Allan woke with a yawn. Day four of week two. Not much had happened since the night of the party, and because of that, Alan's thoughts lingered on something. For once, it wasn’t his family, or even going home. It was her. Her voice as she sang both of those songs echoed through his mind, and he felt so happy to hear it, instead of the multitude of worried voices that had constantly and incessantly been reminding him of the danger his family was in.
He hopped out of bed, hooves barely touching the floor as his wings buzzed, lifting him gently up as he trotted easily over to the door, and down the corridor to the stairs, through the lounge and then into the kitchen. He quickly fetched a glass with his magic, then quickly filled it from the kitchen faucet.
Turning back to the kitchen table, Allan spotted a bowl of multi-coloured cookies that hadn’t been there before. Curious, he trotted forward and sniffed them, but jumped back with a startled yelp when one of the cookies actually floated up, in an effort to meet his nose. When he moved back, however, it dropped back down onto the bowl.
Looking around for Flutters, Allan realized that if she was around, then she probably wasn’t even on the same floor, which left him to consider what the cookie’s were doing there. Stepping back towards the ceramic bowl, Allan noticed a curious flower on the side. It had blue petals, with exposed filaments and stamen.
The cookies themselves were a variety of colour, some of them yellow, with red chocolate chunks, other blue with purple or yellow chunks. There were other colours, but Allan was already disinterested in that.
Lifting one up in his magical gríp, he gave it an experimental sniff. It certainly smelled like one would expect a cookie to, but Allan was still unsure. Putting it back down once more, he gave them a wide berth, moving over to the refrigerator. Opening it, Allan was quite happy to see that Fluttershy had left him a note, complete with a smiling drawing of her face, telling him that the daisy sandwiches in the fridge were his.
He picked them up, turned around, and trotted back out to the lounge to eat. Deciding to check the mailbox before he got started, Allan found several letters and fliers addressed to Fluttershy, and, surprisingly, two for him.
Going back to the lounge to eat his sandwiches as he opened and began to read his two letters after depositing Fluttershy’s on the small coffee table in front of her couch. Speaking aloud, Allan opened and read the first.
“To Allan,
From his Royal Majesty, King Thorax of the Changelings.
Hello, Allan.
Sorry about the pompous sounding title, I’m not used to it myself, but my closest advisors insist that I use it. I know I haven’t checked up on you properly until now, but I know you are in good hooves with Princess Twilight and her friends. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear from you. Me and Twilight have been exchanging letters and notes on portal magics to try and figure out how to get you home, though she never says much about you personally, just that you’re doing okay. I know we barely know each other, but I do feel responsible for you being here.
Oh, and I thought you’d like to know. That green goop Twilight told me you threw up? It’s changeling resin. It can be used to store emotional energy, or be used as building materials. I’ll send you a list of uses and states the resin can take when used right.
Shapeshifting should be relatively easy. It comes naturally to all Changeling nymphs at young age, and they are usually profîcient in a matter of days. Being an adult, you’ll probably figure it out quickly, if you haven’t already. So… here’s what I really wanted to talk to you about: The Hivemind. Sooner or later, you’ll connect with it, so I thought it fair to warn you that the first time anything connects with the Hivemind, it is very disorientating. Unlike Chrysalis, I have decided that the knowledge contained in the Hivemind is free to use by all, meaning that any changeling in the hive can freely access any and all information the hive has acquired, including the memories and skills of other changeling in times of need. I myself, alongside some of my more intelligent subjects, have been searching the hivemind for any information on the portal to your world that the Hive may have overlooked in the past, but so far, nothing.
I hope what I have said is of some use, and that you are doing well. Please, feel free to send me any questions or problems you may have. I hope to hear back from you, and hope that you will consider me a friend.
Yours sincerely,
King Thorax.”
Allan smiled at the concern the King was displaying, and he definitely appreciated the information and the warning. A hivemind, huh? That sounded…. Bizarre, but at least he wouldn’t have to be alone, once he made the “connection”.
Promising to himself to write back, Allan munched on his sandwich, (which was surprisingly nice, for being made of flowers!) and opened the next letter. This one was more of a scroll, and bore an officious looking seal, making the changeling feel a little nervous.
The paper unfolded, revealing the lettering within. If the title of “King of the Changelings” had seemed pompous, then what was scrawled onto this page was far more so.
“To the Changeling, Allan,
From her Royal Majesty Celestia Dawnbringer, Solar Diarch of Equestria, and the Herald of the Sun.
Allan,
You are hereby summoned to the royal court of Equestria for an audience, by request of Princesses Celestia and Luna. Present yourself before the castle doors at Four o’clock, in two days time.
We look forward to meeting you in person.”
The Royal Sisters.”
Allan looked at the note, then up at the lounge wall, then back at the letter.
“Oh crap…”
*****************
“So Princess Celestia wants to meet you. What’s the problem?” Rarity asked. “Meeting the Princess is an honour!”
Allan grumbled his reply as the fashion mare took more measurements. She’d been at it for twelve minutes, carefully plotting out the measurements for the changeling stallion. The moment he had informed her of the Princesses letter, she had pulled him into the boutique’s main fitting room and started measuring him for a suit. “You aren’t going before the Princesses without a proper suit, darling, I just won’t allow it!”
So here he was, listening as Rarity sang Celestia’s praises (Allan felt a little put out that she was not doing the same for Luna.) and seemed oblivious to the fact that Allan wasn’t worried about Celestia’s side of the issue. While he appreciated Rarity’s attempts to calm his fears, she wasn’t doing a very good job.
“It’s not the Princess I’m worried about…” Allan said, lifting up his leg so that Rarity could do her work. To be honest, the reason it was taking so long was less to do with Allan being a poor model, and more to do with Rarity being too excited to have Allan meet with the Princesses in one of her suits. Pride in her work aside, Rarity was far too chatty to actually remember half of the measurements long enough for her to write them down.
The mare took her sweet time working, instead trying to pry more information about the invitation out of him, information that the poor stallion simply didn’t have. When she was finally done, she dashed straight up to her workshop, determined to have a new ensemble for him by the time he was due to visit Canterlot.
Of course, this left Allan, wearing his cloak as usual, to his own devices. Not that he had much he wanted to do.It was either study, or work at Sweet Apple Acres. Either one didn’t really appeal to him, so he instead opted to go home. Well, what he called home, for now.
The trot back was easy, and he even stopped along the way to talk to Lyra and Bon Bon, the latter of which seemed a bit… reserved around him, but Lyra told him the mare was simply having a rough morning.
Arriving at the cottage, Allan noticed the door was open. Strange... Fluttershy never left it open.
Walking inside, Allan immediately noticed the house guest sitting on the couch, a familiar bowl of cookies in front of her.
“Oh… Hi, Dash.” The pegasus nearly spat her cookie out in surprise and quickly dropped what was left onto the table. “What are you doing here?”
Rainbow coughed, dislodging the last of the cookie bits from her throat, and making a mess on the floor. “Oh *cough*, Allan!” She vaulted off of the couch and over the table, landing in front of him. “I-uh, came to see you. I-thought you might like another flying lesson!”
Allan raised his eyebrow. “I thought you said I was terrible?”
Rainbow panicked a little, waving her hooves around in an attempt to wave away Alan's question. “No, no! You’re not bad, just… learning!” Rainbow looked around to make sure they were alone, before whispering to him. “Even I was that bad, when I was little.”
Although it was a given that no one is ever fantastic at anything on the first try, Allan pretended that he was shocked. “Really? You?”
“Really, really.” Rainbow acknowledged. “I….I’m sorry I laughed at you.” She paused, taking a deep breath, and building up the courage to say what needed to be said. “I also have to apologize for something else… I misjudged you.” She hanged her head in shame. I forgot one of the first friendship lessons anypony learns. Don’t judge anypony by what they look like. I did, and I was wrong. You might be a changeling, but so far, you seem pretty chill. I….I’m not saying we’re friends… but, would you at least give me a chance to try?”
Allan didn’t have to think twice. Stepping forward, he reached up a hoof, and put it on Rainbow shoulder. “Of course I will.”
Rainbow ‘s relieved smile made Alan's day, but all of a sudden, her face turned green, and she quickly clapped a hoof over her mouth to hold it in. Allan, knowing exactly where Fluttershy kept all of her emergency supplies and utilities, quickly dashed into the kitchen and grabbed a large bowl from under the sink. Fluttershy had told him to use it to collect his resin, though so far, it had gone unused. Floating it quickly to the prismatic pegasus, Allan watched as she barfed into it.
“Rainbow...? What’s wrong?” The changeling couldn’t help but panic a little, seeing her sick like that.
“I… I don’t know!!” She coughed, dislodging some more vomit and rainbow coloured cookie chunks. “I was fine just now!” Suddenly, she let out a belch, a plume of fire coming out of her mouth instead of vomit. “Woah!” She whirled on Allan, grabbing him by the shoulders. “We need to go get Twilight, now!”
Unfortunately for Allan, misfortune struck, and Rainbow let out another burst of flame, directly into his face, and only his own reflexes got him to close his eyes in time to spare them from the heat.
The result was a very apologetic Rainbow flying down the road, still occasionally coughing up random things at even more random intervals, as Allan, his head and neck darkened to near black by the flames and covered in soot from a layer of his chitin burning away.
“I’m so sorry Allan!” Rainbow cried, before quickly twisting away from him as a spray of acid flew from her mouth, dissolving a tree. “I didn’t mean to-”
“No offense, Dash” Allan said, between hoofbeats. “But you should probably focus on keeping your mouth turned away from anything living, or expensive! At least until Twilight can find out what’s wrong!”
Rainbow was about to protest, but then her jaws were wrenched open by a swarm of butterflies flying out of it. Any arguments died as they flew off. “Yeah, good idea!”
**************
“Rainbow, say aaahh.”
“Aaaaahh.” Rainbow obeyed Twilight’s instructions, only for both her and the alicorn to be surprised when a singing frog in a top hat shot out of the pegasi’s throat.
Twilight frowned, looking down her friend’s throat with some kind of magnification device attached to a pair of glasses, one that looked like it belonged to a dentist’s office. She had, and still seemed quite stressed over something, her mane frazzled and done up in an elaborate mess in order to keep it out of her eyes. “I’ve seen a lot of strange things, but this?” Twilight yelped and ducked out of the way as a spray of water tried to slug her in the face. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“Is there anything you can-” Rainbow broke off and vomited a pile of roses out beside the chair Twilight had her sat in in her laboratory. “...Do?”
“Not really. I’d need to know what caused it. Do you two have any idea?”
Allan and Dash exchanged looks. It was fairly obvious what had caused it. “Yeah. There was a plate of multi-coloured cookies back at Fluttershy’s. There was no note saying I could have any, so I didn’t. Rainbow was eating them when I got back.”
Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof. “Was there anything that stood out to you?”
Allan thought about it for a moment. “Yes, actually-” Rainbow interrupted the conversation by letting loose a swarm of bats, though Twilight quickly corralled them and teleported them elsewhere. “Actually, I did notice that the plate wasn’t one of Fluttershy’s.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No, it wasn’t. I’ve gotten to know Fluttershy’s plates, and she doesn’t have one with blue flowers on it.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Blue flowers? Think you could describe them to me?”
“Sure. They were blue, like I said, and they had five petals, with those stamen things coming out of the top. Does any of that help?”
Twilight nodded. “That sounds an awful lot like Poison Joke to me.”
Rainbow sucked in an alarmed breath, while Allan just tilted his head. “Poison….Joke?”
Rainbow eyes grew wild. “Are you telling me I ate poison joke!?” She clutched her stomach with her hooves as it let out a rumbling gurgle. “What’s going to happen to me?”
Twilight’s frown deepened. “I can’t be sure, but until you’re finished digesting those cookies, you could be vomiting up all kinds of things until they’re all gone. You might still end up getting ‘joked’, though.”
“Aww, nuts!” Rainbow moaned. “I got practice for the Bolts tomorrow! I’m supposed to be performing for the big reveal and celebration! How am I supposed to get ready like this?”
Twilight glared at her. “Trust you to be more worried about the performance than your health.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I think I know somepony who can help. I just have to call him.”
“Sorry, I still don’t understand. What’s Poison Joke?” Allan asked.
Twilight grinned at the chance to inform her newest friend. “Poison Joke is a wildflower that grows predominantly in the Everfree Forest. You probably saw a lot on your way from the hive. It’s imbued with chaos magic, and plays jokes on those that touch it. I’ve never seen what happens when ponies eat it, but I’m guessing this is it.”
“So, it’s kind of like-” Rainbow burped up a pair of confused looking eagles, who quickly flew off. “Poison oak, but, pranking, instead of giving you a rash?”
“Pretty much.” Twilight agreed with a nod. “We’ve had a run in with it before, but that was only us touching it. I don’t think solving this will be as simple as taking a herbal bath this time.” Allan winced as Rainbow hacked up a small apple tree that was bigger than she was. Twilight rolled her eyes at the randomness and teleported outside, before continuing. That’s why I’ll need to summon Discord and see if he’ll help.”
“Discord?” Allan recalled hearing the name from Fluttershy and Twilight during his first visit to Rarity’s. “You mean that big, Draconi-whatsit that you guys said nearly took over the world, twice?”
Twilight nodded. “Fluttershy’s been helping him learn how to use his powers for good.” She slapped an exasperated hoof to her face. “Though he’s still just as irritating as when we first met him.”
“Alright...so, you gonna call him, or what?”
Twilight groaned. “I really don’t feel like dealing with his antics today.” Her horn started to glow, right before Twilight called out the Lord of Chaos’s name. “Discord!”
A glowing circle appeared on the floor, filled with bizarre symbols and the image of one of the most weird creatures Allan had seen so far. It’s limbs were all from different animals, namely a reptile, bird, lion and… was that a goat leg? It sported a short, dark, mane, big, bushy white eyebrows, and a big white goatee. He also had a pair of oddly mismatched horns and a tail that looked like it would be more at home on one of the eastern dragons Allan had seen on almost every eastern themed anything that had made it’s way to Canada.
“What the heck is that?” He asked, leaning out over the image.
The face of the image suddenly twisted into a grin, filled with fangs, one in particular seeming quite a bit longer than its fellows. Allan jerked back as the ‘image’, quite suddenly rose up from the floor, the drawn on lines becoming the smoother borders of a living creature, one whose very existence set Allan’s brain into “terrified beyond rational thought” mode. Because Allan could sense an aura of power about the creature. One that far surpassed his own. One that surpassed Twilight.
“Oh, just the living representation of chaos, not that you would know.” His voice was far too glib and full of mischievous intent for anyone not to be wary of the creature, but Twilight only seemed annoyed. “But I thought all of Equus knew about moi.”
“Discord, please. Rainbow’s in trouble, and we need your help.”
“Oh, you need my help again, so soon?” The pomposity and arrogance of this thing were quite evident in how he acted. “The Princess of Friendship not able to solve a problem on her own, oh dearie me, whatever has Equestria come to?”
“Discord!” Twilight ground her teeth together. Allan stayed very still. “Will you please just fix Rainbow? She’s eaten cookies with poison joke in them, and now-”
Discord vanished in an instant, only to pop out of Rainbow’s mouth with a pair of scuba goggles and a diving suit on. The Pegasi cried out in alarm, or tried to anyway, at the sight of the Lord of Chaos emerging from her own muzzle.
“You’ve been hanging around Princess Celestia again, haven’t you?” Discord grumbled, his eyes popping out of his head and circling around Rainbow. “Her boooring side is seems to be rubbing off on you.”
Allan stole a quick glance, and saw Twilight still glaring at Discord, only the colours of her mane and tail were all wrong. They were a shimmering hue of soft greens, blues and pinks, instead of the dark, navy blue with the violet and pink stripes running through the middle of her mathematically styled mane.
“Discord.” Twilight’s teeth were clenched.
“Oh, fine.” He snapped his clawed fingers, vanishing again. Rainbow immediately stuck out her tongue and started doing her best to scrape the taste of fur off her tongue. The Draconequus reappeared, several whole and undigested cookies in his claws, taking a bite of one the moment he rematerialized. “There, miss grouchy pants. Satisfied?”
Twilight teleported a pair of rather silly looking pair of pants wearing a pair of glasses with spectacles, a huge nose and bushy mustache off of her flank, and generously returning them to Discord. “Yes, actually. Thank you for helping, you can-”
“Oh, but who is this? I don’t think we’ve met before, but with you changelings I can’t be sure. Are the changeling who pretended to be Fluttershy in order to capture me?” Discord was already busy making himself quite at home around Allan, who remained as perfectly still as was physically possible. “Well, I’d be able to tell if you looked like one of those old changelings.” Another finger snap, and Allan felt himself change involuntarily. He twisted around, trying to get the Draconequus in view to, politely, ask that he change Allan back. Instead, he turned to see a large, black shelled creature with big blue eyes and holes through it’s limbs and it’s sharp, jagged horn, with a vicious, fanged mouth and no nostrils of which to speak.
Allan's eyes widened and he fell back with a startled yelp, leaving Discord hovering in the air, the mirror he was holding shaking as he laughed. “You should see your face, priceless!”
Allan raised his forelegs, looking at the holes in his legs with an open mouth. “Wha-what is this?”
“That’s how the Changelings looked before they deposed Chrysalis.” Twilight explained, before turning on Discord. “Discord, enough. Allan has been through enough as it is. Change him back.”
“What kind of name is Allan?” The Draconequus continued, paying the Princess no mind. “Even for a Changeling, that’s odd.”
“I’m human, damnit! So back off!” Allan snapped, before clapping his hooves over his muzzle as he realized he’d just spoken like that to a god-like being for the second time.
Discord’s eyes lit up. The strange, maniacal grin that split his face, quite literally (and grossly) in two made both Changeling and Princess very wary. After all, when the god of chaos itself gets excited, all should tread lightly about him.
“Human, really?!” Discord was practically gushing. “I haven’t visited a human world in millennia! Tell me, did that Mordred fellow ever take over that Kingdom he wanted, uh, Albion?’
Alan's eyes went crossed as the Draconequus pressed his face against Alan's, eyes wide and large.
“Um…. If my Arthurian legend is right… no.” Allan answered carefully. “If I’m right, I think Mordred and Arthur fought to the death, only to both die.”
Discord’s eyes were still gleeful as he pulled Allan off the ground and twirled around. “Oh! I just knew that things would get crazy if they fought! What happened to the kingdom?”
“Uh… it fell into a new dark age?” Allan said, slowly. He wasn’t entirely sure, but Arthur had never been said to have had an heir or successor, which meant his golden age would have ended with him. “Besides, most people don’t even know if all that stuff really happened. It was so long ago.”
“Well that’s disappointing, but to be expected from such short lived people.” Twilight butted in then. “Discord, excuse my interrupting, but could you please tell me….” Her hair suddenly started to smoulder, and she yelled at a volume so loud that Allan was momentarily deafened. “WHY YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO TELL ANYPONY ABOUT THIS BEFORE!?!?”
Discord took a moment to quite literally pull the words out of his ears, before casually tossing them away. “Why, Princess.” He grinned, an annoying, toothy grin. “None of you ever asked.”
Twilight’s smouldering hair started smoking even more, as Twilight let out a loud, groan of exasperation. “Fine. But you’d better start talking!”
“About what? The humans I knew?”
“Yes, the ones you knew!”
“Knew what?” Discord asked, somehow looking both innocent and mischievous at once.
Twilight slapped her forehead. “The humans!”
Discord spread his claws. “What humans?”
“The ones you knew!”
“Knew what?”
Allan sighed. This was going to go on for a while.
******************
As expected, Discord and Twilight had spent several minutes arguing after Twilight had managed to break out of his conversational loop of questions, statements and queries, leaving Allan and Rainbow to wait out the shouting match. Most of the shouting came from Twilight, who seemed to be using Discord as a vent for her personal frustrations, though the great beast didn’t seem to mind much. Allan could tell he enjoyed witnessing others get angry with him, though he had to wonder why such a powerful and mischievous individual was trusted to roam free without anyone to keep an eye on him.
When the two finally did settle down, with Discord grinning madly as he left, Twilight turned back to the two, just as Discord’s spell on Allan wore off, resulting in a rush of blue flames that startled all three of them.
“Right, so… that’s Rainbow taken care of.” Twilight chuckled, a hesitant, shaky noise that implied that her emotions weren’t quite all back in check yet.
Rainbow let out a relieved sigh, wiping her brow with her forehoof. “That’s good.” The pegasus also seemed a little out of sorts, but that was to be expected. “I don’t think Spitfire would have been all that pleased if I turned up puking weird stuff all over the place. Thanks a bunch, Twi.”
“No problem. I just want to talk to Allan about Discord, if that’s alright.”
“Sure. I’ll be outside when you wanna get some flying practice in.” She looked at Allan when she said that, then took off, speeding back through the castle to get outside. The sound of the main door opening and closing rebounded through the corridors as Twilight led Allan over to a small, out of the way table that seemed to serve as a place of rest and relaxation in between long bouts of
study and experimentation. It apparently didn’t get used very often.
Twilight sat down, motioning with a wing to the other seat. “So… are you alright? I know that meeting Discord for the first time can be like, so I thought I’d better ask.”
Allan remained quiet for a moment, before he murmured his response. “He scares me.”
Twilight nodded. “I though he might, but you would have met him eventually, and I thought it would be better that you met him when either me or Fluttershy was around to reign in his…..impulses.”
Allan shuddered. “How can you stand being around him? He’s so….”
“Annoying?” Twilight asked with a smile.
“No. He’s….overwhelming, and I don’t mean personality-wise.” Allan and Twilight’s eyes met, and she could see… dread, or perhaps fear. “I could sense how powerful his magic is, and it….” The Changeling turned his gaze away. “It’s enough to drive anyone mad.”
Twilight had nothing to say. Normal Unicorns could sense the magical signatures of others, and were taught from a young age how to filter them out. Allan hadn’t been taught how to do that. He still had so much to learn.
Changing the subject, Twilight put on her best apologetic face. “I’m sorry I haven’t said anything about the portal yet. It’s just that Thorax and I can’t seem to find any mention of similar magic in the Canterlot Archives or the Changeling Archives. Anything we do know is what you’ve told us, what’s in the notes Thorax found, or what he and his team have been able to find on their end.”
Allan nodded, quietly accepting the apology as he felt his hope of returning home dwindle just a little more.
“We might find something soon, but Thorax and I think it’s best for you to just… try and relax.”
Great. What a great piece of advice. So great…..ugh. Relaxing was the last thing Allan could do with an impending visit to Canterlot, and the resident Princesses. Relax? Yeah, right.
********************