It was a normal day in Cantorlot. Luna lowered the moon and Celestia raised the sun. Birds sung, foals played, and ponies went about their business. All and all a normal day. Until the commotion outside the doors to the throne room, some rushing, some hollering, and a crash or two.
Celestia, a white coated alicorn mare, magenta eyes, a cutie mark of a blazing sun, and ethereal mane and tail the colors of a sunrise, sat on her throne through the entire commotion.
Then the door slammed open as Pinkie Pie and Discord both came crashing in. Pinkie Pie, a pink coated earth pony mare with a dark pink mane and tail that looked like cotton candy, a cutie mark of three balloons two blue and one yellow in the center, and crystal blue eyes. And, Discord,a creature with a serpentine body covered in fur, a reptile tail, a griffon’s claw, lion’s paw, a leg of a goat and dragon, a wing of a threshal and a peagus, and a the antler of a deer and blue goat horn on the head of a pony. “Princess something big is about to happen,” they both exclaimed, then looked at each other. “That was weird.” They both said in sync. “Stop that. No you stop that. Why? I was talking first.”
Celestia cleared her throat, “is there a reason you… both have come here?” Celestia asked.
“Rock, paper, scissors?” They both asked. After nodding they went, “Rock, Paper, Scissor, Shoot!” Discord’s flat pawed ‘paper’ beating Pinkie’s hoofed ‘rock’.
“Ah, sometimes I think you invented this game to cheat earth ponies.” Pinkie said while staring at Discord.
“Would I do that?” asked while trying and failing to look innocent.
“Well…” Pinkie stared at him intently and Discord started sweating. “I don’t know, sooo no.” She said her expression relaxing.
Discord looked up at Celestia and restarted, “Something really big is coming, if I had to judge on a scale of one to ten with me being a seven I’d say it is at least an eleven.” As Discord finished Celestia’s eye was starting to twitch.
“Oi! Oi! My turn.” Pinkie exclaimed while bouncing in place, not even batting an eye at Discord’s statement. “Something big and unexpected. And, it will crash right here.” She said pointing at a spot on the floor. Just as Celestia was about to say something, there was a loud crash. “Oops! Forgot about the ceiling,” Pinkie said as she looked up at the cracks in the ceiling.
“Did Pinkie just more accurately predict a chaos that puts Discord to shame?” One of the guards asked the other.
“Don’t know, don’t care. Not just Discord put Pinkie, I’m just hoping to make it through today with at least some semblance of sanity left.” The second guard said.
“You forgot the big, bad chaos that is about to fall in our lap. So same rooms at the asylum, or should we try for an upgrade to a padded suite.” The first guard said while eying the growing cracks on the ceiling, “so what if your going to the nut house later your still on duty,” he thought with a smile.
Celestia looked at the two guards by the door after the impact and couldn’t help but think, “I should’ve known with those two on at once, I wonder whose on tomorrow, so I know what disaster I’ll be facing next.”
In the time Celestia had to think that, the cracks had increased, splintered, fractured, and spread.
This was unnoticed as Pinkie and Discord were discussing the merits of using chocolate whip cream as opposed to regular whip cream to fill party balloons with extra treats. Pinkie was mildly concerned about ponies eating the plastic, while Discord was trying to help her come up with more edible balloons. Both seemed to be neglecting the fact that the laws of physics would make it so the balloons wouldn’t float.
That is until Pinkie whipped out a floating balloon and popped it causing chocolate whip cream to explode over the room.
Celestia let out a heavy sigh. “maybe I should send somepony up…” her thoughts were derailed as the roof gave out and there was a second crash.
As the dust settled standing there in the middle of the throne room of Equestria, in front of Princess Celestia, the Element Bearer of Laughter, and the master of chaos was a changeling. Changelings are ponified insectiods that feed on love and other emotions. The relevance of this event is that several years ago a changeling swarm under the control of Queen Chrysalis had not only invaded but successfully took over the capital city of Equestia, before they were ultimately defeated and vanquished.
This particular changeling was unique compared to the one’s they had seen before. She was a drone as far as the ponies could tell. Her legs had the tell tale holes, and her carapace was black. But, her wing covers, fins, and tail were a bright crimson instead of turquoise. Lastly her eyes when she opened them had the most expressive crystal blue iris they had ever seen.
“Did anyone get the number of that rocket?” the changeling asked.
“It wasn’t a rocket, silly. It was an inter-dimensional transit. So more than likely it was just a stray beam of light that added resistance,” Pinkie supplied. Everyone including the changeling gave her a weird look.
“Okay… anyone else here want to make some sense,” stated the changeling, as she sat up.
Celestia glared at the little changeling. It took every ounce of strength she had not to show her rage on her face. “Changeling, why are you here? And, why have you destroyed my roof?” Celestia asked through gritted teeth. She wasn’t expecting the answer she got.
“What’s a changeling?” everyone but Pinkie, Discord, and the changeling face faulted.
Shortly after everyone pulled themselves up off the floor. Luna, an alicorn mare with a dark blue coat, cyan eyes, a cutie mark of a crescent moon against a starless night, and ethereal mane and tail the color of a spring night littered with stars, enter through the hole in the ceiling.
“Is anything wrong, sister?” Luna said as she arrived.
In that instant Ranma’s eyes widened.
“I am not sure…” Celestia began, as she turn to Luna.
But was interrupted by a black blur tackling Luna. As Celestia stared agape everypony else turned to see what happened.
“Luna?” The changeling asked looking her in the eyes after landing on her barrel. “It is you.” The look of excited joy turned to fierce determination as she turned to Celestia. “You haven’t been being mean to Luna have you?” She asked in an artic tone as a blazing aura snapped to life around her.
After a few awkward moments of silence and an awkward explanation of Celestia’s and Luna’s relationship…
“Tell me, why you think my sister would bring me harm?” asked a curious Luna.
“Because she’s royalty, right?” asked Ranma pointing at the throne in the room. They both nodded, even Celestia was curious what that had to do with this. “Well my track record with important people, or those who think themselves important, isn’t so great. Especially when my friends,” she glanced at Luna, “are involve. Usually, they think they can do whatever they want with whomever they think are unimportant.”
“How do you know my sister, little Changeling?” Celestia asked awkwardly.
“You know I have a name right? And besides you still haven’t told me what a changeling is,” the changeling stated with a glare at Celestia.
“What is you name, little one?” Luna asked politely.
“It’s me, Ranma, please, tell me you remember me?” Ranma practically beg her.
“I’m sorry. Maybe if you tell me about when we met it might help me remember,” stated Luna calmly.
“About eight years ago,” Ranma missed the looks of shock from Celestia and Luna, “after my father had done something incredible stupid which almost destroyed my mind, you were the kind old lady who helped bring me back to sanity.”
“I’m sorry but during that time I was still banished on the moon,” Luna answered sadly.
“But your aura is exactly the same,” Ranma began a little distressed. “Wait, what do you mean banished on the moon?”
“My sister used a powerful artifact to…” Luna was interrupted by a sudden flash of movement.
When everyone else registered what happened, the blazing aura was back up around Ranma and she was currently holding Celestia up against her own throne with a single hoof. There was a look in her eye that promised pain if she didn’t get a great answer and whispered one thing, “why?”
“Because I had lost myself to madness and nearly destroyed this world,” Luna stated in a calm and regretful voice.
“But, she was your own sister?” neither one knew who she was asking, but the look of betrayal was clearly pointed at Luna. “Sorry,” was all she said as she let Celestia go.
“Hello, Discord,” said a voice in Discord head that he hadn’t heard in millennia.
“Why, Hello Hild. It’s been forever. What brings you here?” Discord asked her in his mindscape.
“Oh, same old, deals and lost souls,” she replied.
As Discord was getting reacquainted with his old friend, a scheduled rain storm began before the pegasi noticed the hole in the ceiling and could stop that one spot.
The inevitable occurred… Ranma got splashed.
Ranma felt the usual change, in an unusual way. The ones in the room who have seen changelings change before weren’t certain what they just saw. The others just assumed that’s how they change. Ranma just sighed and asked, “of coarse the curse still works. What do I change into?”
Celestia hesitantly replied, “um, an alicorn princess.”
“Come again?” asked the black coated alicorn mare, with crimson mane and tail, and the same expressive eyes. Those eyes showing shocked disbelief, almost pleading for it to be untrue.
“An alicorn princess,” Celestia restated.
“So I’m a magical pony princess?” Ranma asked.
Luna and Celestia nodded. Ranma faced-hooved.
“What did I do to deserve this?” Ranma asked rhetorically.
“I got the list right here.” Hild said in Discord’s head as she pulled out a sheet of paper that rolled on the floor of Discord‘s mindscape.
“Do you want the long or short list?” Discord asked innocently.
“How do you know?” Ranma asked.
“The little demon in his head.” Pinkie pied in. everyone stared at her blankly.
“She’s good.” Hild remarked, Discord’s inner self just nodded. “Did you take a look at his cutie mark?” Hild continued.
“She’s a changeling, she doesn’t have a cutie mark.” Discord pointed out.
“She’s right, that is a peculiar cutie mark.” Pinkie stated.
“Who are you talking to?” asked Celestia.
“The little demon in Discord’s head.” Pinkie stated as if it was the most obvious fact.
“You wouldn’t happen to know someone named Loki would you?” Hild joked.
“He whispers in my head all the time.” Pinkie stated. “For example, if I stand here and you lose sight of me for a second…” as Pinkie said it everyone in the room adverted there gaze for one reason or another. “I end up here.” She finished on the other side of the room with out having crossed the path of anyone’s gaze. “But I don’t think he knows I’m the voice in his head.” She stated while giggling.
“That explains why he keeps muttering about little pink monsters.” Hild pointed out. As Pinkie started bouncing in place saying, “bouncy, bouncy, bouncy,” Hild’s eye started twitching because at that exact time another part of her who went to check up on Loki noticed he was doing exactly the same thing in sync with Pinkie. “She’s kinda scary.” Hild said with a smile.