“More tea, your majesty?” A young dragon approached the table carrying the castle's finest serving tray.
“Yes, please,” Fast Change giggled a little, “And really, Spike, you can just call me Fast. We’re all friends here. And these scones are amazing by the way.”
“Thanks,” the drake beamed with pride, “They’re Gilda’s recipe. Pinkie brought it back for me all the way from Griffonstone.”
The Dragon refilled the changeling Princess’ tea and left a new plate of scones before going quietly about his duties.
“You were right, Twilight,” Celestia smiled benevolently at her gathered peers, “We really should all meet like this more often.”
“Truly,” Luna’s tone had a slightly imperious edge, though anypony who knew her would instantly know she was being as relaxed as the moody, lunar alicorn was capable of, “This little, ‘meetup’ you called it? Yes this ‘meetup’ has been a welcome distraction from the recent… drama in Canterlot.”
Princess Fast raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. She wasn’t completely in the dark on events concerning her former husband, though she made a habit of quietly keeping a respectful distance to allow everypony to move on with their new lives.
“At any rate,” Twilight smiled and moved the conversation along, relieving tension before it could build, “It’s nice to get all of us in one room when there’s NOT a disaster on the horizon.”
“Are you really sure about that?” Everypony but the Sun Princess shifted at the unexpected interruption, “Because this IS ponyville. If you don’t see a disaster encroaching, you're probably not looking closely enough. Or maybe too closely.”
“Discord!” Luna sneered with contempt, “Nopony invited you to this ‘meetup’!”
“Ohhh,” the draconequus squeed, “Look at princess moon-butt using her modern equish words! Is that what the colts and fillies are saying now? ‘Meetup’?”
“Hello Discord,” Twilight smiled, but gave an internal sigh. It wasn’t that Discord wasn’t her friend, he was just a friend who could be just a teensy, tad bit… insufferable. Pretty much all the time.
“Hello yourself,” Discord let out a good natured chuckle, “I hope I’m not interrupting any royal business.”
“I highly doubt that,” Luna snarled.
“Not at all,” Celestia smiled broadly, “We were just having a pleasant meeting between friends and peers. Would you care to join us?”
Luna glared daggers at her sister, but the Master of Disharmony only smiled broader, “I would simply LOVE to,” he winked lavasciously, eliciting a quick giggle from Princess Fast.
“I have the most interesting piece of news,” Discord seated himself in mid air, upside down above the table, not bothering with a chair at all, “Well two pieces of news really. I just got back from Fillydelphia, and the Independent Changeling Collective is sending an official envoy to Canterlot!”
“There’s a changeling hive in Fillydelphia?” Twilight perked up with interest.
“They’re a refugee hive,” Fast supplied helpfully, “Like my hive in canterlot. They’ve been there ever since the invasion. They’re a bit less open than we are. They’re mostly survivors from the invasion.”
“Their hive is in a factory,” Discord pointed out innocently enough.
“A factory?” Luna asked with some interest, “In Fillydelphia?”
Celestia rolled her eyes, seeing what was coming, but Fast giggled and took the bait, “Yes, a factory in Filly.”
“A Filly factory, you might say,” Discord smiled and nodded his head.
Celestia couldn’t suppress a small chuckle at her sister and her former student’s expense.
“I do not understand this mirth,” Luna cocked her head to the side, “A factory in Fillydelphia seems as logical a place as any to establish a changeling hive.”
“Their queen regent, Madame Butterfly certainly seems to think so,” Discord agreed.
“If she is a queen why would she assume the lesser title of Madame?” Luna asked innocently, causing Fast Change to blush slightly, while Discord snickered almost uncontrollably.
“Well,” Twilight said thoughtfully, “Perhaps she just doesn’t wish to place herself above her subjects. I for one find it quite admirable. Are they friendly changelings?”
“Oh, yes,” Celestia smiled mischievously, getting in on the fun, “I hear they are very friendly, indeed.”
“And very professional, too,” Fast added with a straight face while Discord fought a losing battle to keep his composure.
“Well then,” Luna announced regally, “I say we welcome these changelings of the Fillydelphia Factory!”
“You mean that strip club, the Filly Factory?” Spike made his way around the table refilling everypony's tea.
Twilight took only a moment to process this information as Discord counted down to zero and tea was sprayed across the table, “SPIKE! How do you know know anything about strip clubs?!?!”
“Rarity makes their costumes,” Spike shrugged, and Twilight calmed down considerably, making a mental note to stop putting off that talk she’d been meaning to have with her fashionable friend.
“What are these clubs of strips you speak of? I don’t understand this jest,” Luna demanded.
“I’ll explain when we get back to the palace,” Celestia laughed good-naturedly, but gave Discord a meaningful look, “I fear we might break poor Twilight if we continue down this path.”
“Well, anyway, if you ladies don’t need anything else, I’m supposed to help Rarity this afternoon,” Spike set the tea tray on the table deftly and moved to take his leave.
“Of course Spike,” Twilight agreed quickly, glad to have a change in topics, “Now, Discord, you said you had other news? News that’s NOT about stripper changelings?”
“Well,” Discord rotated slowly along three axes in mid-air above the table, “I found Pinkie Pie’s missing human.”
Twilight’s face took a grim set, “That’s not funny Discord. He’s not missing. He left the hospital here in Ponyville and walked in front of a train. He’s comatose in a changeling pod in Canterlot, and don’t you DARE tell Pinkie.”
“Yes, yes, I know, but it was the darndest thing. He just up and fell out of a leaky coma dream in Fillydelphia, with a stray changeling no less. What leaks out of dreams sometimes would Surprise you, trust me.”
Celestia gave Luna a meaningful look as Discord popped out of existence.