“Stand down!” Celestia commanded, as her guards prepared to assault the newly arrived Tazzle-corn, “This creature is no monster. It has made no threat and composed itself with more manners than it’s creator!”
“Him,” Discord offered smirking, “Don’t call him an ‘it’, Tia, I mean, he’s standing right there.”
“Day court is recessed,” Luna’s voice left no room for Question, “We shall reconvene once this present matter had been decided… privately. Guards, clear the Court!”
“Clearing the Court” turned out to mostly involve keeping ponies from trampling each other in their rush to leave. In the end only the Princesses, Discord, and his monster remained in the court under the watchful eye of the royal Guard.
“You may be excused,” Luna addressed the guard captain directly.
“But, you’re majesty.” the captain immediately prepared to argue, only to be cut off by Celestia herself.
“We are dealing with the Living Embodiment of Chaos, and his self-professed ‘greatest creation’,” Celestia’s voice was edged with steel, “If they do harbor ill intent, you would serve Equestria to aid in evacuation of the city,” the alicorn gave a long-suffering sigh, “But I think Discord just wants to show off his new pet. You know Fluttershy’s not going to be happy with this, don’t you, Discord?”
“I fail to see why not,” the draconequus shrugged, “I mean really, what exactly did I do wrong?”
“To begin with you took advantage of a severely injured human!” Luna stamped a hoof angrily.
“How so? Did I use him to test experimental medical treatments using changeling pods and unstable dream magic? Hmmmmm?”
“That was only supposed to be temporary!” Luna argued, “I used the dream to keep him comfortable in a dream world that mirrored this one!”
“Luna!” Celestia couldn’t hide her distaste, “Please tell me Discord’s not talking about THAT dream spell!”
“There was truly no other way, sister,” Luna pleaded, “The human had been hit by a train. He was in so much pain that any lesser dream simply devolved instantly into a nightmare. The dream was meant to hold his mind together long enough for his body to heal in the changeling pod enough to survive transformation. It was the only way to save him!”
“Yes, and had it worked, it would have been a perfectly wonderful plan,” Discord waved his paw dismissively, “Unfortunately it didn’t work, and the human died.”
“Um… right here,” the blue tazzle-corn shuffled uncomfortably, “Kinda a weird thing be have talking about in front of me. Just saying.”
Luna immediately turned to the strange creature, “Are you truly the same human who got hit by a train months ago?” then she turned to Discord, “If this is some trick this won’t go pleasantly for you.”
“Uh, I guess I’m sorta him, I think,” the tazzle-corn shuffled in place nervously flicking his tongue-snakes, “I’m from a different timeline, I think? One that never happened. The nurse who cared for my pod in the hospital…”
“She’s in quite a bit of trouble,” Luna said sternly, “She lied about her qualifications to get the job. It was her inexperience that caused your death in this timeline!”
“That’s why,” Ki shook his head and laughed bitterly, “She felt guilty. She thought it was her fault.”
“She was, in fact, to blame,” Luna scowled angrily.
“She’s just a filly,” Ki’s manic laughter became unsettling, “She was a changeling filly, stuck here since the wedding invasion.”
“I don’t understand,” Luna’s face became a mask of perplection, “I talked to Nurse Zilia on several occasions. I can assure you she was a full grown changeling. We wasn’t even especially young.”
“If it makes you feel better, Loony,” Discord purred, “She had me fooled to. Even after I peeked inside Ki’s little monkey noggin, and trust me, you did yourself a favor staying out, but even after I saw her crawling all around his dreamscape, I thought it was her older ‘sister’. And yes, I know their changelings, technically they’re ALL siblings but trust me, I know weird, and these two are weird.”
“So, she was a changeling filly, masquerading as an adult changeling,” Luna mused.
“And any number of adult pony mares, for bits and love,” Discord said distastefully, “I would imagine Fast Change is making a list of ponies as we speak. You should really offer your assistance into her investigations. Probing their dreams might be less damaging to changeling reputation than anything she’s likely to come up with.”
“I honestly don’t know her,” Ki shrugged, “I met Switch Shift earlier today, starving and insane with grief, calling herself Pinkie Pie #7. She had dragged her little sister off to battle and got her killed. She wasn’t a bad changeling, really… just not all that bright. It turns out in this timeline, she was the one who got killed, her sister Swing Shift ended up stranded in Canterlot and sort of went feral. In the end, Surprise managed to pull us all out of it, and I convinced Swing Shift to go back to her hive with Queen Fast Change.”
“Princess,” Celestia corrected, “Her official title is Princess Fast Change.”
“Sorry your majesty,” Ki saluted with one hoof, nearly toppling himself and drawing a amused smile from the alicorn, who returned his salute.
“”The truth is, I don’t really know anybody here,” Ki confessed, “Or I guess it’s more accurate to say that none of them know me. I kinda wonder if Private Jake ever shipped with Captain Dash?Actually kinda wondered about that back home to. Because yeah, he followed her around cmp like a lovestruck puppy and she practically ignored him. At least in front of the unit. But she never actually stopped him. Me and Diane were kind of a public secret. I guess none of them would even know who I was now.”
“Well, he seems harmless enough,” Celestia smiled, “I am sorry you had to give up so much to make it here. I am afraid I have been quite rude. In our world nopony ever learned your real name. You hit by a train and immediately knocked into a coma. Who are you?”