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// Bonus: Celestia’s retort 
// Story: Twilight's First Prank 
// by Reykan 
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“Do we really need to do this? I’m fairly certain we can just, you know...”

“No. She’s likely already written the letter.”

Twilight was a myriad of emotions as she hesitantly knocked on the door to her parents house. Though if he was completely honest, so was Max.
‘I can’t even make a comment about what this looks like. We both know it, and that’s why we were shoehorned into this. Because Sun-butt thought it would be funny.’
"She's pretty vicious for a mare who smiles all the time."

"That wasn't her happy smile. That was smile number eight. The 'I'm about to make you miserable and there's nothing you can do about it' smile. She usually directs it at Blueblood or somepony else who irritates her. I think I've only been on the receiving end of that one three times before. Mostly I would get smile two, the 'Oh thank goodness, I can get away with a believable excuse' smile."

"So how many of these smiles have you recorded?"

"Forty six, and at least seven of them are so similar to another type of smile that the only way to tell is context."

Max nodded.
"Think I could get a copy?"

The mare shook her head.
"I am under contract, oath, and several spells not to reveal anything like that which I learned during my stay in Canterlot Castle as Celestia's student."

"That's...not normal. What did you do?"

" I may have started studying the princess. In depth. She brought out the oaths and bindings when she found me testing one of her feathers for additional magical properties."

"That actually sounds interesting. I mean, alicorns are supposed to be more magically inclined so I'd assume their feathers would be at least as charged as a pegasus feather."

At the irritated grunt the mare let out he grinned.

"So you don't like theory crafting when you cant talk about something? What about your own feathers? I mean, you can talk all you like about them now that you have alicorn feathers of your own to test."

Twilight opened her mouth before snapping it shut, her eyes glazing over in realization. Before he had to stop her from plucking every feather from her wings, the door swung open to reveal an older unicorn mare in an apron.

"Twilight, dear! What a pleasant surprise, I didn't know you were in Canterlot."

"I was actually doing a presentation, something my friend helped with," the purple alicorn explained, gesturing to Max. "We talked to the Princess, er, Princess Celestia and she reminded me I should stop by."

Twilight's mother giggled.
"Oh dear, what did you do this time?"

"More like what Max did. He wasn't respectful enough and she dropped the usual threats."
Twilight sighed, moving forward and hugging her mother.
"I'm sorry I don't write to you as often as I'd like, things have been crazy."

"You write more often than your brother, dear. I can appreciate that. Just don't be afraid to stop by when you're visiting the city. I know Canterlot Castle has comfy beds, big rooms, and its own library but we enjoy having you."

"I know. It's also nice to just...talk to somepony who isn't either hanging on every word I say or liable to twist it in some way."

"Come on in, I'm just about to start on dinner. You don't have to catch a train, do you?" the mare asked, stepping back and allowing the two entry.
"And this is the friend who got you in trouble?"

"Mom, this is Max," Twilight introduced, stopping just in the door and closing it the moment Max was inside. "He's been helping me with research lately, both in whatever I find catches my eye at the time and on a very...sensitive topic."

Her mom's ears flattened.
"Sensitive?"

"I know that after the wedding you might be a little nervous, it's one of the reasons I don't talk about him. Max is helping me with research on changelings."

"Oh, um, and by helping you I assume you mean that..."

"Yes. He is one. The princesses are aware, and in fact Princess Celestia just saw him at the castle, knowing full well who she was speaking to. He's a friend."

The unicorn looked at Max with uncertainty before shifting weight from foreleg to foreleg.
"If you're certain, Twilight. I, I'll trust you on this. You know more about this than I do. My only experience was at the wedding."

"He wont hurt anypony, mom, trust me. I think he's gotten more injuries from ponies than he's ever deserved, actually. Everypony knows who he is but..."

"Uncanny valley is what we called it," Max replied, shrugging his wings. "Changelings look close enough to ponies that the differences are more pronounced. It's not as bad if you have a chance to get used to the differences but until then it's shocking. And ponies don't do well with 'shocking'."

"Most of us, anyway. I wont say I'm immune to it, but it takes a bit more to shake me after all I've experienced."

"So the two of you aren't..." the mare asked leadingly.

They both gave her a flat look.
"No"

"Oh thank goodness."

Max's ears folded back.
"Ow?"

"I mean, how would that even work?"

"Quite well, actually. It would be weird if someone who was married for years never conceived, wouldn't it? They'd be expected to get fertility checks, which means doctors, which means-"
Twilight hip-checked the disguised changeling before turning back to her mother.

"Sorry, sometimes he doesn't understand a rhetorical question."

"But it wasn't-"

"So what are you making? Do you need any help? Or maybe you'd like me to pick something up?"

"Yes, um, actually I was going to ask your father to help me with something but if you'd like you can get a few things from the market. I was planning on making some Eggplant lasagna."

"Okay, we'll get right on that. Or, um, could you-"

"Give me a list and I'll get your stuff," Max said, smiling. "It's your family, Sparky. Enjoy it."



<-(0)->



The dinner wasn't overly hostile, but it certainly wasn't what Max would call comfortable. Velvet was settled enough with the idea at this point to have reached the curious stage along the line of reactions ponies went through, but Night Light was still in his suspicious/panicky phase.

Twilight meanwhile was in her usual phase.
"-couldn't survive without a pony population nearby. While other species generate love, apparently they just aren't as unquestioningly emotional as ponies. After all, I made very strong connections over the course of a single day. Granted, these connections were reinforced by the hardships we faced, but griffons for example are much more suspicious of outsiders and it takes much longer to initiate any sort of emotional relationship with a gryphon. In the case of a changeling outsider attempting to survive, it takes too long. Without an already present changeling in the city to ingratiate the new changeling into the good graces of a few of the locals, it takes too long to be worth it. Therefore I've theorized that the biggest changeling populations in non-pony countries would likely have either a noticeable pony population, or would have been deep-seated within a country for years. A family that had been a member of the community is automatically seen in a better light than a pony or griffon that just wandered into town."
"In the case of the latter example, a queen could run a family from the background with each generation of drones maintaining a single persona, giving the illusion of generations passing by. Since they don't need as much physical food as the rest of the communitee they would either be seen as more charitable, or perhaps seen as dependable individuals who plan ahead and have saved enough food for when times are leaner. Either way, the hive further ingratiates itself with the population, earning it more emotion and allowing it to expand even further!"

"That's all well and good, dear, but we're still talking about things...er, creatures that replace ponies," Night added.

"Oh I understand and I've been working on solutions for both sides, but for now I really can't even get into contact with a single queen to try and work something out, much less start talks on a larger scale. The queens are incredibly cautious and what little changeling culture Max has been able to teach me has a high emphasis on secrecy. Max won't do more than give me a single letter of a queen's name as a way to emphasize differences between them. Oh, do you think-"

Max's ears perked as the alicorn's stream of consiousness finally hit a wall, and judging by the sudden flashes of fear and worry, it wasn't a good one. Looking at her and thinking about where she was going, it wasn't difficult to pick out the reason.
"You didn't tell your mother, did you?"

"Tell me what?" Velvet asked, looking between the two. "Dear, is there something happening?"

"Well, um, you see-"

"I'm taking Spike on an expedition. Let him watch dragons from a distance and learn through observation. He's smart, really smart, so i think he could learn a lot more about dragons that way than trying to get in the good graces of a couple of teenagers. A hive has been gracious enough to allow us to bunk with them while we study the dragons in exchange for a supply of emotion I've been saving up. So it's a vacation in a changeling hive on me."

Twilight's parents both looked to her confusion written on their faces for only a moment before Velvet slammed her hooves on the table.
"He's doing what with Spike!?"