== CHAPTER FIVE: PURPOSE ==

Berry Punch took a few steps towards the group, casting her shadow over them as the main torch light over the machine crackled. "Behind closed doors of quiet, old Ponyville, everything isn't what it seems. Not every pony is who you think they are."

Silver Spoon yawned as drinks were passed about. Jelly Splat and Rumble both tried giving Noi a cup but she shook her head and whispered, "I'm not thirsty." They scratched their heads—even with all that running around she was doing, she wasn't drinking anything. They looked at each other with raised shoulders and turned back to the storyteller.

Honeydew was already shivering and hugging Miss Cheerilee who looked down at the filly and smiled.

Berry continued as her two girls walked around the machine to check it over and prepare it for operation. "I could stand here and tell you about some lame ghost story from long ago or an old mare's tale, but I'm here to talk about—Changelings."

Cheerilee frowned as she looked at Berry, wondering if this story, using real enemies that had attacked Equestria, and even Ponyville, was such a good idea. She nudged a juice box to the filly in the masquerade by her side. "Drink this, it might help with any shock." Honeydew tried to comply as she tipped the straw to her mouth through her silver-white masquerade.

"Though really," Berry flicked her head back and walked towards the device. "Changelings are dumb, dull things. They can imitate the guises of their victims, but that can only go so far. So one day, Queen Chrysalis came to this vineyard where my family worked. I might have told you that they moved away to some big juicing company while I stayed here with Piña Colada and Ruby Pinch; that my husband had an 'accident' while there."

Berry turned back and smiled, her grin a crooked crack and driving across the whole of her left cheek. She looked over at Honeydew shivering like a rattlesnake tail and bent down, allowing the filly and Cheerilee smell her alcohol-laden breath. "Cover ups and lies." She moved along the row of ponies. Silver Spoon was more intrigued. "I gave the Queen an offer. My parents had concocted a drink that prevents the dreams of ponies from escaping, and no entry into them could be made." Upon smelling her breath, Silver Spoon quietly gasped. This story was darkening as quickly as the light drained from the forest.

Noi grinned. "That means no Princess Luna dream walking."

Berry winked. "That's right! But we also worked with some ingredients from dear old Zecora to produce a new beverage." She closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly as she stepped to the side. As Piña hung on a heavy lever and Ruby used her magic on it, they cranked down and the machine activated, gutting, spitting, whistling, and churning. Then after a shattering bang that made Honeydew shriek, a monotonous drone shook the place, the tremors of its grinding moans reaching the ponies.

"A beverage that allows Changelings to not just imitate their victims, but become them. Just imagine!" Berry Punch laughed maniacally to the sky. "A Changeling that knows how their victim thinks and acts. They know much of their history, their livelihood, names, demeanor, and psychology. Even their special talent. Some of the effects only last so strongly for a few years but that's plenty long enough for the Queen to get her plans secretly in motion. But capturing the rich life essence of a creature requires their mind to be put to the extreme."

Berry walked up to Rumble and Jelly Splat who were hugging Noi's fake straw wings. "Do you foals know what a life review is?"

Noi raised an earnest hoof and Berry nodded. The filly was only all too ecstatic. "It's when your life flashes before your eyes!" She expressed waving an arm. "Happens when you're really, super scared and something is going to get you!"

"That's right again, young filly!" Berry walked back over Miss Cheerilee. Honeydew had buried her face and mask into the teacher's white wedding gown.

"Miss Cheerilee, perhaps you could provide them with—a demonstration?"

Cheerilee looked to the shaking filly to her right. "I don't know, Berry. Are you sure this isn't too scary?"

Berry rolled her eyes and walked in close to whisper in her ear. "That's what I need you for. To pretend to become a Changeling."

Cheerilee looked at the other foals. "Take care of Honeydew. I'll go, uh, inspect this thing." She got up and walked with Berry Punch to the other end, looking at Piña and Ruby trot on a circular treadmill to help crank the machine stronger.

Cheerilee squinted with disappointment as they walked and hissed in a whisper. "Berry! I think this is taking things a bit too far. Even Silver Spoon looks scarred."

The two stopped by the opening. Ruby Pinch got off the revolving treadmill and focusing on a smaller lever by the opening on the side, used her magic to push it up and with it the protective doors quickly slid open. Berry looked at the foals in her little audience and saw Silver Spoon with her mouth dropped open, a bead of sweat running down the powder of her Geisha mask. Honeydew was hugging the grass and burying her face in the ground, her silver-white masquerade mask having come off as it was brushed off. Jelly Splat and Rumble gulped.

"I'm sorry," Cheerilee said. She looked into the opening at watched large screws hungrily twist against rolling pins, smooth but creaking with reluctance. "It's alright, children. This is just a wine press. You put grapes in here and the machine turns it into juice on the other side. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Jelly shivered as he pointed to the other end. "T-t-t-then what about that hole?"

"That's where the barrels would collect the grapes."

They looked at it and realized that since nothing was there to collect any "concoction" to speak of, the idea was silly.

"Hey, Honeydew," Jelly said as he tapped on the filly's shoulder. "There's nothing in that hole. Even if they wanted to make Miss Cheerilee into a Changeling, everything would just fall and be a waste."

Honeydew looked up, and stared at the deep empty hole. Black, hole-punched hooves suddenly stamped on the ground around its edge as a buzzing figure emerged with a snarling hiss. She shrieked.