Luna looked up at Flix's old art shack.
She was unsure as to why he decided to move back into it when everything died down. She wanted to give him lessons in ruling, but after the first half hour she realized he was never going to be a normal Equestrian ruler. He was basically the antithesis of nobility, despite what Fleur and Fancy said.
The alicorn knocked on the door only for it to fly open a moment later and she was sucked into the room. Once the area lit up, she was able to see her son floating upside down, covered in marble dust and metal shards, a strange sculpture semi-formed in front of him.
“Couldn’t you just use your magic to summon the art into being?” the alicorn asked with a smirk.
Flix looked over to Luna with a grin. “Oh, I could, but what’s the fun in that? I don’t use my powers for everything.”
Another voice spoke up and Luna turned to see Orlonda dipping cherries in what looked like love gel-infused chocolate. “If he used his powers for everything, he wouldn’t be an artist anymore; he would be a producer.” The changeling made a sour face.
Luna chuckled as she listened to them banter back and forth about the pros and cons of being a mass producer instead of an artist. Eventually she interrupted them. “Flix?”
“Yes, Mumsy?”
“I was wondering if you could visit Canterlot tonight. We are having another banquet and ball. This one is to celebrate the griffon and changeling hives’ end of the year holidays. Glimfeather will be here, so will your half-sister, Fifi.”
Flix groaned. He really did hate those kinds of get-togethers, and most of the people that went to them hated him as well. “I really don’t want to go.”
Luna slowly started to grin. “If you went, you could mix things up a bit....”
Everything stopped moving as Flix practically teleported over to her. “I could... are you okay with this?”
Luna's grin started to falter. “That depends on what you are planning.”
Flix yelled up to Orlonda. “Honey!”
The changeling appeared behind Luna. “What’s up?”
“Pack the fancy monocles! We are going to Canterlot!”
Luna started to try to keep the situation from spiraling out of control. “Wait, Flix! What are you going to–”
Before Luna could finish, his talons snapped and the two of them disappeared, leaving Luna to swim back to the door to get out.
“This may have been a bad idea.”
The two Royal Sisters were in their bath chamber, getting ready for the banquet. The smell of the shampoos and soaps made the entire process so relaxing... that was until two voices shouted from ceiling.
“CANNONBALL!”
Two large splashes forced most of the water out of the huge tub, splashing the mostly dry princesses. In the center of the mostly empty tub, Flix was grinning with Orlonda, both of them dressed in frilly suits and monocles.
Celestia looked at the pair and frowned. “Flix, I know that you are not one for manners or etiquette, but why are you here?”
The chimera started to laugh. “Oh, I’m here just to mix things up a bit!”
Orlonda started to laugh as well. “Oh, this is gonna be good!”
Flix held up his draconic claw as his non-changeling, chaos eye looked at Celestia. “Not so much a mixing-up things, as much as it is a change in perspective?” The built-up chaos magic in his claw released when he snapped his fingers, covering the room in a white light as his magic worked through the princesses.
Once everyone regained their vision, Orlonda was the first to gasp. “Oh, Flix, you have outdone yourself this time. Come on – let’s go and enjoy this!”
Flix nodded, and with a laugh and in a flash, they disappeared.
The guests were gradually filing into the room, being announced as they entered.
The strange pair waited at the top of the stairs as Flix mumbled to the announcing pony. He blinked and whispered back to Flix before nodding again. During this strange shift in the pattern of the announcing, some attention was drawn to the latecomers.
Path and Free looked up and smiled. “Oh, this is going to be fun,” Free murmured from his seat at the table.
The announcer spoke up in his naturally loud voice. “Announcing Flix Flix Bo Bix Banna Fanna Mo Mix Me My Mo Mix Flix the third... and his–” the announcer let out a groan, “Best Friend, Best Lover, Princess Orlonda Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third and a half.”
The two announced parties claw/hoof-bumped.
“HAH!” Path cried out.
“YES!” Free yelled with a laugh.
Both of their heads were slammed into the table as the irritated Twilight’s horn cooled down.
“You are so rough with them, Twilight,” Cadence giggled.
“Only when they make me,” the Princess of Friendship growled.
“When did Orlonda become a princess?” Polistae asked, confused.
The odd pair sat down next to House Path, both of them grinning like fools.
“What did you do?” Twilight asked with a glare.
“Who me? I didn’t do anything. Why do you think I’m always up to something?”
“Flixtradamus Antithesis Path – you will tell me what you did this instant!” The Mom’s eyes narrowed as her stare bore into the chimera.
“Well, you see–” Flix was interrupted as the announcer started introducing people again.
“King Glimfeather the Second, and his son, Prince Glimfeather the Third!”
Path turned to look at the griffons coming in. His House was formed under the first King Glimfeather, an immovable force of muscle backed by an unbreakable will. He had lived to be so old that people were starting to wonder if he somehow had gained immortality. Sadly he passed away just before his 134th birthday, leaving his son to rule. Trask Glimfeather was so much different than his father. While Argent’s reign was, until his later years, paved with blood and sweat, his tempering in his later years as well as Path's occasional lessons, pushed Trask’s reign to be paved with diplomacy and technological expansion. It was because of him that the space program had been pushed so hard, His and Pif’s enthusiasm had bounced off each other, causing round-the-clock working to beat ambitions deadlines. His pushing paid off, and out of the four great nations on Equis, the Griffonian Kingdom was the second largest, smaller than Equestria but larger than the Crystal Kingdom and the Hive Principality.
His youngest son, Perilune Glimfeather, would not inherit the throne. That honor would go to one of his older sisters. Due to this fact, it enabled him to pursue anything that interested him. And while he was still young, just barely out of primary school, his interests exploded. Strong in mathematics and science, he split his time between griffon battle conditioning in Griffonia proper, and classes at the Lunar Colonies. He took after his father in terms of plumage, but you wouldn’t know it from his dye job. The “Nebula” look was the latest fad since the Cosmic Lotus was just past the halfway point. His feathers were dyed a dark blue with swirls of purple, red, and lighter blues. Dots also were painted here and there to represent stars.
The pair sat down up in the front. With all of the other members now there, it was time for the hosts to arrive.
The announcer walked over to the entrance and peeked around the corner, only to let out a loud gasp. He seemed like he was talking to somebody hidden before he went back and started to talk again, his normally deep voice cracking.
“Presenting the Solar and Lunar Diarchs, Celestia Bright-wing and Luna Swift-talon!” He moved out of the way as the two Princesses entered the room
Celestia was no longer an alicorn in the purist sense. While her rear half remained like her previous pony self, complete with her gently swaying colorful tail, that was where the similarity ended. Her front half seemed to take after a white-bellied sea eagle, and she was covered in the purest of white feathers. Her eyes, while still filled with love, were sharp and more like a predator’s. Her front talons were an off-white eggshell color and clicked delicately on the marble floor, but her wings were still as large as ever. Her head feathers were medium length and they changed colors in the same pattern as her mane previously did.
Luna's features seemed to get even sharper if that was possible. Her back half remained true – a dark blue with her starry tail. Her front half, however, seemed to take after a black eagle, her feathers slightly ruffled as she moved to preen a few of the primary ones before folding her wing back up. Her beak was sharp, almost frighteningly so, even when she curled it up into a playful grin. Her head feathers were themed a lot like Celestia, but they were a little longer and flowed in her own pattern.
“Hot!” Free and Path exclaimed at the same time, just before their heads were slammed into the table again. Twilight was growling with anger while Cadance and both Glimfeathers laughed.
It was Celestia who spoke up to ease the fears of some of the more skittish pony nobles. “Rest assured that we are fine. We just thought on this day in the spirit of cooperation, we would change to show our support of the others in attendance. I do apologize to the hive queen, however, as we could not figure out how to modify this illusion to show off a changeling horn. That, and if we came as full queen, it might be imposing just a tad much.”
While Celestia talked to quell everyone’s worries, Luna was staring right at Flix with what could be considered a predatory gaze.
“Now – let us begin our meals!”
With everyone seated, the staff began to walk around the large table, putting meals on everyone’s plates. However, when everybody looked to the princesses to begin eating, they looked at their rather impressive salads with distaste. Luna waved one of the staff over and whispered in his ear. The pony blinked, nodded, and then he ran off. A few moments later, a griffon staff member came back and he put down two large royal cuts of meat down on their plates, exactly what the Glimfeathers were eating.
Everyone started to stare at them as they dug in. Normally the epitome of manners, instead they were tearing into the rare meat with their talons and snapping their beaks. Even Trask stopped and watched with amazement.
Twilight was looking on in horror while Flix grinned.
Fidelitas nudged Path and murmured, “That’s not an illusion, is it, Dad?”
The stallion grinned and winked at his daughter. “If Flix is involved, not likely. Just roll with it, Fifi.” Path then cleared his throat to attract the attention of those at the table with him. “So – did anyone see that Ludacris display last night?” he asked innocently.
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