The Changeling Chronicles

by Shadow Beast

Chapters

Origins, Act 2
An Equestrian Nightmare, Act 1
Changeling Ranks
Emulation Armageddon, Act 1
Emulation Armageddon, Act 2
Emulation Armageddon, Act 3
Origins, Act 1
An Equestrian Nightmare, Act 2

Origins, Act 2

The Changeling Chronicles

Book 1: Origins

Author: Shadow Beast

Act 2: Descending to Equestria

Chapter 1: Echoes of an Ancient Civilization

As I made my way up to Canterlot tower, I only had one thought on my mind. I waited outside the door, when my cue came I burst in. There were others with me. We began shifting our shapes to confuse the enemy. A spear flew by my head, so I flew up to the guard and used my magic to destroy him. Everything was going according to plan. The guards were soon overrun. Then Luna appeared before me. I stopped. Every thought was to kill, and I had to restrain myself from attacking the Lunar princess. Then I noticed her eyes... terrifying, angry and glowing with powerful magic. Her horn began glowing as I felt myself being lifted from the ground. Regret filled my mind and my changeling wings began flapping as fast as they could go. I tried to push through the magic, but she was too strong. All I could think about was survival... “Is this the end?” constantly repeating through my head. Luna smiled and as if she could read my mind she answered that question... “No,” she said... “This is only the beginning!” With a bright flash, I found myself teleported... to my bed. I looked up to see that the sun was facing... another Lunar cycle has passed and it was time to stop sleep and begin work.

My heart was racing as I tried to catch my breath... that was a horrible nightmare. I took a few deep breaths as I reassured myself that it was just a dream. Wasn’t it just a dream? The work day soon passed and I got very little done beyond simply surveying the Everfree sectors as I always do. I tentatively attempted to get some extra sleep. I hoped that a few extra Equestrian hours of sleep would help. They didn’t. The dream kept coming back... even worse than before. The pattern of the dream was very linear, up until the confrontation with Luna. Every night I had a harder and harder time resisting the attack reflex. I began to journal what Luna would say to me as the dream ended: “This is only the beginning.” “You have failed.” “Fear is all you shall know.” “Canterlot will never fall to the changelings.” Finally, sick of all the negatives, I fell asleep once more but this time I had a plan.

I made my way up to Canterlot tower and waited for the cue. Then we burst in and I took the form of a royal guard. I then caught the spear in midair and impaled a fellow changeling on it. It let out a kind of scream I had never heard before, even worse than Night Jumper’s howl in anger all those cycles ago. The changeling didn’t die, and time seemed to slow down to almost a halt. The changeling turned to me, and said in a feminine voice, “Foolish child, you would let Canterlot win this day...” I pulled the spear from her abdomen as I pretended to listen. I exposed my true form, and used my changeling hooves to lift the fallen changeling from the ground. As she regained her balance, she leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “It is not too late. Canterlot will fall, and I want you to be by my side when it happens. The time of the queen is at hoof, and the princesses shall--” her voice got cut off as my spear sealed her mouth shut... permanently. I brought her in closer, my changeling mouth right near her ear, and I yelled as loud as I could: “YOU SAY ONE MORE THING ABOUT THE PRINCESSES AND IT’LL BE YOUR HEART! YOU TRY TO SWAY ME WITH YOUR NIGHTMARES, DEMON! BUT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND MY LOYALTY TO MY PRINCESS! YOU. WILL. NEVER. TAKE. CANTERLOT.” I pulled the spear from her mouth, and sure enough she could talk again... freakin’ dreams... ugh. I digress, but I kinda stopped listening to what she had to say, though I did catch a few terms that made this sound like a true threat. As I controlled the elements of my dream now, I just used my magic to finish her off. But the voice stayed. Her last words before I awoke kept me wide awake for the few hours before my work started: “You may have defeated me, but will your friends be so lucky?” I sat awake in bed until we were over Equestria once again. I had a job to do, but it was going to have to wait. The princess would need to know about this. I dared to guess that whatever was happening to me was also happening to every changeling in Palomoono and Equestria. If what I thought was right, then it could jeopardize every changeling’s existence on the moon. Especially if the others were not as strong, and tried to rise up... but that could never happen here on Palomoono, right?

Chapter 2: The Dark Side of the Moon

I had no idea how many cycles had passed since the nightmares began. The closest lunar calendar was in the dining lounge, but changelings don’t have any need to go there unless it’s for zap apple jam. So I went to the Stardust Reactor, I hoped that the additional walking would be made up for by the good energy coming from within. As I trotted through the corridors that would lead me to the main hall, I began hearing pony voices. There was never this much commotion, not when the dining lounge was open anyways... something must be going on in there. But... these emotions weren’t something I could feed off of... whatever was going on in there was very, very wrong.

I hated large crowds, and the negative emotions wouldn’t weaken me... but I can’t... dang it, my curiosity is getting the best of me... isn’t it? Dang... all right. I suppose I can get my energy back in the Stardust Reactor. So, what can I say? Of course I go in and investigate. What did I find? A dead pony... wait, no he’s alive. False alarm. But he is barely hanging on.

The worst part of it was that the ponies surrounding our fallen comrade were... changelings. Why would they do this? This is horrible energy! The broken glass on the floor indicated he was thrown from one of the offices above... how could this happen? The Lunar Guards finally arrived, and they were genuine moon pegasi... during meal hours. Why weren’t the changeling guards taking care of the situation? Did I miss something? As I looked around, I saw a Lunar calendar... six lunar cycles had passed since my nightmares began, which was about... um, say 25 lunar cycles since Celestia left our humble hooves to celebrate the end of chaos. It’s kind of funny, because I didn’t care that I was gone almost an entire Lunar week... somepony did something they shouldn’t have. As the Lunar Guard split the sea of ponies in order to examine the broken pony, the changelings--still in moon pony forms--slowly, casually turned their heads toward the approaching guards. I knew the guards could sort this out, plus this atmosphere was almost sickening. So I turned to leave, I didn’t see the fighting. I heard everything though, and the air around me became thick... my legs started to feel soft and darkness closed in around me as the world began to spin. I forced my legs to push me forward... and somehow managed to get out of the hall and back into the corridors. It was as though a weight had been lifted from my body. I could breathe, I could see, but I was still not at my best. I trotted to the Stardust Reactor to meditate on the previous events... but my head became more clear as I trotted, and the words of the soldiers and changelings became more audible from my memory:
“Get out of our way... we must pass!”
“You’re not going anywhere... he is ours now! He belongs to the Queen!”
The Queen? The changeling in my dream had also mentioned a “queen,” but the princesses are the rulers of moon and earth. Who is this queen... queen? Queen. No! Must get these thoughts out of my head! The reactor room is just around the corner... I must get there and meditate on the strength of this facility. I turned the corner... the door was guarded by Lunar Guards--changelings. They glared at me, but then a smile began to crease their faces. The look in their eyes was... foreboding, to say the least. I tried to look away, but that was a mistake. There was writing on the walls... “the time of the queen is at hoof” was a common phrase among the many scrawlings that covered the walls, floor, and even ceiling. I recognized way too many of them to be a coincidence... something bad was spreading through the changeling population, and every piece of evidence pointed back to that changeling in my nightmares. If the guards attempted to stop them, it could spark a massive uprising. My nightmares were coming true; I needed to get ready. I needed into the reactor room, but I had no idea how I was going to get past the guards.
“You here to prepare?” the guard asked me.
“...prepare? I-I... I just wanted to see the reactor is all...”
“Huh. Well, you can’t get in unless you are like us.”
“Like you? What is that supposed to mean?”
“If you are like us, then you have witnessed the queen’s power like us. But you must show allegiance to her highness...”
“Excuse me?”
“That charcoal... use it to inscribe a part of her message to us on the walls. Then we will know if you are a true witness.”
“And don’t write ‘the time of the queen is at hoof,’” the other guard interjected, “everypony puts that down and we need more prophecy on these walls!”
I took the charcoal with my magic. As sloppily as I could, I wrote “This is only the beginning....” I put the charcoal down and looked back at the two changelings.
“That’s new.”
“Can I go inside now?”
“Do you swear your loyalty to the queen?”
“I swear my loyalty... to the true royalty.”
“Ooh... you’re good at this.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? She was very specific in my dreams...”
“You have proven that. Please... enter.”
The guards stepped aside, and I casually trotted inside. I was lucky that they wanted me to be a part of this. If they hadn’t, they would have noticed that I never actually pledged loyalty to their queen nor had any reason to ever want to. As I made my way into the main reactor room, I began to feel its strength. However, it was not as strong as it used to be, and I wondered if there were other changelings farther in that were absorbing power too. I found myself at the doors leading inside, but I did not realize what was waiting for me on the other side...

Chapter 3: The Queen’s Armada

I found myself in a room of changelings as far as I could see. Not a single pony in sight. I was greeted by one of the black creatures, who insisted that I show my true form in this “sacred hall.” I really did not have a choice if I wanted a share of the power, so I exposed myself. Every time I had done this before, there was always an emergency... this time there was nothing but relaxation, and I felt very... vulnerable. As I stretched the wings I had forgotten I had, I realized that with my form gone it took longer to feed. I began to look around and notice that my natural eyes perceived things a bit differently. There was something more to the room now, and I began to focus in on it. I could see the emotions... they flowed out of the burning stars beyond the glass, permeating the walls flowing into the bodies of the blackness... it was like seeing millions of shooting stars shooting through a black sky of light blue stars filled with blue nebulae. Dang, maybe I spent too much time stargazing when I was younger... not that all changelings stare at the sky when they’re young... wait, do ponies do that too? Umm... I digress!

The more time I spent outside of my moonicorn form... the more I began liking these natural wings and eyes. But I shook it off... succumbing to these feelings would make me no better than these fools. I began to feel strong again, so I began trotting towards the exit. The blue-eyed greeter decided to investigate, of course. As I began to talk, I realized I had never heard my true voice before. It was weird because it seemed so foreign coming out of my own black snout, which was also weird since my moonicorn coat is a very dark purple. She tried to get me to stay, but I told her that several tasks had been imposed on me by the “true royalty of which I have sworn loyalty.” Like the guards at the door, she only heard what she wanted to, and asked if there was anything she could do to help. Since we were talking about two different rulers, I could not suffer her to come with me. I explained that it was a task meant for me alone. She did not relent, and continued to beg for some way to help my “great cause.” I was getting tired of this arguing...
“Please... there must be something I can help you accomplish...” she would plead, but then I finally snapped:
“For the last time... you’re not coming with me! My undertaking is too complex and too vital to allow any risk of failure! Now please, I have spent the last hour feeding here and this argument is wasting my time AND energy! They are both precious to me right now and I must get going or it may be too late!” I was irritated by this filly... if I did not alert Luna soon, she may not have time to rally her guards for an effective counterattack. Then I looked into those blue-eyes and saw something I didn’t recognize... but it tasted very familiar. I had tasted something similar when I was in the mane hall... she was truly devoted to this queen and this idea of not being able to follow through had broken her heart. Yes, changelings have hearts. Just making sure you knew... some ponies think that just because we feed off emotions means that we don’t have any ourselves. This is just plain wrong, since we do in fact make all the emotions naturally in our bodies. The problem is, our ancestors went so long without love and the other really good emotions that our bodies cannot manufacture them very well. Yes, we can love... to some extent. It’s not nearly as much as other species can though. There I go again... off on some tangent. Ugh... back to my story. The sadness I saw in this changeling’s heart made me feel guilty, but I had to do what I had to do. I trotted past her and continued toward the exit. Without warning I was struck with powerful magic from behind... it coursed through my body and empowered me. When it was finally over, I felt at peak condition. It was nothing to take back my moonicorn form, and as I turned around I saw the filly fall to the ground from weakness. She had given me all she could... that determination to help a complete stranger was something I had seen only once or twice before. As much as it hurt to leave her there, I knew the power from the reactor would restore her... eventually. Of course, if everypony needed to be at top strength before the next move, then she might’ve even bought me more time. Realizing this, I galloped out of the facility and headed towards the throne room.

Chapter 4: The Two Sparks

I had no idea how much could actually happen in an hour. I made it to the throne room, but Luna had disappeared. Instead, the captain of the Lunar Guard was the one to greet me.
“Where is Princess Luna? There’s been some developments an--”
“Silence. Listen, I don’t have time to explain everything. Some kind of ‘Lunar Dementia’ has been affecting our citizens and making ponies do things they really, really shouldn’t. What’s worse is that they claim that there is some ‘queen’ planning to overthrow Canterlot. We’ve forwarded that information straight to Equestria and now our great Luna has graciously left us to lend her sister a hoof at defending their capital city. That’s the gist, and does not even cover half of our to-do list... now please vacate the throne room, I’ve got soldiers to brief soon.”
At least they knew to prepare, but this was the first I had heard of “Lunar Dementia.” I figured it was time to go check in on my pony friend from the main hall... most likely he’s been taken to the hospital by now. I couldn’t help but take a “shortcut” through the main hall... I had to see what had transpired in my absence. As I trotted inside the great hall, the first thing I noticed was... well, nothing. There was nopony around, and the place looked relatively clean. I looked up and saw that the hole in the window had been fixed, that is... if you count a bunch of caution tape covering the hole as “fixed.” On the floor, the broken glass had been picked up and luckily there was no spots of ash anywhere... a dead changeling meant the end of all Lunar changelings. A secret, that was all I knew that we could be... a secret.

I went back to the Animal Enchantment Wing and looked through my telescope down at Equestria. There was what seemed to be a protective bubble around Canterlot. I could have probably seen Luna if I had looked for her, but I thought everything was going to be okay. I actually thought things were going to be okay... hahaha... oh, I had no idea. Within mere minutes, I began hearing fighting from the corridors. What I’d like to call the “first spark” happened. The guards cracked down on their citizens, instigating martial law and throwing those suffering from “Lunar Dementia” into the hospital for therapy sessions. The worst of the fighting took place between the true Lunar Guards and the changeling guards... luckily nopony was too badly hurt. It was enough to scare the guards back at the Stardust Reactor, who managed to fool the first few guards by saying that they had already secured the area. Without the proper paperwork filed, they were forced to give way to the Lunar troops, who found a lot of ponies back there. Yes, ponies. I’m guessing the guards had warned everypony back there with enough time for them all to assume pony forms. Of course, this didn’t save them from the hospital... except that it was full by then, wasn’t it? Oh well, they still got sent back home. With everypony back home and using the reactor’s power all of a sudden, the reactor was said to spark up really bright. This is the true First Spark I had mentioned earlier.

We remained under martial law until Luna returned. After that, the changelings were very secretive about their feelings. The ones put through therapy allowed them to conquer their nightmares as I had. The conspirators in the shadows didn’t cause much trouble and their gangs dissolved after the Second Spark. What’s the Second Spark? Well, it’s just a name for the event that put an end to the changelings causing problems on the moon. I’m sure that if you were anywhere near Canterlot, it would have been an amazing spectacle, but to us... it was but a large spark on the surface of the planet below.

Exactly what was the Second Spark? I could not tell then, but now I can tell you all that it was the great defeat of the Changeling Queen at the hooves of the royal couple. It was afterwards that Luna once again left us to inquire as to what could possibly act as a panacea to all of Palomoono’s social problems. You’ll have to excuse me if my voice gets too low in this next part, friend. These events are... well, difficult to talk about now. Wait, no you’re not supposed to have written that down! Ugh... please stop. I’m serious... you know what, I’m just going to keep going! Keep in mind that I did not know nor realize this at the time, but Celestia had told Luna of the defeat of the changelings and their queen... yet another event I had no idea about. She returned to us, but the thought of changelings danced in her head enough to give her a sinister realization: Changelings on Palomoono. I assume she sent that letter to Celestia post-haste.

Chapter 5: Royal Guests

After everything had calmed down in Palomoono, the martial law was lifted and I was able to come and go throughout the city once again. I didn’t take this privilege for granted anymore, so I decided to take the long route through the main hall to get to my telescope in the Animal Enchantment Wing. As I trotted into the wide expanse of the hall, I noticed that decorations now lined the perimeter. Banners near the ceiling that slightly obstructed the view of Equestria read “Welcome to Palomoono,” so I was able to figure out that somepony must be coming for a visit. The last of the banners were being put up and, sure enough, they were changelings. Of course they would go for a party-planning position, it’s so easy to feed on good emotions when it is your job to make them. I trotted up to them and asked who the welcome party was for, and they told me it was for the solar princess and her six guests.
“Not just any six guests...” the captain of the Lunar Guard stepped in out of the shadows. “These are the six heroes of Equestria, who saved their land from Discord and saved us from the tyrannical rule of Nightmare Moon.” Immediately I felt nervous; these ponies were probably the most powerful in the land, and there was no doubt in my mind that they were connected to that mysterious Second Spark. “The guests are set to arrive in the next lunar cycle, which doesn’t leave us very much time to prepare. If you have no official duties to perform here, then I would encourage you to stay out of the atrium until the party preparations are completed and the welcoming party is underway.”
“Understood, sir.” I smiled, and trotted past him and through the door that would eventually lead me to the Animal Enchantment Wing. If I wanted to meet these six ponies, I would have to catch up on my quota. Unfortunately, I was so far behind that I felt that it would be impossible to complete in time. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to take a short, short break and maybe get a brief, up-close glimpse of these six heroes. Just one peek, and then it’s right back to work!” At least, that was the plan in my head. But of course, plans sometimes go awry.

The guests arrived right on time, and a huge crowd of ponies watched as the seven Equestrian ponies entered the hall from the Solar Starport. I was able to attend, but my time spent there was relatively short. I was able to see Princess Celestia, who looked as amazing as she always does. Then came in the six Equestrian heroes, all mares, all of a different color. The first one to follow after the princess was a purple unicorn, whose tiara matched her cutie mark. She was then followed by a light blue pegasus, a white unicorn, an orange pony, a pink pony, and finally a yellow pegasus. All five of these ponies wore a necklace that resembled their cutie marks. Due to the fact that they have been immortalized in stained glass work back at Canterlot, I have skipped most of the details. It would be a bit excessive to describe each of the six ponies who you, as a Canterlot scholar, should no doubt be familiar with... but I digress. Luna greeted Celestia and her guests, and wished to speak to Celestia on some matter in private. The mares were allowed to wander about this facility and explore its many wings and faculties. They were basically given a VIP clearance in less than a few minutes that common moon ponies would have to train years to just become eligible. A truly rare honor indeed, but I was taking too long at this little event. I left the hall and navigated the corridors to find my telescope; I would need it if I wanted to meet my quota. I thought that my work would keep me occupied for the rest of these ponies’ visit. I was incredibly mistaken.

Chapter 6: A Simple Facility...

Once again, I had left my door open. I was too caught up in my work to close it, let alone notice that a couple of the mares had come inside. “Hello?” I managed to back up enough so that my horn would not mess with my telescope’s orientation this time. I turned around to see the purple unicorn and yellow pegasus in the threshold of my work area. I wasn’t sure which of the two mares had attempted to get my attention, and I hoped it hadn’t been the purple leader.
“Hello?” I asked, returning the hesitant greeting.
“Hi,” the purple pony responded. I got a little nervous, but I tried not to show it. The leader continued, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend Fluttershy.”
With a glance to her unicorn friend, then back to me, Fluttershy let her eyes fall to the floor with a barely audible “hello.”
“Well... Fluttershy, Twilight. I’m Shadow Beast. Oh, and look at the time! I’m really behind with my work.”
“What kind of work?” Twilight asked me.
“I use this device as a kind of telescope. You see, I look through this visor here to find different creatures in Equestria, then I insert my horn into this slot here and then I can cast enchantments and spells onto any animal in Equestria!” Much to my surprise, Twilight seemed very interested in my device, but Fluttershy seemed almost horrified. Shy fillies can be hard to read, but I could feel her fear. I noticed her necklace was a butterfly, so I assumed she had some role in dealing with nature. I put two and two together and figured she was worried about the animals I was enchanting. “You see, back in the day of Nightmare Moon, we would find innocent creatures and zap them with powerful magic that would turn them into monsters. Now, however, I can assure you that we search out these monsters and undo the spells. We also must master several healing-type spells, so that we may heal any wounded creatures we may see throughout the night. I call it ‘remote hospitality.’” The yellow pegasus seemed to be relieved by the sentiment, and I took the extra step and allowed her to take a look through the scope. “This adjusts it up and down, and this left and right. Then you just move this forward and back and that’ll control zoom. It’s exceedingly simple compared to the spells one has to master in order to operate one of these things!” This intrigued the purple unicorn, who asked if she could learn some of my spells.
“I don’t know, Twilight... these are very complex spells and usually only moonicorns with a gift for animal enchantment can actually learn them.”
“Well, my special talent is magic... I’ve learned all kinds of spells! Couldn’t you just try to teach me even a simple spell?”
“I SEE A MANTICORE!” screamed Fluttershy. For a shy, quiet mare, she certainly had a way of expressing excitement! Of course, manticores were extremely rare and it usually took me at least an hour of tracking before I even had a chance of finding one.
“No way! Mind of I take a look?” I tried to mind my manners, but I was a bit irritated by how much better she might be at finding monsters. I gently peeked through the scope, only to see that there indeed was a manticore in the forest below taking a nap. “Well, that’s convenient.”
“You mean, it usually isn’t that easy?” The yellow mare seemed back to her normal, quiet self. However, I can’t let her put herself down so easy.
“Not at all. In fact, that was really good sighting, extremely well done! Nah, I was talking to Twilight.” I turned to the pegasus’s friend, “You see, the only way to learn a spell like this is to test it on something. That’s how you know that it’s been properly executed.” I went to my desk and pulled out an old scroll and used my magic to hoof it over to the other unicorn. She seemed a little bit uncomfortable as the scroll hovered toward her, I attempted to explain... “This scroll holds an inscription that turns little kitty cats to lions to manticores! On the back I scribbled the derived spell that should reverse the two effects.” She looked from me to the scroll, and as her horn began to glow I let go... allowing the scroll to go from shades of green to a nice, constant shade of purple.
She opened the scroll, and flipped the scroll over at least fifteen times in bewilderment before she seemed to begin comprehension. Finally, she rolled it up and placed it in her saddlebag. I could’ve stopped her, in fact I probably should have, but at the time I felt it was okay because I hadn’t read from those dusty scrolls for many Equestrian years. I took the mare over to the telescope, checking first to make sure the manticore was still napping, and showed her where the slot was to insert her horn. “These aren’t made very special, so you should have no problem fitting your horn in. Just try getting it in as far as you can, but don’t force it or you might end up breaking it.”
“The telescope would break that easily?”
“Of course not. Your horn would.”
“My HORN!?!”
“Don’t panic, only fools get their horns stuck in the telescope. You should be fine... especially since you have to be gentle to maintain orientation.”
She put her horn in very carefully and cast her spell. I inspected the scope to see that she had actually pulled it off. Perfectly. I let Fluttershy take the scope while I let Twilight inspect the rest of my scrolls. With their combined abilities, they were able to undo so many monsters and help so many wounded animals that I had met my quota... for the next Lunar year! And this was just in fifteen minutes, not counting the time Twilight took to learn the spells!

Chapter 7: The End of Silence

The two mares prepared to depart as a blue pegasus and a white unicorn came to retrieve them. “Oh, Shadow...” Twilight looked at me and gestured toward the winged pony, “This is Rainbow Dash.” she held her hoof out toward the purple-maned beauty, “And this is Rarity.” She then brought her two friends close and looked back at me, “Rainbow, Rarity, this is Shadow Beast. He’s an animal enchanter here.”
“Hello” was all I could really say. I was never that great at meeting new ponies, though friends are an important resource for changelings. Of course, there are still only so many ponies in Palomoono. In the end, I felt my “hello” didn’t quite measure up to Rarity’s “pleasure to meet you,” or Rainbow’s “hey, what’s up?” For a second, I thought spending more time with them could help me with my social skills, but I still had some work to do. You know, after I find some work to do.
“Hey Shadow, would you like to join us for the rest of the tour?” Twilight asked me. I looked at Twilight, and she was smiling, and then back at the two ponies in the door, who looked concerned at first, but then smiled happily back at me. My gaze returned to the unicorn directly in front of me.
“Well, normally I would have work to do, but since you two managed to fill my quota for the day, I guess I am free.”
“Well, come on then!” the other unicorn beckoned, “Applejack and Pinkie Pie said they’ll meet us at the throne room in a few minutes!”
“Don’t worry.” I explained, “I’ve been to the throne room a few times. I know the fastest way there.”
The blue pegasus became concerned. “Can I fly down that way, ‘cause some of those moon ponies got a little upset when I was flying down here.”
I explained further, “That shouldn’t be a problem, Rainbow. The air is usually reserved for managers of the wing, and frankly I’m surprised that they didn’t make the exception for such an esteemed guest. Go ahead and fly, and I’ll take the heat if anypony gets saddlesore.” I could hear somepony whispering behind me, and it assumed to be Fluttershy. I believe what she said was “Are you sure about this guy, Twilight? He seems too nice...” I couldn’t make out the rest. That, or I just can’t recall.

We somehow made it to the throne room without anypony trying to lecture our high-flying VIP. There waiting for us were two regular earth ponies--one orange, and one pink. I assumed the pink one was Pinkie Pie, but scrapped the thought at the time because looks can deceive. Of course, I was completely right the first time.
“Hey there, ya’ll.” said the pony in the hat. With a second glance she noticed me, and with a vigorous shake of my hoof introduced herself: “Well, howdy mister. I’m Applejack, and this is my pal Pinkie Pie. You here to see the princesses too?” Before I could even answer, a slice of zap apple cake was thrusted into my mouth by the pink pony. I had never tasted any kind of cake before, and finally understood why you ponies like it so much. I forced myself to swallow it, even though I hated using my biological digestive tract. I’m sorry for digressing, but that digestive tract is so excessively messy and also it leads to disease from what I hear... then again, zap apple jam seems to work well in our systems. Maybe I’ll have to research this further, but for now I need to wrap up this story. Where was I? Oh yes, the cake in my mouth was so delicious...
“You like it?” the young filly asked. “I made it myself in the dining lounge. I’m Pinkie Pie!”
I swallowed the slice, and after wiping my mouth on my front left leg, I was able to respond: “I’m Shadow Beast. I-”
“Well that’s great! Getting to share a feast with a Beast is a thrill at the least!” Pinkie Pie giggled.
With a “Hold on there, nelly!” Applejack pulled her aside, and all I could hear was “Did you forget why he is even here? We have a job to do-” before Twilight grabbed me to try and excuse the curly-maned chef’s hyperactivity.

Before Twilight could quite come to a conclusion, the doors to the throne room were opened. The captain of the Lunar Guard stepped out to welcome us inside. The seven of us followed him to the end of the room, where the two princesses were waiting. At Luna’s command, the captain returned to the open doors and had his moonicorn soldiers shut the door. They locked it tight. I did not dare look back. The great Princess Luna required all of my attention. Hearing the sounds of door locks slipping into place behind me, I forced myself to take a deep breath.
“Nervous?” Princess Celestia asked me. Her voice seemed too strong to be comforting. I assumed it had to do with stress, so I looked at her and nodded my head. She didn’t smile as I had expected. I looked back to Luna, only to see her in a terrifying rage.
“Why did you bring him here?” Luna demanded to know, “Shadow Beast is one of my most loyal subjects. He could not be one of... them.” Luna was very upset. But then I saw Twilight’s horn begin to glow, and a certain scroll appear out of her saddlebag.
“I... I’m sorry Luna, but... we found this in his desk.” The drama had affected Twilight and given her a rather large frown. I almost felt as if a tear would form from her eyes at any moment. Luna inspected the paper and, just as Twilight did, flipped the paper over and back several times. Celestia joined her sister in the scrutiny of the scroll I had received from my parents. “You... see it too, then,” the unicorn said, barely.
The Lunar Princess raised her head, and her voice: “Guards!” she lowered her eyes to make direct eye contact with me. Her foreboding gaze kept me very still. “Hold. Him. Down.” She may have said that last part at normal speed; I’m just not sure how much her eyes had taken from my perception of time. The moonicorn guards suppressed me with their magic: Red glowed over my legs. Luna stood over me, and shook the scroll in front of me. Through her blue magic, I saw green lettering within the paper. Changeling writings were in the scroll. My secret was revealed. My future, at that point, was very, very bleak. The Princess of Night continued, “Who are you? What are you?” Hearing those questions made me realize that this was it... my worst nightmare... my vow of silence... everything shattered. All that was left for me, was ashes.

Chapter 8: Changeling
“I’m Shadow Beast! As for what I am, well... I’m your loyal subject, Luna!”

Celestia nodded toward Twilight, who positioned herself in front of me. The princesses did not listen, and kept asking me who and what I was. I was telling the truth! For once in my life I was telling the truth! Unfortunately, the truth was not what they wanted to hear.
The Lunar princess was infuriated by my stance, “Twilight, make him stop lying...” and with that command, the unicorn’s horn began to glow and with a bright flash, my moonicorn form was ripped from me. The soldiers restrained me with even more force as I was now exposed.
I attempted to appeal to Luna, “Please, Luna... you must understand that this is just the way I was born. I have always been loyal to you, and I’ve loved living here in Palomoono. Please, don’t.... don’t strike me down just because of what I am...”
“You took somepony’s form,” Celestia interjected, “which means you had to get rid of somepony in order to live here. Do not try to lie to us!”
“But I had not stolen a form... when I came of age, my parents gave me a picture of a moonicorn... my form was one of my own design! I’ve never wanted anypony to get hurt... that’s why I stood up to Night Jumper and her friends! They were all changelings who wanted to help Discord like their parents had, but they were foolish and it actually killed them!” I can’t believe I let that slip... if Luna wasn’t sure, there would be no doubt now that there were other changelings in her kingdom.

The princesses took a few steps back and whispered in secret. Twilight still stood between us, and with a glance from Celestia and a nod, the other five joined her. The Lunar princess nodded towards the guards, and they released me from their spells. I tried to stand up on my changeling legs, but without my form I was very hungry. This made me too weak to run, and I didn’t even attempt an escape. I looked at the six ponies, and they looked at me with fear and hate. I had enough fear and hate... I needed happiness, love, and pride.
“Wait!” I hoped that royalty would listen to me, “How did you find out about the changelings? We were supposed to have vanished seamlessly into your cultures...”
“Seamlessly!?” Celestia seemed truly enraged by what I had said. “Seamlessly does NOT involve hostile takeovers of our nation’s capitol! Your queen and her army almost destroyed all of Canterlot that day... had it not been for the power of love between two ponies, the entire nation of Equestria could have fallen! My sister was smart, though. You were not as seamless as you thought, and we have found you! We will remove all changelings from the face of the moon, and ensure that this never happens again!”
“Luna!” I pleaded, “Luna, you know me! The queen tried to get in my head, and turn me against you, but it didn’t work! The Lunar Dementia was the queen’s doing and your Guard were able to conquer the rebellion! It is not our nature to revolt, it’s the queen! Please, I was taking that form, because I’m scared of you! I’m scared of your guards! I live my life in fear because of what I am! Please, don’t do this... p-p... plea...se...” I collapsed onto the ground, having exhausted all of my remaining energy on that speech. I realized then that the six ponies between us were wearing nothing less than the Elements of Harmony... the elements began to shine brighter and brighter, and then all went black.

Epilogue: A Final Goodbye

I opened my eyes to find myself in a strange, new room. My eyes were blinded by all the light. All I could hear was a bunch of voices... all at once. Finally a voice broke through, I didn’t recognize the voice. “Welcome to your new home... Shadow Beast! I’m sure you’ll love it here in--What’s that? Oh... well, Shadow--” the voice faded away as impossible darkness once again consumed my vision.

I awoke yet again, but this time I could see very clearly. It was dark and I was alone in a bed in some sort of hospital. “What happened?” I asked myself, then I realized that this voice was... was my moonicorn voice. I pulled the blanket off of myself and saw that I was no longer in changeling form. On the stand next to me were a large envelope and a slice of zap apple cake. I began eating the cake, hoping that it would replenish my strength. It definitely made me feel better, even if I still didn’t feel that I could walk.

After finishing the cake, I gathered my strength and opened the envelope. Inside was a letter from Princess Celestia herself! I’ll try to summarize that letter here:

“Dearest Shadow Beast,

When the Elements of Harmony returned you to your moonicorn self, we realized that you were telling us the truth... Luna is very sorry, but you must understand that this is not the end of your life... it is a new beginning... Do not feel threatened by your new surroundings... enclosed are maps that help you in your new journey. [the three maps were titled: Canterlot, Ponyville, and Equestria] You may choose a new place to make a new living... only one condition: you must first leave this hospital in Canterlot and find a royal scribe. Write your story, Shadow Beast. Write as much as you know of your history... but know that you will not be able to return to the moon. We have banished you so that the remaining changelings may feel the same fear that allowed you to be so loyal.

Warmest Regards... and lots of love.

Princess Celestia
And that is the first time that I had felt true happiness. I got out of bed and went to the Canterlot Archives. Remember, my little scribe, that is how we first met! I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that this story has reached its conclusion. Now I must find a new home... let’s see... I know a princess here, six ponies there, and a lot of timberwolves over there. So many choices... but that is life. Life that I still have. I do not feel any resentment for the Day and Night because, after all, Loyalty Requires Sacrifice.

The End

An Equestrian Nightmare, Act 1

The Changeling Chronicles

Book 2: An Equestrian Nightmare

Author: Shadow Beast

Preface: To whom it may concern...
Greetings again, faithful readers. It is I, the once moon-bound changeling, and I have returned to Canterlot to publish another book! Let me start by telling you all that there were many historical fallacies in my last story. I have come to discover many things in my travels throughout Equestria. I have also seen many horrors, so I hope the squeamish will still be able to read this text. Changing the subject... I should also mention I’m writing this myself, and in third pony perspective! Don’t ask where I learned to write; I’m sure you’ll be able to figure that out as you read! This is the story behind (and also beyond) my infamous conviction and the many friends and enemies I made along the way. Hopefully this story will only accentuate the fact that I will not be a danger to anypony... at least not anymore. I used to be annoyed by the idea of ponies using my text against my fellow changelings but... well, let’s just say that there’s really nothing I can do. Enjoy!

Act 1: Shadow of Deception

Chapter 1: Continuity Crisis

Months had passed since Shadow Beast was exiled to Equestria. The dark purple moonicorn walked down the streets of Canterlot, trying to pinpoint his next destination. He had finished writing his autobiography a month ago, but every day he spent in Canterlot made him feel worse and worse. He could not find any good feelings in such a disgusting city. He needed to find someplace beautiful, someplace clean, someplace with lots of love to feed off of. Shadow wanted to leave it all behind, but without a companion he would starve if he tried to go anywhere. The night drew near... as a lunar changeling, he still was not used to nighttime. His body grew weak as he became tired. He once again found the suite that a generous princess had promised him. He tucked himself under the covers and tried to close his eyes... waiting for the light to return. His eyes finally found a way to close and he was soon in a deep sleep. As the night’s darkness consumed his vision, a darker creature put herself in his dreams.

The moonicorn was running.... running for his life. His black and red mane flowing through the wind. It blocked his peripheral as he twisted his head backward to see if he had lost his pursuer. It was a mistake. A black hoof, filled with impurity, struck the moonicorn and pinned him to the ground. He struggled to look up into her face. She was a changeling. Just an ordinary changeling... or so he thought. The purple pony struggled under hoof, but couldn’t break the changeling’s hold. He tried to shake her off with all of his might, but nothing seemed to work. He watched in anger and anguish as the black snout opposite of his opened:
“Still so much struggle after all these years... I thought it was just the moondust interfering!”
Hearing this voice brought horror to the moonicorn’s face. The voice of the changeling was very loud, very feminine, and very familiar.
“Chrysalis, I presume...” his voice was strong; it contradicted the strength of the Queen.
“You are beginning to remember, I see!” the changeling answered with a smile.
“How are you doing this? How are you in my dreams?”
“In times of urgency, I can talk to my troops through telepathic means... but only if they wish to receive it. Deserters like you can only be reached through rather underhoofed means... and you’re always vulnerable in your dreams!”
“You admit that this is a dream... don’t you remember what happened last time? I could get another spear and remind you...”
“That dream was on the moon. The moondust interfered with my signals... but now my magic is at full strength, and YOU are the one who is powerless this time!”
“NO!” he shouted back at her. He shook his head furiously, but finally began to submit... “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to stop this fight against your own blood. You are a changeling... accept it.”
“Always. That doesn’t mean I have to be a complete jerk, though!”
“I see the ponies have been busy filling your mind with lies... You know, I thought my little changelings were good at seeing through deception!”
“I am!”
“You’re lying!”
A bright light blinded the eyes of the moonicorn as the dream faded into white, then black. The pony opened his eyes to see that he had, once again, slept through the sunrise. He stretched his legs and dragged himself from the bed. Those two last words of the queen echoed endlessly through his head. With fear having left his mind, doubt had plenty of room to move in. The pony began to wonder what being a changeling truly meant to Chrysalis and her nation. As he contemplated this idea, a place appeared in his mind: the Deadlands. The Deadlands were the place where the changelings were born... it would not be a surprise if Chrysalis based her nation there. No trains ever left for the Deadlands though... so Shadow’s only choice was to fly there.

Chapter 2: Wing and a Liar

Shadow trotted out onto the balcony. He focused his magic, and with a burst of green fire, his horn was gone. Bat-like wings spread from his sides. He could not remember ever assuming a pegasus form before, but he believed that flight would come naturally. He jumped.

The wings expanded, keeping him aloft as he was carried by the wind currents toward the direction of the Deadlands. He soared out of Canterlot, and was then flying over wide open countryside. A strong wind began blowing against him, and inexperience overtook instinct. He dropped. A scream escaped from his snout as he saw the ground loom closer and closer. The lunar wings opened in panic, but the force was too strong and snapped them like twigs. The pegasus fell from the sky and somehow landed on a soft mattress. Shadow raised his head, but could barely see while trying to cope with the pain of two broken wings. A voice of a magical mare was all that he could hear.
“Excuse, me? Are you crazy?! Do you have any idea how much damage you could have done with a stunt like that?”
The pegasus wanted to explain himself, but the pain was too strong. There was only one thing he could do now, so he focused his magic once again as the mare continued to chastise him.
“You’re lucky I know that mattress conjuring spell. Do you know how hard it is to pull that off last second like that?”
Green flame engulfed the pony, and his wings disappeared. A horn once again was present on his head. Of course, it wasn’t until after the pain had disappeared that Shadow realized what he had done. He tentatively looked toward the beautiful unicorn. She was light blue, a coat color he had seen only once before, with a white mane and purple eyes. She was shocked by his transformation, but as she was the only pony around for what appeared to be miles, he would need her to trust him.
“Sorry,” the moonicorn said, “please don’t be angry with me... I was testing a flight spell and it... didn’t go as planned. Umm.. hey, let me get off your mattress for you.”
“It’s fine. Trixie doesn’t meet many unicorns with magical talents like yours.”
“Who’s Trixie?”
“Me, for I am the Great and Powerful Trixie. Trixie had just assumed you had heard of her.”
“Never. Then again, I am a foreigner... I’m just passing through on my way to the Deadlands.”
“You’re going to the Deadlands!? Why would you go there? There’s absolutely nothing out there but... dust. Everypony knows that there are two things you never do: Challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie, and try to make a living in the Deadlands.”
“Everypony but me. I’ll be okay, just don’t worry... I hate it when ponies worry about me.”
“Trixie thinks you’re insane, but she’s not going to stop you nor worry about you. She only asks that you may teach her that flight spell. Trixie can perfect it.”
“I severely doubt that...”
“Oh you think so, mister... um... what was your name?”
“Oh, right. My name is Shadow Beast, and don’t bother with the spell, it can only be mastered by a certain type of magic-wielder.”
“A changeling, you mean? One who feeds off of love.”
With a burst of green flame, Shadow’s true form was revealed.
“The power of a name, huh? I guess you really are powerful.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not lie... at least, not any more. Now on to business... unless my studies of Changeling biology are wrong, you need a source of love to thrive in this world. I’m a traveling magician, and I need a new act to pull in a bigger crowd. So here’s the deal: I take credit for your transformation magic, you get to survive. If you decline, I can always just tell everypony about how I destroyed a changeling spy.”
“I hate to admit it, but that is a very tempting offer. I’ll have to take you up on it... after I’ve gone to the Deadlands.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not have time to waste seeing a changeling throw his empty life away. I don’t see what could be so important that you would turn down the deal of a lifetime!”
Shadow contemplated the offer, and realized that Trixie’s attitude and power may be able to interfere with the changeling queen’s signals. Free food AND freedom from nightmares? Working with Trixie would be a dream come true!
“Tell you what Trixie, you’re right.”
“Of course! The Great and Powerful Trixie is never wrong!”
Her love for herself was junk food to a changeling, but Shadow believed that he might be able to turn her around… eventually.

Chapter 3: One Trick Ponies

The two ponies found their way from town to town, putting on spectacular shows with fireworks and amazing acts of impossible magic. Shadow would copy the looks of whatever volunteer came up on stage, allowing Trixie to fool even the guest that he was being cut in half! The changeling was a natural, but Trixie continued to own the spotlight. Eventually, the dark horse had to confront his employer, less he succumb to starvation.
“Excuse me, Trixie…”
Trixie groaned as she turned from the mirror. “What do you want, Shadow?”
“How many times are we going to pull the ‘saw-in-half’ gig? Ponies don’t show much love to the legs. We’re going to need a new trick… something that can give me more of a spotlight. I know you thrive on attention, but I kinda need it if I want to survive.”
“Well…?”
“‘Well?’ Well what!?”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie assumed you had a new trick in mind...”
“Oh… well… I’m not entirely sure. I could hide in the crowd, volunteer, and then you can take credit for turning me from unicorn to pegasus or something…”
“You may not realize this, my lowly little changeling, but my adoring fans just LOVE being a part of the Great and Powerful Trixie’s show. There’s simply too great a risk that somepony else would beat your slow self to the stage!”
“Alright, I get it… it’s a bad idea. I was just brainstorming… you don’t have to be so condescending.”
“’Condescending?’ You are falsely assuming that the Great and Powerful Trixie would actually lie about somepony’s status. Now, do you have another idea, or is this just going to be a waste of Trixie’s valuable time?”
“Here’s the trick: you bring up one of your ‘adoring fans’ and I’ll copy them from a distance. Then, we can fool everyone into believing that you can teleport ponies to different places!”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie already knows a teleport spell. And your plan involves getting rid of the volunteer, letting one less of my fans adore Trixie!”
“Okay… how about we don’t get rid of the volunteer… what if we fake a time-traveling spell! I can copy the volunteer, and we can claim that I am a future form of them! If I say some vague fact, it’ll come true to your fans and we’ll become even more popular!”
“Shadow… that is one of the most genius ideas that Trixie has ever heard come from that purple snout of yours! Are you sure you can pull it off?”
“Of course… just bring up the biggest idiot of a fan you can find. They will be more likely to believe it. Hay, if I tell him I’m from ‘tomorrow’ then we can pull the same trick on the same pony the next day and I can tell him I’m from ‘yesterday!’”
So that is what they did. The bumbling volunteer didn’t make a single move after the trick, though. He was very angry the next day when he didn’t find that “special coin on the ground.” When he was brought up the second time, Trixie just told him to not tell himself that this time. The changeling in the dumb pony’s form walked out, repeating the exact words the idiot had said yesterday. The volunteer played along like the performers knew he would. The trick was a great success, and Shadow was able to feed off of plenty of emotions!

Chapter 4: An Unwelcome Wagon

The Great and Powerful Trixie’s popularity soared! The time-travel spell seemed to be working very well, but there were ponies who dared to question Trixie’s power. These interlopers challenged the idea that a time spell could be used on a pony more than once. The ponies seemed to be scholars, and Shadow hoped that they had never come across a copy of his autobiography that had been published in the Canterlot Archives.
“You doubt the Great and Powerful Trixie?!” the overconfident unicorn asked them.
“We don’t have to…” the unicorn of the group explained, “if you provide the scroll that taught you that time travel spell.”
Shadow walked onto the stage in his moonicorn form to support Trixie. “Impossible,” he began, “the Great and Powerful Trixie is intelligent enough to not only come up with the spell herself, but not to write it down. If it were written down, somepony could get ahold of it and reveal the secrets of Trixie’s acts!”
“It’s not like that’s never happened before!” The earth pony pulled out her copy of a newspaper titled “The Foal Free Press” with a startling headline: “The Great and Powerful Trixie’s Secrets Revealed!” The mare then added, “Nowhere in this article does it mention a time travel spell! This means that you would have had to discover it… umm…”
“In less than a year!” the scholarly unicorn exclaimed, finishing the mare’s thought. “Starswirl the Bearded, one of the greatest and most powerful unicorns in Equestrian history, spent several decades of research and practice just to get one time travel spell!”
The light blue unicorn became agitated by this remark. “Maybe the Great and Powerful Trixie simply improved upon this spell!”
“That’s fine,” the pegasus of the group assured, “because that would mean that you must have that time scroll. It’s simply too complicated for anypony to memorize, so you must have a copy lying around somewhere…”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie DID have a copy, but it was destroyed when my cart was attacked by a vicious Ursa Major!”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“Or… maybe it was just an Ursa Minor,” Trixie explained.
Shadow interjected, “You have to admit that this cart looks more new than the one in that photograph!”
The interlopers and Trixie took a second glance at the newspaper’s photo, then back to the stage.
“That’s right!” Trixie exclaimed excitedly, “Yes, that picture was taken in Ponyville, before the Ursa attacked!” She turned to her friend, “Good eye, assistant!”
The skeptical unicorn looked even closer, and uncovered a flaw in the argument. “So you mean to tell us that you just made a comeback using a spell derived from a scroll that you haven’t seen in almost two years!”
Shadow had had enough. “You have the right to doubt! Everypony does! But I for one believe that the Great and Powerful Trixie has earned her title through the mastery of this new spell!”
“Excuse me?” the earth pony argued, “but… who are you exactly? I know Trixie called you her ‘assistant,’ but the article said that Trixie travels and works alone.”
“That would explain how she was able to save my life without any help,” the moonicorn said, sternly. “I owe her my life. I’m repaying this debt through manual labor that no unicorn as talented as Trixie should have to suffer through.”
The changeling’s words managed to quiet the harsh crowd. Trixie took this chance to escape:
“Come on, Shadow. Let’s just move on to the next town... these ponies have had enough of our amazing show.”
Trixie packed up the cart and Shadow pulled it away and out of the town. Their next destination was some distance away, and they planned to stop in on a town they had visited once before. En route, Trixie assured her companion that they would not be performing in this old town unless the citizens wanted them to. There would be no announcement of their arrival. That was the plan, but Trixie would soon learn what Shadow had known for a while: Things don’t always go according to plan.

The wagon stopped in the local park at night. When morning came, a crowd had formed outside. The unicorns and awoke and found themselves having to prepare for yet another show. The changeling was exhausted from pulling the cart all the way there, and was slow to arise from his sack. He stretched, yawned, and manned the curtains. Trixie entered center stage and the curtain lifted, revealing the mob outside. A rotten apple soared out of the crowd, almost striking Trixie’s snout but barely missing and splattering onto the floor of the stage. Trixie was stunned, and Shadow poked his own snout out around the corner in an attempt to find the source of the ruckus. The pony who threw it appeared poor, possibly homeless. She struggled against her peers to throw a couple more, but none of the spoiled fruit reached the stage. The mayor of the town trespassed onto the stage with a couple of the local law enforcement. A list of crimes against their town were listed toward Trixie:
“For disturbing the peace, false advertisement, heresy, and countless other similar accusations across all the land of Equestria, the Police of Hoofington have decided to detain you until we can send you to Canterlot for your trial! A reminder: you have the right to remain silent, and anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.”
Trixie had no choice. Her hat and cape were stripped from her and the unicorn officers’ magic bound her as she was escorted off the stage. An officer looked up and saw the purple unicorn’s snout disappearing through the curtains. He tore the curtain away, seeing a few green sparks floating away from the hidden pony. Magic lifted the accomplice and the changeling flew to the seat opposite of Trixie in the back of the police cart. They were both strapped in quickly, and the officers proceeded to the front of the wagon to prepare for departure.
Trixie lifted her head, only to see a somewhat familiar face. It looked like her unicorn companion, but something was very... off. Then she realized that she was staring at a mare. “Shadow?” The changeling lifted its new head. “Shadow, what have you done to yourself?!”
In a higher-pitched voice the mare responded, “If they had found a stallion helping you, we would be separated until the trial. I had to make sure we stuck together... at any cost.”
The two unicorns lurched forward slightly as the cart began on its route. After a few minutes of awkward silence Trixie asked another question, “Alright. So you’re a mare now... what I don’t get is how you were able to change so... quickly. I mean... what are you exactly?”
The new mare forced a smile. “I’m a changeling. Though I will admit that switching genders is a lot more complicated than switching between unicorn and pegasus forms. I would have prefered to be a simple moon mare, but the time constraints wouldn’t allow for a spell that complex.”
“‘Moon mare?’ Ugh... nevermind.” Trixie shook her head. “What I meant to ask you is: were you born a colt or a filly?”
The moonicorn sighed. “I said: ‘I am a changeling.’ Outside of royalty, we have no true genders. We have no real need for genders!”
Trixie was slightly repulsed by this idea. “What do you mean, ‘no real need for genders?!’ What... how... how did... how do you think you were born?”
“I was born on the moon!” Shadow spoke perhaps too quickly.
“The moon!? Well, that explains a lot!” Trixie exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “But if changelings have no gender, then who are your parents?”
The changeling’s head lowered. “My parents died from the Lunar Fever...”
“Oh...”
Sadness radiated from the cart, and Shadow felt as though Trixie was actually feeling concern for somepony other than herself. The two unicorns lurched forward yet again as the wagon finally came to a stop. The officers returned and undid the straps around the two unicorns one after the other, then used their magic once more to keep them under control. Trixie and Shadow were led inside the jailhouse. At the door, the two male officers dropped them and two female officers took their place. Trixie and Shadow were lead to the many holding cells of the jailhouse--each capable of holding up to three mares.
“Are...are we going to have separate cells?” Shadow hesitantly asked the guard closest to her.
“No. By a stroke of luck--on our part, not yours,” the officer explained with a laugh, “we’re already holding a single troublemaker... and we find it most efficient to fill a cell completely before moving onto another one. It’s easier to catalogue!”
The door to the cell slid open, awaking its lone inhabitant in the darkness of morning. Brown bird-like wings spread from the top-most bunk, and a yellow claw gripped the side from under the blanket. The officers pushed the prisoners in as the rustling above continued.
“Don’t bother getting up! We’re just here to deliver a couple new cellmates. Have fun, you three! According to our database, none of you will be leaving here anytime soon! See you at breakfast in an hour.”
The cell door slammed shut, and a loud groan could be heard from under the blanket. With what sounded like stretching, a large figure arose, still covered by the white-ish cloth. A yellow beak became visible from under the fabric and a deep yawn stretched it wide open.
The blanket fell to the floor of the cell, and a griffin was sitting on top of the bunk. Her eyes stared through the ponies. It was obvious she was not amused with having cellmates.

Chapter 5: Jailbirds

The griffin’s beak opened up, this time stretched by words: “So... you’re the lame ponies that woke me up.”
“Why yes, we are,” the dark mare said sternly, “I’m Shadow Beast and this is my employer, the Great and Powerful Trixie!”’
“Name’s Gilda, and don’t bother learning it because I don’t need any more worthless pony friends.”
Now Trixie too was agitated by the conversation. “‘Worthless’ ponies? In all of her life, Trixie has never met such an ignorant griffin!”
“Well, ‘Trixie,’ I just call them as I see them. As for you, Shadow, I don’t know how you could possibly put up with the most arrogant pony in all of Equestria.”
The purple mare’s face remained emotionless. “She saved my life.”
“Please... someone so ‘great and powerful’ probably saves somepony’s life every day. There’s no need to follow her everywhere... especially into a jail cell!”
“Our presence here is as much my fault as it is hers. I helped in an act that made a lot of ponies angry... angry enough to put a warrant out on us.”
The ponies and griffin continued to argue until one of the officers returned with breakfast. With the command, the cellmates took a seat on their respective beds: Gilda on the top bunk, Trixie on the bottom, and Shadow on the lone bunk on the opposite side. This was organized during the prior conversation.

Once they had sat down, the door opened just enough for the plates to float through and land on the pillows of each bed. The door shut as quickly as it had opened and with a smile and “eat up, now!” so did the unicorn beyond the bars. The breakfast was small, simple rations: an apple with some hay on the side.
Gilda was the first to break the silence after the officer was gone. “Ugh... more pony food?! I hate hay.”
Trixie was second. “Trixie doesn’t care much for apples... want to trade?”
The changeling also voiced her opinion. “Umm... I’m on a No Solid Food diet... anypony want my apple and hay?”
So the three cellmates pooled their rations: Gilda got three apples, Trixie got three servings of hay, and Shadow got two servings of happiness.
“You are one weird pony, Shadow!” The griffin stared down at the purple unicorn. “You foreign or something? What do they even eat where you come from?” Gilda had to get all the questions out to make room for another bite of apple.
“Well, you’re certainly perceptive,” Shadow answered without facing the griffin, “I’m actually from Palomoono, the capital of the Lunar Nation. It’s like Canterlot... except it’s on the Moon. As for food, we usually ate a certain fruit... I think you Earth creatures call them ‘zap apples.’” Shadow looked up, expecting a very surprised beak, but only saw a ridiculous smile. She did not seem to believe her. “I’m not kidding, you know. I was born on the moon!”
“And her parents died there,” Trixie added.
“...Yes. But I didn’t want to share the sad memories.”
“Why not? There’s no use in pretending that the world is perfect. Terrible things happen to innocent ponies all the time. Sometimes justice strikes you down when you’ve done something wrong. There’s simply no point in trying to outrun it. Trust Trixie, she’s had her secrets revealed more than once... and soon it will happen again. The Great and Powerful Trixie must learn from her mistakes and grow even greater and more powerful. Trixie advises all her fans to do the same!”
Gilda finally interrupted the two unicorns’ conversation. “So, moonicorn, is ‘Shadow Beast’ a family name?”
Shadow lifted her red eyes toward Gilda’s. “No, actually. It comes from my parents’ favorite poem, which they would recite to me every sleep cycle when I was small. It goes:

‘For you are the shadow,

the light from the beast.

You use our love to grow,

and will always have a feast.’”
A few minutes passed, then Trixie finally broke the silence. “Are you sure that’s how it goes? Trixie’s adoring fans write poetry all the time... this one just doesn’t seem to work. There’s just something wrong with the wording... the syllables, right? That’s what they’re called? There seems to be some extra and some missing, but maybe you just missed a few lines...”
“What are you implying?!” Shadow asked with anger in her voice. “Do you really think that I would forget something that my own parents repeated to me throughout most of my life?!”
“No! Not at all!” Trixie exclaimed with fear in her voice. She caught her breath, “Of course not... I’m just saying that seems incomplete. So either you didn’t tell us the whole poem or your parents forgot a few lines...”
“You can’t say it isn’t possible...” Gilda added.
“I suppose I can’t,” Shadow said, finally calming down. Her anger had been replaced with sadness. Pride was now replaced with doubt. Her cellmates had both made valid points. There could be more to the poem... but that spawned a question that would echo in Shadow’s head for the next few weeks: “What could those forgotten lines be?” By the time of their trial, the question was forgotten... but that was probably for the best.

Chapter 6: A Canterlot Trial

The weeks flew by and Gilda, Trixie, and Shadow had become friends. But, not knowing the date, the ponies were unaware that this day was the day that they would leave Gilda and probably never see her again. It had been three weeks since they had been incarcerated, and now they were being taken to Canterlot. This was it: the day of their trial. They did not have near enough time to say goodbye to Gilda, and she wouldn’t be leaving that jail for another year according to her sentence. They must really take apple-stealing seriously in Hoofington to keep her there so long. She said she would try to get out early with good behavior--or at least try to make more friends than enemies. Time can only tell if that ever worked out.

Trixie and Shadow were delivered to Canterlot via a royal chariot. It was a much shorter trip by air, and this allowed the two mares to remain silent. This close to the trial, they would not want to say anything, for it could be used against them. They were taken into the Grand Court, only the most controversial cases were sent here. This case was even more so since it was not heard by a single lesser court prior. Trixie felt embarrassed by the ordeal, and Shadow felt like he might starve to death in this environment. Finally, the pair were taken into the courtroom. Despite the expedient travel, it was apparent that they were somehow late to their own trial. It could have been set up by the royalty, but who could know? They were quickly led to their seats in the Defendant side. They sat in their chairs and stared at the desk in front of them. There was nothing on it, but it was a better than risking eye contact with any unwelcoming faces.

Within minutes the trial began, a royal procession brought all ponies to their knees as Princess Celestia entered the courtroom and took her seat of power as judge. A blue-maned stallion wearing gold and purple armor announced the princess’s presence and gave all the permission to sit once again after Celestia had rested herself. Trixie was somehow able to recognize that Royal Guard captain as the famous Shining Armor who “had defeated the Changeling Queen.” Shadow was barely able to finish gulping before Shining had questioned them about their choice of lawyer. Celestia stopped him, and forced the duo to defend themselves simply because she believed that they could. The captain was revealed to be the Prosecutor. How could things possibly get worse for Shadow? At least Armor was unaware that she was a changeling... until the questioning began.

Both of the mares were having a hard time breathing, but Trixie was better at hiding it... Shadow could not stop shaking. It was obvious that their heads were on a pike here, as there would be no way out of this without some form of severe punishment. Celestia listed the charges, “disturbing the peace, false advertising, heresy, and endangering the lives of many ponies.” The solar princess listened to the golden prosecution...
“Your highness, this troublesome pair’s ‘magic show’ put the lives of hundreds of ponies in mortal danger!”
“Objection!” Shadow cried, having heard enough. “May I remind the court that our shows were always meant for entertainment! Sure, upstaging local talent is a bit rude, but it’s also very entertaining to the crowd! Why in Equestria would we want our fans to be hurt?”
Celestia seemed to like what she was hearing from the defendants. “Shining Armor, do you have any evidence that points toward Lulamoon and Beast as the true culprits?”
“Of course, your highness! My sister Twilight, your faithful student, can vouch that Trixie’s showboating caused an Ursa Minor attack in Ponyville!”
Twilight Sparkle was called to the stand and after vowing to tell nothing but the whole truth, told how it was two adoring fans who summoned the Ursa... not Trixie herself.
Shining did not give up, though. Changeling instincts would show that he felt very protective of his sister... probably why he wanted to ensure that Trixie paid for her crimes. The moonicorn mare felt a bit more secure, until she was called up to the stand.
“...do I have to??” Shadow tried to appeal.
“Yes,” Celestia answered, “unless you’d rather just go right back to jail.”
Shadow meekly got out of her seat and made her way to the now empty booth. She took her new seat as Armor approached her.
“Do you swear to tell the entire truth and nothing else in accordance with Equestrian Law?”
“What?”
“Do you swear not to lie nor withhold any information that is relevant to the case?!”
“Oh... um... well, I’m kind of a chronic liar... but I guess I can try...”
The prosecutor’s patience was wearing thin... but the judge knew exactly what to say:
“Shadow Beast, have we met?”
“Umm...”
“Simple question... ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’”
“Yes.”
“Well then, you’re already lying to me, and we can’t have that.”
“WHAT?! But... we have met!”
“You’re wearing a disguise now... I’m sorry, but if we want to trust what you have to say, you’ll need to remove any disguises. Show your true form, swear to tell the whole truth, then truthfully answer all the questions.”
Saying nothing, Shadow concentrated her magic and with a burst of green flame dropped her moonicorn form for her black and true changeling form. Panic spread quickly throughout the room. The prosecutor just stared in disbelief as other ponies in the crowd began screaming for this witness to be thrown out... and back into jail. A smile creased Trixie’s face as she watched the spectacle. Finally, Celestia implemented a royal Canterlot voice to silence the crowd. After that, only Shining Armor questioned her authority.
“I am not questioning a changeling! In fact, I don’t think I even have to! The fact that Trixie would associate with one of these... things should be enough to convict her of any crime!”
Celestia was not so sure. “Shining Armor! May I remind you that this pony is a natural born resident of my sister’s kingdom and has gained her trust and respect. Just like every other pony in this room, he is innocent until proven guilty! You will question him as planned, or I will throw this entire case out!”
Her speech certainly shut Armor up, as far as questioning authority goes. Questioning suspects, on the other hoof, had just started:
“So... how did you meet the so-called ‘Great and Powerful Trixie?’”
“Well, I had decided to do one of those journeys of self-discovery... so I assumed a pegasus form and tried to fly to my destination...”
“And where was this destination?”
“Well,” the changeling began, knowing that revealing the home of the changelings would be a very unwise move at the time, “does it really matter? It was more of just a whim decision and I still have yet to get there. I didn’t know how to fly and I crashed not even halfway there! That’s how I met Trixie.”
“So you were flying to a mysterious destination, and then just randomly decided to follow a showboating magician rather than seek medical help?”
“I didn’t need medical help. I fell, yes, but Trixie summoned a mattress below me at just the right moment. She saved my life! I owe her my life, so I thought I would help her with her performances in the hopes that I might repay her.”
“So Trixie saved your life... the life of a changeling... and was perfectly fine with you helping her. May I remind you that you have sworn to tell the complete truth...”
“Okay. She may have threatened me a little bit, but it may have been because she was scared of me and didn’t want to show it at all.”
“Aha! So she’s the kind of pony that would threaten anypony who may inconvenience her!...”
“Excuse me, but did you not threaten me when you found out I was a changeling? Trixie figured it out rather quickly...”
“Alright, changeling, I’ll give you that.”
“I have a name, you know... ‘Shadow Beast.’”
“Well, ‘Shadow Beast,’ if that really is your name...”
“It is.”
“You sure? I mean, don’t you changelings take new names with new forms?”
“Only those who have reason to deceive.”
“So if you have no reason to deceive, why were we all surprised by your true form?”
“My autobiography is in the Canterlot Archives. My name is the same throughout the whole thing! Plenty of ponies will be able to recognize me simply by name, and they would know my story and why they don’t have to be afraid of me like all of you are!”
“And what proof do you have that you really wrote this autobiography? Let alone submitted it to one of the most exclusive pony databases in Equestria!”
“It was under my authority that he put his life on paper!” Celestia revealed.
“The prosecution rests, your highness,” Shining finally said.
“And I have no further questions,” Celestia stated. She turned to the changeling, “you may return to your seat now.”
“Can I--”
“Yes.”
Shadow stepped out of the booth and immediately returned to his male moonicorn form. It had been a while, but he definitely felt more comfortable. He sat down next to Trixie again, but had no idea what Armor still had up his sleeve.

Chapter 7: Judgement and Retribution
“Do you have any other witnesses, Shining Armor?” Celestia asked the prosecution.
“As a matter of fact I have, your highness!” Armor grinned and turned toward the crowd. “I’ve got TWO witnesses! A brother and sister whose lives were completely ruined by Trixie and her ch--er.. Shadow.” Shining turned back toward Celestia and with a slight smile on his face said, “the court calls the Apple twins to the stand.”
Two ponies who looked too poor to be able to live even remotely close to Canterlot approached the stand. They vowed to tell the entire truth as well as they could and squeezed into the empty booth. The twins were not identical, in fact they were two different genders and one was a unicorn! Also their coats were two different colors: the earth pony was a red-orange and the unicorn was a pale yellow.
“What are your names?” Celestia asked the twins.
“Mah nahm is Yellow Apple, yah highness,” the unicorn answered. She gestured toward her brother, “and this here’s mah li'l brother Red.”
Meanwhile, Trixie jabbed Shadow and whispered, “You should object, we’ve never seen these ponies in our lives...”
Shadow leaned back in his chair, stretching his forelegs and back. Then he whispered back, “you forget too easily. You beat that farmfilly in a magic contest, then brought the brother onstage for the time travel act. I took his form and told him to look for some coin. It was vague enough to entertain everypony... so I don’t know why they think these two will change anything. I think we should just see where he’s going with this.”
They brought their attention back to the stand, where the Apple twins had apparently said the gist of their hushed whispers. It was quite apparent that they were not as forgetful as Trixie.
“Then what happened that day... the day after you and your brother attended the show?” Shining asked them.
“I’ll tell you what happened!” Red said in a deep voice. “Those two... those con artists!... they set us up!” Shadow felt he had heard enough, but Red was watching him, “you don’t say a word, you beast! I am not finished! I looked for that stupid coin you promised me with your lies!”
“That’s enough now, brother,” Yellow said, patting her brother on the back in an effort to calm him down. “But while mah brother was searching for that coin, he done missed his family losing the farm! That’s right, our farm! Both our lives were ruined that day, thanks to those two there!” She gestured toward the defendants, who were unsure how the judge would react.
“The prosecution rests, your highness.” Shining stepped away and took his seat at the other desk.
Celestia’s face remained blank. “Well, does the defense have any questions?”
“Oh no!” Red spoke up again, “I am not talking to those liars... those cheaters! They ruined our lives!”
“You will listen to them, or I will throw this case out!”
Trixie stood up, “I have a few.” She trotted up to the stand. “The Great and Powerful Trixie adores her fans as much as they adore her.”
“I’d agree,” Red Apple said, angrily.
The blue pony stood there, unsure what to do next. The purple moonicorn arose from his seat and trotted to her side. “We did not take your farm.”
“Yes, you did!” Red insisted.
“Let me rephrase: We do not own a single acre of farmland in all of Equestria! Who took your farm?”
“A couple of liars.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“They called themselves the... ‘Flimflam brothers,’” Yellow Apple answered. “Could you do me a favor, Shadow?” she asked sweetly for some reason, “could you levitate something with your magic?”
Shadow thought for a bit, but didn’t see where she was going with this. He figured there would be no harm, so he lifted a piece of paper with his magic. He brought it from the plaintiff desk to the stand. The yellow filly smiled.
She gestured toward the magic, “that is the same color of magic that those swindling brothers used!”
A loud gasp could be heard from the crowd and even from Shadow, who dropped the paper in shock. It floated back up, this time bathed in light pink magic.
“You did say both of the brothers used green magic?” Trixie asked with her horn shining a bright pink. “So you see... it couldn’t have been us! We don’t both have green magic nor the power to change the color of our magic!”
“Not even changelings have that ability!” Shadow added.
“If ya’ll say so...” Yellow Apple responded.
“Is that all?” Red Apple asked tiredly.
The defendants looked at each other, nodded, then to Celestia. “The defense rests, your highness,” Shadow announced. They returned to their desk as the twins went back to their seats.
“Are there any more witnesses?” Celestia asked the two parties. Neither the prosecution nor the defense had anypony else to call forth. “Any final statements before I make my decision?”
Shining stepped forward, “He’s a changeling, and she’s an arrogant yet powerful magician. Their showboating actions may be entertaining, but they have decimated lives of many ponies. How long before their actions inadvertently kill somepony? Think about that as you make your decision, your highness.” He stepped back down.
Trixie stepped forward, “The Great and Powerful Trixie adores every single one of her fans. What happened to the Apples was terrible, and we will take any precaution necessary to ensure that it does not happen again. Trixie no longer lies, and she does not wish to be associated with con artists and troublemakers. Please, your highness, know that Trixie has learned much from her journeys.” Trixie stepped back down and lowered her head as she sat, attempting to hide the tears.
Shadow looked up to Celestia from the desk, “We’ve met before. If you’re anything like your sister, then I know you’ll make the right decision. You are the ruler of Equestria after all. Thank you for allowing me to stay here after our previous confrontation... and sorry for the trouble.”
Celestia smiled. “Justice is never any trouble... now if you all will excuse me, I must leave the courtroom to make my decision.”

The Princess was gone for what seemed to be forever, but was later recorded as fifteen minutes. The solar princess stepped back in quickly before anypony could see what she was carrying. She took her seat and gently cleared her throat in preparation for the reveal:
“Lulamoon and Beast, you have both been found... Guilty of crimes against the citizens of Equestria!”
Trixie and Shadow could barely breathe... it appeared it was all over.
“As for your punishment, you will be given a choice.” Celestia looked both the defendants in their eyes, “I have prepared two sentences of community service to make up for the crimes you have committed.” Two large envelopes were carried from her desk to the defendants by golden magic. “You will not be able to open those instruction packets until you have agreed to follow them. You will not be able to look at each other’s packet. You will not be sharing any punishment. You will not be seeing each other for a very long time. Declining to follow the instructions will result in jailtime, probably for life. Is this clear?”
“Can we at least say goodbye?” Trixie asked, barely holding back the tears.
“Of course. But then I will need to hear your respective choices of punishment.”
The magician and the changeling stared into each other’s eyes one last time and shared one first and last hug. A soft “goodbye” escaped the snouts of both ponies more than once. Shadow slowly stepped out of the hug. Green magic ensnared the all-so-familiar envelope. He stepped forward, bowed down, and pledged to follow the instructions given to him. The guards led him out with his envelope before he could hear Trixie’s decision; the last thing he saw of her were teary, purple eyes slightly obscured by a mane that was white as snow.

Changeling Ranks

CLASSIFIED! FOR SRC USE ONLY! CLASSIFIED!

CHANGELING RANKS: A REFERENCE GUIDE

CHRONICLED BY MIDNIGHT MASQUERADE

I, Midnight Masquerade, have made this handy reference guide for the Equestrian military to use at their own discretion by the command of the Special Reconnaissance Company who didn’t like my first, tiny note. This guide is all but essential if one wishes to fight back against a changeling invasion successfully. As I have stated before… they disown me, I disown them! Good hunting, gentlecolts!

Part I: Birthing

Alright, let’s begin at the very, very beginning of a changeling’s life shall we? Yes, the infamous “where do foals come from” question that so many parents rue. Personally, I prefer the changeling method to common pony method of reproduction. It just makes more sense! You guys have genders and all this junk that complicates the entire birthing process! Let me show you using simple mathematics.

The common Pony mating rituals can be boiled down to this formula: 1 + 1 = 3(+). As you can see, you take one pony, add another pony, and miraculously get at least 3 out of it! Not only is this making me sick to my stomach to think about, but it’s also hurting my brain, so I’ll move on.

The common Changeling method uses a “Breeder.” I will talk about Breeders later on in this document, but for now, let’s see the Changeling reproductive formula: 1 + 1 = 2. Isn’t this so simple!? You take one changeling, add one pony, and you get… 2 changelings! Easy. You see, Breeders are trained to use these little glands we have in our mouths. They produce this sticky substance that can turn a pony into a changeling! Of course, they would have to be completely encased in a cocoon of it for a rather long amount of time… but there are rarely any complications! The physical transformation is quick, the mental transformation is slow. They affect each other, too! If a pony goes into a cocoon ready to become something greater, he will change within 8 hours. If a pony wants to continue to pony pony… it can take up to 48 hours. By then, the lack of food requires the pony to desperately accept their fate. This desperation can cause mental deterioration… so if you want to be a smart changeling, you’ll accept your fate quickly! Just remember my story… you should know by now that becoming a changeling does NOT mean you have to be evil!

Part II: Development

When a changeling is born, they are stripped of former ponydom. This includes Gender, color, and special talent. To a degree of course… like ponies, the changelings also have talents. They are simply not as special due to the lack of required work a changeling must endure. Because we rely on Breeders to reproduce, sexual activity is completely outdated. The hormones associated with genders are no longer produced by the changeling’s body, therefore a changeling is capable of switching genders without too much hassle. So with a major lack of motivation, you can probably see now why I’m still single… but I digress. The point is that while a changeling’s true form lacks that infamous anatomy, the forms we take still do. A preference is made in early foalhood, and none are seen as inferior. After all, the males usually make good Assassins and the females make good Manipulators. Again, I will be coming back to these ranks later on.

Once a changeling has come to terms with what they are, they may begin to truly develop. The thing that you ponies must understand about us changelings, is that our “young” come adult-sized. After all, this is a metamorphosis. You may end up going through these stages yourself someday! So pay attention as I return to the matter at hoof… the changeling must then figure out what they want to be, and this is where things get fun!

Part III: The Naming System

The naming system for a changeling is about as convoluted as a pony’s, except it’s simpler... in that not every changeling born will even get a name! You only get a name once you’ve passed combat training, and sometimes not even then! Having a name is a kind of honor, as it shows that you must be distinguished from your peers. However, just like the ponies, the names reflect an aspect of the changeling themselves. For example, “Masquerade” was my original changeling name as I became a Saboteur. Then came the time when I was able to acquire a Moonicorn form and become the first Executioner. This great change gave me a second name: “Midnight.” I guess, technically, that’s a first name... but now I’m all confused so let’s just move on, shall we?

Part IV: Military Ranks
There are a lot of them, since changelings are often led by ravenous Manipulators bent on total Love Domination. I’ve also been told that since changelings can’t see the future, we’re forced to work hard to keep each other alive. It’d be more touching if we weren’t a race of emotion stealing monsters... anyways, let’s start with the lowest military rank, shall we?

Drones
Drones are the lowest forms of changeling life. They are changelings who are either newborn or are still figuring out which way to go in their new life. They have no specific talents nor training. They wear no armor. In battle, they can be easily confused and, for this reason, they are almost never sent into actual battle. Watch out for their horn, as it is much stronger in close-quarters combat than a unicorn’s.

Soldiers
Every changeling gets some combat training. When a Drone is ready, they are trained according to whatever talent they wish to pursue, but combat training is always mandatory. Any changeling still in training or settling for basic training is called a Soldier. Their armor configurations range from none to a saddle. They’re probably the easiest targets in the Invasion force. Just watch out for their charge attack, as they use magic and wings to reach ramming speed in no time at all.

Breeders
You’d be surprised how many Breeders are in a typical changeling invasion. They are easy to see in battle, as they sport a telltale helmet designed to help them control their spray of goop as they ensnare/convert targets. They are very efficient and are often used to slow down or incapacitate enemies that could do damage to the Swarm. They make amazing hostage takers and can be an Executioner’s best friend. It should be noted that “Motherly” is not a good adjective for these soldiers. They are ending a pony’s life and they know it. More than that, they enjoy it. Fear them.

Saboteurs
Not as abundant as Breeders, Saboteurs are the undercover agents in the changeling military. Sent in advance, they scout out the opposition and report back in secret. Their specialty training includes advanced camouflage and character judgment. As killing is illegal in Changeling society, don’t expect any bombs. Their primary tool is lying—costume changes, gossip, and espionage. Watch out for unicorns using Green magic. Even highly trained Saboteurs cannot change the color of their magic! However, Saboteur Elites are known to be able to change race and even gender with their advanced spells.

Assassins
An extremely rare foe, the assassin is by far the deadliest for obvious reasons… they have royal permission to kill! Killing ponies is a capital crime in changeling society; it’s worse than burning down the local food market or apple orchard in your pony society, though the three are comparable. Assassins are very skilled with weapons, and have gear that can shift shapes as flawlessly as they can. This makes them the deadliest type of versatile in battle—very. A bow can become a sword can become a spear… etc. In all honesty, if you come across an Assassin, you’re dead. Assassins are hoof picked from the most violent/depraved of the other ranks. They show no mercy. Another fun thing about them is that they all take a short course from Sabotage school to learn stealth. Another fun fact is they are called Assassins due to the fact that everypony is regarded as essential in the changelings’ eyes, instead of the rare few in your society such as princesses and pop stars. If a base goes dark for no reason, watch out for Assassins… they tend to stick around and gather Intel. Rations? They eat parasprites.

Executioners
The highest rank of the changeling military. Executioners are the first to go behind enemy lines. They rat out high value targets and replace those around them with their squad of Assassins one by one. A Breeder can help a lot with this process, as its substance can pacify the unlucky enemy. If you get an invitation to some event by somepony you are suspicious of, never accept it, as Executioners lead their targets astray before replacing them. Executioners are hoof picked from those who have proven themselves as good judges of pony character. These can come from Breeders, Saboteurs, or even Soldiers! Regular Assassins don’t have much of a chance at all, fortunately for us. It is a fun fact that any changeling that is nominated for this position acquires the title “Elite.” While not as big a threat and not near specific enough to get their own entry, Elites are one of the most difficult enemies to conquer in a fight. Their experience and skill can surpass even an Assassin’s at times.

Part V: Non-Military Ranks

Workers
Any drone that fails basic military training hits a new low. While rare in number, the Workers are the ones doing the jobs that all intelligent life hates. They are in charge of maintenance of the Hive and other odd jobs. Their rations are set very low, and the only motivation they have for their work is survival. There are at most 3 workers in the Hive, as changelings are made ready to fight. One can only speculate as to how a changeling can fail such an easy course…

Manipulators
Basically politicians, Manipulators regulate troops through the Hive and beyond. As far as training goes, Manipulators practice spells capable of brain washing and mind control. Unlike Military changelings, Manipulators have the luxury of a pale blue mane and tail. It is speculated that it is a side effect of the spells that they practice. Great Manipulators have even developed green, reptilian eyes! All aesthetic changes only strengthen the changeling’s spells, which of course make more aesthetic changes. Manipulators are the few of changelings who can actually show gender in their true form. There is but one rank above Great Manipulator, and that is Prime Manipulator. Most just call her Queen. She was the first changeling and the first Prime Manipulator. Her growth from a small, common changeling to her Queen form is extraordinary. The spells she was able to learn allow her to outperform all others, and she is capable of manipulating her troops from great distances away. There is one great flaw with any Manipulator charged with a combat role: they do not have Saboteur training. Without proper Saboteur training, Manipulators are guarded only by a strong, but not perfect duplicate form, and their attitude cannot be covered up naturally. They make up for this using their manipulation spells and covering their tracks with convoluted stories. Even then, they need some form of major distraction to keep everypony off their tracks… such as a natural disaster. Or a wedding.

Emulation Armageddon, Act 1

The Changeling Chronicles

Book 3: Emulation Armageddon

Author: Shadow Beast

Preface: Belly of the Beast
If you’re reading this, then you must want to learn of the past events that have most likely affected you and/or your family. First, I would like to say that I had no part in helping Chrysalis invade Equestria a second time... I really would. But I can’t. This book shall serve as a formal apology to all of those who were hurt in some way involved with the horrific events surrounding what I’d like to call the “Emulation Armageddon.” This book will once again be in third pony perspective. I’d like to say “enjoy,” but we all know why you’re reading this. You may end up reliving the nightmare as you read this text. Prepare yourself.

Act 1: New Beginnings

Chapter 1: An Equestrian Changeling

Midnight Masquerade trotted out of the throne room a new... pony. With Princess Celestia having forgiven him his horrible crimes against Equestria, a new sun was shining above the changeling’s head. However, Midnight himself did not feel the same joy. So many of his thoughts were of his own demise on the way back from the Hive; he wondered how he could forgive himself. He went to the Archives and spent several weeks writing all that he had remembered from his travels. Finally, it was complete; he submitted it posthaste and gracefully left the Archives for the second time.

The black creature trotted outside, ready to take on the world and regain his ponydom. He went to his suite in the castle, provided by the generous solar princess, and looked out the window. Now that the princess had forgiven his past, the Canterlot air was much more bearable. The sun was shining dimly outside as it made way for the fall of night. As he breathed in the fresh city air, he contemplated his past. His changeling training was coming back to him in memory. Years of not using his body, and a brief moment of misusing his wings, had left most of his old strategies virtually meaningless to him. Part of him wished he could still fight... this time for Equestria.

A knock on the door prodded his blue eyes back to reality. He turned back toward the door and opened it with his green magic. A familiar cream pegasus entered.
“Hey, Midnight!”
“Greetings, Thunder Sword. I didn’t expect you to drop in so soon...”
“Well, I thought I’d check in and see how my old friend was doing.” He glanced towards window, then back to Masquerade; the changeling could smell his friend’s apprehension.
“I just got done with my second book. It should be published in a couple days if everything goes well.”
Thunder smiled as he trotted into the center of the suite, his head constantly turning as he surveyed the room. His gaze settled on an object that had been set upon the chair. “Oh, is that a... bow?”
The changeling chuckled and his fangs reflected the light of the sun, “Oh yeah, that thing... I’ve signed up for some Archery lessons over at the local military school.” He could sense the pegasus’s concern without even looking at his face. “That’s all I’ve signed up for. I saw some young colts using them and thought it looked fun... not to mention the wonders it could do for my magic-eye coordination!”
“Glad to see you’re making some effort to fit in,” Thunder replied, nodding in understanding. “Celestia will be happy to hear about this.”
The changeling was glad to hear that. “You ever use a bow, Thunder? Any advice you could give me would be great... the class starts tomorrow and I’ve never even seen a bow before a couple days ago.”
The pegasus chuckled. “I did once, but it never really worked for me. Just keep a positive attitude and you’ll do fine.”
“Thanks,” Midnight said sincerely.
The pegasus turned from the changeling and began trotting back to the door. “Well, I’ve got to get back to my team. We got a recon assignment coming up, and they’re interrupting all of our personal lives to fit it in.”
“First you have to protect a changeling, then you have to go on some random mission when you should be relaxing?! Does Celestia know about all this?”
“She knows a lot more than she used to, but it’s fine. Good luck in your Archery class tomorrow, and have a good night’s sleep!”
“Yeah, I’ll try... with the archery, I mean. Good luck with your mission. I’m sure it’ll be cakewalk for a pegasus with your skills!”
“Yeah... I’ll see you later, Midnight!”
“Later, Thunder!”

The door shut quietly behind Thunder in an aura of green as soon as he was clear. The sunset lit the room in a dark orange. Once again secluded in his room, Midnight stared out the window at the city streets in the twilight. He felt exhausted and ready to turn in, but he stayed by the window. He wanted to see the moon again before he had to sleep, just to bring back some good memories. He could barely keep his head up as the sun finally disappeared behind the horizon. The Moon was now in view... a full, pure white Moon that radiated dim light onto the city streets. As Midnight looked up he wondered if there was a way to undo his old spell that hides Palomoono and the rest of the Luna’s kingdom, but he remembered how the kingdom’s visibility became a liability to the changelings that were still up there. “Wait... why do I care about those stupid changelings?! They’re all jerks and thieves... just a bunch of backstabbers.” His hatred of his own race subsided for a short moment as he realized that Equestria was probably better off not knowing of the Lunar kingdom. This beautiful moon seemed pure and untainted. “They can live in obscurity for the rest of eternity for all I care! Chrysalis made me exterminate Earth ponies... made me lie to the Princesses! I hate her!” He caught his breath and tried to quell the rage. He stopped talking to himself and turned from the window, closing it and the curtains behind him with his magic. As the changeling lay awake in bed, he wondered if there was a way he could go back to the Moon... take back his old job and his old life. There was no way he could do it without getting noticed by another changeling, which would probably cause another rebellion when they realized that Luna had lied to them. As long as he was down here in Equestria, the changelings up there would stay loyal. His eyes closed and he drifted into a deep sleep.

Chapter 2: Precision and Strength

The door to the suite swung open, and the changeling trotted inside. He headed straight for his bed, throwing his bow and quiver down on the chair and jumped, back first, onto the mattress. The orange light from outside got into his eye, so he shut the door. Now it was too dark, so he opened the curtains. It had been two weeks since the class had started, and he was happy to be back home. He looked up at the ceiling as thoughts flew through his head. The Moon was coming out soon, but Midnight didn’t care this time. The events of the day had worn him out, and he could now look back on that instead. In fact, he could look back at the whole past week.

The class had started out rather difficult, and it didn’t help that many of his classmates were more or less scared of him as his blue eyes scanned the room. He made routine of visiting the donut shop after every class. This reassured him that even if he wasn’t good at archery and/or everypony in the class wanted nothing to do with him, that he could still survive. This was just for fun, after all. When the day finally came for Midnight to actually shoot his bow, he was excited and a bit nervous. He took his place at the range, along with everypony else, and lined up his first shot. He stood up on his hind legs and readied his bow, his horn aglow. He nocked the arrow in a green aura with the bow and concentrated on the center of the bullseye across from him. He released his grasp on the arrow and bow string, launching the projectile. It flew through the air and landed perfectly in the center... of the field.
“Try pulling it back as hard as you can before releasing,” a deep voice said from his right. Midnight turned to see an unfamiliar, dark green pegasus looking back at him.
“If you say so...” the changeling tried again, focusing his power into the arrow and string. He closed his eyes as he released, but opened them quick enough to see the arrow soar up and over the target. “Oops... guess I pulled it a bit too much,” he admitted.
“Try to remember that it’s not all about power, but accuracy as well. You have to make sure it has the path as well as the power to get it there.”
The changeling focused his mind on the target once again. He concentrated on the center of the bullseye, and released for a third time. The arrow struck the upper edge of the target. Midnight looked on in disbelief. He turned to face the brown eyes of his classmate.
“I actually hit the target!” The changeling smiled. “Thanks, friend.”
“No problem,” the pegasus replied, returning the smile. “The name’s Hunter.”
“I’m... Midnight Masquerade,” the changeling said shyly, his true name still having a lingering, foreboding feeling.
“‘Midnight Masquerade,’ huh? That’s a mouthful.” The green pegasus smiled in thought for a second before the idea popped into his head. “...would you mind if I just called you ‘Mask?’”
The changeling caught his tongue and calmly responded, “Whatever makes you happy.” The two quadrupeds smiled for similar reasons. The rest of the week passed rather quickly as Midnight’s new friendship yielded a more regular flow of energy. Each day the two friends seemed to spend more and more time together, whether it was on the archery range or the donut shop after class.

Finally the week came to an end, and Midnight lay on his bed. He was exhausted, but happy. He looked forward to what the next week had in store, putting aside his fears and doubts and finally enjoying his life for once. He looked up toward the ceiling, not needing to see the Moon. His bright blue eyes slowly came to a close and his smile slowly faded as the night came. He fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter 3: A New Dawn

After an uneventful weekend, class started up again and Midnight was eager to have some more fun on the range. He met with Hunter outside the donut shop and they began their walk to the Academy as the sun rose overhead.
“Is it just me or does that sun rise later each morning?” Midnight asked, his slight worry hidden behind a smile.
Hunter’s head turned from side to side until he saw a clock. “Looks like it’s just you, Mask. According to that store, the sun’s rising same time as it does every morning.”
“I guess I’m just more awake in the mornings now...” the changeling surmised.
“I hope that helps your aim... you have yet to hit a perfect bullseye!”
“That really doesn’t matter to me, I’m just doing it for the fun of it all. I need some relaxation after all I’ve been through.”
With that sentiment the two quadrupeds reached the Academy, only to be greeted by a unicorn guard. The golden armored stallion explained to them that most of the teachers had been called to an emergency meeting so there would be no classes today.
“‘Emergency meeting?’” Hunter asked, “What, like an unscheduled teachers’ conference?”
“I believe it was scheduled, but due to a mailing list error the teachers were all alerted too late to get substitutes,” the gray unicorn explained. “It’s some crazy, disorienting mix-up that gets me off of perimeter patrol and you guys out of class! See? It’s not all bad...”
“I didn’t think they let optimists into the Military,” Midnight commented, smiling at the unexpected silver lining.
“Well, on a gorgeous day like today, it’s hard to stay upset too long.”
“True. Well, we’ll let you get back to your job, sir!” Hunter said, turning from the soldier.
“Thanks for the info. I guess I’ll have to find something else to do for fun.” The changeling turned from the unicorn and caught up to his pegasus friend. He noticed something about his friend now that he had never before. “So... I hope this isn’t rude... but what’s your cutie mark mean? It looks like a regular leaf...”
“It’s alright, Mask. It’s kind of a long story... you see, my dad and I went hunting in Whitetail Woods one fall and my camouflage skills got me this thing! Speaking of which, I know changelings don’t have cutie marks... so how do you guys know what your talent is?”
“It’s complicated,” Midnight answered, a negative connotation of his own “talent” sent his eyes to the ground as they continued trotting away from the school. A question popped into his head, perking it back up. “Where are we going now that class is cancelled?”
The pegasus looked to either side. “I don’t know... is there some place you want to go?”
“Well, the donut shop isn't open for another hour, I was just going to trot back up to my suite.”
“Mind if I tag along?”

The door to the suite opened and in a green aura the window curtains parted, releasing morning light into the dark room. After the two friends had entered the room, the door was then ensnared and closed gently behind him. The changeling threw his equipment on the floor next to the chair, leaving room for his friend to rest. The green pegasus sat down and the changeling leaned out the window, staring off into the streets of Canterlot. The two friends made small talk for about fifteen minutes or so before there was a knock at the door. With a nod from the Midnight, Hunter answered the door. Three Royal Guards stood before him. On either side was a white pegasus, the center--their captain--was a gray unicorn. All of them wore traditional golden armor.
“We were told that we could find the one known as Shadow Beast here,” the unicorn said in an emotionless voice.
“There’s nopony here by that name, I’m afra--”
“Wait, Hunter...” the changeling interrupted, having crossed the room from the window and now standing next to him. He turned from his friend and stared into the guards’ eyes. “I thought it was clear that my name is Midnight Masquerade! I could make a complaint to Princess Celestia about this...”
The unicorn raised his hoof to silence him, but his blue eyes continued to glare at the guard as he began to speak. “We heard you were good friends with a certain soldier... a ‘Thunder Sword.’ Is this true?”
“Everypony in the Royal Guard should know that I went on a mission with him and Shining Armor!”
“Is. He. Your. Friend?”
“Yes, since I can’t make it clear enough!”
The unicorn sighed, annoyed by the changeling’s attitude. “We’ve got some bad news.” He turned to Hunter, “Sir, you may want to step outside for a while, this is confidential information.”
“You don’t have to go anywhere, Hunter,” Midnight objected, “...if it was really ‘confidential’ I’d be called to a ‘confidential’ place. Not a public area like my own suite!”
“Sirs, your cooperation would be greatly appreciated in these hard times.”
“We have no idea what’s going on around here! Why don’t you give me some answers as to what these ‘hard times’ are and then I’ll be a bit more civil!?”
“That’s classified information, sir! Now do you want to hear the bad news or not?”
“Yes. And Hunter’s staying. He won’t say anything, I promise.”
The unicorn sighed again, but had had enough arguing. “I’m sorry Sha--er... Midnight. Thunder Sword is dead.”
Hunter turned toward his changeling friend. They stood in a state of shock. He put a foreleg around the changeling. “I’m sorry, Mask...”
“Don’t be.”
“What?”
“He’s lying. They’re all lying.”
The officer’s anger showed on his face. “I can assure you that Thunder Sword is dead. He was killed in action.”
“I’ll keep denying you as long as you wear those pathetic costumes!”
Hunter’s foreleg dropped back to the floor, he looked back and forth between the two parties.
The pegasi’s faces showed anger as well as their captain spoke, “These are the traditional golden plates of the Equestrian military!”
“And Thunder wore the silver plates of the nontraditional Reconnaissance team!”

The soldiers had heard enough. In three bursts of green flame they showed their true forms. The pegasi had simple changeling forms bearing little armor beyond a simple saddle. Their leader, on the other hoof, had a much more sinister configuration. Armor that Midnight had not seen for hundreds of years, but immediately remembered.
Midnight and Hunter backed away slowly from the three changelings in the door. The black creatures began to step inside, and Midnight turned to his friend.
“HUNTER! RUN!!”

The two friends made a mad dash for the window, but were intercepted by the soldiers. They pinned down the two Equestrians as their armored leader stepped forward. Midnight shook off his attacker, only to receive a heavy hoof to the face. He fell back to the floor, helpless. The leader glared at him through his helmet, then turned toward Hunter. All Midnight could do was watch as the two changelings pinned Hunter to the wall, and the armored changeling do what he does best. Green goop erupted from the changeling’s snout, encasing the pegasus’s limbs in a sticky paste. He kept pouring it on until the pony was completely encased in an inescapable cocoon.
“That should keep him. Now onto our primary objective!” the leader said, turning towards the weakened changeling on the floor. He stopped, turned to his soldiers and gestured toward the door. “I’ve got this one. Secure the perimeter!” The two changelings fled as the leader stood over Midnight.
“What do you want from me?” Midnight asked.
“You know too much,” the changeling said, spitting more goop onto the changeling’s limbs. “For some reason, Chrysalis wants you alive. That’s the only thing saving you right now.”
“Taking hostages isn’t a breeder’s game...”
The changeling smiled. “Chrysalis was right... you do have a good memory! If you must know, I’m simply here to subdue you for the ones who will be coming soon. They will deliver you to Chrysalis and I get promoted to executioner!”
Midnight chuckled to himself for two reasons. “I was once an executioner...” he started, covertly using his magic on the bow he had placed on the floor a few feet away. “I hated it. It was lying and backstabbing all day!” He released the arrow, planting it in the back of the changeling’s helmet. As planned, the breeder turned to see what hit him, giving Midnight the chance to break free and surprise his opponent. The Breeder was well trained in combat, but Midnight’s lighter frame allowed for easy dodges and counter attacks. Their quarrel disrupted the neatness of the room... by the time the Breeder was finally thrown on his back there were papers and other supplies scattered everywhere.
Midnight stood over his defeated opponent, scratches and bruises were visible on his body, but there was no serious damage done. However, the Breeder refused to go quietly. “I wasn’t lying about Thunder, you know! My brother’s an Assassin!”

Midnight had heard enough. Anger coursed through his body as he stood directly over the Breeder’s head. As his rage took over, so did instinct. His horn began to glow with powerful magic. “W-What are you doing?!” Even if rage had permitted the changeling to talk, Midnight had no answer. He lowered his head and touched his horn to the Breeder’s. A bright flash and a deafening scream soon turned to darkness and silence.

Chapter 4: In a Cloak of Darkness

Midnight’s head ached as he opened his eyes. The suite looked like it was hit with a tornado; chairs, desks, and lamps were knocked over and the floor was barely visible under a sheet of scattered folders, scrolls, books, and even broken glass. The window he had loved so much had been closed and broken, revealing itself to be the source of the shards around him. The curtains were torn, only helping to scatter the light in the dimly lit room. He looked towards the wall where Hunter had been glued, but there was nothing there but an empty cocoon. As Midnight tried to make sense of his surroundings, he found the body of the breeder that had attacked him; a scroll clutched in his hooves. He used his magic to pull the paper from the fallen changeling only to find his old map of Equestria covered in crudely drawn lines going in different directions. Before the changeling could make out the meaning, the Breeder began to stir. Their eyes met, and the fallen arose with anger. Midnight knew that whatever was on this map had to be important so he made a break for the door.
“YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY THIS TIME!” the Breeder yelled, spitting a small amount of green onto the fleeing changeling’s rear hoof.

Midnight struggled to get his hoof unstuck as his pursuer loomed closer. He pulled his rear legs back as hard as he could, suspending his rear above his head. With a look back he could see the Breeder was there, inhaling as it prepared to ensnare him and make his escape impossible.
“Oh... no... you... Don’t!”
The goop snapped and the changeling used this momentum to send his legs flying back in a strong buck. His back hooves hit his pursuer, sending him onto his back yet again. Midnight took the opportunity to swing the door open and, rather than take the stairs down, jumped from the height. He curled into a ball in mid air, allowing him to land with a graceful roll, pop out, and hit the ground running. He galloped as fast his changeling legs could take him toward the castle gate. It was heavily fortified with two gatekeepers and at least a dozen guards on lookout from above.
Midnight made it to a gatekeeper and tried to catch his breath. “Please... I have to see Princess Celestia immediately! I’m being pursued...”
“Don’t listen to him!” a voice shouted from behind. The changeling Breeder was back in his unicorn officer form. “He’s misinformed, don’t let him into the castle!”
Midnight panicked, and instinct took over. “Enemy on my mark!” he yelled, sending a quick spell from his horn to the changeling, revealing the liar’s true form. The changeling got up on his hind legs, examining his true forelegs in shock. A whistle of a spear flying through the air could be heard, so Midnight covered his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see any more violence. He still was able to hear the changeling’s deep throated scream, followed by a thud and the sound of green flames. He looked up to see a spear on the road, surrounded by ash.
“What are you guys looking at? Let him in already!” a deep, familiar voice yelled from the top of the wall. It was followed by some unfamiliar voices saying things like “you heard the captain” and “hurry up.” Finally, the gate opened and Shining Armor stood on the other side, greeting the changeling as he entered, but blocking his path.
“I need to see Princess Celestia!” Midnight said, still catching his breath.
“She’s a little busy right now,” Shining explained. “Who was after you just now?”
“A Breeder Elite,” the changeling said, his mouth moving faster than his brain.
“A what?”
“A changeling soldier, sent by Chrys--er... the Queen herself!” His breath and thoughts finally caught up to his words.
One of the guards spoke too loud in the background. “So the rumors are true... the changelings are invading!”
“No one said that, soldier!” the captain answered. He turned back to the changeling, “Are you okay? You seem a bit more... blue.”
“‘Blue?’” Midnight said, a bit confused. “I’m not that depressed anymore…”
“No, I mean your mane… it seems to get tinted blue a bit more every time I see you,” Shining explained. “…are you trying to copy my style?”
“Not at all. I don’t even pay attention to my mane since it’s so short.” Midnight’s eyes went to the sky above, his mane not long enough to obscure his vision and provide an answer. Worried, he looked back at Shining. “Is it really getting… blue?”
“Yeah... but don’t worry about it. It looks good on you!”
“…that’s exactly what I’m afraid of…” the changeling mumbled to himself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing… I just really want to talk to Princess Celestia!”
“Well she’s kinda busy, and I don’t think that—”
“What’s this I hear about a changeling at the Castle gate?!” a loud, masculine new voice yelled out. The soldiers around saluted as this new unicorn walked out amongst them. Even Shining saluted as the stallion approached the changeling. “At ease, Captain Armor.” The unicorn turned towards Midnight for a second before going back to the Captain. “I thought the changeling was taken down on sight… why is he still alive? We can’t trust their kind here, so if he’s not going down, he’s going out!”
“Excuse me?” Midnight said angrily. “I thought I was dealing with Canterlot’s best… but if this is how you’re going to treat me, well… I don’t need your help anyways! I can’t believe that Celestia would have such ignorant guards around here.”

Midnight turned to leave, but Shining stopped him and explained the situation further to both the pony and the changeling. What Midnight thought was a random leader in the Solar Guard was actually the pony behind many of the more special branches of the military, and very highly ranked. “The Colonel” was all he was known as, since his name was classified. The Colonel snatched the scroll from Midnight first chance he got… even before the changeling could decipher its meaning. Somehow the pony knew immediately what was on it and hurried back inside the Castle for a few brief moments before returning with a few extra guards.
“Armor, Masquerade… you two have been summoned by the Princesses. You are to proceed into the throne room immediately. These soldiers shall take your place, Armor.” The Colonel’s head turned as he set his eyes onto every guard on station. “Keep up the good work, everypony!”

The two ponies and the changeling trotted into the throne room. Neither Shining nor Midnight would have guessed it would be so busy. Among what appeared to be military officials, the only other notable guests were the six heroes bearing the Elements of Harmony and… Princess Luna. Midnight grew nervous at this sight, especially since this was the middle of the day. Luna would have to have come here a night in advance, leaving her subjects alone on the Moon. She was going out of her way again...

As the changelings approached, Midnight had expected Celestia to greet them, but instead she turned to her sister and friends. “Everypony, I’d like you to meet Midnight Masquerade. You’ve never formally met.” Midnight shyly waved at his old ruler, and the six ponies that got him sent here. While everypony else seemed genuinely happy to see him again, the pink pony appeared a bit concerned. Barely hearing his name allowed the changeling to make out what she said under her breath: “Midnight Masquerade!? Shoot, now I’ll have to rewrite that Welcome Song…” Her rainbow-maned friend couldn’t help but smile, and their purple leader rolled her eyes.
“Princess Celestia,” Midnight started, “can I please get some answers as to what exactly is going on?”
“You don’t know?!” the Colonel answered before Celestia could speak. He looked back at the princess upon realizing what he had done, and she was glaring at him. “The... scroll.” He passed the map to Celestia, shrugging off her gaze with the scent of Pride seeping from within.
With the Colonel still by her side, Celestia spoke, “This scroll you gave us, Midnight. It has explained what was once hidden behind rumors. Many of our military outposts along the border have gone dark, and we still have not heard back from many of our reconnaissance teams.”
“How does that old map tell you any of that?”
“These lines. They illustrate the movement of military forces.”
“Battle plans?!” Midnight realized. He found himself at a loss for words, and breath.
“Yes. The movements match the attacks on our nation; now that we have the rest of their plans, we can start a counter-attack.” She turned toward Shining Armor. “Captain, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to use your Protection Spell again.”
“No problem, your highness!”
Celestia turned back to Midnight. “As for you, I want you out in Canterlot looking for any bad changelings that may already be here. The city is...” Celestia’s sentence faded into silence as she turned back to Armor. He looked back at her, confused. Then it hit him.
“Now?”
“Please.”
The unicorn’s horn glowed in a bright pink, then shot skyward to form a spherical barrier around all of Canterlot. Celestia turned back to Midnight. “The city is completely enclosed now, so nopony will be entering or leaving without somepony knowing about it. We just need to be sure the changelings don't fool us the same way twice.”
“Understood, your highness,” Midnight said, accepting his responsibilities. “There is one thing that’s bothering me now, though...”
“What is that?”
The changeling’s blue eyes missed Celestia’s and settled on the princess's sister. “How can you be here?”
Luna sighed as she contemplated the truth of the matter. She looked towards her sister, who nodded back at her, prodding her to tell her former subject why she was here. For a short moment, the changeling could see fear in the eyes of the Lunar princess, but the reassurance of her sister dispelled it. She looked at the him with a kind of familiar sadness that was so familiar to his changeling tongue--Regret.
“...What happened?” the changeling asked, unsure that he wanted the answer.
“They’re gone.” Her admittance caused the Fear in her eyes to reappear. Midnight’s warrior instincts told him that her fear was of him.
“Who’s gone?” he asked, fearing he already knew the answer.
“Thousands. Thousands of my subjects. Changelings. All of them... probably.” Luna’s voice was unusually quiet, she was hiding something from him. The changeling could sense her apprehension.
Celestia cut into the conversation. “Midnight, did you tell the Queen of the changelings about Palomoono?”
“No. Not a word! I don’t know how she found out... I mean, her signal is relatively weak that far away! In order to actually get into their heads, she’d need to know their names.”
A deep voice came from the crowd. “She knew your name.” The Colonel stepped in once again. “Of course, you were something special! An Executioner!”
“The first... Executioner,” the changeling added, shuddering at his own title... and all that it implied.
“Any clue as to how she could learn the ‘names’ of some Drones or Soldiers?”
The changeling’s eyes wandered throughout the room as his mind tried to find an answer. His eyes hit the map and everything suddenly came together in his mind. “ME?!” the answer exploded from the changeling’s mouth. Rage shook the changeling’s head and neck, twisting and turning as thoughts swirled inside his mind. He breathed heavily and his heart raced. He reared up on his hind legs, landing with a heavy stomp. “Chrysalis! She used me! She gave me back my old memories, and took what she wanted from my new ones! No wonder I couldn’t forget my travels...” He paused for a moment to catch his breath. “She’ll pay for this!”
“I’m sure she will!” the Colonel said.
Celestia and Luna whispered into each other’s ears, but the changeling’s attention was soon drawn from them. The throne room doors swung open, and a pair of unicorn guards galloped in. They attempted to catch their breath as they explained the situation:
“Cel-Celestia... we...”
“We saw a ch...changeling!”
“He took off... into the air!”
“He was... fast!”
“Real fast...”
A burst of magic from Shining’s horn signaled a reinforcement to the spell. “I doubt he’ll be getting away,” the Captain assured them.
There was a loud shudder in the group of six heroes. The ponies, princesses, and changeling turned to see the pink pony’s tail shaking unnaturally. “Twitchy tail!” she exclaimed, much to her friends’ alarm. Everypony else in the room seemed unsure of how to react to the spectacle... until the purple leader screamed “Everypony, duck and cover!”

Everypony ducked to the floor and covered their heads for no apparent reason. A loud crash could be heard as one of the throne room’s stained glass windows shattered. The soldiers inspected the projectile only to find a curled up, shaking mass with two fangs and bright blue eyes filled with fear.
“We got a changeling over here!” one of the guards exclaimed, hiding most of his fear.
Spears closed in around the unbridled changeling. Midnight broke through to investigate. The crashed changeling saw his saddled counterpart and calmed down for some reason. The once-chattering fangs now moved with the mouth as it opened, releasing an unfamiliar voice... and a familiar name.
“...Mask?”

Chapter 5: The Hunted

Two changelings walked through the streets of Canterlot. The Equestrian seal on the one’s saddle caught the sunlight as he turned toward his winged friend. Questions were piling up in the Equestrian’s mind.
“So... you’re a... changeling.”
“Yeah? From what I hear, you should know how that all works.”
“That’s actually what’s bothering me right now. You changed in a matter of a few hours; I’ve never seen such a rapid transformation!”
“So?”
“There’s something you’re not telling me, Hunter...”
“What’s there to tell?!” the changeling said, taking offense to his pony name being used.
“You helped me in Archery class... in fact, you were pretty much my only friend at that place! ...or so I thought.”
“Please,” the changeling moaned. “That was a pony, I’m a changeling now.”
“Just like you’ve always wanted...” Midnight added.
“Excuse me?” the changeling said, angry and slightly confused.
“You heard me. You didn’t care about me as a pony... you just thought it’d be cool to know a changeling. To be a changeling.”
“You can’t possibly know that!”
“I was like you once,” Midnight explained. “I hated being a pony; I hated everypony. I wanted something more...”
The changeling stared at his “friend,” amazed at his memory. “Y-you remember being a pony?!”
“It’s amazing what a memory spell can do, right?”
“Yeah, I saw...”
“...what? When?”
“Back in that cocoon! You used a memory spell on that brute to get those battle plans!”
“I... did?” Midnight’s memory was still a blur when it came to that fight.
“You don’t know?”
“Instinct took over...”
“Do you think you could replicate the spell? We could gather more intelligence!”
“‘We?’ Listen, Hunter... there’s not going to be a ‘we.’” The changelings stopped walking and the unbridled changeling turned in confusion to his old friend. Midnight spoke before Hunter had a chance to question. “Why do you think we’re out here? You’re a newborn changeling... you’re a liability to us. Fortunately you’re also innocent. That’s the only thing keeping you alive right now. You can stay in my suite if you need to, but just try to stay out of trouble.”
Midnight turned from his former friend to slip back into the castle, but he didn’t get very far. Hunter refused to go away so easily. “I’m a ‘liability...’ says the guy who can’t even fly!”
Midnight stopped, and looked back at him. “Says the guy who crash landed into Canterlot castle!”
“Only because of that protection spell!” Hunter explained. “When I saw the guards, I flew away so fast that I hit that shield and bounced off... straight into the castle.”
“So you can fly,” Midnight continued as he turned all the way around. “There are pegasi in the military too, you know... so you’re not very special.”
“But wouldn’t you want a flying changeling to help you out?”
“We’d still need a pony anyways, Hunter! We’re not gonna feed ourselves!”
“But--”
“I’ve heard enough!” Midnight struck the ground with his hoof. “Just go home!”

The two changelings finally parted ways, oblivious to the prying eyes that were watching them fight. Shadows moved in Midnight’s peripheral, but the changeling was too upset to care. He turned back one last time to see Hunter disappear around a corner, and shrugged off all the nagging doubts. He had a job to do. Everypony does. But when the path forward is unclear or obstructed, one can easily be lead astray. Midnight shrugged that thought off too.

Chapter 6: A Discarded Blade

Morning came and Midnight found himself trotting in formation with two unicorn soldiers. Their orders were simple: Find the two changelings that got away. Since the Protection Spell was up, the changelings had nowhere to go, so they must be hiding in Canterlot somewhere. As they made their way down the street, ponies hiding in their houses, the changeling could feel eyes watching them pass. The first few hours weren’t out of the ordinary, until a familiar scent wafted into his black snout. Soon they were encircled as the three changelings spun around the squad quickly with their wings in ambush. Three on three were unexpected odds, and aerial combat was not the forte of anypony. Midnight and the unicorns stuck together and attempted to zap the changelings with their magic. Nothing worked. The changelings were too fast to get a good lock on.

Suddenly the changelings flew toward the sun, and burned a bright green. They charged the ponies in a meteor-like frenzy. Midnight and the Squad Leader stuck together, successfully dodging the changelings’ maneuvers. Their friend, now terrified by the green blaze that beleaguered them, deserted his friends in the hopes of survival. He didn’t get far before one of the “comets” struck him head-on, throwing him to the ground. Another changeling joined his friend as they inspected the incapacitated unicorn, feeding off of his love of life like the parasites they were. The green blur that cut the other two ponies off from their downed friend suddenly changed direction, and with great speed knocked down the two other changelings. They got back up, prepared to take down the traitor. Unfortunately for them, the odds had changed to three on two and they were overwhelmed. The Squad Leader’s spell reduced the two changelings to piles of ash.
Midnight turned to the “good” changeling. “You’ve got quite a bit of explaining to do... Hunter!”
Hunter looked into the familiar eyes of the saddled changeling. “You can thank me! It was my idea to ambush you guys. If it weren’t for me, these two jerks might’ve taken more lives!”
Midnight glared at his former friend, then looked back at the incapacitated unicorn. After inspecting the body, and rejected the love of life from his own, he turned to the Squad Leader. “He’s unconscious. He needs medical attention soon,” he looks over his shoulder at the other changeling, “before it can get any worse.”
“Say whatever you want, Mask! The fact is that those two bad guys are gone!”
Masquerade was sick of it, but tried to hide his anger under sarcasm. “Yeah. Great! Two ‘bad guys’ get killed off! That’s totally gonna make a dent in the changeling army of hundreds of thousands!”
Hunter may have acted foolish, but he was no idiot. “Can the sarcasm, will ya!? I was trying to help you out!”
“Well, getting somepony badly injured is a pretty funny way of helping!”
Suddenly the Squad Leader stepped in with a loud, irritated voice,“Will you two cut it out!?” He turned to Midnight, “You know as well as I do that what happened was not his fault!” He gestured toward the changeling, then to the downed soldier. “Our friend here was supposed to stay with the group, even in times of peril! It was his own cowardice and insubordination that cost him his head!” He turned toward Hunter. “And you! What you did was rather cunning and impressive! I think we might have a use for someone like you in these dark times!”
“You mean... you’ll let me help in the fight?!” the changeling asked excitedly.
“We’ll see,” Midnight said. He had to walk past him in order to return to Celestia, so he closed his right eye so he wouldn’t have to look at the traitor. That’s all Hunter was in Midnight’s eyes. He hated being a changeling, and the fact that Hunter seemed to love it so much only made it worse.

Chapter 7: The Suffering

The Squad Leader and the two changelings headed into the castle to report back to Celestia. The other unicorn had been taken to the Canterlot hospital; he wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. The Colonel greeted them, explaining that he would be debriefing them as Princess Celestia was too busy. He quickly dismissed the Squad Leader, pointing him towards another officer who would give him his next mission. The changelings were forced to explain what had happened. Between their two reports, the Colonel was able to hatch a plan.
“I’m not working with Hunter,” Midnight insisted.
“This is a direct assignment; you can’t just say ‘no,’” the Colonel replied sternly.
“Well, I just did! And I don’t remember ever signing up for the military!”
“You have helped the military before. You’ve saved the lives of countless soldiers with your writings! You cannot possibly want to turn down such... direct, positive action!”
“I’m not working with Hunter.”
The Colonel turned to Hunter, who responded quickly: “I’m not working without Mask.” Hunter prodded his friend, smiling. Midnight didn’t even look at him as he shrugged off the gesture.
“I don’t want ‘direct, positive action,’” Midnight explained. “My methods... my preferred methods... are always indirect. Writing those stories and working for Luna were the most positive things I’ve done in my life. In contrast, the direct methods--teaming up with Trixie, visiting the Changeling Hive, working for Chrysalis, getting those battle plans--have always resulted in suffering!”
“But look at yourself! You’ve come out of all those things virtually unharmed! Not a single bruise or scar, despite the confrontations! And you forgot to mention the parasprites and dragons you encountered! Sure, your wings may be broken, but that was your own mistake! Not the doing of an enemy...” the Colonel reminded.
“Come on, Mask!” Hunter said. “If you’re half the changeling that I’ve heard about, then you can--”
“Go.”
“What?” Hunter turned to the Colonel, confused.
“I said, ‘go.’”
“Not without Mask!”
“Hunter, may I remind you that you are a full time student at our local academy, meaning you have already signed up for the armed forces! ‘Go’ is a direct order from the utmost authority outside of royalty; I suggest you follow it or face rather harsh consequences.”
Hunter finally shut up and left Midnight alone with the Colonel. He was pointed in the direction of a one-eyed officer who would give him further orders. Midnight almost felt sorry for the conscripted changeling, but he still hadn’t forgiven him. The Colonel attempted to persuade Midnight into joining the fight, but he refused to listen. Finally the high ranking unicorn gave up, and left for a meeting he was “late for.” He assured the changeling that they would talk later before he departed, but the changeling didn’t care. Midnight trotted out onto a balcony of the castle, unsure of where to go. The suite was wrecked, and the Colonel could easily deny him a bunk tonight since he was no longer taking part in the military’s operations. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the pony approaching him. A beautiful, familiar voice derailed his train of thought; he turned to find Princess Luna herself. He immediately fell to the ground in a humble bow.
“Arise... Midnight.” Luna said in a soft voice not unlike her sister’s. “I did not mean to startle you.”
Midnight rose, “It’s fine, Princess Luna.”
“Just ‘Luna.’”
“Well, Luna. It’s nice to see you again after all these months.”
“Are you alright? I read your books...”
“I’m fine,” Midnight sternly insisted.
“That’s just what I said when I rejoined my sister a few years ago.”
The changeling’s head went to the ground. “You don’t know... you didn’t do it first hoof. You didn’t cause what’s happening right now.”
“In my madness, I caused a war that divided the ponies. I still have some regrets, and the changelings returning to their Queen doesn’t help. It doesn’t matter to me that I didn’t do it first hoof. In fact, I think it’s worse that I was the one in charge!”
“In all honesty, Luna... I hated being under your tyrannical rule.” The changeling’s head rose and his eyes met Luna’s. “But when you came back to us... well, I still miss it...”
“Thank you for your honesty. Which reminds me... I heard of your friend Thunder Sword...”
“I know already. He’s dead; a changeling Assassin got him.”
“You’ll be happy to know that he’s still alive. He’s being treated at the local hospital as we speak. He just got admitted this morning. He’s badly hurt, but alive. You should visit him!”
Midnight shook his head. “If a changeling Assassin was able to get word to his brother, then there is no hope. Thunder’s not going to make it and I won’t visit him.”
Luna refused to give up. “What about your other friend, then... the new changeling?”
“Hunter is a jerk. He used me to learn more about the changelings and finally become one. I don’t want to have a thing to do with him.”
“Maybe he looks up to you? Perhaps you were the one who convinced him to become a changeling by being a good friend.”
These ideas confused Midnight on multiple levels. “How can you be so positive?”
“It’s just an assumption. I’m really not sure if I’m right or not...”
“Sorry... I should have phrased that better. How can you be so optimistic?”
“Look out there, Midnight.” Luna trotted closer to the edge of the balcony and gestured toward the city of Canterlot. “Evil has tried again and again to get rid off these peaceful streets and all of its ponies. Yet here it stands, despite everything. Chaos, disharmony, war, dragons, monsters, the Moon itself...”
“And now changelings.”
“Canterlot is but the capital of Equestria, a vast land covered with nice ponies. There are so many enemies, and so few ponies willing to stand up and fight.”
“I don’t know if I can, Luna... Hunter never denied my suspicions of him just using me. I’m not sure if I can forgive him.”
“Can you try? You two working together would give Equestria a fighting chance. The changelings are desperate, and their newly acquired strength is... overwhelming.”
“Alright, Luna... I’ll try.”
“Another thing,” Luna paused a while before continuing. “Are you doing something with your mane?”
“Yeah... it started getting blue. It’s a side effect of a spell I’ve been using. It’s only going to get worse if the Colonel wants more battle plans.”

A Lunar guard trotted in, causing Luna to step away from the edge of the balcony. The news was urgent, so the two friends had to say goodbye once again. Princess Luna disappeared behind the walls of the castle, and the changeling was left outside. He looked over the edge of the balcony, knowing who would come looking for him next. He knew what would be asked of him, and what his answer would be. Midnight took a deep breath as he looked down at the streets below.
He waited.

Emulation Armageddon, Act 2

The Changeling Chronicles

Book 3: Emulation Armageddon

Author: Shadow Beast

Act 2: Remembrance

Chapter 1: Subtle Changes

The doors to the Canterlot Archives were old, but in surprisingly good condition. Midnight stepped into the largest library in Canterlot, unsure why he was summoned. The Colonel approached Midnight as the doors closed behind him.
“Why did you want to meet me here of all places?” the changeling asked his shadowy host.
“I figured you’d want some nourishment before making this decision.”
“You think my book is that popular?” Midnight scoffed.
“Just follow me,” the Colonel said without even blinking.

The pony and changeling found themselves deep within the Canterlot Archives. The Colonel used his magic to pull a book from the shelf and carry it over to Midnight. The changeling looked over it, unsure of the unicorn’s intentions. The book was not his, and didn’t seem very relevant.
“Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone?!”
The book was ripped from the changeling’s grasp by the unicorn’s magic and put back in its place.
“Sorry... wrong one!” Another book, several shelves up, floated down to the changeling. “You can feed off that, right?”
Midnight looked at the cover: “The Changeling Chronicles: Origins... by Shadow Beast” was written across it. But when the changeling fed off of the residual emotional energy, he noticed something was amiss. Upon further inspection, he found the problem:
“Why is this book labeled as fiction?!” Midnight asked, his voice deep with anger.
“And I thought you were smart,” the Colonel said, still emotionless. After an awkward silence, he began to explain. “You see, Midnight, Equestria is a vast land filled with thousands of ponies. Your story tells of changelings being basically everywhere! That kind of information, true or otherwise, cannot be released to the public. It would cause panic and chaos!”
“I don’t want to be written off as some fictional character! Besides, my ‘story’ has a good message, and shows that a changeling can be good!”
“Yes... if they’re insane! If they’re so overcome with fear that they don’t know what they are anymore!”
“I know exactly what I am. You read my report, Colonel! You know what the changelings are and what they’ve done!”
“I hate to say it... but I don’t. I’ve had historical analysis done on your books and there are a few places where they simply don’t work out!”
“So? Maybe there are some cracks in my story! Does that matter, though? I’m not a threat to Canterlot, and for once I know my past and am not filled with Fear!”
“What about the Changeling Armada that will be taking over?”
“...What?” Midnight was confused. He had put faith into the Equestrian military; he believed that they could handle anything that Chrysalis could throw at them.
“Once we fend off the first wave of attackers, the battle plans will change. We’ll need more.”
“Then you fend them off again, and the plans change... again!” Midnight added.
“Exactly. That’s why I need you to find more than just their plans... I need you to find the Queen! If we can successfully defend, and know exactly where to counterattack, we could end this war easily!”
“So you need me to get you the Queen’s location...”
“Exactly! I know that you don’t like Hunter, but if you really don’t want to do this... you could teach him that spell.”
“No!” Midnight practically yelled before his brain caught up. “I mean... Hunter is a pegasus at heart, not a unicorn. He’s not... developed enough yet to be good at any spells... especially not one this complex!”
“If you say so, then I will trust your judgement. However, I will require that Hunter be part of your team. He’s been very troublesome to his commanding officers; he’s too reckless. Maybe you can help keep him in check.”
“I’ll do my best... sir!” the changeling saluted the yet emotionless unicorn.

Chapter 2: Casting Roles

The next morning came, and Midnight entered the military tent as instructed by the Colonel. Hunter awaited him inside; tired and hungry after spending some quality time under the military’s training regimen. He sat upon his bunk, too tired to get up. Midnight was intercepted by a unicorn officer, a large stallion with a black mane and dark brown coat. He had an eyepatch over his right eye. He informed Masquerade that the training was very thorough and would keep Hunter from any “changeling shenanigans.” Midnight’s right eye twitched as he attempted to circumvent the hateful retorts in his mind. The officer stepped quickly out of the way so the changeling wouldn’t shove him as Midnight rushed past him to Hunter’s bunk. He sat down next to the tired changeling, who could barely keep his head up.
“So why’d you do it, Hunter?” Midnight asked calmly, hoping to get a straight answer.
“Do what?” the tired voice replied.
“Choose to become a changeling?” Hunter turned to Midnight, unsure of his intentions. “I’m sorry I got so angry at you before, Hunter.”
“It’s... fine. I’m the one that’s sorry...” the changeling paused to chuckle a bit. “I’ve forgotten why I let myself go in the first place.”
Midnight wanted closure; this “answer” wasn’t helping at all. However, Midnight wasn’t going to let this create a rift between them. It was probably for the best that he had forgotten anyways.
“Get up, Hunter... you can sleep on the train ride there,” Midnight reminded his friend.
The exhausted changeling tried to get up, but his legs were too weak. The saddled changeling braced his friend with his forelegs, and the two were able to trot out of the tent together. They made it to the train with the rest of the troops and took their seats. The engine’s sudden movement caused the passengers to lurch forward, but Hunter was not broken out of his tired trance; the changeling fell asleep almost instantly. Once the train was closing in on its destination, the commanding officer appeared at the front of the troop’s car to brief them on the details of their mission. He was an even bigger stallion than the one with the eyepatch. He had a blue coat with a gray mane that had golden yellow highlights. His voice was deeper as well.
“Listen up, soldiers! We’re looking at a small squad of changeling Assassins. The enemy will be relentless, so use lethal force if you must. In case of disguise, our two changelings will be here to lend a hoof; they’ll expose any camouflaged hostiles. Now it’s very important that everyone here learn to trust each other, so when we get to camp...”
The unicorn captain’s speech was interrupted by a bright flash and a loud roar of thunder. The door to the troop’s car opened behind the captain, and a sopping wet train conductor trotted in to explain. “Sorry, everypony... seems Everfree has kicked up a huge storm for us! The engineer’s got some limited visibility, but we should be reaching our destination within ten minutes.” The conductor quickly left the train car, probably to alert any other passengers.
“Alright, soldiers, listen up!” the captain said, getting everypony’s attention back. “This little downpour has made us late, so we’re going to have to rush out into the rain and construct our Base Camp as soon as possible! We’ll need everypony working together to get this accomplished.”

The train stopped on the tracks outside of the dense Everfree forest as planned. The rain was coming down harder than anypony had imagined as they got off the train car. Hunter finally hopped off onto the damp ground, only to be soaked wide awake by the downpour. Midnight followed, shaking off the first hundred or so drops, then just trying to shake off the cold air. The ponies gathered their supplies and the leader led them all deep into the forest. Unfortunately, the abundance of leaves were no match for the downpour, and the troops found themselves trotting through the forest with large raindrops pounding their heads.
Finally the commanding officer felt they had traversed enough to set up camp. Midnight and the two earth ponies worked together to set up the tents, while Hunter and the two pegasi flew into the storm clouds in an attempt to pacify the thunderstorm. The two unicorns, who were in charge of the operation, kept themselves busy with their own command tent, which took “all of their magic to construct,” leaving the earth ponies and the changeling with the other two smaller tents. The construction took a few hours.
“This is just getting monotonous!” Midnight said over the sound of his hoof hammering yet another spike for the tent.
“I’m sure the captain didn’t realize that the ground would be this hard during a torrential downpour,” assured the orange Earth stallion as he hammered away on another spike.
“Why do the tents need to be this big anyways?” the changeling asked.
“Well,” the pink Earth mare explained as she steadied the tent with her hooves, “these three tents are supposed to support six ponies... and two changelings. That’s eight uh... soldiers.”
“For your information, we don’t take offense to being called ‘ponies.’” Midnight’s hoof struck the spike harder than ever as rain drenched his mane. “If you do... well, you could at least call us by our names.”
A bright flash pervaded the work site, followed immediately by the very loud thunder. Finally, the orange pony spoke. “Well, I guess we’ve never been formally introduced. The name’s Tiger Shark. What’s your name?”
The changeling smiled, and the slight nod of his head shook large drops of water from his mane. “Well, I’m Midnight Masquerade. My friend’s name is Hunter.” He turned toward the light pink pony.
“Well...” the pony mumbled, turning from her associates’ eyes and back to the tent. “My name is Candy Stripe...”
The changeling lowered his head back to his work. They finished the first tent shortly afterwards, then moved on to the next. The pegasi returned from their patrols above, unable to quell the swirling storm. Hunter and one of the guards pulled Candy away from her workstation and toward the lone guard.
“It’s Jet...” Hunter’s friend explained. “His wing got singed by some lightning up there.”
As his friend explained the situation to Stripe, Hunter went to Midnight’s side. The changeling with the soaked saddle turned to his friend to ask what exactly was happening.
“Well, we had to get Jet to the nurse.” Hunter watched the pink pony talk to the blue pegasus, his green eyes filled with fear and pain as he heeded her instructions. He carefully outstretched his right wing, allowing the cold water to splash into his burns.
“That looks like it hurts,” Midnight noted, stretching his neck to peek at the wings.
“He’s burned pretty bad,” the nurse said, not taking her eyes off of her patient’s wing.
“Enough idle chatter!” the commanding officer interrupted. “Get those tents up before we all catch cold in this rain!”
“The ground’s too hard,” Masquerade explained, refusing to subject his aching hooves to anymore punishment.
The one-eyed unicorn trotted up and whispered into his peer’s ear. The faint scent of Fear was almost masked by the unicorn’s soggy mane. The officer shrugged the pony off of his shoulder, “Good idea, Shroud!” He turned toward the pegasus, “Hey, Hurricane! You’re pretty strong, go show these Earth ponies how it’s done!”
The pegasus swooped over to one of the last spikes yet to be nailed all the way down. With one strong swing, he manage to nudge the spike just a bit deeper into the ground. Another swing barely changed anything.
“Enough! Just wrap the ropes around some surrounding trees,” the drenched, impatient officer noted. “...maybe then we’ll be able to get some shelter from this downpour.”
It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

Chapter 3: The Campfire

The soldiers waited for hours under their tents before the rain finally stopped. It didn’t take long for the unicorn officer to order Tiger to get cooking. The group gathered around the fire he had made, and Tiger Shark left with Swift Hurricane, Hunter, and the officer to get more firewood. This left Midnight Masquerade, Candy Stripe, Jet, and Shroud back at the camp without much to do. The four ponies seated themselves around the campfire.
“So, ‘Midnight,’” Jet said, breaking the silence. “How come you’re not...”
The changeling lifted his eyes from the red flames and into the green eyes of the pegasus. His fangs reflected the light of the fire as he spoke, “...what? Evil?” His tone was emotionless, as he knew ponies were typically unsure of his alignment.
“Well... yeah.”
“Let me tell you a story,” Midnight said, leaning in toward the fire. The others leaned in as well. “A long, long time ago, up there!” The changeling gestured toward the full moon overlooking the campsite. “There were special telescopes made that could transmit unicorn spells great distances! The purpose of these devices was simple: to create a beautiful landscape across Equestria. The spells would enchant the land, causing flowers to grow across its great fields!”
“Is this story even true?” Shroud interrupted, slouching back into his seat.
“Well, if you don’t trust me, then I guess it doesn’t matter... but yes, this is a true story.”
“Well, I don’t see any flowers around here,” the one-eyed unicorn said mockingly, turning his head to either side to double check.
“If you’ll let me continue...” Midnight said, his voice deep with impatience. “You’re right. There are no flowers. Do you know why?”
“Because that was a long time ago and now they’re all gone?” Candy wondered.
“Do you even know why?” Jet asked, looking toward Shroud to exchange a grin.
“Not exactly, Candy. As for you two... yes. I worked up there with those telescopes and helped with many of the spells. You see... when the Great War started and Nightmare Moon took over, we were told to use a very different set of spells for the ‘scopes. And here we are: The Everfree Forest.”
“So you helped make Everfree, but never got rid of it?” Shroud smiled under his black mane.
“Well, once Nightmare Moon was finally defeated and Luna came back to us, we were told to undo the curses we had beset upon Equestria! However, the new spells aren't perfect, so many places are still suffering from Everfree. While most of it has gone, places like Ponyville, Froggy Bottom Bog, and even the border to the Deadlands still have--”
“Badlands,” Shroud corrected.
“What?”
“They’re called the Badlands... not the ‘Deadlands.’”
Midnight rolled his eyes. “O whatever... it’s the same thing!” Midnight sighed, unsure of where he left off. “The point is... these telescopes were designed for good, used for evil, but then were still able to be used for good again! So you see, what you are doesn’t define who you have to be!”
“But you were born evil, not good,” Shroud pointed out.
“Well you see... I was reborn as a changeling. Like you, I was born as a unicorn!”
“You?” Shroud laughed at the sentiment. “You’re nothing like me.”

Chapter 4: A Dish Best Served Cold

The other soldiers returned with plenty of firewood for Tiger to cook up some delicious hay for all of the ponies. The chef immediately began grilling over the now blazing campfire. The others came toward the dancing flames and Shroud retreated to his tent.
“What’s up with your friend?” Hunter asked the officer.
“He...” the unicorn’s voice trailed off as he attempted to find the right words. “He doesn’t...” Finally the words came through, “he doesn’t like changelings... at least, he doesn’t think any of them are worth the Trust we’re giving you two.”
Midnight looked toward Jet to see if he too was going to scurry away; he didn’t. The group once again sat around the fire, and waited for the food to be done.
“What’s the ETA on the assassin squad?” Midnight asked, turning back to the officer.
“Well, when I saw that you were all in good shape I knew they hadn’t struck yet.”
“So... we don’t know when they could appear?!” the changeling asked despite knowing the answer... just for the chance it wasn’t true.
“We must always be prepared...” the unicorn said. He turned to find his associate returning from his tent.
“Where’ve you been?” Jet asked starkly.
“Meditating,” Shroud quickly and emotionlessly answered.
The officer turned from his friend, smiling as if he knew the truth. He looked at Midnight, “so what’s the attack pattern of a group of assassins that find an unexpected enemy encampment?”
“Well, it depends...” Masquerade started. “If they are nothing but Assassins, then they will just run through and try to kill as many enemies as possible as soon as they see them.”
“Is that a possibility?” the concerned officer asked.
“You guys have the plans... you tell me.”
“They should have reached the perimeter by now,” the officer started, before making a startling realization. “But the rain probably slowed them down!”
“It might have...” the changeling considered. “But if it didn’t, then we have bigger problems.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the only thing that could hold back a squad of Assassins is a squad leader... an Executioner.”
“So... the executioner would give them a strategy... a new attack plan?”
“Yes. The only silver lining is that Executioners are the highest in military leadership. Find the Executioner, and I can get us the Queen’s location!”
“Food’s ready!” Tiger happily exclaimed, breaking up all of the idle chatter.

All the ponies grabbed a helping of what appeared to be delicious flame-grilled hay. The only one to deny the offer was Midnight, who sat back and watched as everypony ate. He wasn’t expecting there to be any food leftover.
“Have some hay, changeling,” Shroud offered.
“No thanks... I don’t eat solid foods.”
“We can’t let anything go to waste out here. Besides, it’s good stuff!”
Midnight had already admitted to himself that the grilled hay looked delicious.
“Well, I suppose a taste wouldn’t hurt.”
Green magic enveloped a portion of the hay as it was lifted up and into the open mouth beneath the glowing horn. As the fangs closed down upon the food, a burning sensation spread throughout the changeling’s snout and his gag reflex sent the hay back onto the plate. Greenish mucus oozed from the changeling’s mouth and nose. A long string of it connected the tongue to the food that was once in his snout. The string was soon broken as the horrified unicorn dropped the plate that he was holding with his hooves. The changeling’s chest heaved with each breath as the greenish mess made it difficult to breathe. Candy rushed to Midnight’s aid, able to diagnose his “hay allergy” very quickly after ruling out a “cold.”
“I... I couldn’t have known!” Shroud pleaded before being sent away by the officer.
“Ugh...” Candy muttered as her hoof accidently came in contact with the slime. “What is this stuff?”
“It looks like the kind of goop that the changelings use for cocoons,” Hunter noticed.
“Isn’t that how changelings reproduce?” Candy asked. “So hay is a kind of--”
“No!” Midnight managed to get out between difficult breaths. “It’s just... an allergic... reaction... that’s all.” Despite the difficulty, the changeling had to be sure that the pony was corrected.
After the gunk was finally under control, but still caked onto the changeling’s snout, the changeling was able to breathe regularly again, but only through his mouth. His nose was stuffed up with the substance so much that he could not smell anything. Hospitalized, bedridden, and now handicapped in his most important of senses, the changeling just looked up toward the ceiling of the tent from his cot. The Moon was probably out of view by now. He laid on his back and waited... breathing through the green gunk that was still keeping his jaws close together like some kind of disgusting mask. The stuff in his nose wouldn’t budge to airflow, and he realized how bleak this mission’s outcome was beginning to look.

Chapter 5: The Catalyst

Candy rose with the sun and checked on the saddled, bedridden changeling. The pink hoof on his forehead indicated he was not experiencing any fever, which was good... right? She didn’t know anything about changeling physiology, so the most she could do was stop the sacs in the... pony’s mouth from squirting goop everywhere. Despite countless herbal remedies, there always seemed to be some runniness amongst the dry gunk. His mouth still couldn’t open all the way.
“How’s our patient doing?” the commanding officer asked as he trotted into the medical tent.
“He’s not having any more trouble with breathing...”
“That’s good,” the unicorn said with a smile.
“...but he’s lost his scent of smell and everything I’ve tried thus far has done nothing to the stop the flow of... well, whatever in Equestria this stuff is!” The changeling’s blue eyes winced and his head reached for his forehead, obstructed by his horn. Candy caught his hoof before it could do any more damage. “Midnight, stop! You might smear it...”
The greenish goop appeared to be too much for Candy, despite her experience treating ponies throughout her career. Maybe it was just too sticky...
“When can we expect his sense of smell to return?” asked the captain, trying his best not to look directly at the mess on the patient’s face.
“I have no idea... I’ve never seen anything like this.” The pink pony took a cloth in her mouth, scrubbing the slime off of her hooves. After placing back into the bucket of water, she turned back to the officer. “Sir... you know that I would never question authority, but I’m not 100% sure about this diagnosis...”
“What do you mean?”
Candy couldn’t look the captain in the eye, no matter how hard she tried. “Well... sir, how long have you known Shroud? Would he have any motive or method of poisoning Masquerade?”
The unicorn sighed. “Shroud has no method beyond a simple allergy... which he himself said he did not know about and I believe him. It was a simple accident, Stripe.”
“Then why hasn’t he visited? He’s the only one in camp now that hasn’t come to this tent to check Midnight’s status...”
“Last night was a huge step for him. He's been absolutely terrified of changelings since the whole wedding fiasco. Half his squad changed... like that! After finally meeting somepony... er... some changeling that seemed nice enough... well, he’s been devastated.” The captain turned around toward the command tent. “He’s been sitting in that tent all morning. It’s almost like he’s not even there... but he’s just meditating. I just hope he’s meditating on the right thoughts.” The unicorn’s head turned back around to face the nurse.
“I hope so too.”

Candy said goodbye to the captain and turned to see Midnight barely able to keep his eyes open. Without his nose and mouth fully open, sleep was much more difficult than he needed it to be. The nurse let him rest and took a seat on the pillow next to her things. She could hear Midnight finally get to sleep, and the irregular breathing that followed. She let it pass. Somehow the changeling was always able to wake up and his breathing would go right back to normal.
“You there, nurse?” Jet’s voice called from just outside the tent.
“Jet? Is everything okay?” Candy hopped up off of the pillow and began trotting to the entrance just a few feet away from her.

Before Jet could make it inside, a loud, high-pitched wail could be heard from above followed by a changeling landing on Jet’s back. Midnight was shaken awake by the noise and upon seeing the Assassin, immediately fired upon him with his horn. The magic was able to knock the monster to the ground, where it quickly burned to ashes. Candy galloped to Jet’s side, only to find that he had been killed on impact. Shroud appeared at Jet’s broken side, as if wanting to say something but in shock. Finally, he shook himself out of it and brought Candy back into the tent... without their fallen friend. They took shelter near the back and out of sight, just a few feet away from Midnight’s cot.

The shrieks and screams outside echoed throughout the forest. With Masquerade weak and lacking his sense of smell, the ponies did not have much of a chance. Another changeling Assassin fell to the hooves of Hurricane and the captain, but they were both badly hurt. Yet another Assassin appeared, crushing Hurricane and targeting the wounded officer. Hunter appeared and locked horns with the changeling. The captain tried to gallop away, but the changeling pushed Hunter away and sent a final, devastating spell to the officer. With three ponies down, only Hunter remained in the open. The Assassin turned, his horn glowing as he charged another spell. Hunter’s eyes focused on his enemy, but fear soon took over and his eyes drifted away from the glowing horn. Then he noticed the bright blue eyes of his friend... and the Assassin turned to see the cowards as well. It left Hunter to destroy these new targets. Hunter flew toward the tent, his wings not weighed down with armor, and intercepted the Assassin. The evil changeling jumped back, and fired his magic spell at Hunter, who attempted to counter it with his own. Within five seconds a small explosion marked Hunter’s defeat. But he was still alive. The Assassin stood over him, ready to finish him off with another spell. Midnight got up from his cot to defend his friend, charging up his own spell. The Assassin saw this masked changeling and laughed, firing his spell at him. Midnight struggled to counter it in time, but once his beam had met the Assassin’s he put full power into it. The saddled changeling’s beam pushed forward more and more, and the Assassin soon realized he was overwhelmed. He released his spell and tried to jump out of the way of the beam, which managed to catch his hind legs and disable them. The Assassin floated on his wings and charged at Masquerade with his magic. Midnight charged his horn and fired at the flying changeling, whose magic was too weak to counter. The Assassin finally fell to the ground, then to ashes.

Midnight turned from the fallen foe and trotted to his old friend, who was very badly injured. His horn was destroyed in the encounter with the Assassin. His friend lifted him onto a cot and Candy examined the wound. Midnight reseated himself on the cot next to them. The nurse galloped away to find some medicine, leaving the two changelings time to talk.
“How... how bad is it?” Hunter asked in his suffering.
“Well... could be... worse...” Midnight replied, still struggling to talk with all the goop covering his snout. “At least... you’re a... pegasus... at heart.”
“Yeah...” The changeling chuckled a little. “Good thing you’re a unicorn at heart.”

Candy galloped back from the other side of the tent to treat the broken horn on the changeling. Midnight turned around to see what had become of Shroud. He was still in the corner, his one eye closed. It was as if he had become sad or depressed by this chain of events, but Midnight couldn’t tell. All he could smell or taste was the goop; no emotions were able to get through.
“Are... are you... okay... Shroud?”
“Are the changelings gone?” he replied sternly, opening his eye.
“There were... three,” Midnight explained. “There’s... usually... four... changelings... per squad.”
“So there’s still one out there?”
“Maybe... but they... they... usually... swarm.” Midnight glanced outside for a short moment; seeing the broken bodies of his fellow soldiers caused him to shudder back to the face of Shroud. “These... attacks... they were... organized.” He took a deep breath after the extra syllable. “They knew... when and... where... to strike. That takes... the... leader...ship of... an Executioner.”
“So the boss is still alive, huh?” Hunter wondered as Midnight was taking another breath.
“It... appears... so.” Masquerade turned again to Shroud, “You’re... not scared... are you?”
“What difference does that make?” Shroud asked with irritation in his voice. If there was anger, Midnight wouldn’t have been able to smell it anyways.
“Their attacks... focused... on the... ponies... with Fear. An afraid... target... is an... easy... target.” The changeling came to a sudden realization. All changelings trained for the front lines always target those with Fear... like a bride getting ready for her wedding day, or a sergeant whose team was filled with deception. He remembered this from his days as an Executioner. The masked changeling realized his eyes were a bit too wide, so he closed them and rested on the cot. Shroud left the tent soon afterward.

Chapter 6: The Masked Executioner

Midnight awoke in the dark as the Moon was setting. He knew Candy would be up in a moment and the sun with her. He sat up in his cot, contemplating what to do next. He could barely remember the specifics of his training as an Executioner, which didn’t help him come up with a counter-attack plan. Of course, this plan was not for the remaining ponies in the camp... their leadership had been passed down from the deceased unicorn to Shroud. Midnight felt that swift action was all but necessary to intercept the last changeling... the Executioner. Suddenly, inspiration struck as he once again realized Shroud’s natural Fear of changelings. Still suffering from the allergy, the masked executioner hopped out of his cot. As long as the Moon was out, there was still time to put his plan into action. All he had to do was wait. Shroud would come.

Masquerade trotted to the far flank of the tent, where the ropes had been tied to the trees. He slipped underneath and deep into the brush, venturing in the darkness to where he believed he would confront this executioner. He stopped in a small clearing of trees as the sky grew orange as the sun rose over the unseen horizon. The changeling’s head rose to the heavens as he observed the color change. His nose began to twitch under its greenish covering, and his chest began to heave. The changeling sneezed, but his body was not used to this kind of force. He sneezed again, feeling air move and tickle his snout some more. He sneezed a third time, and breathing through his nose only brought more agitation. He sneezed a fourth time, this time it was louder and strong enough that he found himself staring at the goop-stained ground upon opening his eyes. He raised his head, his throat exhausted. He sneezed a fifth and final time. Finally being able to smell again, the odor of a changeling immediately found its way into his nose.

He turned to find Shroud standing a few paces behind him. Everything was going as planned.
“Candy told me that you were too sick to be wandering around...” the unicorn said, his head lowered slightly.
“I’m feeling... much better,” the changeling explained, now able to pronounce three syllables without taking an extra breath.
Shroud chuckled a bit. “So you go out on a morning constitutional?”
“I have to... find that... Executioner.” He lowered his voice a bit, “I think he’s... close by so... try not to... panic.”

Midnight breathed in through his nose, expecting the Fear he had heard so much about, but there was nothing. The changeling scent had gotten stronger, though. This worried him.
“Where’s... where’s Hunter?” Masquerade asked, hoping he was only smelling his friend.
“He’s back at camp with Shark and Stripe of course! You don’t just trot off a broken horn, and Tiger wasn’t too well either... he managed to kill a Breeder though! Imagine that...” A smile creased the unicorn’s face as he continued. “Candy’s taking care of them though; I wouldn’t worry about them too badly...” There was still no emotion in the air.
Another sudden realization sparked another question: “So... what happened to... Shroud?”

The unicorn grinned, showing his fangs as he lifted his head. With a blink of his eye, it turned from a blue to bright green and reptilian. Green flame exposed the true form of “Shroud,” the changeling Executioner himself. He was taller than Midnight, with a blue mane instead of black. His right eye winked off the ashes of his eyepatch.
“To answer your question, fallen drone, the unicorn known as Shroud was eliminated in his sleep a few days ago.” His voice was deeper than Midnight’s.
“You’ve had... Manipulation... training...”
“How else do I keep a bunch of drooling, bloodthirsty Assassins from just charging into their own devastation?” the Executioner scoffed. “I must admit, ‘Shadow Beast,’ that your little story has been quite entertaining so far. I especially liked that little deception with the ‘true royalty’ or whatever that was...”
“That wasn’t... written... to impress... you,” Midnight said angrily, his voice almost as deep as the Executioner’s.
“I would’ve just struck down those incompetent guards, but I suppose you’re too foolish to try something so sufficient.” The Executioner wouldn’t quit with the mocking tone.
“In my eyes... you are the... fool.”
“And why would you say that, you diseased drone? Aren’t you sad that no one will know what happened to you since there will never be a third book? A shame...”
Midnight’s hooves wiped all the scum off of his snout, but his mouth remained closed as he breathed in and out through his nose.
“Ah, I’m glad to see you’ve finally gotten over that little hay allergy of yours...” He paused to look at Masquerade’s face. “Yes, by the look on your confused countenance I’d say that you’ve forgotten how we knew each other all those years ago, ‘unicorn.’”
“I’ve heard enough!” Midnight exclaimed, somehow out of breath despite not having gunk all over his snout anymore.
“I don’t think you have. You see, Masquerade, I find it hilarious how little you know about those soldiers who fell trying to protect you, despite your allergy and all the lack of worth that it caused!”
“Shut up...”
“One condition! Tell me the name of the Captain of our squad.”
Midnight’s head lowered as he didn’t dare to look his foe in the eye. “I... I never caught his name.”
“Of course you didn’t. Just like you never caught on that I was a changeling or even that Stripe was our nurse. She has that red cross on her uniform for a reason!”
“I guess I’m not as big a social butterfly as you are...”
“You’d make a terrible Manipulator.” The Executioner chuckled some more. “Oh and I suppose I should tell you that our little Captain’s name was Blue. Dusk Blue. Not that a dead pony’s name should matter at all, right?”
“Are you all done?”
“This is only the beginning, ‘Midnight.’” The Executioner let out the unmistakable scent of Anger as he said the changeling’s name.
“Funny that you try to use my own words against me, when you’ve forgotten one of my greater talents that’s outlined multiple times.” Midnight smiled, and channeled magic into his horn. A beam shot out, and the Executioner dodged it with ease.
“You really think I came all this way to fight you?” the changeling asked with more Anger than before.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to,” Masquerade pointed out as he gestured to the newborn Timber Wolves created just a few feet away from the Executioner.
The Wolves pounced on the changeling, who seamlessly tore them apart with his skills and magic. “I suppose there was an Allergy spell in that brain of yours too that let you heal expeditiously from the blight of that cooked hay?” the changeling presumed, with ample breath after the fight, trotting toward Midnight.
Midnight tilted his head from side to side and spat some goop at his enemy. The goop hit the changeling in the face, blinding him and probably blocking his sense of smell as well.
Finally, he answered the Executioner’s question: “It’s helped a lot, but there are a few side effects. And of course, I have to smear this gunk all over my face each morning so that Candy doesn’t know I’m cheating....”
With that sentiment, Midnight spat a bit more on the Executioner’s limbs. Once he was secure, the saddled changeling used his magic to look deep into the enemy’s memories. He saw Shroud’s defeat, the attack carried out by his minions that destroyed his friends the day before, the wintry Badlands somehow, the Hive, and finally finding what he wanted inside a cave in Everfree. The Queen’s location had been found at last. Finally, he stood over the Executioner. Blind and beaten, the Executioner moaned in pain, especially the horrible headache that the spell caused.
“I warned you, Executioner. Now this... THIS IS FOR JET!” His horn lit up and a beam struck the Executioner. “FOR HURRICANE!!” The spell intensified. “FOR BLUE!” The spell intensified even more. “AND THIS... THIS IS FOR SHROUD!” The spell intensified to the point of breaking the Executioner and reducing his blind resistance to ashes before Midnight. It was finally over. The world swirled around the changeling. It was as if every part of his body were screaming at him. He screamed with them, unsure if it was the hay allergy. Then everything was silent. And everything was dark.

Chapter 7: Going Home

Midnight’s eyes opened to see the rose eyes of the nurse staring back at him. Seeing a confused look on his face, the pink pony raced to her supplies to pull out a mirror. In the reflection, Midnight saw a changeling he didn’t recognize. The manipulation spell he used had transformed his body, as he was now a bit taller, with a pale blue mane with black highlights, and a second set of fangs coming in on his lower jaw. His eyes were now reptilian, and their shades of green confused him for a short while. No longer high-pitched, Midnight’s voice was now about as deep as a regular pony’s, but it still sounded a bit off. Almost as if there were another pony talking at the same time. At this point, yelling would become the equivalent of the princesses’ Royal Canterlot Voice, but that might be taking it too far. Candy wanted to know what happened to cause such a transformation, so Masquerade explained that it wasn’t really the hay that was giving his “transformation glands” a workout. The nurse was relieved to know that her allergy medicine didn’t hurt the process at all.
“Umm... Candy? Where... what happened to my wings?” Midnight asked in his new voice, which seemed to hide his Fear. His face was another story.
“I believe that your ‘wings’ were the reason I found you unconscious in the middle of the forest,” the nurse explained. “You seemed to have gone through a bit of a growth spurt, but your wings were broken and couldn’t grow properly. They were causing an excruciating amount of pain for you and there was nothing I could do to fix them.”
“I... I can’t feel them. What kind of anaesthetics did you use?”
“None. I’ve been giving the anaesthesia to Hunter since he lost his horn. And now you’ve lost your wings.”
“What?” the changeling said, still trying to make sense of his surroundings since passing out. “You mean... you amputated them?”
“You’re not upset, are you? I hope you understand...”
“I’m not upset. Thank you. I was getting tired of those withered old things anyways.”
“I’m just glad I could save somepony. We’ve lost so many...” her eyes fell away from Midnight.
“The mission’s over. It was a success,” Masquerade explained. “We can finally go home.”
“Home?” the earth pony asked, turning too quickly and exposing a tear. She turned back away, “You... got the location of the Queen?”
“And killed the Executioner!” the changeling added with a smile. “We have a good chance of winning this war!”
“Sounds like we’re going home then...” the pony said, the corner of her mouth turned up, creasing the side of her face.
“Home,” the changeling thought aloud... visions of Palomoono flew through his head. He tried to shrug them off, remembering that the changelings were now gone and going to attack Canterlot. His wings were gone now anyways... “it’s not like I’m going to fly there.”
“What?” Candy asked, raising her head just a bit.
“Nothing... just thinking out loud. Sorry.”
“Well you’re looking better!” Tiger said, trotting into the medical tent.
“You’re one to talk!” Midnight replied, surprised to see somepony other than Candy trotting around.

Being questioned about the day before, Tiger explained that he only suffered “minor injuries” and only needed a bandage and a few stitches. Midnight looked to either side and realized he was alone in the tent. Hunter wasn’t bedridden anymore. The loss of his horn barely affected the changeling beyond some headaches that could be suppressed with some simple anaesthetic tablets. Tiger explained that Shroud had sent Hunter off to a nearby Equestrian military outpost to explain their situation and arrange transportation for the four ponies and their belongings, as well as the fallen heroes.
“Not sure why he didn’t keep you in mind,” Tiger wondered.
“That’s just because Shroud was really the Changeling Executioner. He knew only one of us was coming back,” Midnight explained as emotionless as possible.

Hunter soon returned with the news that a transportation had been successfully arranged, and that he needed another dosage for his headache. The four ponies packed up and worked their way to the station. The train arrived a few short moments later, and another officer, this time a pegasus, appeared to hear the mission progress. He was greeted by Midnight, who explained that the mission was complete. The officer flew off to inform his superiors, allowing the ponies passage onto the train.
As they all boarded their car, only Midnight and Hunter talked to each other. It was obvious that the loss of their fellow soldiers had affected the Earth ponies. The two changelings chatted about the changes their bodies had undergone. Both were slightly worried but overall optimistic about their new looks. They were also sure the Military would be happy being able to tell the two apart by more than their voice, despite Hunter still being taller than Midnight. After a few hours of idle chatter and awkward silence, the train pulled into Canterlot and the soldiers were finally home. Tiger and Candy went onto different assignments, but it was obvious that the Colonel would want Midnight and Hunter together for the next and final trial: The Elimination of Queen Chrysalis.

Emulation Armageddon, Act 3

The Changeling Chronicles

Book 3: Emulation Armageddon

Author: Shadow Beast

Act 3: An Eye for an Eye

Chapter 1: Calm Before the Storm

Midnight and Hunter, accompanied by a few guards, trotted into the throne room. The guards had barely recognized them, especially since Midnight lost his saddle in the transformation. The armed ponies had to introduce the changelings, and finally they would be able to tell the princesses the good news... and the bad news. Before they made it halfway into the throne room, the Colonel caught them for a quick debriefing.
“What’s the situation, changelings?” The Colonel completely ignored the guards escorting them.
“Our mission...” Hunter started.
“...was successful,” Midnight finished. “I have the Queen’s location.”
“Good work, soldiers,” the Colonel responded, his voice lacking the expected enthusiasm. “How’s the rest of the team?” He floated the map over to Masquerade.
“Well...” The changeling took his time to respond as he marked the coordinates of the Cave onto the map. “Shark and Stripe have returned with few and no injuries, respectively. Unfortunately Jet, Hurricane, and Blue were... killed in action.”
“That’s only five out of the six I sent with you,” the Colonel noticed. “What happened to the other unicorn?” It took him a moment to remember the name. “...Shroud?”
“I can’t say for certain,” Midnight lied. “But the ‘Shroud’ that came with us was really a highly trained and very skilled Executioner. I eliminated him after--”
“Is he dead?” the Colonel asked, interrupting Midnight’s thought.
“What? I just said the Executioner is dead.”
“I meant Shroud,” he sternly clarified.
Masquerade sighed. “Yes. He’s dead.”
“Thanks for the intel, I’ll let the princesses finish this debriefing.” The Colonel trotted back into the crowds, probably to leave the room.

The changelings trotted a few paces deeper into the throne room and finally reached the end. The princesses sat patiently; the changeling’s entrance had succeeded in silencing the masses as they made room for them to approach. The six heroes still stood in formation, ready to strike when the time came. As the changelings passed, the pink pony acted frustrated once again. Perhaps the new manecut had ruined her song for the second time. Hunter and Masquerade approached the thrones and bowed to Celestia and Luna as the guards introduced them and retreated as well.
“Our mission was a success; we have given the Colonel all the details,” Midnight said.
“Very well done, Midnight,” Celestia congratulated.
“How will we be eliminating the Queen?”
“My faithful student and her friends hold the key to that,” Celestia answered, looking toward the six heroes.
“An escort mission?” Midnight asked, keeping his eyes on the princess. “If the Queen finds out we’re coming, she might give us a very lethal welcome party.”
“Did somepony say ‘Party?!’” the pink pony exclaimed from behind. The only thing more alarming than her outburst was a loud bang resulting in confetti... all over the changelings.
They turned to see that the mare had manned a customized cannon, slightly less effective for combat by her exchanging the heavy ammo for party favors.
“Can we take her at least?” Hunter asked Midnight. Both were surprised by the mare’s potential for combat.
Midnight’s emotionless head turned to his smiling friend. “As long as she can handle herself in a fight.”
“We all can!” the pegasus of many colors bragged. She turned to find her fellow pegasus low to the ground, shaking in Fear at the thought of combat. “Well... most of us can,” the mostly light blue pony corrected.
“Sounds like another team of six to accompany us then...” Midnight’s hoped these heroes wouldn’t follow the same fate. Things always seem to go horribly wrong.

Chapter 2: The Ground Below

The door creaked open, awaking the two ponies on the other side. The Sun had risen less than an hour ago. As Midnight entered, the room’s format and rather strong scent assured him that this was the same hospital to which he was admitted so many months ago. For once he was happy to find ponies aware of his presence. He trotted over to the bed of the cream colored occupant. Blue hairs poked out from behind his bandages.
Midnight broke the silence. “What a coincidence; we can barely recognize each other!” The changeling chuckled awkwardly.
“You lose your wings?” Thunder asked sternly. His voice was at full strength despite his injuries.
“Yeah, I had a little bit of a growth spurt,” Midnight said, crooking his head over his shoulder in a difficult attempt at seeing the stubs on his back. After barely getting a glance, his head came back toward Sword, but tilted down to comfort his aching neck. “It’s not like I was using them anyways.” The changeling sighed, and corrected his head so he could see Thunder. “How bad are your injuries?”
“Pretty bad, but still beats dying. The doctors say I’ve gone through the worst of it; I should be out of here in a few days.” The cream pegasus rolled his shoulders. “I won’t be flying for a few more weeks after that though.”
“Well at least yours will heal,” the changeling noted in an attempt at encouraging his friend.
“You know... I remember the Assassins being strong, but I had no idea they could take a pegasus out with one blow.” Midnight looked over his friend’s bandages. “You’re either really lucky, or really strong.”
“I’d say luck, personally. If it weren’t for my squadmate, the assassin would’ve finished me off.”
“Luck is the kind of thing that got my pegasi and unicorn squadmates killed in action.”
“The mission was a success?” the winged pony asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“Of course. I managed to--”
“Then they died with purpose.” Sword leaned his head back on his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. “We aren’t growing a garden here, Midnight; this is war, and in war... ponies die. There’s no way around it. The Colonel would say that all that matters is the objective; the outcome of the mission determines the tolerable number of losses. I don’t think that’s it at all.” The pegasus shook his head, his bandages stretching and shrinking as they tried to keep up. Finally resting, the pegasus continued. “Do you know why the Princess didn’t have you executed when you came crawling back in your depression?” He turned his head to look directly into the green eyes of the changeling.
“She had forgiven me,” Midnight explained.
“She never had to...”
“Well, it was her choice...”
“If it was the Colonel’s, you would have been recruited. If it was yours, you would have been executed. So why is it that Celestia simply forgave you, do you think?
“She cares about her subjects?”
“You’re not her subject... you’re just some changeling from the Moon.” Despite the harsh comment, Midnight couldn’t smell any anger from his friend.
“Why is it, then?” Midnight asked, growing impatient.
“Visiting hours are over!” the nurse chimed in from the other side of the room, next to the door. She held it open as Masquerade turned from his friend. As he trotted toward the nurse he turned his head back toward Thunder.
“I’ll hear the answer when this is all over.”

The changeling could tell that the pegasus was smiling underneath the pain. He trotted out the door and stopped at a window as he made his way to the staircase. His black hooves opened the window, allowing him to peek his head out. His snout turned down as he stared toward the ground below. The wind blew through his mane as he wondered where this next objective would take him. His mind went back to his talks with Princess Luna. She had returned to him on that balcony to tell him to go to the Archives, among other things. It was as if she had outlined the beginning and the end of his journey. He breathed in the fresh city air with his mouth and nose. A loud exhale marked the end of his meditation. He turned from the window, closing it with his magic. He trotted toward the stairs, the fastest way out of the hospital mapped out in his head. His new squad was waiting.

Chapter 3: The Ancient Cave

The six heroes and the two changelings trotted through the Everfree forest without any trouble. The Cave wasn’t too far from the civilized area, and was located within Midnight’s old area of enchantment. The beasts must have learned to avoid this part of the forest. The Cave was within view, just a short trek up a hill and the eight ponies were there. It was quiet at the summit.
“You mares wait here,” Midnight said after sniffing the air. “Hunter and I will scout out the Cave. We’ll call for you when we’ve cornered the Queen.” The two changelings trotted into the dark cave alone.
“I guess my senses are weak,” Hunter said, turning to Midnight. His voice was the only source of noise beyond the sound of their hoofsteps. “I don’t smell any other changelings.”
“I don’t either,” Midnight admitted. “That’s why we’re scouting ahead. If the heroes were to fall into a trap, we probably won’t be able to win the war.”

The Cave wasn’t nearly as big as the two changelings thought it would be. They reached a dead end quickly and were forced to turn around. Their two pairs of changeling eyes shone in the darkness, meeting a separate set of green changeling eyes. A green glow illuminated a somewhat twisted horn. A spell shot out to the ceiling behind the third changeling, breaking up the rocks and causing a landslide to block the exit to the Cave. Another spell hit a crystal near the top of the Cave, illuminating the area. Midnight recognized the third changeling immediately. The fallen Executioner stood there, smiling.
“You?!” The confusion left Masquerade almost breathless. “I... How? What?! ...I saw you turn to ash!”
The Executioner laughed. “All that you burned was wads of goop attached to my snout and legs! I simply teleported before you could ‘eliminate’ me.”
“Isn’t that stuff supposed to inhibit magic?” the confused Hunter asked.
“Nah, you’re thinking of a special form of teleportation that engulfs the target,” the Executioner explained. “It is merely the element of surprise that stops any unicorn from escaping changeling goop.”
“Why trap us in an empty cave when we can just teleport out?” Midnight said, attempting to exploit the weakness in the changeling’s plan.
“You think you’re clever?” the Executioner asked with stern condescension. “Your friend’s missing his horn and I will stop any of your attempts at teleportation. In all honesty, Midnight, there’s no chance and no point in escaping.”
“No point?” Midnight asked, part of him wondering why he was even playing along.
“As we speak the Queen and her armies march toward Canterlot. The Breeders will see to the Royal couple, and the protection spell will shatter once again. Without their precious Elements of Harmony there will be no chance of them winning this time.”

Midnight had enough. He charged the changeling, who simply dodged the attack.
“You’re going to have to do better than that if you hope to beat the Queen!” the Executioner mocked.
A swift kick from behind sent the Executioner to the ground. He turned to see Hunter standing over him. He rolled away and hopped back onto all fours.
“O, Hunter,” the changeling with both wings and horn condescended. “I never knew how strong you are. Maybe there’s some hope for us...”
“What? If you think I’m going to join you, then you’ve got another thing coming!” Hunter trotted toward Midnight. “My allegiance is to Mask!”
“O, so naive!” The Executioner laughed. “I don’t want you to join the Queen’s army if that’s what you’re after. I’ll have you know I was excommunicated from their little sideshow invasion.”
This revelation confused the horned changeling. “Then why are you here? And wouldn’t Chrysalis have you... executed?”
“I have you to thank for that, Midnight.” The ex-Executioner chuckled. “I faked my death so well that even you believed it!” A smirk creased the right side of the changeling’s face. “But maybe I’m giving you too much credit...”

Midnight charged at him again, but the changeling spread his wings and flew into the air. A bright green protection spell lit up the small cavern, and stopped Hunter from intervening. Unlike Shining Armor’s famous protection spell, this one seemed a bit unstable as green bands of magic marked its existence rather than a solid bubble. The bands shifted in an eternal cycle, sending the changelings’ shadows into constantly shifting shapes.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? I love a good scintillation.” The hovering changeling laughed. “Don’t think you can ambush me so easy... there’s a reason I’m called Foresight!”
“That’s your name?” Hunter said in a slightly condescending tone.
Foresight turned to Hunter, “Not that anypony wanted to know.” He turned quickly back to Midnight. “Right?”

Masquerade’s patience was finished a while ago. He fired a beam of magic toward the enemy, only to have it bounce off the bubble, then off the wall, then off the ceiling, then off another wall, and almost hit Hunter but strike the ground instead.
“Careful, now!” Foresight warned in hindsight. “The walls of this cave deflect most spells...”
Suddenly there was a voice from above. “Do they deflect this?!”

Hunter had flown to the top of the cavern and was now hovering next to the illuminated crystal. He bucked it with both hooves, causing it to break off and fall toward the flying changeling. The sharp edge of the luminescent rock pierced the changeling’s shield, shattering it and throwing the winged creature aside. He hit the ground and found Midnight standing over him. Seeing his defeat crystal clear, he pleaded for his life.
“Midnight Masquerade... if you spare me, I will help you!”
“No.”

Foresight teleported to the rockslide before the enraged changeling could finish him off. He dodged the spell that was immediately flung his way, allowing it to instead destroy the blockage and open up the exit.
“The path is open!” he exclaimed, trying to calm Midnight down.

Midnight readied another blast, as Hunter flew toward the enemy to flank. As it was fired, Foresight jumped out of the way, and the beam struck the reflective rock behind and immediately collided with Hunter. The winged changeling fell to the ground in agony.
“Hunter!” both of the other changelings exclaimed in worry.

Midnight reached his fallen friend first, and began checking the wound. He wasn’t sure if he had enough magic left to do one of his signature healing spells. Foresight approached them.
“Step away, Midnight,” he said with no emotion in his voice.
“I have to help him...” Midnight pleaded with Regret.
“You have to save your magic. There’s a great battle ahead of you. You need your strength.”
“Not without Hunter!”
“I can help him. Just give me some space.”
“I know a really good spell--”
“You don’t have the strength. Let me do this.”

Masquerade finally backed away, giving Foresight plenty of room. The changeling’s horn lit up and performed Midnight’s signature healing spell. Perfectly executed, the wound on Hunter’s side disappeared and he rose up from the ground with no pain. The horned changelings looked into each other’s eyes and smiled, as if sharing a kind of understanding. Foresight turned toward the light, and saw the six ponies entering the Cave.
“What’s going on in here?” the leader asked, confused by the small space and three changelings.
“We have to get back to Canterlot!” Midnight said, remembering his objective. “The Queen’s taking an army there! There’s already troops inside and we need to be there before the city falls!”
“Who’s your friend?” the pink pony asked.
“Don’t mind me. I’m gone,” Foresight said just before using a teleportation spell to disappear.

Chapter 4: The Event

The ponies galloped through the trees of Everfree, rushing toward Canterlot and hoping they could get there in time. Hunter was just as surprised as Midnight by his fast recovery. It was clear that Foresight had somehow been able to get a hold of the enchantment spells that Masquerade once used on a regular basis. Both of the changelings shrugged it off, since Foresight wasn’t going to help them much anyways. The group looked into the distance beyond the trees to see the protection spell fall.

Finally, they found themselves in civilization. Their hooves beat against the paved city streets as they galloped their way to the castle. The lack of panic in the eyes of the citizens would show that they are unaware of the invasion, which is probably for the best. Finally, the castle gate was in sight, heavily fortified by guards. They were let in quickly, but a terrifying, familiar noise followed them. Thousands of changelings descended upon Canterlot while its shield was down. Explosions and screaming echoed throughout the city.

The eight ponies pushed past all the guards and made their way to the throne room. The soldiers, scholars, and generals that had been crowding the room for so long now pushed against the team as they all tried to find a way to the fight... or a place to run away to. The eight ponies reached the throne room at about the same time as a crowd of enemy changelings. The royal guards, their captain included, fought back against the waves of the Swarm. Spells flew in all directions as Hunter and Midnight joined in the fray. They managed to reunite with the royal guard and the princesses, but now everypony was completed surrounded by changeling forces.

Silence fell over the throne room as the wounded were pushed from the changeling crowds into the small circle of pony survivors. Midnight, Hunter, Shining Armor, the six heroes, the two princesses, and a few guards were still alive and in fighting condition. A dozen more were badly injured and even more were... worse.
“What are you mares waiting for?!” Midnight questioned. “Use the Elements!”
“No,” Celestia said in a solemn voice. “Wait.”

Several Breeders took their places around the ponies as the Queen herself trotted into the throne room, protected on both sides by multiple Assassins and an Executioner or two.
“Ah, my little Executioner! I’m so glad you could make it.” The Queen raised her forelegs. “None of this would’ve been possible without you!” She happily confirmed, with one hoof back on the ground and the other pointing directly at Midnight.

His rage built up inside. His front right hoof took a step forward. Another hoof placed itself on his shoulder. Midnight turned and his eyes met Hunter’s. At first, he stared right through him, but as his body failed to shake the hoof off he saw his friend’s face. Alive. Then he looked beyond him, to all of the six heroes. Everypony in this room were surrounded, but the fear, the hate, and the anger had left him. Finally, he turned his head up to meet the eyes of the Changeling Queen.
“I can’t say I’m sorry.”
Chrysalis’s speech suffered from her confusion. “W-what?! Do you mean to switch sides?”
“Not for that,” the horned changeling explained. “For this...”
“Now!” Celestia proclaimed.

The Elements of Harmony activated, creating a swirling beam of many colors that rose into the air. But Chrysalis would not admit defeat so easily. She charged her horn as her changelings moved in to assassinate the heroes. Hunter grabbed Midnight and pulled him into the air just in time to dodge an Assassin’s charge. They flew towards Chrysalis, whose spell was slowing down the Element’s influence. Masquerade charged his horn and fired a spell at the Queen. Nothing happened. An Assassin knocked the changelings to the ground. Midnight told Hunter to stay down as he put up a deflection spell, the same kind used by Foresight. Multiple Assassins surrounded the bubble and fired their spells. Midnight quickly manipulated the deflected spells into a single beam which flew toward the Queen. It missed.

The horned changeling looked around and saw the few remaining guards falling left and right as they attempted to protect the heroes. The Elements of Harmony themselves could not get past the Queen’s power. She must have absorbed all the love in the Everfree forest; the lunar changelings must have given her more intel than Midnight had realized. Fear came back. Regret, Hatred and Anger soon followed. He soon realized that Chrysalis would be more powerful than anything a changeling could do. A Breeder broke through the shield, throwing Midnight to the left and Hunter to the right. Gunk soon covered the horned changeling’s limbs, but Hunter was still able to fly and dodge subsequent attacks. The changelings’ eyes met, and Masquerade realized that this would be the end. His mouth still free, he screamed his last words toward the Changeling Queen:
“CHRYSALIS!” The Queen’s eye turned to see him in her peripheral. “YOU DID THIS TO ME! I...” An Assassin approached the ensnared changeling. “I FORGIVE YOU!”

A few moments passed in silence as he realized what he had said. Even Chrysalis was thrown off guard. The colors of the rainbow struck the Queen. Her helpless followers merely watched a white light engulf their leader. A wave of energy destroyed the gunk around the changeling’s limbs, but now a new force pulled him closer inch by inch toward the light. Silence was replaced by a thousand screams. He turned to his friend, who had already landed on the floor. Every changeling that had been flying was now sucked into the vortex where the Queen once stood and every other changeling was now holding on... poorly. Even the Breeder and Assassin were gone now. Hunter slipped, but was caught by Midnight. He once again released a deflection spell to resist the spell’s pull.
“What’s going on?” Hunter asked, barely audible over the noise.
“It’s the Elements of Harmony!” Midnight took a short glance at the raging vortex. “It’s just like what happened with Nightmare Moon.”
“...but Nightmare wasn’t defeated. Just imprisoned on the Moon!”
“Not the Moon! The Hive! The Hive is where they call home. That is where they are being sent!”
“But the Hive is just a couple days away! They’ll just come back!”
“I don’t know... the Elements usually do something extra.”
“We can’t take that chance! It’s now or never, Mask! We have to finish this!”

Midnight contemplated the situation, and realized his friend was right. More than that, he trusted him. The changeling released the spell, and the two friends were almost immediately sucked into the vortex. It is said that once all the changelings in the room were gone, the vortex turned to a pillar of light which fell quickly into the floor in a small explosion. There was no sign of the changelings... not a single one.

Chapter 5: Harmony

Midnight Masquerade found himself falling down a pit. The screams of thousands of changelings made it difficult to hear anything, but his sight told him that this “pit” was the Hive. The ground loomed closer and closer, and the changeling charged his horn, impacting the ground like a meteorite. His hooves lifted him out of the crater, but he realized something was very different about them. He got up on his hind legs to examine his forelegs; they were purple and without any impurities. The Elements had once again turned him into a moonicorn. As he listened to the screams of the changelings, a whistling sound caught his ear. He instinctively rolled out of the way just as the Queen’s hoof impacted the floor, cracking it. The Elements had done nothing to her changeling form, and Anger poured from her body as her horn began to glow. The crown was missing from her head, and she was almost exhausted from the attack.
“This is where you die, Masquerade!” she screamed, firing a blast from her horn.

Midnight was barely able to dodge such a large beam, and soon realized it was only a matter of time. Suddenly a shadow caught the moonicorn’s eye and he looked up to find a familiar green pegasus. Hunter dived in just in time to help Midnight avoid another of the Queen’s spells. The purple pony climbed on top of his winged friend, and they began to fly toward the entrance at the top of the hollow mountain that was the Hive. Another beam from below, swiftly dodged by the pegasus, missed its target and hit the ceiling of the mountain. The result was the impending collapse of the entire Hive as rocks and boulders began falling as quickly as the changelings. Hunter was able to dodge the spells, while Midnight used his horn to break apart the boulders speeding towards them. Soon they were able to reach the entrance, and the unicorn leaped off of his friend who was too busy flying to notice. A quick teleportation spell reunited the friends at the entrance, bringing Hunter to his left side. The two changelings had finally escaped the Hive. Out of breath, they turned from the darkness and looked at each other. Smiles creased their pony snouts, and the sound of wings did not bother them.

A large stone hurtled towards the pegasus, hitting him in his weak side and knocking him to the floor. Midnight saw his friend fall, but as he turned to see the culprit a strong spell hit his right eye. He found himself on his side, with one eye and one unconscious friend. With his left eye he saw the Queen hovering at the entrance. With a rough stomp to the ground, the rock beneath her began to crack. Midnight’s left eye rose from her hooves to the entrance above her. He fired one last spell at her, which missed as planned and struck the loose rocks above her head. She jumped back and down into the Hive, which began to collapse with the entrance. As the boulders slid down around them, Midnight rushed to Hunter’s side. A force knocked him to the floor, and he turned to find that the cliff they were standing on was becoming separated from the rest of the mountain. The crack grew until the ponies found themselves sliding down the side of the Hive on their broken ground. Midnight tried to get Hunter to wake up, but before he could make sure that he was still alive their platform had collided with another cliff, and threw both of the ponies to the ground below. Midnight landed painfully on his back. His left eye barely open, he saw a large boulder rolling down the side, hitting the cliff, and bouncing toward him. The shock was so much that both of his eyes opened wide as the giant rock came closer and closer. Suddenly the rock stopped, glowing in a green aura, and slowly moved to his side and landed harmlessly a few inches away from him. A changeling flew in and landed on top of it, with a grin that showed both pairs of fangs he had.
“Consider that your reward for not letting me get trapped in there!” Foresight shouted from the top of the rock.
Midnight’s right eye hurt ever since he opened it, but for some reason he could still see through it just fine. However, the pain made it difficult for him to think. “Foresight?... Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about Hunter, he’s fine. He’ll wake up pretty soon with a bad headache.”
“You... found him?”
“He’ll find you. Don’t worry.”
“How do you... know that?”
“I told you already, I’m Foresight.” The changeling smiled and looked into the distance for a moment before continuing. “Well, I must be going. There are things I still need to attend to, but we will catch up when our deeds are done. Good luck finding your way back home, Midnight. I know you will make it.”
“How can you be so sure?” Midnight asked, starting to get up off of the ground.
The changeling just stood there and smiled. “Because I am.”
With those last words he turned the right side of his face to the changeling, winked, and disappeared in a burst of green teleportation magic.

Chapter 6: Everfree Once More

Midnight picked himself up. His back and limbs ached, but that was nothing compared to the pain in his right eye. Without a bandage or an eyepatch, he was forced to cover it with his own hoof. It was a good thing that normal ponies don’t have holes in their legs. Stumbling forward on three hooves, he managed to trot around the boulder that the mysterious changeling had been standing on. He looked for Hunter around every piece of rubble that he could maneuver around, but there was not a single green feather on the ground. Then there was the sound of small rocks hitting the ground. He turned to find the source of the movement, and found his green friend staring back at him.
“You okay, Hunter?” the worried moonicorn asked.
“Yeah.” He shuddered from pain and lifted a hoof to his forehead. “Just a bad headache and a broken wing... but I’m fine, Mask.”

As they began trotting back toward Canterlot, Midnight decided to withhold the information that Foresight had given to him. There was something just wrong about that creature, and he was somewhat glad that he never hangs around too long. He wasn’t sure what “catching up” the changeling was planning, just as he wasn’t sure whether to be excited or scared. Foresight knew too much about Midnight... even for somepony who had read his “fiction.” He shook himself out of his thoughts and found himself trotting on three hooves with the Everfree Forest in sight.
“So...” Hunter asked, with the slightest trace of pain in his voice.
“What?” Midnight answered, finding it very difficult to make eye contact with his friend was on his right side.
“How’s your eye?”
“It hurts a lot...” Pain was much more noticeable in his voice.
“Can I check it? Make sure it’s still there?”
“I’m sure it’s still there... but sure. Why not?”

Midnight tentatively lowered his right hoof, and opened his right eye. What he saw was a horrified look on Hunter’s face. The green pegasus shuddered, shook his head, and wiped his eyes. The look of horror turned to sadness as he realized that what he saw was not an illusion brought on by his head injury or any pain from his broken right wing.
“How bad is it?” Midnight asked, unsure if he wanted to know.
“It’s... pretty bad.”
“I don’t doubt it... not with this much pain.”
“Not like that...” the pegasus muttered.
“What?”
“You need an eyepatch.”

Midnight chuckled, despite the pain. His right hoof covered his eye once more as they trotted closer and closer to the threshold of Everfree. As they continued to trot through the grass and fallen branches, Hunter took a few steps ahead. After a few moments, he found a river and brought Midnight closer to see his reflection in the water. What the moonicorn found as he lowered his hoof was a black hue where purple once was around and on his eye. Upon opening his eye, he saw its natural green color. The areas where his changeling eye met his pony face was glowing in an eerie green light. The lit borders hurt to the touch, but then again his entire eye was hurting from the attack.
“That’s your... changeling eye! How can that be your changeling eye?!” Hunter asked, out of breath and confused. “I thought we had been cured!”
“There’s no cure for what we’ve become.” Midnight sighed from a mixture of sadness and pain. “The Elements of Harmony will mask a good changeling, but that’s it.”

Masquerade closed his right eye, and focused power in his horn. Fire consumed his pony form for a brief moment. He looked into the water with both eyes open again; his changeling eye was still visible. He had to sit down from the confusion that rattled his brain. He looked up from the stream and saw a Zap Apple tree in the distance.
“I’m gonna need an eyepatch...” he said as he surveyed the tree from afar.

The branches bore leaves, and several rainbow-colored fruits were suspended from above. It was beautiful. He trotted parallel to the water until it was shallow enough to cross. Finally, he was able to gallop toward the crooked tree and almost left Hunter behind; it would’ve been easier if he didn’t still have a working wing. Finally the two changelings reached the foot of the tree.
“What was the rush?” Hunter asked, almost out of breath. “I thought you didn’t eat solid foods.”
“Exactly.”

Hunter stood there, still confused as the unicorn put his hooves to the bark. He looked up at and past the fruit, horn aglow. A large leaf the approximate size of his eye floated down in green magic. It floated down and attached itself to the changeling’s eye. With a gentle push from a purple right hoof it was securely in place. The moonicorn trotted to the river to check his reflection once again. The form was too torn by the spell for the leaf to cover up completely; three streaks of green light were still visible. It looked as though he was mauled by some kind of enchanted beast.
“That’s a good look for you,” Hunter said after getting a break from the rushing around.
“Thanks,” Midnight replied.

For once his “new look” had nothing to do with becoming a Manipulator, but then again he was practically there. As an independent changeling, it would only be a matter of time before his entire mane would be blue underneath his pony form. He shrugged this thought off as the two ponies turned from the river and began trotting even deeper through the forest.
“...Midnight?” Hunter’s voice almost seemed timid, as though he was afraid what his friend had to say. He hid Fear’s scent well.
“What is it?” Masquerade replied calmly.
“I just noticed... the Elements gave me my pony form back, so is this purple unicorn what you looked like before you changed?”
“This?” The changeling shook his head. “This is the body of my first blood. It was this form that allowed me to become the first Executioner in the Changeling Army.”
“Really?” Hunter’s head tilted slightly. “That seems kind of weird for the Elements to give you that form.”
“Not exactly... you see, when I was on the Moon--”
“Excuse me?” Hunter interrupted. Midnight had forgotten that Hunter wasn’t at the campfire that night.
“You heard me,” the changeling said, unwavering. “I went insane on that Moon and I believed that I had made up this form. From the red highlights to the crescent moon cutie mark.”
Hunter’s eyes grew wide and the slightest hint of Fear grazed Midnight’s snout. “Then... why is your cutie mark a Telescope?”
“What?!” The purple head twisted around to see that his crescent had been changed. He had no idea how long this new cutie mark had been there.
“Why would it change your mark? I didn’t think any kind of magic could do that...”
“The Elements of Harmony are the strongest magic known to ponydom. More than that, they seem to have the ability to discern Good from Evil.”
“Really? But... you were an Executioner.”
“But I didn’t know I was one until...” The changeling stopped as he contemplated the question some more. “Well... the first time I was exposed to the Elements, I wasn’t aware of my past evils. Then when I did find out, Celestia forgave me.”
“But isn’t going insane and forgetting just like cowardice? Wouldn’t the Elements consider that evil?”
“I don’t know... all I know is that I’m standing right here.”
“Isn’t magic just astounding?” a familiar voice called from further up their path.
“You again?!” Midnight had not expected to see Foresight so soon. “What happened to those ‘things’ you had to attend to?”
“Unforeseen consequences,” Foresight admitted. “The things weren’t where I remember seeing them... or foreseeing them.”
“Just can’t stay away from me too long, can you?” Midnight said with scorn in his voice.
“Rest assured, Midnight, as your nemesis there is nothing more I’d like to see than your destruction. Of course, in times of war one must often make sacrifices... as that is what loyalty requires.”
“Stop using my words against me, you abomination!”
“Oh, you and your naive concepts of context!” The changeling took a moment to laugh as Midnight attempted to swallow his rage, in futility. “Oh, don’t be that way, Midnight. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it a long time ago.”
“I don’t think--”
“May I accentuate: A LONG time ago!?” the changeling interrupted, getting his point across.
“Wait a second,” Hunter started, realizing there was something a miss. “If you’re really not out to kill us, then why don’t you have a pony form?”
The changeling’s eyes blinked three times fast and he looked down at his hooves that were riddled with holes. “If the Elements do know the difference between Good and Evil, then they must have had a field day with me!”
“You’re not in a pony form, so you must be evil,” Hunter answered smugly.
“Things aren’t just black and white or... plum as it were.”
“Plum?”
Foresight turned to the moonicorn, “‘Dark purple’ is not the color of your coat. Anypony with a sense of color knows that it’s plum!”
“Do you look this stuff up just to irritate me?!” Midnight said on his last nerve. “And weren’t we talking about your coat color?!”
Foresight just smiled.
“Don’t just smile, answer me!”
“Plum. It will be plum.”
“You’re going to take my form?”
“You will see when we get time to catch up.”
“I’m sick of your cryptic messages, just say a Yes or No!”
“Yes.” Foresight remained calm. “That is the plan... it has always been the plan as I have foreseen it.”
“Answer me just one question without any nonsense!”
“I will, but don’t ask me here!”
“Why not?!”
The changeling rolled his head and stretched his neck, preparing for a short speech. “I’m obligated to answer one simple question with crystal clear honesty. There will be a time in the near future... you will follow me, you will look me in the eye, and you will ask me the simplest of questions. I will smile, and I will say, ‘Midnight Masquerade... now you are ready to destroy us,’ but you will falter, and there will be even more wars and death than you can imagine!”

Foresight found the breath to laugh at his plum-colored foe, which only irritated him more. Midnight charged Foresight, who once again managed to dodge seamlessly and fly into the sky.
“Don’t look so jealous! Your wings will grow back... in a few hundred years!” A quick flutter of the wings pulled the changeling away from the blast of magic that destroyed his previous position. “Look on the bright side! Changelings are frozen in age! Only starvation and our enemies can kill us!” Foresight dodged another blast, then lit his own horn in the same shade of green that had attempted to strike him down. “Let us meet again, and I will explain a bit more of our heritage... if you only knew how much you’ve forgotten.” With a green spark of his teleportation spell he was gone again.
“He’s gone,” Hunter said turning in all directions... almost expecting to find those green eyes watching from afar. He turned back to his friend, “Are you okay, Mask?”
Midnight once again began trotting toward Canterlot. “Let’s just get out of this forsaken forest.”

His trot turned to a gallop. It wasn’t until nightfall that the gallop turned to a trot, then a climb. Finally the two exhausted ponies found themselves taking refuge in the same cave that they had met Foresight. The monster was nowhere to be seen, so they both slumped over and fell asleep.

Chapter 7: To Die a Changeling

Sunlight shone into the cave, bouncing off of the crystals scattered throughout and somehow sticking in the plum moonicorn’s eye. His snout was stretched by a yawn, and he rose from the floor of the cave, involuntarily knocking his hind hoof into the side of his friend, who was still trying to sleep. Now aware of the light in the cave, the pegasus rose as well and stretched his wings. They were almost home.

The two friends trotted out of the cave and saw the towers of Canterlot in the distance. They galloped down the side of the mountain and then trotted back into civilization. Soon the two ponies were back on paved roads and headed straight for the castle. The guards didn’t even recognize them in their pony forms and were suspicious as to why the “purple one’s wearing a leaf” as they referred to his makeshift eyepatch. Midnight insisted on seeing the captain, aware that Shining Armor would be able to recognize his pony form. His plan worked, and they were finally admitted entrance to the throne room.

The princess was just as surprised to see the changelings in their pony forms as Armor was. Celestia explained that the heroes had already left for their homes in Ponyville and Luna had taken the few Lunar Guard and left to bring order back to the Moon. When her side of the tale was done, the two friends soon found themselves explaining the fall of the changelings, and the Elements’ effects. The princess had a few questions when their story was finally complete.
“So if this ‘Foresight’ character was able to escape, then maybe there are others as well?” Celestia asked.
“As long as the Queen is buried beneath the rubble... well, even if she does get out I doubt she’ll try anything against us again,” Midnight assured.
Suddenly the Colonel burst in, “I came as soon as I heard...” was all that could escape his snout before he had to catch his breath. He looked the two ponies over. “Thank you both for your sacrifices.” He turned to Midnight. “If you were actually enlisted in my army I’d give you medal for that,” he said, gesturing toward the leaf that was poorly covering his scar. He turned to the green pegasus, “and you, Hunter! I’ve got something special in mind for you!”

Hunter couldn’t help but grin as he heard the Colonel’s offer. Midnight just rolled his eyes, though the princess only saw him roll one.
“It was very nice to see you both again,” Celestia said, interrupting the short conversation between Hunter and the unicorn. She turned to the latter. “Colonel, could you escort our friends to the doctor’s? We should make sure they’re both in good health.”

The Colonel obliged and took the changelings outside of the castle and across the city of Canterlot until they found the local hospital. Hunter passed the physical examination with no major problems as his wing turned out to be bruised, not broken. However, Midnight’s eye required further examination. The plum moonicorn was taken admitted with some of the soldiers who had been hurt in the battle the day before. He sat on the hospital bed, unsure of how a mattress would solve the problem with his eye. Before too long, a familiar pink nurse trotted in to check on him. A quiet “wow” escaped her snout, and she tried to cover it with a cough as she approached.
“Midnight?”
“Candy? I didn’t know you worked here...”
Stripe chuckled a little. “No... the military took quite a few lickings, so they’ve called in for some extra help.” The smile on her face dissipated quickly. “What happened to your eye?”
“I was struck by one of the Queen’s spells,” he said as he removed his leaf. “It went right through my pony form.”
“I didn’t know spells could do that,” Stripe said, poorly hiding her shock at the glow of the wound.
“Neither did I,” the changeling said, wincing as the nurse’s hoof felt the bright green borders of the spell. “That kind of hurts...”
Her hoof immediately pulled back. “I’m sorry.” Her gaze turned to the Zap Apple leaf. “Does this hurt to wear?”
“Fits pretty comfortably, actually,” the changeling answered. A frown formed on his face, despite his resistance. “I prefer this over an eyepatch... if that’s alright.”
“An eyepatch would better cover the wound and would be more secure.”
“But I can’t see through a common eyepatch...” the moonicorn stated, unsure if it would make a difference. It didn’t. Midnight spent the next few moments rubbing the outer edge of his eyepatch to check if it actually covered up his entire scar.
“So you know how the executioner just sat around doing nothing when we were out in Everfree?” Candy asked, reminding the plum cyclops.
“Ugh... yeah. What about him?”
“Well I went back and checked Shroud’s medical files; makes me wish I hadn’t volunteered last second!”
Midnight’s right hoof went back to his side. “What did you learn?”
“Well, the first thing I saw was his time of death... they found him in his bedroom the day after we left. Cause was cardiac arrest. The door was locked, too... they suspect that the executioner got in through a window or vent and scared the pony to death.”
“So he never actually attacked the unicorn?” This whole conversation was confusing Midnight. Was Foresight just trying to scare him the entire time?
“It gets weirder,” Candy said, interrupting the changeling’s thoughts. “He still had both eyes in his head, virtually unharmed. Did the changeling that attacked you have just one eye?”
“No... he had both of them.” Midnight wondered why things just couldn’t be simple when it came to that... thing.
Candy chuckled a bit.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh... well,” Candy started, a bit embarrassed. “It’s really stupid, but I thought for a moment that he could have been mocking you... but that couldn’t be it.”
Midnight laughed with her. He withheld the fact that Foresight was still alive and could somehow predict the future, despite the fact that changelings don’t have those kind of powers.

With their business taken care of, Midnight convinced Candy that he was perfectly fine and trotted out of the hospital. Most of his day had been spent in that hospital and the clock read that it was about four hours into the afternoon. An envelope floated down from the sky and landed at the plum pony’s hooves. He looked up to see nothing but the sky growing darker gradually. Midnight opened the envelope, which was blank on the outside, to find a letter written in a somehow familiar hoofwriting:
“Dear ‘Shadow Beast,’
I foresaw your concern of my one-eyed Shroud and wrote this note after also foreseeing how aggravated you would become upon seeing me yet again. We have the same problem. Despite my title of Executioner, I can’t actually make a perfect form of any of my prey... it’s just one part of the curse that I endure. The other part has been following in your shadow for the longest of times. Soon I see a time of freedom for me... and agony worse than death for you.
From your greatest nemesis,

‘Foresight’”
“Hey, Midnight! What are you reading?” Thunder Sword’s voice pierced Midnight’s concentration He looked back at the note and threw it into the street to be blown away by the wind.
“Nothing,” the plum cyclops answered emotionlessly. “Wait... aren’t you supposed to be in the hospital?”
“Just got out. Won’t be able to fly for a while, but I get some time to spend with the family,” the cream pegasus said, smiling.
“And then it’s time to ship out again, right?” Midnight’s eyes turned back to the sky as it slowly went dim.
“Exactly.”

Midnight turned to make eye contact with Thunder but instead managed to catch Foresight staring back at him from the top of the hospital. Sword turned to see the source of the shock in his friend’s eye, only to see the green spark left over from Foresight’s teleportation spell. He was gone.
“Changeling?” Thunder asked, not turning back around.
“Yeah...” Masquerade answered, with an almost sad tone.
The pegasus turned back to his friend. “Are you alright? The war’s over now, thanks to you and those heroes. Hunter’s getting promoted for his help! You should be proud.”
“I should be... but there’s just something about that one changeling that keeps stalking me. He’s making me regret so much about my life here in Equestria.”

Hunter trotted into view from across the street. He galloped to meet his friends, stopping next to Thunder. They followed Masquerade to a balcony, unaware of his intentions. He stopped on the edge and looked to the rising Moon. Luna’s words rang through his head as he look down from the balcony and to the streets below.
“What are you thinking about, Midnight?” Thunder asked, slightly concerned.
The moonicorn turned from the view. “I’m thinking about my life here in Equestria; it’s not working out. Everywhere I go it seems like disaster strikes, and now there’s that thing following me...” Midnight’s voice trailed off as he turned from his friends and back to the hard ground below.
“Midnight... what are you planning?”
“I’m leaving...” he answered solemnly.
“What?!” Hunter asked, confused by his friend’s change of heart.
“Goodbye, my friends.” The moonicorn’s horn began to glow, both from the light of the Moon and the most powerful magic the changeling could muster.

Suddenly a bright green flame erupted from Midnight’s horn, consuming his form and body. The fire and screaming lasted only a short while before they both died down into silence. Ashes fell toward the ground below, and blew away with the wind. There was nothing left.

Epilogue: The Truth Concealed

The Lunar guard captain lead the new worker to his quarters. The unicorn had barely passed his tests and was now ready to work in the Animal Enchantment Wing. They approached the once condemned workstation, and the captain felt the need to explain the room's dark past.
“You know, this room was the work station of the first changeling discovered in Palomoono. If you'd prefer a different station--”
“I’m not scared,” the unicorn sternly interrupted.
“As you wish.” The captain tentatively unlocked the door, gave the key to the worker, and left the brave pony alone.

The unicorn trotted into the station. Its contents seemed untouched after all this time. He went straight to the work desk, opened the drawer with his hooves. It was empty. The changeling scrolls must have been confiscated when the place was condemned. A kind of sadness came over the unicorn. Then came the headache... the pony turned his head to the right, the door was unlocked. He galloped to the door and locked it in fear of prying eyes. Nopony needed to know this unicorn's secret: He had perfect 20/20 vision. He took his eyepatch off and opened his right eye. Green flames erupted from his body, revealing the changeling's true form. A light blue mane with black highlights took the place of his black and red one; his red eye replaced with green. He trotted to the telescope, barely able to fit his curved changeling horn into the hole. With a burst of green magic, it connected with his target. The voices chatted in his head:
“Is this working?”
“Yeah. It hurts... but yes.”
“How's the Moon?”
“A bit more dusty than I remember... how's the SRC?”
“A bit more difficult than I imagined...”
“Sounds about right.”
“Well... I've got a mission in the morning.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“You should come planetside sometime, Midnight...”
“Goodbye, Hunter.”
“Yeah... goodbye.”

The voices stopped and the headache disappeared as Midnight Masquerade pulled his horn from the slot. A knock on his door turned the changeling's head, reminding him of the cost of such magic as he looked at the door through his blue and black mane. Green flame covered his form, concealing 98% of his body in pony, the one gap in his defense being his right eye. The one-eyed moonicorn opened the door to find a package waiting for him on the other side. The box had been addressed to “Shadow Beast” and dropped without anypony signing for it. He took it inside and hesitantly opened it. Inside were many blank scrolls, several ink containers, several quills, and one large Zap Apple leaf. “Luna knows me too well...” he mouthed as he looked over the items. He put the leaf on and was able to see clearly once again using his old trick. He sat down at his desk, green magic took over a quill, and he began to write “Shadow Beast” on the package to check the ink quality. He looked twice at his own handwriting, but shrugged it off. With the ink working, he moved the pen to the paper and wrote “The Changeling Chronicles” at the top of the scroll. He paused, thinking over the events he would have to write about. He looked up at Equestria. Laughter escaped his snout as he realized that it was going to be labeled as “Fiction” and he didn’t care. After all, Truth is stranger than Fiction.

The End

Origins, Act 1

The Changeling Chronicles

Book 1: Origins

Author: Shadow Beast

Preface: A Changeling Autobiography...
Greetings, Equestria. My name is Shadow Beast, and I am a changeling. Do not fear; I am nothing like those brutish fools that followed the tyrannical Chrysalis into battle at that royal wedding. No, I am on your side! Due to common skepticism, I am forced to write this account of my heritage in an origin story explaining exactly why and how I can live without having to deceive or feed on you ponies! The following is the origin of all changelings of Equestria, then narrowing that down to MY life story... the important parts, anyways. Enjoy!

Act 1: The Cold, the Dark, and the Moon

Chapter 1: Hearth’s Warming Eve

You have all heard the story of the foolish pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies constantly fighting and causing the Windigos to create the great blizzard. If you haven’t, well what are you doing reading this? This is meant for educated eyes only! Go back to magic kindergarten or something... but I digress. As you are aware, the leaders and their best ponies left their homes in order to find a new, not so cold place to live. But there is a side to this tale that has been hidden from you, and this is where my story truly begins.

As the leaders and their ponies left to find new land, they left many ponies behind--the sick, the tired, and those who felt that they must care for them. But there was nothing to eat, and eventually even the caretakers felt nothing but hate in their hearts. My ancestors would have frozen alive, but then somepony--or someTHING came to their aid. Whatever HE is... I am sure you Equestrians, especially those from Ponyville, have come to know the tyrannical fiend... Discord.

Discord saved the ponies, then drowned their world in constant chaos. Discord was all-knowing, all-powerful, and he abused every right he had as a spirit. The chaos and disharmony was shown ever more clearly as he began to shift the shapes of the ponies, eventually leaving them all without a shape... changelings. Our most powerful... changeling, spread her wings and focused her magic to become truly superior. She became the queen of the changelings, Chrysalis, and challenged Discord with every single changeling at her command. But Discord did as Discord always has done: he laughed in the face of opposition. Beyond that, he struck doubt into the eyes of more than half of her entire army with a simple thought. He claimed that Chrysalis and her followers were changelings now, so they must feed on love. He proceeded to reveal that it was his love of chaos that was keeping them all alive, and this rebellion would only be their undoing.

The changelings were now split--about half doubted Chrysalis now, with a little less doubting Discord. Those who doubted Chrysalis went to Discord’s side, and prepared for the war ahead. Discord snapped his fingers and everything went back to normal. That is, if you call a wasteland normal... without anypony there to plow and till the fields, the once fertile farmlands were uninhabitable. Discord laughed and led his changeling army away from Chrysalis, who had no choice now but to find a new home for her own changelings, a place that would have more than enough love to not only sustain them, but make them stronger. They didn’t find such a place until they crashed the royal wedding, but I have no idea what lands they traversed between these two events... MY ancestors followed Discord and, for those who study obscure pony history, this next part may seem a bit familiar.

Chapter 2: Discord and the Princesses of Day and Night

Discord sent his changeling army in advance. Their job was simple: gather intelligence on this newly discovered “Equestria,” feed on love to grow powerful, and finally sabotage any retaliatory action that may occur when chaos arrives. Assuming pony forms, the changelings brought great trials to all of Equestria. After learning of the great alicorn princesses, a powerful changeling developed a plan. He gathered his fellows and after a briefing of the mission at hoof, the plan was set into motion.

They concocted a great love poison, and gave it to foolish stallion who shared it with one of the princesses, exactly which one I cannot recall, meanwhile another changeling managed to lure a dragon closer and closer to the great city of the Sun and Moon. Then Discord struck. With one of the princesses left powerless, and the other attempting to deal with the dragon, their subjects were, well... subjected to the many torments of Discord in his new kingdom of chaos.

Much to the Discord’s surprise, many of the royal guard were not as stupid as he thought. Starswirl the Bearded, among other powerful unicorns, put their magic together to create the Elements of Harmony. Meanwhile the Royal Guards of Day and Night fought with the changelings in an attempt to stop their intervention. The changelings failed, and the Elements of Harmony were complete, their power permeated through the walls of the castle, deterring the dragon and releasing the princess and stallion from the effects of the poison. The changelings outside were now disoriented; with the potion no longer working, those feelings of love were gone and their power had weakened. The princesses swiftly found the Elements of Harmony, claimed and donned them in order to protect what little was left of their kingdom. The princesses stood before Discord, ready to strike him down. But Discord did as he has always done: he laughed in the face of opposition. He knew he had already won. He held his chest and lifted his head back and laughed and laughed and laughed... keeping that pose indefinitely. The Elements had transformed him into a statue, and corrected the remaining chaos. In their haste, the princesses were unaware of the changelings’ presence, and they had disappeared.

But the changelings never left. After seeing their great leader’s defeat, the hundreds of hundreds of changelings knew that running was not an option. Hiding was the only way to survive this. They took the forms of the ponies they had defeated in battle, and assumed their roles in life in Equestria. Most of them took the forms of royal guard of Sun and Moon, but sadly, this move would only split the changelings even more... in the great war to come.

Chapter 3: The Rise of Nightmare Moon

I’m sure I don’t have to explain how Luna’s jealousy got the better of her. Anyways, when Luna became Nightmare Moon she took her followers and royal guard (many of which were changelings) and fled to the moon. There they built a new castle, one even more powerful than the one in Canterlot. Using the best magic and technology known to them, they constructed special telescopes capable of sending magic spells through space. The changelings incorporated their shape-shifting prowess with the moonicorns’ magic to send spells down to Equestria, creating what is now known as the Everfree Forest. They buried the old castle in vegetation, and transformed once harmless creatures into monsters such as manticores, cockatrices, and timberwolves. Equestria became a land covered in darkness, and the Elements of Harmony were lost in the nightmares of the Everfree Forest. I know these things for I was born on the moon. The capital city, to be exact. Equestria has Canterlot, the moon has Palomoono. The palomoonicorns would use their magic to harvest the power of the stars. This position was sought after by the changelings, as many ponies would look up at the stars with wonder and love in their eyes. These feelings would travel through space and radiate from the stars, warming and empowering the changeling workers and soldiers. The non-changeling troops of Palomoono faced a greater challenge: food. Being cut off after Celestia’s Solar Guard began possessing the many farmlands of Equestria meant that the Lunar Guard must find their own fruit to consume. Nightmare Moon would not allow her guards, let alone herself, go hungry... so she called forth her most powerful moonicorns, all of which were changelings.

The changelings used their newly acquired strength to summon a new form of edible life: Apples Placed on Palomoono for Lunar Edibility and Sensation... or A.P.P.L.E.S. as a clever anagram. However, it has come to my attention that some of the test batch, located deep within the Everfree Forest, were relatively recently absconded by some farm filly who probably didn’t even know what she was doing. In order to save time, I will use the term that she gave them: “Zap Apples.” Zap apples were perfected on the moon, where the harvest time is decided by the growers, who are all changelings in the form of moon ponies. They added a special “harvest time limit” feature that makes the apples simply disappear if not harvested in time. They never reported this effect, allowing them to trick Nightmare Moon into thinking that the missing apples were spent in the farmer’s food rations. In reality, changelings do not eat, they feed on love and similar feelings that are radiated off of uniforms, stars, or even the moon itself; but mostly it comes from the forms they themselves take.

Chapter 4: The Lunar Fever

All was good for the many citizens of Palomoono. The war below concerned few of us, but as we expanded the country to Nightmare Moon’s design, we realized that as it came to completion that this “Mare in the Moon” design was not appealing to the citizens of Equestria. With less love coming up to the moon, the changeling populace came down with “Lunar fever,” an inexplicable weakness of the entire body. It was all we could do not to lose our forms and get ourselves killed by Nightmare Moon and her Lunar Guard. I was born on Palomoono when it was just a colony, I mentioned that didn’t I? Oh well... by the time I came of age to choose what I wanted to be, I went for telescope operator. In order to be a telescope operator, I needed to be a moonicorn. My parents gave me a picture of a generic, dark purple moonicorn with a plain black mane and yellow crescent moon cutie mark. I hated that picture. I had no choice though, so I went ahead and used the special magic formula to transform myself from a simple moon pony to a true moonicorn. I was able to change the eye color to a bright red and even put some red highlights in my mane and tail. There was always something so... scary about the color red; I loved it. Soon my transformation was complete, and I left my parents for the first time. If I hadn’t been home-schooled, ponies would’ve gotten suspicious of my new horn. I grew up in private like all the changelings, but then again so were many of the moon pony foals. We did not really have a very good school system for a while. I applied to be a part of the Telescope systems, and was assigned to its Animal Enchantment Wing. It wasn’t a full Lunar year that had passed before the country’s design was complete and “Lunar fever” came to much of the populace. Being a changeling, I knew it was only a matter of time before I too succumbed to what seemed to be the end of our race. My only hope was to find some source of love, so I did the only thing I really knew how to do. I aimed the scope at some trees near our zap apple testing ground, and focused power to my horn, coursing the magic through the scope, through space, and hitting the trees with beastial magic. I could barely stand, everything grew hazy... a thousand questions rushed through my head: “Is this the end?” “Did the spell work?” “Was this all for nothing?” “Am I... for nothing?” “Does moondust taste like snow?” “Can pony pony a pony pony on the moon?” My mind slowly deteriorated... I stopped making sense, even to myself. Finally the strength of my legs gave way and I fell to the floor. At least, I think that’s what happened... everything got really dark for a while.

I remember waking up in the makeshift Lunar Hospital, we never needed hospitals until the “Lunar fever.” A nurse, who from what I could tell was one of the normal moon ponies, smiled as I awoke.
“Looks like my treatment worked!” she said in what seemed to be almost disbelief.
“What treatment...” I said in a form of stupor as I looked around the room. My moonicorn mane and coat were a little less than colorful, and I saw that most of the unconscious changelings around me were barely keeping their shapes as well. Everypony seemed a shade of gray, and I noticed their eyes were all closed... probably to hide their natural bright blue colors. For some reason, I seemed to be the only pony who was actually getting better.
I asked again louder, now that my voice was stronger... “What treatment, nurse?” The mare turned, “Oh, I’m not a nurse, the doctor is as ill as everypony else here! I was going by the Animal Enchantment Wing and saw your collapsed body, so I brought you here! The nurses were too busy, so I kinda took matters into my own hooves...”
“What did you do to me??”
“I just... set you down in the bed, covered you with the blanket and fed you some jam from my rations...”
Of course! This pony cared about my well-being... it’s the same feeling that must be keeping the other changelings alive! “That must be some pretty good jam! Maybe you should try your treatment on the others... Nightmare will need all the soldiers in fighting condition!”
“Yeah... yeah! The jam... sure.” The pony seemed a little scared, despite my recovery. I wanted to ask how long I had been out, but I was wasting time as it was, so I prodded the pony along with my horn, and snuck outside while her back was turned. I made my way back to the Animal Enchantment Wing, I had to know if the spell had worked. If it had, it would explain a lot. If it hadn’t... well, I shouldn’t even be alive.

The good thing about having a city wide epidemic is no one wants to stick around a quarantine area. I shed my pony form to conserve energy and galloped straight to the scope. Sure enough, the spell worked. Timberwolves, dozens of them, howling with the love of animated life--straight to Palomoono. I galloped to the edge of the quarantine zone. Seeing the end, I donned my moonicorn form once more. I guessed Nightmare must have really needed the Stardust Reactor working at full capacity if it was spared the quarantine. I trotted in and absorbed the extra love energy from the stars. I felt the energy hit me somewhat like a sugar rush. I galloped for the reactor and used my extra power as a shield. It enveloped the surface of the moon, replacing the image of Palomoono with the brightest of whites. I collapsed yet again from exhaustion, but I stayed awake this time. I saw the Lunar Guards approach and I felt them lift me up off the floor, and carry me to the throne room. I knew what was coming, but I didn’t care. My people would live on... with or without me.

Chapter 5: The Great Fall of the Lunar Kingdom

Little did I realize that I had inadvertently set in motion the events that would lead to Nightmare Moon’s downfall. The howling of the timberwolves had attracted the attention of the other monsters of Everfree, leaving a gap in its defense. The Solar Guard moved in and reclaimed the Elements of Harmony--along with a mysterious statue--and returned them to the Princess of the Day.

I was thrown to the floor of the throne room. I weakly dared to look up to the face of Nightmare Moon, who explained the consequences of my blatant disobedience. I explained that I had shrouded Palomoono in an invisibility spell, and that the Elements could not work without a target. I had gotten us into this mess, and I got us out of it just the same. But Nightmare would not listen to reason, she refused to believe that any proclamation she could make was wrong, and that I was to undo the spell I had cast, or be executed. Unfortunately the spell I had cast was attached to the reactor itself, not me. As long as the reactor was harvesting stardust, the shield would exist. Nightmare decreed the Stardust Reactor to be shut down immediately. “NO! My ponies will all die!” escaped my moonicorn snout in panic... “I mean... without the magic power we take from the stars, the Lunar Guard will lose its strength. This could forfeit the war to the Solar kingdom!” Nightmare Moon turned to me, “WE DO NOT FEAR THE SOLAR KINGDOM, AND IF YOU WERE TRULY A DEVOTED SUBJECT, YOU SHALT FEAR ME MANY TIMES MORE THAN YOU HATH FEARED OUR LOATHSOME SISTER!” turning to the guard now... “WE ORDERED THE REACTOR SHUT DOWN, DOTH THOU DARE TOO TO DISOBEY US?” “no... ma'am...” the Lunar Guards galloped out of the room. “WE WILL LEAD THE CHARGE ON THIS SOLAR KINGDOM, AND WE OURSELVES WILL STRIKE DOWN OUR SISTER! THE NIGHT WILL FINALLY LAST FOREVER!!!”

Nightmare Moon never stood a chance. The two armies did clash, but there were no changelings on the battlefront. Only a few hundred Lunar Guard versus a few thousand Solar Guard (many of which were probably changelings) and the fight was over within a matter of minutes. The Lunar Princess charged the Solar castle of Canterlot, only to be struck down by her sister. I watched from the telescope as Celestia unleashed the powers of the Elements. Nightmare Moon and what was left of her ponies hurdled towards us in a great ray of light. The impact on the moon struck too close to Palomoono, and the stars in the reactor had to be ejected, lest they swell and burn up the city. With Nightmare’s power spent, she ordered the Stardust Reactor be brought back online. Estimates looked sketchy, and in order to find good stars, we would have to focus our magic to lasso some nearby stars and pull them close enough to use. The moonicorn scientists did some calculations: about 500 Lunar years, which comes out to be 1000 years in Solar time. Until then we were trapped. Locked away and imprisoned in our own Moon.

Chapter 6: The Return of Luna

Come on, you ponies! You’re smart! Do the math! You know that we did kick on the reactor, which is why the mysterious “Mare in the Moon” shape that was actually our entire kingdom disappeared. Nightmare Moon left us in Palomoono with one purpose: “RESTRAIN OUR SISTER, AS WE BEGIN THE ENDLESS NIGHT!” Seriously though, would it kill her to lower the volume? Ugh... no you stupid... don’t write ugh... my gosh you just keep doing it... BUT I DIGRESS. You know this getting published in the famous Canterlot archives, right? Okay where were we... oh, right! Well after the dark power was stripped from Luna, Celestia kinda overpowered the Reactor and made her escape as we were blinded. She took that chance to reorient our moon to make way for her sun.

Upon the next lunar cycle, Luna returned to us. She seemed much more nice, but we are comparing her to a dark, evil mare here. She seemed to actually care about us as her subjects now, and living so close to her allowed us to feed off her care for us. We grew stronger overall, but we were still relatively weak.
Soon, Nightmare Night came and one of my friends, a changeling in the form of a moon pony, went to Nightma--I mean, Luna to ask her if she could help the earth ponies see that the moon was to be loved and adored, not feared. She agreed and gladly obliged. She returned to us before reorienting the moon. Something happened down there, because suddenly she talked in a common pony’s voice. She stopped using the royal we and everything. It was great to have a real ruler around here, somepony who cared about her subjects and could empower them. One thing that truly made me revere Luna as a true leader was her loyalty... she was promised a seat at the throne of equal power down on Equestria, yet she chose to come back to Palomoono and care for us instead.

Chapter 7: The Return of Discord

With the fall of Nightmare Moon and the return of Luna, everything got much more ethical. Our Stardust Reactor empowers us, but all extra power is returned to create dazzling displays of interstellar beauty. Shooting stars, distant galaxies that seem to swirl, comets and meteor showers... this universe is truly amazing. I went to my telescope in the Animal Enchantment Wing--which was now tasked with restraining monsters and helping the innocent creatures--and noticed something was amiss. The beautiful landscape of Equestria below was stained with unnatural colors and forms. My mind went back to the tales my parents used to tell me... of the evil spirit that once controlled our family: Discord.

Somehow, he must have escaped his stone prison. I rushed to the throne room, for Luna needed to be notified immediately! I galloped to those great doors, all I could think about was Discord, and as they opened before me, I was almost blinded by the light. Celestia stood before me and I fell to my four knees, “What business do you have here?” she said, in a melodious voice I had never heard before. My voice was a bit less than strong, “umm... I noticed some... anomalies... on the surface of Equestria... it looks like...uh, it could be... serious...? I just thought... uh... Luna should know... there must be something wrong...” I opened my eyes slowly, still adjusting to the light, and Celestia looked down at me, smiling. As my eyes finally began to adjust, I could finally begin to make out her mouth moving... “Yes. There is trouble in Equestria. A long-defeated foe of ours has returned, and Luna offered to allow me to stay here until it passes.” This confused me, as Discord was said to be ruthless, all-knowing, and seemingly omnipresent. He was only defeated by the princesses using the greatest magic known to ponydom. But why would both Luna AND Celestia be sitting this one out? All the evidence pointed to Discord, but none of these events were making any sense. Then again, my parents said that Discord was the Spirit of Chaos, and events surrounding him never seemed to make sense. They said that a lot, actually.

I wanted to just leave, but as a changeling, my greatest fears were coming true: Discord could easily remove our false forms and expose us for what we are. Whatever happens after that could not be worse than asking a relatively simple question. I dared to question the authority: “Your highness, what good comes from hiding from this foe? Shouldn’t you be down there fighting to defend your subjects? Don’t you think they’ll--” Celestia raised her hoof to silence me, “I understand your concern for your fellow ponies...” the irony made me laugh a little on the inside and I began to smile, luckily she took that as acknowledgement that she was right... “but you must understand that this is not our fight any longer. This foe can only be defeated by heroes chosen by destiny. There are six Equestrian ponies who shall stand together and banish the chaos that is consuming everything!” There was no doubt in my mind now... Celestia herself said it was chaos, and only Discord would be able to scare her away. The Elements of Harmony must have split ignto six shards over the course of their thousand years, and fallen into the hooves of whoever these six Equestrian ponies are.

Chapter 8: From Dust to Dust

I left the throne room to return to my telescope. I was scared, but I was sure that Palomoono would be the safest place to be in this situation. Especially considering that the princesses themselves were taking shelter here! As I reassured myself that everything was going to be alright, I noticed a group of five changelings in moon pegasus forms inside the Reactor room. Their bat-like wings cast large shadows across the floor. I wondered why they were pegasi, because usually pegasi forms are only used... on international travel. I casually trotted in behind them and asked what they were doing. They recognized me, just as I had recognized them, as a fellow changeling and carefully, quietly informed me of their plan. Their main objective would be the destruction of Equestria, then Palomoono. They would join Discord as their parents had. Like mine had. They claimed that it was the right thing to do... “for all of our parents, who died on this forsaken rock from the Lunar fever!” I knew exactly what had caused the Lunar fever, but the cure was given to zap apple jam, and telling the truth was too risky. I simply asked the five pegasi to abandon their foolish mission. Discord would only use them, if not destroy their lives. They refused to listen to reason and insisted that I NOT come along. They didn’t want to approach Discord with an “infidel” in their ranks. I confronted the leader, snout to snout, “Are you really willing to throw your life away, Night Jumper?” Night Jumper’s eyes shifted out of mine and to the floor, then closed. Then I noticed the black horn coming out of her mane. With bright blue changeling eyes staring into my pony eyes... “Are YOU willing to throw YOUR life away, Shadow Beast?” she leaned closer, lowering the volume of her voice even more, “With one... simple... spell, I could unmask you. In front of all these Lunar Guards, you would be exposed.” The horn disappeared and she shoved herself into me, practically screaming into my moonicorn ear, “SO STAY OUT OF OUR WAY YOU STUPID MAGIC-WIELDING DRONE!” With an extra shove to throw me to the ground, the five changelings, now fully charged, galloped over me without hurting me and disappeared through the corridors.

As I lay there on the Reactor’s floor, all the workers and security looking at me, my ear still ringing in my head, all I could do was feel sorry for those five fools. They did not realize that all I was doing was trying to save them; and I still wasn’t finished! I got myself up, everypony in the room still somewhat shocked at the spectacle, and galloped outside and through the corridors to find my telescope in the Animal Care Wing. Sure enough, I got to see the five already in flight, already about to land in the chaos that was once known as Equestria. To be more exact, they were right above Canterlot. What happened next was exactly as I had feared. Through my scope, I found the five attempting to give themselves over to Discord. They even shed their moon pegasus forms as a sign of allegiance. As I feared, Discord did not care about them at all. All he ever loved was chaos, and seeing these five creatures get submerged in it did not seem very appealing to him for some reason. Maybe regular ponies were more “fun?” Who could know, but Discord managed to trick the five changelings into a suicide mission. They were to spread his chaos to Palomoono. I could tell because not only did he point very vaguely in my general direction, but the foolish changelings actually attempted to fly back here, without any magical assistance beyond their simple moon pegasus forms. Then a thought occurred to me: “What if they aren’t on a mission? What if they are running away? What if Discord just turned and told them to get lost!?” I stood there, just watching... unsure what to do. Finally, I made the most logical choice: help only one of them make it back here. So I fixed my scope on Night Jumper and inserted my horn into the telescope. My extra power from laying in the Reactor room escaped through my horn and made it to Night Jumper’s wings... but too late. The five were already falling back towards the harsh, and very hard surface of Equestria. My spell did make contact with Night Jumper, who instinctively opened her wings immediately, saving her life. The others were not as lucky.

Four broken changelings lay across the ground, burning back to their true forms... then to dust. Night Jumper could barely stand, she looked back up at the moon, unsure of what to do next. From the look in her eyes, I assume that she landed on her head... as she approached the nearest pony town, inhabited by earth ponies, she attempted to take an earth pony form. Despite this form being very easy, her changeling mind must have been rattled too hard, and she could not maintain a truly good form. Her new form had a very curly, purple and white mane, covered partly by a propeller beanie that one of the young colts was wearing just down the street. Her new pink coat made it easy to track her as she entered the town. She took one last glance back at the moon, allowing me to make out her new eye color. It was as purple as her mane, swirling infinitely in a dizzying way that made even me lightheaded. When I finally got the nerve to look back through the scope, I saw her floating through the air with her propeller carrying her around. I also saw her new cutie mark and then there was no doubt that she had lost it. She was a screwball now. I had to sit down. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for the downfall of this changeling. She was a manager, of what I never really cared about, but she would definitely be missed. I wondered what the hierarchy would do about replacing her, but then I remembered my job. It was necessary to continue working as part of the Palomoono community. My loyalty got my work done, my work earned their respect, and that respect may be the only thing keeping a changeling like me alive. “Loyalty requires sacrifice,” I said to myself, believing that this would all work out on its own. But I did not realize just how true that statement was, until the hierarchy worked everything out.

Chapter 9: Moon to Sun, Sun to Moon

A lunar cycle passed and I was at my station as always. I was so busy trying to track down that troublesome cockatrice that I didn’t even hear them enter. A deep voice from behind scared me and I bumped the scope with my head so hard that it lost its orientation. I almost had that chicken-lizard too... but when I turned around I forgot all about my telescope as there were two Lunar guards in my doorway who were now looking me in the eye.
“Well?...” one officer asked.
“What?”
“We just asked you... are you Shadow Beast?”
“...yes. What do you need?”
“You. The great princess Luna and her sister would like a word with you.”

With that, the guards took me to the throne room. The doors opened and, much to my surprise, it was princess Luna awaiting me. As I trotted closer, I noticed the Solar princess on the far side of the room, apparently mailing some letters. I couldn’t believe it. First she leaves her people down there to suffer by Discord’s hoof, or claw as it were, and then she updates them by mail?! I was just glad that Luna would never be so insensitive. Speaking of Luna, I was now right in front of her. I bowed down as customs state I should. “Arise, Shadow Beast.” Luna said, sternly. I could tell this would not be a very pleasant chat. I arose and lifted my head into her eyes, beautiful yet strangely foreboding--just like the night itself.
“We have a few questions to ask of you.”
“We?” I interjected...
“My sister and I.” Luna quickly responded, her voice still stern.
“What do you want to know? Current news of the chaos in Equestria? I’m sorry but I’ve been a bit busy hunting down a cockatrice to--”
“SILENCE!” Luna shouted at me. She was clearly upset, but I hadn’t a clue why.
“We just want to know about one of your fellow...” my heart skipped a beat, “...moon ponies.” I had to catch my breath for a second there, then I began to understand what would be asked of me.
“I don’t know many of my ‘fellow moon ponies,’ my department deals internationally... with animals.”
“You knew THIS one, she was the manager of your ‘department.’” Immediately my mind rushed back to the memories of her. Everything was making much more sense now. None of it looked good, though.
“Night Jumper?” I decided to play dumb... “I haven’t seen her in at least a full cycle.”
“Of course you haven’t. She’s gone. She disappeared, and so did a few of our other managers. However, everypony we’ve interviewed so far have testified that you had a bit of a ‘conflict’ with her the last time she was seen.”
“Oh yeah... that. I guess we did have a... bit of a... disagreement... but... but I can explain! You see, Night Jumper and her friends were forming a group to go down and try to... help... the earth ponies.”
“So what you are telling me is that five of our managers abandoned their own stations, leaving all of their duties behind, just to fight a war in which they had no place?!”
“Yes, but... it gets worse. Dis... This monster...” I almost said his name, that would have been bad, “...I-I don’t know what it was, but it found them and the next thing I knew... they were... dead.” I couldn’t even look Princess Luna in the eye when I had to break that news to her. As I raised my head to at least try to act sincere, I noticed that not just Luna, but both princesses were now staring at me with a look of horror on their faces. “I... I tried to stop them! I tried to talk them out of it, but they wouldn’t listen! They threw me to the ground and galloped out of the reactor room so I wouldn’t interfere! By the time I got to my telescope, it was too late.” I had to catch my breath, my heart was racing as the realization hit me that, by the looks on their faces, the argument was not what was bothering them. The Solar princess slowly returned to mailing the last few letters. My eyes returned to Luna, who still appeared shocked at what had happened. “I’m sorry, I should have tried harder...”
Luna looked at me, she appeared a bit more calm but she attempted to hide her emotions with a smile, then she began to speak. “It’s alright. We know... you tried your best to stop them. It’s just... we had not expected Discord, the monster you saw, to kill Night Jumper and her friends. It’s not like him. He’s much more... indirect. Chaotic, to be more specific.” I did not need a lecture on how Discord handled interlopers, after hearing my parents’ stories, and witnessing Night Jumper’s descent into madness... I knew that Luna needed the whole truth as much as I did.
“Discord... didn’t kill them directly.” I had to choose my words very, VERY carefully here... “Night Jumper and her friends... did not leave us to help Equestria. They left to help Discord. I’m not sure if Discord accepted their help or not, telescopes aren’t known for helping with sound, but I do know that they tried to come back here after talking with him. Unfortunately, they did not have enough energy to make it all the way ba--”
“Hold on,” Celestia said. The missing letters implied she had just finished mailing the last one while I was talking. “Are you saying that Night Jumper could have given Discord our location?” I had never thought of that... if Discord is as powerful as the princesses and my parents had said, then he could easily make his way up here. His presence on the moon would unmask every changeling and true chaos would lead to the end of us all. Worst of all, he would be away from Equestria and the six ponies who Celestia claims hold the keys to defeating Discord. I was spacing out contemplating all of this new information, but meanwhile, Celestia and Luna were whispering to each other. They finished and turned to me, “Do not worry, Shadow Beast, your home will be safe,” Celestia said, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Discord has been constantly speeding up and slowing down the Lunar cycles. This will allow us to not only keep up with the events down on Equestria, but also to evade Discord and stay safe. Now, I think you’ve been through enough for one day. Please go home, and get some rest.”
“I can’t... I just... I need to do my job, your highness. I just won’t feel right if I don’t meet my daily quotas.” I was sick of lies, but I still needed Celestia to understand why I must work, without knowing the true reason behind it.
“Don’t you think you could make an exception?” Luna asked me, “We are in a time of great conflict. I know you want to work, but with the constant reorientations, you won’t be very efficient.” A large frown dragged my pony face down to the floor. If Luna herself did not want me to work, then there was really no point in arguing.
“Don’t you think you could make an exception, sister?” Celestia asked Luna. “This unicorn just wants to help...” she turned to me, “Why don’t you sneak in a few extra nap times, and keep us posted on what is happening down in Equestria.” I was amazed that Celestia would stand up for me, but I had to remain loyal to Luna.
“It’s alright. If Luna thinks that my work would be pointless, then there will be no point in doing it.” Luna smiled at me, I could feel she was proud of me, and that would give me plenty more energy than any common work.

Chapter 10: From Stone to Stone

I stopped counting the lunar cycles. Now it’s just chaos. There is no time, no work... just laying around and taking the occasional peek through my telescope. A lot of the other changelings are starting to feel the pain, too. We’ve began flocking regularly to the Stardust Reactor. We claim that watching the stars burn is therapeutic, but all we really want is the love that comes from... well, that’s just it. With chaos reigning down below in Equestria, a few more cases of Lunar fever have been reported. Luckily, no one has had to die, since the nurses are caring for the sick and hoof-feeding them. No fatalities so far, but the reactor gets more and more crowded as the regular moon ponies attempt to find out what is so amazing. I couldn’t take the crowds, so despite probably dooming myself, I dared to go to my telescope to see if Equestria was around. Sure enough, there it was. I looked through the telescope and found that the chaos seemed to be swirling around a point on the surface. I zoomed in closer to recognize the earth pony town that Night--I mean, Screwball, had disappeared into. Everything was all the wrong color, there were floating buildings and everypony seemed to be suffering. Then I saw Discord, who seemed to be facing off against five ponies and a baby dragon. Could these be the saviors of Equestria? Four of the ponies were gray, and their leader and dragon appeared to be shades of purple. They attempted to use some powerful magic, but the spell failed half-way through. At first I thought I should report this, but there was no point. Nothing could be done, especially since I already felt my pony legs starting to weaken. I had to sit down.

Some more lunar cycles passed, or maybe the “fever” was causing me to become lightheaded. No matter the reason something caught my eye as I looked through my scope. There was a tree inside the town, but upon further inspection, it was a library. My expertise of using my scope to look through the trees of Everfree had allowed me to see the many rooms of this library. Through the leaves of a tree, I could see the dragon. More than that, I saw the letters Celestia had sent many cycles ago. I knew it took a lot of strength for a pegasus to go between our nations, but I had no idea that letters took this long. Then I made out a bed and realized this was not just a library, but somepony’s home! Sure enough, a gray pony walked in wearing a crown. As she used her magic to lift it off of her head I realized it was the leader of the six Equestrians. I saw her throw her crown away and realized that she too had given up. But then she began reading her mail, and her coat turned back to the purple I remembered. She disappeared soon afterwards, and I left my telescope to go tell Celestia the good news. At a weak, slow pace I made my way down the corridors of the Palomoono facility and made my way to the throne room. There were no Lunar guards outside the door, which worried me until I realized that almost everypony was in the reactor room. I casually trotted inside, and saw Celestia and Luna in the middle of a conversation with the captain of the Lunar guard. I patiently awaited my turn. Suddenly, energy returned to my body and I lifted my head to see Luna smiling at me. She motioned for me to step forward.

I approached the three ponies and explained that I had located the six Equestrians with the help of my telescope. I turned to Celestia and told her that the letters she had sent arrived just in time. “Discord turned their leader, the purple pony, gray... but when she read your letters, her colors returned to her!” Princess Celestia seemed happy to hear this, when a bright light caught our eye from above. Through the transparent ceiling of the throne room we could lights breaking through the chaos. With a special spell, Luna manipulated the view above and it zoomed in toward the chaos, which was now being contained in a large bubble. What appeared to be a massive explosion didn’t hit our ears for almost a quarter of a regular Lunar cycle. The chaos in Equestria was gone, and as the deafening sound of the explosion hit our ears, we were not filled with fright, but a kind of wonder and amazement. It didn’t sound like a weapon at all, but it certainly took care of Discord who appeared to have been once again turned back to stone. With the confirmation, Celestia returned to Equestria to celebrate with her subjects the true strength of those six ponies. As she took flight, I wondered just how many changelings were alive down there in Equestria now. I could not possibly know, since changelings can only detect each other by scent and not sight, but the answer to my question would still be answered. Soon changelings would become a household name. It would not be long before my loyalty would truly be put to the test. A thousand voices will cry out, and not a single one will be heard.

An Equestrian Nightmare, Act 2

The Changeling Chronicles

Book 2: An Equestrian Nightmare

Author: Shadow Beast

Act 2: Midnight Revelations

Chapter 1: Like a Revolving Door...

Shadow stepped outside. He needed the fresh air... no, he needed positive energy, any kind of positive emotion that could give him strength. He sat down on a bench, soldiers constantly watching him.
“I’m opening it, okay?!”
He took the envelope that the princess had given him, and undid the seal. The instructions were on a single piece of paper inside:

“Dear Shadow Beast,
Your journey for self-discovery has led you astray. Your punishment is to put things right: you must resume your true journey. Many of my subjects have completed these types of trips, and they have all felt success in finding out who they really are. Once you too have learned a lesson, you must return to Canterlot and write of your travels... including those with Trixie. If you foresee any obstacles and require extra help, please see me. I would be happy to supply you with whatever you would need for your pilgrimage.

Signed,

Princess Celestia”
Shadow smiled at those last few words... the idea of confronting the queen being a “pilgrimage” was an utterly ridiculous sentiment. He approached the guards with a simple command, “Take me to the Princess.”

The solar beauty that was princess Celestia sat upon her throne, resting from the stressful events of the day. Shadow entered the throne room, approached the throne, bowed, and asked for some supplies.
“What kind of supplies will you require?”
“I need food. That’s one of the main reasons why I followed Trixie around all that time. All I ask for is a few ponies to help me on my journey. They must be ponies who I can trust, and can handle themselves in a fight... you know, in case we come across any monsters.”
“Where exactly are you going, Shadow Beast?”
“I cannot lie to you, Celestia. I am going to track down Chrysalis, the queen of the changelings. She has found a way to haunt my dreams, and I must confront her if I want to end the nightmares.”
“I see...”
“Excuse me,” Shining Armor interrupted, seemingly out of nowhere, “you said you were going to fight the changeling queen?”
“I’m at least going to submit a formal complaint. I can’t sleep at night anymore!”
“Well, I’ll go with you! I’ve faced the queen before, she might be scared of me after what happened when she tried to crash my wedding!”
Celestia became concerned, “Shining Armor, you have too many responsibilities to go on a long journey, especially one so dangerous!”
“You can have one of your generals take care of things in my absence. This trial made me realize how wrong I was about changelings... I need this, your highness.”
The princess was impressed with his new attitude, “If you insist... and don’t worry, I already know who I want to call forward to take care of your platoon. They’ll be in good hooves. Now go and prepare yourself for the long journey ahead. And be quick, both of you, for I’m expecting some company soon.”
“Thank you, your highness.”

A few days passed before Shining had believed he finally had enough supplies in his saddlebags. They met as planned outside the local donut shop, which Shadow had taken a liking to because of the love felt by the customers. As they were deciding their next move from there, they were approached by a large, male pegasus. His coat was cream in color, with bright blue eyes and a blue mane with white highlights. He had a very muscular build, and despite the friendly appearance, did not seem like somepony you’d want to pick a fight with. His cutie mark was two crossed swords, slightly obscured by the light armor he was wearing which was silver instead of traditional gold. What appeared to be a combat knife remained in reach of the pony’s mouth at all times, placed in a sheath that was a part of the armor. The soldier approached the two unicorns and saluted.
“Thunder Sword, Special Reconnaissance Company, reporting for duty, sir!”
“At ease, soldier,” Shining said after returning the gesture. “I’m not in charge anymore, you’re gonna have to speak with General--”
“You are in charge, because I’m here to accompany you two on the mission.”
“I was not informed...”
“I was just approved this morning.”
“We both needed more warning... we only packed enough food for one.”
“I’m already packed with enough rations for a five-day journey. I travel light.”
Shadow had had enough stalling, “It sounds like he’s prepared. Let’s just get going, we’ve got a long journey ahead of us.” The trio began trotting down the road.
“So you’re Shadow Beast, huh?” The pegasus looked over the moonicorn. “I figured you’d be... taller.”
“Yeah, well I guess I should have mentioned my height in the autobiography...”
“Probably should have, but it’s fine. I do have one question though: you wield a spear in that nightmare of yours, yet there is no such weapon mentioned anywhere else in the entire story... how could you know how to use one so well?”
“Well, to put it simply... it was in a dream,” the changeling insisted.
“I understand that,” the winged soldier explained. “What I don’t understand is how similar your tactics were to those of the most elite unicorn spearponies. You expertly wielded a weapon that was just introduced to you in the dream; it’s simply too... perfect to be coincidental.”
“Enough talk of dreams,” the blue-maned unicorn interjected, “we’re not even close to the Deadlands yet!”
The black-maned moonicorn agreed and the trio continued toward the border. Upon crossing the border, they headed downhill and towards a river. They stopped at the bank to rest and the captain pulled a map from his saddlebags.
“So what’s the plan?” Shadow asked the bearer of the map.
“Well, this river leads straight to the Deadlands,” Shining Armor replied, not looking up from the map, “I say we set up camp here for the night...”
On outstretched wings the third pony ascended to take a peek at the map.
“You’re in my light, Sword.”
“You don’t need light to realize that the river runs right through that dense jungle... an extension of the Everfree forest.”
“THE Everfree forest?” the worried moonicorn asked. “The forest that’s filled with dangerous creatures that prey upon anypony who dares to venture inside?”
“Yes, Shadow,” the pegasus replied, “you of all ponies should understand the size of Everfree. It was your doing...”
“I helped. No more, no less. I’m just saying that there may be monsters and we should be prepared for anything.” The two soldiers began to put down their saddlebags. “Wait! We’re setting up camp here of all places?!”
“Too close to the trees?” the captain asked.
“Actually, I think we can get closer,” Shadow answered. “There’s still some daylight left, I say we follow the river as far as we can.”
“Listen Shadow, I’ve lead very few of these kind of missions as captain of the Royal Guard, but I’m pretty sure that the forest is the last place we want to sleep. There are simply too many dangers and too few of us.”

The changeling listened to the tactical advice and conceded to setting up camp at their current location. They spent the last hour of daylight setting up their tents and making sure everything was secure. Only two tents were put up, as Shadow refused a bed. Instead when night came and his friends fell asleep, Shadow sat outside. He kept watch of the trees, looking into many glowing eyes that threatened his existence. Eventually, his gaze lifted toward the moon, and he wondered what had become of his old home. Love of life lifted from the treetops and ascended to the stars. Timberwolves howled. The flightless changeling laid on his back and stared into the night sky.

Chapter 2: Savage Nightmares

The moonicorn raised his head from the ground. The forest around him flared up in a terrifying green blaze. He turned and galloped away from the fire, only to find himself trotting through cold, deep snow. Light shone from windows of a quiet town, and a castle broke the sky on the horizon. The sky itself swirled above in a massive cyclonic blizzard. Suddenly, the ground shook beneath his purple hooves and the great tower in the distance crumbled into nothing. A familiar, feminine laugh echoed through the snowy town, and a large plume of green magic shot into the swirling clouds. Changelings flew overhead and began bombarding the houses in a comet-like form. Screams and explosions echoed throughout the town. Shadow tried to make sense of the chaos that surrounded him, but then he saw Chrysalis’s shadow cast in the distance. Now all he could hear was his heart racing, and his breath made a constant stream of clouds in the cold. He turned around and galloped in the complete opposite direction of Chrysalis. There was a deserted shack out there. He stopped at the door to this house... he felt there was something strangely familiar, and strangely foreboding. Despite the stigma he bucked the door open. He trotted into the house and the door shut behind him. He thought he was alone. Suddenly the dark house was lit up from an unknown source. The changeling gasped in terror as this new light revealed the shack’s lone inhabitant; a purple moonicorn lay dead on the floor.
Shadow Beast trembled uncontrollably at the sight. “Is that?... No... it can’t be! It’s... me. But it can’t be!” He fell to his knees at his own dead body. As he raised his head, he noticed ash falling onto his dead counterpart. He lifted his gaze a bit higher and met two pony-like eyes. A long, dragon-like snout protruded from the darkness. As it opened, a fang caught the changeling’s eye.
But as the monster spoke, all surrounding seem to shift. It spoke with Thunder Sword’s voice, “Wake up, Shadow! It’s just a nightmare!” Everything twisted and warped itself into a blackness until only the voice remained. Shadow opened his eyes.
The sun had barely risen, but it was bright enough to see Thunder’s face staring back at his. A smile warped the snout of the pegasus. “You okay, Shadow Beast?”
The changeling had to catch his breath. His heart was still pounding in his chest. “Yeah... yeah...” The pegasus stepped back, allowing the moonicorn to roll over and get back on all four hooves; he rose from the ground and shook off the dirt.
Shining trotted out of his tent and, with his magic, swiftly packed up the two tents and placed them back into his saddlebag. He approached the two ponies, “You okay, Beast? Looks like you had a rough night’s sleep on the... dirt.” The white stallion’s eyes fell to the patches of dirt where excessive movement had removed once beautiful grass.
“Let’s just get on with this.” The changeling trotted past the captain. “So we just follow this river to the Deadlands, eh?”
“Not so fast, Beast. We ponies still need our breakfast,” Armor explained.

The two ponies ate their breakfast, but the purple moonicorn stood still and looked beyond the river to the foreboding trees waiting for them. Then he looked beyond them. This past nightmare had taken a great toll, and was inexplicably unforgettable. Visions of his own body... dead, kept flashing through his mind. The dragon inside the shack with the pony eyes had to mean something, too. Would he succumb to some kind of reptile during this trip? There would be no dragons in Everfree, so he concentrated on the dark forest. As he waited, the unhealthy thought brewed into a dark truth in his mind: this trip will be the end of him. He will never see Canterlot again. Worse, he would never see Palomoono again. His red eyes--from both color and lack of sleep--lifted toward the heavens. The moon had already disappeared, and the sun was now only obscured by clouds.

The cream pegasus and white unicorn, with both saddlebags and stomach full, joined their friend and continued to the threshold of Everfree. The moonicorn’s thoughts became clearer as he trotted with his companions into the darkness. After an hour of trotting through thick brush, they were able to locate a clearing along the riverbank. Everypony took a seat on the shore to rest and plan, but a soft buzz broke up the idle chatter. A small light blue sphere attached to insect wings blew into the crowd. Landing in the middle and opening large, bright green eyes, the creature cooed and awaited the ponies’ attention.
Shining looked down at it and laughed. “Somepony lose a baby?”
“Not me!” Shadow responded, “the wings are too perfect!”
“Step away from the ‘baby,’ guys!” Sword said, appearing tense as though in danger, “That thing’s a parasprite! We need to get it away from our food rations, or it’ll eat us out of everything!”
“Now let’s not be too hasty,” the changeling said, stepping closer to the blue sphere. The parasprite looked into the red eyes of the purple moonicorn and, sensing no danger, hopped onto his snout. “Well, I must admit I didn’t expect an all-consuming thing to smell so good!” A slight smile creased the corners of the snout, not disturbing the blue creature’s rest.
“Shadow, maybe you should consider Thunder’s advice. Intel is his department,” the captain reminded.
“Oh come on, guys,” the changeling said, carefully balancing the parasprite on his nose with great care. “Don’t you trust me?” The smile grew slightly wider, and changeling fangs were visible under his purple pony lips. The parasprite’s relaxed eyes opened a bit wider upon finding a slight tint of threat in its new friend’s eyes. It spread its wings and stretched its legs as the snout it was standing on flared up in green fire, revealing its worst nightmare. But the parasprite was too slow, Shadow quickly snatched it up with his jagged, black changeling snout, causing the sprite to lose a couple wings on impact. He chewed up the little sphere for five seconds before spitting out a couple detached wings covered in creases, rips, and holes. After swallowing his meal, he looked down where the broken wings had landed on the ground in a puddle of changeling spit. Green fire once again concealed his true form, followed by the familiar black and red mane and purple coat. “Well, now he’s got holes in his wings!”
“I guess that’s what you call irony,” Thunder added.
The three friends shared a laugh, and trekked further into the forest. With parasprites now giving the team a wide berth, they were able to cross the dense flora without any further inconvenience. Within about three hours, not counting rest and meal stops, they found themselves at the next threshold. The wide expanse of the Deadlands were all that separated Shadow from the Hive. The trio rebuilt camp, this time with a third tent, and prepared for the journey ahead as the sun neared the horizon. They gathered around a fire and cooked their final meal of the day. Except Shadow, who retired early in an attempt to evade a late nightmare.

Chapter 3: Bad Breath

The two ponies exited their tents, ready to resume their journey refreshed after a good night’s sleep. The changeling was waiting for them outside, with his tent already packed. He sat by the fire, simply staring into it. The visions of the wintry town, of the dragon and the corpse, had returned to him at night, and now he watched as the fire burned itself out. Lines had appeared below the tired moonicorn’s eyes, and his breathing was irregular.
“I hope you weren’t up all night,” Shining stated, unsure of Shadow’s capacity for the journey ahead.
“It doesn’t matter,” Shadow replied, with a slight shakiness in his voice. “This trip is going to kill me.”
Thunder looked at his officer and after an affirming nod he went to Beast’s side. “You know, Princess Celestia wants you back in Canterlot after this is done. According to my briefing, you’ve gotta be alive to write a book!”
The fire burned its last, and smoke rose from the ashes. Shadow lifted his head and turned toward his pegasus friend. “The nightmare is the same every night. A dragon appears in the ashes and all that’s left is a corpse. My corpse.”
“What about Chrysalis?” Armor asked as he packed up the two tents. “I thought the whole reason we were on this mission was to stop her from getting in your head?”
“She’s there... in the town. Watching. Laughing. She has to be doing this to me, I just know it!” Shadow lifted himself from the dirt, and stretched his legs. “I’m sick of her! Which way are we going?!”
“Hold on,” the captain replied, donning his golden armor and helping Thunder into his silver armor. They put on their saddlebags, and Shining pulled out his map. “According to this, we need to keep moving against the river’s flow, and then it’s just a matter of going uphill until we find the Changeling Kingdom.”
“Anything else we should know?” the changeling asked with a tired voice.
Armor floated the map over to Sword, and asked him if there was anything he knew about the land ahead. “Well,” Thunder replied, “there’s a lack of intel on the Deadlands, but there are plenty of theories. Summing up almost every theory in two words is simple enough: ‘Changelings. Dragons.’ All three of us know that changelings do live here now, but there is just enough evidence to support a dragon presence. We’re talking giant lizards capable of eating all three of us in one bite. That the kind of dragon in your dream, Shadow?”
“No... the dragon I saw was in the darkness but could make eye contact. His eyes were like a pony’s for some reason.”
“Well, I doubt we’ll find any dragon like that here!” Sword happily explained.

The trio followed the river upstream until it finally ended. The Deadlands were like a large desert with rock everywhere under the scorching sun. The ponies ate juicy apples as they trotted along. This gave them energy, and the rationing was able to keep them going for hours. After a couple of said hours trotting across the open ground, they found themselves at a large canyon. This canyon wasn’t marked on the map, so they chose to go along above instead of attempting to cross the dry riverbeds below. The uphill climb was not a problem for the pegasus, who was strong enough to carry Shining to the top. The captain then used his magic to teleport the changeling, allowing for quick and efficient mountain climbing. Though it could only be done so many times due to cramped wings and horns, as well as a singed coat from a rough teleport. They followed the canyon, hoping it may lead them closer to their destination, but they did not realize that they were being watched from above.

Three small dragons appeared as if from nowhere and apprehended the ponies from above. They appeared to be teenagers from the looks of them, their leader was a tall red dragon, there was a large, brown brute, and a skinny, purple accomplice. The brute grabbed ahold of both Thunder and Shining, holding the soldiers tightly. The tall purple one grabbed Shadow and held him down. Their leader landed and and stared into each struggling pony’s eyes.
“What do you dragons want with us?!” the purple moonicorn pleaded.
Surprisingly, the dragons had the capacity to speak. “You stupid ponies are on our turf,” the leader explained. “That means we get to take whatever we want from you!”
“Listen, we’re on royal business!” the changeling retorted. “Maybe the pony government doesn’t matter to you... but I’m here to see Queen Chrysalis of the changelings!”
The scaly arms around the purple moonicorn shook uncontrollably; the three dragons had burst into laughter at his sentiment. The red one was able to calm himself enough to speak to Shadow. “Well, we wouldn’t want to trouble puny weaklings now, would we?” He rejoined his gang in laughter.
“You think you’re so tough!?” Beast yelled, having heard too much laughter after too little sleep. “Have your goon let me go and let’s see just how tough you are, dragon!”
After yet another laugh, the dragon happily obliged. The purple dragon let go of Shadow, turning away to begin removing the soldiers’ saddlebags. The leader stepped forward, as did the changeling. The opponents looked into each other’s eyes with hatred for one other.
A smile creased his purple snout. “Alright, let’s see how tough you really are!” But before the winged lizard could attack green fire erupted from below the moonicorn. When it cleared, the dragon found himself staring into his own eyes... his own form now stood before him. The purple dragon attempted to flank the imposter, but it jumped out of range... and into the original. Before long, the two were fighting so intensely that nopony could tell which one was the leader and which was the changeling!

In this moment of weakness, the soldiers made their escape from the brute’s grasp. A violent flapping of strong wings along with powerful magic was all it took to throw off the brown dragon’s balance. The purple dragon turned from scratching his head over the dragon scuffle he was witnessing and tried to subdue Thunder from behind, only to receive a strong buck to the chest. He hit the ground hard, but his large friend was just getting started. He rose from the ground and attempted to scorch the two ponies with his fire breath, but they were able to dodge it, for a while. As the fire focused on the pegasus, it was up to Shining to take down this dragon. He had a good view from the side, and aimed for the brute’s eye. The magic struck the dragon with perfect accuracy, causing him to turn his attention toward the unicorn instead.
The golden-armored unicorn stood his ground. Light pink magic sparked from his horn, and all he needed was a good hit. However, the brown dragon began inhaling, leaving no room for escape. It was down to who struck first. Armor had to be sure that his strike counted.
Meanwhile the pegasus, exhausted after using a lot of wingpower to dodge dragon flames, called to his captain from the sidelines, “Shining! Aim for the throat!” With a flash, a blast of pink magic left the horn and collided directly with the brown dragon’s windpipe. With all the choking and coughing, the dragon had no defense. The unicorn charged into the brute’s chest, horn first. The thick scales protected the reptile from impalement, but the force of the charge sent him buckling forward. Shining turned and delivered a strong buck straight to the dragon’s jaw, throwing the brute to the ground. The two ponies once again donned their saddle bags, just in time to see the red dragon being strangled by the other with a red tail. After the loser had lost consciousness, the victor released his grip and his tail took back its place behind him. He stepped toward the ponies, went down on all fours, and returned to his moonicorn form with a large burst of green fire.

The three travellers trotted onwards, a large mountain stretched into the sky about a quarter-mile away. About halfway up, insectoid silhouettes entered and exited view from what appeared to be a large cave on the side. They had found the changelings’ hideout, now they just needed to get there.

Chapter 4: Where Shadow Meets Beast

The trio began climbing the mountain, but questions soon came to the pegasus’s mind. He turned to his moonicorn friend for the answers. “So, Shadow, how were you able to take down that red dragon?” The moonicorn looked up at his flying friend and explained how fighting a double can be very disorienting, especially to the original. With a weaker mental state, the physical state couldn’t truly counter every attack, and would eventually succumb to the assault. This didn’t answer Thunder’s question though, so he explained. “You strangled the dragon with his own tail! That’s not exactly easy...” The moonicorn responded with an explanation that it was technically his changeling tail in a dragon form. He was just lucky no one noticed his malformed wings. Turns out that because a certain changeling never tried to heal his broken wings properly, they had become deformed as they were hidden away. He would never fly again. Sword smiled at the changeling’s honesty. It was nice to know he wasn’t just slacking the entire trip, which was very near to its conclusion.

They arrived at the cave, and two changelings walked out to meet them. Both wore special armor that would blend in case of form change. It was a special changeling-made alloy that allowed them to become perfect copies no matter their rank or attire, and still offered some protection. These were obviously high ranking changelings, so Shadow stepped forward.
He turned to his two companions, “you two have served your purpose.” A green flash and a changeling faced them. “Now you’ll have to wait out here. I don’t want you getting hurt.” His bright blue eyes turned towards the changeling soldiers. “I made a deal with these two ponies; they got me here unharmed, so they’ll leave here unharmed. Now, I want you to take me to Queen Chrysalis!”
The changelings scanned over him, looked at each other, then scanned over him again. Finally, they spoke up. “Heed our warning, outsider. You should turn back... we know not whence you learned our great queen’s name, but you are new to the Hive. We will take you to the Queen if you insist, but you should take your ponies and leave while you can.”
“I have come too far to be deterred now! Take me to Chrysalis! And my friends better be here and unharmed... we still have unfinished business outside this cave.”
“Very well. Follow us...”

Beyond the dark entrance to the cave was a deep chamber eventually leading to the throne room. Luckily for the new changeling, there were stairs going all the way down. He trotted the stairs alone, his new companions using their wings to get to the door faster. Finally he reached the bottom of the steps, and the armored guards used their green magic to open the double doors to the throne chamber. There were multiple doors throughout the staircase, probably leading to different living quarters, but these doors were three times the size. The changeling walked into the throne room alone. On the throne sat the tallest changeling he had ever seen. She was about as tall as Celestia, with bright green reptilian eyes that stared through him. Her faded pale blue mane flowed around her horn, which was twisted by the power it held. Her wings were huge for a changeling, but like the others she had holes throughout the mane, tail, wings, and limbs. She smiled as the outsider approached. Her fangs were much smaller than most changelings, and she had a second set on her bottom jaw.
“Look who finally came crawling back!” Chrysalis announced with a laugh.
“So you’re Chrysalis?” the small changeling said, looking over the source of his nightmares. “Nice to finally see your true form.”
“Oh, my little executioner... what did those ponies do to you?”
“You must have me confused with someone else... I’m Shadow Beast!”
The Queen burst into laughter at the sentiment.
“What are you laughing about?”
“‘Shadow Beast?’ What kind of name is that for a changeling?!”
“My parents gave it to me... it’s from a poem:
‘For you are the shadow,

the light from the beast.

You use our love to grow,

and will always have a feast.’”
“That’s no poem!” the Queen remarked after another burst of laughter.
“What!? It rhymes doesn’t it? My parents recited it to me every night!”
“What were their names?”
“What?”
“Your parents. What were their names?!”
The changeling smiled, but then realized he did not know the answer. Horror shown on his black snout as he answered, “I... I... I can’t remember.”
“Let me try again, then... where were you born?”
“The Moon.”
“More specific!”
“Palomoono!”
“Lies!”
“Not this again... I’m not lying! Quit telling me I’m lying! Every night you say that and I’m sick of it!”
“Wait... ‘every night?’” Chrysalis felt very uncomfortable about that sentiment. It was clear she didn’t realize he was onto her.
“Yeah, about that... I want you out of my life! I want you to stop giving me nightmares! Why do you think I came all the way out here? You just don’t listen!”
“Have you gone insane!?!” The fear was visible in her eyes. She knew her plans were foiled.
“If I’m insane for wanting independence, then yes!”
“Midnight Masquerade!” the Queen burst out.
“Excuse me?” the changeling asked, confused.
“Your name,” she explained, catching her breath. “That’s your name...”
“No... it’s not.”
“Stop lying...”
“I’m not lying!”
“Don’t interrupt me this time! Stop lying... to yourself!!”
“You really think I’m going to fall for this?”
“Think for once, Midnight... your new name, ‘Shadow Beast’ comes from the words of our former leader, Discord.”
“But... but you and Discord never got along!”
“I never said he was our beloved leader...”
“I don’t understand... this is contradicting everything I know!”
“And you know so much,” Chrysalis added, stepping off of her throne and towards Midnight. Her horn began glowing with a strange, green glow. “Allow me to remind you!”
With those words, a great ray of green light flew towards the changeling, whose only choice was to counter it. The magic was too powerful, and he was overwhelmed. As it connected with his own horn, visions flooded his head. The nightmare was back, but this time it was uncut. He screamed.

Chapter 5: Midnight Masquerade

Finally the visions ended. Finally there was silence in the head of the changeling. There would be no more nightmares... in fact, there never were. Chrysalis was right, he had gone insane. He wasn’t born on the moon, he was born in the wintry Deadlands. He rebelled against Discord with all the other changelings. They eradicated all the ponies who resisted, unknowingly exhausting their own food supply in the process. When they finally stormed the old unicorn palace, now turned epicenter of chaos, they were met by Discord. At first he was indifferent, but then all the ponies still at his side turned to changelings... including a certain purple moonicorn. After that happened, Discord just laughed and said the words that would haunt every single changeling, including Chrysalis:

“You’ve struck down my ponies.

And replaced them with phonies,

But understand one thing,

My little changeling:

For you are but shadow

And do not fully know.

You were made from my power:

Magic from this beast allowed you to grow

Into the disgusting forms you now bear in my tower.

You needed their love to truly glow.

This fact you need to know.

For this land is now dead

And desolate too.

Despite all your dread,

There is no room to argue.

Now spread all your wings,

We must find a new source of life,

With food for all the changelings,

And never ending strife!”
Midnight Masquerade followed Discord to the new land of Equestria. He found himself in the throne room with Chrysalis and other changelings to witness the final battle. A battle that would end with defeat for the forces of Chaos. With Discord’s horrifying, stone-cold defeat, most of the changelings went into full retreat. Midnight simply took the form of his first blood, a moonicorn who had seeked refuge in the Earth pony town back in the Deadlands. It was the only form he had that he knew would not put him back on the battlefield. He couldn’t go back. The fear of the power that now ruled over him was overwhelming. Somehow he found himself wrapped up in the civil war, and following Nightmare Moon, who appeared to be the more powerful of the two, to the moon. He thought he had escaped the madness, but Nightmare was terrifying, and his new job was even worse. He had to turn innocent creatures into monsters. Fear and regret swelled in his brain until he could take it no longer. He finally snapped... forgetting everything and becoming somepony completely new. When he tried to remember, the only thing left was that speech... that’s where he got his new name. His brain did plenty of backflips to avoid any negative memories, but somehow they still found a way through...
“MIDNIGHT!” The Queen’s all-too-familiar voice broke through the changeling’s thoughts.
“That’s my name,” Masquerade accepted, looking up from the floor into Chrysalis’s eyes.
“Glad to hear you’re on the path back to sanity,” she said smugly. “I’m glad you could get something out of this meeting. You see, here at the Hive our resources are very low and, well... you’ve brought two ponies with you!”
“I will die before I let you touch them!” Midnight burst out, mouth moving faster than his mind.
“Very well, then. I see you have made up your mind! You’re exiled.”
“What?...”
“You heard me. You’re exiled. I never want to see you in the Deadlands again. You will be destroyed on sight. Now, get out of my Hive, you wretch!”
The changeling had no choice. Broken wings faced the Queen as the broken changeling exited the throne room. Midnight trotted back up the steps, hundreds of hundreds of changeling eyes stared as he ascended. He donned his moonicorn form, trying to shield himself from their prying eyes. Finally, with a bright light, he had reached the cave entrance once again, and his pony friends awaited. He was happy. The changelings didn’t care anymore, but the ponies would listen. He needed someone to listen to what he had to say.
“Shadow! You’re back!” Shining greeted the changeling, who looked shyly back at him.
“You alright, Beast? You’re not hurt, are you?” Thunder seemed concerned, but he didn’t know...
“That’s not my name. I was lying... even to myself. My name is Midnight Masquerade.” His purple legs carried him past his friends and towards the steep cliff overlooking the vast Deadlands.
“What, no ‘hello?’” Shining asked, now feeling confused and concern as well.
Masquerade reached the edge of the cliff. He turned back towards the soldiers, barely able to see them through his black and red mane. He smiled. “No... just a goodbye.” Then he turned back towards the cliff.
He jumped.

Chapter 6: An End To Suffering

The ground below loomed closer and closer, and then stopped and turned a bright and shiny pink. “I can’t hold him much longer! Get him!” was all that could be heard before a streak of cream, blue, and silver crashed through the magic spell and safely placed the changeling on the solid ground.
“What in Equestria were you thinking?!” Thunder demanded to know.
“You’re a soldier too, Sword. You should know what I was thinking!” the fallen changeling pleaded.
“Shadow--”
“MIDNIGHT MASQUERADE! ‘Shadow Beast’ was a giant lie. My ENTIRE LIFE has been nothing but a LIE!”
“What the hay did Chrysalis do to you?!”
“She opened my eyes... Sh..she showed me what I had been keeping from myself...”
“Through the nightmares?”
“There were never any nightmares... only memories.”
“And you were trying to block them out...”
“Yes. I’m sorry that you had to save me... you shouldn’t have to do that.”
“It’s fine. As long as you’re okay.”
“Yeah... I’ll be fine. It was just... so much... so fast. I just need some fresh air and a good night’s sleep. Let’s just get back to Canterlot so I can write about my travels with Trixie. Then I’ll be out of your hair for good.”
“Excuse me?” Shining interjected, having just reached the ground using his hooves.
“His name’s Midnight Masquerade. It always has been. PTSD causing a Fugue state resulting in a case of hysteria and nightmares.”
“Well, excuse you...”
“Allow me to rephrase, he forgot who he was and was lying to himself, and therefore us, this entire time.” The pegasus turned from his captain and back to the changeling. “Now, wait a second, you actually remember the events of your life under the name ‘Shadow Beast?’”
“Well... most of it.” The changeling looked toward the sky. “I’m really not sure when the transition was, so there’s just a gap in memory between my past life in Equestria, and being on the Moon.”
“Listen... Midnight,” Shining said, still not used to the change in identity.
“It’s fine!” Midnight sternly and almost angrily assured the captain. “Let’s just get out of here... we’ve gotta get to Canterlot.”

Going downhill lead the trio back toward the river in no time. Luckily, no dragons were there to ambush them, but that would not save them from having to cross through the jungle a second time. The sat on the river bank to catch their breath, and the sun soon began making way for the moon. The ponies pitched their tents and the changeling worked on a fire. The events had left them physically exhausted, but mentally excited. The soldiers knew that their changeling friend was in no stable mental condition, and they needed to keep an eye on him, lest he attempt to end his life again.
The changeling sat down and stared into the flames of the campfire. His memories came back too fast, and he was beginning to recognize more events that had transpired in his past.
Thunder Sword appeared from his tent, all of his armor removed. He sat next to the wilted moonicorn. “You keeping warm?”
“How long until I burn, Thunder?” The moonicorn’s voice was stern... almost monotone.
“What?! Don’t talk like that! It’s gonna be okay...”
“Don’t lie to me, Thunder.” The moonicorn’s red eyes met the pegasus’s blues. “I’m a war criminal. You were right about the spear... I was trained to use it. I guess you just can’t forget some things... like I’ll never forget helping end the lives of so many Earth ponies.”
“I’m sure Celestia will understand... won’t she, Shining Armor?”
The white unicorn appeared from his tent. He, too, had discarded his armor for the time being. “Yeah, you’ve learned your lesson, haven’t you?” He smiled at the purple pony, but the changeling could sense his apprehension.
“These memories... it’s like I’m reliving the nightmare of being under their control all over again. My whole life is falling apart...” The changeling’s head fell to the ground, and a visible tear made its way down his long, purple snout.
“Can you think of anything we could do to help?” Thunder asked, putting his foreleg around Midnight.
Masquerade shrugged it off. “I’m going to sleep,” he said, getting up and trotting slowly toward his tent.
“Like this? Are you sure?” Armor asked, seeming very concerned. “You could get nightmares...”
“Nothing new.”
“Is this really the ending you want for this day?” Shining asked, standing up now.
Midnight turned his back toward him. “Better than the ending the bottom of the cliff almost gave me, right?” The changeling smiled.
“Don’t joke about that! You scared us half to death back there! Just promise you won’t try anything like that again!”
“You have my word that I won’t try anything like that again...” Midnight said, resuming his trot and reaching the threshold of his tent. “...of course, the word of a chronic liar doesn’t mean much. Goodnight, you two; I will see you in the morning.” He closed the tent before either soldier could say anything more.

Chapter 7: A Changeling’s Best Friends

It was the first peaceful night in Equestria for Masquerade. He awoke from his dreams and almost immediately forgot them. It felt so good to be refreshed, and he felt he had finally made peace with the fact that his life would soon be over. He stretched his legs and packed up his tent. The pony soldiers were awake, armored, and eating breakfast. Shining saw that Midnight was awake and put the packed tent away after greeting him. When everypony was done eating they moved forward; the Everfree forest awaited them.
They trotted through the trees, unsure what dangers may confront them this time. The darkness hid anything that would have been staring at them, but the sounds of the beasts were not so well hidden.

The source of the growling revealed itself as six timber wolves appeared from all sides. The three soldiers put their backs together, leaving no room for surprise. “Wait for them to strike first!” the changeling warned his friends. “The one that strikes first is the Alpha... and I want him!”
Shining and Midnight readied themselves mentally, ready to cast a powerful spell on whatever tried to harm them. Thunder took his knife in his mouth, ready to strike with deadly precision. One of the wooden hounds charged and jumped out of the pack, directly towards Sword. The pegasus quickly dodged out of the way of the pounce and, with a skillful counter-attack, severed the creature’s head from its body with his knife. The other timber wolves appeared unaffected by the loss of their Alpha and slowly closed in all at once. The ponies looked around, and the pegasus found himself unsure of what to do next. “I killed the Alpha... why are they still coming?”
“The Alpha?” the changeling asked in disbelief. “Toss me the head!”
Thunder was unsure of the moonicorn’s plans, but he trusted him. He sheathed his knife and used his mouth to grab and throw the head of the fallen Alpha to Midnight. Green magic caught the decapitated head and placed it over the changeling’s. He worked the head like a mask the rest of his body burned away to make room for timber wolf hide. The new Alpha howled toward the sky, and before long every timber wolf in the pack had joined in. With a plume of green flame, the changeling returned to his true form; the head of the timber wolf reduced to ash. The pack saw this, but did not seem affected.
“I reminded them who’s in charge!” Masquerade happily revealed in his natural, changeling voice. “They won’t try to hurt us anymore.”
“What about other ponies?” Sword asked, curious about the effects of the ritual. “Are they... tame now?”
“I’m afraid they’re simply too stupid to ever truly be tame,” Midnight sadly revealed. “They smell their Alpha on us; an Alpha they think is still alive thanks to the group howling. This effect should last until we can get out of Everfree.”
“Then we have no time to waste!” Armor said, retaking control of the group. “Masquerade, will taking your pony form agitate the wolves in any way?”
“It shouldn’t... why do you ask?”
“I’m still not used to your changeling voice is all.”
“Well you’re gonna have to get used to it. After what happened before, I refuse to lie to myself. This form is the real me.”
“If it makes you feel better...” the unicorn refused to argue with something that was so broken.
The trio were able to follow the river all the way out of Everfree. The timber wolf pack could not go beyond the boundaries of the forest, but it was for the best. The sun began to set yet again, and so the two ponies proceeded to set up camp for the last time. They were so close to home, but they needed their rest. The two ponies made their last dinner that they would have together. This campfire was a bittersweet spectacle. While everypony looked forward to getting back to their jobs, they did realize that it would split them up for a long time. Even Midnight felt it. He hadn’t felt this way since he was with Trixie in that courtroom waiting for the sentence. Even before then, he felt this way when the two of them had to leave Gilda behind.

The memories sparked many questions in the mind of the changeling: Why did he follow her in the first place? Why was she even down there to catch him? Why couldn’t he catch Night Jumper? As the questions came together he realized they all had a similar answer. The answer was simple, justice. Such a simple word... but it sparked a much more stark question... and an ominous realization. Because there is one piece of knowledge that has always been kept from him, even by the princesses. What did the Elements of Harmony do to him? Can he trust that the Elements simply returned him to his pony form? What else could they have done? These questions do not have such a simple answer, but there is an answer out there. Somewhere.

Chapter 8: Royal Inquisition
When the ponies awoke, they quickly packed their tents and prepared for breakfast. The changeling awoke a short moment later from all the noise. While waking up early wasn’t his plan, he was glad that the past couple nights were full of peaceful sleep. He packed up his tent then joined the unicorn and pegasus outside. They spent their last breakfast talking about what they looked forward to getting back to. For Shining Armor, he would regain control of his Royal Guard platoon and return to his wife, Cadence. For Thunder Sword, he would return to his wife, Emerald, as well as report all of his findings on the changeling Hive. Midnight took the time to write out that the Queen was behind the tallest doors and that there were probably a few hundred changelings living there. He also put in a small bit about the changeling armor variants and how they were ranked. He then gave the paper to Sword for safe-keeping. When asked if he was sure he wanted to do this, the changeling responded with “they disowned me, I disown them.” Then the time came for the changeling to reveal what was waiting for him back at Canterlot. For Midnight, he had nothing but a lot of writing waiting for him. He didn’t add the assumption that Celestia would have him executed for his criminal past.

The ponies finished up breakfast and the trio made their way back to Canterlot. They proceeded directly to the castle, and many of the city’s inhabitants avoided them upon seeing the changeling. Hushed whispers could be heard but most trusted the soldiers to handle the perceived threat. Somehow they made it to the castle without any problems, and then it was a straight shot to the throne room. The three entered and Celestia was waiting for them.
“I am glad to see you all made it back in one piece,” she said as they approached. “Did the Queen give you much trouble?”
“A lot, actually...” Shining responded. “I think I’ll let Midnight Masquerade explain.”
“Who?” Celestia asked. Her gaze shifted around the room in search of the missing fourth.
“Me...” the changeling said as he shyly stepped forward. “When I met Chrysalis, she showed me what it means to be a changeling. A way of life that I had managed to forget after centuries of overwhelming stress and fear. My name... my real name is Midnight Masquerade. ‘Shadow Beast’ was a fake name I came up with in my madness. I now know that I am unfit to live in these same lands as you. In my service to her all those years ago, I helped level an entire Earth pony village. My moonicorn form was derived from one of my victims. I will write of my travels as you have asked, but I will understand if you also wish me banished or worse.”
“Do you want to go back to the Deadlands?” Celestia asked, trying to make sense of the situation.
“I can’t go back. I made too many enemies: a group of young dragons for one thing. Plus, Chrysalis disowned me; she exiled me from the Deadlands.”
“Now why would she do that if you’re nothing but a changeling soldier?”
Celestia’s point flew over his head. “I don’t know... she’s evil?”
The princess sighed, then smiled. “You’re not in her service anymore. You’re in mine. And before that, you were in my sister’s for more than a thousand years! You’re nothing like what you were, so I forgive you of any crimes or atrocities you committed those millennia ago!” A large case appeared from behind her, and floated in her golden magic toward the changeling. “Here, I’ve had a special gift prepared for you.”
Midnight stared at the latch, still unsure if this wasn’t an elaborate trick.
“Go ahead, open it!” the princess assured. Tentatively, Masquerade focused his magic, and opened the chest. Inside was something strange, he had not seen many things like it. “It’s a saddle. A very special saddle. The Equestrian Royal Seal is inscribed on it, so my subjects should recognize that you are a friend. I did have it based off your pony form, though. I was not expecting you to grow wings...”
“These crumpled old things? I never learned to use them right anyways!” This was a half truth, as he had learned how to boost forward to catch prey, but that was back in the wintry Deadlands when his wings weren’t crippled. Midnight lifted the saddle out the chest with his green magic and equipped it. Using magic meant not only would it slip on without struggle but it would conform perfectly to his shape... no matter what. He did, however, make sure it covered up his broken wings. He looked up at the princess for the first time since the journey. “Is it fireproof?”
Celestia chuckled and assured him that it was. It was clear that she had put a lot of work into getting this for him. Midnight could not understand how she could so easily forgive him and treat him to such a great gift.
“Do not think I have forgotten about you two!” Celestia said, looking into the eyes of the soldiers. “Come on in! They’re ready for you!”
The three subjects turned as the doors to the throne room opened and two mares entered. One was a pink alicorn, the other a white unicorn.
“Cadence!”
“Emerald!”
The soldiers rushed to meet their wives, and embraced with pure affection that was strong enough to stuff the changeling. Midnight turned back toward Celestia, having had enough love to spoil his lunch. As for dinner, there was always the doughnut shop. Having a full stomach was able to clear his mind from the grievances. Having been forgiven by Celestia and wearing the Royal seal washed away the disgusting feeling he used to get from Canterlot.
“Are you ready to resume your duties as one of my subjects, Midnight Masquerade?” Celestia asked with a smile.
The changeling looked up at her, tears welled up in his eyes and an immense smile stretched his face. “I am.”

The End