The Other Draconiquus - Story 2: Bite of the Changeling

Twilight’s mouth hung open in shock. “You don’t think that I’m Queen Chrysalis in disguise, do you?” she asked.

“Well, I have a way of finding out,” he said. He showed her the beeping device. “This is my own invention. It is a radar built to track down anything with changeling DNA in them. A changeling may be able to change its own appearance into just about any other species, but their genetic structure remains the same. Pinkie, Spike, stand back. And don’t worry, Twilight, it won’t hurt you.”

He held the device so that the radar dish was pointed directly at Twilight. The beeping slowed its pace. He stayed in that position for a moment and then said, “You’re clean. No trace of changeling on you.”

Pinkie and Spike sighed in relief. “Now I will have to check the other two, just to be safe,” said L. That relief was so brief.

He scanned Spike next, and then he said: “He’s clean. Needs a bath. But he’s clean.”

He then scanned Pinkie, and then exclaimed: “Pinkie! What the hay did you just do to my machine? It can’t determine just what in the hay you even are! It’s saying random species in which you clearly are not: Pikachu, vogon, Romulan, dog, dalek, Chuck Norris…”

“How could you think that I would do something like that?” exclaimed Pinkie. “I know that I’m a pony. Not a peek-a-boo, or a vogoth, or a momuin, or a dog, or a-”

“I get it. I believe you. The only reason I could think of in which it would be acting this way is if…”

“Is if, what?” asked Twilight, desperate to know what’s going on.

“It’s not important. What is important is that it proves she’s not a changeling. Anyway, come, you three. Let’s go track us down a changeling.”

They searched for the signal throughout Canterlot, the signal seeming to get hot and cold at seemingly sporadic moments. Eventually they ended up in the Canterlot gardens, as it seemed that they were finally closing in on their target.

They were shocked to find that their target turned out to be a very familiar-looking bunny.

“There you are, Queen Chrysalis!” he said. “You look rather cute for a bunny, but I know you have no concept of cute. I am L, Equestria’s secret time traveling protector, and I’m on to your plans for Princess Twilight and Flash. And you’re just a normal bunny, aren’t you?”

Angel Bunny nodded his head in annoyance, and then hopped off to join Fluttershy with the birds.

“Well, that just goes to prove it.”

“Prove what?” asked Twilight.

“It proves that this damn thing doesn’t work at all!” He tossed the changeling radar into the air behind him, intending to open a wormhole, to suck out of this universe, before it hit the ground and possibly hurt anypony.

Before it could reach the wormhole, however, an eagle claw reached out from behind a tree and caught it. “Oh, it’s you,” said the voice of the other draconiquus that Twilight and her friends knew.

L’s face became grim. He turned around and came face to face with Discord stepping out from behind the tree that was too small for him to hide behind. “It’s been a long time,” he said.

“Indeed, it has,” said Discord. “Yet it seems like it was only yesterday since our last meeting. Oh wait. It was! For you, anyway.”

“Actually it was three months ago from my own chronology. How have you been?”

“I’ve been really busy being stone. You know, after you aided Celestia and Luna in finding the Elements of Harmony to use on me. Snitched about my secret to them, too.”

“He did what?” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, now mad at L.

“What was I supposed to do? Stand back and watch them all go extinct because they worshipped somepony evil pretending to be a god? One who is in my clan’s arch-enemy clan?”

“Pretending to be a god?” asked Twilight.

“I’ve reformed since then,” stated Discord.

“And yet you still call yourself the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, and are still using the exact same alias as you had used before.”

“You mean to say, he’s not?” asked Spike.

“Let me make this easy on all of you. Discord and I are aliens from another world, all from the same species, the name of which is unpronounceable in any other language. But we are from enemy clans. The clans are all listed from A-Z, and each of them consist of exact duplicates of an original who went by the corresponding letter, all of them go by the letter of their clan, but some come up with aliases, like ‘Discord’ or ‘John Smith’. One of their powers is the ability to change their form, depending on whatever alien species they’re dealing with at the time. Discord is a Q. Qs use their powers to spread chaos and ruin to other worlds. I am, of course, an L. Ls use their powers to protect other words from chaos and ruin. That is the secret I revealed to Celestia and Luna two thousand years ago.”

“Oh, my!” came a shy voice from behind a bush.

“Fluttershy, were you listening in on that?” asked Discord, suddenly concerned with what the only friend he’d ever had would now think of him.

“No,” she said, sticking her head out from behind the bush. “I mean, yes. I mean, if you’re okay with that.” She ducked her head back behind the bush.

“So that’s the Fluttershy I had heard so much about,” said L.

“ ‘Heard so much about’? From who?” asked Twilight.

“Spoilers.”

"That's just his way of saying, 'I heard about it from you in the future'," said Discord.

"Pretty much."

"Well, if what you two are saying is true," said Twilight, "then L has more respect from me than you do, Discord."

Discord frowned upon this statement.

"I've just thought of something," said L. "I'm supposed to be Equestria's ally, and I am the arch-nemesis of Discord, but Discord is being trained to be Equestria's ally, too. Does that make me Equestira's enemy now? I'd be so pissed at Celestia if it does, after all I did for her in the past!"

This question made Discord's head spin. Literally. In fact, it came unscrewed, and fell to the ground. "Oomph! Could one of you lend me a hoof?" he asked as his body began to kneel down to find his head.

L ran up to Discord, and kicked his head like a soccer ball straight out of the castle gardens, and it flew towards the castle and crashed through the window of Princess Luna's tower. This is, of course, an impossible feat. "Mother of Eris*, that hurt!" exclaimed Discord's head, as he landed on Luna's bed. The head rolled over to see Princess Luna standing there, glaring at him. He hesitated before saying, "Princess Luna, I can explain."

Discord would not find his body again for another few days, finding out that it had decided to take a train to the Crystal Empire for the weekend. He would later comment, "I always suspected my body had a mind of its own. I guess I was right."

Back in the castle gardens...

"I not sure why I just did that," admitted L, seeing everyone just staring at him, instead of the headless draconiquus walking off to the Canterlot train station.