Discord instantly takes a liking to the foal of a former human living within a changeling hive. Making an oddly-out-of-character promise to the foal's father, the spirit of chaos takes her on the adventure she always wanted to go on. To see Equestria.
The only hope anypony has of surviving the invasion of adorableness is cake.
"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.
"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!"
Cadance had left Shining Armor to take care of Wild, while she took care of the morning's court. Her focus never wavered, not where her ponies were concerned. "Queen! Queen!" A high-pitched voice chittered as a buzzing sound was heard coming from the door. "Ice-cream is the best thing ever!" Wild was not far behind the echo of her voice as the changeling foal flew into the room and up to the low dais Cadance sat on.
The mare and stallion who were presenting their case halted, bright smiles splitting both their faces. "Wild Heart." Cadance caught the filly on her third loop around her. The slippery filly squirmed until she was on her back in the princess' grip. "I am a little busy, can you wait until after these ponies?"
Wild stopped her gyrations and tilted her head back so she could look at the couple, albeit upside down. "Hi!" She waved a hoof and giggled.
Any hope Cadance had of getting the pair to continue was lost when the mare, a crystal earth pony, got closer and clopped a hoof to Wild's. "And who is this little angel?"
"I'm Wild Heart!" Wild slipped from Cadance's grip to land astride the mare's shoulders, hugging her neck. "Queen Cadance told me not to eat ponies, so I had ice-cream instead!"
"Eat… ponies?" The crystalline mare looked a little worried but relaxed again when Wild seemed to act just like any other rambunctious foal. "Now imagine that, ponies made of ice-cream!"
Cadance was lost, she couldn't keep up with the foal and she knew it. At the door an oddly out of breath Shining stuck his head in, looking around. "There she is!"
The stallion made his way to the front of the room and glared at Wild for about as long as it took his heart to melt. "I couldn't keep up, she was… Wild, how do you fly that fast?"
Wild looked up from atop the mare. "With wings!" She buzzed her little insectile wings cutely, arching her back and lifting up off the mare to start to weave a figure eight between Cadance and Shining.
It was Shining Armor's turn to catch her. "You can't just fly in here like this, Cadie needs to look after the empire." He held the filly on her back and tickled her to drive home the point. Wild giggled and squirmed but couldn't break free of this pony's grip.
"There is a problem with the hive?" Wild paused mid-tickle, looking worriedly up at Cadance.
The princess could see real worry in the look the tiny changeling gave and leaned down to kiss Wild's little forehead. "No, but it takes work to make sure there isn't."
This seemed to placate the worry on the filly and she squirmed in Shining's powerful grip and managed to kiss Cadance on the nose, giggling furiously.
"Please…" Cadance looked to Shining and got a smile of understanding from the stallion.
"Come on, mighty vanquisher of ice-cream, lets find some adventure!" Shining galloped from the room, showing he wasn't really all that worn out. Cadance realized she owed that stallion for the day of peace.
"And then she just curled up." Shining's voice was quiet, the filly snuggled against his side as they lay together on the big bed.
Cadance leaned in and rubbed noses with him in delight. "Well, you certainly seem to be handling things well." She didn't climb on the bed herself, she couldn't bring herself to even try and wake the little sleeping changeling.
"She's not any real trouble, she just pretends. Did you see her with that cranky old mare today? I have never seen her back down from an argument and she wouldn't have been in your court if she didn't have a good one prepared." Shining's eyes traced over Cadance, a part of him suddenly wishing there weren't a sleeping foal in the room.
Cadance did everything she could to ignore Shining's looks. This was part of his reward for being such a good boy. Her magic reached down and rubbed her own sides, thoughts playing back to hearing about Penny carrying a foal. There was an ache there and, ready as she was, she thought that Wild Heart gave each of them a very hoofy little way to experience parenthood before it was thrust upon them. "Shiny, how long do you think before we could-"
"Have our own?" Shining finished her thought. "I think the idea of our own little one has us both a little worked up, I don't suppose you know of anypony…"
There was a knock at the door and Cadance's eyes danced. She trotted over and opened it with her magic. "Princess, I was wondering if you would be able to look over-" It was Articulate Equation, the empire's eminent law-smith and one of the main clerks for the treasury.
"Ah, Articulate, just so, I could check these over but…" Cadance looked over and saw Shining bump Wild, the filly suddenly stirring and looking around. "Oh drat, looks like Wild woke up, if only somepony could look after her for the night, I could read through these documents…"
"Well I might-"
Shining was quick on the uptake, his magic passing a tired filly over to the earth pony mathematician. "She is already fed, she will probably be a little boisterous for a few hours then will hopefully pass out, thanks!"
Standing outside the royal chambers, Articulate felt the weight of the sleepy filly on his back. He had no clue how the changeling had come to be in royal couple's care, but now, for the night at least, she seemed to be in his.
Inside, neither Cadance nor Shining looked at the documents at all.
"And how long are we going to be looking after her?" Perfect Poise, Articulate's marefriend, sounded upset. She had, apparently, planned an evening together for them.
"I don't… one night?" Art stood with the filly, fast asleep on his back. It was oddly nice to know there was a little life that relied on him for nothing except for comfort.
Perfect noticed his expression and broke from her tirade. "We just can't win. But that is okay, I bet Cadance won't even look at those papers before tomorrow."
Art jerked a little, the filly on his back rousing and lifting her forehooves to stretch.
"She won't?" The stallion looked a little surprised at both females.
"Hi…" Wild sounded sleepy still and lifted her hooves toward the bed she could clearly see. "Who are you?"
Perfect lifted the little bundle from Art's back, pulling her over toward the bed. "I am Perfect Poise, me and Art here are going to look after you while Princess Cadance does some important… work." The last word was spoken while bouncing her eyebrows at Articulate.
The filly yawned widely, nuzzling in against Perfect and squirming until she was set down beside the mare on the bed. Art was in real shock now, this was the most relaxed he had ever seen Perfect, even when it was just the two of them she always seemed at least a little on edge. He decided it was probably the best chance he was going to get to take advantage of this situation and climbed up on the bed himself, shedding his little saddlebag.
"What is your name?" Art settled down as the yawning filly seemed to snug between them. "I am," she yawned widely, showing off the sharp teeth her kind were known for, "Wild. Goodnight."
Art and Perfect blinked at the little filly, then looked to each other. They each saw in their friend a new side, a side that soon had them both settling heads down on pillows and sleeping, lest they wake the foal.
Wild had done it. She had gotten free of her minders for the day and, with the addition of a cute little woolen knitted outfit, was playing in the snow. Rolling around and pouncing into the soft drifts, she soon had some other foals find her.
"Hi! I'm Lemon Sweets, who... are you?" One little filly had stepped up, her eyes darting around at the snow as the changeling seemed to have disappeared under the white surface.
The foal waited a few moments before turning back to her friends. The sneak attack of the hidden changeling was ruined by her attempt at a roar, sounding much more squeak-like.
Landing on the other filly, both of them giggling, Wild lifted her head and flared her wings. "I am queen of this snow! Nopony can defeat me!"
This, of course, sparked a hail of snowballs being tossed around.
Panting and puffing, the foals held a pitched battle with a group of them rushing to declare themselves as Wild's drones, throwing snow back at the 'food' at the behest of their little queen.
To the side, a puffing stallion in guard uniform slumped. "Found you at last…" Sharp Pike was really panting. It hadn't actually been an order by his princess, but it didn't need to be. The filly was getting passed around and, over time, it had become a duty that needed to be carried out.
That the princess herself had announced an impending foal had not shocked anypony, the love the royal couple shared was truly something special.
"Oh, he finally found me." Wild was mostly buried under a mass of snow, her eyes having caught sight of Sharp. "The queen must retire!" She proclaimed, getting another soft snowball as she squirmed free of the white bank.
A chorus of laments, by the 'drones', at having lost their hive and their queen rose as she buzzed her wings and flew over to the guard. "Hi not-queen Sharp." She landed beside him, leaning against the stallion's big legs.
"Really gave me the slip this time, how long were you out here for?" Sharp reached a hoof down and rubbed the adorable little filly's ears.
"Nearly all day!" She looked out at the other foals, regretting having given up so early, but a deal was a deal. Queen Cadance had made her promise that if she did get found by her minder there would be no silliness. She pondered if using a magical collar to tether the stallion while she ran would be 'silly'. While she was still trying to remember how to use that trick, she was lifted up and set on Sharp's back. "Woo! Pony ride!"
Sharp trotted, hooves lifting high enough that it could almost be a prance. All Wild Heart's minders had discovered just how terrible an idea it was to struggle against the adorable changeling.
He carried her back to the palace and started taking her up to where he knew Cadance would be waiting. The court for the day would almost be at an end and it would be time for the princess to have some time with Wild. As he stepped in, however, something very odd was already in the room.
Cadance looked past the odd-looking bipedal changeling. "Here she is now."
"Daddy!" Wild leaped off Sharp's back and flew as fast as she could at the new figure. Sharp gasped when he saw the changeling-like creature seemed to be short a whole limb. The other, however, wrapped around the foal and hugged her close.
"Wild. Discord tells me you have been keeping well?" The odd pony looked at Sharp and there was an odd sense in the stallion. Like attracted like. Each gave a nod to the other, recognizing a soldier.
The capricious spirit of chaos was lounging on his own little recreation of Cadance's own dais. "She has been a delight, I am sure." Discord twirled an umbrella in a drink he was sipping.
Sally turned to Cadance, smiling at the brightly colored mare. "Your kindness to my daughter speaks well of you." The changeling satyr, wearing oddly light clothing gave a deep nod of her head to Cadance. "You gave my foal a home, treated her as your own, I can see."
"She did daddy!" Wild snuggled into Sally's arm. "They were really nice but be careful not to drink, she is really strong!"
Cadance grinned and wanted to reach out to the filly and give her one more hug. It was fortunate that Wild wished the same. Like a missile she flew at Cadance, wrapping her forelegs around the alicorn's neck. "I am going to miss you, Wild Heart. If you ever wish to visit again, I am sure Discord will be kind enough to help you get here."
Sally snorted. "Our hive grows by the week, in time we may end up trading."
The princess of love gave the squirming filly a last kiss on the head nosed at her ear. "Go back to your daddy." She lifted her voice as the little filly raced over to kiss Sharp on the cheek and return to her father. "Your hive has ponies?"
The question was loaded. "I am not going to answer that." Sally looked at Cadance, directly in the eyes, then away. "Discord, please take us home."
"Oh and things were just about to get interesting… oh well." There was a pop as both changelings were gone.
Cadance was left with a frown, she didn't even know what direction their hive was from here, although she assumed at least somewhere to the south.