//------------------------------//
// Petrification, Pain, and Parties 
// Story: The Triumvirate 
// by Fedora71 
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Triumvirate part 4 

“What kind of name is Scott?” Rainbow Dash asked, as they flew low over the Everfree forest. She had already decided not to make fun of Scott’s flying ‘skills’, which, to put it bluntly, were all flash and no bang. 
“The one my parents gave me,” he said bitterly, flying a bit higher, taking advantage of his eagle eyes. Something he was enjoying about Equestria was that he did not have to wear glasses or contacts anymore. He was digging that bit.
“Y’know,” Rainbow Dash said, looking up towards him, “we’re in the Everfree, clouds act funnier here.”
“I just prefer to not touch them,” he shivered.
“You can’t. We’re in the Everfree.” She shuddered a bit. “Plants don’t need help growing, animals take care of themselves, and the clouds move all by themselves. It’s creepy because you can’t really touch them, you just kind of go straight through them.”
Scott felt a small twinge of delight, and went barreling through the next cloud like it was condensed water vapor, which it was. There wasn’t a 'pfft' noise or a hole left behind by him. He never thought he’d be so happy to see that. He grinned nervously as Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow after his experiment.
“Okay…are you sure you’re alright,” she asked taking her hoof and pointing it at her head. “ummm, upstairs?”
“Yeah, never better,” The griffin answered feeling truly relaxed and unwinding, “So how much further?”
“Not much. We’re almost there, you were pretty lucky actually.” Rainbow Dash explained, “you were on the outskirts of the Everfree forest when I crashed into you. “
“And that means?”
“Well, it means if we’re lucky, somepony already found your friend.”
“And if we’re not?”
“Well…let’s just say it’s a good chance somepony found him.” She laughed nervously, and began to pick up her pace as Scott struggled to keep up behind her.

“Well, here we are,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Is this the exact spot?” Scott practically demanded, pointing his talons at the ground for emphasis on the location.
“Well yeah, you don’t think I’d lead you on a wild goose chase and cut into my nap time?”
“Whatever. Do you know where I could’ve dropped him?” He said, looking around for any Stigandr-shaped holes in the canopy.
“I don’t know, I was too busy hauling your heavy tail to the Cloudsdale hospital,” she responded, zooming around the canopy. “It’s okay, I’m sure we’ll find your friend.”
“We better,” he growled, picking through foliage trying to get a better look at the ground. “Thanks for the save by the way.”
“It’s okay, wasn’t a problem at all,” she responded. “You’re not that heavy. Okay, maybe a bit, just wish I saw your friend.” She noticed the griffin hang his head. “I’m sure he’s alright though, I mean he’s a unicorn, he has that magic and stuff.”
*Ba-Bawk*
“What the heck was that?” Scott asked, raising his head from the trees.
“Sounded like a chicken.”
“You guys have wild chickens out here?”
“Not that I know of. It’s probably one of Fluttershy’s that got out,” she said, looking down towards the ground. “She doesn’t live far from here.”
“Okay,” he answered apathetically. 
*Ba-Ba-Bawk*
He kept looking as the chicken grew closer. He started to tear branches down, growing more frustrated, trying to find any sign of Stigs. He landed on the ground, hoping to see if another perspective would help. It didn’t, but he did find the chicken. At least... a statue of a chicken, like one somebody would use as a yard decoration, only a lot more detailed.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash, come check this out!” He yelled, picking it up and admiring the detail. He’d have to meet the sculptor and see if he could get some commission minis out of him. The rainbow-maned mare poked her head out of a tree and looked at the statue curiously. 
“What is that?” She asked, flying closer.
“Some statue I found down here,” he said, looking at the individual feathers sculpted perfectly onto the chicken. He may need to stay in Equestria after all, if only to get some gaming figs done. Secretly, he told Games Workshop to suck it. If he could find the right pony, he’d have his entire army done for nothing. “Know the pony who made it?”
“No, but it looks really good.”
*Ba-Ba-Bawk!*
“Guess that chicken’s still out here,” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Maybe it was looking for a friend.” A glance from Scott silenced it.
There was rustling in the bushes behind them, so they both turned around and saw the head of the chicken poking out. Scott couldn’t put his talon on it, but something was off about the farm fowl. Than it stepped out of the bushes and he remembered birds weren’t supposed to have teeth, or long reptile tongues, or reptile bodies. San check passed.
“What is that?” Scott said, looking over to Rainbow Dash who was still as a statue for some reason, probably because she was a statue. He failed his next san check as he turned to stone, screaming as loud as he could. 



A cool wave of power washed over Ancro. It started out on the fringes as a tingling sensation, than he began to feel himself being pushed back. He stepped away from the edge of the barrier as the presence approached the door to his cell. He felt his stomach start to churn a bit as a somewhat familiar vice enclosed around his temples. He wasn’t sure if it was affecting him worse because he was getting weaker, or because this one showed a lot less restraint. He was hoping it was the prior. The door opened and a deep blue alicorn, with a flowing mane that consisted of the night sky itself, stood there. It took him a moment to recognize Luna.
“How may I help you, your highness?” Ancro asked, taking a step back as she entered the room. Each step she took, he matched backwards, an extremely uneasy feeling to one who favors standing their ground. She stepped to the edge of the bubble as he reached the other edge.
“Why doth thou step away from us?” She asked, a hard look in her eyes.
“That’s rude, I asked first.” He recognized the familiar pain of a migraine creeping up on him. 
“We wish to ask thou several questions,” She said in her regal tone. “Starting with why thou backed away from us, but not our sister.”
“I have my reasons,” he said, staring at the floor. Even looking at her was painful.
“And those are?”
“Mine and mine alone; just get on with the interrogation, so I may continue my time here in peace,” Ancro practically pleaded. 
“Very well.” She was kind enough to change the tone in her voice to slightly more concerned. “Is there anything I can get you?”
“Yeah, one million bits and a ticket home.” He smirked; the migraine hadn’t dampened his sarcasm.  Something that he swiftly regretted. “If you could take a few steps back, that should help.”
The princess stepped backwards about five feet, and Ancro breathed a sigh of relief as his pain became bearable.
“Thou are unlike any changeling that has been encountered before. Why is that.”
“Oh princess, you jump straight to the hard questions,” he said, trying to collect himself. “Why do you think that is?”
“We have no idea.” Her answer was deliberate and to the point as she inched forward, gaining a glare from the changeling. “Why don’t thou enlighten us?” 
“I’d love to, but unfortunately I can’t.” He practically whispered, forcing a smirk as the imaginary vice closed around his temples, and his insides started to churn.
“We do not like to play games, changeling.” It may have only been a toned-down Canterlot Royal voice, but it echoed around the bubble, creating a new nightmarish hell on his senses. Seeing sound was a sickening sensation. “We wish to know why thou were in our library, and what become of thy compatriots.”
Ancro did the only thing he could do while the sound echoed around the bubble; lie on the ground, cover his ears, close his eyes and pray that she goes away. It didn’t work, and all this did was make her press harder. A painfully audible ringing grew in his ears as Luna walked through the bubble, and whatever was left of his rational mind had fled from the agony. Inside his mind he was screaming for her to go away, but dared not open his mouth, knowing it would only add to his suffering.
Luna stood directly over the changeling as he lie there, virtually incapacitated, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes tight. She leaned down closer to him and he flinched away, pushing against the bubble.  He was whispering something. She leaned in closely, then noticed the tears rolling down his cheeks. She leaned forward and her horn started to glow. 
Ancro went over the edge. He blindly lashed out at the princess. He screamed as his hoof went towards what he hoped was her horn, the air whistling through the holes in his leg. He felt slight contact, and her presence backed off a small bit. Ancro forced one eye open half-way, and felt as if he was going to vomit again.
“GO AWAY!” He screamed to the stunned princess before buckling and sobbing in the fetal position. “Just go away... Please.”
Luna took several steps back from the sobbing changeling. What she had first thought was fear, she realized was pain. Changelings are deceptive by nature, but she felt confident in her ability to tell the difference between fake pain and real suffering, this was definitely the latter. Without saying another word, Luna left the room.
He still cried after she left. He had dealt with migraines for years, none this severe. However, from what he knew of his mother’s and sister’s migraines, even though the cause was gone, the after affects would remain.


Stigandr put down his copy of the pony alphabet book on the night stand by his bed. He looked over at the sleeping Applebloom and thought ‘dawww’. The tonsillectomy had been a success, as they are apt to be. He needed to remember to thank her for helping him learn to read. He was still a long way off from the books at the Canterlot library, but he was off to what he hoped was a good start. Confident, he rolled over and went to sleep.
His sleep was interrupted by the sound of the window creaking open. He rolled over lazily to see why it had done that, but when he looked over he saw nothing…Nothing but a pink pony in a black ninja outfit hauling a freezer through the window. He calmly blinked multiple times to make sure he was awake. He was about to say something, but the pink ninja was in his face, and put a hoof over her mouth and made the ‘shush’ signal. Well, as close as you could get without fingers. She reached into the freezer and pulled out a bowl of ice cream, and handed it to him with a spoon. Then there was a crash as two more pony ninjas came into the window, one a white unicorn, the other a tangerine pegasus, and fell from the window sill. They noisily fumbled for footing, stepping all over each other as they also tried to untie their safety harnesses. The pink ninja made the same ‘shushing’ motion, except without the offer of ice cream this time. The two ponies got the message and stopped making noise. Instead, they stood there, tangled in the safety ropes.
The pink one walked over and pulled a single part of the rope and they came twirling undone, standing atop her hooves in poses reminiscent of a Renascence sculpture. Then, ever so silently, they pushed the freezer over to the bed of the sleeping Applebloom. All the while, Stigandr did his best not to laugh, occasionally getting a shush from the pink ninja. He looked up at the clock and in the dim light, made out that the sun was about to come up and smiled as the ninjas silently removed their out fits revealing them to be none other than Pinkie Pie, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.
Pinkie looked at him, confused, than at her hoof, than back at him, than at her hoof one last time. She eyed him suspiciously, then walked over and looked him over, pulling out a large magnifying glass from…somewhere. 
“May I help you?” Stigandr asked, starting to feel a bit awkward, staring into her heavily magnified eye.
“Nope,” she said, not even blinking.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep.”
“Alrighty then, so I guess I should just be sitting here?” He said, levitating his book over to himself. “Reading my book.”
“Yep,” she said, sounding somewhat distracted as she kept staring at him, at every minuscule detail.
*Psssst* 
Pinkie Pie looked over towards Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, as they dove behind a curtain as Applebloom started to stir. In a flash of pink smoke, the pony vanished to somewhere as Applebloom woke up and tried to yawn, but all that came out was an adorable squeak. He saw the confusion in her eyes as she tried to ask a question but all that came out was another squeak. Stigandr did a countdown in his head. 3…2…1… The world exploded in a blast of confetti and streamers as the party cannon fired out the top of the fridge.
“SURPRISE!” The trio jumped out from their hiding places and Pinkie Pie from apparent thin air much to the delight of the Apple Bloom. Stigandr lay on his bed and smiled happily.

(Once again going to thank my artist/editor Sara for making it grammatically correct and readable for commissions contact her at shaya.laperro@gmail.com . Like to thank my best  friends that I have known for years for not complaining for me writing them into a story. Been having fun writing this so far and have not been able to really put down my laptop to stop also I’m starting a new job at a factory so I may be getting less time to do my writing. Any questions or suggestions message me and I need feedback, it lets me know I’m doing a good job and keeps my fragile ego intact.)