Applejack and Pinkie Pie ducked away from the alleyway and held a hasty conference.
"Here's the plan," Applejack whispered, "You chase off the other two. I'll handle my…cousin. He…it'll take us to Braeburn."
"How you figure that?"
"Princess Celestia reckons that changelings can only take somepony's shape if they can feed on them. That's why Chrysalis kept Cadence locked up beneath Canterlot. So this imposter'll need my brother to keep his shape. It'll lead us right to him."
"But how are you gonna make it tell us?"
"Oh, I'll find a way. This is my cousin we're after. I aint letting no changeling keep him from me, and I can be right persuasive. You ready?"
Somehow, Applejack could never say, Pinkie whipped on a pair of sunglasses.
"Oh, I was booooorn ready."
Applejack rolled her eyes and turned back towards the alleyway. Pinkie tried to follow, but bumped headfirst into the storefronts, then a hitching post, and finally reluctantly took the glasses off. The two crouched at the corner.
Scattered whispers continued between the three strange ponies for a minute. Then, with silent nods to each other, they moved towards the street.
"Hiyah!"
Applejack kicked over a barrel. The first one tumbled over it as their legs tangled beneath them. Applejack and Pinkie Pie leapt into battle.
The dark ponies' initial surprise was compounded by the furious charge of the two friends. Pinkie leapt over the dazed one's head to tackle the one behind.
The dark-cloaked mare stepped aside with fluid grace, and Pinkie tumbled to the ground at Braeburn's feet. But Applejack was already leaping after Pinkie, and hurtled at the imposter with tremendous force.
Pinkie leapt up as Applejack soared past, and turned to the other two, a tall, broad-shoulder's stallion and a dark-hued mare. They both scowled, and crouched in menace. Her eyes narrowed, and her smile spread from ear to ear.
"Let's party."
The stallion threw a kick at her, but she caught it. Tutting his lack of style, she flipped him and sent him crashing into the alleyway wall. She span, and barely slipped by a knife-like kick that whizzed past her nose. She dodged and wove around a flurry of lightning blows.
There was a faint buzz and the mare's hoof swung past her face in slow motion. Her eyes followed the razor-sharp horseshoe as it cleanly sliced a scrap of her curling hair-poofs.
Her eye narrowed to frightful intensity as the clipping floated to the ground. The two ponies glared at each other, utterly intent. The mare scraped her hoof against the ground with a knifelike shing! Pinkie sprang into a kung-fu stance.
But this ludicrous little melee was interrupted when the mare's companion staggered to his feet. Limping slightly, he ducked from the alleyway and ran off into the night. They both watched him go before they made their move.
Pinkie hollered and leapt, but the mare sidestepped her and fled with a sweep of her cape. Like a shadow before the dawn, she vanished into the town. Pinkie spared a moment to glare after her, then huffed.
Meanwhile, Applejack's quarry had fled at the first sign of trouble. She gave chase, and their hooves raised tiny clouds of dust on the dry back streets as they ran. Darkness clouded everything, and all she could see was his dark silhouette against the barest gleams of starlight. But she matched him duck for duck, and weave for weave, and slowly closed the gap. At last, they turned into a dead end.
He ran up against the alley wall. His eyes were panicked, and he looked around in seeming separation. But there was no escape. With a final burst of speed, Applejack leapt and tacked him head-on.
Dust went everywhere. But when it cleared, he was firmly in her hooves, pinned down under her. His desperate eyes found hers. They went wide.
"Applejack?! What're you…"
"Don't. You Dare. Call. Me. That. You…you shape-stealin' miscreant. Now tell me, where's Braeburn?!"
He began to laugh. It echoed eerily off the alley walls, and filled the town's nighttime silence with deep and friendly warmth. He laughed, and it was strange how familiar it was.
"Stop that! Stop that right now! You changelings aren't…you're…and I'll be…"
He blinked tears of amusement from his eyes, and swallowed a chuckle.
"Me, a changeling, little cuz? Well I'll be. This is some misunderstanding."
You. Aint. My. Cousin." Applejack said through gritted teeth, but her grip loosened in spite of herself. In a moment she redoubled it, but he made no effort to escape.
"Listen, Applejack. I know I've been cagey, the last few days, but it's not what it looks like. I can explain everything."
"You stop…you just…"
"Can I get up, cuz? If I could fly away, I would have. I won't go nowhere. Promise."
Applejack stared at him. Their eyes met, and he hazarded a small, sheepish smile, the kind he'd given when he upended a wheelbarrow full of seedlings, or flooded the orchards. No matter what the disaster, he always managed to make up for it with that foolish, foolish smile. Her eyebrows raised a shade. That smile was one of a kind.
"…Alright. But I'm warning you, first sign of trouble, you're pie-filling."
She let him up, and he shook out the kinks in his legs.
"Geez, cuz. You've gotten strong. And heavy."
"Don't try the familiar routine with me. If yer…if you're Braeburn…explain what's going on. Why you been running from me?"
"Well, I didn't right know it was you. Didn't look back to see, I was running so hard."
"And the party? Why'd you sneak away and avoid me?"
He stared at the ground and shifted from one leg to another.
"Well, I didn't…I didn't want you to get in trouble, Applejack."
"Trouble? What're you talking about?"
His eyes were unsteady, and he looked deeply uncomfortable.
"It…it's complicated, cuz. I don't know if it's a good idea…"
She put her hoof down and sent up a small cloud of dust. He jumped in surprise, his hat almost flying off.
"My cousin don't keep secrets from me. So tell me, Braeburn. What's going on?"
At that moment, Pinkie stuck her head around the corner and her eyes went wide.
"Applejack, good job. You hold him down while I tie him up…"
She strode forward with terrible purpose in her eyes, but Applejack held her back.
"Whoa, there, Pinkie. I think...well, I think it's really Braeburn."
Pinkie narrowed one eye and widened the other to telescopic proportions. She scrutinized the nervous-looking Braeburn and stroked her chin.
"Are you suuuuuuuuuure?"
Applejack looked at him. His smile, his eyes, even the way he wore his oversized ten-gallon hat.
"I'm sure. But he's still got a wagonfull of explaining to do,"
They both looked at Braeburn and he shifted uncomfortably again. Pinkie rubbed her hooves together.
"Changeling or not, we have ways of making you talk! You're on trial for high treason against parties, mister, and Judge Pinkie is in attendance. Now talk!"
Braeburn laughed again, chuckled at an increasingly irate Pinkie Pie.
"Just as crazy as ever. Alright, I'll explain. But I can do it here, not now. There're some ponies you need to meet. They'll make everything clear."
"Not good enough, party pooper!" Pinkie cried, "We're looking for answers now, and—"
"Pinkie, let me handle this." Applejack stepped forward, "Brae, who're these ponies I need to meet? What's going on? What are you doing?"
Braeburn looked into her eyes.
"It's about Appleoosa, cuz. About us. Thing're…well, there're things you don't know. Troubles on the way. A storm's coming."
Applejack's mind flew to Thunderhooves, her aunt, the dying trees, the cloudless sky and the merciless sun.
"You aint kidding, Braeburn. Alright. I'll meet these friends of yours."
Braeburn gave a wide smile
Pinkie wasn't sold yet, though.
"Wait a second, mister. How do we know you're not just a reaaaaally good lyer, waiting to ambush Applejack with these "friends" of yours, and drag her off to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what on her…"
"Well, maybe I haven't given you much reason to trust me, Miss Pie. You'll just have to trust Applejack."
"Well of course I trust Applejack, but the question is whether I should trust her trust in your trust that…gah!" Pinkie's eyes spun like roulette wheels. At last they stopped, and she shook herself sane. "Gah! Fine. If Applejack's sure, I'm sure."
With that, she fell back into blissful smiles, with no hint of her vanished ire.
Applejack blushed, and stayed silent as the three of them turned out of the alleyway and headed for home. Braeburn was unusually quiet too: mutual embarrassment, she figured. But Pinkie more than made up for the both of them as she recounted her tale, complete with dexterous, three-part reenactments.
"And I was all like BOOM! And he was all like tumble-bumble-rumble And then she was like zhiiiing, and I was like whoooooa…!"
This lasted, somehow, all the way home. She only paused to say a brief goodnight before cantering off to her room. After the door closed, they heard the noises begin again, muffled by the walls. They smiled at each other.
"Listen, Braeburn…"
"That better not be an apology, little cousin. You got nothing to apologize for. I'm just glad I can stop tip-toing around you. I don't like keeping secrets. Especially not from family."
She grinned at him, and he gave her a friendly nuzzle.
"Seriously, though. Can you imagine a changeling faking this face? Darn thing'd never manage something this handsome."
She grinned wider and nuzzled back as they walked down the hall.
"So I can meet these friends of yours tomorrow?"
He nodded.
"That's the plan. Most everyone'll be there. We've been planning this for a while."
They arrived at their rooms, side by side at the end of the hall. She gave him one last wink.
"Crazy night, cuz. Let's not do thing again, kay?"
He smile and nodded, warm and assuring.
"Promise."