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// Daddy's girl, Feeding, Plots 
// Story: The Triumvirate 
// by Fedora71 
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Triumvirate 7


“You took a while in there, Stigs,” Scott said, polishing off his latest bowl of ice cream. “Everything come out okay?”
“Yeah, just had a discussion with somepony,” he answered with a victorious grin.
“Did Pinkie Pie pop up in the toilet?”
“Wha-No!” Stigandr chuckled, “Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“Well, seems like the type of thing she would do,” Scott argued, causing Stigandr to pause in thought before silently agreeing that, yes, that is something she may do.
The unicorn quickly recomposed himself for the seriousness of the discussion to come. He gripped the griffon with his magic and pulled his ear close to his mouth, then he whispered, “Discord”
“And that is….?”
“Spirit of disharmony and chaos,” he answered, letting Scott go. “He said he already chatted with you while you were a statue.”
“…Okay, so that wasn’t me going insane from too many bloody ponies,” Scott said thoughtfully and passed the san check.
“What did you tell him?”
“Well…everything,” Scott said, rubbing the back of his head. “At least everything I knew.”
Stigandr breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn’t a lot of information. “Apparently, while Ancro went nuts in the library, it freed up a bit of his powers. Discord told me Ancro isn’t doing so great.”
“So what are we going to do about Discord?” Scott asked. “He doesn’t seem like the type you would want to be running around.”
“He’s off doing an errand for me,” Stigandr smiled.
“Umm…okay, but what do we do about Ancro?” Scott asked.
“I don’t know, but we need to think of something soon.”

A long, snake-like shadow slithered through the tall amber grass of an open plane. Far off in the distance, if you squinted, you could just barely see the faint speck that was the mountain that Canterlot rested on. The spirit of chaos whistled, the unicorn had been right. It was pretty far away. He was beginning to become more regretful about introducing himself to Stigandr. Now he was being used as a common errand boy. Although he did ask “politely”. Still, he held Discord’s freedom, however little it was, above his head. He had to admire that unicorn’s tact, though, threatening that he would tell Twilight Sparkle if he didn’t do what he was told. Not in so many words, though.
He arrived at the altar Stigandr spoke of and rubbed his chin in thought. It was old magic, older than the Princesses, which is why they had been so incapable of figuring it out. Oh, they had sent some ponies to try to discover where the unusual lightning had come from, but ultimately wrote it off as some playful pegasi. It wasn’t that the altar was old, no it was made a month ago. it’s just the magic was old, very old, the kind of magic that should’ve long been forgotten… old. As in, anypony that would’ve known about it should’ve long since passed. He tried to touch it, but then remembered he had no physical presence and face palmed. He knew that if he were to have any hope to ascertain what this was, he would have to have a more physical approach. The shadow snapped its fingers and slithered off, wondering why he hadn’t thought of it before.
“Oh, Screwball!” Discord called for his daughter in the direction of Manehatten, the last spot she had been.

“Shining Armor, if Celestia called me on such short notice, there has to be a reason why,” Cadence said to her husband as the train pulled in at the station. Typically, the captain of the royal guard would arrive by sky chariot, but he decided he would need time in order to collect himself on the way. Though loyal to the princess, he was uneasy about taking a vacation, and even more uneasy about the possibility of his wife having to interact with a changeling… Much less this one.
“If you’re sure you can handle it,” he said, giving her a concerned look. “Be careful, there’s something off about that one.”
“Shining, we defeated an entire army of changelings and saved Equestria. I can handle just one, especially with Fire Cracker and Hoplon escorting me,” Cadence replied, referring to her personal guards, the ones she had hoof picked after her husband insisted. “Now go, enjoy your time off, I’ll be along in a few days.”
“Okay, I’m trusting you.” He gave her a kiss as the conductor called ‘all aboard’.
“Have fun in Ponyville, Shining!” She called as he leaned out the window and waved at her.
“Be safe, Cadence.” 
“What’s the worst that could happen?” She called back to him as the train pulled out of the station.

“Report to the captain, we move in three days,” whispered the unicorn guard to the janitor as he swept by his post. “Shining Armor is going on vacation and Princess Cadence is coming in.”
The janitor’s eyes widened slightly, but not enough to reveal anything. Things couldn’t be turning out more perfectly… A new ally, and the opportunity for revenge to boot. This was going to be fun.
“Do we know what for?” The janitor whispered back.
“The changeling in custody is apparently starving.”
“I’ll inform him immediately,” the janitor replied before getting back to his sweeping. The changelings had infiltrated the crystal cavern prison some months prior, to see if any of theirs were being held here, and to if necessary be able to strike at Canterlot. The last thing they expected to happen was a rogue changeling to show up and thrash a bunch of guards. Some of the changelings were still hoping to see a rematch of just him and that pompous Shining Armor.

“You got the parasprites, sis?” Shift asked his sister as they got to work in the prison kitchen, overseeing the other ponies that weren’t in solitary confinement. The guards they were posing as were occasionally asked to help with the kitchen work, something they didn’t know when taking over as them.
“Not on me,” she replied, stunned her brother would even ask such a stupid question. What idiot would keep those on their person at work?
“I’m not stupid, I was just making sure.” He said, “heard the captain went on his vacation.”
“Yeah, so?”
“That makes breaking that shield a lot easier?”
“Obviously,” she smiled, “and also means the ponies don’t think he is a threat anymore.”
“But he still is, right?”
“Of course, it’s just a façade.” She sighed, “Hell, even you know not to burn yourself out like that.”
“Only did it once,” he said, chuckling to his sister.
“Yeah, I remember. Who do you think took care of you for that week?” She said, elbowing her brother in the ribs with a chuckle.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, Cadence.” Celestia smiled down towards her niece from her throne. “I have a favor to ask of you. You do not have to do it if you don’t want to.”
“Does it involve the changeling?” Cadence asked hesitantly.
“Yes, it does.” Celestia sighed, “I want you to know I understand this isn’t something I wanted ask of you after what happened.”
“What do you need me to do?” Cadence had an idea of what it was, but was hoping she wasn’t going to ask.
“What I’m asking you to do… Is feed it,” Celestia said, hanging her head in the disbelief that she had gone so far as to ask her niece, who had already experienced so much due to them, to help one.
“I figured as much.”
“I know that this is a difficult thing for me to ask of you,” she said, “and I didn’t come to this decision lightly; however, the condition of the changeling is…dire. I cannot let it suffer like that.”
“Like what?”
“Follow me,” Celestia replied. “It’s far easier to show you than to explain.”

As they walked deeper into the Crystal Caverns, Cadence had to admire the work that went from turning it from old abandoned mine, to the prison it had become. Light emanating from the crystals that lined the walls and gave the caverns their name, pillars more for decoration than actual purpose, stood in the entry way. Above them, in the form of statue, a blind folded alicorn holding a scale and a sword stood above the entryway.  After going through several guard posts and checkpoints, they reached the maximum security section. Celestia continued her silence as they walked through the empty cells. They approached a door with six guards, two of each type standing at attention.
“What is that screaming?” Cadence asked as they reached the door to Ancro’s cell.
“That’s the changeling, Ancro,” Celestia said, taking a step back. The screams lessened slightly.
“Why is he screaming?” Cadence asked, sounding concerned. “Aunt Celestia, you wouldn’t possibly be tor-“
“No, I wouldn’t. Neither would Luna. We have no idea what’s wrong with him, he reacts negatively to magic, and the stronger it is…the more pain it causes him,” Celestia stated, she never thought she could possibly feel such concern over a changeling. The glowing white alicorn took a step back and the screams lessened. She shook her head and sighed. “Sadly, this is beyond my mag-“
“I-I’ll do it,” she said, taking a hesitant step towards the cell. She winced as he started to scream again.
“Thank you Cadence, I know this is a very hard decision for you.” Celestia forced a smile. “I must warn you though, if you feed him, he can be a little unusual.”
She walked into the cell that held Ancro and the intensity of his screams increased. Cadence stopped. She recognized this cell, if only for the many weeks she spent locked here. The changeling’s screams were near deafening, and somehow got worse as she approached.
The guard at the end of the cell standing next to princess Celestia couldn’t help but sympathize with his changeling brother’s cries of hunger. However, he was incapable of action. He knew that his mission was more important. No matter how badly he wanted to help him, he knew his mission came first, even if the changeling was a part of his mission.

Stigandr was walking through ponyville taking in the sights and sounds of the small hamlet he knew so well. Yet, actually being here beat the show by a long shot. The pure bliss and happiness that radiated off these carefree ponies trotting around without a care in the world… And he was amongst them. He was loving it, and it was all he could do not to pull a Pinkie Pie. Couldn’t help the smile, though.
“Extra, Extra, photos of captured Changeling held in Crystal Caverns Prison!” Cried Sweetie Belle as she waved the papers around, trying to get ponies to buy them. That got Stigandr’s attention.
“How much for one?” he asked, masking his desperation and excitement.
“One bit,” She said, her voice cracking adorably. He could hardly resist picking her up.
Stigandr gave her the coin and took the paper. Then he bolted off to the library, a plan starting to form in his head. First, though, he needed to see a unicorn about teleportation spells.

Discord sat there and waited for his daughter to come answer his call. He knew she would with all haste; she would stop whatever it was she was doing and come to him, it was only a matter of time. Then he saw the purple and white billowing mane, the pink coat, and heard the familiar chugga-chugga noise that accompanied her. He smiled warmly and waved to his daughter.
“Daddy!” Screwball flew forward  hugged the shadow of her father, an impossible feat, yet she somehow pulled it off. “You’re not stone!”
“Well, yes I still am, my little abomination,” Discord sighed, hugging his daughter back the best he could. “This is all that’s free.” Discord saw the depression creep into Screwball’s eyes as she struggled to hold back tears. “Hey there, no need for tears, I have a feeling it won’t be too long until I’m entirely free. Then we can make chaos all we want!”
“Okay daddy,” she said, perking up a bit. “What are we doing out here?”
“A favor,” the shadow groaned as he walked over towards the altar. “I need a helping hoof.”
“Whatever you need, I’ll do it daddy,” she said, corkscrewing around the altar, striking a serious tone, and looking extremely silly while doing so.
“Thank you Screwball,” Discord said grinning warmly. “I’m sorry to cut our reunion short, but I have to go. I’ll be back in a few minutes, can I trust you to try to trace the magic?”
His daughter stopped where she was, and saluted her dad while still pinwheeling in the air.
“Atta girl!” Discord said excitedly, “Daddy will be right back.”

“Princess Mi Amore’ Cadenza,” Ancro said with a bow, feeling far better now that she had fed him. The first he had done was to block out all the background magic and emotions, which reduced his headache to practically nothing. “You are one of the last ponies I expected to visit me, is Blueblood behind you?”
“Please, call me Cadence,” she said flatly, having heard her husband’s stories of him already.
“I’d rather not,” Ancro responded, “haven’t earned the right.”
“Yet you call my husband ‘Shiny’,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, I count him as a friend,” Ancro stated, “not a great a friend, but still a friend.”
“…What?” Cadence asked. Ancro realized an explanation was necessary.
“Well, when we fought in the library,” Ancro said, stretching and walking towards the pink bubble, “he was the only one I actually felt a connection with in that fight. It was fun, I got to cut loose a bit more, almost felt like I’d have to get serious.”
Cadence’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened as her brain tried to comprehend what this crazy changeling was talking about. He considered her husband his friend because he felt a connection while they were fighting. No matter how many times she turned it over in her head, it didn’t make sense. It made even less sense coming from a changeling that were a race of deceivers and not fighters. They’d run before fighting, unless they had an overwhelming advantage like in the attack. 
“Okay…Well it has been interesting speaking with you.” 
“Thank you, I try to entertain.”
“I’ll be back in a few days to…feed you again.”
Ancro nodded as she left. He waved one holed hoof in the air in the good-bye type motion.

“You weren’t lying when you said he was unusual” Cadence said as they made their way out of the prison.
“What were you expecting?”
“I don’t know, threats, insults, reminders of how that was my cell,” she answered with a nervous chuckle, “but not that.”

The changeling disguised as a guard couldn’t believe it. She was there, RIGHT THERE. Within reach, princess Cadence was directly beside him, walking out of the cell after having fed the changeling. She was in striking distance, literally inches from him. The black unicorn could practically taste her! Actually, he could taste the residue of the love spell rolling off her. He thought, one strike; one strike was all it would take to kill her. The thoughts of being a triumphant hero upon returning home, then the realization that he wouldn’t be returning home if he attacked, hit. With all his might, he stood perfectly still, not even blinking. The mission came first…then came revenge. Sweet… savory… revenge. In three days they were going to rush in, break the shield and teleport him out, which was the goal of the Arcani, revenge was for another time.
“I’ll need to come back in three days to feed him again, or else the symptoms might take hold again,” Cadence said to Celestia, snapping the changeling back to reality. His heart skipped a beat; revenge would be theirs after all.

(Again a huge thank you to my editor/artist sara for making this readable for commissions contact her at www.shaya.laperro@gmail.com. Thank my friends who inspired the characters of the triumvirate and don’t have a problem letting me portray them in such a way. Comments and criticism always accepted, let me know how I can do better and make a better story. Thank you for reading )