Chapter 9

Measure Twice, Transmute Once

"Bankai, Getsuga TENSHOU"

The wave of black fire tore through the Everfree Forest, tearing out any flora that stood in its way. Allyn knelt near the opening of the new pathway with Trixie and Alois, Allyn holding his head from the sudden headache causing sight out of his left eye difficult but not impossible. Zangetsu transformed back to Genies Hilt in his hand from the lack of magic energy in its user.

"I'm-I'm okay," Allyn said as he stood up, "A Getsuga Tenshou takes a massive amount of energy. I should be fine in a while."

"Alrighty then," Alois said throwing her arms in the air, "Let's go find a place for our home." She ran off into te forest before stopping to realize that nopony had followed her. "COME ON YOU GUYS!"

Allyn and Trixie sighed and walked down the path behind Alois. After a few hours they had reached the end of the makeshift path, Allyn began slicing the brush down with a machete until they saw a bright area in front of them. Allyn sliced down the last few branches and a bright blast of sunshine hit the trio. They opened their eyes and were surprised by the hidden beauty.

A large, open meadow with a gorgeous waterfall that fed into a small river at the opposite side of the meadow from them. The trio cheered out when they saw the space in front of them. They ran into the field and jumped around, easily twenty acres of completely cleared grassland. The same field from his dream last night, he knew this is where he wanted to build his house.

"How about it my apprentice," He asked Trixie, "Would you like to make this our home?"

"SAY YES!" Alois yelled from the small river, over joyed by the large space and natural beauty. Allyn and Trixie just laughed at the young dragon.

"Call in the cavalry," Trixie replied to Allyn, "We have a house to build."

"MASTER, COME QUICK," Alois called frantically from the river. Allyn and Trixie ran over as fast as they could. The sight they saw was horrifying; mangy, moss green hair, ink-black skin, insect-like wings, and holes covering its body, one of which was producing strange green blood. The creature looked up at Allyn with its bug-like eyes and said one thing before she passed out; "Help."

"Trixie, Alois," Allyn started barking, "Teleport back to town and bring the wagon. What ever you do, what ever happens, you don't tell anypony and make sure you're not followed. GO!"

Allyn didn't give Trixie a chance to reply before he ran down into the water and started pulling the Changeling out of the water. Trixie grabbed the small dragon and popped away to follow his orders. Allyn managed to pull the Changeling to the grass and dug a transmutation circle in the dirt around her with his quartz knife.

Allyn pulled as much magic as he could and placed his hands on the edge of the circle, causing it to glow a bright gray. In his mind, he began going over the makeup of a human and crossing them off against the Changeling. Water- 35 liters, Carbon- 20 kg, Ammonia- 4 liters, Lime- 1.5 liters, Potassium- 800 g, Salt- 250 g, Saltpeter- 100 g... He ran through the list twice, but nothing seemed out of place for a normal horse, or human in this case. what ever made the Changelings how the were, they were just the same as other ponies.

He switched his attention from chemical to cellular and began to close the wound in its chest and return what lost blood he could. After the Changeling was healed, Allyn took what magic he had left and turned Genies Hilt into a small sword and sat in the grass to recover and wait for the stage pony to get back.

"So," Allyn said to the unconscious monster in the field with him, "You were with me in Canterlot. You were the Pinkie Pie I talked with on the train. Makes sense, the real one would have probably slapped me for saying nice things about you after what you did to her and her friends." He paused for a slight sigh and looked at the strangely beautiful beast in the transmutation circle. "What did this to you Chrysalis?"

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Ugh, damn you Ishneel Chrysalis thought as she rubbed the side of her ribs where that damned dragon stabbed her. She shouldn't have told him about what that stallion actually told her on that train, she could have made up some lie about any weaknesses he had. But after she had already said her part, he went and thought to test out the pony's words and afterwards throw her into a chard area in the forest.

Chrysalis sat up and opened her eyes to look where she was lying in a small wooden trailer which appeared to only have two rooms; a small bed room and a kitchen/dining room. She looked over at a green haired unicorn sleeping in a chair near the couch she was on. A young dragon slept on a small bed by the barrier between the front half of the trailer and the back half. Both of them sleeping seemed highly strange seeing as it looked like it was almost noon outside.

Another unicorn walked through the door frame, this two-tone blue maned mare was holding a small blanket folded in her arms. The mare looked at Chrysalis in a mixture of horror and disgust, the same way everypony else looked at her kind, but the mare also had a look of confusion mixed in.

"So," the mare stated with disgust in her tone, "You're Queen Chrysalis? Leader of the Great and Menacing Changeling race?" The mare placed the blanket on the stallion in the chair and almost looked like she made sure it was comfy for him.

"Indeed," Chrysalis replied, "And who am I addressing, if I may ask?"

"My name is Trixie Lulamoon," the unicorn replied, "But you've probably heard my stage name more; The Great and Powerful Trixie." Chrysalis shook her head, even if the Changelings went to shows often enough, she wouldn't have cared two bits about knowing the name of somepony like this Trixie mare. "Didn't think so," Trixie continued, "Well regardless, I stopped doing that whole show business for a while. Right now I'm the apprentice to the stallion in that chair in front of you." Chrysalis looked at the stallion, the same stallion she was sent to keep a close eye on for Ishneel. Allyn wasn't kidding when he said he'd take her in if she was dying in his arms.

"He stayed up until four in the morning for us to bring some medical supplies for you," Trixie said, "He told me and that dragon over there not to tell anypony about finding you. As if I wasn't proof enough, him wanting to keep a wounded Changeling like you safe proves he's either insane or deeply caring." Trixie looked deep into Chrysalis' eyes, causing Chrysalis to shiver slightly from a strange feeling of terror. "I don't like you or your kind," Trixie said bluntly, "Nopony does, but by how much he's willing to be punished for protecting you, you had better not hurt him or take advantage of his trust. Because if you do; Celestia and Luna's wrath will be the very least of you fears."

"Relax T," Allyn said in a very horse voice in the chair, stretching and yawning as he woke up, "I can handle myself just fine. Now, I have some questions for our Changeling guest, can you make some breakfast for us?"

"Of course sir," Trixie said before walking over to the fridge. Allyn stood up and held his hand to Chrysalis, who looked at him skeptically before taking his hand and walking outside. Allyn and Chrysalis walked outside and Allyn closed the door behind them, then looked at Chrysalis.

"My first question for you, Chrysalis," Allyn started, "and this is more personal query than Changelings in total; What do you look like with a more pony-like skin tone?" Chrysalis seemed almost... shocked by the question, but Allyn wanted to know out of curiosity. Chrysalis held out her hands as her horn began to glow its eerie-green color, her body soon becoming engulfed in green hell fire it looked seemed.

When she emerged from the flames, her ink black skin had turned to lustful caramel/chocolate that now gave edges to an apparent black and green lingerie that could be called clothing covering her endowed bust. Her insect eyes turned to more human, with black and green eye liner. A single green ribbon wrapped around her waist fell behind her, almost giving the impression of a tail, made for an improvised belt for the green, hole filled leggings that led down her curvy hips, thighs, and calves to her bare feet, with green-painted toe nails oddly enough.

Allyn was so focused on Chrysalis' figure, he almost missed her one fang hanging cutely out over her lower lip, both of which were black as how he skin used to look a moment ago. The form she had currently almost made Allyn question why she needed to take other shapes to steal love when this form could cause hordes of men to freely give their love to her, hell he almost felt attracted to the former Queen. But he shook the thought out of his head, less she tried to take control of his mind like she did to Armor.

"I'm confused on one thing now," Allyn said as he ran his fingers through his hair, mentally checked on the barrier spell he placed on his mind and those of Alois and Trixie after they found him and Chrysalis early this morning, "If this is what you'd look like as a pony, why not go around like that all the time? You know, minus the warrants out for any Changelings spotted by the Princesses of course."

"Please," Chrysalis said, "Who would want to willingly give there Love to a Changeling?"

"Maybe if you tried asking for Love instead of taking it," Allyn said. "Okay then, next question; How do you Changelings absorb Love from ponies?"

"Well that's fairly simple to explain," Chrysalis said, "Basically, every living being gives off energy depending on their emotion. Changelings, for the longest time we could remember, were able to see these energies and turn only a few into food to live off of. Love being the prominent emotion, but there's also Joy, Pleasure, and Excitement that Changelings feed off of. We..." she trailed off remembering she was now alone. "I-I am able to change through the mosh of emotions and absorb Love through the holes in my body and my horn."

"So the your body acts like a sponge to the most joyful emotions, and does something similar to photosynthesis in plants," Allyn said, "Fascinating. Okay, last question; If me and my apprentice and assistant found you, how many other Changelings are out in the forest?"

Chrysalis looked at Allyn for a few seconds before what looks like tears started streaming down her face.

"I," she started, "I am now the last of the once great and formidable Changeling race. We were extremely weak before our attack on Canterlot two years ago, and afterwards we were so spread out that most of my people starved to death before they could reach us. The small handful of us wandered around until a monster attacked where we were staying, le-" Her voice cracked, tears now running down her face at a rate greater than Niagra Falls "leaving me as the only survivor of my people."

She jumped onto Allyn, clutching him tightly as she sobbed and wept for her extinct species. Allyn merely stood there, mentally torn; on one hand, he knew the Changelings were expert actors if they were to copy a ponies personality and attitude. On the other hand, he wasn't sure if this level of sorrow, for he unfortunately learned it after his little sister's death less than a year before he came to Equestria, was genuine.

"Are-are you going to kill me," she asked, her head still buried in Allyn's shoulder.

Allyn sighed, "No, I can't be so heartless as to heal you just to kill you. But for the time being, you are under detainment until I see fit to either release you, or turn you in to Celestia and Luna. And you are not to try and corrupt me or the dragon or mare inside. Am I clear?" Chrysalis moved her head away and wiped the few remaining tears from her eyes and nodded. "Now come on,' he finished speaking, "Ya want breakfast don't ya Chryssie?" Chrysalis stood in the open field for a moment, pondering over what the stallion had said and called her. She almost felt like smiling at his compassion, how well he treated her was a delight compared to how everypony else treated her and her people like the monsters they were. It almost made her think back to when they talked on the Canterlot train. She walked back behind him and close the trailer door behind them.

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After a few weeks, twenty thousand bits in lumber, piping, and wiring, and the help of the Apples, Spike, Rim, Dash, Vinyl, Octavia, Derpy, and Pinkie, the frames of the house were finally up and some of the electrical and plumbing running through the house. So for the second, they were all taking a break to have some food brought over by Pinkie and Octavia.

"So I'm standin' there," Allyn continued his so far hilarious story, "My clothes under one arm, I'm holdin' my package with the other hand, my roommate looks at me and with a straight face, that bastard goes; 'Well, d'you get the milk or not?'"

While to anyone jumping into the story at this point would have been completely confused, everyone else was laughing so hard, most of them almost fell off of their seats. Mean while AJ, Twilight, and Alois were working on a small meal for the equally small work crew.

"Wait," Rim said trying to catch his breath, "You ran across your campus at eight in the morning."

"Twenty degrees outside," Allyn continued, "My thing looked like an acorn."

"Alright y'all," AJ said as she and Alois brought over a couple pies for the group of ponies, "Enough talkin' 'bout that stuff for now. Instead let's chow down on these delicious pies that nice Masquerade pony helped make." AJ waved to the petite,violet haired pegasus in the sea foam green sweater over by the Transmuted cast iron oven Trixie made while the construction crew was working a couple days ago. Allyn cut the pies using his quartz knife and handout a slice to Rainbow, Pinkie, Derpy, Spike, Rim, Vinyl, and Octi before he and AJ bit into their slices.

"This is amazing," Allyn said, his mouth half full, "I'm gonna go thank Masquerade and maybe get another piece of this pie." He stood up and walked over to the transmuted stove and lone pegasus. "No one's figured you out yet," he asked quietly.

"Not yet," Chrysalis said in her disguise, "Good choice having me be somepony who doesn't exist."

"Yeah," Allyn said as he began walking back to the group, "As long as they don't try to look into your past."

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A full month ahead of schedule! They managed to finish Allyn's mansion, for lack of a better word, a full month ahead of Allyn expectations. The 18,000 sq.ft. Plantation style with Italian and Greek accents house had; five bedrooms, twelve baths, was three stories tall, large game room, astronomy room with telescope, a library with fiction, non-fiction, and spell directory, a ballroom, and a backyard pool/spa combo with a view of Canterlot and the mountains to the Northeast.

Allyn, Trixie, and Alois were so excited that they finished early, Allyn decided to have a party thrown to christen it with Pinkie planing it and Vinyl as DJ. Over the next week and a half, Allyn told Pinkie to invite all of Ponyville and the Royal Sisters and sent text back and forth with Vinyl about what music he wanted playing at the party. He also spent a good amount of time at Rarity's for an actual tuxedo for the Grand Galloping Gala.

After his fitting, he decided to head over to Sugar Cube corner and have a quick snack. He hopped into a booth and ordered a milkshake and a couple chocolate chip cookies before Spike walked in and waved to Pinkie and Allyn. The two ponies waved back and continued talking on their plan.

"You guys talking about that party coming up," Spike asked.

"Yeah," Allyn said, "Which I'm still amazed we managed to get it done early. I thought I was going to have to celebrate my birthday during construction."

"OH MY GOSH!" Pinkie damn near screamed into Allyn and Spike's ears, "Your birthday is coming up? When is it, when is it, when is it, when is it?!"

"DOWN PINKIE," Allyn said, "First off; next Thursday. Second, no, I don't want a party-what am I saying. It's you, you'll throw me one if hell itself is taking control of the planet."

"So what kind of party would you like; one themed around music, or one themed around Alchemy. Oh, how about one themed around music AND Alchemy. Or maybe one involving the moon and night seeing as how-"

"PINKIE!" Allyn cut in, "Chill. The. Fuck. Out. If I just write down what I want, will that work for you? No mega parties, no parades through town, no firework extravaganza involving the Wonder Bolts. Just what I write down, okay?"

"Okay," Pinkie said, holding out a pen and some paper that Allyn noticed she wasn't holding a second ago. He took the paper and wrote down what he wanted for his birthday party and handed the now folded paper back to Pinkie. She unfolded the paper and read the list of names and bounced up and down. "Well you'll definitely see me there, but everypony else might be a challenge."

"Well unless you can get every last pony on that list to agree," Allyn said, "Then you can't throw me a party. Deal?"

"I will make it my mission in life to get every last name on this list," Pinkie said in a salute, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, shove a cupcake in my eye. But first, your order." And with that, she ran into the back of the bakery.

"What did you ask for," Spike said.

"A harem of twenty-six mares hand picked by name," Allyn said with a smile, "Most of which most likely won't say yes and a couple others don't exist so it's a win-win either way on my end."

"Like who?"

"Well there's Trixie, Vinyl, Octi, and Ditzy, all of whom might say yes, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, AJ, Fluttershy, Rarity, most likely won't say yes so you don't have to worry about Rarity, then there's the Spa Triplets, Cheerile, Spitfire and Fleetfoot from the Wonder Bolts, and Luna and some others, who definitely won't say yes."

"I don't know," Spike said, "It is Pinkie Pie. She can get almost anything for a party if she sets her mind to it."

"But Princess Luna," Allyn said, "To agree to be in a harem? Tell ya what, if Pinkie manages it; I'll transmute you a ten foot high, triple layer gemstone cake that you can see thru."

"And if she can't" Spike said questioningly, "What do I have to do?" Allyn thought for a second and gave a devious smile back.

"Ask Rainbow Dash on a date," Allyn started, "In an Irish accent, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers."

"Oh you're on," Spike said shaking Allyn's hand.

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The beat of Boom Boom Pow could be heard out in Ponyville, which now that the road way was clear was only a forty minute walk away from Flynt Manor. Half of Ponyville ways rocking out in Allyn, Alois, and Trixie's backyard as the moon rose in the night sky. Trixie and Alois were partying with the rest of the guess while Allyn, Pinkie, and Vinyl were nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, from the second floor balcony over looking the pool, Allyn, dressed in all white, Pinkie and Vinyl walked out and addressed the large crowd of ponies at the party.

"Hello everypony," Allyn said, swinging a decorative cane around, "And welcome, to Flynt Manor." A loud roar came from the crowd. "I want to thank you all for showing up to the christening of the new homestead for not only me, but my apprentice Trixie Lulamoon, and my assistant Alois." A loud applause came for the pony and dragon in the crowd being lit up by two spotlights. "And a special thanks to two of our special guess of honor; Princesses Celestia and Luna!" everyone cheered as the Royal sisters walked out onto the balcony and waved to everybody in the crowd.

"Hello my little ponies," Celestia said, "My sister and I are both happy to see so many smiling faces at a wonderful event like this."

"Indeed sister," Luna chimed in, "We thank you for allowing both of us to this event for a dear friend of ours. Now, let the party commence!"

"Vinyl," Allyn said pointing to the the DJ by the computer with a preloaded song, "Let's make this place rock." Vinyl typed in some keys on the computer and the sound from the guitar strum and beat of Starships began to make the crowd below as Allyn joined Nicki Minaj in a form of duet.

Allyn looked back at Luna and Celestia and the first chorus and smiled before jumping over his railing into the pool below at the drop. Allyn shot in the water drawing everyone's attention to make sure he was safe, after which he shot his head out of the water and wooped like an idiot screaming; "This town is amazing!" as he whipped the wet hair out of his face.

Luna looked down on him and couldn't help herself from laughing before jumping in after him. Allyn managed to swim out of the way before Luna jumped, but he was still hit by water when she splashed down. Luna shot up and the two of them just laughed as the song continued playing around them, their actions causing Rim, Derpy, Pinkie, Rainbow, Alois, Trixie, Spike, AJ, and Swiftstrike to jump in after them.

The party lasted long into the night with the last of the guests leaving around 3:30 or so, but Rim, Swift, Vinyl, and Octavia stayed for the night because Allyn wanted to keep with his promise to Swiftstrike. Allyn and Swift stood a hundred feet from each other in Allyn's backyard the next morning, each holding a bokken in front of each other. Vinyl, Octavia, Rim, Trixie, and Alois stood on the wrap around porch and cheered for the two men; Rim, Trixie and Alois cheering for Allyn and Vinyl and Octavia cheering for Swift.

"So we've agreed on no magic," Allyn said.

"I still can't believe you were the one who asked for that," Swift said.

"What can I say, I enjoy a fair fight rather than a quick one."

"You are an honorable man, I will be honored to lose to you or beat you."

With a single "HYA," both men ran towards each other, wooden swords ready to strike. Their wooden blades met with a resounding "THAK" as each man slid past each other and quickly turned for a combo of strikes which keep them at an even distance from one another. As they fought, none of the guest noticed Chrysalis standing in Allyn's room watching the fight outside through the sliding glass door.

"He's still allowing you to stay with him," Ishneel said through his magic, "He's much more generous than I preceded."

"He's very kind to someone like me," Chrysalis replied, still watching the fight outside, "He knows about what happened in Canterlot and he still allows me to sleep under his roof in my natural skin. He's either naive, or he truly can look beyond someone's past to see what they can become."

Ishneel looked at Queen Chrysalis through the mirror he was using to communicate with Chrysalis and noticed that she was beginning to tear up. Pathetic, his spy was slowly turning to the side of his enemies. He started wondering if she was still worth having as an ally, but seeing as he had no other options on gaining an army to fight for him.

"You appear to be growing a heart for him," Ishneel said, quickly causing Chrysalis to stiffen up and recover her posture.

"Don't flatter yourself," she said sharply, "I'm only doing what's best for my people. That's why I'm working as your spy, and why I'm acting so helpless around him and his two lackeys."

"Good, you'd do right to remember that Chrysalis," Ishneel said as he turned back to watching the fight from his cave.

Allyn and Swift stood evenly matched in the open field, each of them blocking and countering their strikes. That's not to say that neither of them was without bruises; Allyn was holding his left leg and his right arm was immobilized while Swift had a few bruised ribs and smashed fingers. The two men held their swords to the side and took a second to breathe.

Before Allyn even knew what happened, a sudden stabbing pain caused his to cover his left eye. He opened his good eye with enough time to block Swifts attack. Allyn threw all of his weight into the blade of his bokken and threw Swift's high into the air. Allyn drew his right elbow in and slammed Swift in the gut. Almost as if he suddenly gained a split-screen vision; Allyn turned, grabbed the second bokken out of the air in a reverse grip, and turned back around to hold both swords to Swifts neck, ending the match.

He could see, he could see everything. Even the man spying on him in his mirror. He switched grips and threw his original bokken strait at the second story window, punching a hole in the window and obliterating the mirror in one fell swoop. Chrysalis stood there, refusing to move out of fear.

A matter of centimeters and that wood sword would have gone through her arm like she was paper. His eye, something happened to his eye. His natural copper coloring of his iris had turned a sharp red, the whites had turned black and soulless, and even from this distance Chrysalis could see the complexity around his pupil, the pupil itself now reminding her of that of a Dragon's or Nightmare Moon. His hair seemed to flow in the air, as if being pulled by an invisible tide.

But for Allyn, as soon as the pain in his eye came, it vanished. He waved his hand in front of his left eye just to make sure his normal vision had returned. He nearly jumped when Swift put his hand on Allyn's shoulder. Swift smiled and laughed at his friend beating him, but told him to go a little easier if they do that again.

"What the HELL was that," Octavia screamed as she punched Allyn in the arm, "Were you TRYING to kill him?"

"Actually," Allyn began to reply, followed by a short pause, "I'm not really sure what happened; one second my eye starts hurting, and then I was able to see everything."

"So why'd you go ape shit and throw your wood sword through your own window," Rim asked.

"I'm," Allyn tried to respond, "I'm really sure, I could feel an...evil presence coming from my room, or specifically, coming out of my mirror."

"So what does that mean," Trixie asked.

Even without being able to see her, Allyn knew Chrysalis had something to do with it, for he could see her with the presence coming from his room.

Author's Note

the second hint of Allyn's true power has been shown, but just how great is his power?