The Alter Accords

Chapter Sixteen: A New Start and The Road to Forgiveness.

When asked about why Star was still at the hospital, as Lego as well, he would have gave the answer that he was gathering some public sentiment and news about what had been happening while he was out. It was a lie but it’s what he would have told others he was doing. Truth was he and his personas were scared and not just of one thing but too many to count.

The big ones were obvious; he was terrified of all the ponies suddenly knowing his secret. The second was another obvious one; it was he was scared he would run into one of the six that were his friends. Sure he had been told they were working hard to convince other ponies to allow him to stay, but he was afraid that when he looked them in the eye that the friendship, and in some cases more, would be absent.

So it came down to the last obvious reason, one that was terrifying beyond belief and something he honestly had never experienced before. He had a home to go to. While the girls and he had gone to help Braeburn, then to the Crystal Empire, then while he was again out like a light for the time till now, they had finished both the Cake’s home as well as his own.

The logical mind of Lego was the one that finally told the other two to let him take over when they refused to do anything but stay in the lobby of the hospital, however in the end he was ‘gathering info’ as he put it.

‘What happened to you taking us out of here?’ Velox called from the corridors of their mind. ‘You told us ‘listen you two I will do what it takes to get us out of here, stop your bitching and let me have a go’…I may have paraphrased that.’

In defiance Lego stood up and started to head towards the exit only to hear his two companions yelling out not to be hasty. ‘Quiet, while I may not have lost as much as you two, it doesn’t mean I don’t hurt as well. As such I asked myself a question, one you two need to ask yourselves and find the answer to. Are you willing to sit there and let nothing happen, or are you willing to get up and take a step forward no matter how much pain awaits if it means for once in our lives we can have a home.’ There was a moment where the other two were about to say something in the positive but for some reason Lego had to continue. ‘Besides I am not the one being a scared little pony quaking in my horseshoes.’

Novo took offense to that quietly however Velox was telling him to come in there and say that to his mental face. With the fire back in their furnaces he knew they felt better as they were calming down since while they weren’t linked together anymore didn’t mean they couldn’t feel what the others felt, if only through concentration. Something Lego was getting pretty good at as well mapping out the corridors of their mind.

It was starting to feel better even when he seen his favorite pink pony bouncing around. “Hey Pinkie!” ‘I am glad I know for sure she is my friend.’

Pinkie quickly bounced over and smiled. “Hey there, having fun yet? Oh my name is Pinkie, what’s yours?”

“Not yet Pinkie I just got out of the-wait what did you say?” Lego asked confused and a smidge hurt at her question.

The pink pony just started bouncing away saying ‘fun’ over and over again. Lego felt his emotions rising, wanting to say something politely to her or yell at her maybe even ask if something was wrong but his questions were thrown away as a bigger one came into view as he seen something that was both shocking and, honestly, a little frightening.

His eyes widened suddenly when he seen it. “Why-” The bouncing. “-are there-” The calls of fun. “-multiple-” The chaos. “-Pinkie Pie’s?”

Dozens or more of the happy go lucky pony were seen everywhere he turned, there was one messing with Rose, another two chasing Lyra and Bon-Bon, there was even a stack of Pinkies bouncing atop one another in a weird tower formation that he was sure was impossible by the laws of nature in how it was shaped as well as the fact they were all jumping randomly and it actually still holding.

“Hi who are you?” A Pinkie greeted him. He was going to answer when two more popped up asking the same question.

Thinking quickly, something that Lego wasn’t known for normally, he pointed his hoof in a direction and said. “Look a distraction!”

All the Pinkies that were talking to him looked where he pointed, a few even popped up from potted plants and bushes too small to physically hold ponies to look.

Making a break for it he decided on something obvious. ‘Have to find the real Pinkie, either Twilight did something or Pinkie….Pinkie’ed all over the place…Note to self: reexamine the term to identify when Pinkie is doing Pinkie things.’

It took nearly an hour but he finally found a pattern to the Pinkie’s something that both amazed him that he could find and the fact that they had one at all. ‘None of them know who we are, so we keep asking Pinkies till one of them answers correct. That should be the real one.’

Simple in theory but considering the whirl of chaos, energy, and pink movement everywhere he was pretty sure it was going to be annoying to say the least, not to mention time consuming.

“I don’t know.” Came the first few Pinkies giving an honest answer.

“Oh OH you are are are…Big Mac’?” was the second most common answer.

“Pfft pfft pfft.” Came another answer that only made him realize it wasn’t just a Pinkie Pie imitation with overgrown hair.

“Sorry thought you were somepony else Miss?” Lego asked only to be given a series of raspberries he could somehow understand. “Fluffle Puff got it. I won’t make that mistake again. Have a good day.” As he was walking away he thought he saw a butterfly carry her off. ‘Velox, Novo are we sure that wasn’t a Pinkie Pie that was just weird?’

No answer was given from his inner personas except that it was ‘his theory, he should chase it’.

He went to take a rest at a nearby table in front of a Café when he seen another Pinkie Pie sitting there looking depressed so he had to ask. “I don’t suppose you know who I am?”

She looked over to him for a moment before collapsing her head back on the table. “I do, but why are you asking, did you lose your memory again Star?”

“I didn’t thin-” He suddenly hugged her as he realized what she said. “FINALLY! Been looking all over for you Pinkie. What is going on with all the Pinkies?”

She looked up at him from the hug a bit surprised. “What do you mean, how do you know I am not a fake, even I am not sure.”

He poked her nose and smiled. “Cause I know my friends a tiny bit I would think…all things considered.” Lego felt his smile start to drop as he shook his head. “That still didn’t answer my question.”

Sighing she poked her hoof into the ground and began to tell him. “Well I was planning parties and fun for everypony a few days ago when I realized that it’s really hard, I might even miss some. Then with the elections going on I got even further behind, so today when Dash was at the lake and Applejack was raising her barn I didn’t want to miss any of the fun, so remembering the legend of the mirror pool Nana Pie told me, I went to make more of myself but they don’t know a whole lot and just want fun and bounce around not listening to anything and only making things worse.”

The mind of Lego was an analytical one, he seen the problem in this and gave her a hug. “Thank you Pinkie, I am glad you found it and not me.” When she gave him a blank look he just smiled wider. “If it was me that found it, I would have tried to split myself from this body so we could each have our own lives…but if those are only copies and can’t really do much then there was no chance for me to do that. If Novo or Velox had found it, they would have tried a few times regardless and from what you told me, the copies are born with the desire for fun cause you wanted to experience it with your friends. Meaning the copies of Velox or Novo would keep making copies trying to make it work over and over again ad infinitum.”

She smiled a bit but the depression seemed to retake her as she slumped down onto the table and mumbled. “I will be sure to tell the real Pinkie Pie that you thanked her then when I see her.”

Frowning for a moment he wished he had his saddle bags. “Pinkie, do you have a piece of paper and something to write with?” The party pooped pony pulled out a piece of paper and a crayon for him to write with. “Thank you very much.” It took him a minute to write the letter but he smiled and eventually folded it up and wrote on it: Open when there is only one Pinkie left. “Pinkie I want you to keep this, when Twilight, Celestia, or whoever finally solves this, I want you to open that up ok?”

Mumbling out an ‘Okey Dokey Lokey’ she put the paper into her mane. Giving her one last hug he left her alone, rounding the corner not witnessing Dash take off with the Pinkie.

He got to the house that was built next to the Cakes, a two story wooden structure that looked sturdier then most of the buildings in Ponyville, built with many conveniences that the buildings didn’t have since it was of newer design. Rain gutters made of metal that he knew wouldn’t rust, a kitchen inside that was sure to be stocked so he wouldn’t need to buy anything but food, one and a half baths, a basement for studies and some experiments he had plans for, and he hoped a cloud bed along with a regular bed, or at least the suggestion of enchanted fabrics to let anypony rest on clouds.

Only one minor problem Lego faced. “So…how do we get in there, I don’t have a key.”

“I’m me, I’m me, I’M ME!” Pinkie exclaimed as she jumped in the air happy to be the last Pinkie standing. It had been tough for her to watch paint dry but it had been worth it to her just to know she was going to stay with her friends. “Or am I?” This prompted her to search all over touching herself as she quickly had a doubt about her authenticity. “Ya, I am pretty sure I am me, huh what’s this?”

Pulling out the note she had forgotten about she heard the others coming around to see what it was. “What’s that Pinkie?”

Twilight spotted the crayon writing on the folded up piece of paper that read: Open when there is only one Pinkie left. “It’s from Lego.” All the ponies gasped not knowing he was up as she smiled and nodded. “He was talking to me but honestly I wasn’t paying much attention, was kinda down at the time and not my normal Pinkie self.”

Feeling a hoof pat her shoulder she looked to spot AJ there. “S’all right Sugarcube, anyways why don’t’-cha go ahead and open ‘er up.”

Feeling everypony crowd around tighter she unfolded the paper and read aloud what it held. “Pinkie, if you are reading this that means you are the last one standing with whatever Twilight, Celestia, or whoever solved the Pinkie clone problem did. Know that I knew you were the real one; there is only one Pinkie who is my best friend. It hurt to see you depressed like you were but I know you will come out on top…if for some reason the others made a mistake and another Pinkie besides the one I talked to is reading this give it to Twilight. Twilight, somepony bucked up, go get the real Pinkie back right now. Signed: Star.”

Pinkie had tears in her eyes as she read the words to everypony, she could feel them running down her face as she turned to hug her friends as no words could describing the feeling she had then.

They were all heading to Star’s house knowing he would be there wanting to check out his new home. Everypony was excited to see him now that he was up all for different reasons. Some personal, some wanting forgiveness, some wanting to hug there friend, but all were glad he was up and home.

“Look there is a note on the door.” Dash called out to the others having seen the note with her excellent eyesight. Zipping over she took it and came back to read it to everypony. “Relocated to my/our cave home as I/we don’t have the keys to get inside and didn’t want to break in. Contact Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, or Rarity to know how to get in contact with me/us and or to have them come deliver the key to me/us. Signed: Star.”

Of course this led them to the Everfree right away wanting to see him, Pinkie leading the way of course bouncing even more than normal which they were all happy about after finding the real one.

“Hello my dear friends of Ponyville.” Zecora called out as she came out from behind a tree her saddlebags full of Mushrooms of all kinds. “I am glad I could spot you all coming over that hill.” She pulled out a few mushrooms and gave them to each of the six. “Take this shrooms and rub them upon, or the creatures of the Everfree will be here anon.”

They all took one and started to as she asked, well most. “Do we have to dear, these mushrooms are rather fragrant.” Rarity asked taking a sniff of the pungent fungus.

The Zebra gave a nod and smiled. “It most certainly is pony of fashion, as I rather you smell bad then have a creature attack you out of a lack of my compassion.”

Making a face the fashionista did as she was told rubbing it all over. “I am going to need a long scented bath after this.”

While she was fussing over her fragrance Twilight looked to the Zebra wanting to know something. “Did you happen to see Star come around here?”

The stripped equine nodded with a smile. “I seen our shapeshifting friend earlier heading towards his cave, I gave him a mushroom just like I did for you to give him a save.”

“Thank you Zecora.” The magus said with a nod of appreciation.

Giving a quick shift to her bags Zecora started to talk off. “I wish you a good day, and I hope that to see you all again I must say.”

They kept going towards the cave and Rarity scrunched up her nose as they got to the sunken hole of a cave. “Do any of you smell that?”

“I think it is that.” The hovering Pegasus said as she pointed to the chopped up mushroom at the cave entrance.

Fluttershy had taken a hoofkerchief that Rarity was passing out to any that wanted it. “It looks like he chopped up the mushroom at the entrance to the cave, I guess to keep the animals away.”

“Also looks like he was pullin’ up a lot of grass I reckon’.” Applejack told them pointing to a good sized patch of grass missing here and there. “Wonder why that is.”

“Let’s find out!” Pinkie shouted loudly as she bounced into the cave with a smile on her face. “Star, are you in there?”

A grumble came from inside and a shuffle as they all seen the red pony come out and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Hey Pinkie what’s u-.”

Twilight watched as his eyes widened and he seemed to gulp as he seen that they were all there. “Hey Star, we heard you were up and wanted to talk to you, though I guess we should call you Lego when you are like that huh.”

“Y-ya. We are all separate ponies now even if we are all in the same body, kinda weird I know. I can only think that in the terms of mental health having three separate personalities can’t be a good thing but its working out fine for us right now.” There was a moment when Twilight thought he suddenly zoned out before he chuckled. “Novo and Velox wanted me to tell you they said hi.”

The mention of the other two that were a part of him made all the ponies slightly uncomfortable except Twilight who found the thought amazing. “Wait, are you saying all three of you are aware of the others and can talk to one another in your own mind?” With a nod of his head, and a look she missed, she squealed at the knowledge. “This is amazing. Tell me, do you all agree on who is in control or is one of you more dominant then the others and takes control?”

Twilight missed another look he gave her as he sighed and turned his head and looked away from her and the rest. “The one who is in control determines everything, he has to give up his position and let another take control for us to shift to that form, but then it means the one who takes the place is now the dominant one. As such it’s a matter of trust and relenting. However we can only shift a few times a day as shifting does cause some strain to our body. Twice is ok, three times tends to leave us in an exhausted state. Four…we don’t talk about four times ever.”

“I would love to test some things, get some readings while you change for your body, your mana levels, your channels, your brain waves, your-.” Twilight got a hoof shoved in her mouth from Pinkie of all ponies. “Oh sorry.”

Turning around he gave them all a smile. “Its fine Twilight, don’t worry about it.”

“Lego.” The suddenly worried party pony said. “Don’t do that please. You can tell us what is wrong.”

Twilight wasn’t sure what was going on as his smiled dropped as he looked towards Pinkie. “Sorry it is just…” Taking a breath Lego let it go slowly. “It is just, all three of us know we hurt you all and don’t want to step on any hooves.”

She knew she was missing something between their exchanges but she didn’t know what it was, what’s more with all that has happened she decided not to look further into it…for now. “It’s alright Lego, you are fine, I mean the reason we came here was to see how you are, oh and to give you the key to your home.” levitating the key in her violet aura she gave it over to him. “I kept it for you until you woke up.”

Putting the key in his mane for now he nodded and came out of the cave more into the daylight causing Rarity to gasp. “Goodness gracious, what are those ghastly stains in your coat?”

This put Lego in the spotlight as everypony looked at him to see he did indeed have many green stains on his coat. “Most likely from the grass bed I made, not much but better then a hard floor of a cave.”

“You simply must let me help you rid yourself of those awful things.” Rarity offered him no doubt thinking of herself in those same circumstances.

Holding up a hoof though he waved her off. “No thanks Rarity, as generous as the offer is, I rather scrub my own coat.”

All of her friends gave a giggle at seeing her blush as he said that. “I-I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It is ok Rarity, I knew what you meant. Anyways I was going to go fishing after I woke up so I will be heading to the lake.” Twilight was disappointed when she heard that but decided that it was for his diet as he did need the protein and very little was most likely given to him while he was unconscious as most of the medical facilities in Ponyville weren’t meant to handle protein eaters. “We will see you all later.”

They watched him as he headed out of the cave and towards where thought assumed a river was. “I will catch you all later as well, there was something I wanted to ask him so I will meet you all back at Ponyville.”

Once more they watched a friend headed off as Twilight smiled to the girls. “See girls, he isn’t upset at us.”

“Why are you upset at them?” Pinkie asked as they got to the lake. It was obvious that Lego didn’t want to be around them as he had no fishing gear at all at the lake nor did he bring any with him.

Sighing as he knew he couldn’t hide it from her he just gazed out onto the lake. “Pinkie I wonder, besides my own smile, how many of their smiles were fake?” Seeing her wince he knew the answer. “Exactly. I may not be the best when reading another pony, but even I could tell most of them were straining themselves.”

“Its cause they are scared Lego.” The pony defended her friends. “Except Twilight, she really was being honest.”

“Ya, she was.” He knew he put too much extra into those words as he seen Pinkie turn her head quickly in his direction out of the corner of his eyes. “Pinkie, she is so excited to examine me, so excited to see something new, she is happy for an opportunity.”

The sight of Pinkie biting her lip meant he was on to it. “Ya Twilight gets like that, but she gets like that for a lot of things. I mean she tried to examine my Pinkie sense too but it doesn’t mean we still aren’t friends.”

He took a moment to listen to the others inside his head but they were just as doubtful as he, he really wanted to believe but wasn’t sure if he could especially as every time he wants to all the betrayed looks from the cell return from his memory to super impose themselves onto his friends. “Maybe.”

“Maybe my flank.” Pinkie told him with a smile. “I know I am right this time. Besides Applejack and Rainbow Dash miss your other sides, I am sure they want to see them.”

He paid close attention to those particular faces earlier when he had mentioned Novo and Velox’s greetings, something which they protested in his head that they didn’t say at that time. Didn’t matter though, the looks everypony gave was more than enough to prove the point and that point was nothing would be the same, the trust that was there was gone and he wasn’t sure it would come back to help his other sides.

“Pinkie, I want honesty from you, not for me, not for you, but for Velox and Novo.” He turned and looked her right in the eyes. “Do you honestly think a relationship will work for two ponies inside one body with two others? Can you honestly say that Rainbow Dash or Applejack will agree to share a body, to share the trust that the ones they love are with another and be ok with that? That the trust they placed into the pony they care for will return as strong as before they knew about us?”

Pinkie opened her mouth to say something, Lego watched, Velox and Novo watched from inside as well, they watched and watched but all gave a sigh when she closed her mouth and spoke. “I don’t know. I wish I could say yes to you three, but I watched as all the others were hurt when you changed.” He was about to get up and walk away as she continued. “But I was also there when your story was told, they all want to make it up to you, honest! Does that mean Velox and Novo will have what they had before, I don’t know, but it doesn’t mean it has ended as of yet.”

Lego wanted to say something anything but in the end he sighed and closed his eyes and stared at his other two personas. “Well it is up to you two…is she right, do you want it to end?”

Velox stood up and shook his head. “I don’t want it to; it’s just…just…”

Novo seemed to understand what he was saying and finished for him. “We don’t want to hurt anymore Lego.”

“Yeah.” The Pegasus said in a downtrodden tone. “We both love who we love but, the looks on their faces…it hurts so much Lego, I am tired of my heart dying in my chest.”

The earth pony looked at them and asked again. “So you are letting it end?”

They were both silent and Lego started to turn and was about to exit when he was given an answer. “No. I am not letting me and AJ end like this. But…I won’t lie either, I am not going to be going full blast into it just in case.” Lego was impressed, as of the three of them he was the most gung ho about anything. “I just…I don’t want to end up screwing things up, so I am going to go slow and earn AJ’s love and trust back, or at least give it my all and hope we end up as friends at the very least.”

Lego watched as Velox was surprised by a sudden hug from his brother. “Thank you Velox, I kinda needed to hear that myself. I feel the same way just about Dash. Slow and steady wins the race right?”

Leaving his mind he turned and gave his best friend a hug. “They aren’t going to let it end like this Pinkie, they are going to continue, just…slowly.”

He felt her hug him back and smile almost ear to ear as he said that. “Good to hear Waffles, now what say we get you home and start planning your official three in one party?”

Wincing upon hearing that, he shook his head. “Pinkie as much as I would like that, I don’t want a party.” Her gasping prompted him to explain himself. “Pinkie, when I got some paper and a quill from the Cakes they told me by how much I got to stay in the town with the votes. While mid sixties is a good margin, there is still a third of the town that didn’t want it. So I want other ponies to get used to things first ok?”

“That isn’t the only reason is it?” It was a question for sure but one he knew she had the answer to even before he spoke it.

Sighing he looked to the lake again and threw a rock as best he could causing it to skip a few times over its crystal smooth surface. “We are afraid Pinkie, all of us. Our dearest friends were hurt by us and they saw it directly, other ponies are going to want to see us change to and I have a feeling they won’t react much differently even if they know already. While it may not be logically true that it will happen since they are prepared for it, I-we all still worry about that and we just want a home even if it’s only for a little while.”

“Alright.” The pink pony told him. “I would ask as many ponies to come as possible and that would mean that there might be party poopers there.” Thinking a moment she smiled. “Maybe when you get a.bit more confident we can throw some small parties that will get bigger and bigger till you have your official one. How does that sound?”

He wanted to say no, he wanted to disagree and not have one ever but the look on his friends face was too much. “As long as you let me decide when I am ready for the first small party, then sure.”

Feeling a hug come his way he responded with his own hug. He and his other minds were very happy Pinkie was still their friend at this moment.

The next few days for them were challenging, first came actually trying to shop, especially to fill his pantry. Most of the shop keeps were actually very nice and understanding, the few that weren’t well, he had to pretty much either pay extra or shop at other stands for the ingredients that he couldn’t obtain or find different ingredients to replace them. Novo had a fit when he learned one of the lead up’s to the Pinkie Clones was Pinkie running into Twilight while she was attempting some transmutation. That wasn’t the part that threw him into a craze, it was learning that when Twilight got startled by Pinkie, her spell diverted and hit a bird turning it into a citrus-avian hybrid with no side effects whatsoever. Needless to say Novo refused to come out into the open after that muttering in the back of his brother’s mind about a certain rule breaking unicorn.

Lego was uncomfortable around Rarity as she was trying to get them all to come over at one point or another so that she could take their measurements for clothing she wanted to make them. He politely declined the offers each time claiming that if they changed while dressed up, it would ruin her work. She bought that thankfully though it wasn’t close to the real reason, honestly they were all still nervous around their friends and Rarity wanting to measure him was bringing flashbacks to Lego about Photo Finish.

Velox was enjoying flying again though would often run into Dash during those flights asking how they were and if Novo was doing ok. While hesitant at first Velox found talking to the prismatic mare easier than others as they were alike in many ways. When asked if he could switch Velox was about to agree but was stopped by Novo saying he wasn’t quite ready yet leaving Velox to make the excuse that today was ‘his’ day. Novo felt bad about that as he watched from inside their mind as Dash looked crushed for a quick second then tried to brush it off by saying ‘it was no big deal’.

Encounters with the rest of their friends were different then the last few. Twilight seemed like she was reading a lot more though when they came around she asked if they would stay around to run a few tests. For the most part they could talk themselves out of those but had to give up a few blood samples and mouth swabs to actually excusing themselves. Pinkie was a delight always to see often giving them hugs and sharing treats she always seemed to have, and always the flavor each of the brothers enjoyed most. Spike seemed to always be a bro to the three and was honestly quite easy to start forgiving as he was being so helpful to them.

It was the last two of their major friends that were troubling them: Applejack and Fluttershy. They hadn’t seen hid nor hair of either of them, which was strange, as they would still head to work as Lego after Big Mac’ came around asking when he was going to come back to helping out Sweet Apple Acres. Flutteryshy seemed like the world’s best stealth artist as there were times when they could swear that one of them heard her voice right before turning the corner only to see no pony there. It was rather saddening for Velox as he had asked Lego if they could switch out if they seen AJ, to which he said yes, only never actually seeing her.

In the end all three found themselves in their minds discussing what to do. First on their agenda was talking to all their friends.

“We can’t keep hiding and avoiding some of them. We have to tell them what is on our minds.” Velox said his feathers ruffling in the mindscape that Lego had made into a recreation of the lake in the Everfree.

The unicorn of the three shook his head. “I’m sorry, I am trying but every time I see Dash I want to but when we talk to her, she seems off.”

The biggest pony of the three agreed with a lazy nod. “She does seem…anxious but it might just because she is nervous talking to us and extension you.”

“You are going to have to face her sometime Novo.” Said the preening Pegasus, why he needed to do that in their mind none of them knew. “If you don’t I think it’s going to end up worse for you. It is why I am trying to find AJ and have asked you both to let me take over if we see her…but…I guess she doesn’t want to see me.”

Both the brothers looked at the blue pony, both figuratively and literally. They both knew he was taking the missing farm mare hard but they both understood. It would be a coincidence if she was gone or busy, but they never seen her at work when working there. They often hear of their friends running into her, and most of all there was one time when they could have sworn she abandoned her apple cart to hide from them as they found it unattended. Lego promptly took over it selling to any pony that would buy from them but it did sadly have an effect on the cart’s business.

“Do…do you think she hates me?” The Pegasus asked them with tears in his eyes only to get no answer from them. Wiping them away he chuckled dejectedly. “Shouldn’t really be a surprise, she is a wonderful sweet mare who’s heart I broke. I am the lowest of the low.”

They both wanted to say something to comfort him, but neither knew the words. That and it was making Novo think of his own problems with Dash, he was basically avoiding her like Applejack was to Velox, if this was how he was feeling Dash must have it just as bad…right?

“Hey Lego, I think I am going to walk around tomorrow you don’t mind do you?” Lego turned to his green brother with a brow raised before shaking his head.

“Go right ahead. I may not know what you are thinking but it doesn’t mean I can’t feel the cogs turning. After all I am better with our mind then both of you right now just because of how much I explore and categorize.” The red earth pony said with a smile to him. “I will keep Velox company and try to help him out…actually…” He turned to Velox with a smile. “Did you know you have private room in our head?”

“I have a room in our head?” The sniffling pony asked curiously. “Wait, we have rooms period?”

Lego rolled his eyes with a chuckle. “I will give you a tour if you like or just show you your room.”

“I would like that.” Both Velox and Novo said which caused them all to chuckle.

Lego turned to them with a smile. “When I am in here whoever is with me I will start teaching out to explore, should help me a bit as well since I want to know it all, that and I have found some locked rooms I don’t know how to open. Who knows maybe those doors have our missing memories.”

That sounded worthwhile to all of them and so they agreed.

Novo was flying solo today, Lego was teaching Velox about their mind so he told Novo that they weren’t observing so they couldn’t provide back up, almost like the good ol’ days when they were all one being.

‘Ok I prepared for this day, I know what I am going to do, and I know what I have to do. Ok first time to lure Pinkie to talk to her as she would know where Dash is.’ Opening up his fridge he pulled out a muffin and a cupcake. ‘Don’t kill me Pinkie and I am sorry.’ Taking a bite from each he put on his best smile and spoke. “Mmm muffins sure are better the cupcakes.”

He started to sweat as he heard the heavy sounds of hoof beats running down the road, he knew this would end badly so he already had precautions he just hoped she read the sign he was holding up in his magic.

“WHAT?!” The irate voice of the pink party pony called out to his home as she rushed through the door and inside to the kitchen. “How can you say muffins are better then-” He was rapidly tapping the sign he was hiding behind wanting her to read it. “Sorry Pinkie it was a joke, but I wanted to talk to you in private and I kinda wanted to prank you as well.” Pinkie said reading the sign out loud. Glaring at him she grabbed him and shook him in her hoofs. “NEVER JOKE ABOUT CUPCAKES!” He felt his eyes swirling around in his head and his forest green coat turning to a sickly shade of green even as she sat him down with a giggle. “So what can I do for you Coffee?”

Novo tried to speak but felt the bites of the sweets come back up on him, thanks to the shaking from a moment ago, as he pulled a nearby trashcan to him to empty his stomach.

Pinkie just giggled and smiled. “Must have been the muffin you ate.”

‘Mental note to self…make sure I never say that phrase again.’ Smiling at the mental reminder he added. ‘Addendum: make sure Velox does it.’

While that was all in good fun he had managed to talk to Pinkie eventually after his stomach settled. She had told him that she was ‘hanging around the north east-ish end of town’ somewhere between the library, clock tower, and the school. Novo knew the spot she was talking about as it was one of Dash’s favorite spots, easy flying distance to find Scootaloo, though he never met her himself, easy distance to Twilight, and only a short flight from the library to Sugarcube Corner for a snack break.

He was mentally starting to sweat as he got closer and closer, even having to stop when he seen a lone cloud that no doubt could support a Pegasus in a cloudless sky. Gulping and finding his legs becoming shaky as he approached seeing a rainbow colored tail trapped off one of the edges of the weather formation he knew he had come to the right place.

Closing his eyes he started to talk to himself in his mind. ‘Ok, you can do this, you can do this, confidence, confidence, you got this…I think.’ Taking in a deep breath to calm himself he pulled off a piece of the cloud with his magic and changed it to water holding it over where he assumed the Pegasus was. “Well, here goes everything.”

Letting the small ball of water go there was a faint splashing in the distance that quickly was followed up by sputtering and a loud ‘HEY!’ as Dash quickly stood up and started looking around. “Alright who is the wise pony who woke me from my-” Novo was waving at her and could see her eyes grow big at spotting him.

He was starting to get nervous as she silently flew down quickly and landed in front of him. “S’up Dash, came to see how you were do-.” He didn’t get a chance to say anything at all as he was cut off when her lips pressed against his though he was too stunned at the sudden turn of events to kiss back.

She quickly broke the kiss and started to nuzzle him eagerly and whispered. “Hey, long time no see.”

He felt the emotions welling up in him as he just simply leaned down to nuzzle her back closing his eyes so the tears of happiness wouldn’t spill down his face. “Ya, sorry about that.”

Snow flurries were constant in this region and honestly Egnach hated the cold. “Professor Adapt has a great assignment for me, I am the only one who can do it. Oversee your fellow changelings in the digging. Bah all lies to get me out of his way to steal my work. However once I am done here and I can bring the artifact back to the Princess, no no no I need to stop saying that its Queen now, once I bring it back to the Queen I can get rid of that old codger.” Egnach was currently in the form of an earth pony with a shovel along with dozens of other changelings. “Queen Pupa will reward me like no other, not even Chrysalis when she was feeling generous will reward me like she will.”

Seeing a pony head pop up from the corner he heard a voice. “Egnach you really need to stop talking to yourself, the others already thing you have problems. Plus its best not to mention the former Queen at all if you remember.”

Egnach remembered, they all remembered. The last changeling to mention the former Queen Chrysalis had been executed by other changelings who sucked him dry. He didn’t mind the former Queen, she was a good ruler but too ambitious for her own good.

‘That is why Pupa took over, true she was looking for an excuse for a long time but when Chrysalis came back defeated and weak from the failed takeover of Canterlot the coup had almost been too easy. Now that old beetle is wondering the lands cut off from the hive and the hive mind and will most likely die off.’ Egnach shuddered as that was one of the worst punishments possible to be cut off from the hive mind, so bad he didn’t want to think about it.

A ‘tink’ sound came from his shovel as he looked down to see what he struck. Wiping off the snow he quickly smiled and reverted to his natural form and used his magic to lift the severed horn up to show the others. “I found it, I FOUND IT!” The base of the horn was black that slowly changed to an angry red near the tip though looked to have seen better days. “Alright Changelings, form up, we leave back to the hive, we have it. We have the horn of Sombra!” Egnach smiled as he knew the Pr-Queen would be happy with this.

Author's Notes:

Hello all, it is that time time again except there is a slight problem.

There is only one chapter today.

I was trying to break it to them easy brain how could you.

Never tip toe around a possibly bad topic, just rip it off like a band-aid

Maybe, but I also wanted to tell them why. The reason there is only one chapter is honestly this, been having a really bad case of writers block and have been slowly chiseling it away to make progress, as such writing has been slower going then normal.

As such I will keep track of all the weeks there was only one release and some time in the future may release a bunch all at once to make up for it. or an extra long chapter or something.

I noticed you put may in there, it implies you might not.

SHUT UP BRAIN! I-I mean I fully intend to keep that promise...now.

And my work here is done.

You, Me, so much alcohol, so much brain damage!