Permanent Scars

Comets screamed through the sky, blazing a trail through the sky. It was a rare sight in that part of the galaxy, unseen by Equestrian folk and their neighbors, but a beautiful spectacle that danced for Vulden. Dragons everywhere departed their comfortable urban homes full of Plexiglass and steel to lie on the hills outside of Phoenix Mountain. The blood-red mountain stood almost 300 feet tall. While unimpressive, it was the origin and nest of many phoenixes throughout the land, and one of the best spots for viewing the wonders of space. Relaxed and at ease, dragons settled in on comfortable grass, only to be left gaping in horror, for they were the first to see the night that broke the peace.

Changelings are fickle, disgusting creatures. They'd been at peace with the known planets for awhile, until that fateful day. The day of the Royal Wedding. Deception won out over love, if only for a brief moment, but it was in that moment that the Changelings showed what true nightmares they could be. Celestia would confide her faults to me later, admitting her incorrect assumptions. "I don't think I every fully understood what Changelings were capable of. Even after the invasion, they seemed more like a funny joke you could pull on someone than a real threat. If I had known what was coming, I would have understood the cry for help I ignored."

Yet who could blame her? Such a shape-shifting menace is gruesome and horrifying! How could one not be terrified by simply staring into the daring green eyes that had spelled the end of many a victim? Simple: they fed on love. It's amazing how cute and adorable something can become when a factor like that is thrown in. The poor creatures appear to need love, that they only do what they do so they can survive another day. And they're feeding off of love, how harmful can they be? Then the shell shocker. Think of it like this: changelings do not need love to survive, they simply feed off of it. It's their favorite form of food, but it's not necessary. If that was the case, the changelings as a whole would have died off eons ago, as they were some of the first life forms in existence. Feeding off of each other's love would only lead to extinction, and it would have the whole race in chaos before they could even understand the problem. We don't know what they eat, but it can be assumed that love is not their only form of nutrition.

But so what? Ok, so they get their favorite food out of us. And for what? What can they do with such an insubstantial thing. It's not real, you can't hold it. It's not a weapon of destruction, and some would argue the truth: that love is merely a chemical reaction in the brain, and the idea of love being separate from all other neural decisions is absolute idiocy. One thing that cannot be refuted, however is this: love has extraordinary power. How badly can a marriage or relationship go awry because a particularly fine-looking sir or lady happens to pass by! It's so small, but immensely potent. We turn to the Royal Wedding once again, as it's our best point of evidence. Even before the false Cadence began placing spells on Shining Armor, you could see how much he trusted her, no matter how unsubtle the changes were! The personality change, not remembering Twilight after years spent with her, and even flat-out inconsistent behavior and speech. But he was convinced it was the real deal, and bound by his love, Shining Armor fell face first into her trap. Just one feeling, one emotion, and that was all Queen Chrysalis needed to flip an entire nation on its head.

Such a power was unknown to dragon kind. They had heard stories of changelings, but thought nothing of it. That is, of course, until that night. Under the cover of the comet shower, changelings cackled and approached the foreign planet of Vulden. Time slowed as thousands of black dots fanned out across the planet. The queen would not be present for this; she had other matters to attend to. Missiles armed with fangs and a craving for love dive-bombed into airspace. King Frevonite, the ice dragon monarch over Vulden would recall this later. "It was terrifying. Here you have creatures only heard of in myths and legends ransacking your entire nation. They...they took everything." And indeed they did. No home was spared, no crevice was hidden, and the changelings loved every minute of it.

Dragons, in terms of size, dwarf changelings on average by at least 4 feet, assuming we are comparing adults. However, the fear factor can make something that small immensely terrifying. This was because they didn't understand what changelings were capable of. They weren't prepared for a changeling invasion. In fact, they weren't prepared for an invasion at all. Dragons are, by nature, stone-cold and resolute. Ponies, cockatrices, and even manticores have problems staring a dragon in the eye, because dragons fear nothing, and they know nothing would dare to challenge them. Because the changelings were clever, they saw this, and when they came with such a headstrong, confident attack, the dragons froze in their tracks. Combining this blatant assault and the disadvantage of no prior knowledge about these creatures, it created an ominous, horrifying atmosphere, and the changelings only took advantage of it. Some fought back, but it was pointless. They were bound up in the infamous green slime while the changelings fed, free of danger.

Yet it wasn't this that warranted such anger and vengeance. The dragons of Vulden had a very kindred spirit among them. They were bred as fighters, but were taught respect and brotherhood among these things, especially tolerance for non-dragons. They knew their power, and were taught not to abuse this. Sure, there was indeed comfortable living in urban cities and everything that came with that, from economics, politics, and even some commerce with other planets (Vulden, at the time, was completely unified under King Frevonite). But every dragon, regardless of job or type or anything else, was raised with these basic morals. The changeling invasion of Vulden did not take away their morals, but it changed them in a way that describes President Kennedy's assassination (RIP): it was the day the nation lost its innocence. No longer were the dragons of Vulden carefree and just. They would remain tolerant still, but they sought revenge. They sought punishment, and they had the power to do so. This, good friends, is where we start our story.