Jack's Lament

"Oh really?" Crystal asked, standing up, "What could you possibly do to me?"

"My magic is second only to the princesses. I've taken out Hydras and an Ursa Minor. You don't think I won't take you down?" Twilight stated calmly.

"And you don't think I don't know that?"

"You ought to be scared!"

"You would have no reason to even attack me."

"You're a changeling. You feed on the love of other beings. You take so much out of them, they're mindless by the time you're done!"

"I'm different."

"I doubt it. You're all the same! Disgusting creatures!"

"As in, I can't feed."

Twilight was about to shout another rebuttal, but that statement stopped her cold. A changeling unable to feed? But how?

"What do you mean, unable to feed?" Twilight asked.

"As in, I can't suck the love out of other people."

"You're lying. There's no way a changeling shouldn't be able to do that!"

"I can still shapeshift." Crystal said, turning into a carbon copy of Twilight, "But I can't feed. My body won't allow it." She turned back into herself. "Chrysalis was shocked to see this. She waited on me until I was old enough to join the planned takeover, when I was thirteen."

"How old are you now?"

"Sixteen. You?"

"Eighteen."

"Anyways, Chrysalis recently banished me. She said I was making no progress, and I was worth nothing. She put me under, and dropped me in the Everfree Forest."

"And that's where Jack found you?"

"Yes." Crystal sat down on the bed, a dreary look in her eyes, "I don't like this one bit. Why wouldn't they let me stay?"

Twilight was shocked to see tears fall out of her eyes. She sat down next to her, and hugged her, "Look, I didn't mean what I said. You're fine in my book, at the least."

"Thank you."

With Shining Armor's help, I set out for Canterlot castle. After navigating the hallways for some time, I found Luna's bedchambers. She had asked to see me while I was crying over Rachel's body. I walked inside. I knew Luna wouldn't be asleep, being the princess of the night and whatnot.

"I see you haven't forgotten."

I turned, "Of course not, Princess. I wouldn't forget something so important."

She smiled, "Would you like to see something?"

"What is it?"

She motioned to the window, "My sister's statues. They are very beautiful. I would like you to see them."

"I would be honored."

We walked around. She showed me the various statues, like the evil dragon king from when Celestia and Luna were fresh in the ruling business. Then we got to the pedestal where Discord used to stand. She stared at it. I could tell there were bad memories involved with him. She was staring at it as if she were going to kill the pedestal.

"What happed between you guys?"

"Who, Discord, my sister, and I?"

"Yeah."

She took a long, deep breath, "We grew up together. The three of us were best friends for the longest time. Discord and my sister even dated for a little. But Discord started to be ...odd. He started being unpredictable and strange. Then, while I was sleeping, he climbed in through the balcony and..." She stopped cold.

"It's alright, you don't have to talk about that part if you don't want to. I'm not making you do anything."

"No, it's fine. He got in bed with me. I woke to him on top of me, trying to remove my pants without waking me up. I tried to fight him off, but before I could, he got my pants off. Before he could do anything else to me, Celestia had him on the floor. She didn't know it was him until much later, when I told her."

I was shocked, "Wow, Discord did all that?"

She nodded.

I sat down on the edge of the statue base. I motioned for her to sit next to me. She obliged, leaning her head on my shoulder. I put an arm around her shoulder. It was nighttime and the cool, clean air kept us at a nice, comfortable temperature. I felt her move closer to me and kiss my cheek. I jerked back, looking at her in surprise. She covered her mouth and began to apologize.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

I put a hand on her shoulder. "No it's fine. A heat of the moment thing, I get it."

I leaned in and kissed her forehead. I felt warmth spread around us, and we were on Luna's bed. She looked at me with a different look. She was looking for us to get to it.

Not yet Jack. Not yet

I shook my head, "No. At least, not yet."

She frowned, disappointed. I apologized, but she just sent me back home.

I landed in front of the door. I knocked. Crystal opened the door for me. I looked inside. there were lights on, but it looked empty. I walked inside...

...And was tackled upon entrance by Twilight.

"What the hell?" I shouted.

Twilight giggled, "I just wanted to tell you that Crystal's gonna stay for a while."

"So what was the point in tackling me?"

"I felt like it!"

I pushed Twilight off of me, "No tackling!"

She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Yeah, Twilight, no tackling!" I heard from behind me. I turned around...

...And ran into Twilight. I was surrounded by Twilight!

"Fuck what?" I said, "You're making my brain cry!"

The Twilights laughed. The one on my right began to glow. Slowly, her features were replaced by that of another familiar person. Crystal.

So this is what she meant by changeling. They can change.(Inb4 no shit) I walked over to Crystal and Twilight, and pushed them down.

"That's payback!" I said. They got up and dragged me down. And then they began to participate in the ritual that destroys souls: tickle torture. I'd rather not go through the details.

Anyways, after that, Twilight made dinner. We had spaghetti, and Spike was eating-

"Dude, are those gems?" I asked. I never really paid attention to him eating.

He nodded, "How have you not noticed?"

I simply stared, dumbstruck. The kid was eating gems. Shouldn't he be getting indigestion or something? How does he even chew?

Then I looked at him as he bit into another one. His teeth were sharp. Not bigger than his mouth, but he had teeth that were sharper (and no doubt harder) than a regular human's.

After that, we went to bed. After saying good night in a way that would make the Brady Bunch proud, we headed off to sleep.

It was the best sleep since Rachel had died.