My Curse's Benefits

-please play nice in the comments!

Fluttershy was taking longer to get here than I had anticipated, I was still munching through my sandwich none the less but still I expected her to be here already. Hmm… did she run into trouble along the way? Wait, wouldn’t she fly if she ran into danger? Maybe she got lost on the way here?

My inner debate was interrupted by a rustling in the bushes off to my right. I remained seated as another pony came out of the tree line. He was pretty average in terms of height, maybe a bit taller than me, he had a jet black coat, a deep crimson mane, and it looked like he had no cutie mark.

I whistled at him to get his attention. He turned, saw me, and began to trot over to me; oblivious that I had actually called Snowball.
“How do you do?” I inquired.

“Quite fine actually, but this bog is quite a bit out of the way for anypony to be taking a break from traveling, isn’t it?” he asked.

“I am actually meeting a friend here,” he said.

“What a coincidence! I’m actually meeting some ponies here too!” I reply enthusiastically.

“Quite the coincidence… Oh! By the way, my name is Dark Rain.”

“Mine is Rainbow Platypus… You seem familiar, have I seen you somewhere?”

“Not likely, l just got back to town from a trip to Cloudsdale.”

“I was just in Cloudsdale… Why were you there?”

“Well, I wa…..”

“YOU!!!” A rather upset voice from the sky said. I looked up and there was Rainbow Dash diving for me at terminal velocity. She landed on the ground a few feet from me, spraying dirt all over my sandwich and me. Dark seemed relatively clean.

“I’ll have to talk to later, Dark, there are more pressing matters at hand.”

“I guess I’ll see you around then.” He said as he trotted back into the forest. Wait, he left before his friend came…. Odd.

I turned back to a very angry Rainbow Dash and say, “I was still eating that sandwich.” I said right before throwing the sandwich into the bog. I could hear the yelps of glee coming from the fish nearby as they munched on my leftovers.

“Geez Rainbow! Slow down, we don’t have wings you know!” said a lavender unicorn that came out of the thicket. She was followed by Fluttershy, and a pink earth pony that couldn’t seem to stop bouncing.

“Who were you talking to?” asked the unicorn.

“A friend that I just met here,” I said, not comfortable revealing Dark’s name.

“Are you sure? It sounded like you were having a conversation with yourself.”

“No, I’m fairly certain there was a jet black stallion here no more than fifteen seconds ago.”

“I think your loco in the coco! I saw you talking with yourself! Not even I do that!” said the overly- hyper pink mare.

“Well, my insanity aside. I believe I owe you all some answers, don’t I? So ask away, and Rainbow, could you please back up. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt now would I?” The fish in the water had all fled, signifying that a large predator had to be nearby and I knew of only one.

Rainbow reluctantly retreated back to her friends. The purple unicorn was the first to ask a question.

“Is it true you can morph in to a rainbow-colored platypus?”

“It is true I can.”

“How?”

“I know I told Fluttershy that I said it was my special talent, but rather it is something that I have been able to do since I can remember. I can shift because I am half-changeling.”

“You’re what?”

“A half-changling. My mom was a changeling and my dad was a pony… as far as I know.”

“No, that can’t be! Princess Cadence and my brother’s spell should have removed all changelings from Equestria!”

“Silly mare,” I said with a chuckle, “I’m only half a changling, so all that petty spell did was give me a shove and I almost guarantee that there are still more changlings in Equestria.”

“W-what?”

“Yes, Equestria still has changelings. Also, thanks for telling me who cast that spell now I know who I shall confront on the matter of my mother.”

“What do you want with my brother and sister?”

“My mother was in my house when the spell hit.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry for your loss.” Twilight and the others except Rainbow Dash visibly shrank back.

“What? What does the fact that his mom was inside have to do with anything?” Dash said

“You are possibly the daftest pony I have met Miss Dash. Now tell me, have you seen what happens when you smash an insect against the wall with your hoof?”

“Well it gets smeared all over the wall. Everypony knows tha… Oh, Celestia… I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, thanks for the sympathy. It feels nice to be show compassion for once since my mom died.” I shed a tear as the memories of my mom filled me.

“But, I fear I must provide my inquiry, this one is directed at Miss Dash… Do your ‘friends’ know about your second career choice?”

“What is he talking about, Dash?” said the pink one.

“No, and they will never know because I’m taking you back with me,” Dash said crouching down, preparing to grab me at the most opportune moment.

“Nah, I’m pretty comfy right here,” I say with a nonchalant wave of my hoof.

“It wasn’t a question. Girls get behind me; he is a wanted criminal in Cloudsdale.”

“Bullshit, all I did was escape from that hell hole.”

“You escaped from prison! Here is his wanted poster!” She said pulling a parchment out of her bag, and showing it to her friends.

“Well, technically I escaped from a death sentence, but it… gahh! Let me go!” I protested as a lavender aurora surrounded me and held me in the air.

“If you’re a wanted criminal then it’s our civic duty to make sure that you don’t escape. Also from here I can see the close-ups on a changeling transformation,” Twilight said, moving closer. Her horn started to shimmer a bit more that it previously was. Suddenly I felt a sensation, similar to when I transform into a platypus. It was with that I realized the reason for Twilight’s horn’s sudden luminosity; she was forcing me to transform!

“I could have just transformed for you if you had wanted,” I said as my wings started to recede.

“I wanted this to be as slow as possible so I can make mental notes.”

I was almost fully platypus now; when all of a sudden she dropped me. I changed back to full pegasus form almost before I hit the ground.

“What the hell was that for?” I yell at the mare as she walks away.

“I made enough notes. Rainbow, go ahead and take him to the Ponyville jailhouse.”

“With pleasure!” Rainbow said as she pulled a rope out from the bag under her wing.

“I think not!” I said as I made the call to Snowball the second time. This time she burst out of the water with all three heads roaring at my would-be captor.

“Everypony run!” Twilight yells.

“Snowball!” I screamed and hugged each of Snowball’s three heads. The hydra nuzzled me affectionately in return.

Where did your friends go? She asked. I turned to see that the four mares had run off.

They buggered off, shall I go round them up? I asked her.

Nah, leave them be for now, we don’t want to emotionally scar them anymore than we need to.
Fine…. So, how have you been? I asked.

I’ve been doing good… but food has been getting scarce lately.

Have there been any other predators in the area?

Not that I know of.

Interesting… I said scratching my chin.

There was a faint snap of a twig in the undergrowth.

Sounds like one of your friends came back.

Indeed they have.

I suddenly heard an ungodly laughter. It appeared to have more of an amused tone to it, not hinting any malicious intent.

“That was quite the show you just put on just now,” said the disembodied voice.

“Was it? I thought it was a bit over-done.” I said coming to a rest upon Snowball’s middle head, as I faced the direction of the voice.

“Not at all! I could use somepony like you."

"For what, if I may ask."

"To report to me the goings on around Ponyville. In return I can give you anything you wish.”

“Sounds excellent, but I must ask; what is the catch and what might I call you by.”

“Well it is not very often that I find a pony that has not heard of me, but I am Discord, master of chaos and disharmony. As for the catch… there are a few, one is that I will need you in a different universe all together; you see, there is enough chaos in this one and I have grown bored… but I have found one that has eluded my touch. Two, your coat color may or may not change during the trip. Finally, your ‘second form’ will change.” Discord explained, appearing in his Draconequus weirdness a few meters from me.

“What kind of changes?”

“Well, you would not be able to fly in your platypus form due to your natural magic not being split between your two forms and its colors would change to normal to avoid unwanted attention.”

I mulled over Discord’s offer, thinking that one more pro would out-weigh the cons.

“Can you bring my home and Snowball along for the ride?”

“Snowball?” he inquired.

“This old girl,” I say, patting Snowball’s middle head.

I’m 37, I’m not old. Snowball said objectively.

“Should not be a problem,” he said with a snap of his fingers. He snapped his fingers a second time and everything went blurry.