The Flower Blooms Twice 3

Scootaloo suddenly lunged towards her, her movement making Apple Bloom back against the wall of the clubhouse.  "Who are you?  What have you done with Apple Bloom?  Where's the rest of the swarm?  What are your pans for Ponyville?"  She looked Apple Bloom right in her compound eyes.  "Are you a spy?"

Catching Scootaloo's tail in her mouth, Sweetie Belle pulled her back.  "Scoot, if she was a Changeling spy, why would she tell us she was a Changeling?  That doesn't make sense."

Scootaloo turned towards Sweetie and shrugged.  "Well I never asked if she was a good spy."

Apple Bloom let out a despairing wail.  "This is horrible!" she said, sadness dripping from her voice.  "Not only do my best friends in the whole world think I'm a monster...they think I'm an INCOMPETENT monster!"  She wailed sadly again.

Scootaloo turned back to her, looking contrite.  "I didn't mean it.  It was just a joke-"

Apple Bloom suddenly hissed and leapt, pinning Scootaloo to the floor of the clubhouse.  "You will pay for angering me!" she hissed out.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle screamed in sudden fear...only for Scootaloo's scream to turn to helpless laughter as Apple Bloom proceeded to tickle her mercilessly.  "Stop it!  Hahahahah-mercy!"

Apple Bloom hopped off her friend, smiling mischievously.  "Gotcha!"

Scootaloo stared at her...then pounced.  "I can't believe you did that to me!" she shouted, tickling her back.

Sweetie joined in, also tickling Apple Bloom.  "Don't scare us like that!"

The tumble quickly devolved into a three way tickle fight, all three fillies tumbling over each other, laughing hysterically.  As they fell backward from each other, breathing heavily, Apple Bloom suddenly closed her mouth on Scootaloo's ear with a "Nom!" sound.

Scootaloo blinked.  "Uh...Apple Bloom?  Why are you eating my ear?"

Apple Bloom blinked.  "Cause you taste good?" she offered through a mouthful of ear.

Sweetie Belle squealed.  "Oh, this is so cute!  I wish Featherweight was here with his camera!"

"No picture!  No picture!" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo said simultaneously, leaping back from each other.

Sweetie began to laugh, and after a bit the other two joined in.

After a time, Scootaloo was the first to calm down.  "So..." she began.  "You're a Changeling?"

"Yeah," Apple Bloom said nervously.  "Always have been, apparently, but I never knew."

"Really?" Sweetie Belle asked, surprised.  "How's that?"

"Well, apparently Applejack found me in the cabbage patch, and the whole Apple family up and decided that made me one of them."  She shrugged.  "According to Applejack, every member of the family older than me knows I wasn't born a pony, but don't care."  She turned towards her friends nervously.  "Do...do you two care?"

"Of course not!" Sweetie Belle said quickly.  "You're you, no matter what!"

"What she said!" Scootaloo added.

Apple Bloom smiled happily.  Her short red mane rustled quietly.  She blinked, turning to look at the wavy red mane that extended a short length from the back of her head and all the way down the back of her neck.  "What was that?" she asked in confusion.

Sweetie Belle thought for a bit.  "Well...I don't know.  Could be anything."

Scootaloo poked at one of the holes in Apple Bloom's legs curiously.

Apple Bloom giggled.  "Scoot, that tickles!"

Scootaloo smiled.  "So, how'd you find out, anyway?"

"Remember that weird pain I had yesterday?"  Her friends both nodded.  "Well, turns out I injured my left wing, somehow.  Applejack got Zecora to come fix it, though."

"But..."  Sweetie Belle looked confused.  "If you didn't know you were a Changeling, how did you not look like one?"

"Maw's ribbon."  Apple Bloom retied the ribbon in her mane.  Green fire passed over her body, changing her back to her usual appearance.  "According to Applejack, when she first put it in my mane, I turned into an almost exact replica of Maw at my age.  She thinks it's got something to do with my Changeling magic reacting to something of Maw still in the ribbon."

Scootaloo nodded.  "Makes sense to me."

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment.  "You said everypony in your family older than you already knows, right?  Does that mean Babs Seed doesn't know?"

Apple Bloom paused.  "Probably not.  ...I'll tell her next time she visits.  I don't want to lie to any of my friends.  But..."  She looked to her friends.  "For now, do you think we could keep this between us?  Given how most of Equestria still feels about Changelings after what happened in Canterlot, I'd kinda like to know who knows, if you know what I mean."

Both her friends nodded simultaneously.  Speaking together, they intoned, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."  Scootaloo put more emphasis on the 'hope to fly' part.

Apple Bloom smiled.  "Thanks you two.  You guys are the best!"  She hugged them both.

Scootaloo smiled.  "Nopony will hear this from us, Apple Bloom."

"After all," Sweetie said, "breaking a promise is the fastest way to lose a friend-"

"FOREVER!" Pinkie Pie shouted out, popping out of a drawer in the clubhouse dresser.

All three fillies screamed and jumped in shock.  "Pinkie Pie!" Apple Bloom said after.  "How long have you been in there?"

"Since Sweetie gave me my cue when she said 'breaking a promise'," Pinkie said with a smile.  "OHMYGOSH!" she suddenly cried out.  "Apple Bloom!  You've got your Cutie Mark!"

Apple Bloom smiled.  "Eeyup!" she said happily.  "Ain't it wonderful?"

Pinkie Pie nodded happily, bouncing around the clubhouse.  "Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!  This is so exciting!  I've gotta throw you a party!  EEEEEEE!"  Pinkie bounced around more and more excitedly.  "Sugarcube Corner, three hours!" She suddenly said excitedly, dashing back towards town in a pink blur.

Apple Bloom stared after her.  "Uhh...is Pinkie Pie throwing me a cutcinera?"

"Seems like it," Sweetie Belle said calmly.

"Oh no!" Apple Bloom said, head in her forehooves.  "What am I gonna do?"

"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked in confusion.

"My special talent is disguises, because I'm this!"  She undid her ribbon, reverting back to her Changeling form.  "But I don't know how to change into anypony else!"

Scootaloo blinked.  "Well, how hard can it be to figure out?"

"What?"  Apple Bloom asked shocked.  "You think I can just go-" a green veil passed over her vision briefly, "-Hi, I'm Scootaloo!  Rainbow Dash is so awesome!  When I grow up, I wanna be just like her, and I'm still so super excited that she's agreed to teach me to fly!"  She looked straight at Scootaloo.  "You really think it's that easy?"  Noticing Scootaloo's shocked expression, she blinked.  "Wait...does my voice sound different to you?"

Giggling, Sweetie Belle held up a mirror.  In her reflection, Apple Bloom saw Scootaloo.  "Whoa," Apple Bloom said.  "Freaky."

"Me next!  Me next!" Sweetie Belle said happily.

Blinking, Apple Bloom thought about what had happened.  "Is it really as simple as-" another green veil passed over her vision "-Hi, I'm Sweetie Belle.  Pleasure to meet you!  Sometimes I wish my sister were a little more relaxed and less concerned with what was and wasn't 'uncouth', but I love her too much to hold that against her...most of the time."  Apple Bloom stared at her reflection, which showed Sweetie Belle.  "How am I doing this?"

"Well, you seem to be talking about us how you see us, sort of," Scootaloo said thoughtfully.  "Maybe that's it.  Maybe you just need to...think yourself into someone, and become them."  Scootaloo bounced excitedly.  "Oh!  Do Rainbow Dash!"

Thinking about what Scootaloo said, Applebloom called up in her mind all her memories of Rainbow Dash and everything she had done or said, slipping herself mentally into a mold based on those memories.  The green veil passed once more over her eyes, and in the mirror she found magenta orbs staring back at her, surrounded by cyan coat and rainbow mane.  "Hmm..." she said thoughtfully.  "Needs to be about 20% cooler," she said thoughtfully.

Sweetie Belle grinned.  "Looks like you've got the hang of it!"

Apple Bloom let the shape change drop, returning to her Changeling form before retying her ribbon.  "Yep, guess I do!  This is going to be so much fun!"

--------------

As the moon hung high in the sky, Apple Bloom bid her friends good night as Applejack carried her upstairs to bed.  The cutecinera had indeed been fun, filled with cake, ice cream, and all sorts of other treats.  She had even 'demonstrated' her talent at 'disguises' a few times, ducking into the bathroom to change form where nopony would see her.  The look on Diamond Tiara's face when   Cheerilee commented on how useful and variably viable her talent was had been priceless.  She'd done her best not to upset anyone with her imitations, but everyone just seemed to find her skill quite amazing.

However, now she was stuffed to the gills and very sleepy.  She was hardly aware as Applejack tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight.  Slowly and surely, she drifted off to Dreamland.

A pleasant dream involving using her newfound abilities to humiliate Diamond Tiara - an idle fantasy she would never actually pursue, but it was fun to envision - was interrupted by voices at the edge of consciousness.

"How goes the progress in the other cities?"

Apple Bloom shuddered.  That voice seemed familiar, and it frightened her.

"The plan is proceeding smoothly.  Hoofington is fully infiltrated.  We may strike when ready."

"Cloudsdale infiltration successful."

"Canterlot squadron awaiting assault order."

"Crystal City supply squadron continuing to feed off the energy released by the artifact.  Swarm fully replenished, and no suspicion has been aroused.  Can shift to strike pattern at a moment's notice."

"Excellent."  That voice again.  Apple Bloom was sure she recognized it.  "High General, how goes our efforts here in Ponyville?"

"We are at condition green.  Suspicion and awareness are zero, and one of the Element Bearers has already been replaced.  We are ready to move forward at your command."

"We wait until we have captured and replaced at least two other Element Bearers.  Then we strike.  But remember...Twilight is mine."

A choral echo reached her ears.  "For the glory of the Queen!"

A wicked chuckle followed.  "Of course it is."

As the first light of the sun touched her, Apple Bloom shot awake.  She recognized the voice now...and the laugh.  "Chrysalis," she whispered, afraid.