Luna's Absence

*A few days before the wedding*

Luna sat in her chambers, reading a book while sipping a cup of tea, when she felt the tingle of somepony having a nightmare. She scrunched her brow in slight confusion, seeing as she hadn't had raised the moon yet. She opened the curtain to one of the windows, to confirm is was only a little past noon. She contemplated this for a moment being closing her book, setting down her tea, and closing her eyes to reach out to the pony in need. She opened her eyes to find herself in the hall where Cadence's and Shining Armor's wedding was to take place. "How very odd..." She thought to herself. She saw Cadence pacing and muttering to herself, then the room turned dark. She turned and saw a bug like pony standing there behind Shining Armor. Luna gasped as she recognized the insect-like wings, the hole ridden hooves and horn, and the fangs slightly protruding from her lips. "It...It can't possibly be..can it?" She felt her heartbeat speed up at the thought of her little Antumbra, but she pushed that thought aside as she heard Cadence speak.

"You won't get away with this Chrysalis!"

'Chrysalis' chuckled, "Oh but my dear little pony, I already have. I have your husband, in a few days Canterlot, and soon ALL of Equestria!"

Cadence's face fell slightly at the mention of Shining Armor, "N..no, you put a spell on him! He still loves me, I know he does".

"Oh? You think he still loves you. Why don't we ask him. Dearest Shining Armor, do you love Cadence, or me?"

"I love my queen, and that is you Chrysalis." Shining Armor said, with a surprising amount of emotion in his voice. Luna decided that enough was enough, and used her magic to banish the nightmare. She walked over to where Cadence was, to find her crying.

"What troubles th- you so, niece?" She asked.

"Luna..I..Something terrible has happened. I'm in the crystal caves, that..that monster put me in there and took my place. I don't know how she did it, but she managed to disguise herself as me..And now shes going to take over all of Equestria!" Luna was slightly taken aback, and wanted so desperately to defend the changeling, seeing as she was the mother of the race, but she held her tongue and focused instead on comforting Cadence.

"Dearest niece-" Luna started but Cadence interrupted her.

"You can tell Aunt Celestia I'm done here! Then she can expose Chrysalis, and I will be able to marry Shining Armor!"

"Well, I suppose I could-"

"No! You have to promise Aunt Luna, please...Don't you want me to get out of here? To stop someone from taking over Equestria?" Luna looked away, not wanting to confuse Cadence with her feelings and past.

She sighed heavily, "I promise I will inform my sister of the situation Cadence."

Cadence smiled and sighed in relief, "Thank you Aunt Luna, now I can sleep in peace, knowing I'll be out of the caves soon."

"Cadence, I will do my best. It may take a bit to rescue you though, seeing as we don't want to alert Chrysalis that we know. That said, I would not trust anyone that comes down here unless they prove they are not a changeling in disguise, can you do that Cadence?" Cadence nodded and hugged Luna, smiling widely.

"Alright, I must be off now dear niece. I must bid you goodbye now, I shall see you again soon." Luna closed her eyes again, and when she re-opened them she was back in her chambers. She opened the curtain to the window, to see how much time had progressed. She sighed a small sigh of relief seeing only about 20 minutes had passed. Except now, she had a great burden. Luna sighed heavily as she started to pace, millions of thoughts racing through her mind. They were about evenly split between her still undying love of Antumbra and the changeling race, and her promise to Cadence. "Perhaps I should go to Celestia, maybe then we can deal with this quietly..." She thought to herself. Now steeled with determination, she trotted to her door and took one step out, before hesitating and sighing again. "Perhaps this will be a bit harder than I had originally anticipated..." She thought as her front hoof stayed a few inches above the ground.

"Luna?"

She broke out of her stupor to see Cadence, well Chrysalis disguised as Cadence, walking towards her. She forced herself to smile gently at the mare, "Good afternoon, Cadence. I take it the wedding planning is going well?"

"Yes, quite well. Celestia is in court right now, and I have a break so I thought I'd come have tea with you."

She had to admit, even though she created the changeling with the talent for disguising themselves as other ponies, she was still amazed at the way Chrysalis was able to play Cadence off well. "It appears Chrysalis did not do her research well though, Cadence always calls Celestia Aunt Celestia. " Said a small voice in her mind, reminding herself that this was indeed a tyrant trying to take over Equestria.

"Oh but of course, I have some extra tea bags in my room." Luna said while gesturing back to her room. "Come, dear niece"

'Cadence' followed her inside, and seemed not to notice Luna putting a soundproof barrier on the room, as well as locking the door.

"You can drop the act you know, Chrysalis. I know a changeling when I see one, frankly I'm a little offended you thought you could slip past me unnoticed" Luna said over her back, while fixing the two of them a cup of tea.

'Cadence' stood shocked, and was barely able to sputter, "Wh-what?! Ho-"

"How did I know? Well, you see, I am the one who first created your race. Does the name Antumbra ring a bell?" Luna asked.

Chrysalis dropped Cadence's form,"Yes...She is the mother of all Changelings, as well as the first changeling."

Luna smiled slightly with a motherly tenderness on her face as she passed Chrysalis a cup. "Yes, she was the first, but I am the true mother of changelings. Tell me, does she still live?"

Chrysalis felt love coming from Luna with the mention of Antumbra, but still answered her, "Yes, she is in one of the hives in the Everfree Forest. It is near what is known as The Castle of the Two Sisters."

Luna's heart leaped in excitement as she heard that her little Antumbra was still alive. Her excitement was short-lived though, when she remembered that if Celestia were to banish anypony, it would be to the "Outlands" as they were sometimes referred too. She silently cursed herself, for letting her hopes get up too high. "But," said a different voice from the part of her mind that supported her love of Antumbra, "She had to have survived, in order to carry on the changeling race, so it could be her" Luna cleared her throat, realizing she had been lost in thought.

"Did you say something Chrysalis?"

"How come you aren't calling the guards right now? Is this a trap? And how do you know Antumbra?"

"You are essentially my granddaughter, why would I want to imprison you? And I told you before, I am Antumbra's mother, I created her."

Luna looked into her tea cup, smiling slightly as she remembered when Antumbra opened her eyes for the first time to peer at her, her first words, and of course her first flight. Luna chuckled a little, remembering her daughter's buzzing wings, the pride she felt when Antumbra looked at her with a wide grin shouting in joy that "she could do it mother!" She blinked when she heard Chrysalis clear her throat.

"I suppose I should be going then..." She said awkwardly.

"Ah, of course Chrysalis. Before you go though, do you think you can show me where Antumbra's hive is?" Luna's voice was filled with hope at the end.

"It's the least I can do for my....grandmother." Chrysalis said, a little hesitant on the last word, while she set to work on the map Luna had levitated over in front of her.

"Chrysalis?"

She turned from the call of her name, just about to head out the door.

"Yes?"

"...Thank you"

Chrysalis turned herself into Cadence before leaving, and for the sake of keeping up appearances, went on her way to check on things for the wedding.

Luna stayed in her room, closing the doors after 'Cadence'. She lightly packed a saddlebag, expecting to be gone only for a couple hours. She cast an invisibility spell on her bags, so that no pony would be suspicious. She left swiftly, and once she was outside she judged she had about 7 hours before sunset. She spread her wings and flew off in the general direction of Ponyville.

*1 hour later*

Keeping the map levitated in front of her, Luna traversed through the Everfree Forest trying to find Antumbra's hive. She heard the buzzing of wings above her and stood still as she was surrounded by changelings. One of them, possibly the leader of their unit, stepped forward.

"State your business, pony" It hissed at her.

"My name is Luna, and I'm here to see Antumbra"