//------------------------------// // The Great Circle of Karma // Story: Change My Life // by JasontheDemon //------------------------------// Once I had gathered everything I planned on bringing for my stay at Twilight's, I sat down and explained everything to Gilda. Like myself, she had a hard time believing that we were tasked with raising a young changeling. I assured her I wasn’t joking around and that I was going to be spending a while at Twilight's until we were sure I wasn’t needed all the time to keep watch. Seeing how stressed out I was from everything, Gilda offered to help. I shot the idea down immediately and told her that the changeling needed to get adjusted to Twilight and myself before being exposed to anyone else. Trust was the key issue right now and we needed to get her to trust us so we could in turn trust her. Over the past year, Gilda had become much more mellow and helpful. When she saw that a friend of hers was upset she would do her best to give them relief. My relief came in the form of music… ‘Battle Born’ by Five Finger Death Punch, to be exact. Gilda’s preference of music was a bit odd but she was a rocker to her core like me. The only difference was that she was more into classic rock rather than newer more hardcore rock (some might even go so far to say I’m a metalhead). She also liked to listen to Linkin Park and a few songs from Eminem. However, one song she could listen to without ever wanting to stop was ‘Freebird’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd… kinda ironic, isn’t it? That was what she was doing when I came in too, playing along with the guitar solo. But I digress, she picked out exactly the type of song that would calm my nerves. “So, what are you gonna call her?” Gilda asked. I sat up on the couch and looked at her. “Call who?” “The changeling, duh! You said she didn’t have a name yet so you were going to make one up,” Gilda explained. “Oh, I have an idea! Call her Snowball!” “Snowball? Why?” Gilda shrugged. “It was my nickname when I was a kid. I rolled my eyes. “Even if I thought it would be a good idea to call her that, she doesn’t look anything like a ‘Snowball’. To be honest, that's why I’m having such a hard time coming up with a name… nothing makes sense with her appearance,” I groaned as the song changed. “Really, I might as well come up with something that doesn’t apply to anything. Some nonsense name like… like…” As I tried to come up with something, I was given exactly what I needed. As if by divine intervention, the song that my MP3 player decided upon was ‘My Name Is Skrillex’. It played the same four words over and over while Gilda and I looked at each other with the same expression of speechlessness. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked. I couldn’t stop myself from being a smartass. “I think so, but how are we going to get Fluttershy to put on the cat costume?" Gilda punched me playfully in the upper arm. “You are such a dingus.” * * * * * * Swinging the library door open, I called out, “HONEY, I’M HOME!” Spike suddenly came running up to me and grabbed onto my jacket, looking into my eyes pleadingly. “Save me! She’s been nothing but trouble since she got here!” Twilight walked up behind him, shaking her head dismissively. “Spike, she hasn’t done anything bad to you. If you keep this up, I’m going to have to suspend all Rarity related activity for the next month.” “WHAT?! WHY?!” “Because you are becoming too dramatic and I don’t want you to turn into a drama queen. For Rarity it works, but for you it’s just silly.” Twilight replied. “Okaaaaay… would someone mind filling me in, because I’m totally lost here. What’s going on, and do I have to put a stop to it?” I asked, levitating the average sized suitcase through the door and onto the nearby table. Walking in and closing the door behind me, I turned my attention to Twilight. “Spike is just upset because our new guest has found him interesting,” she summarized. Right then, a pale lavender and blue pegasus filly dropped down on top of Spike. I was about to toss her off but stopped the moment I saw her stroking his scales. She was totally enthralled by him. She was looking at him closely with a hypnotic look in her eyes as she ran her hoof along his scales, watching them shimmer in the light. I smiled at the scene before me. “Looks like the mailbox finally got a girlfriend,” I chuckled. “Bite me… OW! Hey what are you doing?!” Spike shouted as the changeling nibbled his ear. “You said that I could bite you, so I did.” “It’s not nice to bite, Skrillex. If you keep it up, he’ll never like you,” I said, using her new name to test the waters. “What did you call me?” she asked, letting her guard down just enough to give Spike the chance to slip away. “Skrillex... do you like it? I hope so, because I’m not changing it.” “No, I don't. I’ll never like a name you come up with,” she grumbled. Twilight put a hoof to her chin as she looked up in thought. “Skrillex… where have I heard that name before?” “It’s that one guy that makes the ‘weird noise’ on my MP3, remember?” “I swear you have an unhealthy obsession with that thing,” Twilight sighed. “And why pick a name that you know is a male name when she isn’t male? Isn’t that a little bit strange?” Making my way over to the couch, I said, “Well... other than you, me, and Gilda, nobody else knows it’s the name of some guy. Plus, the first time I heard it I believed it was a girl's name. It is so out of the ordinary that no one will be able to make heads or tails of it. And then there is how it sounds… Skrillex. That sounds like a changeling to me. It has a hiss at both the beginning and end and there is an ‘X’ in it. Every cool name has an ‘X’ in it...” Twilight tilted her head as I plopped down on the cushion behind me and rested my arms against the backrest. “So what you are saying is that you like it and you aren't willing to settle with something else or discuss it?” “DING DING DING! We have a winner folks! Give the young lady a round of applause!” I said, clapping my hooves together at her expense. “Okay, I suppose it's better than nothing… even if I made a list of possible names already,” Twilight said before unfurling a long scroll of paper that must have been at least fifteen feet long. Looking over the list, I saw what she had done. “Twilight, taking every existing thing you can think of and putting it on a scroll isn’t how you make a list of names. It looks like you didn’t even exclude any possible names. How would this narrow it down?” “Simple! We just go through each one down the line and decide if we like it or not and cross out the ones we don't like, then repeat the process until we are only left with one name! Process of elimination at its finest!” she beamed. I deadpanned. “There must be at least 2,000 possible names here. That would take hours, if not days, to accomplish. You have to learn how to just pick a name from the heart.” “Okay, we’ll call her Skrillex… but if it doesn’t stick, we are doing things my way. Deal?” she asked, extending a hoof. I responded in kind. “Deal.” Without another word, Twilight levitated my saddlebags that I left behind a few days before. Setting them down in front of me, she gave an expectant smile. We kinda had a thing going where I would show her the stuff I brought back with me from missions then do a show and tell sort of thing. She loved seeing what new artifact I had brought with me so she could learn something new about magic. Though what she didn’t know was what I brought this time was special. It wasn’t something I just picked up; it was given to me as a reward and held great value. Popping the latch open on my saddlebags, I slowly pulled it out. It was about the size of a shield and bore the general shape of one, but it was a pearly white, hummed with a soothing tone, and sparkled with a white glow as I placed it down on the table. The magical glow dimmed as I released it and the humming wore down like an electric motor losing power. Twilight took a hesitant step forward and looked at it with a curious stare. She poked it a few times as if it were explosive. “What is it?” she asked, poking it one more time. I laughed at her. “It’s harmless. Pick it up and try to figure it out.” Twilight held it in her hooves and tilted her head back and forth, examining it for any characteristics she could use to piece together an educated guess. I sat back and watched her in amusement. I loved doing this to her… getting her brain working and seeing the same part of me that loved solving come alive in her. Back where I came from, nobody was ever excited about learning the same way I was. Here though, Twilight rivaled my curiosity and sometimes surpassed it altogether! That was what had me so hooked on her, our neverending pursuit of knowledge… well, and how she stuck her tongue out in the most adorable way when she was thinking. She wasn’t aware of it, but it was hard to miss. As I watched Twilight try to solve what I had brought back with me, I felt something brush up against the back of my neck. Swishing my hoof around, I hoped that it was just a fly, but the feeling kept coming back. After a few minutes of this going on I jumped up and brushed my hooves against my neck like I had lost my mind. Once I was sure nothing was on me, my eyes darted around looking for whatever had caused my irritation. While scanning the room, I stopped to see the newly named Skrillex sitting in my spot… MY spot! She was laying on her side and smiling at me mischievously, holding a simple feather duster in her teeth. The little brat had annoyed me on purpose to steal my seat. I was about to send her flying with a bit of telekinesis, but I was stopped by a strange feeling washing over me. It’s hard to describe what I was feeling but it made me not want to get my seat back… I felt like she could just have it for now. Let it be known that I am merciful! Well, at least some of the time… Twilight growled and rubbed her hooves on her head aggravatedly, ruffling her mane in the process. “You okay over there?” I asked while biting my lip to suppress an oncoming bout of laughter. She slumped forward and rested her chin on the table. “No… I can’t make heads or tails of it. All I found out is that it’s a hard pearlescent plate that appears to be something that forms naturally, but I can’t figure out anything beyond that. My magic is coming up blank when I try to probe it, so there isn’t any way I can study it further without resorting to using my lab… and I just packed everything away so you can sleep down there!” “Ah, see there? You found out something else about it… perhaps the most crucial detail,” I told her with the warmest smile I could muster. “What’s that?” she asked without moving. “It doesn’t respond to magical infiltration. It negated it. Now we know that it’s a naturally forming, magic negating object that is incredibly hard. What do you know that lives with hard things covering it that naturally negate magic?” I asked, trying to give her a little hint to point her in the right direction. Twilight put on her ‘thinking face’ and within moments figured it out. Her eyes widened, she sat up straight, and stared at the gleaming white shield-shaped object like it had turned to solid gold. She pointed at it with a shaking hoof and I began to chuckle. “Is that…? Did you really…? Tell me it isn’t a Dragon Lord scale!” “Surprise! They gave it to me when they heard I went through all the trouble of finding the traitor so I could keep you out of harm's way. It is actually brimming with so much power it warps reality itself and acts as the ultimate form of protection. You could combine my magic, your magic, Celestia's magic, Luna's magic, the magic of everypony in Manehatten, and hit it with everything we have… and it would still come out with hardly a scratch,” I explained to her as she held it up as though she found the holy grail. “I know dragons have a resilience against offensive magic, but I never thought I would ever have something like this in my hooves! Dragon Lords are like the gods you spoke of from your world! Having this is like having the power of the world at your disposal! I MUST run some tests on this!” she said with a crazed look in her eyes. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was going to give it to Shining Armor as a Hearths Warming present. Now I know what you are thinking; ‘Why give him a present like that when the dude would probably only show up to your grave to piss on it?' My reasoning behind it is that even if someone treats you poorly doesn’t mean you should treat them the same way. If anything, you should treat them with more respect than they treat you with. The voice of Skrillex brought me back to reality. “So if you are going to be sleeping in the basement, and she is going to be sleeping upstairs… where am I supposed to sleep?” she asked pointing to me and Twilight as she made note of our sleeping arrangements. “Oh, your room is in there,” I said, pointing to a random door. “But Jason, that’s a-” Covering Twilight's mouth, I told her, “Don’t ruin the surprise! It will be so much better to see her reaction when she finds out for herself.” Skrillex stuck her nose in the air like she was Blueblood, then proceeded to walk through the door I pointed to, closing it behind her. A few seconds later, the handle turned and the door reopened to reveal the angry little changeling. The handle of a broom fell to the floor by her as she glared at me with seething hatred. “This is a broom closet...” she growled through clenched teeth. “And that’s the surprise! Do you like it?!” I said gleefully before bursting out in laughter. “You are horrible. You know that, don’t you?” Twilight snickered. “Oh, I’m not that bad… besides, you know it was funny.” Skrillex just proceeded to grumble to herself as we laughed at the prank I pulled. However, our laughter was cut short by a knock at the door. It was too late to be a pony wanting to get a book from the library, so I expected it to be Rainbow Dash or Pinkie or someone. Our new little addition had already shifted back to her pony form before I made it to the closet by her. There was no way I was going to risk being anywhere close to the door if it was really Rainbow Dash like I thought. I soon found out it was worse than that though as I heard the voice I feared above all others. “Hello Twilight. The Great and Powerful Trixie heard that a certain somepony was here and I thought we could catch up while we eat at the restaurant I happen to have three reservations to," the magic mare said, trying frantically to get a look inside. Today wasn’t my lucky day as she soon spotted me. A creepy smile formed on her lips as my thoughts instantly went to escape routes. There wasn’t a back door I could leave through so my options of escape were limited to windows that were too small for a full grown pony to slip through, except… the platform Twilight used for stargazing. That was on the third floor so all I had to do was make it up there without being caught and I was home free! My eyes shot to the stairs and then back to Trixie. She saw what I was looking at, sadly, and bursted past Twilight as we made a mad dash for the stairs. I was able to get to them before her, but she was right on my tail… literally. She actually stepped on my tail to keep me in place as I scrambled to run from her. “Get the hell away from me, you psychopath!” I shouted, still trying to get somewhere as she kept me in place. “Hush you… Trixie is just giving you the opportunity to get to know her a little better,” she said in a lustful tone. “I’d rather get to know the inside of a dragon's stomach a little better!” Trixie laughed. “You are so funny! Always making jokes!” “I was being serious, you stalker!” I cried out. “Celestia! Zeus! GOD! One of you guys save me! CTHULHU, YOU OWE ME!” My pleas fell on deaf ears as Twilight was on the floor laughing up a storm. She always thought it was soooo funny when Trixie hit on me. I didn’t find it amusing at all, though. I hated Trixie since the first time I saw her on the show. She was that cliche bad guy that made it apparent that you were supposed to dislike her. I didn’t see any redeeming qualities whatsoever… she was a bland one-dimensional character that was only made to show that bragging like some arrogant douche was bad! Seriously, I could not stand Trixie, but for some reason she was very attracted to me. I don't know if she was insane or incredibly stupid, but I know I’m not an attractive guy. Sure, I may not be hideous, but good looking was something I wasn’t. On top of that, I know I have a bit of an attitude and am very blunt from time to time, so personality-wise I’m not all that great either. The only thing I could think of that would make her want to get into my pants (metaphorically speaking) was my powerful magic that I had from being intelligent. That didn’t really make too much sense to me either since I knew Trixie was jealous of Twilight's power from when she first visited Ponyville to the point where she used the ‘alicorn amulet’ upon her second visit. It was the only theory I had going for me though, and I didn’t even want to get close enough to her to ask. When Twilight finally stopped laughing, she asked, “So what sort of restaurant do you have in mind? I haven’t started cooking yet and a night out with a friend sounds great.” “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!” I exclaimed, feeling like I was in some horror movie, except the murderer is inviting you out to eat instead of just killing you in your home. Ignoring me, Trixie replied, “Just a little place called… ‘The Golden Lotus Dragon’.” She smirked as she held up three golden tickets that read ‘reserved’ right by the date. Twilight frowned. “Sorry, Trixie… we can’t all go with three reservations. I really wish we could though… ‘The Golden Lotus Dragon’ is one of the newest and most exclusive restaurants outside of Manehatten.” “Huh? Why not? You, Trixie, and… Jason, makes three!” she argued, holding up the golden slips of paper. Twilight smiled nervously as she explained. “Well... you see, we are, um… taking care of my niece for the time being and she can’t be left alone! Skrillex, come meet my nice friend, Trixie!” She flew over and landed next to Twilight, looking as grim as ever. “Hello…” Trixie looked a little shocked, but then smiled back. “She’s, uh… adorable.” “Don’t let her fool you… she’s a wolf in sheep's clothing,” I said, causing Twilight to use her magic to hit me with a book as a warning. “He’s just kidding! She’s really an angel! Isn’t that right, Jason?” Twilight asked, giving a strong ‘you had better say yes’ vibe. “Oh yeah… she is perfect in every way. Too bad we don’t have enough reserved seats to take her. I was so looking forward to going to this resturaunt with you…” I said, each sentence dripping with sarcasm. “Not to worry! I just so happened to keep a spare under my hat incase something like this came up! The night of fun is back on!” she proclaimed as she levitated a FOURTH reservation out of her hat. Why did I have to open my big mouth?