Changing The Lunar Guardby PonyrexChaptersCrashingHurtingChangingGuardingTouringCrashingEverything hurt. I opened my eyes expecting to see the bright sunlit stones that make up Canterlot but instead got the darker ones that make up one of the cities back alleys. I made a sigh of relief. If I had landed in the middle of a street than I probably would have been beaten to death by the ponies that lived there. Or, at very least, deprived of a few minutes of silence. "We could do it Nightfall." I remembered her voice. "Maybe you could, but not me." “No changeling would ever find us." Such a beautiful voice. “I've never even left the hive.” "You're my best friend Night. I can't imagine what the queen would do if she found out." The voice of a goddess. “She won't find out.” I tried to get up but immediately regretted my decision. When I moved my hind leg, I heard an audible crack and I knew I had broken it. I tried to see how bad my injury was but my neck violently protested to movement. My wings literally throbbed in pain but that didn’t surprise me, I already knew they were broken. They didn’t break from the fall but having a hoof slam down on them can have disastrous consequences. With a deep breath, I accepted my fate and realized that all I could do was stay still and hope nopony found me. “HOW DARE YOU NOT REPORT THIS TO ME!” Commander Hellraiser yelled. A punch to the face had knocked me down. “YOU THOUGHT I WOULDN’T FIND OUT!?” I felt a searing pain come from my wing. “YOU SWORE TO PROTECT THE QUEEN AND THEN YOU PULL THIS?!” Another shot of pain. I only looked long enough to see two hoof-sized holes in my wings. "Consider yourself lucky. I need you alive." He gave out a small chuckle. "For now." I passed out. I opened my eyes but I still couldn't move. A low moan started to emanate from beneath me. I must have landed on the changeling sent with me: Crystal. I was too weak to help her. We were friends since we hatched and to me it seemed ironic that we would die together too. After I heard a few more grunts from her, I figured she was trying to talk to me. I was confused by this as changelings prefered to communicate through close range telepathy. Except for the queen of course. She always said that she hated telepathy. "And now I stand here today, announcing this traitor to the hive. And to your majesty." I heard Hellraiser say. I could only open my eyes a little but I knew I was trapped and, based on what hellraiser was saying, being presented as a traitor. Thinking about it, that wasn't far from the truth. "Well done Commander. If I had a higher rank for you, the title would be yours. You have certainly served me well over the years." The queen's voice slipped into my ears. "You however," Her voice was alarmingly close "disappoint me." I heard some hoofsteps leading away from me. "Now commander, would you read the charges." "The charges are as follows: Conspiracy to depart the hive. Conspiracy to help another changeling to depart the hive, failure to report crucial information, failure to perform guardian duties, and failure to respond to questioning." "The changeling: Nightfall, is found guilty on all charges and” The queen’s voice suddenly seemed very grim “is sentenced to death.” “I’m sorry I couldn't save you Nightfall.” Crystal finally managed to cough out. For a moment I felt rage towards her but my anger towards her faded quickly. It wasn’t her fault that I was caught. Nor was it her fault that she felt guilty. When I tried to to respond, I realized why Crystal had chosen to speak. My horn had been severely damaged and a bolt of excruciating pain tore through my entire body. “It’s not your fault.” I wanted to continue the sentence but it started to hurt to breath. With a slow breath I realised how cruel the last day had been. I had woken up with nothing to worry about but now I was dying in the heart of Equestria. "NIGHTFALL NO!" I could recognize that amazing voice anywhere. I was finally able to open my eyes. Unfortunately for me, the second my eyes focused, I got a great view of Crystal being kicked in the face by both of Commander Hellraiser’s back legs. Her body flew across the room and and landed unconscious near the wall. "HOW DARE YOU APPROACH THE QUEEN!" I saw queen Chrysalis clapping her hooves. "Well done commander. I think I'll have to invent a new title for you." The queen walked over to Crystal's unconscious body. "As for these traitors, I think I will test out a new punishment." I saw the queen's horn light green for a moment and then I blacked out. I was amazed that nopony had found us yet. Surely somepony had saw us, surely the crash alone should have alerted the local ponies to our position. Maybe they had heard and the guards were on there way. The thought made me cringe, something black and green with fangs had just dropped from the sky. I don’t think they would be too eager to help us. As the minutes rolled by and my guard theory seemed less likely. If the ponies in the equestrian guard were half as good as the ones from the hive than we should have been found by now. For me, it seemed like a waiting game. I didn’t know whether I would bleed out or be found first. Neither was a pleasant option. "Here we are traitors. High above Equestria's Capitol. I can't wait to see what the ponies of Canterlot will do to you." With that he dropped us. I tried to flap my wings but they were still in searing pain from having holes in them. Suddenly I could feel something pulling at my ankle. I looked up to see Crystal desperately trying to slow our descent but to no use. Even if we both had full wing power, there was no way we could have pulled up in time. So I just stayed there, hoping the ground was less painful than it looked. The area around me seemed to get darker and I couldn’t feel the equestrian sun anymore. Actually I would swear I could see the night stars. A strange voice filled the air and chilled me to the bone. “What hath we found here?” HurtingBrightness surrounded me. It was far too bright. Closing my eyes, I tried to filter out as much light as possible. I had no luck. No matter how tight I shut my eyes, it was still impossibly bright. It took me a moment to realise that I felt like normal. Based on my previous state of being near death, I had either recovered or was dead. I slowly sat up in the bed I was in. Not dead. The room was far too boring to be heaven and was way too sterile to be hell. I felt disappointed. I felt like I deserved the punishment that had been given to me by Hellraiser and I had been so ready to die that everything just seemed meaningless. And when I looked at the circumstances, it kind of was. Everything I had lived for was gone. I no longer had a home. I had never had any experience outside the hive and this world of pain had unexpectedly been thrust onto me. Even if I was able to somehow make it out of this place, and somehow managed to find the hive, I would be killed on sight. Not that it mattered anyway. I was sent to die, and that is what I planned to do. I no longer had any friends. My only true friend had died beneath me. If only I had listened to her, then I wouldn’t be worrying about what was to come. I wished I could see her again. And I would. If I could find a method of death. I no longer had purpose. I had been hatched to defend the hive and now I would never see those dimly lit hallways again. Even if I wasn’t meant to be a guard, which had been the purpose of my broods hatching, what was I supposed to do? I had no special talents. I had been wandering around, protecting the same corridors all my life and I was the exact same as everyone else hatched with me. None of us had any ability to adapt. Somewhat ironic coming from a changeling. My inability to adapt was also hurting me directly. I couldn't think of a creative method of suicide. I got up to look around the room. If I could find a shard of glass or some sharp object, then it would end quickly. I had no such luck. The entire room was clean with nothing in it, except the bed I had been in earlier, and a shelf that had nothing on it. The door was locked and I started to get annoyed of the unnaturally beige wallpaper the covered all of the walls. I even tried breaking the window, from which the blinding light was coming, but it must have been made of some enchanted material as it didn’t even crack. “You don’t even know what they are!” A mare’s voice came from beyond the door. I got up and put my right ear next to the door and tried to listen. “They were injured! What were we supposed to do?” Another female voice appeared. “Not bring them to the castle.” The first mare sounded condescending. “The hospital was across the city.” The second mare defended. “Where do you think the doctors came from?” The first mare sounded agitated. “What doth thou have against these creatures?” Doth? “Why do you insist on keeping them here in the castle.” The mare’s voice seemed to louden. “Are thou not curious why they are here?” The second mare still seemed defensive. “I would be less curious if they weren’t in the castle. As for now I am worried about the safety of everypony that lives here.” The first mare seemed angry but still somewhat calm. “We win.” The second mare chuckled. “What?” The first voice seemed slightly confused. “Thou did not respond in the form of a question.” “Would you stop being so childish.” I swear I could hear an eyeroll. “Childish? Is moving the sun to scare thy student considered ‘adult’?” “I was trying to teach her a lesson.” The first mare suddenly seemed defensive. “Sure thou were.” A second eyeroll could be heard. “Can we return to the issue at hoof?” The first mare obviously changing the subject. “Fine. Give us one reason that we cannot simply wait and see what happens with these creatures.” The second mare seemed very serious. “Because... Because...” I heard some hoofsteps leading away from the door. “Why sister?” The hoofsteps stopped. “Because the last time the last time I waited, I...“ The voice trailed off. “What is it sister?” I almost couldn’t hear her voice. “The last time I waited, I lost you.” I heard some crying but I couldn’t tell who’s voice it was coming from. “Nothing like that will happen sister. I assure you nothing, absolutely nothing of the sort will ever happen again.” The second voice comforted. “I’m sorry for bringing that up Luna. I just can’t lose you again.” The first mare replied. “And you won’t sister.” I could hear some more hoofsteps. I couldn’t tell if they were getting closer or farther away from the door. When the door handle started to turn, I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I should be hiding but I didn’t see any point. With any luck, my appearance would scare the mare coming in enough to, maybe, put me out of my misery. A strange blue mare entered the room. Or at least I thought she was strange. I had never actually seen a pony before. Sure I had studied their culture as a hatchling but I didn’t remember seeing anything about their manes looking like the night sky. For that matter, this one seemed a lot larger than I had been expecting. I was told they were about changeling size but that didn’t seem so. “Oh, so thou has awoken.” The mare said. “It seems we have underestimated thou ability to recover.” I just stood there, staring at this mare. I felt like I should do something but I couldn't decide whether to make a break for it or try to talk to the pony. "Oh we forgot to ask. Can you understand us?" I was going to answer her question but I couldn't find the words. Something about this mare made my thoughts silence. "This creates difficulties. Perhaps something of thou may be found in the library." The pony started to leave. "No wait!" I blurted out. I didn't know why but I didn't want her to leave. Maybe it was because she wasn’t afraid of me. Maybe it was because she seemed to care about me. Or maybe it was because her mere presence in the room was giving me strength. She stopped in her tracks. "Why did thou not respond when we questioned thee previously?" I didn't know. Again, I couldn’t find any words. She turned and looked into my eyes. I could see that she was both curious and annoyed by my non-vocal response. “Why do you appear to act like stone while seen?” “I...I...” No words came to me. “Or was it the sight of our flank that got thee speaking?” My hooves felt like they were made of ice. I wanted to hide or even to avoid her gaze but I just couldn’t move. Her patience was starting to waver, and she started to pace. Her hooves made almost silent taps whenever touching the tile floor. As she made circles around me, I could almost feel her annoyance turn to anger. It was a slow process that seemed to take forever but I could see her temper rise. The sounds her hooves made seemed to increase exponentially. The more her anger increased, the less I dared to speak. She was running out of patience and I could feel her rage bursting at the seams. “GAUH! SAY SOMETHING OR WE WILL HAVE OUR GUARDS TAKE THEE TO OUR DUNGEONS!” I said nothing. I was too scared to. “GUARDS GET IN HERE!” She stood there for a second and we were both looking at the door. Nothing happened. “We said GUARDS GET IN HERE!” Two smaller white ponies with golden armour and blue manes scrambled into the room. They were about the size I was expecting for a pony. This raised a few questions about the mare in the room but I didn’t have time to put words to them. “What do you need your highness?” Both of them bowing. “Nevermind, both of thou are fired. Find somepony to replace thee on the way out.” “But Princess!” “WE SAID OUT!” Both the armoured ponies left the room in the same manner in which the entered. I giggled. "Great guards you have." "Those two weren't fit to guard the... Did thou just speak?" "Uh, I guess I did." I scratched the back of my head for no other reason than I could think of anything else to do. "Took thee long enough. Now, doth thou feel up to answering why thee would not respond to our earlier questions?” “It was mostly just fear.” “Ah, being in a strange land can do that to a pony.” I started to relax. It seemed odd to me. Within a matter of moments this mare had me from thinking about suicide to being somewhat comfortable. “Oh, we almost forgot. Our name is Princess Luna but please call us Luna.” “Okay Luna. Our name- My name is Nightfall.” Luna giggled. A small foalish giggle as if I had uttered a joke. “Uh, is my name funny?” “No, its just uh, no.” She started looking around awkwardly as if desperately looking for an alternate . This was made even more awkward by me somewhat staring at her. After a moment she finally looked back at me and suddenly had the look of “I just had the best idea”. She strangely looked up, paused for a moment, then back to me. “We thought there was supposed to be an illumination device above somepony’s head once they had a brilliant idea. Anyway our sister would kill us if we did not ask this. What exactly are thou?” “I am a changeling.” “Odd, we have been doing an extensive amount of all the history of all cultures surrounding and never once have we come across even a mention of a changeling.” “That would be because we are a secretive race. Within my knowledge very few changelings actually leave the hive.” “Well that should suffice my sister for now. We have some other royal duties that we must attend to. Goodbye Nightfall.” The princess left the room. The feeling of darkness slowly crept back into my mind. It started with little seeds. Seeds like missing Crystal. Seeds like missing my warm cocoon. But like all seeds, these feelings grew. The feelings of guilt were the first to bear fruit. I was responsible for the death of my only friend. I was responsible for her staying in the hive and I was responsible for dragging her to her fate. All I wanted to do was crawl into my cocoon and die. I wished. Even my cocoon was a long ways away. The best I could do was crawl into bed and cry. I didn’t feel like crawling into bed though. I felt like wandering my halls of the hive. My halls were the barren almost forgotten halls. Nothing came down those halls and they were too far from any entrance to have any intruders in them. I had a rather nice time guarding them but now all I had was a dull beige room. I still couldn’t shake the guilt. If only I had left with her when I had the chance. If only I could have stopped her from trying to save me. It was my fault that I had let her secret slip and my punishment was justified for betraying the hive. If only I could see her again. I would jump out the window to see her again. The window suddenly became my center of attention. I could see something I hadn’t noticed before. A latch at the bottom of the window was keeping it closed. All it would take was a little magic and the ground was waiting for me. Cheering for me to do it. I was at the window. I was lifting the latch. I was on the window sill. I was staring at the ground. It seemed so inviting. Like it wanted a hug. Oddly enough I had no second thoughts. No voice at the back of my head telling me not to. It was just me and the ground. I closed my eyes and began to lean forward. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!” I recognised the voice. It was her voice. As quickly as I could I spun around and saw Crystal in the doorframe. The next thing I knew I was hugging her. She was alive. “Crystal, I thought you were dead. I’m so glad you’re not.” I was so glad to see her again. Seeing her was like a dose of sugar. I felt like bouncing off the walls and celebrating. “Didn’t Luna tell you I was okay?” “Not a single word.” If only she had. It would have saved me a lot of guilt. “I’m glad she told me about you then.” “I’m glad too.” I was extremely excited but glad just seemed to fit. “So want to explore the castle? Luna said we could.” Castle? “What?” “Do you know where we are?” “Not a clue.” I hadn’t really asked and I hadn’t had any experienced anything outside the hive. “We are in Canterlot Castle. You must have seen on any visit to.. Oh.” “Oh what?” I knew the answer but it was best to let Crystal to finish her train of thought. It was far too easy to distract her. “Forgot you aren’t, uh, weren’t a scout like me. Everywhere in Equestria and any surrounding areas, you can see Canterlot Castle. It’s amazing!” “And you want to explore?” “I’ve been in the castle before but it was always disguised as snobby ponies. Not that being snobby isn’t fun. This one time, at the Grand Galloping Gala, I was disguised as some prince and I had a competition with myself to see how rude I could be. I completely ruined his reputation and made a mare absolutely freak out at me. It was awesome. So can we go explore? Please?” “Fine.” No sooner than when I spoke, we were out in the hallway. The bright stone and the windows contrasted greatly with what I had know in the hive. The entire hive is underground, lit by glowing green stones so it has an eerie feel at all times. As we wandered aimlessly through the corridors, I started to take in how big this castle was. The walls were lined with doors. It seemed impossible for all of these doors to lead to individual rooms and not have most of the furniture with to be covered in endless amounts of dust and spiderwebs. “And that’s how I got Celestia’s addicted to tea!” We laughed. I wasn’t really participating in the conversation but Crystal had always been much more talkative than me. “Then there was the time I impersonated a dragon..” “I’ve heard this one before.” “Aww but I like this one.” She sounded so disappointed. I swear I saw a tear come from her eye. She was too good at acting. “Okay tell it.” I said with a grin. I knew that’s exactly what she wanted me to say but her stories were always pretty funny. She said nothing. I stood and looked around. Nothing. Nopony was around. I couldn’t hear a single hoofstep nor a screech of a door closing. I was alone again. I started desperately looking down the halls. Nothing still. The halls were barren. I was ready to give up. “You think we lost the other one?” “No, now shut up or it’ll hear you.” The voices came from beyond the door to my right. I slowly approached the door. With one swift movement I kicked the door down. Standing in the middle of, what looked to be, a bedroom stood two white ponies with blue manes. One of them was holding her mouth to prevent Crystal from speaking. “See what you’ve done!” The one not holding Crystal slapped the other. “Now it’s found us.” “How is it my fault?!” “How is it not your fault?!” The pony turned to face me. “However now that you’re here you’re going to give us information. Otherwise this one gets it.” “Let her go.” “It’s a girl? Well then, you answer our questions or else your little mare friend here gets it. First of all, which one of you cost us our jobs?” “Were you Luna’s guards? If so that would be me.” I was stalling, I just need some time to think. “Is that so.” he looked at the other pony. “Take care of the girl, then help me with this one.” With a great bout of strength he lunged at me. A huge mistake. I merely dodged to the left and let him faceplant into the floor. I was then left to take on his partner. He tried to defend himself but, with one of his hooves occupied with Crystal, he was left to my mercy. With a thud, the wall was hit with the second pony. Both got up rubbing their heads. They started to circle Crystal and me. Crystal was still too scared to move. I had to defend her but I couldn’t keep them both in my sights. They just kept circling looking for an opening. In an instant everything changed. Both attempted to attack, one went high and the other went low. The one that went high had jumped and was attempting to crush me with his knee. The other was trying a slide tackle. They made it almost too easy. With one swift movement, I pushed Crystal out of the way and lept into the air. Crystal was just of the way of the flying knee and I was able to narrowly dodge the slide tackle. By the time they realised they had missed their targets it was too late. The collided in a mess of flailing limbs and screams of pain but it wasn’t over. I was still in the air and had just enough time to buck whichever one was on top in the face. I stood there, looking at the heap of flesh. I let a grin come to my face. “WHAT HATH HAPPENED HERE!?” I turned around to see Princess Luna standing in the doorway. My grin was gone. ChangingI tried to listen to Crystal. I really did. I just couldn’t focus. Only moments ago, I had beaten down two royal guards in front of Princess Luna and been sent to the room given to me. All I could do was sit down and think about what punishment I would get. That and try to listen to Crystal. “So I turned into this MASSIVE dragon and was like ‘RAWWWR’!” Crystal jumped on the bed to emphasize the roar. I was still only half paying attention. “That’ll teach the mean griffon to call me uncool. Hey, are you even listening!?” “Uh, yeah sure.” I lied. “What did I just say?” “Something about a dragon being uncool?” Crystal grunted. “Close enough. So why are you so mopey anyway. You were awesome back there. Like a ninja.” She started flinging her arms around like she had a pair of nunchucks. “You’re kidding me right. We, uh, I just beat up two of Luna’s guards. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble we’re in?” “None whatsoever. If we were in trouble, we would have been sent to jail.” “I highly doubt that. This is a princess of Equestria. Who knows what she could do? She could send us to the moon for all we know.” “That happens one time and suddenly it’s some common punishment.” Crystal mumbled. “Anyway it doesn’t matter because we aren’t in trouble.” “Why aren’t we in trouble? Actually, what were you saying about being sent to the moon being common punishment?” “We aren’t in trouble because they would have to charge us with something. We haven’t done anything wrong.” “How about assault, on one hoof.” “Self defence. Trust me, I know.” A new voice filled the room. “What doth thou know?” Princess Luna was standing in the doorway. In my mind she was wearing a black cloak and carrying a scythe but I’m sure that was just my imagination. One word from her and I could be executed or worse. I tried to prepare myself. The window was closed and the Princess was blocking the only other exit. I was trapped. “Self defence!” Crystal said enthusiastically. “No wait. Yes. Self defence. Or kind of self defence. Not at all really but Nighty here knows all about it. He was a guard back at the hive.” “Thou were Nightfall? That doth explain a great amount. We actually came here to discuss thy actions and that is a big piece of the puzzle. But there are still things to discuss and our sister is insisting that I make a decree here.” “Oh oh oh oh ho.” Crystal was bouncing around the room. “What kind of decree? Like bananas are only to be eaten on sundays? Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Bowties are cool! That can’t be it, they have always been cool” Normally I would have stopped Crystal at some point but I figured the longer she talked the more time I had to live. I tried to keep quiet and just let Crystal distract as long as possible. “No, Crystal. We just need to reinforce the severity of what thou have done. Two highly trained members of the Royal Guard now lay in the infirmary thanks to thy actions. This leaves me with no personal guards and two ponies I am furious at.” “Uh Luna. We aren’t Ponies we are Changelings. See Pony, Changelings, Pony, Changeling.” Crystal kept changing into somepony and back. Trying to prove her point. Luna seemed amazed for a second. The green flames coming from crystal lit up her face well. “We did not know thou could change shape. We knew thou were called changelings but we did not think it meant you could change to this extent. However, we did not mean to give the impression that we are aggravated at thee. I am aggravated that two royal guards would ponynap somepony. Especially if that somepony is of a species that was previously unheard of. They will be dealt with severely. Which brings us to our second problem. We wish that both of you to replace those two imbeciles as my guards.” "Did I just hear you right? I thought you just asked us to be royal guards." "Of course we did Nightfall. We need the best and thou already managed to defeat the previous champions." "That would be SO cool. Me and Nighty acting guard-like and stuff. It sounds awesome." "But Luna. Why us? We only just arrived and ..." I trailed off. I couldn't think of anything else. "I already said thou are the best. Also I like the idea of having guards that could change into dragons at will. It will make 'Tia so jealous." "This is going to be absolutely amazing! Just one question Luna.” “Feel free to speak thy mind Crystal.” “How do you be a guard?” It was starting to get dark. The sun had been reduced to an orange arch in my window and I started to feel a little more comfortable. The sun didn’t bother me but the darker it became, the more I was reminded of home. I was still in my allotted room, sitting on my bed. Luna requested we start our training at night because of her regular sleep cycle, so I still had a few hours to kill before training started. Crystal had gone back to her room to “prepare” whatever that meant so I was left to my thoughts and the little piece of paper that Luna had given me. All that was on the paper was directions to somewhere in the castle. Luna hadn’t bothered to mention exactly what we would find. It had already been a substantial amount of time and I had been bored almost from the start. Eventually my boredom and curiosity took the better of me. I started to follow the directions I had been given. I walked down the corridors of the castle becoming even more bored of the endless amounts of plain wooden doors. All the doors looked identical giving no indication of what may be inside. I knew ponies came in many shapes, sizes and colours but every door had a clone of the standard issue white guard beside it. Eventually I came to a set much bigger doors than the rest. It seemed out of place looking several times older than all the other doors and oddly with no guards beside it. With it towering above me I hesitated for a second and looked at my list of instructions. ‘Step 13: Pass through the big doors (you’ll know them when you see them).’ As I passed through the doors I found myself smiling. The hallway I had entered was very dark and lit by torches hung on the walls. These hallways had stone that, unlike the stone on the other side of the door, looked almost falling apart. Cobwebs littered the ceiling and overall made the whole place look more like a cave. It felt like home. Time flew by as I finished following the directions. I had been guided to the only door in the dark hallways that seemed to have a light on inside. In fact it was just about the only door I could see in the hallways. I checked my instructions one more time and started to open the door. I quickly stopped myself as I heard voices coming from beyond the door. “YOU MADE THEM YOUR ROYAL GUARDS!” “Thou seems mad sister. Perhaps thou needs some time to cool down.” I recognized Luna’s voice. “Calm is the last thing from my mind Luna! What were you thinking when you made them guards!?” “We were thinking that they would be perfect replacements for the pathetic excuse for guards we had previously.” “Did you even think that maybe they have a home to go back to? Maybe they can’t be your guards.” “I spent the afternoon discussing it with them. They accepted.” “I can’t believe that they just decided to be your guards and not return to wherever they came from.” “The female, Crystal, told me that they were ejected from their hive. The couldn’t return home if they wanted to.” “THEY’RE WANTED CRIMINALS! WHY LUNA?” “They didn’t say.” “And you let them become guards anyway. They should be lucky that they aren’t wanted criminals in Equestria.” “To be fair it was not their fault that those guards kidnapped Crystal.” “I guarantee you Luna. This will not end well with those things as your guards.” “You also guaranteed us that the previous guards were some of the best in Canterlot.” Instead of a response I saw a flash of bright light come from under the door. “Typical ‘Tia. Magic away when things get serious.” I took a second to weigh my options. I could either head back to my room or enter the room. I entered the room. I was expecting guards quarters or a training room. What I found was a rather large bedroom. Across the room from me was a large telescope in which Luna was looking out of. “What’cha lookin’ at.” I jumped. Crystal had said that rather loud and I hadn’t even realised she was there. “Nothing much.” Luna replied. “Just trying to correct a few things that my sister managed to mess up within the past thousand years. She had an entire shelf in the library dedicated to star maps and she still managed to misaligned most of my constellations. But on to business.” “Business like me becoming a ninja. I can’t wait!” I rolled my eyes. “Crystal. We already told you that being a guard does not mean you become a ninja.” “Awe. But I spent almost an hour reading about them.” “We have to agree with Nightfall here. As per our sister’s request, most of your time will be spent by our side.” “Wait.” Crystal spoke. “If most of our time will be spent with you. What will the rest of our time be spent on?” “Looking menacing of course. This is actually the reason I brought you both here. I am hoping that if you look like ponies, then maybe our sister won’t be so against the idea. Seeing as her reaction was already worse than I thought it would be.” I felt little nervous. I almost didn’t hear what Crystal said. “But princess. Nightfall hasn’t actually transformed yet. He would be learning the skill from scratch.The first time I transformed I was going for a parasprite and I ended up a fly.” “Thanks for telling us Crystal. One second.” With a small puff of smoke, some popcorn and a comfortable looking chair appeared behind Luna. “Okay try transforming Nightfall.” I started to try transforming. I focused on what I wanted to look like. I clearly remembered a guard. Bright white coat. Shining blue mane. Golden armour. I had the image burned into my mind. I concentrated as hard as I could. “Mind if I have some princess?” Crystal asked. “Not at all, help thyself.” Green flames passed my body. I could feel my shell turning to flesh and fur. I didn’t expect it to hurt but as I grew in size slightly it felt like I was being stretched. As my chest turned to metal it hurt even more. Trying to become the armour was a bad idea. Finally the flames passed above my eyes. I could see differently, my new eyes seemed to dislike the light but once I was able to focus I could see Crystal and Luna. They were laughing. GuardingI looked at myself. I felt humiliated. I was going for a guard. I wanted to be a guard. Even at a distance anypony could see I wasn’t a guard. Not a single colour on my was correct. What was supposed to be a bright white coat, ended up being a light grey. My armour ended up a purple/blue instead of a solid gold. And that was the least of my worries. “How did you give yourself bat wings?!?” Crystal managed to yell out in between bouts of laughter. Crystal was on the floor. Luna was quietly snickering in her chair. I tried to inspect my wings more but they felt really stiff. With a little energy I managed to open them only to realise my mistake. “And you made them out of metal! I didn’t even know we could do that!” More laughter followed. How did I manage to make my wings part of my armour. Somehow I had managed to make fully functioning metal wings. How was I supposed to fly. Nothing with metal wings flies. As soon as I got over the shock, I changed back. My first instinct was to run. Quickly turning to the door, I closed my eyes and went into a full sprint. I just wanted to be somewhere else but Luna seemed to have different ideas. I couldn’t see it but I assume she teleported in front of me because we made a spectacular crash. "Why did thou try to leave?" Luna said as she lifted herself back up. "We are not done with thy training yet." "But I..." I trailed off. "Thou made an amusing mistake. We expected as much. However it is one thing to make a mistake but it is another to to try to run from it." "Wow Luna. That sounded somewhat poetic." Crystal mentioned. "We guess our sister is rubbing off on us." "So you want me to try again?" "Actually we kind of like this shape. Much more menacing and a lot less elegant. Crystal do you think you could replicate Nightfall's look?" "With ease." A flash of green and and another creature stood in the room. "Excellent, I now dub both of thee lunar guards." Several hours later Crystal and I stood outside Luna's bed chambers on either side of the door. It was daytime but Luna was sleeping. Our first duty as lunar guards was to protect her while she slept. I stood perfectly still as I was taught but Crystal... "I spy with my little-" "quiet Crystal." "But-" "quiet." "What if I-" "quiet." "Stop saying-" "quiet." "You just finished my sent-" "I did not finish your sentence, I was telling you to be quiet." "But it sounded like-" "I know what it sounded like, just be quiet." "Why?" "We need to be able to hear if anypony is in the room." "What are the odds of that happening?" "Slim to none but if it does happen we need to be prepared. It could be an assassin, a ponyknapper or even a changeling after us." "Look who's the one talking now." "Just be-" I thought I heard something from behind the wall. "Just be what?" "quiet, I think I heard something." "Let's go in then." I was going to stop Crystal but before I could she had already opened the door. Standing inside was a tall pony female. Even taller than Luna. She was bright white in colour and had a mane that flowed in an imaginary breeze (though not as beautiful as Luna's). "I guess you are better then I gave you credit for." "Who are you and why are you in Princess Luna's bedroom?" "I am Princess Celestia. Luna's older sister." "I am so glad to meet you. I'm Crystal. I was bored out of my mind standing by that door. Now that you're here I don't have to be bored." "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I should be leaving soon. But before I go, could I get your name?" She looked right at me. I was going to introduce myself but Crystal beat me to it. "That's Nightfall, but you can call him Nighty for short." "Interesting name, I don't believe it is often somepony is named after my sisters night." "Actually He-" I cut Crystal off. I thought I could give my own intro. "As Crystal was saying, I wasn't named after the night. I was named after the rock." "The rock?" "She's a pony. She doesn't know about the meteor." "Why didn't you use telepathy before?" "Cuz. But we do need to tell her the story." "Anything you wish to share?" Celestia stood there patiently. "No, it's just an old changeling story." I replied. "A really really really old story." "Would you mind sharing this story with me?" "Sure. It all starts on a dark and stormy night." "Crystal wait." I interjected. "One, you are not telling the story about MY name and two, why should we trust her? From what I've heard she is has been arguing with Luna about us every chance she gets." "Actually I can explain that." We both turned to Celestia. "Let me guess, you were fake arguing." I said with an eye roll. "That isn't far from the truth. You see Luna hasn't been herself for a while. She doesn't speak to people. She quietly sits in her room. She hasn't even been visiting dreams." "She can visit dreams?" "She can but she hasn't been. I have been arguing with her to try to get her to react. I'm trying to get a reaction. I’m trying to teach her that she can stand up to me. I have had no problems with my sisters actions. In fact, I agree with most of them. I just want her back. " "So you thought that arguing with her would give her confidence?" I criticized her. "When you say it that way it seems unrealistic. So far it has been working. She has been wandering outside the castle, she has made some friends and sentenced two ponies to prison in her own court. It has definitely brought her confidence back. However I remember you were about to tell a story." "Very well." "A long time ago, on a dark and stormy night. Thunder could be heard overhead and the sound of rain was almost as deafening. A lone unicorn ran in the forest. She was fast and showing no signs of slowing down even though her mare was becoming soaked. She was scared. The forest was a strange place to her and she was far from home. She continued to run. She had no idea where she was going but she had to find shelter. She didn’t stop running. She may have been the most lucky mare in the world. Had she run a different way she would have burned. Had she stopped to catch her breath she would have burned. Had the meteor not fell at that exact spot, she would have burned. With a perfect storm of circumstances, the heavens opened up and a ball of fire fell from the heavens.The meteor crashed into her. Luckily with an incredible burst of magic she shielded herself for only a fraction of a second. That fraction of a second was when everything changed. The forest was gone. It just wasn’t there. A new desert stretched on for miles. But that sad wounded mare was trapped under the boulder. It was luck by which that mare survived the meteor but it was by magic by which she survived the following weeks. The meteor seemed to feed her. To change her. She still looked the same but she felt different. She couldn’t tell how but she felt it. Three months had passed when she had gained enough energy to escape and even that was with help. The stallion that helped saved her was average. Though changeling know him as legend. The only knowledge of him was that his mane shared the primal colours of the changelings. He was kind and so he took the mare to his nearby shelter and provided her a home. Over two years later the two seemingly average ponies were married and eleven months after that their first foal was born. It wasn't welcome. The newborn foal was dark and terrifying to look at. It had a shell like an insect and fangs like a bat. A horn raised off the top of its head and its wings were not of pony. They cast out their child and left it to rot in the desert. However, like her mother, she found shelter with the meteor. Over time she burrowed into it. Starting a cave system that would last millennia. Years passed and the child grew. She greatly surpassed her parents in height. She grew in magic as well. She considered herself a powerful sorceress, even though she had never know any other magic users. And she lived on, needing almost nothing to survive. Only then did her father return. He was teary eyed and dragging his wife's coffin. He had intended to beset her where he had found her but he returned to find a cave. It was at that point she began to manipulate him. She used him to expand her catacombs and with time, she used him as a power source. He loved her as a child but she began to change that. Only a month after his arrival and his heart was drained of love and he lay as still as his wife. They were buried together. He may have been dead but his legacy lived on. She soon laid her first eggs and a new race was born. "The changelings called that meteor nightfall. Not the most complicated of names but it seems to fit." "And then a long long long time later Nighty was named after it." Crystal added. "Well I believe that is enough story time for tonight." Celestia commented. "You two better return to your post before you wake up my sister." "Too late 'Tia, Thou woke us up halfway through the meteor story." A flash of white light and Celestia was gone from the bedroom. "Because that will help us get back to sleep." "I'm sorry for waking you." I said. "Tis nothing, I really do not need to sleep. Tis only relaxing." "Uhm Luna if you don't mind." Crystal hesitated. "Could you let me get some sleep. I'm not used to being a guard yet." I almost held my breath. Not that Crystal wasn't a good guard but she didn't get the concept of quiet. "Yes thou can sleep. Be ready for duty tomorrow." I took a few steps towards the door with Crystal. My post was outside the bedroom door, so that was where I was heading. "Where doth thou think thou are going Nightfall?" Crystal kept going. "I was just returning to my post." I replied. "Nonsense. We don't feel like going back to sleep yet. Why don't thou keep us company?" "Are you sure?" "Of course we are sure. Come on Nightfall, come lay by our side in our bed." I briefly thought about it and came to the result: Why not? A quick stroll across the room and I was at her bed. A small leap and I was in bed. It was a very soft bed. I was used to the hard floors of the hive but somehow simply sinking into the bed was the most relaxing thing I had ever done. "Peaceful, is it not?" I didn't speak. I could only muster up the energy to nod in delight. "Come closer, I want to show you something." I moved a little bit closer. We were both relaxing when I saw the soft glow of her horn. In a matter of seconds the room was lit up. It started with a few dots on the ceiling. They all glowed ever so slightly. Those dots multiplied and multiplied and multiplied.The entire room was filled with these small glowing dots. "Amazing isn't it? We helped design it a long time ago. It is a perfect replica of our night sky. This is the best star map in all of Equestria." "It's beautiful." And we both peacefully fell into a silent slumber. TouringI had a beautiful dream that night. I was in a cave. It was a rather nice cave. It was my cave. The cave I had known my entire life. Every few meters grew a glowing mushroom and so the cave was covered in a pleasant green light. I wandered the caverns without a care in the world. I was doing what I was born to do. I was doing what I was raised to do and I was doing what I loved to do. I protected the hive. Like any other night on my patrol, the caves were completely empty. A peaceful night. Everything was like I remembered. Exactly as I remembered and I remembered every detail. When one walks the same caverns for years, those caverns tend to stay in one's memory. Only one stone seemed out of place. A small blue stone close to the floor. Any other pony or changling that passed by would have overlooked it. I couldn't overlook it. Every other detail was perfect but this small stone was out of place. After a few seconds of inspection I tried to pick it up but it was far too heavy. This small blue rock must have weighed a ton but it was no bigger than a pebble. "Ow. Stop thy touching!" The stone spoke. I was stunned for a second, this was a talking rock after all. "Luna?" I asked. "How did thou know?" "The 'thy' kind of gave it away." A flash of blue light filled the cave before fading back to green. "Nay, before that. Thou seemed to notice us from a distance. We thought our disguise was perfect and yet thou spotted us with ease." "I've been walking these halls for years. They always look exactly the same. A small blue stone stands out." "Why have thou been wandering these halls for so long?" "A while back Queen Chrysalis feared an invasion of diamond dogs. When the new brood was hatched, a few of them were put in charge of guarding some of the outlying tunnels." "So thou were born into this role?" "No changeling is born without a purpose. Just sometimes that purpose disappears." "Like thy purpose?" "Yes, however I got lucky. I worked so far out from the main hive that almost no changeling noticed me. Had anyling payed too much attention, they would of noticed how pointless I was and I would have been executed." "For not doing thy job correctly?" "For being a waste of resources." "That is barbaric!" "You, actually I guess both of us, live in a world where there is plenty to go around. In the hive, where food is scarce, any unused personnel is a drain to everyling." "Was Crystal another one of the lucky ones?" "Not even close, her breed is in high demand." "Her breed?" "Each changeling has biological enhancements depending on what job they were born for. Each job has it's own breed of changlings. I am a guard built with a stronger exoskeleton and a mind that handles well under pressure. Crystal is a scout. Her job is to go outside the hive under direct orders of the queen and retrieve some food." "What does thou eat anyway." "We don't eat anything. Our food source is the love we collect from other species." "We are confused. If thy species feeds off the love of other species, why have we never heard of thine species before?" "The queen is very strict about who makes it out of the hive. In her mind, if word of our species got out, we would all perish. I think she is out of her mind. If we could hunt for ourselves, I don't think any of us would go hungry." "We are not sure. Thou are a rather scary looking race all together. I don't know how many would accept thee. We had three sets of doctors refuse to operate on you based on thy appearance." "I think I need to thank you for that still. The doctors that did operate must have cared a lot. Only a great dose of love could have helped me recover." "Actually both thine surgery and Crystals were performed personally by us. After so many ponies wasted our time. We took matters into our own hooves." "I guess I owe you a lot then. I am forever in your debt." "Please don't mention that to 'Tia. We are not supposed to interfere in the affairs of mortals." "Your secret is safe." "Thank thee Nightfall. Now we believe we shall be off. Have a good night." "Wait. Luna, if you would like I could give you a tour of my old hive. Uhm, show you more about the changling race." "As long as we are not a bother." After that we wandered the halls of the hive. I pointed out a few interesting places such as the place I was born and the place I met Crystal. It was actually the throne room that caught me by surprise. One detail I was not expecting. "Why is there a crater in the wall?" Luna asked politely. I knew why. It was where Crystal had been kicked by Hellraiser. I was stunned by the simple crater. That crater was the reason I had been sent to Canterlot. It brought back the fear I had. The desperation of that day and the hatred of Hellraiser. Everything about that day stung. "Are thou alright?" "Yes, it's just. That is Crystal." "How can that be Crystal?" "Sorry, it's not. When I was standing trial Crystal stepped up to try and save me. One good kick from Hellraiser and she made that crater." "Hellraiser? You never mentioned that changling before." "There is good reason for that. He's Commander Hellraiser. He is second in command to Queen Chrysalis and has direct control over the changling army, special ops teams, and guards." "What made this Hellraiser so terrible." "He is basically an extended reach of Chrysalis. Every order she says, he is right there with the whip. Metaphorically and sometimes literally." "How did he come to be Chrysalis's right hoof?" "I don't know. Most changelings don't die of natural causes. Most die when they outlive their usefulness. Hellraiser happens to be one of the oldest changelings alive. I don't know if he even knows his age. As long as anyone can remember, he has been at Chrysalis's side." "I am sorry Nighty. I would love to spend more time with you but the night has begun and we need to wake up." Luna quickly faded out of existence and the world around me faded with it. I was left in a field of darkness. I woke up very slowly. I didn't even have the energy to open my eyes at first. So I just lay there hugging my blankets. They were so soft, like a teddy bear. I wish I could have stayed in that semi-asleep bliss. "Nightfall, thou can let go of us any time." My eyes burst open. I was in Luna's bed hugging her like a child's plaything. Only a second passed and I was able to snap out of my sleepy state. Only a second more to scramble out of hugging Luna and propel myself backwards out of the bed. Luna laughed. "We said 'thou can let go', not 'we are a vampony'. However thy reaction was more entertaining than we originally expected." "Sorry Luna. I thought I was hugging blankets and I was so sleepy and I ..." I quietly trailed off as I picked myself off the floor. "So thou are saying that we are not worth hugging." "No. I didn't say that. I was just saying that-" "Shhh Nightfall. We jest. We know what thou meant." Luna interrupted me. "So what now?" I asked. "We have a surprise for Crystal and thee. We shall fetch Crystal and then inform both of thou of our suprise. "Okay then. Where should I meet you and Crystal?" "Are thou not coming with us?" She questioned me. I was confused. "I thought you were going to teleport away and get Crystal." "That would be a big invasion of privacy. Teleporting in on somepony unexpected especially into a bedroom. Trust us, 'Tia taught us that lesson very well." I obviously chose to go with her. We wandered down a few corridors and got to the cleaner side of the castle. The castle seemed very different from the previous night. For one thing the halls were littered with ponies whereas the previous night there were none. Maybe I wasn't raised right, but I thought ponies went around practically nude most of the time, yet all the ponies we past seemed to all be wearing various ridiculous pieces of clothing. It wasn't very long before we reached Crystal's room. We knocked on the door and after getting a response from Crystal, entered the room. "Hi guys! Great night tonight." Crystal expressed with just a little to much excitement. "Thank thee. We made sure to make it extra special tonight." "Why is that Luna?" "What do thou know of Nightmare Night?" "It's this awesome celebration were ponies dress up in really weird costumes." I could tell from Crystal's excitement she really liked Nightmare Night. "And they go around pranking each other and giving out candy. Then they choose a statue and dump some of their candy on it." "Well, close enough. This year we are going to be making an appearance. After last year's failure in this city, we are going to be trying Ponyville." "So what are we waiting for?" I asked. “I don’t like this.” I said as I unhooked myself from the carriage. We had already landed in ponyville and Luna decided she didn’t want us around. “Oh come on Nighty. The Princess told us to have fun. What do you want to do?” Crystal asked while gesturing toward a cotton candy stand. “We really should check on Luna.” “We really should go get some candy. Come on, everyone will be amazed by our costumes.” I rolled my eyes. “We aren’t wearing costumes.” “That’s why they are so believable. Besides, Luna specifically told us she didn’t need our help.” While that was true, I still didn't want to leave Luna alone. “Couldn’t it be some kind of test?” “Absolutely. Wait, no. Actually, I'm gonna go with a definite maybe.” “So we go find Luna?” Not sure how to respond to crystal’s answer. “Sure. Maybe she went to get some cotton candy!” Crystal ran off. I ended up following Crystal. I really didn’t want to but I didn’t know anything about ponies or about the town I was in. I didn’t even know which way Luna went. Even though Crystal was only gone a few seconds. I found her with a heart attack’s worth of junk food. “Want some?” Crystal asked. “How did you get so much food?” I said while slightly confused. “It’s Nightmare Night.” “But you were only gone for like ten seconds.” My confusion was not cleared up. “Oh, this pink pony with a bunch of children ran by and dropped some of their candy.” “Shouldn’t you give it back?” “I would but I already ate it.” I was about to question her but before I could, she essentially absorbed the food she had with her mouth. I debated testing the limits of my jaw for a second but decided against it. Sometimes Crystal is one of a kind. “Wait what is that?” Crystal suddenly looked away. “I didn’t hear anything.” I responded. “There was definitely a Gwaa Thwump sound over there.” “What kind of sound?” “It sounded like somepony very surprised and then fainting.” “How could you possible know what that sounds like?” I asked skeptically. "I had a pony walk in on me whilst in my changeling form. But never mind that, somepony might need our help!" She dashed off immediately. I was quick to follow. A wall of bushes blocked our path, with a small struggle I pushed past them and came to a small clearing. There were only two noteworthy things in the entire clearing. The first being a pony fainted on the ground. From what I could tell it was a she and she was white with purple hair. However that was the least of my worries. In front of me lay Crystal. She was sprawled out on the ground. I took a step closer to check her vitals. Only at the last second did I realise that whoever, or whatever, did this could still be around. And then everything went black.
CrashingEverything hurt. I opened my eyes expecting to see the bright sunlit stones that make up Canterlot but instead got the darker ones that make up one of the cities back alleys. I made a sigh of relief. If I had landed in the middle of a street than I probably would have been beaten to death by the ponies that lived there. Or, at very least, deprived of a few minutes of silence. "We could do it Nightfall." I remembered her voice. "Maybe you could, but not me." “No changeling would ever find us." Such a beautiful voice. “I've never even left the hive.” "You're my best friend Night. I can't imagine what the queen would do if she found out." The voice of a goddess. “She won't find out.” I tried to get up but immediately regretted my decision. When I moved my hind leg, I heard an audible crack and I knew I had broken it. I tried to see how bad my injury was but my neck violently protested to movement. My wings literally throbbed in pain but that didn’t surprise me, I already knew they were broken. They didn’t break from the fall but having a hoof slam down on them can have disastrous consequences. With a deep breath, I accepted my fate and realized that all I could do was stay still and hope nopony found me. “HOW DARE YOU NOT REPORT THIS TO ME!” Commander Hellraiser yelled. A punch to the face had knocked me down. “YOU THOUGHT I WOULDN’T FIND OUT!?” I felt a searing pain come from my wing. “YOU SWORE TO PROTECT THE QUEEN AND THEN YOU PULL THIS?!” Another shot of pain. I only looked long enough to see two hoof-sized holes in my wings. "Consider yourself lucky. I need you alive." He gave out a small chuckle. "For now." I passed out. I opened my eyes but I still couldn't move. A low moan started to emanate from beneath me. I must have landed on the changeling sent with me: Crystal. I was too weak to help her. We were friends since we hatched and to me it seemed ironic that we would die together too. After I heard a few more grunts from her, I figured she was trying to talk to me. I was confused by this as changelings prefered to communicate through close range telepathy. Except for the queen of course. She always said that she hated telepathy. "And now I stand here today, announcing this traitor to the hive. And to your majesty." I heard Hellraiser say. I could only open my eyes a little but I knew I was trapped and, based on what hellraiser was saying, being presented as a traitor. Thinking about it, that wasn't far from the truth. "Well done Commander. If I had a higher rank for you, the title would be yours. You have certainly served me well over the years." The queen's voice slipped into my ears. "You however," Her voice was alarmingly close "disappoint me." I heard some hoofsteps leading away from me. "Now commander, would you read the charges." "The charges are as follows: Conspiracy to depart the hive. Conspiracy to help another changeling to depart the hive, failure to report crucial information, failure to perform guardian duties, and failure to respond to questioning." "The changeling: Nightfall, is found guilty on all charges and” The queen’s voice suddenly seemed very grim “is sentenced to death.” “I’m sorry I couldn't save you Nightfall.” Crystal finally managed to cough out. For a moment I felt rage towards her but my anger towards her faded quickly. It wasn’t her fault that I was caught. Nor was it her fault that she felt guilty. When I tried to to respond, I realized why Crystal had chosen to speak. My horn had been severely damaged and a bolt of excruciating pain tore through my entire body. “It’s not your fault.” I wanted to continue the sentence but it started to hurt to breath. With a slow breath I realised how cruel the last day had been. I had woken up with nothing to worry about but now I was dying in the heart of Equestria. "NIGHTFALL NO!" I could recognize that amazing voice anywhere. I was finally able to open my eyes. Unfortunately for me, the second my eyes focused, I got a great view of Crystal being kicked in the face by both of Commander Hellraiser’s back legs. Her body flew across the room and and landed unconscious near the wall. "HOW DARE YOU APPROACH THE QUEEN!" I saw queen Chrysalis clapping her hooves. "Well done commander. I think I'll have to invent a new title for you." The queen walked over to Crystal's unconscious body. "As for these traitors, I think I will test out a new punishment." I saw the queen's horn light green for a moment and then I blacked out. I was amazed that nopony had found us yet. Surely somepony had saw us, surely the crash alone should have alerted the local ponies to our position. Maybe they had heard and the guards were on there way. The thought made me cringe, something black and green with fangs had just dropped from the sky. I don’t think they would be too eager to help us. As the minutes rolled by and my guard theory seemed less likely. If the ponies in the equestrian guard were half as good as the ones from the hive than we should have been found by now. For me, it seemed like a waiting game. I didn’t know whether I would bleed out or be found first. Neither was a pleasant option. "Here we are traitors. High above Equestria's Capitol. I can't wait to see what the ponies of Canterlot will do to you." With that he dropped us. I tried to flap my wings but they were still in searing pain from having holes in them. Suddenly I could feel something pulling at my ankle. I looked up to see Crystal desperately trying to slow our descent but to no use. Even if we both had full wing power, there was no way we could have pulled up in time. So I just stayed there, hoping the ground was less painful than it looked. The area around me seemed to get darker and I couldn’t feel the equestrian sun anymore. Actually I would swear I could see the night stars. A strange voice filled the air and chilled me to the bone. “What hath we found here?”
HurtingBrightness surrounded me. It was far too bright. Closing my eyes, I tried to filter out as much light as possible. I had no luck. No matter how tight I shut my eyes, it was still impossibly bright. It took me a moment to realise that I felt like normal. Based on my previous state of being near death, I had either recovered or was dead. I slowly sat up in the bed I was in. Not dead. The room was far too boring to be heaven and was way too sterile to be hell. I felt disappointed. I felt like I deserved the punishment that had been given to me by Hellraiser and I had been so ready to die that everything just seemed meaningless. And when I looked at the circumstances, it kind of was. Everything I had lived for was gone. I no longer had a home. I had never had any experience outside the hive and this world of pain had unexpectedly been thrust onto me. Even if I was able to somehow make it out of this place, and somehow managed to find the hive, I would be killed on sight. Not that it mattered anyway. I was sent to die, and that is what I planned to do. I no longer had any friends. My only true friend had died beneath me. If only I had listened to her, then I wouldn’t be worrying about what was to come. I wished I could see her again. And I would. If I could find a method of death. I no longer had purpose. I had been hatched to defend the hive and now I would never see those dimly lit hallways again. Even if I wasn’t meant to be a guard, which had been the purpose of my broods hatching, what was I supposed to do? I had no special talents. I had been wandering around, protecting the same corridors all my life and I was the exact same as everyone else hatched with me. None of us had any ability to adapt. Somewhat ironic coming from a changeling. My inability to adapt was also hurting me directly. I couldn't think of a creative method of suicide. I got up to look around the room. If I could find a shard of glass or some sharp object, then it would end quickly. I had no such luck. The entire room was clean with nothing in it, except the bed I had been in earlier, and a shelf that had nothing on it. The door was locked and I started to get annoyed of the unnaturally beige wallpaper the covered all of the walls. I even tried breaking the window, from which the blinding light was coming, but it must have been made of some enchanted material as it didn’t even crack. “You don’t even know what they are!” A mare’s voice came from beyond the door. I got up and put my right ear next to the door and tried to listen. “They were injured! What were we supposed to do?” Another female voice appeared. “Not bring them to the castle.” The first mare sounded condescending. “The hospital was across the city.” The second mare defended. “Where do you think the doctors came from?” The first mare sounded agitated. “What doth thou have against these creatures?” Doth? “Why do you insist on keeping them here in the castle.” The mare’s voice seemed to louden. “Are thou not curious why they are here?” The second mare still seemed defensive. “I would be less curious if they weren’t in the castle. As for now I am worried about the safety of everypony that lives here.” The first mare seemed angry but still somewhat calm. “We win.” The second mare chuckled. “What?” The first voice seemed slightly confused. “Thou did not respond in the form of a question.” “Would you stop being so childish.” I swear I could hear an eyeroll. “Childish? Is moving the sun to scare thy student considered ‘adult’?” “I was trying to teach her a lesson.” The first mare suddenly seemed defensive. “Sure thou were.” A second eyeroll could be heard. “Can we return to the issue at hoof?” The first mare obviously changing the subject. “Fine. Give us one reason that we cannot simply wait and see what happens with these creatures.” The second mare seemed very serious. “Because... Because...” I heard some hoofsteps leading away from the door. “Why sister?” The hoofsteps stopped. “Because the last time the last time I waited, I...“ The voice trailed off. “What is it sister?” I almost couldn’t hear her voice. “The last time I waited, I lost you.” I heard some crying but I couldn’t tell who’s voice it was coming from. “Nothing like that will happen sister. I assure you nothing, absolutely nothing of the sort will ever happen again.” The second voice comforted. “I’m sorry for bringing that up Luna. I just can’t lose you again.” The first mare replied. “And you won’t sister.” I could hear some more hoofsteps. I couldn’t tell if they were getting closer or farther away from the door. When the door handle started to turn, I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I should be hiding but I didn’t see any point. With any luck, my appearance would scare the mare coming in enough to, maybe, put me out of my misery. A strange blue mare entered the room. Or at least I thought she was strange. I had never actually seen a pony before. Sure I had studied their culture as a hatchling but I didn’t remember seeing anything about their manes looking like the night sky. For that matter, this one seemed a lot larger than I had been expecting. I was told they were about changeling size but that didn’t seem so. “Oh, so thou has awoken.” The mare said. “It seems we have underestimated thou ability to recover.” I just stood there, staring at this mare. I felt like I should do something but I couldn't decide whether to make a break for it or try to talk to the pony. "Oh we forgot to ask. Can you understand us?" I was going to answer her question but I couldn't find the words. Something about this mare made my thoughts silence. "This creates difficulties. Perhaps something of thou may be found in the library." The pony started to leave. "No wait!" I blurted out. I didn't know why but I didn't want her to leave. Maybe it was because she wasn’t afraid of me. Maybe it was because she seemed to care about me. Or maybe it was because her mere presence in the room was giving me strength. She stopped in her tracks. "Why did thou not respond when we questioned thee previously?" I didn't know. Again, I couldn’t find any words. She turned and looked into my eyes. I could see that she was both curious and annoyed by my non-vocal response. “Why do you appear to act like stone while seen?” “I...I...” No words came to me. “Or was it the sight of our flank that got thee speaking?” My hooves felt like they were made of ice. I wanted to hide or even to avoid her gaze but I just couldn’t move. Her patience was starting to waver, and she started to pace. Her hooves made almost silent taps whenever touching the tile floor. As she made circles around me, I could almost feel her annoyance turn to anger. It was a slow process that seemed to take forever but I could see her temper rise. The sounds her hooves made seemed to increase exponentially. The more her anger increased, the less I dared to speak. She was running out of patience and I could feel her rage bursting at the seams. “GAUH! SAY SOMETHING OR WE WILL HAVE OUR GUARDS TAKE THEE TO OUR DUNGEONS!” I said nothing. I was too scared to. “GUARDS GET IN HERE!” She stood there for a second and we were both looking at the door. Nothing happened. “We said GUARDS GET IN HERE!” Two smaller white ponies with golden armour and blue manes scrambled into the room. They were about the size I was expecting for a pony. This raised a few questions about the mare in the room but I didn’t have time to put words to them. “What do you need your highness?” Both of them bowing. “Nevermind, both of thou are fired. Find somepony to replace thee on the way out.” “But Princess!” “WE SAID OUT!” Both the armoured ponies left the room in the same manner in which the entered. I giggled. "Great guards you have." "Those two weren't fit to guard the... Did thou just speak?" "Uh, I guess I did." I scratched the back of my head for no other reason than I could think of anything else to do. "Took thee long enough. Now, doth thou feel up to answering why thee would not respond to our earlier questions?” “It was mostly just fear.” “Ah, being in a strange land can do that to a pony.” I started to relax. It seemed odd to me. Within a matter of moments this mare had me from thinking about suicide to being somewhat comfortable. “Oh, we almost forgot. Our name is Princess Luna but please call us Luna.” “Okay Luna. Our name- My name is Nightfall.” Luna giggled. A small foalish giggle as if I had uttered a joke. “Uh, is my name funny?” “No, its just uh, no.” She started looking around awkwardly as if desperately looking for an alternate . This was made even more awkward by me somewhat staring at her. After a moment she finally looked back at me and suddenly had the look of “I just had the best idea”. She strangely looked up, paused for a moment, then back to me. “We thought there was supposed to be an illumination device above somepony’s head once they had a brilliant idea. Anyway our sister would kill us if we did not ask this. What exactly are thou?” “I am a changeling.” “Odd, we have been doing an extensive amount of all the history of all cultures surrounding and never once have we come across even a mention of a changeling.” “That would be because we are a secretive race. Within my knowledge very few changelings actually leave the hive.” “Well that should suffice my sister for now. We have some other royal duties that we must attend to. Goodbye Nightfall.” The princess left the room. The feeling of darkness slowly crept back into my mind. It started with little seeds. Seeds like missing Crystal. Seeds like missing my warm cocoon. But like all seeds, these feelings grew. The feelings of guilt were the first to bear fruit. I was responsible for the death of my only friend. I was responsible for her staying in the hive and I was responsible for dragging her to her fate. All I wanted to do was crawl into my cocoon and die. I wished. Even my cocoon was a long ways away. The best I could do was crawl into bed and cry. I didn’t feel like crawling into bed though. I felt like wandering my halls of the hive. My halls were the barren almost forgotten halls. Nothing came down those halls and they were too far from any entrance to have any intruders in them. I had a rather nice time guarding them but now all I had was a dull beige room. I still couldn’t shake the guilt. If only I had left with her when I had the chance. If only I could have stopped her from trying to save me. It was my fault that I had let her secret slip and my punishment was justified for betraying the hive. If only I could see her again. I would jump out the window to see her again. The window suddenly became my center of attention. I could see something I hadn’t noticed before. A latch at the bottom of the window was keeping it closed. All it would take was a little magic and the ground was waiting for me. Cheering for me to do it. I was at the window. I was lifting the latch. I was on the window sill. I was staring at the ground. It seemed so inviting. Like it wanted a hug. Oddly enough I had no second thoughts. No voice at the back of my head telling me not to. It was just me and the ground. I closed my eyes and began to lean forward. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!” I recognised the voice. It was her voice. As quickly as I could I spun around and saw Crystal in the doorframe. The next thing I knew I was hugging her. She was alive. “Crystal, I thought you were dead. I’m so glad you’re not.” I was so glad to see her again. Seeing her was like a dose of sugar. I felt like bouncing off the walls and celebrating. “Didn’t Luna tell you I was okay?” “Not a single word.” If only she had. It would have saved me a lot of guilt. “I’m glad she told me about you then.” “I’m glad too.” I was extremely excited but glad just seemed to fit. “So want to explore the castle? Luna said we could.” Castle? “What?” “Do you know where we are?” “Not a clue.” I hadn’t really asked and I hadn’t had any experienced anything outside the hive. “We are in Canterlot Castle. You must have seen on any visit to.. Oh.” “Oh what?” I knew the answer but it was best to let Crystal to finish her train of thought. It was far too easy to distract her. “Forgot you aren’t, uh, weren’t a scout like me. Everywhere in Equestria and any surrounding areas, you can see Canterlot Castle. It’s amazing!” “And you want to explore?” “I’ve been in the castle before but it was always disguised as snobby ponies. Not that being snobby isn’t fun. This one time, at the Grand Galloping Gala, I was disguised as some prince and I had a competition with myself to see how rude I could be. I completely ruined his reputation and made a mare absolutely freak out at me. It was awesome. So can we go explore? Please?” “Fine.” No sooner than when I spoke, we were out in the hallway. The bright stone and the windows contrasted greatly with what I had know in the hive. The entire hive is underground, lit by glowing green stones so it has an eerie feel at all times. As we wandered aimlessly through the corridors, I started to take in how big this castle was. The walls were lined with doors. It seemed impossible for all of these doors to lead to individual rooms and not have most of the furniture with to be covered in endless amounts of dust and spiderwebs. “And that’s how I got Celestia’s addicted to tea!” We laughed. I wasn’t really participating in the conversation but Crystal had always been much more talkative than me. “Then there was the time I impersonated a dragon..” “I’ve heard this one before.” “Aww but I like this one.” She sounded so disappointed. I swear I saw a tear come from her eye. She was too good at acting. “Okay tell it.” I said with a grin. I knew that’s exactly what she wanted me to say but her stories were always pretty funny. She said nothing. I stood and looked around. Nothing. Nopony was around. I couldn’t hear a single hoofstep nor a screech of a door closing. I was alone again. I started desperately looking down the halls. Nothing still. The halls were barren. I was ready to give up. “You think we lost the other one?” “No, now shut up or it’ll hear you.” The voices came from beyond the door to my right. I slowly approached the door. With one swift movement I kicked the door down. Standing in the middle of, what looked to be, a bedroom stood two white ponies with blue manes. One of them was holding her mouth to prevent Crystal from speaking. “See what you’ve done!” The one not holding Crystal slapped the other. “Now it’s found us.” “How is it my fault?!” “How is it not your fault?!” The pony turned to face me. “However now that you’re here you’re going to give us information. Otherwise this one gets it.” “Let her go.” “It’s a girl? Well then, you answer our questions or else your little mare friend here gets it. First of all, which one of you cost us our jobs?” “Were you Luna’s guards? If so that would be me.” I was stalling, I just need some time to think. “Is that so.” he looked at the other pony. “Take care of the girl, then help me with this one.” With a great bout of strength he lunged at me. A huge mistake. I merely dodged to the left and let him faceplant into the floor. I was then left to take on his partner. He tried to defend himself but, with one of his hooves occupied with Crystal, he was left to my mercy. With a thud, the wall was hit with the second pony. Both got up rubbing their heads. They started to circle Crystal and me. Crystal was still too scared to move. I had to defend her but I couldn’t keep them both in my sights. They just kept circling looking for an opening. In an instant everything changed. Both attempted to attack, one went high and the other went low. The one that went high had jumped and was attempting to crush me with his knee. The other was trying a slide tackle. They made it almost too easy. With one swift movement, I pushed Crystal out of the way and lept into the air. Crystal was just of the way of the flying knee and I was able to narrowly dodge the slide tackle. By the time they realised they had missed their targets it was too late. The collided in a mess of flailing limbs and screams of pain but it wasn’t over. I was still in the air and had just enough time to buck whichever one was on top in the face. I stood there, looking at the heap of flesh. I let a grin come to my face. “WHAT HATH HAPPENED HERE!?” I turned around to see Princess Luna standing in the doorway. My grin was gone.
ChangingI tried to listen to Crystal. I really did. I just couldn’t focus. Only moments ago, I had beaten down two royal guards in front of Princess Luna and been sent to the room given to me. All I could do was sit down and think about what punishment I would get. That and try to listen to Crystal. “So I turned into this MASSIVE dragon and was like ‘RAWWWR’!” Crystal jumped on the bed to emphasize the roar. I was still only half paying attention. “That’ll teach the mean griffon to call me uncool. Hey, are you even listening!?” “Uh, yeah sure.” I lied. “What did I just say?” “Something about a dragon being uncool?” Crystal grunted. “Close enough. So why are you so mopey anyway. You were awesome back there. Like a ninja.” She started flinging her arms around like she had a pair of nunchucks. “You’re kidding me right. We, uh, I just beat up two of Luna’s guards. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble we’re in?” “None whatsoever. If we were in trouble, we would have been sent to jail.” “I highly doubt that. This is a princess of Equestria. Who knows what she could do? She could send us to the moon for all we know.” “That happens one time and suddenly it’s some common punishment.” Crystal mumbled. “Anyway it doesn’t matter because we aren’t in trouble.” “Why aren’t we in trouble? Actually, what were you saying about being sent to the moon being common punishment?” “We aren’t in trouble because they would have to charge us with something. We haven’t done anything wrong.” “How about assault, on one hoof.” “Self defence. Trust me, I know.” A new voice filled the room. “What doth thou know?” Princess Luna was standing in the doorway. In my mind she was wearing a black cloak and carrying a scythe but I’m sure that was just my imagination. One word from her and I could be executed or worse. I tried to prepare myself. The window was closed and the Princess was blocking the only other exit. I was trapped. “Self defence!” Crystal said enthusiastically. “No wait. Yes. Self defence. Or kind of self defence. Not at all really but Nighty here knows all about it. He was a guard back at the hive.” “Thou were Nightfall? That doth explain a great amount. We actually came here to discuss thy actions and that is a big piece of the puzzle. But there are still things to discuss and our sister is insisting that I make a decree here.” “Oh oh oh oh ho.” Crystal was bouncing around the room. “What kind of decree? Like bananas are only to be eaten on sundays? Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Bowties are cool! That can’t be it, they have always been cool” Normally I would have stopped Crystal at some point but I figured the longer she talked the more time I had to live. I tried to keep quiet and just let Crystal distract as long as possible. “No, Crystal. We just need to reinforce the severity of what thou have done. Two highly trained members of the Royal Guard now lay in the infirmary thanks to thy actions. This leaves me with no personal guards and two ponies I am furious at.” “Uh Luna. We aren’t Ponies we are Changelings. See Pony, Changelings, Pony, Changeling.” Crystal kept changing into somepony and back. Trying to prove her point. Luna seemed amazed for a second. The green flames coming from crystal lit up her face well. “We did not know thou could change shape. We knew thou were called changelings but we did not think it meant you could change to this extent. However, we did not mean to give the impression that we are aggravated at thee. I am aggravated that two royal guards would ponynap somepony. Especially if that somepony is of a species that was previously unheard of. They will be dealt with severely. Which brings us to our second problem. We wish that both of you to replace those two imbeciles as my guards.” "Did I just hear you right? I thought you just asked us to be royal guards." "Of course we did Nightfall. We need the best and thou already managed to defeat the previous champions." "That would be SO cool. Me and Nighty acting guard-like and stuff. It sounds awesome." "But Luna. Why us? We only just arrived and ..." I trailed off. I couldn't think of anything else. "I already said thou are the best. Also I like the idea of having guards that could change into dragons at will. It will make 'Tia so jealous." "This is going to be absolutely amazing! Just one question Luna.” “Feel free to speak thy mind Crystal.” “How do you be a guard?” It was starting to get dark. The sun had been reduced to an orange arch in my window and I started to feel a little more comfortable. The sun didn’t bother me but the darker it became, the more I was reminded of home. I was still in my allotted room, sitting on my bed. Luna requested we start our training at night because of her regular sleep cycle, so I still had a few hours to kill before training started. Crystal had gone back to her room to “prepare” whatever that meant so I was left to my thoughts and the little piece of paper that Luna had given me. All that was on the paper was directions to somewhere in the castle. Luna hadn’t bothered to mention exactly what we would find. It had already been a substantial amount of time and I had been bored almost from the start. Eventually my boredom and curiosity took the better of me. I started to follow the directions I had been given. I walked down the corridors of the castle becoming even more bored of the endless amounts of plain wooden doors. All the doors looked identical giving no indication of what may be inside. I knew ponies came in many shapes, sizes and colours but every door had a clone of the standard issue white guard beside it. Eventually I came to a set much bigger doors than the rest. It seemed out of place looking several times older than all the other doors and oddly with no guards beside it. With it towering above me I hesitated for a second and looked at my list of instructions. ‘Step 13: Pass through the big doors (you’ll know them when you see them).’ As I passed through the doors I found myself smiling. The hallway I had entered was very dark and lit by torches hung on the walls. These hallways had stone that, unlike the stone on the other side of the door, looked almost falling apart. Cobwebs littered the ceiling and overall made the whole place look more like a cave. It felt like home. Time flew by as I finished following the directions. I had been guided to the only door in the dark hallways that seemed to have a light on inside. In fact it was just about the only door I could see in the hallways. I checked my instructions one more time and started to open the door. I quickly stopped myself as I heard voices coming from beyond the door. “YOU MADE THEM YOUR ROYAL GUARDS!” “Thou seems mad sister. Perhaps thou needs some time to cool down.” I recognized Luna’s voice. “Calm is the last thing from my mind Luna! What were you thinking when you made them guards!?” “We were thinking that they would be perfect replacements for the pathetic excuse for guards we had previously.” “Did you even think that maybe they have a home to go back to? Maybe they can’t be your guards.” “I spent the afternoon discussing it with them. They accepted.” “I can’t believe that they just decided to be your guards and not return to wherever they came from.” “The female, Crystal, told me that they were ejected from their hive. The couldn’t return home if they wanted to.” “THEY’RE WANTED CRIMINALS! WHY LUNA?” “They didn’t say.” “And you let them become guards anyway. They should be lucky that they aren’t wanted criminals in Equestria.” “To be fair it was not their fault that those guards kidnapped Crystal.” “I guarantee you Luna. This will not end well with those things as your guards.” “You also guaranteed us that the previous guards were some of the best in Canterlot.” Instead of a response I saw a flash of bright light come from under the door. “Typical ‘Tia. Magic away when things get serious.” I took a second to weigh my options. I could either head back to my room or enter the room. I entered the room. I was expecting guards quarters or a training room. What I found was a rather large bedroom. Across the room from me was a large telescope in which Luna was looking out of. “What’cha lookin’ at.” I jumped. Crystal had said that rather loud and I hadn’t even realised she was there. “Nothing much.” Luna replied. “Just trying to correct a few things that my sister managed to mess up within the past thousand years. She had an entire shelf in the library dedicated to star maps and she still managed to misaligned most of my constellations. But on to business.” “Business like me becoming a ninja. I can’t wait!” I rolled my eyes. “Crystal. We already told you that being a guard does not mean you become a ninja.” “Awe. But I spent almost an hour reading about them.” “We have to agree with Nightfall here. As per our sister’s request, most of your time will be spent by our side.” “Wait.” Crystal spoke. “If most of our time will be spent with you. What will the rest of our time be spent on?” “Looking menacing of course. This is actually the reason I brought you both here. I am hoping that if you look like ponies, then maybe our sister won’t be so against the idea. Seeing as her reaction was already worse than I thought it would be.” I felt little nervous. I almost didn’t hear what Crystal said. “But princess. Nightfall hasn’t actually transformed yet. He would be learning the skill from scratch.The first time I transformed I was going for a parasprite and I ended up a fly.” “Thanks for telling us Crystal. One second.” With a small puff of smoke, some popcorn and a comfortable looking chair appeared behind Luna. “Okay try transforming Nightfall.” I started to try transforming. I focused on what I wanted to look like. I clearly remembered a guard. Bright white coat. Shining blue mane. Golden armour. I had the image burned into my mind. I concentrated as hard as I could. “Mind if I have some princess?” Crystal asked. “Not at all, help thyself.” Green flames passed my body. I could feel my shell turning to flesh and fur. I didn’t expect it to hurt but as I grew in size slightly it felt like I was being stretched. As my chest turned to metal it hurt even more. Trying to become the armour was a bad idea. Finally the flames passed above my eyes. I could see differently, my new eyes seemed to dislike the light but once I was able to focus I could see Crystal and Luna. They were laughing.
GuardingI looked at myself. I felt humiliated. I was going for a guard. I wanted to be a guard. Even at a distance anypony could see I wasn’t a guard. Not a single colour on my was correct. What was supposed to be a bright white coat, ended up being a light grey. My armour ended up a purple/blue instead of a solid gold. And that was the least of my worries. “How did you give yourself bat wings?!?” Crystal managed to yell out in between bouts of laughter. Crystal was on the floor. Luna was quietly snickering in her chair. I tried to inspect my wings more but they felt really stiff. With a little energy I managed to open them only to realise my mistake. “And you made them out of metal! I didn’t even know we could do that!” More laughter followed. How did I manage to make my wings part of my armour. Somehow I had managed to make fully functioning metal wings. How was I supposed to fly. Nothing with metal wings flies. As soon as I got over the shock, I changed back. My first instinct was to run. Quickly turning to the door, I closed my eyes and went into a full sprint. I just wanted to be somewhere else but Luna seemed to have different ideas. I couldn’t see it but I assume she teleported in front of me because we made a spectacular crash. "Why did thou try to leave?" Luna said as she lifted herself back up. "We are not done with thy training yet." "But I..." I trailed off. "Thou made an amusing mistake. We expected as much. However it is one thing to make a mistake but it is another to to try to run from it." "Wow Luna. That sounded somewhat poetic." Crystal mentioned. "We guess our sister is rubbing off on us." "So you want me to try again?" "Actually we kind of like this shape. Much more menacing and a lot less elegant. Crystal do you think you could replicate Nightfall's look?" "With ease." A flash of green and and another creature stood in the room. "Excellent, I now dub both of thee lunar guards." Several hours later Crystal and I stood outside Luna's bed chambers on either side of the door. It was daytime but Luna was sleeping. Our first duty as lunar guards was to protect her while she slept. I stood perfectly still as I was taught but Crystal... "I spy with my little-" "quiet Crystal." "But-" "quiet." "What if I-" "quiet." "Stop saying-" "quiet." "You just finished my sent-" "I did not finish your sentence, I was telling you to be quiet." "But it sounded like-" "I know what it sounded like, just be quiet." "Why?" "We need to be able to hear if anypony is in the room." "What are the odds of that happening?" "Slim to none but if it does happen we need to be prepared. It could be an assassin, a ponyknapper or even a changeling after us." "Look who's the one talking now." "Just be-" I thought I heard something from behind the wall. "Just be what?" "quiet, I think I heard something." "Let's go in then." I was going to stop Crystal but before I could she had already opened the door. Standing inside was a tall pony female. Even taller than Luna. She was bright white in colour and had a mane that flowed in an imaginary breeze (though not as beautiful as Luna's). "I guess you are better then I gave you credit for." "Who are you and why are you in Princess Luna's bedroom?" "I am Princess Celestia. Luna's older sister." "I am so glad to meet you. I'm Crystal. I was bored out of my mind standing by that door. Now that you're here I don't have to be bored." "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I should be leaving soon. But before I go, could I get your name?" She looked right at me. I was going to introduce myself but Crystal beat me to it. "That's Nightfall, but you can call him Nighty for short." "Interesting name, I don't believe it is often somepony is named after my sisters night." "Actually He-" I cut Crystal off. I thought I could give my own intro. "As Crystal was saying, I wasn't named after the night. I was named after the rock." "The rock?" "She's a pony. She doesn't know about the meteor." "Why didn't you use telepathy before?" "Cuz. But we do need to tell her the story." "Anything you wish to share?" Celestia stood there patiently. "No, it's just an old changeling story." I replied. "A really really really old story." "Would you mind sharing this story with me?" "Sure. It all starts on a dark and stormy night." "Crystal wait." I interjected. "One, you are not telling the story about MY name and two, why should we trust her? From what I've heard she is has been arguing with Luna about us every chance she gets." "Actually I can explain that." We both turned to Celestia. "Let me guess, you were fake arguing." I said with an eye roll. "That isn't far from the truth. You see Luna hasn't been herself for a while. She doesn't speak to people. She quietly sits in her room. She hasn't even been visiting dreams." "She can visit dreams?" "She can but she hasn't been. I have been arguing with her to try to get her to react. I'm trying to get a reaction. I’m trying to teach her that she can stand up to me. I have had no problems with my sisters actions. In fact, I agree with most of them. I just want her back. " "So you thought that arguing with her would give her confidence?" I criticized her. "When you say it that way it seems unrealistic. So far it has been working. She has been wandering outside the castle, she has made some friends and sentenced two ponies to prison in her own court. It has definitely brought her confidence back. However I remember you were about to tell a story." "Very well." "A long time ago, on a dark and stormy night. Thunder could be heard overhead and the sound of rain was almost as deafening. A lone unicorn ran in the forest. She was fast and showing no signs of slowing down even though her mare was becoming soaked. She was scared. The forest was a strange place to her and she was far from home. She continued to run. She had no idea where she was going but she had to find shelter. She didn’t stop running. She may have been the most lucky mare in the world. Had she run a different way she would have burned. Had she stopped to catch her breath she would have burned. Had the meteor not fell at that exact spot, she would have burned. With a perfect storm of circumstances, the heavens opened up and a ball of fire fell from the heavens.The meteor crashed into her. Luckily with an incredible burst of magic she shielded herself for only a fraction of a second. That fraction of a second was when everything changed. The forest was gone. It just wasn’t there. A new desert stretched on for miles. But that sad wounded mare was trapped under the boulder. It was luck by which that mare survived the meteor but it was by magic by which she survived the following weeks. The meteor seemed to feed her. To change her. She still looked the same but she felt different. She couldn’t tell how but she felt it. Three months had passed when she had gained enough energy to escape and even that was with help. The stallion that helped saved her was average. Though changeling know him as legend. The only knowledge of him was that his mane shared the primal colours of the changelings. He was kind and so he took the mare to his nearby shelter and provided her a home. Over two years later the two seemingly average ponies were married and eleven months after that their first foal was born. It wasn't welcome. The newborn foal was dark and terrifying to look at. It had a shell like an insect and fangs like a bat. A horn raised off the top of its head and its wings were not of pony. They cast out their child and left it to rot in the desert. However, like her mother, she found shelter with the meteor. Over time she burrowed into it. Starting a cave system that would last millennia. Years passed and the child grew. She greatly surpassed her parents in height. She grew in magic as well. She considered herself a powerful sorceress, even though she had never know any other magic users. And she lived on, needing almost nothing to survive. Only then did her father return. He was teary eyed and dragging his wife's coffin. He had intended to beset her where he had found her but he returned to find a cave. It was at that point she began to manipulate him. She used him to expand her catacombs and with time, she used him as a power source. He loved her as a child but she began to change that. Only a month after his arrival and his heart was drained of love and he lay as still as his wife. They were buried together. He may have been dead but his legacy lived on. She soon laid her first eggs and a new race was born. "The changelings called that meteor nightfall. Not the most complicated of names but it seems to fit." "And then a long long long time later Nighty was named after it." Crystal added. "Well I believe that is enough story time for tonight." Celestia commented. "You two better return to your post before you wake up my sister." "Too late 'Tia, Thou woke us up halfway through the meteor story." A flash of white light and Celestia was gone from the bedroom. "Because that will help us get back to sleep." "I'm sorry for waking you." I said. "Tis nothing, I really do not need to sleep. Tis only relaxing." "Uhm Luna if you don't mind." Crystal hesitated. "Could you let me get some sleep. I'm not used to being a guard yet." I almost held my breath. Not that Crystal wasn't a good guard but she didn't get the concept of quiet. "Yes thou can sleep. Be ready for duty tomorrow." I took a few steps towards the door with Crystal. My post was outside the bedroom door, so that was where I was heading. "Where doth thou think thou are going Nightfall?" Crystal kept going. "I was just returning to my post." I replied. "Nonsense. We don't feel like going back to sleep yet. Why don't thou keep us company?" "Are you sure?" "Of course we are sure. Come on Nightfall, come lay by our side in our bed." I briefly thought about it and came to the result: Why not? A quick stroll across the room and I was at her bed. A small leap and I was in bed. It was a very soft bed. I was used to the hard floors of the hive but somehow simply sinking into the bed was the most relaxing thing I had ever done. "Peaceful, is it not?" I didn't speak. I could only muster up the energy to nod in delight. "Come closer, I want to show you something." I moved a little bit closer. We were both relaxing when I saw the soft glow of her horn. In a matter of seconds the room was lit up. It started with a few dots on the ceiling. They all glowed ever so slightly. Those dots multiplied and multiplied and multiplied.The entire room was filled with these small glowing dots. "Amazing isn't it? We helped design it a long time ago. It is a perfect replica of our night sky. This is the best star map in all of Equestria." "It's beautiful." And we both peacefully fell into a silent slumber.
TouringI had a beautiful dream that night. I was in a cave. It was a rather nice cave. It was my cave. The cave I had known my entire life. Every few meters grew a glowing mushroom and so the cave was covered in a pleasant green light. I wandered the caverns without a care in the world. I was doing what I was born to do. I was doing what I was raised to do and I was doing what I loved to do. I protected the hive. Like any other night on my patrol, the caves were completely empty. A peaceful night. Everything was like I remembered. Exactly as I remembered and I remembered every detail. When one walks the same caverns for years, those caverns tend to stay in one's memory. Only one stone seemed out of place. A small blue stone close to the floor. Any other pony or changling that passed by would have overlooked it. I couldn't overlook it. Every other detail was perfect but this small stone was out of place. After a few seconds of inspection I tried to pick it up but it was far too heavy. This small blue rock must have weighed a ton but it was no bigger than a pebble. "Ow. Stop thy touching!" The stone spoke. I was stunned for a second, this was a talking rock after all. "Luna?" I asked. "How did thou know?" "The 'thy' kind of gave it away." A flash of blue light filled the cave before fading back to green. "Nay, before that. Thou seemed to notice us from a distance. We thought our disguise was perfect and yet thou spotted us with ease." "I've been walking these halls for years. They always look exactly the same. A small blue stone stands out." "Why have thou been wandering these halls for so long?" "A while back Queen Chrysalis feared an invasion of diamond dogs. When the new brood was hatched, a few of them were put in charge of guarding some of the outlying tunnels." "So thou were born into this role?" "No changeling is born without a purpose. Just sometimes that purpose disappears." "Like thy purpose?" "Yes, however I got lucky. I worked so far out from the main hive that almost no changeling noticed me. Had anyling payed too much attention, they would of noticed how pointless I was and I would have been executed." "For not doing thy job correctly?" "For being a waste of resources." "That is barbaric!" "You, actually I guess both of us, live in a world where there is plenty to go around. In the hive, where food is scarce, any unused personnel is a drain to everyling." "Was Crystal another one of the lucky ones?" "Not even close, her breed is in high demand." "Her breed?" "Each changeling has biological enhancements depending on what job they were born for. Each job has it's own breed of changlings. I am a guard built with a stronger exoskeleton and a mind that handles well under pressure. Crystal is a scout. Her job is to go outside the hive under direct orders of the queen and retrieve some food." "What does thou eat anyway." "We don't eat anything. Our food source is the love we collect from other species." "We are confused. If thy species feeds off the love of other species, why have we never heard of thine species before?" "The queen is very strict about who makes it out of the hive. In her mind, if word of our species got out, we would all perish. I think she is out of her mind. If we could hunt for ourselves, I don't think any of us would go hungry." "We are not sure. Thou are a rather scary looking race all together. I don't know how many would accept thee. We had three sets of doctors refuse to operate on you based on thy appearance." "I think I need to thank you for that still. The doctors that did operate must have cared a lot. Only a great dose of love could have helped me recover." "Actually both thine surgery and Crystals were performed personally by us. After so many ponies wasted our time. We took matters into our own hooves." "I guess I owe you a lot then. I am forever in your debt." "Please don't mention that to 'Tia. We are not supposed to interfere in the affairs of mortals." "Your secret is safe." "Thank thee Nightfall. Now we believe we shall be off. Have a good night." "Wait. Luna, if you would like I could give you a tour of my old hive. Uhm, show you more about the changling race." "As long as we are not a bother." After that we wandered the halls of the hive. I pointed out a few interesting places such as the place I was born and the place I met Crystal. It was actually the throne room that caught me by surprise. One detail I was not expecting. "Why is there a crater in the wall?" Luna asked politely. I knew why. It was where Crystal had been kicked by Hellraiser. I was stunned by the simple crater. That crater was the reason I had been sent to Canterlot. It brought back the fear I had. The desperation of that day and the hatred of Hellraiser. Everything about that day stung. "Are thou alright?" "Yes, it's just. That is Crystal." "How can that be Crystal?" "Sorry, it's not. When I was standing trial Crystal stepped up to try and save me. One good kick from Hellraiser and she made that crater." "Hellraiser? You never mentioned that changling before." "There is good reason for that. He's Commander Hellraiser. He is second in command to Queen Chrysalis and has direct control over the changling army, special ops teams, and guards." "What made this Hellraiser so terrible." "He is basically an extended reach of Chrysalis. Every order she says, he is right there with the whip. Metaphorically and sometimes literally." "How did he come to be Chrysalis's right hoof?" "I don't know. Most changelings don't die of natural causes. Most die when they outlive their usefulness. Hellraiser happens to be one of the oldest changelings alive. I don't know if he even knows his age. As long as anyone can remember, he has been at Chrysalis's side." "I am sorry Nighty. I would love to spend more time with you but the night has begun and we need to wake up." Luna quickly faded out of existence and the world around me faded with it. I was left in a field of darkness. I woke up very slowly. I didn't even have the energy to open my eyes at first. So I just lay there hugging my blankets. They were so soft, like a teddy bear. I wish I could have stayed in that semi-asleep bliss. "Nightfall, thou can let go of us any time." My eyes burst open. I was in Luna's bed hugging her like a child's plaything. Only a second passed and I was able to snap out of my sleepy state. Only a second more to scramble out of hugging Luna and propel myself backwards out of the bed. Luna laughed. "We said 'thou can let go', not 'we are a vampony'. However thy reaction was more entertaining than we originally expected." "Sorry Luna. I thought I was hugging blankets and I was so sleepy and I ..." I quietly trailed off as I picked myself off the floor. "So thou are saying that we are not worth hugging." "No. I didn't say that. I was just saying that-" "Shhh Nightfall. We jest. We know what thou meant." Luna interrupted me. "So what now?" I asked. "We have a surprise for Crystal and thee. We shall fetch Crystal and then inform both of thou of our suprise. "Okay then. Where should I meet you and Crystal?" "Are thou not coming with us?" She questioned me. I was confused. "I thought you were going to teleport away and get Crystal." "That would be a big invasion of privacy. Teleporting in on somepony unexpected especially into a bedroom. Trust us, 'Tia taught us that lesson very well." I obviously chose to go with her. We wandered down a few corridors and got to the cleaner side of the castle. The castle seemed very different from the previous night. For one thing the halls were littered with ponies whereas the previous night there were none. Maybe I wasn't raised right, but I thought ponies went around practically nude most of the time, yet all the ponies we past seemed to all be wearing various ridiculous pieces of clothing. It wasn't very long before we reached Crystal's room. We knocked on the door and after getting a response from Crystal, entered the room. "Hi guys! Great night tonight." Crystal expressed with just a little to much excitement. "Thank thee. We made sure to make it extra special tonight." "Why is that Luna?" "What do thou know of Nightmare Night?" "It's this awesome celebration were ponies dress up in really weird costumes." I could tell from Crystal's excitement she really liked Nightmare Night. "And they go around pranking each other and giving out candy. Then they choose a statue and dump some of their candy on it." "Well, close enough. This year we are going to be making an appearance. After last year's failure in this city, we are going to be trying Ponyville." "So what are we waiting for?" I asked. “I don’t like this.” I said as I unhooked myself from the carriage. We had already landed in ponyville and Luna decided she didn’t want us around. “Oh come on Nighty. The Princess told us to have fun. What do you want to do?” Crystal asked while gesturing toward a cotton candy stand. “We really should check on Luna.” “We really should go get some candy. Come on, everyone will be amazed by our costumes.” I rolled my eyes. “We aren’t wearing costumes.” “That’s why they are so believable. Besides, Luna specifically told us she didn’t need our help.” While that was true, I still didn't want to leave Luna alone. “Couldn’t it be some kind of test?” “Absolutely. Wait, no. Actually, I'm gonna go with a definite maybe.” “So we go find Luna?” Not sure how to respond to crystal’s answer. “Sure. Maybe she went to get some cotton candy!” Crystal ran off. I ended up following Crystal. I really didn’t want to but I didn’t know anything about ponies or about the town I was in. I didn’t even know which way Luna went. Even though Crystal was only gone a few seconds. I found her with a heart attack’s worth of junk food. “Want some?” Crystal asked. “How did you get so much food?” I said while slightly confused. “It’s Nightmare Night.” “But you were only gone for like ten seconds.” My confusion was not cleared up. “Oh, this pink pony with a bunch of children ran by and dropped some of their candy.” “Shouldn’t you give it back?” “I would but I already ate it.” I was about to question her but before I could, she essentially absorbed the food she had with her mouth. I debated testing the limits of my jaw for a second but decided against it. Sometimes Crystal is one of a kind. “Wait what is that?” Crystal suddenly looked away. “I didn’t hear anything.” I responded. “There was definitely a Gwaa Thwump sound over there.” “What kind of sound?” “It sounded like somepony very surprised and then fainting.” “How could you possible know what that sounds like?” I asked skeptically. "I had a pony walk in on me whilst in my changeling form. But never mind that, somepony might need our help!" She dashed off immediately. I was quick to follow. A wall of bushes blocked our path, with a small struggle I pushed past them and came to a small clearing. There were only two noteworthy things in the entire clearing. The first being a pony fainted on the ground. From what I could tell it was a she and she was white with purple hair. However that was the least of my worries. In front of me lay Crystal. She was sprawled out on the ground. I took a step closer to check her vitals. Only at the last second did I realise that whoever, or whatever, did this could still be around. And then everything went black.
