A Nightmare Night Of Change...lings.
A Nightmare Night Of Change...lings
By: Juria
To say that the changelings were unlike everyponyelse was often a common misconception, based solely on appearance. That and their unusual eating habits. Other than that, changeling foals were just like anyponyelse, and just like anyponyelse a certain trio of changeling foals thought they could be completely stealthy and go out collecting sweets on Nightmare Night because they heard there was love in said candy. They also thought it would be a good idea to ditch the appearance morphing and go as their natural selves. What could possibly go wrong?
Thrax crept quietly through the Everfree Forest, his small green eyes occasionally glowing due to the light of Luna’s moon reflecting off of them. “Come on you guys, hurry up.” He whispered with a growl, getting two more pairs of glowing eyes in response. “Don’t go..so fast next time.” A younger male voice panted out, his green eyes shimmering as well as he cautiously stepped out into the moonlight, followed by a slightly shorter and more streamline black body with a pair of blue glowing orbs. “Yeah, we almost lost you.” The smaller body stated with a feminine whine, her pointed wings buzzing softly behind her. Thrax rolled his eyes at these two. “Sometimes, I wonder why in the buck I even hang out with you Splinter.” He stated to the taller of the two, the little one gasping and covering her mouth as best as she could with her hole-riddled hoof. “Hey, you swore.”
Splinter looked down at his little sister and shook his head. “Ignore him Thorn; he’s just jealous because I was the one who came up with this idea.” He stated proudly, puffing out his chest and pointing a hoof at himself. Thrax pondered the most mature response he could muster and, after a few brief seconds, promptly stuck his tongue out at Splinter. “And all that means is if Queen Chrysalis catches us, we can blame you.” He said with a smug grin. Splinter’s eyes narrowed into small green slits, a low growl in his throat. Thrax returned the growl, and soon the two changelings were circling eachother, while Thorn just rolled her eyes at the both of them, picked up her little plastic bag, and walked towards the nearest house, muttering something about how stupid males are.
Thorn stood a few mere steps back from the modest little wooden cottage, watching as the young pony foals laughed and screamed with delight, taking careful note of the words they used and their mannerisms as they knocked on each door. After watching the process being repeated several times, she slowly crept up to the cottage door and lightly tapped it.
Ever since the incident involving Princess Luna last Nightmare Night, Fluttershy had taken every waking moment to prepare herself mentally for the next year’s Nightmare Night, telling herself it would make the foals happy and that if a princess who had been stuck on the moon for 1000 years could do it, then she could as well. Unfortunately, as she slowly opened her cottage door dressed like a butterfly with pinks wings and a bucket of candy in her mouth, she hadn’t expected this child’s costume to be so…realistic.
Fluttershy’s cheerful smile quickly faded as she looked down, and saw nothing but two big blue insect-like eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth and green, slimy, drool. The child barely got to “Nightmare Night, what a…” before Fluttershy let out a blood-curdling shriek, dropped her bucket at the creature’s hooves, slammed her door shut, quickly locked every single lock on the door, and turned into a blur of pink and yellow as she dove under her bed covers, trembling with fear.
Thorn looked at the bucket with a confused stare, and then swiftly turned the bucket upside down, dumping the contents into her bag. The little changeling put the bucket back in front of the door, gave an extremely cheerful “Thank you!”, and even hummed to herself as she walked back to her two companions, who were now covered in scratches and looked like they’d been through a war. “Hey, are you two coming or what?” Thorn asked with a roll of her eyes. Thrax and Splinter groaned, and then noticed that their younger friend’s bag, which was roughly about three to four times her size, also happened to be almost half full just from one house. Thrax’s mandible practically hit the ground. “How did you manage that?!” he shouted. Thorn shrugged. “No idea, maybe she thought my costume looked really good.” She said with a giggle, before heading over to the next house, this time Thrax and Splinter staying right behind her.
As the night wore on, the three changeling’s bags got heavier and heavier as more and more ponies seemed to drop their candy and hide in their homes. While Thorn simply stuck to the idea that everypony just seemed to think they were the coolest changeling “costumes” they had ever seen, after the 25th time, even carefree Splinter seemed a bit worried, and Thrax was constantly looking all around with a not-so-subtle paranoid look on his face. It didn’t help matters much when they bumped into the last pony they ever wished to bump into, at all, ever. It wasn’t the slight “oof” sound that the pony made or her cheery voice that made even Thorn go from chipper and happy to practically panicking, it was her appearance. That pink coat and wings, or the small sliver tiara on her head, but the fact that even through the zombie makeup, they could perfectly make out her shimmering purple eyes, the eyes that Mother had warned them about. And here she was, Princess Cadence, the goddess of their main food supply and at the same time their mortal enemy, looking down at them, and, smiling.
Thorn and Splinter cautiously hid behind Thrax, all the while the three changelings tried not to look terrified out of their wits. “Happy Nightmare Night little ones.” Cadence said cheerfully. The three changelings shared a nervous look, before Thrax was practically shoved in front of her by Thorn and Splinter. He gave them a quick death glare and a mouthing of “You two are so dead.” before he looked up at the alicorn. “Um, ha..happy Nightmare Night, ohevillloveprincessofdoom.” He stuttered nervously, firing out that last part faster than Pinkie Pie with a sugar high. Rather Cadence actually caught what he had said or not Thrax couldn’t tell as Cadence motioned for Shining Armor to stand beside her.
Almost the instant Shining Armor’s face came into view, Thrax leapt into the air in a mixture of panic and pride as he started to shout “You will…”, and the rest of his incoming rant was quickly silenced by Thorn and Splinter who quickly covered his mouth with a hoof, Splinter having better luck due to the fact that unlike his sister his legs didn’t look like swiss cheese, and began dragging him away, grinning nervously. “He’s, um, quite the method actor.” Thorn said with a nervous giggle as she and Splinter grabbed their bags, which were practically overflowing anyways, and pulled both them and Thrax as far from Cadence and Shining Armor as quickly as their hooves could take them.
Once they had made it back into the Everfree Forest, Splinter and Thorn released Thrax, only to be met with the rest of his “die enemy of the changelings and spawn of Tartarus!” rant. Thrax huffed and puffed as he tried to regain his composure, the spins on his neck standing on end, before finally resting back down. “Thanks guys, I needed that.” He said calmly. The three changelings all looked at eachother and shared a small laughing fit before levitating their bags over to them. However, just as the bags landed, they were met with another set of problems, this one in the form of a yellow earth pony with a red mane dressed like a mummy, a white unicorn with a pink and purple mane dressed like a vampire, and an orange pegasus with a spiky purple mane dressed like a werepony. Heck, the three fillies even had a pinto colt following them, dressed like the phantom pony of the opera. The only really shocking things about them were one, how they were no older than Thrax and Splinter, the colt being no older than Thorn, and two being the fact that they met by crashing into them on a piled-high scooter and wagon combo.
Splinter and Thrax gave a groan as their eyesight returned and the echoing stopped. “Wow, cool costumes.” The orange pegasus stated with delight, extending her hoof and pulling Thrax to his. Unfortunately, Thrax’s legs decided to work at just the wrong time and brought him muzzle to muzzle with said orange pegasus, the two quickly turning away from eachother with blood red faces. “Thanks. Your costume is cool too.” He said, ignoring the giggles that came from both sides. “I’m Scootaloo.” The pegasus replied, neither changeling nor pony looking the other in the eye. “I’m Thrax. Or, at least, for tonight anyways.” He responded.
Slowly, Thrax and Scootaloo turned to face eachother, after their friends had introduced themselves to eachother, both sides still giggling as the two remained back to back for the longest time. Once they finally did come face to face, they barely got a word out before the sounds of hooves running were heard. Scared out of their wits, pony and changeling alike huddled in a circle, all of them having their eyes shut as the thunderous shaking continued.
Suddenly, it stopped, but even though they couldn’t hear a sound, the three changelings could definitely feel the familiar presence of their queen and mother. Slowly, their eyes opened, but only Thorn and Splinter saw Queen Chrysalis in her disguise, an alicorn only slightly taller than Cadence with around the same build as Luna, although her coat was a light blue with her aqua marine colored mane and tail flowing in the wind. It would have been a beautiful sight, if not for the angry look she wore on her face. On the pony side, however, stood a stoic princess with a mane like the stars themselves and a dark blue coat that almost blended into the shadows themselves.
Pipsqueak and the others ran and hid behind Luna as the changeling trio hid behind Chrysalis. Well, all except Scootaloo and Thrax, who had been nervously holding on to eachother, until they realized they were the only ones. Thrax quickly pushed the young filly away, gagging and making barfing sounds, while Scootaloo did the same. Both Luna and the Changeling Queen shared a snort, before locking eyes with eachother. “Pip, take these three young fillies and head back to Ponyville, I shan't take long.” Luna stated. Pip gave her a slightly confused look, then he and the CMC trotted off.
Luna waited until they were out of sight, before facing the Changeling Queen. “So, care to explain?” she asked, waving a hoof in the direction of the changeling foals. Chrysalis looked down at her three foals and growled, leaving the three wondering if it was safer to hide behind the Night Princess or not. “These three, I expressly forbid from attending Nightmare Night. They hadn’t completed their homework. I assure you, miss, it will not happen again.” She stated, flashing another glare at the three foals as they quickly levitated their bags up and took off out of the Queen’s sight.
Luna smirked at Chrysalis. “Foal will be foals. You should go easy on them, Changeling Queen.” she stated. Less dramatically than at the wedding, however in a much smaller burst of green fire, Chrysalis lowered her disguise in front of Luna. “How did you know?” she asked. Luna gave a soft chuckle. “I knew ever since those three foals of yours arrived. Surprisingly, they never actually harmed anypony, well, not on purpose, however I do believe the element of kindness is going to be a shut-in for the next few years.” Luna’s smile faded to an almost sad expression. “I missed you at the wedding. I heard you torn the place up quite well, Princess Lightheart.”
The Changeling Queen sneered at her. “My name is Chrysalis. That name no longer has any meaning for me.”
“It’s the name of your true self, you’ve only forgotten.”
Chrysalis sighed deeply, turning away from Luna. “It was good to finally meet you. Maybe we can talk again.” She stated, before running deep into the Everfree Forest, three smaller changelings following her.
Luna shook her head as Chrysalis disappeared out of sight. “Please, go easy on them, child.” She said, turning around and heading back towards Ponyville.
Later, at the Changeling Lair….
Thrax, Splinter, and Thorn all stood nervously on one side of the Queen’s meeting chambers, while Chrysalis stood on the other side, slowly looking them over. Splinter was the first one to speak. “Please, mother, we were just..” However Chrysalis held up a hoof to silence him. “You three. What you have done tonight was the single most foolish thing I can think of any changeling doing. Not only did you expose your existence to all of Ponyville, but you also went out after a expressly forbid you from going!” she bellowed. Slowly, Thorn began to get tears in her eyes, and then she suddenly dropped to her stomach crying like a newborn. “Please mommy we’ll never do it again! Please don’t boil us alive and eat us!” she shrieked, before finally just sobbing.
Chrysalis almost instantly facehoofed, then looked over at Splinter and Thrax. “Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?” she asked with a befuddled look on her face. “Um, we heard that you’d do that to us, or worse, if we didn’t listen to you.” Thrax stated nervously. Chrysalis sighed, and then her horn glowed a dim green. As the three changelings focused on her horn, awaiting their deaths, they didn’t notice the vines sneak up behind them and give them each a solid THWACK* on the rump. The trip yelped in unison, and then quickly tried to rub on the pain. All except Thorn, who still seemed convinced that she was going to die.
Chrysalis’s horn glowed again, only this time, the light surrounded Thorn, gently picking the young foal up and placing her in Chrysalis’s front hooves. For the next few minutes, the only sounds heard were the sound of Chrysalis speaking softly to Thorn as she began to stop sobbing. That and the sound of both Thrax and Splinter’s mandibles hitting the ground. Once Thorn had calmed down, Chrysalis sat her down on the ground with Thrax and Splinter and continued speaking.
“Now, I must weigh the pros and cons of this situation. On the one hoof, you’ve taken a great risk in exposing yourselves, not to mention the rest of us, by disobeying my direct orders. On the other hoof, you have provided us all with a great deal of love in the form of those candies, and you seemed to do it all in a non-direct confrontational manner with no real harm to yourselves or to the rest of us.”
Thrax, Thorn, and Splinter all watched as their mother and queen continued to pace back and forth for what felt like forever until she finally stopped and faced the three of them. “I have come to a decision. The three of you are going to share this punishment in three parts, all of which shall be followed to the letter. Break any of these, and I promise you that you’ll wish I had let the vines stick around.” she stated, all three foals gulping in unison.
Chrysalis couldn’t help but grin slightly at their reaction. “First, the candy which you have collected shall first be given to me, about 20%, after that, 70% shall be divided amongst your fellow changelings. Of course, all will be able to pick and choose which pieces they want. The remaining 10% shall be divided between the three of you. Besides, do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve had a Butterhoof bar?” Chrysalis stated bluntly. “Huh, but, we, they, that’s not…” Thrax spluttered, before Splinter placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Let it go buddy.”
Chrysalis cleared her throat, bringing the trio’s attention back to her. “Secondly, you’re all grounded for at least 6 weeks.” At this shocking news, three changeling mouths all shouted the same protest. “6 WEEKS?!” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “It’s not as bad as you think. You’ll be confined to the hatchling chambers, kept on watch by my guards. For the next 6 weeks, no love raids, no celebrations, not even a scouting mission. If you try any sort of way to sneak out of it, I promise you, the consequences will be severe.” Chrysalis hissed the last word so it sunk in.
“And the final part is where things get interesting. While you are grounded, and for the next three weeks afterwards, you are going to clean up around the hive, without the use of any magic.” At the last 6 words, all three changelings looked like they were about to faint. Chrysalis looked down at them and laughed heartily. “Welcome home, my little changelings."
Later that night, in Canterlot…..
Celestia sat in her bed chambers, wide awake, sucking down tea like it was going out of style, to the point where she’d actually thrown the cup away and had just went straight to the pitcher. She had officially gotten said pitcher stuck around her muzzle when her sister had, thankfully, knocked on her door. Unfortunately, what Celestia thought would be her saving grace had turned out to be a, no pun intended, nightmare as Luna almost instantly fell down laughing for a good twenty minutes, then she had the nerve to actually run back to her room, grab a camera and actually take pictures before assisting her older sibling in freeing her trapped muzzle from the tea pitcher of doom.
The two sisters sat in silence, Luna giggling and snorting every so often. “So, how was your night?” Luna asked, trying to keep a straight face. Celestia bit her bottom lip, trying not to laugh as well. “Fine, until about 30 minutes ago. How was yours?” Luna put a hoof to her chin, as if she were trying to find the right words to say. “It was, very interesting, to say the least. The children are always happy to see me, although I fear young Pipsqueak may be gaining a crush on us, I mean me.” she stated. “Can you believe a foal like him is actually reading Edgar Allen Poeneigh? I don’t know why he insists on having me read to him instead of his parents every year.” Luna said with a soft chuckle.
Celestia’s somewhat soured expression returned to her normal relatively happy demeanor. “So, that’s it?” she asked with a thoughtful look. Luna’s expression suddenly changed to something more, depressed. “I saw her. Though the body may have aged, she’s still so much like you. I can see it deep down in her soul.”
Celestia gave her sister a quizzical look. “Who does?”
Luna sighed. “Lightheart. I barely saw any of her subjects at the wedding, and she never saw me.”
Celestia’s face turned grim. “I saw her. I fought her. Princess Lightheart, it pains me to say, is gone. This, changeling queen, is all that remains.” she stated.
Luna shook her head. “Nonsense, she just refuses to go by her true name, calling herself Chrysalis. She must be going through a rebellious phase. Trust me, she shall come back to you.” she said reassuringly.
Princess Celestia stood up from her bed and calmly walked over to the window, glaring down at the statue/prison of Discord that sat in the castle courtyard, never moving, never blinking, just staring. “Luna, you don’t understand. Thanks to that monster, my daughter is dead, and the reality is that she is never coming back.”
The End?
