//------------------------------// // 1 - Adventure // Story: Wild and free // by Damaged //------------------------------// "It's just not fair!" "Oh, I hear you." The voice startled Wild Heart, the filly spinning around and seeing what was behind her. She gasped. It didn't look like anything she was familiar with at all. Mismatched horns, talon, paw, long like a snake and it's wings were all messed up. "It's impolite to stare you know." Discord sounded only mildly put off. He really had been meaning to track down one of these 'lost humans' and see if they wanted a little extra spark in their life, but he had almost been too late for this one. He could settle for one of their children instead. "What… what are you?" Wild blinked her blue eyes a few times, tilting her head to look up at the approaching figure. "I am fun is what I am. You can call me Discord if you like." A soft couch appeared, the spirit of chaos flopping back on it and patting the cushion beside him. Wild tilted her head but jumped up and giggled at how soft the couch was. "Discord if you like, a bit long for a name? How do ponies call out to you?" The little changeling folded her legs under her. She reached out her senses gently, probing for a snack. "None of that, keep all your teeth to yourself!" A contraption was strapped around Wild's snout, pinning her jaws closed and making her struggle a moment before looking up at her companion. "What? I firmly believe foals need to be taught not to bite." Discord did make the muzzle blink away and the filly giggled. "You're silly. I wish anypony else was this fun, it's boring in the hive." Wild flopped on her back, cycling her hole-filled hooves in the air. "I want adventure, I want to meet new ponies and make friends. I want… I want to be out of this hive!" Discord's smile was wide, mismatched fangs on display. "Well if you promise to ask your father… I think I can organize something. Might even bring some excitement to a dull little place. Can't have you biting at everypony you see, oh no. I think I can manage something." "My dad? Do I have to? Sally is always so… strict!" Wild lashed out hooves at the back of the couch, her wings buzzing a little. "She never lets me go anywhere." "You could always lie?" Discord scratched his jaw with a claw from his big lion paw. Wild Heart looked up shocked. "Lie? I could never do that!" But the seed was planted, Wild was a changeling after all. She bumped her jaw with one hoof. "Maybe I could tell her I was just going out to explore? Or even say I have somepony to guard me. You will look after me, Discord if you like?" Her expression, so innocent in such an odd body, had Discord start to laugh riotously. "It really is just 'Discord', I guess I could look out for you. It would be completely worth it just to have some fun." "Perfect! It won't even be a lie. I'll be back soon!" Wild jumped off the couch just as it disappeared. She trotted through the hive, feeling proud of her plan. Surely it couldn't fail. Her dad and one of her moms was, as usual, in the throne room. She trotted in and sat down by the door. She had learned her lesson about speaking out while grown-ups were talking in here. It wasn't long until her hoof was tapping, boredom threatening the little changeling filly's reality. The leader was discussing the digging of extra tunnels and it was so, very, boring! She looked down where her hoof was tapping, adding a second and bringing it to a beat. She started to weave a little as she got a good rhythm going and only stopped when she saw two hole-filled hooves in front of her. Green energy flowed around her and Wild was lifted up into her father's single-armed grip. "Lets leave mommy to handle this." Wild nodded enthusiastically. "I met somepony new!" The filly looked so happy but Sally, her father, raised an eyebrow, well, the only one she had left. "Really now, lets go meet them, can you show me where they are?" The one-armed changeling satyr had broken the careful plan Wild had come up with, she wasn't meant to ask that! The little changeling looked one way then the other. "Oh, there he is!" She pointed a hoof as Discord, her new friend, floated toward them. Sally was surprised. A non changeling in the hive was meant to be food but this creature, she felt something very odd. "An interesting friend indeed. If you have something to discuss, mystery visitor, you shouldn't send my daughter to me, your presence is required." "So very careful, and here I hoped, just hoped, that this once a human might be more interesting." Discord gave an exasperated sigh. The satyr's eyes narrowed. "You speak some interesting words. How did you know I was human and how do you know my life hasn't been interesting?" "Okay you got me on the second one." Discord gestured to Sally, indicating her form and her wounds. "But tell me, former human, do you really want to chain your daughter down here?" Sally's arm tightened protectively around Wild. "My daughter does have a little wanderlust, I wish I could say it wasn't from me." "Well why not let her go free? Explore the world, I can promise she will not be in any danger, not among ponies." Discord flashed his, to him, best smile. "No. I don't trust you." "But dad!" Wild finally got into the conversation. "I really want to go, I just want to see what the ponies are like, when they aren't all trapped." "Yeah dad!" Discord had become a second changeling foal, looking up at Sally. There was a half smile forming, then Sally laughed. "Okay you… I don't even know your name but I think I can like you. Tell me what my daughter would see of the world, in your company." The second changeling flew a little loop. "I was thinking to start by introducing her to Celestia-" Sally and Wild both looked shocked. "The pony god that raises the sun? Are you mad?" A big black top-hat was on Discord's head, with a little size-card in the band. "Completely, but you can have my word she won't harm the little dear." "She?" Sally set Wild down on the ground and crouched down, rubbing Wild's ears. "Your word." Discord looked surprised. "I can promi-" "No, your word, absolute and binding." Sally's one eye gazed up at Discord, piercing him in a way that had the mismatched spirit suddenly having second thoughts at all this. "That my daughter will be safe and that she will be home in a year." Discord gave Sally a grumpy look. "I was wrong, you are definitely no fun. Very well, I vow, on my horn-" "You have two." Wild pointed up to Discord's head. "… horns, I will not see harm come to your daughter, nor will she be gone from this spot for more than a year." Sally smiled as she watched this crazy spirit make his vow. Something about him, promising something so rigid, made her like him a little more. "Good enough. Wild, you are on your best behavior, no fighting unless somepony fights you, no biting unless the food is yours." Sally's sense of propriety, she well knew, had shifted with her time in the hive, but that didn't stop her doing the best to raise her changeling children. "Now that was something I needed to do. It simply won't do, feeding off random ponies." Discord floated back, contemplating the problem. "I could make you into a pony, but that would remove all the fun." He rubbed his jaw in thought. "Oh, what if I made it so she could eat like a pony, or a changeling? A gift to my newest student!" Discord was suddenly offering out a scroll to Wild Heart, the filly inexplicably wearing a purple robe and a mortarboard. Sally gave him the most stern look she had, and that was quite stern. Wild was one of her foals, and she now had over a hundred to 'keep an eye on', but she was protective of every single one. "The gift will be for life, or for a year. Your choice if you wish to keep it." Discord held the scroll down to the filly and Wild reached up with her snout to grip it. She was suddenly gone. "Your word will bind you. If you break it, I will hunt you." Sally looked up, but held her hand out to Discord. Discord shook the hand, looking down at it. Was it worth it to him? It didn't matter, the look on their faces when a wild changeling foal was dumped on them would be priceless. "Oh, that reminds me, I must be going, I need to get some popcorn for this!" Princess Fast Change and Stand In were waiting in Celestia's day court. There had been a minor fracas out the front of their hive and the pair wanted to head off any bad relations with their ruling-monarch-who-was-totally-Fast's-peer-but-immortal-and-sometimes-scary. The ponies in front of them had been having a three way argument about who owned a particular wild pumpkin patch when a little black filly popped into existence. "Hi!" The adorable little changeling addressed the mare in front of her. She looked huge. "You are big! Just like mommy. I wonder where my new teacher went?" She was looking around as if she had dropped a bit, even lifting up a corner of the red carpet that was laid out. The guards of the court were stunned and about to react when Celestia, sensing no danger, gave them a look that spoke volumes. "And who are you?" Her tone was calm and she looked down to the filly. "Wild Heart! Who are you?" Celestia couldn't stop the smile or the laugh that made it shine. "My name is Celestia, I am a princess. Are your parents nearby?" "I don't think so." The filly looked around and giggled, looking just to Celestia's left. "Hi Discord!" "Oh don't let me stop your little conversation. How are things?" Discord was right beside Celestia, floating in the air, munching on popcorn. "Where did you get Wild from and should I assume Chrysalis is ready to storm my city looking for her?" Celestia felt a headache coming on, which was common when Discord was involved in anything. Ice-cream would help, cake would be better. "Who is Chrysalis?" Wild answered that question for the princess. "Is she a queen too?" "Dark blue shell?" It was Stand In that murmured the words into the silence. "Your highness, Crysalis' hive all have green shells, this filly is from…" The leader changeling was gesturing to their own green shell. "Queen Sharp Mind's hive!" The filly stood on two legs, bringing a hoof to her chest in a salute. She giggled and broke the fierce look. "It's okay, daddy said I could come, but only if Discord took care of me." "A promise from a liar?" Celestia raised an eyebrow at the spirit of chaos, an eyebrow mostly hidden by her mane. Ice-cream AND cake would be needed. "You wound me!" Discord fell sideways, clutching a fake arrow under one limb as if it was in his chest. "He vowed to daddy, daddy trusted him!" Wild trotted up and leaned in, putting an ear to Discord's chest. A second Discord, wearing a nurses outfit, came up beside the suddenly green-scrubs-wearing filly. "How is his pulse doctor? Will he make it?" Wild's brow furrowed and she looked down at the first Discord. "I don't know, I think he might be terminally silly!" Discord and the filly started giggling so much that even some of the ponies present couldn't stop from joining in with a giggle. "So." Celestia lifted a hoof gently to her forehead. "You have permission and, apparently, a student. What are your plans? What will you teach her?" Discord, the original, sat up. The nurse-Discord was gone. "Oh a little of this, a little of that. I was thinking of taking her to Ponyville and-" "No, I forbid it." Celestia clopped her hoof down. "Princess Twilight and her friends have enough to deal with. It is off limits to her." "Aww, now you ruined all my fun. Oh, what about the Crystal Empire, I hear Cadance just loveeees changelings now." Discord was rubbing his paw and talon together in glee. "Okay, fine. But you are her guardian. Her father might not be able to find you if you don't want to be, Discord, but I can." Celestia fixed the chaos being with a stare that chilled him. "Princess Celestia, please, I wouldn't dream of letting any harm come to little Filled-" "Wild." Wild cut in. "Wild, she is like a daughter to me!" Discord smoothly kept on, gesturing to the filly who was now a young, slightly different mismatch of creatures to Discord himself. "Cool!" Wild looked at her legs, arms… they would take some getting used to but… as quickly as she had become the mixed up form she was back to being a changeling. "Aww…" Ice-cream, cake and a cupcake. Definitely a cupcake as well. Celestia pressed the hoof back to her forehead.