Thorax Note; Chapter brought to you by IceOfWaterFlock and the letter Z. Personally, I love every line of this chapter.
"Discord, why are you holding a Changeling under your arm?" Nightmare asked, casting the draconequus a curious glance, "and why are you putting cotton candy on it?"
"It's not a Changeling, it's a pizza," Discord rolled his eyes. "Being on the moon for so long wrecked your eyes. Maybe you should get some glasses?"
"It doesn't look like a Changeling, you daft twit. It looks like you."
"It looks like a pizza."
"You!"
"Pizza!"
"You!"
"Pizza!"
"Why is Discord eating a Starwishes 3000 telescope?" Luna asked, trotting in. "And why are you yelling about pizza?"
"It's not a telescope!" Discord whined, "it's a pizza!"
"It's another one of you!" Nightmare shouted.
"That is most definitely a telescope."
"Pizza!"
"You!"
"Telescope!"
Discord snorted, setting down the object of undetermined form. "Celestia! Luna and Nightmare are opressing me again!"
Celestia appeared in a flash of light. "Luna, Nightmare, I told you, just because there's two of you doesn't mean you can evoke democracy- is he eating Shining Armor?"
"It's a pizza!" Discord shouted. "Are all of you blind?"
Chrysalis trotted into the room with a scowl, Sombra trailing behind with Nibbles perched on his back.
"Giant glowstick?" Sombra asked.
"Cookies?" Nibbles growled happily.
"Screaming Dead!" Chrysalis screeched, leaping forward with her horn ablaze.
She tackled the confused object from Discord's claws, pinning the thing on the floor. She touchedher horn to the air above it, and it dissolved into the shape of a white mare, speckled with signs of decay. The creature let out a wail of fear as Chrysalis loomed over it.
"What's that?" Celestia asked.
"Do you actually know any of the creatures inside your own borders, you sunstruck fatflank?" Chrysalis hissed. Her eyes widened after she finished speaking, and she made a soft whining sound. "Sorry, Celestia, I'm hungry and having a natural enemy inside the castle is not helping things!"
"What is it?" Celestia demanded, casting a quick glance at her flank. That extra cake wasn't showing, was it...?
"They're creatures that feed off of joy, and occasionally steal love to take it. They appear as one's deepest desires." Chrysalis snorted, glaring down at the pony-like creature.
There was a moment of silence around the group.
Luna looked up at Discord. "Your deepest desire... is a pizza?"
"It was one of the fancy ones with cheese in the crust." Discord huffed.
Luna turned to her sister. "Shining Armor? Really?"
Celestia avoided her gaze. "Maybe."
Nightmare had begun slowly backing out of the room. She was nearly free when Luna turned to face her. "And you saw Discord?"
"YouheardnothingandsawnothingIcanhearthelaundrycallinggottagobye!" Nightmare turned and fled.
"She doesn't even do laundry!" Chrysalis pointed out. "She leaves her towels on the bathroom floor!"
"What are towels?" Discord asked.
"Those fluffy things that you eat while dripping all over the hallway." Celestia replied, glaring at him.
"Oh yeah."
"Hey Dis~cord," Luna teased, leaning towards the draconequus, "you've got an admirer~!"
"Do they have pizza?" He asked.
"Did you hear nothing of what just happened?"
"Chrysalis is straddling a pizza. I'm distracted."
Chrysalis quickly stepped aside and held the creature down with her magic instead. She glanced at him, frowning. "You still see a pizza?"
"Well, it's got legs."
"That is one deep-rooted obsession." She remarked.
"Discord, you have problem," Sombra said quietly, his face serious as he placed a hoof on Discord's shoulder. "We help you get through."
"I can stop whenever I want!" Discord wailed.
"We believe you," Sombra replied. "We just want to help-"
"I don't need your help!" Discord wailed. He reached for Sombra, intending to grab him in a pre-pizza-withdrawl frenzy. Sombra ducked, and Discord's claws closed around a small hissing figure of darkness incarnate.
Nibbles hissed loudly and bit down on Discord's hand. The draconequus screeched and shook his hand violently, attempting to dislodge the demon spawn. Nibbles let out a cry of his own as he lost his grip and was slingshotted towards the ceiling.
The group let out a unified wince as Nibbles slammed into the ceiling. Chrysalis was the first to look up, expecting to see a red - or black, or green, she wasn't really sure what color poor Nibbles's insides were - stain on the nice white tiles. Instead, she saw a rather flat-looking Nibbles, but one that was very much alive and very much angry.
"Get him down!" Sombra shouted, pushing Discord with a hoof. "You throw Nibbles!"
"You threatened to take away my pizza!"
"Are we forgetting that I'm pinning down a creature capable of sucking your dry of all happiness?" Chrysalis called over the yelling.
"I'm sure it doesn't need our attention." Celestia replied casually, "after all, there's a stupid fight going on."
"Ah, of course." Chrysalis looked down at the shapeshifter she had pinned.
"The parasitic species are known commonly as the 'Screaming Dead' because of their natural appearance. Their official names are Whitefurs because of their pure white coats. In their natural form, they appear as adult mares or stallions, with small, oval holes broken through the skin on their throats and along the ribs behind their front legs." She gently rolled the creature over with one hoof, revealing the flared holes along it's neck as it struggled for breath under Chrysalis's magic. "Their manes and tails are partly phantasmal, and billow vertically like that of the Royal Sister's do horizontally. They also have hooves that break through their thin white coats, ending each of their legs with a bony two-toed hoof like a goat's instead of the common pony."
The creature let out a low whine and struggled to escape, drawing Luna's attention away from the bickering pair and towards Chrysalis's monologue.
"Their eyes are black, with a white iris and colored pupil. The color of their pupils is mimicked by any patterns they may carry, be it spots, stripes, socks or blazes. These marking will also glow, as their eyes do," Chrysalis continued. "The quality that allows the Whitefurs to survive is how they appear to most species; as the object of their deepest desires. The only species able to see through their magic - aside from other Whitefurs - are Changelings; the two species have formed symbiotic relationships in the past, but they tend to fight over prey. Whitefurs want to claim the prey for the joy their form brings, but if their form creates joy in a loving sense, Changelings may take the disguise from the Whitefur and attempt to steal the prey away for their love."
Luna continued watching silently as the creature fixed her with two bright purple pupils. It's mouth opened as if it was trying to speak, but Chrysalis didn't release her grip so it could breathe.
"Whitefurs, however, do not have a single static form like Changelings. Because of this, they prefer to hunt down prey alone, usually from travelling caravans or lone farmers. As ponies moved into larger cities with more watching eyes, Whitefurs quickly depleted to the point of immediate extinction. Somehow, a few of them clung to life and the sparsely populated areas of Equestria." Chrysalis tilted her head, looking back at Luna. "A shame some of them survived."
"Don't kill it."
"Wasn't going to," Chrysalis replied calmly. "Fatally wound it and release it into the wild? Maybe."
"No, don't. It's a... a miracle of science! The things ponykind could learn from such a creature are unlimited!" Luna shoved her own magic under Chrysalis's, pulling the creature up onto it's feet and allowing it to catch a breath. "Now, do you have a name?"
Anguish.
Luna took a step back. The creature hadn't moved to speak, nor did she really hear anything.
Telepathy. The Whitefur replied. Sorry.
"Celestia, her name is Anguish."
"Who's name is what now?" Celestia turned her attention away from the fight. "Oh, a new pet? Yes, you can keep it, as long as you take care of it."
"She's not a pet!"
"Make sure she cleans up after herself, then." Celestia replied nonchalantly.
"Anguish, I'll set up a guest room in the tower for you. Chrysalis? Don't kill her."
"No promises," Chrysalis replied. "Now, I feel I've fulfilled my grimdark quota for the month, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get some breakfast and cheer up a bit."
The Changeling Queen stalked back out of the room, followed by Luna and Anguish. Eventually, Nibbles dropped down from the ceiling and scampered off to go attack some unsuspecting passers-by. Celestia simply made herself comfortable and waited for the scuffle to die down.
Which it did... eventually.
After Discord was sentenced to the badger closet, of course.