“Holy cannoli,” Flutterwings uttered.

“Holy cow,” Scorch breathed.

“Holy words I can’t say because we’re currently short on a ‘Profanity’ tag,” Discord commented.

The other two could only turn their heads to stare blankly at the draconequus.

Thistle shuddered audibly as she took the time to gaze around at the eyesore of an environment she and the others were in. “Ooookaaay, so uh…” she hesitantly and awkwardly began. “…we’re finally here. Where do we start?”

“Well, other than to try and get Pharynx back, our current occupation is to avoid literally anything that breathes in this place,” Spiny answered, watching the brightly colored galaxy-filled sky, specifically at the many alicorns that lingered through the air, one of which was talking to what appeared to be a rainbow-colored butterfly-winged cat with an angel halo. “And I mean literally anything.”

Scorch turned to glance at him. “I’m guessing you’re no longer questioning our sobriety, Spiny?”

“No, but now I am questioning if we’re currently witnessing the hallucinogenic effects of LSD.”

The red changeling sighed heavily. “Took you long enough,” he muttered flatly.

“Alright everyone, enough lollygagging,” Venom said as he came in between his two brothers. “The sooner we find Pharynx, the sooner we can get outta here with our brain cells still intact.” He turned around trotted up to the draconequus. “Okay, Discord. Any ideas where we can find this ‘Nova Shadowlight’ pony?”

Discord caressed his short white beard with a talon as he thought for a moment. “Hm… well, fortunately or not, I’m not as unfamiliar with these Plot Hole inhabitants as I wish I was,” he admitted, watching a neon-green and electric blue fox with bright glowing eyes walk right past him.

He cringed even more when he also saw a tall and lanky stallion whose purple coat was speckled with orange and green. Not only that, but judging from the overload of accessories he was wearing, he had looked as if his wardrobe had thrown up on him. Nonetheless, he continued. “One thing to know about the alicorns that live here is that they’re apparently able to pay for their overpriced home construction loans.”

Cricket tilted his head, blinking. “Uh, what’s that supposed to mean?”

In a white flash, Discord appeared in a construction worker’s uniform, complete with the orange vest and the yellow hard hat, and unrolled a blueprint depicting an extremely large palace that rivaled the size of both Canterlot and Twilight’s castle combined. A large rainbow arch was also drawn in crayon directly above the palace, as if a little filly had doodled on it. “These alicorns seem to take great pride in their castle exteriors,” Discord explained. “I honestly don’t see why Nova wouldn’t follow this trend.”

“If that’s the case, Nova could probably be anywhere. Look how many castles this place has!” Flutterwings pointed a hoof towards the numerous towering palaces in the horizon. “What, are we really gonna go door-to-door asking if she lives there?”

“Eugh, no.” Venom gritted his teeth. “We don’t even have time for that. Hey, Scorch, you got any ideas?” He turned, expecting the red changeling to still be at his side. However, all he got was thin air. “Scorch?”

After a few more glances, Venom saw Scorch walking up to a bright pink alicorn with an oversized rainbow mane and tail. She also had large yellow wings and a long horn that was striped with red and green. To top it all off, she had a pair of huge glittery blue eyes that seemed to sparkle drastically.

Resisting the urge to throw up in his mouth, Venom immediately ran up to him. “Scorch, what are you doing?!”

“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m trying to get us to Princess Shadowflank!”

“I know, but should we really be asking for directions from… from… that thing?!”

“If it helps us find Nova, then yes!”

“your looking for Nova?”

The two of them turned to the pink alicorn, now sweating heavily. There was no going back now.

“hi Im princess Sparkle Rose! Im Novas bestest friend since we were fillys!”

“Er… you know her?” Scorch asked, cringing heavily.

“Yea! shes the most special powerful alicorn princess! my mother Celestia said so!” ‘Sparkle Rose’ answered with a bright smile. “she told me how she defeated 9,000 villins of Equestria with one great big magic blast and became the element of power and the ruler of her kingdom!”

The six changelings and the draconequus stood in dead silence after hearing all that. “…And where is this ‘kingdom’ you’re talking about?” Flutterwings asked.

“its the most beutiful castle youve ever seen! its big and purple and beutiful and its protected with superstrong superpowerful magic that blocks out other cretures teleportation!” the alicorn replied. “becaus shes super powerful and the best kingdom ruler in the universe!!!”

More silence. Thistle sighed loudly. “…I’m guessing your mother told you that, too?”

“yes!!!!!”

“Well, guess what, Sparkly Glitterpants?” Venom suddenly snapped. “This ‘super powerful kingdom ruler’ has kidnapped the changeling prince! We have to know where she’s taken him so we can get him back!”

“WHAT?!?!?!?!” the pink alicorn suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs, her once-glittery blue eyes now glowing a bright blood red. “HOW DARE YOU TALK BADLY ABOUT NOVA SHADOWLIGHT!!!!! IM THE PRINCESS OF HAPPYNESS AND YOU MADE ME SUPER ANGERY SO PREPAR TO BE BANISHED TO THE SUN FOR 1,000 YEARS! I WILL TRANSFORM TO MY DARK SIDE PRINCESS BLOOD ROSE!!!!”

The Change Gang jumped at the abrupt outburst. Discord, however, rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed by this pony’s painfully unsubtle attempt to be threatening. He snapped his talons, and a zipper appeared on Sparkle Rose’s mouth, sealing it shut.

“Nice try, my dear, but I’ve seen Angel do better.” He turned to the six changelings. “I think we’ve gathered all the information we need.”

He snapped his claws again, and within a flash of light, the group teleported to a dark gray pathway that led up a very large hill. They looked in the same direction of the path and saw a huge purple castle resting on the very top of the hill underneath a shimmering moonlight.

“I’m guessing this is it?” Cricket asked.

“Hm… it does look rather promising,” Discord said as he appraised the building. “Though, I thought we’d be able to teleport inside the castle, or at the very least teleport right at the door.”

“Great… don’t tell me the ‘magic that blocks teleportation’ thing is real in this world…” Flutterwings groaned.

“…it wouldn’t be too out-of-the-ordinary, actually.”

“…So, we’re all gonna have to head all the way up there on our own wings and hooves then?” Scorch asked.

“Mm…Yes.”

And so, they all continued onward.

“and then they made fun of my wings and my magic so i killed them all with one great big powerfull magical blast!!!”

Pharynx slumped his head against the table with a deep frown plastered on his face; for the very first time in his life, he’d rather sit in the Feelings Forum than sit within six feet across from this mare in her own overly-decorated dining room. The rope tied around his forelegs and torso and the magic suppressor on his horn only made matters much, much worse.

Nova lowered her head and whimpered. “no one in equestria ever understands all the pain i went through. I was bullied a lot as a kid and all the ponys hate me just because i was diffrent.” She looked up and stared into his lavender eyes. “youre the only pony to ever care about me and love me.”

Pharynx breathed through his gritted teeth, lifting his head up. “Okay, first of all,” he began, “I’m not a pony. I’m a changeling. Secondly—”

“i know what its like to be diffrent.”

The changeling furrowed his brow as Nova cut him off. “…What?”

“your different from all the other changlings when your brother became leader just like how i was different from all the ponys.”

“…Okay, I can somewhat get behind that, but that’s not the point.”

Nonetheless, Nova continued. “but now i know what true love feels like and what it truly means. ever since i met you ive always loved you becaus you were nice to me.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s nice and touching, whatever,” Pharynx muttered, straining in his ropes. “Now, if you excuse me for once, I should be getting back to my brother before he’s suddenly smart enough to realize I’m gone.”

“what?! but you cant leave me! not now! please dont leave!”

“Why can’t I?”

“because…” the purple alicorn trailed off. “there is something i’ve been wanting to ask you.”

“For how long? Two hours?” Pharynx quipped, still trying to break the rope. “Save it, because I don’t need to hear it.”

“its really inportant for both of our kingdoms,” Nova said. “we can rule together in love and peace and harmony for the rest of our lives. we can battle equestrias greatest and strongest enemes and become the most powerful in the world.”

“Listen, please,” the changeling growled as he glared at the alicorn. “At least let me—”

“Prince Pharynx. will you marry me—”

“No, I will not marry you. There. I said it. Can I go home now?”

The alicorn’s eyes suddenly widened. “w-what??”

“You heard me,” Pharynx said bluntly. “I have an army to run, a brother who has an entire kingdom to run, I have friends, I have family, but you know what else I have?”

“…what?”

“I have a girlfriend!” the changeling snapped loudly. “A girlfriend who’s probably done with her duties as Twilights personal guard, and is probably back at the gala wondering where I am!” he yelled. “How hard is it to understand that she needs me? And so does my brother? And his subjects and literally everyone else in the hive?!” He breathed heavily through his teeth.

A moment of silence occurred between the two. Without warning, Nova started hysterically bawling and sobbing and wailing at the top of her lungs.

The changeling breathed through his nostrils. “…I see you’ve finally got my point. Now can you please take me back now?”

Pharynx didn’t know what he was expecting as an answer to his question, but he certainly didn’t expect a pair of stallions with pitch black coats wearing bright and shiny purple armor to suddenly burst into the room.

“Princess! whats the problem?!?!” one of them said, his bat-like eyes darting across the room.

“w-why do you HATE me?!?!?!” she eventually asked between sobs. “you hate me just as much as Tempest does!!! why does everyone treat me this way?! why does everyone hate me?!”

“Tempest doesn’t even know you!” Pharynx spat back with a snarl. “You’re the one who keeps claiming that!”

“PRINCE PHARYNX HOW DARE YOU SPEAK RUDELY TO THE ELEMENT OF POWER?!?!”

The changeling turned to the pair of guards who were now trotting over to him with death glares. “I’m sorry, what?” he uttered. “She just came up to me and called me her boyfriend, despite me having to explain over and over to her that I’m taken, and she suddenly brought me here and asked me to marry her despite me barely knowing her…” he took a breath. “And you’re blaming me for all this?!”

“YOUR A MONSTER!” the guard with the blood red eyes snarled at him. “WHAT KIND OF STALLIONFRIEND TREATS HIS MAREFRIEND THIS WAY?!?!”

The guard with the overly bright blue eyes nodded. “AS PUNISHMENT YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO THE DUNGEON AND YOULL NEVER MARRY NOVA UNTIL YOU APOLOGIZE TO HER!”

“I just made it clear! I don’t want to—” Pharynx tried to speak, but the guards suddenly levitated him up. “Hey! Are you ignoring me?! Let go!”

They both started to carry him out of the dining room and they went to a lone door that was located at the very end of a long hallway. Without saying anything else, they opened the door and threw him inside, locking the room shut.

Pharynx grunted as he was dropped to the floor, groaning and grumbling in pain. “…numbskulls…” he muttered. “I’m in a world full of complete and utter numbskulls.”

He could only stare at the floor he was laying on and sigh heavily.

A much more preferable fate than sitting with an eyesore of an alicorn.

Flutterwings panted heavily as her wings gave out and she ungracefully flopped onto the ground. “Are we there yet?” she asked for the sixth time. “Did we make it?”

Discord looked up at the castle in front of him, humming monotonously while grazing his chin. “Hm… oh dear…” he said as a frown crossed his face, getting the attention of the six exhausted changelings. “…I’m afraid our prince is in another castle.”

“WHAT?!” they all screamed in unison.

The mirthful smirk on the draconequus’ face said it all. “…I’m kidding.”

The Change Gang exhaled heavily. “Whatever,” Spiny said as he trotted up to the door. “Any ideas on how we’re gonna get inside without anyone noticing?”

“Perhaps we could go through that balcony up there.” Cricket pointed upward at the nearest tower, which indeed had a fancy balcony.

“Hm… I don’t see any holes in your plan, but that could only be because you all lost them when you all transformed.” Discord shrugged.

Cricket sighed. “Don’t remind me.”

With that, the six changelings flew upwards and landed right onto the balcony, Discord floating up after them. Upon carefully opening the door and walking inside the castle, they all took a moment to gaze at the interior, specifically at the many gaping hallways.

Venom took a breath. “Okay, everyone, let’s get this over with.”

Author's Note

There they go to save the day.