Prologue: How Far Have I Gone?
It has been many moons since the day I first came to live in Ponyville. That first night was the best and worst night of my life.
Nightmare Moon, the magical poison that possessed Luna, was an angry goddess by all accounts. The fact that I’m alive did not register as a miracle until two days later, when we finally defeated her. How many times I was thrown, the ache in my spine, the cuts that I had no time to tend to. The hospital visit wasn’t fun and I lost track of how long I cried. That first one was the hardest on us all, but at least those got easier.
Discord was … I’d like not to dwell on that. Me and Rarity had to stay in the hospital that night, but that was minor at least. Fluttershy even made a friend! Doesn't mean I like Discord, he's still very childish.
Chrysalis, well, I'll get back to that.
Sombra deserved every bit of pain he got for ever daring to try and hurt Spike. His umbrum, double. May they rot in Tartarus. Curse the day he was born.
Tirek was the worst, or at least that's what I tell everyone. The magic of all three Alicorn Princesses was quickly, and violently, transferred to me to keep it safe. I am thankful that so much adrenaline was coursing through me, I only felt a pressure on my back when I sprouted wings.
Soon enough I started to regain some feeling. All that magic pressed my body to the edges of what was possible and it burned like tartarus. I couldn't focus much on the burning during the fight, adrenaline still ran through my system and I was a little busy getting thrown through a mountain. And after … I don’t remember anything after the fight, just Applejack and Rainbow's account that I looked “like one of Winona’s old chew toys,” and “like a wad of spit out gum”. Real funny.
I just remember waking up in the hospital a few days later. My home for the past many moons was gone, and I got a magic map out in the woods and wings I couldn’t control for my troubles. The girls stayed with me after I was discharged, and Celestia bought me a house in Ponyville, but it's just not the same. I’m glad the girls stayed with me and kept Spike distracted, I don’t think I could've done much for myself at the time.
Starlight. She’s a friend now, I have to remember that.
Her cult was easy enough to deal with, the aftermath was a bureaucratic nightmare though. Apparently. Celestia got to deal with that.
As for the spell … Starlight's time spell was the worst. I’ve never told anyone, and I'm not going to. I spent much longer than a day there, and I saw and experienced horrors beyond comprehension. I've helped monsters conquer the world, and died to everything from blood loss to sickness, just to defeat Starlight someday, some-time. If anyone knew, Starlight wouldn't have gotten a chance. She didn’t know what would happen with that spell, not really, and I’m not telling her the details.
Chrysalis.
That's why I started to remember all this.
Today Princess Celestia sent me a letter, one that asked for us to come to Canterlot Castle. Why? Because they found a changeling near the Crystal Empire. And all I can do is remember how that day went.
The wedding was a mess. From beginning to end, it was a mess. The moment I saw Cadence and she did not remember me, I knew it wasn't her. Cadence wouldn’t just forget someone she loved. The changeling queen’s act was perfect yet she didn't quite get the finer points of what made Cadence, Cadence.
Cadence was a being of love, pure love. She might be the only contender for wielding every element at once, bar none. She could find a redeeming quality in pale of thorns, and make a rock laugh.
The nervousness could just be cold hooves, but the aversion to other ponies was wrong, and how distant she was from Princess Celestia made her act sloppier. There was also the completely cruel way she would act, but only when only I could see.
I guess I cant judge too harshly, that must've been her plan after I started questioning her, to drive me insane with her dropping the act yet no one but me seeing. It worked, I sounded insane, no, I went insane. When I confronted her, her acting was perfect to the point that I almost believed her even after seeing what she had done to Shining. I did believe her, for a terrible moment. I think I started going mad that day.
Even then, that's not what keeps me running back through memory lane. No, it's what happened at the altar when she revealed herself. That moment before she took down Celestia. Their magic clashing, and her being beaten down. she looked scared before she closed her eyes, CLOSED HER EYES! I don’t know how much of herself she put into that final push. And then she just stood there for a minute before speaking again. I had time to watch Celestia go still after sliding across the floor, and then time to run by her side! All before she spoke a word. She didn't even try to stop us when we ran out.
And the speech she gave afterwards when we had been captured. She spoke of her subjects, how they would never go hungry, and how her kingdom would grow. It all just seemed so … wrong? Like something was wrong about the situation. But this was still a queen trying to overthrow the princesses, and the changeling that hurt my brother.
They were thrown out at the end. But now they are back, and we have to fight again. And I'm tired of this.
How much farther am I willing to go?
Author's Note
I've been excited about writing this for a while now. I'm almost done with the Changeling Language and that's honestly what has taken the longest time since I had to figure out what I wanted the Changeling culture to focus on which would be needed for some of the language and interactions as they would depend on how the Changelings think.
It's been fun making this, I hope ya'll like it!
