“I have an appointment to engage in—what my dear mother would call—reckless activity with strangers, so you can join me or you can leave, but quit dragging me down.”
 
Name: Alistair  
Nicknames: Ali, Al (mostly by Dream Catcher)  
Parents: Twilight Sparkle, Thorax  
Special talent: ???
 
(Headcanon: all changelings are biologically intersex, and capable of both asexual and sexual reproduction)
 
Prince Alistair, heir to the throne of friendship and the changeling kingdom, is in over his head. He’s terrified to the core, utterly overwhelmed, and deeply in need of guidance. What overwhelmes the prince is the prospect of his future—Alistair’s future is simultaniously one of firmly set rules and one of absolute mystery, as well as difficult-to-answer questions. His problems include: 1. nopony knows if his mother and other created-alicorns are immortal, and therefor nopony knows if their technically-natural-born-alicorn offspring are 2. while making nuclear families of their own has become popular among the changelings since Thorax’s rule began, it’s still expected for the ruling monarch to be able to asexually reproduce in order to keep the hive going in times of emergency 3. they don’t know if Alistair can do that 4. he’s half pony, the changelings aren’t sure they want him being their primary breeder in the first place 5. if he can lay clutches of viable eggs, will the hatchlings all be immortal, assuming he is, creating a subspecies of immortal part-pony changelings? and 6. if he can’t fulfill these duties, what’s going to happen to the hive when his father is no longer king?
 
In response to these questions, Alistair says “oh dear Celestia,” and throws himself headfirst into every possible distraction available to a wealthy, able-bodied prince. Alistair’s list of more-than-friends-but-less-than-special-someponies is a mile long, and he seems to have made it personal mission to attend every rager and impossibly-wild get-together in Equestria, while blowing off every fancy-shmancy gala and meeting that comes along in the meantime. Any princely duty that he can wriggle out of and even those one would think he couldn’t, you can bet that he will. Despite his burried terror, Alistair presents himself very differently. He’s a red-blooded (well, green-blooded actually), cocky, ultimately kind but playfully pushy sort of guy. He likes to drag his friends into the trouble he’s keen to cause, and anyone willing to hang out with him has better also be willing to get reprimanded but a literal princess at some point the next morning. Despite a mischievous nature, Alistair is a solid pony underneath, and really does want to be the best prince he can be… It’s looking so difficult to be that, that he’d rather go full-force the other way and be the worst.
 

 
Relationships:
 
Alistair is absolute pals with his father, Thorax. He doesn’t try to push him, is always there to support him, and knows the awkwardness that can come with being a young changeling. His mother is another story. Twilight loves her son and Alistair loves her as much, but she’s the parent that the demands come from—‘Alistair you need to think about your future’, as if he doesn’t already. He feels pressured by her on subjects he’s sure that she knows he’s already insecure about, and fully believes that she’s just trying to bother him—the problem being, it’s highly likely she doesn’t know that he is in fact worried, and believes that she’s helping him think about things he never realized. If they could sit down and talk about it their relationship would be more steady, however both are under the impression that they know what the other is thinking. Ultimately, the Sparkle family is still a strong and loving one, but on the subject of Alistair’s life, things get difficult.
 
Alistair’s older brother, Spike, the changelicorn has always looked up to (figuratively and very literally). He’s a leather-jacket wearing dragon who helped teach him to fly, what’s not to love for a young punk. Spike’s daughter Greyscale (ultimately Alistair’s niece, however due to Alistair and Spike’s massive age difference they call each other cousins) he’s closer with, however. They’re both little spitfires and they butt heads and tease each other all day, but it’s all in good fun. On the occasion that he can be bothered to go himself, Alistair likes to drag his disinterested cousin along to dismally formal royal things. She’s the granddaughter of Princess Twilight, she should absolutely be forced to endure it with him, he tells her.
 
The prince doesn’t know his aunt, uncle, or cousin on Twilight’s side very well. It’s not that they don’t see them often, just that they’re a bit too… soft and wholesome for him. He prefers his family on Pharynx’s side, particuarly his cousin Scutellum. Thorax, Twilight, and Alistair spend half of their time in the changeling kingdom, and half of their time in Equestria (switching between the two residences every month and leaving Pharynx in charge when they’re in Equestria, and Starlight in charge when they’re in the changeling kingdom), and Scutellum is as close with her cousin as two bugs can be. They push and challenge each other in various ways, particularly enjoying playing games that involve dares and too much danger.
 
One of Alistair’s closest friends is his fellow prince, Dream Catcher. He finds his naïveté and open, genuine personality to be adorable, and puts a lot of his energy into cracking the darn shell around him and dragging him into some fun! He just wants to help his friend be a little happier—Dreamy enjoys letting his mane down every time, and even he admits it’s worth it to get in trouble for now and then. However, Dreamy in turn makes Alistair tighten up if he has to loosen up, and often forces him to attend boring meetings and put on his darn regalia, insisting he take his own princely duties at least partially seriously. Dreamy is one of many ponies that Alistair has had fleeting romances with, and, being devoted friends already, they’ve been the most serious of those relationships. In addition to Dream Catcher, Alistair has long harbored somewhat of a crush on the alicorn’s cousin, Princess Methodical Madness, however he’s noble enough to not act on it.
 
Among his other hookups is Blueblood’s daughter, Narcissa Serenata. Narcissa, like Alistair, has had a great deal of short-lived relationships and flings, and basically any time their paths crossed they could be counted on to disappear for a while. Alistair and Narcissa have a strong platonic love for each other otherwise. Alistair is a bit protective over her, and Narcissa always tries to be there for him.
 
Alistair managed to make friends with the gruff, unwavering son of Gilda and Garble, Giraffititan, during one of his days in Canterlot. Turns out, underneath that hard exterior he likes to party as hard as Alistair does! He’s one of the only ponies not intimidated by Titan’s intensely loud and affection drunk-self. …They may have hooked up too, but no big thing.
 
Another friend of the changelicorn’s is Discord’s oldest, Existential Qrisis. The draconequus is a doom-and-gloom-y magician with a fondness towards chaos and pranks much like his father, and sees no reason not to join Alistair in his party-animal lifestyle. They relate in the area of not being much of a ‘proper’ prince, and have had more than a few talks about the subject.
 
Though he’s close with Dream Catcher, Alistair’s best friend in the world is Moondancer and Sunburst’s son, Stardust. They met in first grade—Stardust was on his way to Ponyville Elementary, Alistair was on his way to be picked up and delivered to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Their friendship blossomed from their twice-a-day interactions as they walked to and came home from their respective schools. They began spending time after school together, then spending weekends hanging out, eventually just spending as much time as they could in each other’s company—playing together, reading together, not-doing their homework together—and by the time they were in their late teens, they knew they meant more to each other than just friends. However, around that time, princely things were starting to get real for Alistair, and not long after Stardust’s band took off and set him on the road. They wanted to be with each other, however Alistair didn’t want to drag his closest friend into the confusion and controversy around himself, and Stardust didn’t want to interfere with the success of his band and other best friends—or himself. For the moment, the two stay at a romantic stalemate. They aren’t dating, but when things calm down they’ll see what happens, and for now they’re best friends… with a mutual crush… who see other ponies. Not ideal, but the future absolutely holds good things.