//------------------------------//
// CHAPTER 23 (AKA: A dystopian utopia) 
// Story: A thing or two about changelings and their habits saga 
// by Young discord 
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The tiny town of Saddle... an insignificant cluster of buildings, with nothing that stood out... except for the fact that there were changelings everywhere, and what surprised Pacifica even more was the fact that they weren’t invading or pillaging… they were living there! Changelings doing ordinary everyday things, taking the water from the well, raising a house, fixing windows…
I was strange for a changeling-only settlement to exist at all, changelings can’t live without a food source, so where’s the food? It made no sense.
Pacifica began to wonder just how long this town existed for; it was on the map after all.
“WOAH! This is so cool!”
Monty’s excitement grew even more
“Cool?”
“Yeah! It’s awesome! I don't even need change and nopony would care! We’re totally safe! Come on, let’s go and find something to eat!”
Pacifica wanted to stop him but it was too late, he was already asking everypony around.
Monty was right, there was no point in keeping up appearances if everypony here knows who they are, and besides, they did have to eat sometime.
Monty approached a lady over a counter with various hammers, nails and other tools for DIY that was currently in fashion.
“Miss, miss!”
“Who’s this? Hello there!”
The lady seemed exceptionally nice, not something that Monty was used to when it came to changelings.
Monty’s tummy growled.
Pacifica cut into the conversation
“We’re hungry”
“Oh, well I’m sorry but I can’t help you, if you need nails or bolts, I’m your mare! Why don’t you go and ask your mum and dad for a meal?”
Pacifica decided to go with a sob story, after all, changelings can’t taste each other’s emotions so she shouldn’t be able to call their bluff
“We… we don’t have a mum and dad”
The Mare  didn’t quite follow what they said the first time over
“Wait, but-“ Monty was elbowed hard by Pacifica
“Oh, don’t be silly, everypony has a mommy and a daddy! Where are yours?”
Pacifica had to put on a show if they wanted results.
She began to give a show of crocodile tears in front of the counter, Monty confused as ever looked at her and tried to cheer her up by patting her on the back or something, he didn’t realise that this was all fake.
“I’m sorry miss shopkeeper for her, we just came from Maretropolis on our own and she’s really hungry”
The Mare took a second glance at Pacifica and just noticed how bruised and beat up she was, could it be that these poor kids came from the big city on their own as they said? Any good parent would tend their children’s wounds straight away, surely a bandage or two and what got them in that state in the first place?
“Come with me children, STEVEN! WATCH THE SHOP WHILE I’M OUT!”
“OKAY!”
The two followed the mare inside a nearby house.
“So, you came on your own?”
“Yes miss!” Monty replied in a cheerful manner, it was something he was proud of, it’s not every day you get to do something of that magnitude on your own, he was so mature right now!
“Oh, call me Rose please!”
“Can I call you Aunt Rose?” suggested Pacifica who was now seriously buttering her up
Rose laughed.
“Oh, well, aunt… well all right darling, and what’s your names?”
“Montgomery”
“Pacifica”
“Well, Montgomery and Pacifica, you can stay in my home for as long as you need to, aunt Rose will take care of you until you feel better and we find your family, all right?”
“YAY!” jumped Pacifica, again, putting up a show
Monty was giddy with good hopes, it couldn’t get any better than this, they’re in a town full of changelings, they don’t have to hide anymore, and they can stay as long as they want! This was going to be awesome.
Rose showed them their new temporary home, a wooden little house, truly a nice little corner for living, nothing out of the ordinary though, in the main living room, a few pictures with a bunch of ponies, probably her in her pony form along with her family, most likely for those times when an outsider pays this town an unexpected visit and upstairs a room for each pony, strangely enough already decorated and prepared for a filly and a colt… it’s as if Rose already had children
“…”
Pacifica wanted to ask Rose if she had children but was a bit too shy to ask something so personal at this point.
“Let me clean you kids up and then we can eat, all right?”
This was pleasant, being treated nicely once in a while, nopony shouting at Monty, he could easily live here for the rest of his life.
As rose washed Pacifica’s back, she began to reminisce the times when Uncle Discord would help her in the tub and they would play all sorts of games… she never really realized just how much she missed him, sure she missed Mark a little bit but not nearly as much as uncle Dis, She had that link with Mark so it felt like he was always with her, but not Uncle Dis… Pacifica never thought she’d hear herself say this but she even missed those tacky songs he would always sing.
Tears began to gently trickle down her cheeks, this time honest ones, she was tired, beat up and lonely, sure Mark was around but she missed her old family and right now, she had to care for Monty but didn’t have anypony to care after her.
Rose didn’t notice the concealed sobbing; she was busy trying to get the two changelings back in shape in the bathtub, one after the other and Pacifica was first in line for a clean.
A good scrub and a few bandages later, it was time for food.
Pacifica was finally going to find out how the hell a small town entirely made of changelings is self-sufficient with food.
They walked back to the stand at which Aunt Rose was working; a large crowd of townsfoalk was clustered around it.
“What’s going on here?” Rose asked herself, she knew that recently it’s been good for business but this was just ridiculous.
The aunt shoved her way into the middle.
“Steven, what’s happening here?!?”
One of the changelings waiting in queue (if you could call that mess a queue) decided to answer for Steven.
“What’s happening here is that this kid doesn’t know how to run a shop!”
Rose gave an angry look at Steve who was clearly having trouble with being fast enough.
“Steven, come here for a moment”
Steven jumped, he really needed this job
“I-I’m sorry ma’am I swear I’ll fix this!”
“Ok… Ok, its fine, relax, you go with the kids here and feed them and I’ll fix this”
“So… I’m not fired?”
“I’ll hold on to you for a while longer, I really need the additional hoof especially now that I have two extra pairs of wings to take care of”
“Oh, thank you so much ma’am! I’ll do anything to make this up to you, I promise”
“You can start by taking care of those two”
“Yes ma’am! come with me kids”
Steve escorted the kids out of the angry mob of customers out on the road; he then proceeded to guide them across the few alleyways that the town had to offer and finally, reached the Market square.
Pacifica and Monty began to taste a small tinge of hopelessness, anger, fear… every possible negative feeling from the emotional spectrum.
The market square was wrapped by a massive wooden fence, rivalling in height the nearby buildings, located within, the food source, trotting miserably in circles, or retreating back to the small wooden shacks that were supposed to protect them from the elements, and of course, where there are prisoners, there are also guards, a few changelings keeping an eye on things here and there.
Steve came up to a merchant selling pony food.
“I’d like a carrot and some hay please”
“That will be two bits, please”
Steve paid the merchant and gave the hay to Pacifica and the carrot to Monty.
The two stood there with the food in hoof.
“Well?”
What were they supposed to do with that food? Changelings don’t eat pony food.
Steve caught on.
“Just go up to somepony, eat and give them food for exchange, food for food, fair trade don’t you think?”
Pacifica didn’t know if she was more disgusted by the way the ponies were being treated or by the fact that everypony in this town thought it was acceptable to treat them that way.
“We’re tired”
Pacifica looked at Monty who seemed really eager to eat
“Speak for yourself, I’m-“
Pacifica elbowed Monty into silence
“Fine, suit yourselves”
“Thank you” replied Pacifica as she gave back the hay and gave Monty a sharp demanding look, expecting him to do the same with his share of food.
Monty, very reluctantly gave it back to Steve.
“We’ll go back home”
The two Left the market square, both angry but for different reasons, they let Rose know that they’ll be going to bed now, and went back home… Monty was going to give her a piece of his mind, they came all the way here to eat and suddenly she has a problem with that? This time he’s going to put his hoof down.





Mark woke up in Celestia’s bed, luckily without her inside it which was a relief because that would have been awkward, Celestia was sitting in a far corner of her room in front of a desk, writing something.
“Princess Celestia, what happened? Why am I in your bed?”
Celestia turned around and approached a fully rested Mark.
“You passed out, I was worried so I laid you to rest”
“But… why in your bed?”
“I hope that you haven’t forgotten about the secrecy of what we’ve been doing”
“You’re right, the fewer ponies know about me, the better”
Mark remembered about Pacifica.
“Princess”
“Yes, Mark?”
“I’d like to ask a favour of you”
Celestia listened.
“Do you remember Pacifica?”
“Your child? Yes I remember her”
“Well it’s a long story that I’d rather not tell but she’s in danger right now and I’m afraid that she might be alone, I was hoping that you might send somepony to find her and make sure she’s all right”
“I don’t see why that should be a problem, I’ll send one of my guards right awa-“
“I’d like Discord to find her”
Mark’s statement took Celestia by surprise… why Discord of all beings?
“I am not sure that would be a wise idea Mark”
“I understand your concern with Discord considering his reputation, but he’s the only one that can do it”
This wasn’t the reason for Celestia’s concern, She knew Discord better than anypony else, He may be mischievous but evil never belonged to his nature, after all he was the only one to sacrifice so much for the sake of everypony...
They were treading a fine line between peace and war, and should the worst happen, they are going to need a strong ally on their side ready to take action at any moment and the last thing they’d need, is to have that ally far, far away.
“Please, Princess, this would mean a lot to me and I know that Discord can teleport anywhere he wants to teleport to so it would not be a problem for him”
Princess Celestia gave in.
“All right, I shall summon Discord”
Celestia posed herself firmly for the summoning, focused at the middle of the room and zapped Discord into existence who seemed to be in a gardener’s outfit along with a strange blue whale-shaped watering can and was watering the floor for a moment until he realised where he was.
“You know, it’s rude to summon somepony without any warning”
“Discord, I ha-“
“I don’t barge into places unannounced”
“I’m sorry about tha-“
“Oh, who am I kidding, I LOVE barging into places unattended!”
“DISCORD!”
Discord threw away the watering can onto the floor, splattering water all over it… it wasn’t doing a good job of watering the berries anyway, the one who sold him that wailmer pail shafted him. 
“Fine, what is it you need”
Discord wrapped himself around Celestia.
“This time it is not me that has a request”
Celestia looked at Mark who still lay in her bed.
“Ohohooo, you’ve been getting around Celestia I see”
A leathery BDSM outfit appeared on Discord’s body and a black whip showed up in his hand.
“I didn’t know you had a taste for these kinds of things old girl”
“Discord, hi, it’s me Mark”
Discord's attention shifted to The changeling
“Mark? I don’t believe we’re on “you” terms just yet”
“What? But you…”
It had just occurred to Mark that he met discord far in the future; of course this Discord hadn’t met him or Pacifica yet.
“I’m sorry; I’m still a bit dizzy”
“After Celestia was done with you, I’m not surprised”
Discord offered a cigarette to Mark out of nowhere.
“Discord, please listen to Mark”
“Oh dear, but I’m all ears!”
Discord’s leathery outfit disappeared and ears popped out of every side of his body.
“Pacifica… my child is in danger; I was hoping that you could find her for me and make sure that she’s safe”
“No”
That was an answer that Celestia didn’t expect.
“What?”
“I said no”
“But why?” asked Mark
“Do I need a reason?”
“Well, usually ponies don’t do things without a reason”
“Well, I’m not a pony, now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got a refund to take care of”
“Discord” Celestia looked at the draconequus.
Discord stopped.
“If there’s anything I learned in friendship is that you ignore your friends unless you need something from them, I don’t see why I should help somepony whom I don’t even know, what’s in it for me?”
Mark thought for a second… it wasn’t a surprise that Discord is all bitter considering the way Twilight and the rest of Discord’s “friends” talked about him behind his back, if that were Mark, he’d also be cross.
“I get it Discord, you’re mad because all your friends aren’t treating you like one, and I’m not asking you to help me, what I’m asking you is to help Pacifica, she’s the only pony I know that really understands you, she’s a real friend and she would really appreciate it if she saw you again”
“I’m afraid that finding her doesn’t matter much to me, I never heard about a Pacifica before”
“Actually you have, you just don’t know how”
“And that would be?”
“Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
Discord smiled.
“Oooh, I like this one Celestia, manipulating and making others do what he wants, I have a feeling that we’ll get along just fine, Mark… it’s a deal, I’ll find this Pacifica of yours but only because it sparks my interest... but how am I going to find her...”
Mark focused.
“She’s somewhere in that direction, she’s a young changeling, you’ll know when you find her, she’ll make sure of that”
With a poof, a generic colourful caped superhero costume appeared on Discord
“DISCORD, AWAY!”
The caped draconequus flew up right through the ceiling leaving a large hole and a mess on the floor.