Wild and free

by Damaged

2 - Introductions

"So where are we going?" Wild pranced along beside Discord, the spirit floating along down the stairs of the castle. The filly noticed ponies. Ponies everywhere. She got a delightful tingle in her throat and started to reach out to an amazingly tasty looking mare and stallion when the muzzle appeared on her face again, clamping not only her physical jaws shut but stopping her from reaching out with her hunger.

"YOU are going to the Crystal Empire. I am going to get some rest." Discord suddenly had a folded newspaper under one arm and was wearing a flannel shirt. "And stop trying to eat ponies, I am under the full opinion that most of them don't like it."

Wild turned and gave Discord a stare, making muffled noises into the restrictive muzzle.

"What was that? Oh!" The muzzle was suddenly gone again and Wild stepped up to Discord and poked him in the leg.

"What am I going to eat then? You said you would get me food. I see food all around but you won't let me eat!" Wild Heart had her grump on, this was not how things were meant to go at all. A pony with bright white fur and purple mane and tail trotted by and she turned her head to follow their progress.

"… normal pony food, are you even listening?" Discord reached out and turned the filly's head back.

"What?"

"I said, oh forget it. Let Cadance look after you, I am bored of this already." Discord pointed at the filly and then to the north.

Wild was suddenly cold. Really cold. The filly was used to the jungles, hot and humid, this was the exact opposite! But there was a door in front of her, a big door. Realizing she was inside a castle, Wild knocked on the door.

A pink pony answered it and had a moment of shock when she saw Wild. "Hi! Discord said you would take care of me."

Cadance peeked her head out of the door of her bedroom, looking left and right. "Did he now. And who are you?"

"I am Wild Heart and you… you…" Wild's eyes went wide as she gazed up at Cadance, her young mind not able to focus suddenly as she giggled. "You are so tasty!" The filly fell over and was giggling hard.

"What's up?" Prince Shining Armor moved up beside his alicorn wife in the doorway. "Another changeling? Did Stick send her?"

Cadance reached out with her magic and lifted the suddenly squirming filly. "No, Discord did. I don't even know any of the details but… does she look different to you?"

Shining looked, closely, getting a boop on the nose from the giggling Wild Heart. "You mean apart from being the cutest little changeling I have ever seen?"

Wild giggled harder at this and Shining twitched at her nibble of his love. "You're nice! And tasty!"

"She just drank from me!" Shining looked aghast. "Did she drink from you too? Is that why she is so…"

"Yes. And if Discord doesn't get his scaly butt up here I will be sending a letter to Fluttershy about this." Cadance lifted her head and was looking right at Discord.

"Please don't send her another letter! She wouldn't have tea with me for a week after the last one!"

Cadance sighed, a quill and paper appearing. "I think I need to. After all the things that have happened and you do this? Definitely not the thing Fluttershy would expect from a friend…"

The quill barely touched the paper and Discord was on his mismatched knees. "Please, anything, I really need to have a friend…"

Cadance paused the quill. "You will not do this again."

Discord was broken. "Yes princess…"

"And you will not cause any nonsense for auntie either."

"Yes princess." Discord now seemed to droop, his neck arched down low, defeat written on him, literally.

"And you will not try and foist her off on anypony else."

The essence of chaos looked up surprised. He noticed it then, the way Cadance held the filly close and was jiggling the love-drunk changeling. "I promised to look after her for a year."

"A year? And then you spirit her back to wherever you found this fierce little monster?"

The 'fierce little monster' was trying to catch Shining Armor's hoof, that was waving around above her.

"I… I promised." Discord gave a deep sigh and straightened. "You are right, I am not cut out for this."

"You're not, but it is sweet of you to try." Cadance smiled at Discord and leaned in to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Now go, I am sure you have business elsewhere."

"You mean it?" A paw reached up and rubbed Discord's cheek. "Of course you do, oh thank you, princess. Oh, I did make her able to eat regular food, if she wishes." From somewhere a stack of disposable diapers appeared, a bag and a 'list of her favorite food', which was just a copy of Canterlot's last census. "You will need all these and there is this too." A cot was pushed into the room by a pair of smaller Discords in working overalls.

Cadance couldn't help but giggle. For all Discord's headaches, he was the very essence of a good joke. "Go!" The princess stomped her hoof, making not only the real Discord panic and run, but the two 'movers' too.

"Cadie." Shining Armor had taken over support of the little filly, now gently snoozing in his grip. The unsaid question was simply 'why', but both knew the answer.

"Lets get her tucked in and get back to sleep. I am sure tomorrow is not going to be distracting at all." Cadance moved to the cot and started preparing the blanket.

"It's not that…" Shining now had the filly tucked in tight against him, sleeping soundly.

It was impossible for the princess of love to resist this. "Okay, she can sleep in the bed."

---

Morning brought a new strangeness to the couple. A little foal was snuggled between them, half under the covers. Cadance reached a hoof down to rub the filly between the ears.

Wild yawned and looked up at the nice mare. She was about to reach out and drink from her, instinct strong, when she halted. She wasn't hungry at all.

"Morning. Wild Heart wasn't it?" Cadance rolled to her back, pulling the filly up between her front legs and getting a happy giggle from her.

"That's me! Where did Discord go?" She was looking around, lifting the covers and peeking under them in case he was under there.

"I told him I would take care of you. To be honest, I don't think Discord is ready to look after a filly yet, maybe we should get him a dog or something."

Shining stirred at the conversation. "Ugh, is it morning already? It was like there was a horn shoving in my back all… oh, hello there." He lifted a hoof to the filly and got a solid clop from her hole-filled limb.

Wild seemed instantly drawn to the couple, smiling brightly. "You both taste amazing. If mommy was here she would be very happy!"

Cadance saw a chance and went for it. "Oh, who is your mommy? Chrysalis?"

"Somepony else said that name, is she a changeling queen too?" Wild's reply, innocent and with not a shred of guile, had the royal couple shocked a moment.

"There… are other queens?" Cadance managed to get her question out.

Wild fluttered her tiny wings, getting a good buzz from them as she started to lift up. "Yup, there is mommy, that is Queen Sharp Mind." The filly made to try and get the title out in a deep voice, as if she had been reminded of the title a lot by a male. "Then before her was… mother…" She looked a little confused, but her brightness soon overwhelmed and crushed the momentary distraction of calling another changeling her mother. "And there are hives all around, daddy told me they are filled with silly queens who don't know their ass-" She blushed hotly, two hooves springing up to her snout as if to keep words in. "I shouldn't say those words!"

Cadance and Shining drank in the information. Somewhere there were a lot of hives and, apparently, one that was a step above the rest. "Fascinating as that is, there are important things to worry about first." Cadance lifted up her own front legs, plucking the buzzing changeling from the air.

"A bath and then breakfast. No pony eating here little filly." Shining waved a hoof at her but couldn't hold back the smile that this strange foal brought.

"A bath!" Wild practically tried to leap out of Cadance's grip. "I didn't even see enough sand for a good bath!"

Though the filly struggled, Cadance plucked her up with magic. "We don't have sand baths, we use water."

This stopped the rebellion. "Water?" Wild tilted her head to the side, trying to imagine it and failing.

Lifting Wild up into the air with her magic, Cadance nodded. "A bath, with soap and hot water." She carried the now excited filly into their private bathroom.

Back, still laying on the bed, Shining Armor looked up at the ceiling. "I am way not ready for this." He inhaled deeply, smelling not only his wife but the neutral tones he now associated with the foal. "Really not ready, but when will I ever be?" He swung himself up onto his hooves, using his magic to straighten the covers.

Cadance was soaked. Not only was a changeling filly impossible to keep still normally, they were twice as bad in water. The giggling and happiness made up for it. Squinting at another splash that sent water in a wave over Cadance's head, the mare realized there was nothing else for it. "Okay, make room in there, might as well get us both done at the same time." Climbing up, she stepped over Wild and settled down in the water.

"I never seen a pony with wings and a horn before. Well, except the big queen in the other place." Cadance was starting to make more sense of the filly's language. Clearly she meant Celestia or Luna. "She was so pretty, white with a mane that shone with every color!" Celestia, for sure.

"I am an alicorn. We are special ponies who take care of the other ponies." Cadance explained it so the filly could follow, and Wild showed every hint that she did.

"So you are queens for your pony hives?"

The pink mare thought on this and nodded. "Sort of. A queen is more… singular. We prefer to lead and share the work. We are all princesses."

Wild looked up at her, the filly's inquisitive look spreading into a huge grin. Reaching up with both hooves she grabbed her own little nub of a horn, fluttering her insect wings. "Princess Wild!" She sounded triumphant right up until, unsupported, she flopped under the water.

Cadance panicked for the moment it took Wild to get back above the surface, her legs kicking to support her in the water. "Why aren't all ponies princesses?" The filly's words hit a cord within the alicorn.

"We can't all be leaders. If everypony stood around all day giving out orders there would be no pony to follow them." Cadance didn't like the explanation she gave, it stank a little of what Sombra had been about before he found his heart.

"Ohhh, that make sense!" Wild splashed some more and Cadance got to the task of making sure they were both clean.

"You are lucky, I just got a very fine book all about changelings. I bet the pony who wrote it would love to meet you and chat." Cadance pondered inviting her sister-in-law to visit, discarding it after a moment as being too soon since the last one. "We could go visit her, if you like, she lives in Ponyville!"

Wild stopped her splashes and shook her head. "The nice queen told me I was not allowed to go there…" She was so solemn and honest it broke any hope Cadance had of not giving the filly a hug.

"Well, if auntie said you aren't to go there, you better not. Wouldn't want her upset with us." She booped a big mass of soap onto the tip of Wild's nose and the filly, instinctively, exhaled, scattering the soap everywhere. "Now, hold your breath." Cadance gestured at the water and Wild, without any further prompting, ducked herself under the water and came back up, free of soap. "Ah, so clever!"

Author's Note:

I just checked my blood-sugar, I think I might need to cut down on the writing of this one, doctor's orders...

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Comments

[No one is home]

Well, now ya done went and gave everybody diabeetus. I hope you're happy with yourself.

[Daremo]

blanked - blanket
with silly queen who - with silly queens who
there was a lot - there were a lot
filly struggled Cadance plucked - filly struggled, Cadance plucked
it tool Wild to get - it took Wild to get
go there you better - go there, you better
*****
Weaponized cuteness. Wild is here to devour us all, and I don't even mind because...soooo cuuuuuuute!

I mean, seriously, this has been my morning up to typing out these comments:
Woke up
Took metformin
Checked email
Saw you had updated your story
Read this chapter
Read it again to proofread it properly
Took at extra metformin...

Shining looked, closely, getting a boop on the nose from the giggling Wild Heart.

cute

The 'fierce little monster' was trying to catch Shining Armor's hoof, that was waving around above her.

Cute...

"Princess Wild!" She sounded triumphant right up until, unsupported, she flopped under the water.

Hnnnggg...so cuuuute...

a 'list of her favorite food', which was just a copy of Canterlot's last census.

We're all on the menu.

[Damaged]

7001389 She will end up queen, enslaving all ponies with her adowable widdle hoovsies!

[Daremo]

7001818
What frightens me is that you might be serious.

[Damaged]

7002038

"Celestia is looking a lot shorter of late... and darker." Prince Blueblood was chatting with his personal aid. "Do you think she may be feeling a little under the weather?"

There was a rush of green flames in the corner of the prince's vision, but a glance revealed his companion looking as he normally did. "I don't know what you mean, sir, her highness queen... princess, Celestia, is as wonderful and full of holes as ever."

[harts fire]

ok yep you have a new super story going.
I am heading to the ER now to get a insulin shot.

[Boulder]

7001203 I was already their 23yrs ago.
7001389 Metformin, type 2 I gather? Still got 18 x 3ml vials of novorapid insulin in the fridge +1 in my pen, might just get me through this story without going to the chemist.

[Cursed Quill]

which was just a copy of Canterlot's last census.