Deep Breath

The princesses agreed to reconvene after a meal. You tried to get up from the pillow, but true to discord’s observation, you lost balance. Jeffrey jumped onto the pillow to support you. Jeffrey is your new best friend.

Leaning on Jeffrey, you are able to take in the details of the castle of friendship. All parts of the main structure, true to the reports, are made entirely out of an opaque crystal of various colors. Shiny support pillars protrude from the walls, and slick crystalline footboards accent where the floors meet the walls. The atrium itself is a grand hall that rises up to a pointed arch. several large doors are open, revealing long hallways on either side. Stairs lead to a second floor on either side of a grand door centered in the back of the room. Discord levitates the pillow down a hallway farther back, and to a small room with a private dining table. At your request, a large bowl of cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots was served alongside a glass and pitcher of water.

Discord, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash are the only ones accompanying you at the table. The others are probably having a discussion in private. The plan was to have discussed more by this point, but you did do something unexpected. Hopefully, your efforts were effective in mitigating doubt. It strikes you that they knew you were a human. You've only mentioned that word to Zecora once, but she seemed like the trustworthy type. You wonder exactly how much Princess Luna has seen in your dreams.

“So how are the vegetables, Anonymous? We could have had them sliced.” Fluttershy asked.

“She’s right you know. There’s no point in being bashful.” Discord added in.

“Call me Crazy, but after a week of dried rations, I enjoy a juicy bite into fresh vegetables with all of the water still inside.”

“What kind of dry rations, exactly?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, I had been carrying dried meat from my world when I was brought to this one. Miss Fluttershy, are you ok with me talking about this?”

“Um, It is natural for you, and you said that it is not from this world, so I suppose It's ok. Just don’t go into any gruesome… detail.” You turn back to Rainbow Dash.

“I had seven days of meat rations in my backpack.” Rainbow Dash shoots suspicion at you.

“You mean to tell me that you carried seven days of food with you on your back? That’s hard to believe with the amount of vegetables that you are eating.”

“Of course not. Humans get more sugar and protein from meat than plants, and I had meat rations, not full meals. I’m sure I was a few more pounds on the fat side when I first arrived.”

“There it is again.” Discord piped up. “So far, you have starved yourself and walked yourself ragged alone into the hooves and claws of those who thought you a threat, and then willingly presented yourself to a friendship firing squad. Not that I don’t appreciate the chaos, but exactly what else do you have in mind just for yourself, and why? You could have brought a squad of changelings so that you at least didn’t get all of the damage.”

“Exactly. They would have-.” Your words are now muffled by something warm and tasty. Biting it, then taking the rest in your hand, you are both amused and confused. “Blueberry muffin. Yum.”

“Glad you like it! Now no more of that. You’re with friendlies now. Oh, and by the way, how many changelings are in the hive?” Pinkie pie is at the end of the table now. You quickly chew the bite and swallow.

“One Hundred and Twenty-one including Chrysalis. Why?”

“Okie dokie lokie. Now don’t leave without me!” With that, she became a blur and was gone. You turn back to Discord.

“I know she means well, but her speed and strength scares me.”

“Well that’s a first! What exactly did she do that scares you?”

“She set off a bullet in my gun holster.”

“WHAT?! You brought such a lethal weapon from your chaotic world to Equestria?” His words spit like venom at his outrage. He knows about guns. Keep calm and disclose your plan.

“Ok, so you understand why I want to safely destroy the rest of the bullets and the gun itself?”

“How many Bullets are there, and how can we destroy them?”

“Nineteen live bullets are left. I don’t have a way of taking them apart safely but dumping them in molten metal at the bottom of a stone covered well should do. I’d take the gun itself to a separate forge altogether and mix it with as many different metals into a Damascus block so that no amount of metallurgy or alchemy can reverse engineer it.” Discord wrote everything down furiously, then ate the paper.

“Come hell or high water, that weapon must be destroyed!”

“Hold on! What’s going on, and what’s a gun?” A very confused Rainbow Dash stomped on the table.

“Exactly! Guns don’t have any place in Equestria!”

“Exactly! Guns don’t have any place in Equestria!”

Discord and you both turn to her and shout at the same time to no one’s help. You turn to him holding out a hand.

“Discord, you are the only one I know of that I can give a proper respecting handshake to. Can I count on you even if I’m not there to do it?”

“No question to it.” He grasps your hand firmly and shakes it. “Though I must ask now. What were you doing with such a weapon that you plan to obliterate it now so completely?”

“I carry that thing for six years for self-defense and never need to fire it once. I’m in Equestria for sixty seconds, and the first pony I meet sets it off with a single jab.”

“You really need to get a grip on things.”

“That’s exactly why I spent a week cooped up in a hive cell studying this world.”

“About that. Luna tried to get the location of the hive through your dreams. How did you manage to hide that from her?”

"I only remember seeing a glimpse of her, so I'm not sure what Princess Luna's side of that was. I didn’t hide anything at all. I never memorized the way there, then told the scribes to not tell me where the hive was until I was ready to come here. I have only learned the Hive's location in relation to Ponyville this morning. This was all started by a combination of luck and help from Zecora, that zebra that lives in the forest. Didn’t do me any good that I started day one through the Everfree, then a few miles in an underground tunnel. No good frame of reference at all. Not that I intend to keep any more secrets. Like I said, I needed some time to study, and now I just need the time it takes to explain everything.”

“That being said, Luna mentioned a curse as well. What was that about?”

"Words escaped my mouth backwards. 'Hello' was 'olleh.' Pinky thought it was a game at first, and it didn't help the situation. Luckily, I had three kind ponies to teleport me to safety."

"What ponies?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Soft Light, Gentle Breeze, and Queen Chrysalis."

"So two ponies and the changeling queen."

You take a deep breath, your voice becoming serious, but muted rather than aggressive.

"Soft Light and Gentle Breeze are changelings. Changelings are a pony race; just as Unicorns and Pegasi are. Despite their absence since before the creation of the fires of friendship, they are no less pony then you are. They are not hydras or chimera. If you consider their inability to produce sharable love un-pony, then you might as well consider a flightless Pegasus a monster." Suddenly, your chair is moved back and a hoof pins you to the wall.

"Leave. Scootaloo. Out of this." Magenta eyes stare at you with all of the rage of a mother with a child to protect.

"I don't know who Scootaloo is, and I did not mean to make the matter personal. For that, I am sorry." She releases you and returns to the far side of the table. You push the chair back into position. Grabbing another cucumber, you say one more thing before biting in.

"If this shows anything, we both have ponies that we care about and want to see safe and happy."

Discord shares an awry look of discomfort with Fluttershy.

"Sooo, Anonymous, is that a common name?"

“Ah, that. After a jaunt through the Everfree, bees in poison joke are terrifying by the way, the changelings led me to Zecora's hut where my speech was restored. However, there is another curse on me that that saint of a zebra didn't know how to cure. Anonymous is not the name that I was born with. My original name is [], but try to call me by any other name at all.” Discord and Fluttershy both try yet no sound vocalizes. “Come on, try shouting it.” Rainbow Dash joins in. You can tell that they are trying to shout but no sound comes out at all.

“What madness is this?” Discord asked.

“Exactly. imagine having your every utterance reversed on top of that. I tried to wright my name in dirt and it caught fire. It made for a very chaotic twenty for hours, so I was hoping the physical embodiment of chaos would know something about it.”

“Definitely not my doing. Too many rules. Your arrival in this world makes no sense. I can look past the walls into your world, but those walls are powerful. If I tried to pull something living from there to here, well,” He snaps and a small pile of ash falls onto his plate. “That was a pumpkin roughly your size.” He then dips some paper in it and eats it. “Mm! pumpkin spice.”

“Wait, so if you don’t know, then how-“

“No idea” You start rubbing your temples.

“That’s… Not that I would leave my changelings now, but what exactly happened to me?”

“Your Changelings? Exactly what are you to them?” Rainbow Dash cut in with a raised eyebrow. You push a now empty bowl away from you.

“You already know my intentions. When I pledged loyalty to Queen Chrysalis, she decided to name me her consort. The princesses have their little ponies, and My queen and I have our changelings. I suppose it symbolizes my new responsibility, but I don’t like the idea of intentionally making use of a title.” Everyone had finished their meals. Discord snapped the plating away, and a cup of tea appeared in front of you.

“Take it from me, pal. Having tea every now and then is a good way to stay in touch with a pony. Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, indeed. Twilight told me that Celestia enjoys her own personal brew that she developed herself.” You try the tea. It’s bitter and earthy. The kind that doesn’t need sugar.

“Mint, orange zest, and something else maybe?” You take another sip.

“By the scent, it is indeed from my personal stores, Discord” Celestia is in the doorway. You immediately cover your mouth to muffle a coughing fit. “And He is right, Anonymous. My sister and I would enjoy tea from time to time to maintain dialogue with the Queen of the changelings and you, her consort.”

“I would greatly appreciate your advice on managing time in that sense. I am more used to being a laborer by vocation and leaving duties unattended to makes me anxious.”

“Certainly. We can discuss it while you lead us to the hive. We can leave in two hours. I just need the directions to send scouts ahead.”

“The Hive is south of Ponyville, West of Ghastly Gorge, and East of Las Pegasus. It is approximately forty kilometers down the train tracks that go around the Everfree Forest and heads to Appaloosa. The Hive is within a mountainside on the other side of the Mountain range that Las Pegasus sits, the entrance of which is hard to see, so I arranged a large arrow made of sticks and stones along the tracks. When they get there, they can expect to find a total of three changelings awake including Queen Chrysalis. All other changelings are asleep in protective cocoons that the others are under strict instructions to not awaken them until the event that the hive is accepted into Equestria. You should also warn them that there is no food store, and the only water source is the streams within the Everfree on the other side of the tracks.”

“Did you get everything, Rose?”

“Yes mam. I’ll tell the scouting party to pack supplies accordingly.” A unicorn you didn’t notice until she spoke rolled up a scroll and promptly went about her duty. Celestia turned back to you with a smile. “Should everything we Discuss today prove true, I look forward to welcoming the changeling hive into Equestria.”

“You honor me princess. Thank you.” You give a polite bow to her.

“Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Discord, the others will meet you at the train station. Could you show Anonymous there while I attend to other matters?”

“Yes mam.”

“Yes mam!”

“Certainly, Celie.”

With that, you were led back to the atrium and outside the castle.