Omega blinked. The pony’s name was Everfree? That seemed like it should be something important. At least, the changeling felt like he should know that name. Shaking his head, it decided that it was just a little delirious, regardless of how real the situation was.
Still feeling as though it was forgetting something, the changeling shifted thoughts and realized it had a bit of a decision to make. If anything, this panicked Omega more than anything else had previously. Everfree was at least right about one thing: Drones only really needed to be able to follow orders. Without a queen, the drone was left with only its own instincts to survive. It needed to find the hive, and fast.
That was option 1. Option 2 was to stay with the plant that decided it was too good for being a tree. At first, that seemed like an awful idea. It was, after all, a pony, and Omega detested the thought of simply hanging around it. Heck, he already thought he talked waaay to much. The only thing giving it pause was the free meal. The drone reasoned that if one meal was offered, surely there had to be more.
The Changeling closed its eyes as it thought. It’s brain was already starting to hurt as it weighed both options. There were key points to both choices that made impossible to just pick one. Why was this so hard? The Queen did all this freethinking on a daily basis, how did she manage it? Oh, if only something would tell it what to do, it would make this ‘personal decision’ thing so much easier. Omega growled in a low buzzy voice
“I Need Orderzzz…”
Opening its eyes, the drone finally came to a conclusion. Sure, it hated the wooden creature quite a bit, but it was the best chance of survival. The longer it survived, the longer it could search for its hive. With this epiphany, the changeling opened its eyes. Acting was a must for any drone, the least it could do was pretend to like this pony. Extending a hole-covered hoof, Omega attempted to fake a greeting.
Of course, to fake a greeting it’s implied that the other pony should still be there. Which he was not. Omega quickly turned a failed hoofshake into a facehoof. Looking around the clearing, it had a bit of trouble spotting Everfree, probably due to the pony being made of leaves and wood. It took but a second to realize that the pony had wandered off while the changeling had its eyes closed, and Omega was a touch insulted. Was this how most ponies acted? Upon spotting the decidedly irritating stallion, Omega stared daggers until Everfree glanced back.
Everfree had no such idea that he had acted rudely, because in his mind he was completely justified. He had been a tree for literally hundreds of years. On top of an outdated sense of politeness, he was painfully bored of being rooted to any spot for too long. Pun intended. And so as he glanced back, his apathetic gaze met the frustrated one of his apparent friend for several seconds. Everfree broke the silence first.
“I’m not apologizing.”
“I wasn’t expecting you too.” The changeling spoke with a small amount of venom, his low buzz carrying his emotion.
Everfree took a step back, and then smiled. So it could, would, and was willing to speak with him. What a nice sense of progress. And to think earlier today he was worried about there not being enough sunlight. Wondering if he could dig for a little more information, Everfree ventured a question.
“So… I don’t suppose you have a name?”
Annnd cue the second facehoof. At this point, Omega was starting to wonder what dark force led it to crash in this exact spot. Between a moment of being dumbfounded, followed by a moment of disbelief, the drone spoke.
“My name is Drone Omega. You would have known this, had you not walked off.” As the drone spoke, he was questioning why he hadn’t walked off. This was quickly becoming a pointless exercise. Free meals couldn’t be worth this level of stupidity.
Everfree blinked. He had finally understood the venom behind the voice. He assumed he had just walked off while the changeling was in thought. Now he knew he walked off before it even began to talk. Apparently this was rude. Gah, was having a conversation always this hard? Now it was his turn to think. What exactly had he planned to say to Omega, anyway? He supposed he should explain the situation.
“Hi there! I suppose you’re wondering why I’m here at this point. You see, I was a tree for an unknown period of time until you happened to crash into me. Then I stole your magic and turned into a wooden version of my former self! Cool huh?”
Everfree sighed, and took a good long blink. This was going to be tough. Oh if only this changeling thought more like him. He’d been talking to himself for weeks, he knew just what to say to himself …just not anypony else. Opening his eyes, he figured he would wing it and hope for the best.
Of course, in order to wing an explanation, the changeling needed to be still in the area to hear the explanation. Which it was not. Glancing around the clearing, he was confused. Sure, he blended into the trees, but a hole-covered solid-black changeling should have been able to spot in a sunny clearing. Everfree sighed, realizing Omega had legitimately ditched him and left the clearing.
“So it is rude to walk away like that…”
Well, no point in staying here himself. After all, he had an entire forest to explore! Between hoofing it out on foot or taking to the skies, Everfree decided to pick the former. He still wasn’t sure he trusted wooden wings to be as aerodynamic as his actual pair. Not only that, but he had gotten a look at the forest from within the clearing. Anything living in a forest this creepy was not something the Pegasus wanted to fly around and present himself too. Maybe he’d even find Omega. Who knew.
So, without further ado, Everfree uttered a brief ‘allons-y’ and trotted merrily into the forest. For ten minutes, he wandered about, trying his very best to maintain a single direction. The forest was already starting to get to him, and he just wanted to avoid as many pointless circles in his path as possible.
“How in Celestia’s great love of cake did this nightmare of a forest spring around me? It’s positively massive! I can't have really out of it for that long. This just keeps getting worse and worse does- wait. What was that?”
Everfree was certain he had seen a brief slither behind one of the trees. Looking behind it, he saw nothing. Until he noticed the slither repeated itself behind another tree. Then it moved to another one, and another one as he began unmistakably to circle the Pegasus. Everfree was now scared beyond wits, not even certain if his eyes were playing tricks on him. All he had left was blind panic, but he didn't scream. He only shouted out.
“WHATEVER YOU ARE, SHOW YOURSELF! IF YOU’RE REALLY TERRIFYING, PROVE AND STEP OUT FROM THE TREES!”
Everfree gulped. That sounded weak, even as he said it. But hey, the slithering stopped, for better or for worse. Worse was all it could get, of course, when he heard a faint but unmistakable noise.
“No…”
It was a small chuckle, but it was growing in size. Within a few seconds it had grown into the full blown laughter of a madpony. It was hard not to recognize it, when the same laugh had been playing in his mind for days on end. It had plagued his worse thoughts, and a brief recollection of his last moments as a plant free Pegasus flashed through his mind.
“Nonononononononono…”
A clawed talon appeared from behind a tree, and a head poked out as well. Everfree recognized it just as well. He didn’t even need a moment before pain, humiliation, fear, and rage all flashed through his head at the same time with a single name.
“Discord”
“Ohhh… that was the best fun I’ve had in weeks! You really have no idea, do you? Why, if I needed to use your silly little bit system, I would have paid to see the look on your face!”
Indeed, the serpentine master of chaos stood before the shocked Pegasus, with an absurd grin on his face. Everfree didn’t quite share his outlook on the situation as wings flared in stark contrast to the draconequus’ unnatural mirth. But even in his rage, he noticed something was off about Discord. Even in the dark, Everfree could tell that he was… smaller. About half as big as Everfree remembered, really. Still big, but the change was noticeable enough. The Pegasus would have been confused had he not been so busy being not confused. With venom in his voice that would shame a changeling, Everfree spoke.
“What in Luna’s starry mane are you doing here? You don’t even seem to living up expectations, half-pint.”
Discord tried his best to stifle a chuckle as mocked being insulted. Surely the poor little Pegasus he turned into a tree could come up with a better insult than half-pint? To be honest, Discord was a little surprised to find this one still trapped in some resemblance of tree (and a little surprised he still remembered this). He was certain the Elements of Harmonicas or some such nonsense had ruined his beautiful chaos, but this stallion was proof that his power was beyond the reach of Celestia and those infernal girls. The very thought ruined his insulted facade and soon he was laughing away stronger than ever.
Everfree stomped a hoof on the ground, this time angrily repeating his question.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”
Standing back up, Discord yawned. He was hardly impressed by a fit of rage, especially when this Pegasus had literally no way of touching him. ‘Course, the vice versa was the same situation, but Discord was going to get to that after toying with this pony first.
“Oh, very well, I’ll humor you. Again. Huh, little bit of déjà vu there.” Discord glanced over at the Pegasus, he wondered if using the same word choice he introduced himself would irk the Pegasus a little. Sadly, he didn’t give any response besides looking like Discord had turned his beloved childhood pet into a parasprite. Oh, idea! – No… stay focused.
“You see, after I introduced you to the concept of turning over a new leaf I had left to spread a little chaos into your beloved country. And by a little, I mean a lot. And by a lot, I mean so much there was chaos spilling out of pony’s ears. Literally, in some cases. Anyways, your beloved Celestia came along with her sister, we had a nice little chat, I invited them to dinner. Oh, and they turned me to stone.” Anger flashed across Discord’s face for a brief second before he continued
“Did you know friendship can weaponized into the form of a giant rainbow? Shocker, isn’t it? Well, once I was a statue, all of my chaos that wasn’t permanent reverted back to normal. In terms you’d understand, that’s everything but you. Yup, you were my special little failsafe in case of unforeseen circumstances. I mean, harmony prevailing? Who could predict something like that happening? That’s the real chaos of this world, I tell you…”
Everfree was now no longer busy being not confused after listening to all of that. Special little failsafe? What in Starswirl’s beard did that mean? That still answered no questions he had, instead inviting many, many more. He blinked. “What does that have to do with you being here, and me being practically free?”
“It doesn’t. Well, not really, it’s just the backdrop. But as for me, I’m here because you happen to still be wearing the very last remnants of my magic. As such, I can just pop into your mind whenever I see fit. Meanwhile, the real flesh and stone me is chilling about like a garden decoration in some small town. Or maybe they moved it to Celestia’s garden again. Ick, bad memories.” Discord paused, and looked to his side as a clock popped into existence. Only, from what Everfree could tell, all twelve of the numbers were on one side and the hands of the clock were bent at impossible angles.
“Oh dear, I’m running out of time… if you’ve got any angry shouting you want to get out of your system my dear Pegasus, I suggest you get it done quickly. You don’t have much of my magic, so neither do I.”
Everfree was painfully confused, as he racked his brain for something to say. The only thing he could think of at the moment was the forest. It was ominous enough to keep him from thinking of something else, at least.
“Wait! Ok, if you were defeated, how come you’re forest is still here? You did make it, right?"
Discord gave a broad smile. Oh, that was an excellent question. Perhaps it was the best question that could have been asked at the moment. “As much as I’d like to take credit for it” Discord stifled a chuckle “You’re just as responsible for it as I am. Goodbye!”
Discord popped from existence, leaving a stunned Pegasus underneath the trees.