//------------------------------// // Chapter the Twenty-Ninth - Keep Calm and be a Changeling // Story: The Betrayed // by Thadius0 //------------------------------// Balanced Books walked into his living room with his tea tray in his magical grasp. "Tea?" he proffered to Lyra, who waved a hoof at him. "No thanks. I'm good. Had lunch before coming over." Books nodded and set the tray down, pouring a cup for himself. He went to take a sip before Lyra interrupted him. "So. I was thinking we should do two interviews, one for your, uh, normal life, and one for your other form." Carefully sipping at the tea, Books nodded and set it down. "Makes sense. Will your truth spell take that into account?" Lyra put a hoof to her chin in thought. "It...might. So long as you don't break character, we should be fine." Books took another sip and added a bit of honey to his tea. "Well then. Please begin." Lyra pulled out a pad of paper and her pencil from her saddlebags. "Alright, give me a second..." A golden flash lit up the room for a brief moment, and Lyra nodded. "The truth field should be working. So please, give your name and occupation for the record...and testing purposes." "Balanced Books, local freelance accountant. Half the time, I work with the Mayor, just to make sure the town's on track. The other half, I use with either small businesses, or with ponies who just want to have a greater understanding of how to manage their finances." Lyra nodded as the pencil wrote down everything Books said. Books got a curious look on his face then. "Hey, does this work both ways? Like, if I ask you a question, will you have to answer it truthfully?" "Yes," Lyra automatically answered, "It's a truth field, not a single-target spell." Both sets of eyes widened at that, and Books grinned. "While I am awfully tempted to make this an information exchange game, let's stick with why you came here. For now, at least." Lyra nodded and pulled out a sheet of parchment, glancing at it before asking her next question. "When did you come to Ponyville?" "Three years ago." "How old are you?" "Twenty-three, coming up on twenty-four." "What do you do in your spare time?" "Hang out with the Bearers, mess around with Ferrix." "Ferrix?" "Kitsune companion." "Kitsune?" "Mischievous fox spirit." "Oh. That all?" "Well I also mess around with magic, inventing new spells and ways to combine them to make my job easier, but I've hit a wall for now. Twi and I are working on it." "Any mares in your life?" "One, but you wouldn't know her." Lyra nodded and pulled out a separate notebook. "And if you would transform back, please?" In a flash, Books was gone, leaving Abel sitting at the table, gently sipping his tea. "Hmm. Maybe I should get Fluttershy to tell me her secret..." "Please state your full name and rank for the record." Able sighed and straightened a touch. "King Abel, Leader of the Exiled, the Betrayed." "First myth: Do you have any ties or affiliations with Chrysalis?" Abel made a face. "Only in one sense. The reason I'm a separate king as compared to her is because I hate her. I even fought her during her little incursion, and have sworn my loyalty, and that of my Hive's, to Celestia and Equestria as a whole." "What did that mean, one sense? How are-" "She's my mother." There was silence in the room for a moment as panic started to creep onto Lyra's face. Abel held up a hoof and sighed. "She's only my mother in the sense that she's responsible for my existence in the first place. I left shortly after I hatched. She had no influence in how I turned out." Lyra sighed then. "I know, it's just, even with the truth field, hearing something like that..." "Kinda rattling, isn't it?" Lyra nodded and looked back at the parchment, before glancing back at Abel with a raised eyebrow. "Hatched?" Abel looked up for a moment and coughed. "Changelings can choose to either give birth the normal pony way, or lay 'eggs' and hatch their young that way. In Chryssy's Hive, though, only she's allowed to lay, the rest give birth the normal way. When they do at all." Lyra giggled for a bit before she turned back to her parchment. "Okay. Does your color scheme mean anything in particular?" "Yes, albinos, or white changelings, feed off of magic itself. And while there is magic in all living things, I've taken a vow to not feed on a pony." "But then that episode..." Abel sighed. "Yeah...not one of my finer moments. Celestia and I are working on my rampant paranoia. One of her suggestions for treating it was to go around without a full supply of magic all the time, and to cut down on the reserves as well. I got...hungry. Very hungry. Hungry enough for me to damage my own ability to feed on magic, in order to switch it around to feed on emotions like black changelings. I thought that would be a clever way around my given word. Not only was it not, but I'm pretty sure the damage won't ever fully heal with anything except time." Lyra was silent for a moment. "So, do you feed on emotion now, or..." Abel looked up and shook his head. "Technically, I'd get more, eh, call it nutrition, from feeding off of positive emotions, than I would with magic. I still can feed off of magic. It's...more like snack food. Not as filling anymore. I'm working on it though." "How long have you been a king?" "Just about...month and a half? Something like that. Though, technically, I've been in a position of leadership to all the exiled changelings for longer than that. Kept calling me their prince..." "How powerful are you?" Abel blinked a few times. "Well. Interesting question. If I stock up on magic to the point where it starts to ache, then I can make a Gateway. Singular. One. I'll be drained afterwards, though, and need to feed." Now it was Lyra's turn to blink. "That's been you all this time?" Abel nodded. "What, did you think there was some other Balanced Books out there? Never was. Made up the identity to blend in. Ponyville is one of the few places where my double-life is known." Lyra nodded slowly. "Makes...sense." She then glanced back at her parchment. "What about poison?" Abel tilted his head in confusion. "What about it?" "Do changelings have any poison glands?" Able laughed at that. "Hardly! We're similar to ponies in many respects. That includes the lack of a poison gland. Granted, we do have a secretion, our gel, that can do different things depending on what went into it and if we run a magical current through it or not. In order for that to be even remotely poisonous, though, we'd have to somehow survive eating poison ourselves!" Abel sobered up a bit. "Though I will grant you that Chryssy did research quite a few knockout spells. Might seem like poison to the uninformed." "And then there's this thought that you can turn other ponies into changelings..." Abel held up a hoof and looked at her with an expression that defined fury. "No. I cannot. She looked into it. She failed. I can not and would not do that to any pony." Lyra knew then that looking into the matter would not end well for her, and quickly moved on to another topic. "And then we have this...well, every pony that knows you swears you have some sort of hive mind thing going on..." Abel chuckled. "Yup! Think of it like a crowd of ponies that can talk to each other no matter where they are, and replace 'ponies' with 'changeling' and you have a good idea of it. It's what we use it for, what it was meant to be used for." "Since Chrysalis is a Queen, does she have her own hive mind?" Abel nodded. "Hers is...different. And unpleasant. It's mostly her tool to make sure her changelings fall in line." Lyra once again sensed the hostility behind Abel's voice and decided to cut the interview. "Well, it's been interesting Baaaaal- er, Abel, but I should get these answers back to the others." Abel nodded towards the door. "Take care, Lyra." ----- It wasn't long before Books felt the blast of Harmony magic. What confused him was the lack of any world-ending events going on to require the Elements. Shrugging, Books decided to gather up what lingering bits of it he could find for later use. It always did have the most interesting effects. About then, he realized his path had led him near the library, and realized he still never checked out that book on teleportation. Walking in netted him with the sight of a frantic Twilight and Spike. He only vaguely noticed the tiara on Twilight's head. What was more concerning were the myriad spellbooks she was flipping through. "So. Wild guess. You're busy." Twilight nodded. "We're looking for a book Discord didn't get to." Books blinked and actually dropped his disguise. "Discord. He's free?" Twilight looked over at Abel and nodded. "Princess Celestia asked us to release him and for Fluttershy to reform him. I'm looking for a reforming spell in one of my spellbooks as a back-up plan, but it looks like Discord got them all." Abel blinked a few more times before grinning. "Thank you for telling me where he is, I'll get right on this." Twilight shook her head and produced a scroll for Abel. "She also gave me this to give to you in case you said that." Abel unfurled it and read. My erstwhile ally, Please, do not interfere. I have every faith in Fluttershy's ability to reform Discord, and from what I've been told, your last meeting with him was less than cordial. If you meddle, it might change the outcome. Yours truly, Princess Celestia. Abel sighed. "Fine. Can you pass a message on, if this all works out?" Twilight looked incredulous, but nodded. "If Discord actually ends up being reformed, then, and no sooner, tell him that I'd like to have a friendly chat with him. And tell him to knock." ----- Abel was just sitting down with his dinner when the knocks came. Rat-tat-a-tat-tat! Grinning slightly, he walked to the front door and knocked twice, quickly, before opening it and seeing Discord on the other side. "Oh, you're actually here. And I am impressed with your new look. When did this happen?" "'bout six weeks ago, give or take. C'mon in, Discord." Discord narrowed his eyes at the air in front of him. "Oh, so that's how they work. Clever." Abel nodded and stood to one side to allow the draconequus access. "Keeps me safe from anyone I don't know." Discord moved in and sat at one of the other places at Abel's table. Abel took a bite of his dinner and looked up to Discord. "I don't blame you, you know. You merely showed her the tool. It was up to her to use it properly, and she never did." Discord nodded slightly. "True, although I'd be lying if I said I didn't know she might do exactly what she did." Abel sighed and moved his plate to one side. "Look, you know who and, more importantly, what I am underneath. That's something I only let one other being know. Frankly, I don't care how you know. Right now, all I care about is you not telling any pony the whole truth. I plan to tell them myself one day just how weird I really am and once was." Discord smiled. "Only if I get to bring the popcorn, there is no way I'm missing out on that." Abel grinned. "Deal enough, and I have another one for you." Discord raised an eyebrow. "Go on..." Abel looked askance for a moment. "Well, after that day...I never did just let go of the stuff I took from that attack. Or the stuff in the air. All that Chaos Magic is just sitting in my basement." Discord's eyes widened. "Really? That's slightly unsafe, but seeing as how you've managed a year without any major Chaos-related events, besides moi being released today, I suppose you found a way to store it." Abel nodded and turned back to Discord. "And quite frankly I am done sitting on the time bomb, thank you. I'll give it back on a condition." Discord snapped his fingers and summoned a chocolate milk of glass. "Name it." "You help me with my doorway project, your magic is uniquely suited to the occasion." The glass shards pelting the room and the look on Discord's face were worth it, in Abel's opinion. "Why would you trust me with something like that? I'm the Lord of Chaos!" Abel merely shook his head. "I've made it somewhat of a hobby to help reform ponies - and others - who lose their way. Turn them into something resembling decent people. I even have the Nightmare, for gods sake! If I can reform her, I have every faith that Fluttershy worked a number on you. Especially seeing as my message was only to be delivered if Twilight believed you to be reformed." Discord blinked a few times before grinning. "Mah boy, I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship." Abel grinned as well. "Y'see, this is why I said we could get along. I can make cheesy references, and you'll get them!" And unbelievably, the two laughed together long into the night.