start her dish when she remembered that Pinkie Pie was tied. “Umm, shouldn’t we untie Pinkie?” She asked.

“Not a chance.” Applejack answered. “Apparently, Pinkie ate five bags of candies this mornin’. If we untie her, she’ll start jumpin’ around and won’t let us eat. It took me a lot of time to catch her the first time.”

“But, how will she eat if she is all tied…” Alice stopped as she saw that Pinkie had already finished her dish and was now shaking dangerously on her seat. “Umm, never mind.”

They continued having a light chat while eating. Rainbow was the least talkative from them, but never failed to say something with a mouth full. Twilight and Fluttershy fed each other for a moment, when Fluttershy was sure no one was looking in their direction. They all finally finished and Pinkie seemed to calm down, so Applejack untied her.

While the others went to chase after Pinkie Pie, Rarity turned to look at Alice, and saw that the earth pony had a bit of sauce under her lip. Rarity grabbed a napkin, not with her magic, but with her mouth, and cleaned Alice in a second before the others came back and tied Pinkie again. They continued their conversation, jumping from topic to topic, while a flushed Alice played with her hooves.

While the others were chatting, Alice managed to feel it. The love in the air, but there were different levels of love. First, there was the friendly love, a testament of the link Rarity and her friends shared. Then, there was the love Rarity’s friends showed to Alice. It was just a small amount of affection, but that was because they hadn’t known her for long. After that, came the love between Fluttershy and Twilight. A love so big and strong, so warm and gentle.

And finally, there was the love that Rarity felt for Alice. It wasn’t as strong as the one between Fluttershy and Twilight, but it was stronger than the love Rarity felt for the others. This was the first time Alice noticed this.

‘I think… Does she...’ Alice thought. She felt really happy right now. Never in her life had she thought this possible. Of course, she knew that Rarity still didn’t love her as much as she loved her. But it was like Rarity was trying to keep in line her emotions, trying to come to therms with them before doing anything. Alice could feel it. It would be a matter of time for Rarity to let her feelings run free, and Alice would wait as long as needed. Time she wouldn't have.

The peace around them got disturbed as the group managed to hear a few shouts at the distance. “What’s that?” Rainbow asked.

The shouts got stronger and clearer, “Princess Twilight!” Kept shouting a small group of ponies. Twilight and her friends moved away from the table and were about to run to the front of the cottage when a soldier of the royal guard, followed by two unicorns, showed at the corner.

Alice hadn't had any problems with the few guards that remained in Ponyville. But for some reason, after looking at the sudden appearance of this three guards, her body started to shake.

“What’s happening.” Twilight asked.

“Princess, is good to see that you are fine. We were looking for you all around the town.”

“Fine? Why wouldn’t I be fine?”

“Princess, there might be a possibility that the…” The guard trailed off as his eyes met Alice’s. Without giving much thought, he shouted his orders. “There it is! Seize her!” Alice was frightened, but had no time to react as the two unicorns quickly moved to the front and used their magic to create a magic sphere that would keep locked Alice until they stopped. They lifted the sphere and moved it away from the group.

“You brutes! What are you doing to her?! Let her go.” Rarity shouted as she ran to the sphere and tried to open it with her own magic. Alice had tried to break free from her prison, but quickly found it to be an impossible task, and turned in a shaking ball of fur.

“What’s the meaning of these? Let her go!” Twilight said with full authority in her voice.

The guard shook his head. “We can’t do that, my princess. That thing is dangerous.”

“That thing? You are talking about Alice!” Shouted Rainbow. “She’s a pony, not a thing, and she isn’t dangerous! So let her go!”

The guard looked at the group. Rainbow and Twilight were glaring at him, that while Applejack had moved to try and help Rarity free Alice. Fluttershy was hiding behind a tied Pinkie Pie. He moved his hoof and looked for something that he had kept in his armor. He threw a few papers on the ground and pointed at them.

“This is the documentation from the incident that happened in Canterlot one year ago.”

“The incident? You mean…”

“The changeling invasion.” he moved a few papers. “Here is a list of the ponies that went missing after the invasion.”

“What does that have to do with Alice?” Asked Rainbow while Twilight grabbed the list and started to read it.

“According to this,” Twilight started. “Alice is one of the ponies that went missing one year ago.” She looked up at the guard. “So? I don’t see why you are treating her like this.” She stomped one hoof to the ground. “Explain yourself, or let her go right now.”

The guard took one deep breath. “Princess, why is a pony that went missing a year ago doing here? According to the papers, she has a home and a workshop in Canterlot. Why leave that behind?”

“She probably got scared when the invasion started and escaped.”

“But why not come back?”

“She no longer felt that Canterlot was a good place to live!” Twilight was getting annoyed.

The guard kept silent for a moment. Then he looked at Alice with venomous eyes. “Let me take another route. When did she appeared here in this town?”

Twilight wasn’t sure what this had to do with the incident of a year ago. “Almost a week ago.” She answered.

“Around the same time that you decided to stay here, when you started your relationship with miss Fluttershy.”

“What does that have to do?”

“Everything. Your highness, you think it was just coincidence that a pony that went missing a year ago, during the changeling invasion, appeared right after you decided to stay here? After you found love?”

Twilight gave some thought to this, and an idea started to form in her head. Something clicked in her brain. “You can’t mean… That’s ridiculous.”

“What is ridiculous?” Rainbow asked, she couldn't follow what they were saying.

“This “pony” shows up when the princess decides to stay here. Short after, There was a little accident during a party in Sugarcube Corner. The blond pegasus that out from nowhere got sick. It wasn’t some common sickness that she experimented, I now recognize it, it was like she had been drained from something. Ponies said that that pegasus got sick after her contact with “Alice Sawyer”.” He looked at the two unicorns that were holding the sphere. Rarity was trying to push them away, but wasn't strong enough.

“My conclusion is these. The pony named Alice Sawyer no longer exists. A changeling that was present during the invasion, somehow got word that the Princess Twilight Sparkle was here. The changeling took the form of a pony it knew no longer was alive, and managed to get close to steal the princess love, a way to get their revenge for their failure.”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!!” Rarity, that had managed to hear what the guard said, shouted, not believing a single word.

"Princess, I know there's a chance I could be wrong, but there exist the possibility. If I'm wrong and she's not a changeling, I will make up for that. But if she's..."

Twilight gave some thought to this, then walked up to Rarity. She wanted to agree with her friend, but her mind just didn’t stop thinking of something. “Two days ago, I met Alice. She told me she was leaving. We talked, and during that, I told her that there weren’t soldiers guarding me now.”

Rarity locked eyes with Twilight. “So?”

“This is also a conclusion, but what if she had decided to stay because she now knew there weren’t going to be much problem to complete her mission.” Twilight paused for a moment. “She has been spending a lot of time with you. What if she got close to you to get easier access to me?”

“That… That’s stupid. There’s not proof of something like that, its just a bunch of conjectures. She is a pony. She is my friend!”

“There’s a way to solve this. To see if I’m wrong, and I wish I am.” Twilight got closer to the magic sphere. “I will use the same spell my brother used in the wedding, the barrier that got rid of the changelings. If she’s a pony, the spell will pass her like nothing. If she’s a changeling…”

Everyone kept silent. Their full attention on Twilight, with the exception of Rarity, that was looking at Alice, a few tears forming in her eyes.

Alice was still shaking, she had no idea what was happening outside, as the spell surrounding her made it impossible for any noise to come in. But she knew one thing, as her gaze fell over Rarity. “It’s all over.”

Twilight started to cast the spell. Magic gathered in her horn and then she released it. A small magic barrier appeared around her. It got bigger, passing over Rarity that was next to her, then the royal guards, then her friends. Alice felt the barrier touch her and push her, until she was pressed against the sphere.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Alice shouted as she was getting crushed between the barrier and the sphere. The pain was so great that she couldn’t keep her disguise up any longer. The sphere spell collapsed at the same time green flames engulfed the earth pony inside. Alice passed out and fell to the floor, the barrier had now disappeared.

Everyone was silent. They all had formed an idea of what could happen, but none was prepared to what they saw. It wasn’t just another changeling, it was...

“She is…” Applejack started in a shaky voice. “Is that… Chrysalis?”

No, she wasn’t and everyone around knew it. Obviously, this changeling looked a lot like the changeling Queen they all met and defeated. The resemblance was udeniable, but this one was smaller, with a lighter tone of mane and blue eyes. She was also missing half of one of her translucent wings.

Rainbow wings unfurled to their utmost, her face covered by an expression of complete anger. “So it’s all true. She was planning to steal Twilight’s love. Everything was a plan to get her revenge for the failure of… her mom?”

Alice started to gain consciousness again. She looked up, most of the ponies around her had an expression she had seen countless of times, hate. Rarity was one of the few that didn’t had that expression. Instead, her face only showed pain.

“You… you were using me.” She said, barely stronger than a whisper, as tears fell to the floor.

Alice wanted to say that it wasn’t like that, but she still hadn’t recovered from almost getting crushed. She should be slowly recovering, but she couldn't help to feel weaker with each second.

“You monster!” Rarity ran from the place.

LET ME GO!

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Alice watched Rarity fade in the distance, but the unicorn wasn’t the only thing fading. The strong love that came from the unicorn was turning dimmer as she ran away. She tried to stand up, tried to chase Rarity. She couldn’t let her go. She couldn’t lose her. But she couldn’t get the strenght to do so. So she tried to shout.

“Rarity!” That wasn’t Alice. The changeling looked up to see that the one that had shouted was Fluttershy. The pegasus took up to the sky and chased Rarity.

Alice tried to gather enough strength to stand. Slowly getting on her trembling hooves, Alice tried to move forward, but got pushed to the ground.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Asked Rainbow as she pinned Alice with her hooves. “You think we will let you go after using one of my friends and trying to steal the love of Twilight!” Rainbow increased the pressure on Alice. “You disgust me.”

“It’s… not what you… think.” Alice managed to say. Why was it so hard to talk? Maybe because Rainbow was standing on her chest. Whatever it was, she could feel weaker with each second.

Rainbow snorted. “Oh please! You’re still gonna try to lie to my face after we have caught you? You are really stupid.” She pressed even harder.

“Rainbow, that’s enough.” Twilight said as she used her magic to move the pegasus.

“But Twilight, she-” Rainbow shook her head, “that thing is-”

“I said: that’s ENOUGH!” Twilight interrupted Rainbow with one shout. Rainbow kept silent.

“What are we goin’ to do with... it?” Applejack asked, not daring to take her eyes from the changeling in case this tried some weird trick.

Twilight glared the changeling that laid on the ground, thinking what to do next. Then she looked at the guards, focusing on the one who wasn’t a unicorn. “Sergeant Iron Hoof, right?” The stallion nodded firmly. “Take this changeling to the Town Hall. There’s a small jail under it that we can use for interrogation.” Sergeant Iron saluted and then signaled the guards to use their magic to encase the changeling in the magical sphere again.

‘No… please. I didn’t do... anything wrong.’ Alice couldn’t find the strenght to speak up her thoughts. ‘Rarity.’ The guards got close to her. She could only watch, with fear and sadness, as she got encased again and was taken away.

Applejack looked at the guards walking away with their load before turning to Twilight. “Interrogate it? Why? We already know what that thing is doin’ here.”

Twilight shook her head. “There could be more to it than that. There’s a possibility that there are more changelings around. Maybe, they are waiting outside the town for a signal to invade. We need to know before something happens.”

Applejack watched Twilight walk away for a moment. The alicorn was walking with heavier steps than usual, her face was flared with anger. So Applejack chased her.

“Twilight, are you okay?” She asked with concern.

Twilight took a few breaths, trying to calm down. “That thing… What if it had done something like what Chrysalis did?” She looked up at Applejack, a few tears of anger tracing her face. “If we hadn’t discovered the truth… That thing could have done something to Fluttershy and take her place!”

“Well, ya don’t have to worry. The changelin’ didn’t have time to do anything, but…” Applejack looked up at the sky. “Ah’m worried about Rarity. She looked really bad when the disguise of the changelin’ dropped.”

“Fluttershy will take care of her. And we’ll take care of that monster.” Rainbow said as she flew over her friends. The three moved in the direction of Ponyville.

…

. . .

“Hey, don’t forget about me!” Pinkie, who was still tied to the chair, shouted. “I can’t scratch my nose!” Pinkie struggled with her bindings. “Help, it’s really itchy!”

Rarity ran as fast as she could, leaving a small trail of tears behind. Part of her just wanted to stop and lay right there, in the middle of the road, and cry. But the other part of her, with stronger resolution wouldn’t stop moving. It had nothing to do with the dirty road, or if other ponies saw her in such a state. She just felt that she had to reach a place, but had no idea of which one.

“Rarity, wait!” Fluttershy called for her, but she didn’t pay attention.

She finally reached the town. The tears in her eyes must have affected her sight, because everything and everypony around her looked so happy. How could that be true when she was feeling so torn in the inside. She expected the sky to get dark and the beginning of a heavy rain. But the sun kept visible up in the sky. This couldn’t be the reality.

“This… isn’t… real.”

Her hooves brought her to her home. She quickly bolted inside, leaving the door open, and ran upstairs. She moved through the hallway and reached one room. She opened it with her magic, got inside and stopped.

She was in Alice room. Why did she run here? The place that had been occupied by a monster that had only used her.

“Was… was everything just a big lie?” Rarity moved to the bed with cautious steps. To think that this day, she had almost...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rarity had just finished getting ready for the day. Now she was on her way to wake up Alice. She didn’t knock at the door like usual, she just opened it and poked her head inside. “Alice, darling?” She could hear the breathing of a pony that was sleeping happily. Rarity moved to the bed with cautious steps. Her plan was to get close to Alice and give her a small shake to wake her up.

Step after step, each placed cautiously on the floor, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible. She reached the bed, sat on her haunches, lifted her hooves and placed them on Alice side. Time to wake her up... Or maybe not. Rarity waited for a few seconds, just looking at the peaceful expression on Alice face. Her hooves enjoying the soft feeling of the cream coat under them. Was it her imagination or was Alice face getting closer with each second that passed? Rarity closed her eyes, letting her white muzzle approach the one in front of her. She could feel Alice breath on her lips. Just two centimeters more and…

Alice turned on her bed. She was now facing the opposite direction of which Rarity was standing. The unicorn felt disappointed for a second, kind of sad for the lost opportunity. She kept feeling like that for merely seconds before what had happened registered in her brain. She now felt a combination of something between confusion and panic. She pulled away, slowly walking backwards until her rear touched the closed curtains. A small ray of sunlight fell over Alice pillow.

What was she doing? What had almost happened? Her mind was thinking really fast. “I tried to kiss her.” She said barely audible. That couldn’t be true. Rarity had always been attracted to stallions. Not a single time had she felt attracted to a mare. Rarity shook her head. “No, I wasn’t going to kiss her. I was just getting closer to…umm.” She couldn’t finish that line, not when the only thing that came to mind was ‘taste her lips’.

Rarity needed to get out from there. Just as cautiously as she entered, or at least she thought that, Rarity got out of the room, closing the door behind her. She stood on the hallway, looking at the white cold wall on the opposite side. It looked so comfortable right now, so She leaned against the it and breathed deeply several times. “She… She’s a friend, she’s only a friend.” She reassured herself and ignored the fact that Alice was the only friend that she had tried to kiss. “I have only known her for five... days.” She had to force herself to not add the word wonderful to that last line.

The sound of hoofsteps came from the other side of the door, pulling Rarity out fro her thoughts. She stood back on her hooves and faced the door. Time for a take two, act like the first one had never happened.

She knocked at the door, “Alice, darling.”

A few seconds later, Alice opened the door. “Good morning, Rarity.”

‘Remember, act natural.’ “Good morning Alice. Did you slept well?” ‘Of course she slept well, you saw it yourself.’

“Yes, Rarity, thanks for asking.” Alice then turned around a walked to the window. Rarity’s attention got caught by Alice rear. The way she walked. How her tail swished from one side to other.

“It’s something wrong?” Asked Alice.

‘Stay calm and act natural,’ Rarity thought before beaming a smile to Alice. “No, darling, I was just thinking.”

“Thinking? About what?”

Rarity could easily win a poker tournament. The despair on her mind didn’t show in the sightless on her face. ‘Quickly, think something for real. Ummm… Oh! Today’s lunch!’ “Well, I have a lunch scheduled with the others this afternoon, and I was thinking that you could tag along, if you want.”

“Sure, if the others are okay with that.”

“I think they will be fine with it, darling. Now, let’s go have some breakfast.” Rarity walked out from the room, impressed of her acting abilities and quick mental process.

Rarity walked in the direction of Fluttershy’s home, with Alice following closely. Inviting Alice had been kind of an accident, but she was happy that it happened. A good lunch with all her close friends, nothing better than that. She looked back at Alice, and saw that the earth pony was observing the flowers as they walked.

Rarity’s imagination worked on it’s own. Alice would be searching for a specific flower, not stopping until finding the most beautiful from them all. She would pick it from its place and would make a slow walk to the unicorn.With as much gentleness as possible, Alice would place the flower on Rarity’s mane, then look at her directly on the eyes while caressing her cheek. Alice would move her hoof to the back of Rarity’s head, and would slowly pull it closer until... Rarity shook her head. ‘I-I’m probably tired of this long walk. I couldn’t possibly think something like that if I wasn’t.’

Rarity quickened her pace, the faster they got to the cottage, lesser was the possibility of thinking something like this again. Two minutes and the cottage was finally in front of her. She knocked one, no answer, so she knocked again.

“We’re back here!” Came the voice of Rainbow Dash from the other side of the humble home.

Rarity and Alice circled the cottage and arrived to an open area behind it. There were her friends, sitting around a large wooden table. The only one missing was Fluttershy.

“Hi Rarity! Hi Alice!” Pinkie greeted from her seat to which she was being tied by Applejack. Nothing strange over here.

“Hello, girls, I hope there’s no problem that I brought Alice with me.” Rarity said as she sat right next to Applejack. Alice followed sweet and sat right next to her.

“Of course there’s no problem,” Twilight answered. “We are actually glad you brought her. The more, the merrier.” Rarity translated that as her friends being happy to see Alice. It surely made her happy to be there with the earth pony.

Rarity watched as Applejack initiated a conversation with Alice about how to repay her for her help. The conversation would have taken a lot of time if she hadn’t told Alice to just accept Applejack’s offer.

After a moment, Fluttershy showed up with the food and set it on the table. They started to eat, chatting between bites, with the exception of Rainbow. Rarity thought of scolding her for talking with her mouth full, but let it pass as everyone was having a good time.

Close to the end of the lunch, everyone ran after Pinkie to try and catch her. Everyone except Rarity and Alice. For some reason, Rarity turned her head to look at Alice when they were alone. Her eyes locked immediately on Alice lips, she had a little stain of sauce under them.

Rarity took one napkin between her lips and used it to clean Alice. She had initially thought nothing of this, but as she made contact with Alice, her mind got flooded by the events of this morning. How she had almost kissed Alice. If she dropped the napkin now, her lips would be able to... She pulled away, keeping her cool. This thoughts just wouldn’t leave her mind. Maybe, it was time to be honest with herself.

‘I have fallen for her.’ Rarity looked at Alice, who was flushed and playing with her hooves, a look on her face that seemed almost dreamy. ‘Maybe… she could feel the same-’ Her thoughts stopped when her friends came back with Pinkie and tied her back to the chair.

A few shouts were heard in the distance. That was the signal that ended the happy dream. Time to see through the lies and deal with the hard truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Rarity?” Fluttershy called as soon she reached the boutique. She could hear something from upstairs, so she moved up quickly. In the corridor of the second floor, Fluttershy could now hear perfectly the sound that was coming from one of the rooms. She had heard it before, but not exactly like this. She moved to the open door and looked inside.

Yes, the sound was exactly what she thought. Fluttershy stood there, thinking of the times she had seen Rarity cry. They were always noisy and loud, kind of dramatic. But this time, Rarity was silently crying on the floor, right next to the bed. Fluttershy felt more worried for her friend right now than any other time.

Fluttershy walked up to Rarity, and sat right next to her, wrapping one wing over her back.
“Everything will be fine, Rarity.” She reassured the unicorn. Rarity mumbled something between weeps. “Calm down Rarity.”

Rarity tried to speak again “I… I lo-loved her.”

Fluttershy jerked her head back, eyes widening, surprised by what Rarity had just said. This was serious.

“I… was s-so happy… being with h-her… But … it was a-all… an act… Everything w-was a lie.” Rarity managed to say between sobs.

“Oh, Rarity,” was the only thing Fluttershy could say, as she was no longer sure how she could make her friend feel better in this situation.

Twilight, still showing signs of anger, reached the entrance of the Town Hall. Rainbow and Applejack, whom were almost as furious as Twilight, were closely following her. Two different guards greeted them inside.

“Princess Twilight.” One of the guards started as both of them bowed. “The changeling has been placed in the cell as you ordered. We also placed a magic restrainer on its horn for extra security.” Twilight just nodded before moving to the stairs that led to the underground jail.

Downstairs, Sergeant Iron was waiting next to an old wooden door, the two unicorn guards were in the opposite side of the room. He looked up when he heard the hoofsteps coming from the stairs. His princess and two of her friends appeared.

“Princess, we can start the interrogation whenever you want.”

“We’ll take care of that. Stay here, I’ll call you in case I need your help.” The sergeant nodded before opening the door for Twilight and her friends.

The jail had a total of five cells, four of them empty due to the almost non existent crime in Ponyville. Their destination was the furthest one. A black figure laid there, one leg chained to the wall. The three ponies stood right in front the cell, waiting to be acknowledged by the changeling. Twilight cleared her voice. The changeling opened one eye, looked at them and then closed it.

“Why are you here?” Twilight asked, but Alice did not answer. “Which are your intentions? Are you here looking for vengeance?” Silence, Alice wasn’t even moving, only breathing. “Answer the questions. What are you planning?!” Twilight asked, almost shouting, but no answer was heard.

“Aaahh! Just give me a few minutes with her. She will spit more than words.” Dash extended her wings menacingly.

Twilight placed a wing in front of her.“No Rainbow! We won’t resort to violence!”

“Twilight, this thing is not going to say a word! It could be waiting to be rescued by a swarm of changelings!” Rainbow stomped her hooves on the cold floor of the jail.

Applejack put one hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Dash, Ah’m sure there’s no need to turn in a monster to get information. But Ah surely have no idea how.” She looked at Twilight. “Any ideas Twi? We don’t have much time if Rainbow is right. Maybe a spell that will force it say the truth.”

“That wouldn’t work if the changeling doesn’t speak.” Twilight answered while she glared at the changeling. “There’s… one way to know everything, and I mean everything.”

“And which way would it be?”

“It’s an ancient spell, but it can only be used in case of an utter importance and under the consent of a princess.”

“Well, If there is a changeling swarm out there, this count as a case of extreme importance.” Said Applejack.

“And we are lucky that we have a princess right here with us.” Rainbow pointed at Twilight. “So, get started with the spell.”

Twilight hummed, “There’s one problem. We need one object of incredible worth for this changeling, and it’s obviously not carrying anything.”

“Then that’s not an option, we need to think somethin’ else if-”

“No, wait. I just remembered something.” Twilight interrupted Applejack, then trotted out of the jail.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash only took two seconds before following Twilight. “We will be back, so don’t get comfortable. You monster!” Rainbow shouted.

‘... You… monster…’ The words resounded in Alice head, but not with Rainbow’s voice. ‘... Rarity...’ She felt so empty right now.

“Keep an eye on it. I’ll return.” Twilight said to Sergeant Iron before bolting upstairs and out of the Town Hall. Applejack and Rainbow caught up with her in no time. “Ali- The changeling.” Twilight corrected. “When I talked with that thing two days ago, the changeling had a saddlebag on its back. Maybe there was something-”

“Where are we going?” Asked Pinkie, who came out from nowhere.

“Aaaah!” Applejack, Rainbow and Twilight ran into each other after being surprised by Pinkie.

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted, trying to get out from the pile of ponies. “Where did you… Agh forget it.” The three ponies got back on their hooves and resumed their pace. “We are going to Rarity’s boutique.”

Fluttershy was still holding Rarity under her wing. The tears were staining her wing and coat, but she didn’t care in the least. Still not knowing what to say to Rarity to comfort her, Fluttershy looked around the room, trying to find something of what to talk. Right next to the night table, was an old saddlebag, most likely from Alice. Not something she could use for a conversation right now. The quiet wails of her friend made her stop her search.

‘Think something, Fluttershy. You can’t leave a friend feeling like this. Say anything.’ “Ummm-”

“Rarity! Fluttershy! Are you here?!” Twilight shouted from downstairs.

‘Thank goodness Twilight is here.’ “We are up here!.” Fluttershy shouted.

Seconds later, Twilight and the other four entered the room. They stopped at the entrance when they saw the crying unicorn with the pegasus holding her under a wing. Fluttershy reluctantly stood away from Rarity, promising to return.

“Hey, how’s Rarity takin’ it.” Asked Applejack when Fluttershy got close. The pegasus only looked down and shook her head.

“Nothing strange. If a friend turned out to be a giant black bug that was using me…” Rainbow said with anger.

“It’s not that simple.” Fluttershy mumbled, thinking of what Rarity had told her a while back. “She fell in love with… Alice.”

Everyone’s eyes widened. Rarity, the pony that talked so much about her perfect stallion, falling for a mare? Their faces darkened. The only natural answer to this was...

“She manipulated her. She knew how to pull the strings.” Growled Applejack. “From the first day, that thing was feeding from Rarity.”

Twilight felt bad for her friend.“She needs time and a friend. Fluttershy, stay with her.” Fluttershy nodded at her marefriend request. Twilight would had offered to be that friend, but she had something to do. She looked at her other friends. “We have to look for something that belongs to the changeling. It has to be really important if we want to get the information we need. Let’s split and-”

“Where is s-she? W-where is Alice?” Rarity asked from her place on the floor.

Twilight looked at Rarity, whom looked back at her with red eyes. “We… We put her in a jail under the Town’s Hall for interrogation. Alice remained silent to each of my questions. There’s one way to get the information. If we find one object important to this changeling, I can get in her memories.”

“Y-you are going i-in her me-memories? I w-want to go.” She said as she levitated the old saddlebag to Fluttershy. “You need s-something important for her, Right? Inside the b-bag must be what you n-need.”

“Rarity, you should rest. Being there could be really hard for you. And this spell only works in one pony.”

“T-then let me be the one to go inside, T-Twilight. I want to k-know from first hoof what I m-meant to her.”

“Rarity, listen to me, you shouldn’t-”

“LET ME GO!” Rarity stood on her hooves and quickly faced Twilight. “I… I have to do this. Please, Twilight.”

Twilight was trying to think of some way to persuade Rarity, this could be too much for her. But Fluttershy walked to her side and gave nuzzled her. “Let her do this, Twilight. She need this.” She whispered.

Twilight sighed and looked at Rarity. “Alright. I will cast the spell on you, Rarity.” Twilight then looked at her marefriend. “Fluttershy, look if there’s something that I can use in that bag.”

Fluttershy nodded and started to examine the contents. She then pulled one little wooden box. Rarity looked back at Fluttershy. “T-that’s supposed to be her t-treasure box.”

Fluttershy opened the box and immediately dropped it, letting escape one little squeak. Four object fell to the floor, one rolled under the bed. What had made Fluttershy drop the box was the little statuette of a changeling.

Twilight peeked up, one by one, the three objects she could see on the floor. “A figurine of herself, or it could be Chrysalis. A picture of three unicorns. And a piece of wood.” The little statuette made her feel a bit of anger. The picture, she had no idea what to think of it. And the piece of wood, what was that? Not knowing if any of the objects would be what they needed, Twilight decided to try with the weird piece of wood first. If it didn’t work, she would try with one of the others. Any of the three should do the job.

“Rarity, are you really sure that you want to do this?” Twilight asked with concern.

“It’s not that I want. It’s something I have to do.”

Twilight nodded. “Very well. Then, this is what we have to do: While I cast the spell, you have to picture the image of Alice in your mind. This object will work as a gate to the past.” She showed the piece of wood. “The spell will put us in a deep sleep where you will be able to see the memories, and nothing else. It’ll be like watching a movie.”

“Ooohhh! I should go and make popcorn for everypony.” Pinkie clapped her hooves.

“Focus, Pinkie. This is serious.” Twilight cleared her voice before continuing. “It could feel like a lot of time is passing, but it will only take about half an hour here, in the real world.” Twilight looked around. “We will be here, waiting for you to wake up. Right girls?” Everypony nodded. “Now, Rarity, are you ready?”

Rarity sniffled before nodding. “Then, let’s get started. Stand in front of me, Rarity.” Twilight placed the wooden object on the floor, between her and Rarity. The others gave a few steps back and watched. Rarity closed her eyes.

‘Please, Celestia. Give me the strenght to deal with this.’ One last tear fell from her face.

Memories: On her own.

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There was nothing. Not a single pony, or a dog, or a rat. Nothing to make a sound. Not even a single tree... or a single flower... or a single rock... There wasn’t a ground or a sky, not even an up or a down. The only thing in this infinite emptiness was darkness.

But things wouldn’t stay like that for long… The sound of steps was barely audible, but it was definitely there. With each second that passed, the steps got louder, and suddenly, they stopped and were replaced by a few loud knocks.

“Mother?” echoed a tiny voice in the darkness, from no place in particular. The voice sounded strange, edged with an almost insect-like buzz.

“You may enter,” came a cold female voice. This one was more mature than the first one, but still held the same droning echo.

There was a sound of a door unlocking, followed by more steps. The surroundings brightened just enough to expose a large room, or more like a cave, with something that looked like a throne in the middle of it. There were no details in the walls, indistinct blurs swallowing any point of focus.

From one side of the room appeared a black creature, a little changeling not quite like others. While a normal changelings had blue eyes without pupils and lacked any trace of hair, this one had the same blue eyes but with elongated oval pupils, as well as a forest green mane and tail and a dark green chitinous plating on its mid section. Other than that, it was like any other changeling.

“You needed me, mother?” The little changeling asked as it bowed in front of the throne.

The shadows gathered over the empty throne, and coalesced into a larger version of the changeling. This one had dark green eyes and a teal mane. “Do you have any idea why I called you?”

“I… I think I know, mother.”

The larger changeling stood from the throne and walked closer to the smaller. “The time has come. Today, is the day of your test. ” She gave one step closer and looked down at the changeling, her eyes narrowed. “You had better not disappoint me.”

“I won’t, mother,” answered the little changeling, rising out of her kneel.

The larger walked back to her throne and sat down. “Then go, everything has been prepared for you. There is a drone waiting for you at the hive’s entrance. He will give you the information of the pony you will replace. How it acts and what it likes. Once you have taken the pony’s place, you will be on your own.” She stopped to take one deep breath. “And don’t forget. They. Are. Food.”

“Yes, mother.” Another bow from her part and the little changeling left the room.

Everything became dark.

Giggles… Giggles sounded everywhere. It was a tiny voice that just didn’t stopped giggling. Objects gained mass and shapes. The darkness was slowly suppressed by a blurry sun up in the sky. The ground was covered by a deep green pasture and a large field of flowers. There was a vast forest to the east, and to the west, the only thing that could be seen in the distance was some kind of building, probably a small family home.

In the middle of the pasture was a little unicorn filly chasing after a pink colored butterfly. The butterfly landed on a flower to rest. The filly took this chance to jump over the insect and catch it. This was a failed attempt as the butterfly got back to the sky until the filly landed on her face, her rump greeting up the sky. The filly stayed in that position until she felt something on her left flank. The butterfly had landed right there, like it was mocking her.

The filly quickly got back on her hooves just as the butterfly flew away in the direction of the trees. Still giggling, she chased it a few meters into the forest. The butterfly landed on the trunk of a tree. The filly took position and was about to make a second pounce when a green light surprised her. A bolt of magic sailed over her from behind and struck the butterfly directly. The filly watched as a little ball of fire fall slowly to the ground.

“The happy time is over,” the little filly heard before being caught by another spell. She tried to escape, to scream, but her body refused to move. She was slowly lifted from the ground and turned around. There were two black pony-like creatures.

“Princess, we have accomplished our part, now is your turn,” one of the changelings said as he looked back.

A third black creature, smaller than the other two, stepped out from behind a tree. The filly eyes turned as big as saucers as she watched the newcomer get engulfed in green flames. Seconds later, a little unicorn with light blue coat and a golden mane emerged from the flames. It was an exact copy of her.

“We will take this pony back to the hive.” The changeling stalked closer to his prey and smirked. “We can get a lot of love out of her once she’s properly cocooned.” He took the little filly and disappeared further in the forest.

The second changeling turned to the fake unicorn. “Remember the information we gave you. From this moment on, you are on your own.” He began following after the first changeling, but paused and added: “Don’t hesitate to do what must be done.” Then he too vanished.

The new little unicorn just stood there for a moment. It was time for her test. She had to gather love, feed from it, become stronger and then return to her home. Show that she deserved the title of princess, and would deserve the title of queen when it was one day given to her. She took a deep, steadying breath and started her way out of the forest.

At the edge of the forest, the little unicorn hid behind a bush when she caught sight of a unicorn stallion.

“Joy, Where are you?” The stallion asked as he walked away from the bush where she was hiding.

He was looking for her. According to the information she got, the name of the pony she was impersonating was Joyful Spark, but her parents called her Joy. The stallion looked in the direction of the home in the distance and scratched his head. Joy took this as her cue to start her test. She burst out from the bush and ran at full speed in the direction of the stallion. Just a meter separated the two unicorns when the little one jumped up, extended her hooves, and landed on the stallions back.

“Got you!” She wrapped her hooves around the neck of the stallion with enough strength to stay in place when the stallion jumped after getting startled.

“J-Joy! Oh, Celestia! You know you shouldn’t scare your dad like that!” The stallion said with a bad attempt of a frown on his face.

The little unicorn just giggled, then took a moment to think her next course of action. “Sorry daddy,” she said before giving a little kiss to the stallions cheek.

The stallion grinned. “Let’s go, your mother must be worried.” As he walked away with the filly on his back, the reality started to shake. In seconds, time started to skip, showing different scenes of the filly’s life.

There were scenes of the filly eating dinner with “her” parents. Her mother taking her to school. A trip to her grandparents house. A picnic right next to a lake. A few festivities in family. Every single scene showed a happy filly with at least one of “her” parents, nuzzling her, hugging her, loving her. Something had changed in the filly as time passed.

Finally came the day, about four months after starting her mission, she understood what had changed.

“Catch me if you can, daddy!” The little filly was running through the flowers.

“Hahaha, you can’t escape from me.” The stallion said as he followed his daughter. After trying to catch the filly for half an hour, the stallion had to stop and rest.

“Haha, you can’t catch me, daddy.” The little filly said cockily, jumping merrily around the stallion

He took one deep breath. “I guess you are right, I will need reinforcements.”

“Reinforce- Waaa!!” The filly shouted when a pair of hooves grabbed her from behind. The little filly looked up to see a grown mare smiling at her. “Mom! Don’t help daddy, that’s cheating!” She said with a frown.

“Sorry, sweetie, but you’ve been playing long enough. Let’s go inside and have dinner.” The mare talked with a sweet, silky voice as she let go the filly.

“But I’m not hungry!” the filly pouted

“You always say that you are not hungry,” The stallion joined his wife and daughter, “but you always devour it like you have been starving for weeks.” He shared a small laugh with his wife, then nuzzled her and the filly. “Come on, we can play again tomorrow.” They started walking towards their home.

The filly smiled. “Yay! I love you dad! I love you mom!” Those words came out naturally. She understood that she really meant those words. How long had it been since she had dropped the act and started to feel a part of this family? She didn’t care as long as this lasted… not forever, as she had to go back to the hive, but at least she hoped that this lasted long enough.

More days flashed by, more happy moments that weren’t meant for this little filly. She had started to feel… weird, she felt... guilty. She felt guilty each time she saw the loving expression on “her” parents face. And why shouldn’t she feel guilty?

The visions started to bleed their colors until there was nothing of it. The only colors left were white, various tones of gray and black… a black creature that looked itself in the mirror.

‘What am I supposed to do?’ The changeling questioned herself. She was supposed to be on a mission for the hive, for her mother. This was a test that would decide her future. But she was no longer sure if she wanted to fulfill this test. She had accomplished stages one and two of the plan, but she couldn’t move to stage three, because it meant hurting the two ponies she had come to… care about.

Time was running out, her mother, the queen, was waiting for her return.

The changeling brought her hooves to her temples and screamed in her high pitched, insect like, voice. She was no longer sure of what she was going… What she wanted to do. She just looked around the room, her eyes landed in a picture on the night table. A picture of the real unicorn filly along with her parents.

There was something in that picture that made her snap. She snatched up the picture and stuffed it in a nearby saddlebag so she didn’t have to look at it, trying to hide it, or hide from it. It was still there, she knew, the picture was still there in the room. She grabbed the saddlebag in her magic and threw it through the open window. The saddlebag flew an incredible distance, disappearing into the distant forest. The changeling knew why it had flew so far, it was due to all the love she had absorbed. It fueled her powers, her magic.

‘But this love is not for me!’ She began thrashing around the room. She threw the few clothes that were in the closet in every direction, the mattress was flipped over and ended in one corner of the room, she even broke what few fragile things she could grab. This went on for a moment, until the changeling collapsed right next to the mattress, panting heavily.

‘I don’t want to hurt them… but in reality, I have already hurt them really bad. They just don’t know yet.’ But they would certainly find out if they came back home before she could organize this disaster. With a sigh, she turned to her mirror. She was going to change her appearance before organizing this mess.

She started to cast the spell and was about to shoot it when she heard the knob of the door turning. At the corner of her eyes she managed to see two unicorns looking at her just before green flames swallowed her.

The stallion stopped at the door. His eyes slowly taking the scene right in front of him. The room of his daughter completely destroyed. A black creature disappearing just for his daughter to show in its place. His wife was covering her mouth with both front hooves.

The filly gave one step forward, the older unicorns gave one backwards.

“I-I…” ‘I what? I can explain this? What’s there to explain?’

“You…” The mare started, her eyes filling with tears. “You… aren’t Joy. You are not my baby.”

The filly dropped her head, along with her disguise. The mare gave another step back, but the stallion stood in place.

He gritted his teeths. “You!” He shouted. “What did you do to our daughter?! Where is she?” The stallion shouted as his wife cried silently behind him. “What did you do to her?”

The changeling just opened and closed her mouth for a moment, and finally spoke. “D-Daddy, I… I’m-” Before the black little creature could finish, the stallion had used his magic to knock her back. The changeling landed below the open window.

“Wh-Why are you calling me that?! Don’t call me Daddy! You are not my daughter! You are… You are a monster!” He stomped his hoof against the floor, a crack appearing on it. “What did you do to her?! Where is she?! You better tell me where she is.” There was a silence for a few seconds, but those seconds felt like days to the stallion. He stomped his hoof one more time. “Where is SHE?!”

“I… I… I’m sorry.” The black creature whispered before turning around and jumped through the window. It used its translucent wings to guarantee a soft landing before running away.

“What did you do to my daughter?!!” She heard the stallion shouting. He had tried to follow the changeling through the window, but got stuck as it wasn’t big enough for his size. The stallion shouted a few harsh words before dropping his head, his jaw clenched and a single tear fell from his eyes.

The changeling ran directly to the forest as the house she had just escaped was starting to disappear. She felt weak, like the energy was slowly leaving her but nothing she couldn’t bear. She kept running as fast as she could, not watching her steps, only wishing to get as far as she could, but something made her fall to the ground. She looked back. A beaten saddlebag lay right next to her back hooves.

This was the same that she had threw out the window. That stupid saddlebag, the one that had the picture that had caused her failure. That picture made her lose her control, and for that, she lost the test… No, she didn’t care about that, not when she had just lost her family. She grabbed the saddlebag and placed it on her back. That picture was all she had left of this… experience to remember.

The changeling walked. She had to go back to the hive and face the Queen. Everything darkened.

“You dare to show in front of me without completing your test?!” Green eyes flared from the shadows, and slowly, the darkness subsided to show the rest of the queen’s face. Her body slowly appeared as well.

Two blue eyes faded in, followed by the rest of the little changeling head. “I… I’m sorry mother. I failed, t-they discovered me.”

The queen harrumphed. “That’s no excuse, you perfectly knew that was a possibility.” The queen narrowed her eyes and towered over her daughter. “Why didn’t you finish what you had to do?”

“B-but I got more love than nece-”

“FOOL!” The queen shouted. “The love was only a part of the test. The real objective of it was to see if you have the focus and determination to be the queen of this hive in the future! Your magic should be more than powerful enough after all the love you gathered! You should have used that power to bring those damn ponies here!”

“B-but I don’t-”

“SHUT UP!” The queen cut the little changeling. “Now, I will give you another chance. Go back there and bring me those ponies.” The queen moved away. “We need more resources, after all, that little filly didn’t last a month.” The queen reached her throne and sat. “What are you still doing here? Go and finish what had to be finished already!”

The little changeling stood in place, looking down at the ground. She mumbled something, just a single word.

“What did you say?”

“N-no.” The changeling said with a trembling voice.

“No.” The queen said. “No.” She repeated as she rubbed her chin. She stood again, moved closer to the filly and started to walk around her. “This no had better not mean what I’m thinking.”

“I… I don’t want to…” The little changeling took one deep breath, closed her eyes, lifted her head and, “I don’t want to keep doing this!” The changeling finally found the strength to say it.

Chrysalis stopped circling the little changeling, standing right in front of her. “You don’t want to keep doing this?”

“I… I… Why do we have to do things like this? Why can’t we just live along with the ponies instead of stealing their lives?”

Chrysalis stared for a moment at the little changeling, then raised one of the hole covered hooves and slapped the little changeling. “Live along with the ponies? What did I tell you before you left?!”

“I-I don’t-”

“They. Are. Food!” Chrysalis punctuated each word. “Do you see a bear befriending a fish? Or a manticore befriending a deer?”

“B-but that’s different, tha-”

“That’s how life is! You could try to befriend them, but the moment they see the real you, this black monster, they will run from you. Ponies fear what is different, they will never accept us, that’s why we have to take it by force.”

“But… If we try we and explain-”

“What you are suggesting is just some stupid dream that will never happen. What you are suggesting is to be weak, and weakness leads to failure.” The queen turned around and sighed. “I had big plans for you, but you disappoint me. You are weak! A disgrace to our race! Get out of here and never come back.”

“W-what?!” the changeling exclaimed. “M-mother, please, don’t kick me out of-”

“Will you do as I say? Will you bring me those ponies?”

“I-I can’t do that, I don’t want to do that.”

“Then you are of no use for the hive.”

The little changeling gave one step forward and touched the queen. “Mother, I can’t lose another home. I-”

The queen shot one powerful spell that threw the little changeling to the wall. Then walked slowly out of the room. ““Lose another home”? I should end your life before you become even more pathetic. But I won’t, I will let you experience this world, now that you don’t want to continue “doing this”. You won't last long out there, not with the path you have chosen.” Chrysalis opened the door. “You are no longer a member of this hive.” Chrysalis left the room.

The changeling remained on the floor, her vision turning blurry. A few tears trailed down her cheek, more from what the queen had said than for the pain and dizziness the spell had caused her.

A couple of drones entered the room and dragged her in the direction of the hive exit. As she was carried through the dark halls, she felt how her link to the hive mind was severed. She felt again that sensation of her energy being drained before everything went dark as the she passed out.

The changeling slowly recovered her senses. Blurry image replacing the darkness, that were eventually replaced by a green scenery. The changeling looked around, trees surrounded her in every direction. She looked down, and was surprised to see the saddlebag she had carried to the hive right below her. But other than that, she had just been left on her own.

The changeling laid on the grass for a while, sobbing and thinking. What was she supposed to do now? How would she survive on her own? The love she had gathered from… them would last her for no longer than a month, that if she didn’t use too much energy.

“I-” A sob interrupted her. She wiped a few tears before standing. “I should get moving.” She grabbed the saddlebag and placed it on her back, then started walking. The changeling walked in the forest for almost an hour, the little critters she encountered ran as they felt her presence.

“Will the ponies be like this animals, running away from me when they see me? Stealing a life is the only way to survive” She stopped for a moment and took the picture out of the saddlebag. “But I don’t want to lie anymore, and I don’t want to hurt anypony. There must be a way.” She thought for a moment, but a growl that sounded incredible close scared her, causing her train of thought to stop.

She returned the picture to her saddlebag and turned in the direction from where the growl had come. “H-hello?” She got her answer in the form of a loud howl.

A pair of glowing green eyes appeared. A sharp and large wooden paw emerged from its hiding place, immediately followed by the rest of the body. A creature totally composed by wood. Sharp fangs were showing through an open mouth, drool oozing from it.

The changeling stared at the weird wolf-like creature with wide open eyes. She took one step back, and the wolf advanced one step forward. The changeling quickly spun around and started to beat her wings as fast as she could, trying to take up to the sky, to safety. But before she could get off the ground, the large wolf jumped towards her with its open mouth. The little changeling barely managed to dodge the creature, but not completely. The wolf must have managed to scratch her in some part of her body, as she felt a great amount of pain on her left side.

She started to run away while trying to take off, but as much as she tried, she couldn’t get off the ground. She gave up on flying for the moment and focused on running. Each step was fueled by the sound of the wolf chasing after her, growling at her. The changeling darted between trees, making sharp turns to buy herself a little more time. She continued, jumping over bushes, ducking under fallen trees and branches until she reached the end of the forest, or rather, the end of the line.

She looked up at the rocky wall in front of her, then looked back to see a shadow approaching her through the trees. There was no escape other than going up. She started to beat her wing again.

“Come one, come on! Why can’t I fly?!” The changeling looked back at her wings. Her pupils turned into little dots. She was missing half of her left wing. Past her wing, she saw the wolf finally getting out from the thick forest, his eyes locking in the easy prey.

“Nonononononono!” The little changeling was desperate, trying to climb the cliff, but her hooves couldn’t find any purchase. She turned around, shaking on her hooves. Her back against the wall and the wolf getting closer. Tears started to flow down her face.

“No...” She said barely audible. “No… No… Help. Help!!!”

Memories: Alice.

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“No...” She said barely audible. “No… No… Help. Help!!!”

‘BOOMMM!!!’

The sky was covered in a prismatic explosion that shook everything. The air vibrated with such force that the little changeling fell to the ground. The wolf also had trouble staying on his paws, but nothing would stop him from getting his lunch. He jumped forward to the changeling and-

‘CRACK!’

The little changeling covered her face as a sudden shower of splinters flew in every direction. After a moment, she lowered her trembling hooves to see what had happened. A large boulder had fallen from the top of the cliff, crushing the wooden monster.

The little changeling fell to her haunches, tears still streaming down her cheeks. “I… I’m a-alive?” The changeling couldn’t believe it. She looked up at the sky, the prismatic colors fading in the horizon. She lowered her gaze as she felt something in her left hoof. One of the creature’s fangs had got stuck in one of the holes of her hoof. She removed it with her teeths, then spat it between her hooves. She stared at it for a moment.

“You won't last long out in the world,” came the words of the queen. The little changeling shuddered at the mental image of the wolf having a not-so-nutritious changeling lunch.

She looked back at her wings, or her one and a half wings. She got on her trembling hooves and set the fang on the ground. Her wings started to buzz, faster each second. She started to jump around, trying to see if that helped her to take off, but nothing. She got desperate, and pushed herself even harder. A bad landing after one of the jumps made her fall hard to the ground. Her saddlebag fell from her back, landing next to the fang, spilling the only thing inside it.

The changeling started to tremble harder, more tears streaming down. She curled in a little ball and started to wail. Everything was against her. She was alone and afraid of what else might come after her in this unknown territory. Without her left wing, without being able to fly, she would be an easy target if another of those monsters showed up, and she wouldn’t be as lucky next time.

“I-I… I’m g-going to di- die.” She said between sobs. She contemplated the idea of trying to find the way back to the hive, try to ask for another chance. She would try and- the changeling felt something, a light touch, right on her side. She lifted her head to see what was it. A current of wind had picked the photo off the ground and made it fly towards the changeling. She took the picture and looked at the happy family, then thought of how much damage she had done.

She cried quietly for a bit longer, then wiped her eyes and walked to the saddlebag. She gently set the picture inside. She then looked at the fang next to the saddlebag. She took it and placed it inside the saddlebag. It was proof that she had survived her first hurdle, and it would help her remember to never give up.

Throwing the saddlebag on her back, she resumed her journey through the forest. If she wanted to survive, she had to get out of here and find a town fast. After all, she needed love if she wanted to live. Though, she still had to think of a way to get the love without harming or deceiving.

The changeling disappeared between the trees, and she wandered between them for more than a week, managing to escape from other creatures and staying alive. But this wouldn't last for long. She was almost out of love, out of energy. Her legs barely supported her body. She was reaching her limit, but her drive would have nothing of that. She kept pushing herself, step after step, then, she finally collapsed on the ground. ‘I guess… this is it.’ She thought.

The changeling lay there, waiting for whatever would happen to her. Would she die of hunger? Or would a wild creature come for her before that?

A few steps were heard on the distance. ‘So it will be the former?’ She thought, closing her eyes, not wanting to see her destiny eye to eye. The steps got closer.

“Hey! Are you alright?!” The steps rushed on her direction and she felt them stop right next to her.

She slowly opened her eyes, a pair of hooves right in front of her. This most certainly was an hallucination caused by her exhaustion, because there was something weird with this hooves. They were… they were slightly deformed, with patches of flesh on them. The changeling blinked a few times, then looked up. There was a stallion looking down on her. His face in an equal state as his hooves, but the concern was clear on it.

“Hey, are you alright?” He asked again.

The changeling just kept looking up, thinking this was a trick her exhausted mind was playing with her. There was no way that pony would be here in the middle of nowhere, and beside that, willingly helping her. She most likely looked like a monster to this pony, that if he wasn’t an illusion. He most certainly was because she had never seen a pony that looked like this. She let her head fall to the ground.

“Hey! Hey, wake up! I have to take you to hy cottage. It isn’t far froh here.” He lowered his body and managed to get his head under the changeling’s body. He carefully lifted his head, making the changeling slide to his back. He grunted a bit, but then started moving cautiously so his load wouldn’t fall. The changeling mumbled something.

“Hey, are you alright back there?” He asked looking back at the changeling. He got a barely audible “mhmm” as an answer. “What’s your nahe?”

“I’m...” the changeling tried to gather her energies. “I’m Ch---alis.” She said barely stronger than a whisper.

“Alice? That’s a weird name.”

The changeling did not corrected him, what use was there in correcting an hallucination?

Time moved on. Up in the sky, the sun settled at the distance, and the moon did not hesitate to take its place. But the moon quickly did as the sun and disappeared. The giant fire ball reigned for a couple of seconds before the moon dethroned it again. This happened several times.

The sun and the moon kept changing places, but this did not last for long, as the sun finally decided to stay up in the sky for a longer time. It had positioned itself over a crystalline lake surrounded by trees. The water was so clear that it was being used as a mirror right now.

A not completely grown up changeling looked at itself on the water surface. Then looked at the object it was holding between its hooves. With the chisel it held on its teeth, the changeling continued to carve and ease up the surface. Just a bit more and…

The changeling held the little statuette in front of her. It wasn’t a perfect job, but it was by far the best thing she had carved all day.

“I guess it’s time.” She said while grabbing the chisel and placing it in a toolbox. She let a sigh escape before placing the little statuette inside the saddlebag on her back. Inside of the saddlebag was a second little statuette of an earth pony, that she had to reaccommodate so her toolbox could enter the saddlebag. Standing on her hooves, the changeling looked once more at her reflection. Green flames covered her, burning down her changeling aspect and replacing it for one of an earth pony, a cream coated young mare.

She smiled. This aspect was the one she had come up with a few months ago, with the help of a certain pony. He had suggested her to keep a few traits from her changeling form, like the green color of the mane and the blue eyes. The black coat wasn’t an option, as it was a strange color for a pony’s coat. Cream, that was the color he had suggested.

She had chosen to be an earth pony for certain reasons. She had originally thought of being a unicorn, but there was this certain feeling of discomfort whenever she thought of transforming in one. Being a pegasus was of no use. Without her real changeling wing, even if she had shape shifted in a pegasus with two full, functional, wings, she just couldn’t take off in the sky. Earth pony, even if this was the only option left, it also felt like it was the correct. She felt comfortable like this.

Before moving away from the lake, she turned around to see the reflection of a certain something, a mark on her flank. It was a saw with a red handle. As a changeling, she hadn’t earned this cutie mark, but, she had chosen to wore it. You could say, that this was the only thing she had borrowed from her appearance, but the second thing she had borrowed from that certain pony.

She finally walked away from the lake, in the direction of an old cart loaded with wood. She threw her saddlebag in it and moved to the front to hitch it around her barrel. She pulled it for a few minutes until she arrived to an old cottage. It looked like the tiniest current of wind could take it down.

She parked the cart next to it, freed herself from it. She grabbed her saddlebag and walked inside. Wooden statuettes of all sizes were scattered around the room. She ignored them as she made her way through the living room, until she reached a small, wooden tea table in the middle. A picture on top of it portrayed an earth pony stallion in his late twenties. It was the same stallion that had helped her those years ago. This was the only picture he had of himself before a certain accident.

The stallion had told her about it about a week after he had brought her here. He made it a short story, as it made him uncomfortable remembering it.

He lived in Canterlot, working part time in a small factory, and part time in his own workshop. One afternoon, there was an accident in the factory that didn’t take long in becoming a large fire. The stallion had gotten caught in the middle of it. The fireponies managed to put out the fire and saved his life, but not before his body had been damaged and deformed by the flames.

Life became hard for him after that. He was looked down by stallions, ignored by mares and feared by foals. He no longer belonged to this city, filled with ponies that judged others only by their looks. To their eyes, he was a monster. He couldn’t take it, so he decided to move away. He sold his workshop and managed to gather enough bits to move away. His talent made it easy for him to build himself a home in the middle of the forest. That was more or less what the stallion had told her.

The young mare looked back at the statuettes. For a long time, they had been the only company of this stallion. He crafted and felt proud of each of his creations, but as the time moved on, and due to the lack of interaction with other ponies, he had come to love each of this statuettes as his family. You could say that he had got a bit crazy, but thanks to that, the mare had survived those years ago.

After the stallion found her and brought her here, she felt the love inside the statuettes and unconsciously started to feed herself. She managed to recover her energies, and thanked the stallion for this. After a while, she realized that this was the solution to how she would get love without taking it from ponies.

A changeling can forcefully take the love existent between a couple, but this would lead to the ponies feeling unloved. With time, the ponies would drift apart. This also happened if a changeling was to take the love between a mother and a daughter, or the affection between friends.

But if she was to take the love that was being placed in an object, nothing happened. The object couldn’t feel unloved, as it wasn’t alive. No harm to anypony. She could take the love stored in a picture, or the love of a foal for a toy.

With this sudden realisation, the changeling had asked the stallion one thing… Actually, two things. First, if he was okay with her, with a monster? His answer came fast and simple: “monsters should stick together”.

The second, was if he could teach her the art of woodcrafting, at which he answered with a big, kind of creepy, smile. The stallion was happy, he had obtained real company and a student at the same time.

He taught her the basics and a few other things. He got her the tools she would require for this profession. He shared his knowledge and passion, but after some time, she had to learn things by herself, as the stallion couldn’t help her anymore. His body couldn’t stand the old injuries of that fire any longer and passed away.

“Alice, I’m sorry that you will be alone again. Be careful out there. Ponies don’t react well to what is different.” Those had been his last words.

Alice would always remember him. The stories they shared. The competitions to see who made the best piece of furniture, at which wood always let her win. That time he helped her make her own pony version, not a borrowed one.

A tear fell from her eye, and she quickly wiped it. It was time to leave this behind even if she didn’t wanted to. Without a source of love, she would starve. He wouldn’t be happy if that happened.

“Thanks for everything you did for me, Wood Sawyer.” She opened her saddle bag and took out the second statuette. She placed it right next to the picture. The mare turned around and made her way out of the cottage. She hitched the cart again around her barrel and walked away. Canterlot, the closest city, and the only one she knew directions to, was waiting for her.

Alice had been living in Canterlot for a couple of years now. Getting love had been hard at first. Ponies in this city tended to be so self centered, not giving so much as a second glance to a low class, hardworking pony like her. This also worked in her favor, as if there was nopony getting close to her, then nopony could discover her secret.

Today, Alice had just returned from the orphanage. The orphanage was a few blocks down the street of her workshop and she went there once a month to make a “donation”. She would give the little foals in that place a few toys, like trains or wooden figurines of the princess, that she had crafted. They loved them and she loved making them. The foals were happy with their new toys and it made her happy to see the foals like them. Not to mention that she also got a good amount of love out of this.

There were rare occasions where a client would express real love for one of her jobs, but usually, the clients would only show a small amount of appreciation. At least this clients paid her with enough bits to keep her workshop running. That was something. Now, she had to get ready as she had a long day of work in front of her..

Alice moved to the back of her shop/home, so she didn’t noticed that the front door opened and closed. When she returned, she got startled by a orange coated unicorn that had his cold eyes locked on her.

She took a few seconds to calm herself. Then, she carefully got closer to the stallion. “Umm, welcome to Sawyer works. Can I help you with something?”

The stallion kept looking at her without moving an inch. Alice started to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. After a moment, the stallion smirked.

“I’ll be quick. I have come here with a special offer for you, Miss, but before revealing the details, I have to ask you if you will take part of it.”

“A special offer? I… I can’t really accept to anything if I don’t know more. Couldn’t you at least tell me something about it? What is this offer about?”

The unicorn kept his smirk as he used his magic to close the windows and lock the door, leaving both ponies in a dark room. “I can’t tell you all the details as there’s the chance that you won’t accept, but I can tell you a few things, like who is the one that sent me here for you.” The room got momentarily illuminated by green flames.

Alice eyes widened. The last time she had seen another changeling, was the day when she was banished from the hive. The flames disappeared. Alice could barely see the silhouette of the changeling in this dark room.

“The Queen felt your presence about a week ago. She is surprised that you had managed to survive all this time. So, she’s willing to give you one more chance. The Queen is currently working on something that will be incredibly profitable for the hive if it is to succeed.”

Alice gulped, “M-Mother is working in something? W-What is it?”

The changeling chuckled in a dark tone. “Not so fast. Remember that I won’t tell you anything more until you accept. So… Will you take part of this?”

“I… I… I don’t think so. Whatever Mother is working in, it most certainly means that she will hurt somepony. Right?”

The changeling kept quiet for a moment. then sighed. “It is a shame that you are still holding to those stupid ideas of not hurting ponies. And the Queen was so benevolent to offer you this once in a life chance to return to the hive and take part of the plan. Well, the she knew that there was the possibility that you wouldn’t accept.” Green flames lightened again the dark room. The changeling had returned to his disguise of an unicorn. “Well, I have no other business with you. Good day.” He gave a slight nod, used his magic to unlock the door and walked away.

Alice felt that she had to do something, but what exactly? Try to stop whatever plan mother had? There was a lot of problems with that. Mother would laugh at her before asking a few changelings to take her out of mother’s presence. Also, she didn’t know where mother was, or where this work was taking place. She had no information of what this work was about at all!

She only hoped that it wasn’t something extremely serious. Alice closed the door and everything went dark.

The world slowly started to form around Alice as she tried to stand on her hooves. This required her to lean over a solid surface near her. Her head was spinning and her body ached all over.

“W-what… what happened?” Alice asked herself as she blinked a few times, trying to make sense of where exactly she was, and what had happened to her.

The last thing she remembered before she passed out was… was...

She felt a cold wave go down her body. Alice pupils shrunk and her gaze shot skywards. Just a moment ago, the sky had been filled with changelings, but right now, there was nothing up there. Had this been a dream? She wondered as she lifted one of her hooves to scratch her head, but the pain stopped her.

‘Why does my body hurt?’ A nearby scream caught Alice attention. She quickly lowered her gaze expecting to see a changeling attacking a pony, but there was no changeling. In front of her stood a mare, her whole body shaking in fear, her gaze locked in Alice’s direction.

Alice lifted one of her hooves and was about to ask the mare if she was okay, but two things happened. One, the mare had turned around and ran away. Two, Alice froze in place as she saw her hoof.

It was a black chitinous hoof covered with holes.

Another shout. This time, it came from a little colt that didn’t waste time in making his escape. Alice pushed herself away from the wall she had been leaning over. She had to hide before someone else could see her. Her body screamed with each step she made. As she ran down the street, she tried to remember what had happened to her.

‘I was… Ugh… walking back to the shop… after delivering something to a client… Then… the invasion… Then there was this… Ugh... Barrier… It pushed me against a wall… Ugh.’ Alice turned left and entered an empty alley. Her joints hurt, and her muscles felt sore. Her body required a few seconds of rest. But there wouldn’t be time for that.

“There’s another one of those monsters!” Alice turned her head and caught sight of three royal guards walking slowly and cautiously in her direction, their horns already charged with magic.

“No, wait! I-I’m not like-”

“Shut up! We will show you what you get when you invade our homes and try control us!” One of the guards interrupted her and shot his magic towards Alice.

Alice barely managed to dodge it. She pressed her body against the wall as she saw the guards walking closer, never lifting their gaze from her. They were… dangerous. Images flashed in Alice mind, memories of years ago, when she had been corralled against a wall and had almost been devoured. “NO!” Her twisted horn brightened hard enough to temporarily blind the guards. This was her chance to run away.

“Catch that thing!” She heard the guards shouting behind her.

Alice was running in autopilot. Instinct had taken control and its only objective was to find a place to be safe. Her hooves carried her down the street, turning right and left at certain parts. Her steps were fueled with adrenaline that also helped her stand the pain in her body.

The loud noise of a door closing behind her snapped Alice out of her autopilot. She looked around her to see that she was in her workshop. Her hooves had brought her to the only place she felt completely safe in this city, but that had been a mistake, as the guards had followed her.

They were out there trying to force the door open. Alice quickly moved a few of her machines to the door. This would only give her a couple of minutes. This place was no longer safe, Canterlot wasn’t safe for her.

Alice moved to the back of the shop. She grabbed a small wooden box, her tools, her saddlebag and her savings. There wasn’t a backdoor here, but there was a window big enough for her to pass that led to the backstreet. She climbed out the window and ran away. Everything blurred around her as she ran away.

For one year Alice had been moving from town to town, not staying too long in one place. Alice took her gaze off the road and looked at the sign in front of her. “Ponyville,” she read out loud. This would be a good place to rest for the night and get a bit of love before returning to the road.

She walked to the center of the town, her cart right behind her. It wasn’t as heavy as it looked, but with low levels of energy, it was proving to be a hard work.

Her tiredness made it hard to keep her gaze to the front, which caused her to collide against another pony.

“Oh! I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she said, trying to help the other pony to stand.

“No, it’s okay, I wasn’t looking either.” The white unicorn said, as she dusted herself, then, everything turned white.

Time moved at a fast pace, but there were moments where it would slow down.

When the white unicorn asked her to stay in her home for the night.

When the unicorn took Alice to a party, and how they have laughed and danced together.

When the unicorn hugged and comforted Alice after the little incident in the party.

When they stayed late in the night, working together in those dresses.

When Alice spent the day thinking if she should stay or leave.

The time returned to a normal pace. Alice was in one of the Boutiques rooms... her room. It was late in the night, and Alice was looking inside her treasure box. She took the picture of the unicorn family and gently placed it next to her. She grabbed the piece of wood with the shape of a fang and put it right next the picture. She took the little statuette of a changeling, but placed it away, neither of this three objects was what she was looking for.

Finally, the last object in her little box. She grabbed it between her hooves and held it against her chest, a smile tracing her lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rarity opened her eyes slowly and looked up at the ceiling. She pulled herself up and looked around the room. Her friends where scattered around. Twilight was lying on the floor with Fluttershy right next to her, one yellow wing wrapped over the lavender alicorn. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having a stare competition while Pinkie cheered both of them.

Rarity stood on her hooves and walked to the unoccupied bed. The sound of hoofsteps caught her friends attention.

“Rarity?” Fluttershy called, but Rarity did not looked at her.

The white unicorn just kept walking until she was standing right next to bed. She then bend over and moved one of her hooves under the bed, looking for something. Her hoof made contact with something and she pulled it out. She looked down at the small statuette of unicorn with quite the dazzling mane cut and a trinity of diamonds as its cutie mark. Her hooves trembled as she pulled the figurine of herself close to her chest.

One tear fell from her face.

Mistake.

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“Rarity?” Fluttershy called, but Rarity did not look at her.

The other four ponies in the room stopped what they were doing and focused their attention in the now awoken unicorn. They observed as Rarity bend down and grabbed something from below the bed. They kept quiet as Rarity brought the object close to her chest, one tear tracing down her cheek.

Five mares remained silent, all thinking in the same thing. What had Rarity seen? They just stood silently, watching the white unicorn cry.

“R-Rarity?” Fluttershy called again. “What… what did you see?”

“Isn't it obvious?!” Rainbow flew to the bed and hovered over it as she spoke. “She obviously saw a life of ponies being deceived by that changeling.”

Rarity’s ears pressed against her skull, “no…” She whispered.

“That thing, how much damage had it caused.” Rainbow got louder.

“No, Rainbow-”

“That thing thought it could just come into town and do whatever it pleased with us. But I will show it that that was the biggest mistake of its life. That monster should just-”

“RAINBOW DASH, STOP!!!” Rarity shouted. “Don’t call her that… *sob* Please… Don’t call her that… *sob* She’s not a monster… *sob* She isn’t…” Rarity begged Rainbow as tears ran free. The pegasus’ wings had stopped in their tracks, causing the pegasus to land on the bed. Rainbow could only look at Rarity, her rosy eyes locking with the blue, teary eyes.

Rarity broke the eye contact and looked down at the object between her hooves. She mumbled something as she slowly, and with all the care of the world, lowered the object to the floor.

“Rarity.” The unicorn looked at Twilight. The lavender pony was stunned momentarily when she got to see such a mix of worry and pain in her friend’s face. Rarity ran out of the room before anything else could be said or done.

“Rarity!” Twilight stood to chase after her friend, but one step later, she was back on the floor. Fluttershy was quickly next to Twilight with a worried look on her face. “I’m fine, it’s just that I’m exhausted after using that spell.”

“Twilight, what the hay did that spell do to Rarity?” Applejack, who had been stunned by Rarity’s sudden outburst at Rainbow Dash, asked. “What did it do to her?”

“The spell shouldn’t have had any effect on Rarity, so it’s not what the spell did to her. It’s what it showed her.” Twilight looked down for a moment. “That expression on Rarity’s face… I’m worried of what she saw. This could be bad.” She looked up at the orange, the pink and the cyan ponies. “Girls, go look for Rarity. We need to know what she saw so we can think of what to do next.”

Applejack nodded and ran out. Pinkie went after her, but a few seconds later, she returned and threw Rainbow Dash, who had been stunned after Rarity’s outburst at her, on her back. Pinkie then bounced out of the room.

Twilight kept thinking of that look on Rarity’s face. “I don’t understand, Her expression… It must have been caused by what she saw of the changeling, so why did she yell at Rainbow Dash and defend it?”

“Twilight,” Fluttershy tightened her hold over her marefriend. “I… I didn’t see that expression, but I saw the one Rarity had after she woke up. The one she had while holding that.” Fluttershy pointed at the little statuette that Rarity had gently left behind. “She looked… happy… relieved.”

“What? Happy of what?” Twilight looked incredulous at Fluttershy.

“Well, I’m not completely sure, but-” Fluttershy stood up and quickly moved to grab the statuette then moved back to Twilight’s side. “-We can say that the spell worked and that Rarity saw this changeling’s memories. So the, ummm, little fang thingy that was inside the small box is something important to, ummm, Alice.” She placed the little statuette right in front of Twilight so she could observe it. “This was also inside the box.”

Twilight just looked at the little version of her unicorn friend. “Fluttershy… are you trying to say…”

Fluttershy leaned closer to Twilight and said: “What if-”

Rarity dashed through the town for the second time that day. Behind her, she left a trail of dust, confused ponies and tears. According to her friends, they had taken Alice to the Jail below the Town’s Hall. She had to get there fast. She had to see Alice. She had to make things right. She had to...

“Rarity, stop!”

Rarity didn’t had to look back. She recognized the voice as it carried a quite familiar country accent. Applejack was chasing after her.

“Consarn it, Rarity, stop! What did you see?!” Applejack shouted again, but Rarity didn’t show signs of slowing down. Time to change the strategy. Applejack accelerated and it was no surprise that she started quickly gaining on Rarity. Just a little closer and…

With a final burst of speed, Applejack tackled Rarity to the ground, both of them rolling down the street. When the tumbling stopped, Applejack had Rarity pinned to the ground.

“Let me go, Applejack! I have to go!” Rarity struggled under Applejack’s hoof.

“Rarity, What’s gotten into you? Where are you goin’? Why did you snap at Dash like that?”

“Let me go, Applejack!”

“Damnit, Rarity! Calm the buck down! Just tell me and Ah’ll let you go!”

“I… I have to *sob*…” Rarity stopped struggling and looked at Applejack right in the eyes. “I have to see her…*sob*”

“Her? You mean the changelin’?” Applejack looked Rarity shake below her, tears tracing her cheeks. “Why? Rarity, what did you see?”

“Applejack… We were wrong… *sob* and I… I did something horrible to her.”

“What?! You?! But she’s that thin’ is the one that has bein’ deceivin’ us!”

Rarity shook her head violently, not caring how much she was ruining her manestyle. “NO! She didn’t. *sob* You know nothing!”

“Then tell me! What did you see with that spell?!” Silence followed Applejack’s shout. One of the ponies waiting for the other to move and let her go, but that wouldn’t happen.

“Applejack… Alice isn’t bad. She… she may be a changeling, but she would never willingly hurt anypony.” Rarity took a deep breath that helped her continue. “She wasn’t deceiving us, Applejack. She never lied. She didn’t come here to steal love. I was happy when I woke up, because I had seen the truth.”

“Applejack… She loves me… I saw it… She loves me!” A shy smile formed on Rarity’s mouth. “The time we spent together… It wasn’t a lie… it wasn’t an act… it was as real for her as it was for me…”

“She has been living alone for almost her entire life. She kept her distance from other ponies… She tried to keep her distance from me. She did so to avoid getting discovered… to avoid getting hurt...”

Speaking was becoming harder for Rarity with each word. “Applejack… this week… She slowly allowed me into her heart… She was happy… And I screwed it up…”

“Applejack… I didn’t give her a chance to explain herself… When I saw her on the ground… her cream coat replaced by that black chitin… I just thought the worst, and I felt my world collapse… but it was her world that collapsed…”

“I called her a monster… Applejack, she trusted me… she loved me… And I made real her biggest fear…”

“I have to see her, Applejack. So please… let me go… I have to fix this... She… She isn’t bad...”

Applejack was taking her time to fully understand what Rarity had just told her. With her eyes locked on Rarity’s, she asked one last thing. “You sure?”

“... Absolute- Whoa!!” Rarity was suddenly pulled up and placed on Applejack’s back by Pinkie Pie, who had apparently just arrived.

“Then what are we waiting for? We have to go get Rarity’s marefriend out of jail.” Pinkie led the way, bouncing in the direction of the Town’s Hall.

Applejack was confused. “Pinkie? Did you heard everything Rarity just said?” Applejack asked as she followed Pinkie.

“Nope. I only heard Rarity saying: “Absolute-”, but that was all I needed to understand the rest.”

“How the heck can you understand the rest with just-”

“No time for questions!” Pinkie looked back, mysteriously managing to avoid any obstacle in her way. “Hurry up Rainbow Dash!”

“Rainbow?” Rarity looked back to see her cyan friend flying towards them. As Rainbow got closer, Rarity managed to see that the primastic pegasus was completely soaked. “Why is Rainbow Dash-”

“I said that there no time for questions!”

“PINKIE!!” Rainbow shouted. “Why did you throw me in the well?!”

“Do you ponies don’t understand equestrian? I said that there is no time for questions!”

The group moved fast, and soon reached the entrance to the Town’s Hall. Pinkie turned to look at the others.

“Now listen. I have the perfect plan to break Alice out from jail. First, I will need my chicken costume from nightmare night. Applejack, I need you to bring a few empty barrels from your farm. Rainbow Dash, I need you to pull a Sonic Rainboom at the exact moment I say. Now, I will distract them with the “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” dance until Rainbow Dash-”

“Pinkie!” Applejack interrupted as Rarity got down from her back. Applejack looked at Rarity, and thought of what she had been told a moment ago. “We just have’ta explain that everything is a big misunderstanding. Once the guards know that Alice ain’t bad they’ll set her free lickity-split.”

“Wait, what? That changeling isn’t bad?” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie asked at the same time.

“Pinkie! Ah thought you said you underst- Agh! For Celestia’s sake! Just forget it, we’ll catch you up later. Right now we just have to fix this mistake.”

Rainbow Dash blocked the door before Applejack could enter the Town’s Hall. “Wait! Are we really letting that changeling free?! Just like that?”

“Rainbow, Ah will…. well Ah don’t really know the whole thing, but Rarity will explain it all later. For now, let’s just do this!” Applejack pushed Rainbow out from the way and opened the door, letting Rarity enter first. The group of four ponies moved to the stairs that led to the underground jail, where they met the three royal guards that were standing guard.

Applejack got close to Rarity. “Hey, sugarcube, you go and talk to Alice. Ah guess you need some time alone to sort things. Ah’ll explain things to the guards so they let her go. Okay?”

Rarity simply nodded. She just walked to the door that led to the five cells. One of the guards let Rarity pass, as he recognized her as Princess Twilight’s close friend.

“All of you pay attention. Ah don’t know the whole story, but Ah know one thi-” Applejack speech was muffled by the door that closed behind Rarity.

Rarity was nervous. What was she going to say exactly? Well, first thing first, she was going to apologize, but… Would Alice forgive her? Rarity was completely sure that she loved Alice even more after seeing her past, but would Alice still love her? Even after what she had done?

These questions clouded Rarity’ mind as she walked closer to the only occupied cell. She remembered Alice’s face when she had called her a monster. The expression there… Now that Rarity knew everything, she realized how much sorrow had filled those blue eyes after that single word had left her own mouth…

Rarity took a deep breath and looked at the black figure that lay on the ground. There she was, Alice the changeling, but Rarity no longer cared about how she looked. Inside, Alice was the pony she had fallen for.

“... Alice…”

“Are you feeling okay now?” Fluttershy asked as she helped Twilight walk through the street.

“Yes, Fluttershy, I’m still a bit tired, but I can handle it.”

“Alright… if you say so.” They had just left the boutique, and were currently looking for the others. They had no idea where Rarity had run off to, so Twilight’s best guess was to first look at the Town’s Hall.

As they got closer, they spotted one of the royal guards standing just out of the Town’s Hall. He also spotted the two mares approaching him, and immediately ran to meet them.

“Princess Twilight, Lady Fluttershy.” He said with a bow.

“Ummm, please, just call me Fluttershy… I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

“Please, stand.” Twilight said and the guard obeyed. “Why are you standing out here? Shouldn’t you be watching after the changeling?”

“Princess, the changeling isn’t here anymore. it-”

“W-What?! Did the it escape?! Shouldn’t you be looking for it instead of standing there?! We have to move right now and alert the citizens-”

“Princess, please, ummm, sorry for interrupting, but let me explain.” The guard said and waited for Twilight to calm down before continuing. “Your friends arrived here some time ago. The farmer, Applejack I believe, was telling us about this spell you cast on your other friend that likes fashion, Rarity, and that we had to let the changeling go because-”

“What?! Why did she said that? You let it go?!”

“No, Princess. We were arguing about that and that we required your direct order to let the prisoner go. Meanwhile, Rarity had entered to speak with the changeling. A few seconds after that, we heard your friend asking for help and-”

“Did the changeling do something to Rarity?”

The guard was getting annoyed with all this interruptions. “No, Princess. The thing is, when we entered to see what was happening, we saw nothing out of place. The changeling was in the cell and Rarity was fine, but she was mumbling something about helping the changeling. We opened the cell to examine the changeling… We don’t know much about a changeling’s anatomy, but we couldn’t feel it’s heartbeat. Princess, the changeling was taken to Ponyville’s hospital. I stayed here to inform you in case you came over here.”

“What?!”

“Oh no!” Fluttershy exclaimed with a hoof covering her mouth. “The girls must be at the hospital then. We have to go there.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, you are right. I can teleport us there.”

“But Twilight, you are still tired from the spell you casted earlier.” Fluttershy said worried.

“Don’t worry, the hospital isn’t that far.” Twilight looked at the guard. “But I only have enough magic to teleport two ponies.”

“It’s okay, Princess. I will remain here.”

“Right.” Twilight nodded while wrapping one wing over her marefriend. “Hold tight, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy wrapped her hooves tightly around Twilight’s barrel. “Ugh, not that tight.”

“Ummm, sorry.”

Twilight smiled at Fluttershy. “No problem.” Her horn brightened and both ponies disappeared.

Twilight and Fluttershy reappeared right in front of Ponyville’s hospital, were a second guard was waiting for them.

“Princess Twilight, Lady Flut-”

Twilight interrupted him by lifting one hoof. “Leave that for later.” Twilight sat on the ground for a few seconds to rest. A few seconds later, she stood and walked towards the hospital entrance. “Where is the changeling?”

“Right. The changeling is in room 412 on the fourth floor. Your friends are there waiting for you.”

Just as Fluttershy had said. Twilight thanked the guard and walked quickly through the hospital’s hall, Fluttershy close behind her. They reached the elevator and pushed the button with the number four. The doors closed, and about fifteen seconds later, they opened again. They moved down the hall, spotting three of their friends and the last royal guard.

“Girls. What is-” Twilight got tackled to the ground by Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight! That spell you cast, is it possible to tamper with what it shows you? Is it possible that Rarity saw another lie from that changeling?!”

“Rainbow Dash, what the-”

“Just answer me!”

Twilight frowned. “I, uhhhh, no, there’s no chance of that. This spell is too complicated and invasive for anypony but a princess to use. Even if a normal unicorn had enough power, the Princesses would never teach it to them because it completely violates a pony’s privacy; you see all of their memories from the very beginning, no matter how deeply buried.”

“Damn.” Rainbow got off from Twilight. “Damn, damn, damn!” The pegasus bucked the wall.

“Rainbow, what has gotten into you?”

“She just heard the truth, sugarcube.” Applejack helped Twilight get on her hooves. “After we got here, Rarity told us what she saw.”

“... And what was it? Where is she now?”

“Well, Rarity is inside there with Alice. She hasn’t left her side since we got here. And about what she told us~” Applejack told a short version of what Rarity had told them to Twilight and Fluttershy, and they listened cautiously.

Twilight let everything sink in. Alice had been banished from the hive for not wanting to steal love. She had created the pony named Alice, and not supplanted a pony that had gone missing a year ago during the invasion. Alice also had nothing to do with the invasion. She had arrived to Ponyville by mere chance, and not to steal Twilight’s love. She even told about derpy’s incident, that it had all been an accident.

Twilight, right now, felt like she wanted to help Applejack buck some trees, but using her head instead of her hind legs. Twilight gave a look at Rainbow who was sitting in a corner, Pinkie trying, but failing, to cheer her up. She was taking this bad. All of the ponies here had wronged an innocent, but Rainbow Dash had been the worst of them. She had threatened and even hurt the changeling who had done no wrong to deserve it.

Applejack then told what had happened after they got to the hospital.

A doctor had just examined Alice, but he had no idea of what was wrong. She didn’t seem to have any physical injuries. She also didn’t seem to be affected by any kind of spell. The doctor had no idea what to do. He had never even seen a changeling before, and much less had any idea of how a changeling body worked.

“Alice is currently unconscious. The most the doctor could do was say that Alice didn’t seemed to be in any kind of danger right now, but she seems to be slowly weakening. If we don’t find out what’s happening to her in a couple of days… she...”

“Oh no, poor Alice. How is Rarity taking this? She must be feeling horrible…”

“Yeah, we decided to leave her alone, but if you want, you can go inside.” Applejack turned to Twilight who seemed to be deep in thought. “Maybe you would know what’s wrong with Alice.”

“No…” Twilight said simply. “I have not the slightest idea of what’s going on with her. I mean, I’m still processing that this changeling is actually good, and that we were the ones that caused this situation.” Twilight sighed. “I… I have to research first. I don’t have much information about changelings, but there’s a bit of documentation back in the library that I gathered after the invasion. I haven’t read it yet, maybe~” Twilight’s voice faded out as she walked.

“Ummm, tell us if something happens. I’ll go help Twilight,” with that, Fluttershy chased after her marefriend.

“Ah sure hope you find something…” Applejack sighed and sat in one of the chairs placed in front of room 412.

The sun had long settled at the distance. The white room of the hospital was in complete darkness. The only sound that could be heard were the whimpers of an alabaster unicorn. The unicorn was sitting right next to the hospital bed, looking at the occupant of the bed with teary eyes.

“I’m sorry, Alice. I’m so sorry... I’m sorry…” Rarity said time after time. She had one of her white hooves over a black one, the other slowly caressed Alice mane. “I’m sorry… please, forgive me…” It was turning quite the feat for Rarity to keep her eyes open. She blinked once… She blinked Twice… Her head lowered until it touched the hospital bed... Everything turned black.

A noise pulled Rarity out from her dreamless sleep. How much time had passed? It must have been morning already, as a few rays of light covered the room. Rarity yawned and re-accommodated her head on the bed, but something wasn’t right… Something was missing…

Rarity lifted her head, now completely awake, and looked at the hospital bed. Alice wasn’t there. Rarity started to panic. Where was Alice? What had happened? This questions crossed her mind until a second noise caught her attention. Rarity turned her head in the direction of the window. Her heart stopped, and her mouth dried.

A black figure stood right next to the window. Rarity’s locked immediately with the blue one’s of Alice. Her jaw opened and closed a few times, and finally, a few words came out.

“... Alice…”

The changeling turned around and jumped out the window.

My Princess.

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Alice felt warm and comfortable. Just as she had felt every morning before waking up and finding out that she was no longer sleeping on a side of the road or under a tree. These last few days, she had woken up in her own bed. But today, after her eyes fluttered open, she was confused of where she was.

This room was completely different to the one she had been sleeping the last few days. For starters, this room had a complete lack of colors. The wall and the ceiling were pure white. The room also lacked the gorgeous furniture from the boutique.

Alice’s eyes just looked around the room, but they came to a halt as she noticed something purple right next to her. After focusing her gaze, Alice felt even more confused, her cheeks slightly warming up. Why was Rarity here? The small snores coming from the unicorn indicated that she was obviously sleeping. Alice would have liked to just stay there looking at Rarity, but she also wanted to know where she was and why was she here with Rarity, so she decided that she had to gently wake up the unicorn.

“Rarit-” Alice quickly clamped her hooves against her mouth, her eyes wide open. That voice, the one that had just come out from her, it was… It was her real voice. She slowly pulled her hooves away from her mouth and looked down at them. They were completely black, holes covering a great portion of them.

Beginning to panic, the events of… Alice wasn’t exactly sure of when they had taken place, but she remembered them. The lunch at Fluttershy’s cottage. The arrival of the royal guards. Twilight using that barrier spell that stripped her of her… her pony self. And finally, Rarity running away from her… but before that, she had shouted something. What had been her wor-

“You are a changeling, you are a monster.” The words came as clear to her mind as if Rarity had just woken up and said them. This caused Alice to roll out from the bed, in the opposite direction from where the unicorn was, trying to get some distance between the two of them.

Alice was against the wall, her eyes wide open and breathing harshly. Alice brought one hoof to her chest. ‘C-Calm down, slow your breaths. Just… Just-’

A yawn from right next the bed made Alice panic even more. Rarity was waking up. In a quick motion, Alice stood on her hooves, ran to the nearest route of escape, a window, and opened it in an instant, making a considerable amount of noise. She winced at that, and slowly turned her head to look back.

Their blue eyes met. Alice saw Rarity open and close her mouth a few times. Then, one single word came from Rarity’s mouth, but Alice did not hear it. She was afraid of of what Rarity could tell her. She just imagined the worst as she turned around and jumped out the window.

Alice fell a couple of meters before landing hard on a bush, but not suffering any major injuries from the fall. She managed to get on her hooves and ran away from that place as fast as she could.

Alice moved through the town, feeling pain shot up through one of her legs with each step she gave, but that wouldn’t stop her. She had to get out of here, she had to get to a safe place, somewhere where she could… where she could…

‘Where I could what?’ Alice questioned herself. ‘What… what am I going to do now?’ Run from this town to another was what came to her mind, just like a year ago in Canterlot. But… ‘Run and then what? Get discovered again? Is running away my only option in this life?’ Tears streamed down her face.

Not paying much attention to the way, Alice ran directly on another pony that had gotten up early to water the plants.

“Hey! Watch out where you are…” The female unicorn, with a pale aquamarine coat and a grayish mane with a few lock of white, fell silent when she looked at the… the creature that had collided with her. Her eyes widened slowly at the recognition of what this creature was. “C-Ch-Ch-Cha… Ch-Changeling!!!” the mare shouted with all her might.

Rainbow Dash groggily woke up, opening her mouth widely as she let a loud yawn escape. She rubbed her eyes and stretched every single one of her sore limbs. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept in such an uncomfortable place, and now that she thought about it, what place was this?

She looked to the left to see an empty hallway, then turned her head to the right to see one of the royal guards sleeping on a chair. Finally, looking right in front of her, Rainbow saw the white closed door with the number 412.

“Right… The hospital.” Rainbow sighed. Applejack and Pinkie had left yesterday, shortly after Twilight and Fluttershy, because both of them had to get early for work. The cyan pegasus had decided to stay here in case Rarity needed something.

Rainbow stood up and walked down the hallway, looking for the little fillies room. Before she could get far, a sound caught her attention. Her ears twitched and moved as they tried to pinpoint the direction of the sound. The closer she got to the room 412, the clearer the sound became. Pressing her head against the door, She just waited a moment until she heard the sound once again to enter the room.

With the door wide open, Rainbow caught the sight of one of her best friend sobbing on the floor. Without thinking, Rainbow moved quickly to her friend’s side. “Rarity, what happened?”

Rarity just kept looking down.

Rainbow looked around the room, noticing that the changeling wasn’t there. “Rarity, Where is the chan- Uhh, where is Alice?” Still no answer. With her friend crying and the changeling missing, Rainbow reached the only reasonable answer. “She did something to you, right? I knew we couldn’t trust that monster!” Rainbow shouted, clenching her jaw.

“Rainbow,” Rarity started in a quiet voice. “I would appreciate it dearly if you never called Alice a monster or thing again.”

“But that thing-”

“RAINBOW!” Rarity turned around, her expression was one that could easily put in shame Fluttershy’s stare. “Don’t. Call her. A thing. Again.”

Rainbow just nodded. She had seen Rarity angry, but never this level of angry.

Taking a deep breath, Rarity looked to the window. “I hurt her, Rainbow. I hurt Alice.” One quiet sob escaped her lips. “When I woke up, she was standing right next to the window. She… She was scared… Scared of me…” She lifted a hoof to wipe a few tears. “I didn’t even had the chance to apologize… She just left…” Rarity finished, looking down at her hooves, a few tears falling over them.

Rainbow moved closer to rarity and place a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “Come on, we have to go.”

“... Go?”

“How long has it been since Alice left?”

“... Half hour ago? Maybe more, I’m not sure…”

“Damn, that’s a lot of time. Well, it doesn’t matter, let’s go.” Rainbow said as she walked to the window.”

“Where… where are you going?”

“We Are going to look for Alice.” Rainbow looked back with a warm smile. “We both have to apologize to her.”

“But… She-”

“You really love her?”

Rarity was surprised by Rainbow’s sudden question. “I… Of course. But she-”

“Twilight said that what you saw in that dream was a hundred percent real. And you told us that she felt the same way for you.”

“But I screwed it up. She hates me now.”

“Nope, she fears you, you just told me that.”

“I think that that is even worse.”

“Look, we just have to fix it, and we won’t be able to do that standing here. So come on, we have to find your marefriend.”

Rarity was quiet. Rainbow said it as if it was the simplest of things to do. Alice had been deeply hurt. She had allowed Rarity a place in her heart, and Rarity had... “But-”

“Rarity, just believe… believe that everything will be fine. What do we have to lose if we find her? Nothing.”

“But if we don’t go after her, I could lose something big…” Rarity took a deep breath and nodded. “You are right, Rainbow. But how will we find her. We don’t know where she went.”

“CHAAAAANGEELLIIIIIIINNGGGGGGGGGGG!!!” Sounded the faint shout through the window.

“I think we have our first clue.” Rainbow said as she flew over Rarity, Grabbed her by the barrel and flew out of the hospital.

A few blocks ahead, they found a group of ponies surrounding one of Twilight’s guard. The guard seemed to be talking to a unicorn mare that looked quite distressed. Two more guards were trying to disperse the crowd In a quick motion, Rainbow flew downwards, placing Rarity on ground level before landing. The two of them then moved to talk with the guard and the mare. Rainbow recognized the guard as Sergeant Iron Hoof and the mare as Lyra Heartstring.

“Sergeant.” Rainbow called out.

The sergeant turned around. “Oh, Miss Rainbow, Miss Rarity. Good to see you here. You probably heard thanks to that loud scream. It seems another changeling has showed up in Ponyville.”

“Another?! Oh Celestia!” Lyra said after hearing the sergeant. “They are here to invade, just like a year ago in Canterlot! I don’t want to be replaced by one of those monsters again!” She screamed, causing the nearby group of ponies to start to shout, demanding more information of what they had just heard.

“Everypony, Please, stay calm!” Iron Hoof tried to regain control of the situation before it turned in complete panic. Everypony in Ponyville knew about the changelings and the invasion. If something like that were to happen in this little town, with way fewer guards-

“Everypony!” Somepony shouted from above. The group of ponies looked up to see Princess Twilight flying down. Fluttershy right behind her. “Please, stay calm. There aren’t changelings in the city. The one changeling that was spotted was actually an illusion I created for scientific purposes!”

That was enough to calm the masses. They had known that their new Princess enjoyed doing weird experiments and tended to cause troubles with them, but she also fixed those problems. With that, the crowd began to move away.

The only remaining in place were the guards, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow and Lyra. Twilight turned to Rarity. “Rarity, why aren’t you with Alice at the hospital?”

“Alice escaped, Twilight.”

“She did?”

Rarity nodded, looking a bit gloom. “She… I woke up and she was standing right next to the window. She… She looked scared of me, Twilight. “Rarity walked closer to the princess and lowered her voice. “I’m sure the changeling Lyra saw was Alice. I have to find her, Twilight. I have to apologize.”

Twilight seemed to be thinking something real quick before turning to Lyra. “Lyra, you know what direction this “changeling” took. I need to find this illusion so I can finish the experiment.”

Lyra just looked at Twilight, still looked a bit paranoic. “Princess, that was a real changeling, wasn’t it? I mean, it bumped into me, it was solid.”

“Lyra, that is what I’m experimenting with, a solid illusion. It escaped my lab. I need to find it and finish this before it causes more problems. So no, It wasn’t a real changeling. Trust me.” Twilight ended with a reassuring smile.

Lyra took a few seconds to think about this. “O-Okay, that makes sense, I guess. It… it ran to the east.”

“The east…” Twilight’s eyes widened. “The Everfree Forest. Thank you Lyra. Do you need help getting home, you still look a bit disturbed.”

“I… I would feel a bit more at ease.”

“Twilight nodded and looked at Iron Hoof. “Sergeant, please, escort this mare to her home.” The sergeant saluted and walked the mare away from that place.

“Wow.” Rainbow said. “If I didn’t knew the truth I would totally believe you. I mean, you looked so serious. You didn’t falter once.”

Twilight sighed as she began to move to the east. Her friends followed her. “I feel bad for lying to them, but it was the quickest way to solve this problem. Rarity.” Twilight moved next to the unicorn. “I was flying to the hospital when I heard Lyra’s scream. Rarity, Alice almost died yesterday.”

“W-What?”

“After I left the hospital yesterday, I went to your house to retrieve that wooden fang to cast the spell in me. I had to see her memories for myself.”

“You still doubted that she wasn’t a menace?! That she didn’t love me?! You didn’t trust my word?!”

“What?! No! Rarity, it’s not like that. I believed you from the beginning.”

“Then why did you need to see them?”

“I was looking for information, something that could tell me what exactly happened to her yesterday. Look, I had some documents about changelings in the library, but that information is incomplete. Ponies only started researching changelings a year ago, after the invasion, It wasn’t enough to know what was happening to her.”

“... Okay, Twilight. Sorry I snapped at you. It’s just that hearing that she almost died yesterday...”

“Rarity, I think you saved Alice.”

“I-I did?”

Twilight stopped running. The four ponies were at the entrance of the forest. “You love her, right?”

Rarity looked at Twilight right in the eyes. “Of course I do.”

“Rarity, yesterday Alice suffered of what I’m going to call “a broken heart”. During her memories, this happened in two different occasions. When her “foster” parents discovered her and when Chrysalis banished her. It was like an open wound from where all the love she had in her was slowly leaking out. She lost a great amount of energy and strength. And, well…”

Rarity understood. “The same thing happened yesterday, when I called her a… a monster. I almost killed her.”

Twilight sighed. “I guess, but you saved her. If you didn’t love her, If you hadn’t spent all the night right next to her, pouring your love, unconsciously, to her, she wouldn't had survived!”

“But she’s still in danger.” Fluttershy said from behind. Twilight focused her attention on her marefriend. “Running towards the Everfree Forest by herself? Poor thing.”

“How will we find her in there? The forest is too thick to look for her from above.” Rainbow asked.

“We need a plan. We can’t just run in there aimlessly. We need more ponies. Rainbow, fly to Sweet Apple Acres and bring Applejack. Fluttershy, you go get Pinkie Pie. I will return to town and bring some royal guards to help us search. Rarity you can stay… Rarity?” Twilight had just noticed that her unicorn friend was missing.

“Alice! Alice!” Rarity shouted as she ran through the forest. Alice had almost died yesterday, and now, the changeling was alone in this cursed forest. This dangerous place, if something bad happened to Alice…

As Rarity kept shouting and running through the forest, she did not notice that she had managed to grab the attention of something from behind the trees. A large creature that kept an eye on her, a creature that was waiting for an opportunity.

“Alice!” Rarity shouted one more time. She had arrived to the bridge that led to the old castle ruins. At that moment, a loud roar sounded from behind.

A large manticore surged from the dark forest, making its way towards the unicorn, drool oozing out from its mouth.

Rarity paid him no attention. She had to find Alice, so she ran to the bridge. ‘Maybe she’s in the castle.’ Halfway through it, the manticore flew up, landing just in front of Rarity. The bridge shook under his weight. The manticore roared again, spraying spit in Rarity’s face.

“You brute! Move away!” Rarity turned, placing her weight on her front hooves and lifting her back ones. Rarity bucked as hard as she could, hitting the manticore right on the chest.

That only served to make the manticore angry. Rarity managed to make some distance between her and the manticore before the beast’s massive paw could hit her. The claws of the beast hit the ropes of the bridge. The manticore gave two steps forward before the old, damaged bridge gave away under its weight.

The manticore fell down the gorge, but managed a swift landing thanks to extending his wings just at the right moment. Looking around, the manticore found a little pony that didn’t had the same luk.

Rarity was lying on the ground, unconscious. The manticore walked slowly towards its lunch.

Alice jumped behind a bush at the moment she heard somepony shouting her name. It was dark, but she easily spotted the white coated unicorn.

Why was Rarity here? Why was she looking for her? This were the thought in Alice mind. Was Rarity worried about her? Rarity sounded worried.

Alice shook her head. That couldn’t be the reason, why would she be looking for a changeling. Whatever the reason was, Alice didn’t want to know. She decided to keep silent and just watch the unicorn.

She watched as a Manticore appeared out of the woods. She watched as Rarity tried to cross the bridge, only to be blocked halfway by the manticore. She watched the unicorn kick the manticore without a second of hesitation. She watched, holding her breath, as the manticore attempted to strike Rarity with its claws. And she watched, as the manticore and the lovely unicorn fell down the gorge.

Alice jumped out from the bush and ran to the border. Looking down, she saw the manticore slowly walking to its prey.

“Get away from her!” Alice shouted as she jumped down, aiming to the manticore. She connected her front hooves to the manticore’s ribcage, then stumbled backwards, groaning a little in pain for using her still injured left hoof.

The manticore was tired of games, time to use it’s tail. Alice rolled back, dodging the manticore’s poison sting. The manticore stalked forward.

Alice looked back, and moved closer to the unicorn. She had to protect the pony she loved, but how? Her hoof ached in pain, and the manticore was bigger, leaving physical confrontation out of the options. She had spend a good part of her life as an earth pony, so she didn’t had much knowledge of defensive spells. Another option out.

What could she do? Run away and leave Rarity here to be devoured? Never.

One of Alice hoof found one of the planks of the bridge. She took it with both hoofs. “Don’t get closer!” She shouted, madly swinging the piece of wood.

The manticore kept getting closer.

Alice had to think of something quickly. What else could she do? Shape shift? To what? Even if she changed shapes to a big stallion, the manticore would still be stronger. It was usele-

Alice eyes widened. She looked down at her weapon, then shape-shifted. The green flames that covered her body also covered what she was holding, causing the piece of wood to catch in fire.

The manticore froze, surprised by the flames. Alice noticed this, and threw the piece of wood to the manticore. The manticore jumped backwards, scared of the flames. Alice smirked, so the manticore was afraid of the fire?

Taking another piece of wood, Alice shape-shifted back to her changeling form and started to swing her flame weapon at the manticore.

The manticore couldn’t get closer. Too afraid of the flames, it was time to give up on this. The manticore extended it’s wings and flew away.

Alice dropped to the ground and threw her “weapon” away. She couldn’t believe she had faced a manticore and won. She just took a few seconds to gather strength, then looked at the unicorn at her side. With the tip of her hoof, Alice brushed away a lock of purple mane from Rarity’s face.

She had saved this beautiful mare, this mare that thought she was a monster. That didn’t matter, she would just take Rarity to a safe place and get out of her life forever.

With some effort, Alice managed to pull Rarity on her back, and with some more effort, she got them out from that hole. The walk back to the entrance was slow thanks to her injured hoof, but, it meant a little more time with the warmth of Rarity on her back.

“Alice.” The changeling froze. Rarity was awake. “Please, put me down.” Without saying anything, Alice lowered her body, Allowing Rarity to get off. The unicorn stood still, right next to the changeling, looking down at her hooves.

“You… You saved me, right?”

Alice stood in place, not looking at Rarity, not knowing what to do. A part of her was screaming to run away. Another, just told her to stay there and wait. “I… yes.”

Rarity chuckled. “You know, I entered the forest, thinking that I would find you in a situation of peril, that I would save you. But, it seems that I was the helpless princess, and you were my hero.” Rarity turned her head to Alice and softly kissed her on the cheek, then pulled away. “I’m sorry, Alice.”

Alice was momentarily stunned. What was going on? How could Rarity kiss her just like that? Why wasn’t she screaming at her? Why was she apologizing?

She wanted to ask all those questions. “What?” Was the only thing that came from her mouth.

Rarity sighed. “I made a huge mistake, Alice. I should… I should have given you chance to explain yourself. I’m really sorry. I had to find you to apologize, and to... to tell you ...”

Rarity took a deep breath, then brought her head closer to Alice one more time, she tilted her head and closed her eyes. White lips met black ones. Rarity had to admit, Alice lips felt a bit rough, but she also had to admit that this was the greatest kiss she had ever had.

Rarity pulled away. She opened her eyes and laughed. Alice expression was priceless.

“I… I don’t understand. How.... I-I’m a changeling. I’m a mons-” Rarity silenced her with another kiss.

“You are a changeling, but you aren’t a monster. I’m sorry I didn’t see it the first time, but I see it now. Your appearance may have changed, but you are still that lovely mare in the inside.”

Alice felt so happy. This couldn’t be real, could it?

“I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Just say that you will come back to Ponyville with me, please.”

Alice eyes widened in fear. “But the guards…”

Rarity brought her hooves around Alice neck and hugged her. “Don’t worry Alice, I won’t let anything happen to you again. They won’t do anything to you. Don’t forget that I’m friend with Equestria’s newest Princess.”

Alice returned the embrace. “Twilight… she won’t throw me in a dungeon, right?”

“No, she won’t. I promise.”

Alice tightened her embrace. “This is real? You… you really love me?”

“You are a changeling, you can tell, right?”

Rarity was right, Alice could feel the love around her. She was almost drowning in it.

“I love you, Rarity.”

“I love you too, Alice.”

When Rarity and Alice got out from the forest they were met by their friends and a pair of guards who were about to venture in the forest. Twilight quickly dismissed the guards, seeing the discomfort in Alice face. All the girls hugged Alice, and told her how happy they were that she was fine. They also apologized to her for rushing to the wrong conclusion when they found out she was a changeling.

Pinkie Pie was the first to leave, as she had to prepare a party for that night. So Sugarcube Corner was currently hosting a private party for seven ponies.

Alice was currently the center of attention, with Twilight making her questions about the changeling anatomy, Pinkie and Rainbow asking her to shape-shift into different ponies, Applejack just shook her head and drank a bit of punch.

“Hey, Alice,” Rainbow said, tapping Alice on the shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a bit?”

“Umm, sure?”

Rainbow sighed, “hey, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry, you know, for what I said… and did yesterday.”

Alice smiled. “It’s okay, Rainbow, I forgive you. I mean, it’s the least I can do after you saved me.”

“I saved you? Awesome! umm, when did I do that?”

Alice chuckled, “I’ll tell you some other day.”

At at the other side of the room, Rarity was talking with Fluttershy.

“You know, darling. I can’t believe the things that have happened in this week. I mean, everything happened so fast. When Alice arrived, falling in love with her and discovering she is a changeling, still loving her.” Rarity sighed happily. “Exactly one week ago, you told me something that was completely false.”

Fluttershy coughed up some of the punch she was drinking. “I-I did? W-what was it?”

“That I would find my prince. You were wrong,” Rarity said, looking across the room at Alice who was looking back with a big smile. “I found my princess.”

THE END…

The door of the bakery suddenly opened. At the entrance stood a little dragon.

“Spike!” Twilight said as she rushed to the entrance to hug her number one assistance.

“I missed you, Twilight.” Spike said, returning the embrace. Then he pulled away, looking with a frown at the alicorn. “Twilight, why weren’t you waiting for me at the train station? I go visit Canterlot for a week and everyone forgets about me?”

Twilight eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Spike, it’s just that a lot of things happened yesterday and today. Please forgive me.”

Spike smiled. “Hey, it’s okay, I know that something big must have happened if you weren’t waiting for me. So, what happened? And…” Spike looked over Twilight shoulder at a cream coated pony who he had never seen before. “Who is that?”

“Oh! Umm, well, that’s Alice. She… ummm...” Twilight rubbed her head, not sure what else to say.

“Alice? That’s a strange name.” Spike walked to the mare. “Hi, I’m Spike.” he said, extending a claw.

Alice looked down at the dragon. “Hello, I’m Alice Sawyer” She said, extending a hoof to meet the claw.

“Uhm, Spikey Wikey?”

Spike moved faster than Rainbow Dash in a fly competition. He stood in front of Rarity with a lovestruck expression on his face. “Yes, Rarity?”

Rarity cleared her voice. “You know, Spikey, there are plenty of fish in the sea.”

THE REAL END.

Love Me... I Mean, If You're Ok With Me

by elmago02

Alice Sawyer.

Just for today.

Self control.

Bathroom.

Dresses.

I chose.

It's all over.

LET ME GO!

Memories: On her own.

Memories: Alice.

Mistake.

My Princess.