The Threat of Change

"This is the book I mentioned where in the Archives... I also found this - I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for, seems like just an Old Mare's tale to me but... Is there anything else I can help you with Miss Sparkle?"

Twilight looked up from her book as the librarian placed two more books on her desk. She was dissapointed to find that even the Royal Library had little information about the creatures and not counting the forty three odd books she had read through back in her own library (which only a very small handful of those actually contained any information about Changelings), there were only seven books on her table that were new to her and even she could tell at least four of them were just story books.

"No. Thank you," Twilight replied keeping her voice low, smiling as the blue stallion nodded and resumed his duties elsewhere. It was late in the morning before she had arrived in the library, the sound of a hungry manticore coming from her stomach had driven her make a side-trip to the kitchens before reaching the library. She lowered her gaze to the two new books and her attention was drawn immediately to the faded, black book at the bottom. Telekinectically, she shifted the two books around and brought the black book in front of her. Dark-looking green markings detailed the corners and title, it's bright green - although slightly worn - contrasting it's eerie appearance. The actual title was too faded and scratched to be readable and she was forced to open the book to discover it; Into the Darkness: Aerith's Curse.

"This is it!" Twilight said excitably, although a little too loud, shrinking away behind her books when the few curious - and some annoyed - library visitors who were here this early, turned to the sound. She gave an awkward smile and when they looked away, the unicorn turned the book over and took a closer look. There was no title - or at least there wasn't anymore - on the side of the book either, and the green markings nearest it's edges were faded and dulled. From the side it would appear like any regular book and was probably the reason no one took any notice of it, regardless of the fact it was also hidden within the Archives, but from the inside it may just hold the key to...

...Everything, Twilight thought, her mind briefly reflecting on the twisted image of Celestia before shaking her head to clear it away, looking back at the book. Below the title was more text, although the cover was heavily worn, the inside pages seemed undamaged, yellowed with age if anything.

Into the Darkness; Aerith's Curse

A recount from one, Ventios, of the events that befell my dear and beloved Aerith, may one day we be reunited in the light and not the darkness.

~~~~~

There are none still alive that remember the time before Discord, so long ago was it, so much devastation, so much chaos, so much death. Even if they do remember, it's but a distant memory. The Spirit of Disharmony saught only chaos and death. Pony kind is no match for Discord, this much we are aware of - but the gods have forsaken us and we have been abandoned.

I am Ventios, Guardian of the North, and alongside Aerith, Guardian of the Forests, Celestia, Guardian of the Sun, Luna, Guardian of the Moon and Aquos, Guardian of the Seas, we are the last remaining Guardians in Equestria. I fear that will change before the war ends.

There was, without a doubt, certainty Discord would have his minions hunt us down - that was, if we didn't get ourselves killed during battle. The Royal Equestrian Army did it's part and although it appeared the war was changing in our favour, it was but a foal's hope we stood a chance against the demon himself.

It was, however, during Winter, of the 8th year of the War Against Chaos that it happened. Discord did the unthinkable, though I suppose we should have expected such evil from the monster. The army had fought it's way to his fort's gates, thousands had died to serve the country. I had doubted Celestia's plan from the beginning, but through what could be called a miracle, it seemed to work. Upon the sun's rising into the sky at a certain point, she would raise herself before it and use it's fiery powers to break down the great gates and clear a path for the Royal Equestrian Army to enter the fort. The doubt came from Discord's ability to manipulate the weather. Ever since Tempest had been twisted by Discord and consequently locked away in stone for the safety of Equestria, there was no longer any resistance for Discord to move the weather as he pleased. Not even the pegasi could alter it anymore. If he so chose, he could have blocked the sun out with a thick layer of cloud, and he did. Celestia however had a backup plan - the suns rays were in fact, powerful enough to carve a decent sized hole in the storm and set the gate and surrounding wall ablaze. The unicorn mages had spelled the armour on the soldiers to resist the heat and flames as they charged through the now smoldering ruins of the Fort's entrance and over the burnt bodies of the demon's minions. The fort was ours for the taking! Discord would be defeated this day!

It wasn't until it was too late that we were made aware of our fatal mistake. It wasn't until a fiery ball of shadow-fire came blazing towards Celestia, did we realise this was too easy. It wasn't until we heard the ear-splitting shrieks from within the fort that we understood we'd just sent two thousand good soldiers to their deaths.

They came in overwhelming force, thousands of little black shapes dotted the skies, a brief crack of magic and a green meteor shot down from the swarm, hurtling towards an unfortunate soul. The batallion's commander ordered a retreat and soon after the rest of the squads and battallions fled down into the valley, pursued by the black force.

During the chaos Aerith and I had found Celestia and were currently carrying her away from the battlegrounds to safey. While using the Sun's power she had no time to evade the attack and it hit her dead on. Had she not worn her armour she probably wouldn't have survived it. Most of her light pink mane had burnt away and the skin not covered by armour had been burned. Even her armour was charred and most likely burned the skin underneath purely from heat - but she was breathing, unconcious, but breathing and that's all that mattered to us right now, we had lost so many, I do not think I would have had the heart to tell Luna had something gone wrong... So many of us have already fallen.

That day however, was only going to get worse. A lightning strike of green shot past my side, the sound of bones breaking and a scream followed as Aerith was sent plummeting to the ground by one of the black creatures. Re-positioning Celestia on my back, the only thing I could think about now was Aerith and so I dived to the ground, amid the destruction, the green fiery pits, the blackened and broken bodies of royal soldiers and monsters alike now within clear sight. What I gazed upon after clearing the smoke I was horrified to see. Discord, the very demon himself, stood before her and to my utter disgust, smiled. I remember shouting, I also remember being tackled to the ground, Celestia forgive me I was foalish and nearly killed us both. But he didn't kill us. Discord called off his creatures and regarded me with a smug grin. I saw his mouth move, but I couldn't hear him, and I watched in horror as he bent over my love, my Aerith, and in the air above her, marked with his damned claw a runic pattern I did not recognize. He turned to me again, I saw the snap of his fingers... and then nothing.

When I came to again, we were in a field of grass and flowers. It was peaceful, no monsters, no fire, no death and certainly no Discord. Upon rising to my feet I found Celestia and Aerith with me. At first I thought they'd switched manes and armour, but soon realised I was horribly wrong. Celestia's burns had healed and the faint traces of magic in the air led to the theory someone had healed her, but her fur was still singed in some places and her armour remained in it's burnt state. I did note however the red liquid dribbling and staining her fur around the edge of her armour on her neck, chest and hooves and hastially removed the twisted metal that was cutting into her skin. Aerith however was in a far worse state - or so I believed. There were no signs of actual injury but large portions of her skin and fur had been torn away, revealing a shiny black skin underneath. What made me shiver was in fact her teeth, sharpened and protruding from her lips like some creature in the dark. Neither woke and so I was content to just sit and wait.

A week later and I fear for her now more than ever. It pains me to see her in such a state, but by order of the remaining Guardians Aerith was put in chains for everypony's safety. She seemed okay with it... the real her. Something was transforming her, consuming her - like a plague, the darkness had consumed her eyes, her horn and a large portion of her body. She was barely recognizable, her beautiful emerald mane was dulled and tattered. She had learnt a new spell, a way to hide this side, like a transformation of her own but far quicker, and only temporary. Once again I could see her as she once was, but the flicker of menacing green in her eyes always reminded me of the reality. Hidden behind the illusion was the monster she was turning into. What has she or I done to deserve such punishment from the gods?

The Archmage and her mages still search for a cure... we can only hope.

~~~~~

Twilight's brows creased when she turned the page to find nothing there. She turned the next, and the next and finally came across a new writing style, clearly written by a new hand.

Who wrote this?.... she thought as she flipped back to Ventios's pages. The story had stopped abrutly, as if he couldn't finish it. She turned back to the new writer and continued reading, hoping to discover what had happened.

~~~~~

My name is Lighting Strike, Lieutenant-Commander of the 14th Batallion. I discovered this book after we retrieved Ventios's body from the caves. "Aerith" has turned, changed - it wasn't until I read this that I understood why this is happening.

When Discord put that spell on her, she changed. Those things are called many different names but the most common one given to them is 'Changeling'. That's what she is. After the 19th Batallion discovered Ventios of the North, Celestia of the Sun and Aerith of the Forests in the meadows south of Canterlot, everything fell apart. Aerith couldn't hide her change and no one knew what would happen until it was too late. She killed Aquos, drained him of magic and life and would have murdered Celestia, had I and the Commander not been there. Swift recovery to Celestia, and Gods protect Luna, she is no filly but nearly losing her sister twice in just over a week must be hard.

The Guardians are failing. Until earlier today, only Celestia, Luna and Ventios remained - and now Ventios is gone. Aerith is no guardian - she is an abomination! A curse from Discord! And Ventios was foalish enough to believe his love for her would fix it. If anything it only made her stronger!

She's past her animal-phase. Even I have to admit... it was less than pleasant to see guards by the dozen torn to shreds by that monster. She's a puppet for Discord and there is no better way of putting it. The transformation wasn't even complete, I overheard Ventios once saying how she'd been switching between the light and dark, trying to fight it like she was two different ponies in the same body. One side wished to kill and consume, the other... was still Aerith.

Rest their souls, Ventios, Aquos and many other Guardians who have fallen by Discord's claw. May anypony who finds this book know the truth, pray to the gods to end this nightmare.

~~~~~

Twilight looked at the last page, horrified. Not only had Celestia nearly died, twice, (and the fact made her wonder how many other times she had been in mortal danger), but she was now a terrible threat. Her mentor, the Princess and good soul, now a terrible threat to Canterlot and ultimately Equestria.

She had to find a cure, she had to find a way to reverse it, to alter it, to slow it down even, or something!

Twilight put the book down to her right and turned to the next, frantically searching for anything that might help.

~~~~~

"Twilight?"

Twilight's ears flicked towards the source of the sound, but her eyes remained closed. Through the haze of sleep, she could have sworn she heard someone chuckle, but she might have been dreaming it. She tried to say something, but it came out as an intelligible mumble of words.

"Twilight, wake up"

No.. no she wasn't dreaming it. She felt the prod of a hoof against her shoulder - it was cold and felt more like metal than anything else. Slowly she opened her eyes and almost fell off her chair when she realised who was trying to wake her.

Luna sat next to her with a grin, her hoof still hovering in the air from poking the purple unicorn.

"Pri- Luna?"

Luna's smile grew as she got to her feet and waited for Twilight, signalling for her to follow. Twilight hesitantly looked at her and back to her books, then back to Luna. Grabbing two of the books in front of her, the black one and the blue cover one, she slid them into her saddlebag and briefly stated to Luna she was borrowing them. The Princess waited patiently as Twilight took them over to the librarian for recording and then returned to Luna, a sleepy smile on her face.

"How long were you in here for?"

".... a while," Twilight looked up at the clock in the room and wide-eye, looked outside.

"All. Day. H-how- ? I.... I must have.."

"You were up all night aiding us - not to mention the time you've likely taken researching about the Changelings back in Ponyville over these past few days - does it still surprise you that your body did eventually force you to sleep?"

Twilight thought over it for a second as they left the library and followed the Princess. She had been reading the blue book, the first book from the archives, while skimming back through the black book. She had noticed that there had been several pages ripped out of it between Ventios's last notes and Lightning Strike's first, and they unfortunately, likely held the answers. The unicorn made a mental note to ask Luna about it later.

"My sister is awake. She's eager to see you again... If it will not upset you," Luna said, coming to a stop quite suddenly. Twilight smacked into her out-held wing, and looked up to see, yet another amused smile on the Princess's face. Twilight smiled back, steadying herself again and then realising Luna had in fact spoken.

"Oh... uhh.. yeah I'm okay with that - why wouldn't I be?"

Luna let out a brief chuckle of amusement, "Twilight, while We may have difficulty with many things since our return, there is one thing we can recognise as clear as the day my sister brings-" Her voice suddenly lowered in volume and her soft smile hardened into a more serious look. It was that look ponies gave when they asked the more serious, harder questions or stated what they believed was true and above all, expected a honest response, "-you should not be ashamed of yourself. I know you fear her."

Of course Twilight was afraid of Celestia! She was the Princess of Equestria, Goddess of the Sun and her mentor! She had the power to give and the power to take at the flick of her horn - a pony would be foalish not to fear Celestia in that way and of course, offer the utmost respect as to prevent ever experiencing the Sun Princess's "other" side. But Luna was not talking about that kind of fear - she was referring to the kind of fear Twilight had experienced more than once before. It was the fear that gripped her and her friends when the manticore threatened to eat them alive on their journey to save the very Princess walking next to her. It was the kind of fear she felt when Discord forcibly turned her friends on each other and all but destroyed Ponyville. It was the fear for her own well-being and the well-being of those she cared for.

"I- I just..."

"There is nothing to be ashamed of... in your defence, you're fear is well placed. My sister wishes to speak with you about.... what's happened, but neither of us will force you to go in that room," Luna said, walking again. Twilight looked down at her hooves, again thinking. Am I afraid? It would be foolish not to... the book only began to tell of what happened to Ae-! Th-that book! I know what will happen... I know... Luna! Maybe she knows more about the story maybe -wait... but that soldier mentioned Luna was much younger... maybe she doesn't remember at all?

No- not true. She was old enough - Celestia told us the story of how together they defeated Discord, Luna would have been old enough for that.... but does she remember?

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"... Do you recognise this?" Twilight pulled the black book out of her bag and levitated it before them. Again, Luna stopped but this time it was in clear shock. The book was snagged by darker magic and pulled away.

"Where did you get this?"

"I-In the library archives - i-is something wrong? Did... did I do something wrong?" Twilight's voice cracked in the panic, her ears flattened but she dared not move until Luna gave her a re-assuring look, followed by a sheepish grin and the continuation of their walk.

"That book belonged to Ventios. I thought it was burned all those years ago.... I recognise the marks... they're supposed to look like vines to represent Aerith's power over plant-life. It was a horrible time... Tell me, what have you learned?" Luna's voice was lower, as if saddened at the memory, but her smile only faltered by a minute degree, barely noticeable to the untrained eye. Luckily for Twilight, she noticed it, and she retold everything she knew - pausing the story when they passed guards or other ponies so they would not over hear - very carefully not mentioning sensitive topics.

~~~~~

By the end of her quickly-summed-up story they had reached the room they had been in the night before. Celestia's personal chambers. Luna had offered minor details to her story that were missing but still essential and also gave Twilight a comparison of Celestia's current state with what Aerith was in at roughly the same time of transformation. Luna hadn't realised Celestia's state was worse than Aerith's was until she was comparing and quickly allowed Twilight to continue her story as to redirect her thoughts on something else.

".... then the story just stops and this new guy named 'Lighning Strike' begins his own notes of what happened after Aerith turned."

"What do you mean... stopped?"

"The pages - they're missing. Ripped out," Twilight said, sounding more annoyed than intended. Luna went silent for a moment, stopping outside of hearing from the guards and turned to Twilight.

"That book was personal, I am surprised my sister even put it in the library to begin with. However, seeing as how those pages were ripped out it makes sense. Anypony would believe it was just a story to scare, not the truth about one's past. She likely has those pages, but first thing is first.

Are you ready?"

Twilight shifted uneasily, a worried expression crossing her face. Sure, she had managed to sit in the same room as Celestia for quite a while, but she was sleeping at the time... and she was awake now. The lavender unicorn tried to hide the sense of fear tugging at her mind and nodded quickly. Luna gave a curious look at her but then headed towards the door. The guards moved aside and allowed them to enter, the doors opening by the closest guards's blue magic and the two headed inside.

Celestia was sitting by her fireplace, as she usually did at this time of day, the fiery red of dusk settling into the room through windows. Twilight was relieved to see the Princess as she was normally, but her memory betrayed her and she was constantly reminded of the threat now buried in her mentor.

Celestia turned around at the sound of the door opening and hoofsteps coming in and stood when she saw Twilight trailing behind her sister.

"T-Twilight, please forgive me for whatever happened last night... I-If I hurt you, please, I-"

"Hurt me? Princess, I am fine... a little shaken... I admit, but I'm fine. Why would you hurt me?" Twilight asked, completely confused and she noticed Celestia was looking at her sister as if she expected her to say something. Instead, Luna nudged Twilight to get her attention and then pulled down the neck-piece with her cutie-mark imprinted on it's front, revealing a wound that, while clearly healed by unicorn magic, likely happened only recently. The fleshy pink scar that remained would, no doubt, never heal fully. Twilight's fear escalated and she took several steps back.

"Twilight, it's okay. As I told you, it was an accident. Don't you remember?"

While talking to Luna about the story, the princess had mentioned that Celestia had accidently wounded her in her comparison between Celestia and Aerith... but Twilight hadn't been paying full attention, and assumed the injury was far inferior.

"Oh..."

"Twilight, I would never hurt you intentionally."

"I know."

"Will you sit with me? I am sure you have questions - i-it's okay if you don't want to though," the sun Princess said, almost pleading. It wasn't hard to work out Celestia was trying to regain the trust that had oh-so slightly waned with the events of the night before, and answering questions that Twilight was curious about was about the easiest way to earn the unicorn's favour again. Hesitant, yes, but she slowly made her way to be in front of Celestia, the warmth of the fire on her back, as Luna came and sat beside them.

"Luna helped me understand some of it... she told me this had happened before, but to another," Twilight said, looking at her mentor with curiosity, amid fear. The princess swapped glances between the curious Twilight and her sister, before landing her gaze back on her pupil and asked how much she knew. Of course, Twilight was more than happy to retell what she had told Luna - skipping sensitive parts and keeping the focus on Aerith and Ventios, and not the events that befell Celestia. She also added in information she'd learned elsewhere, whether from book or from Luna.

The sun Princess remained quiet the entire time and simply let Twilight tell the story with no interruption. Even after all this time of tutoring the young unicorn, it still amazed her how Twilight was capable of researching, learning and understanding new concepts so fast. When the unicorn was done though, Celestia got to her feet and slowly walked to her dresser, where she opened it and pulled out a wooden box. It was plain, and to any regular pony, insignificant, but from inside she pulled out several sheets of paper - yellowed like the book's pages. She put the box away, re-sealed it, and returned to her spot in front of the fire and her student, handing the paper to her. Twilight eyed the sheets, taking them within her own purple magic as Celestia's gold faded, and her eyes were caught on the edges - ripped.

Celestia was the first to speak and confirmed Twilight's suspicions about the pages, "they are from the book you speak of. I should have kept the whole thing, but at the time it did not worry me. I can let you read them, but I remember the time... what happened to Aerith - and what will happen to me - and I can tell you."

Twilight held back the urge to panic and run back to the library, read these new notes and then study like mad, until she found a cure no matter how long it took. The pain in her face was evident, but Celestia held no regret for her words. It was the truth, they had to face it.

"But first-," Celestia's face brightened - as did the door to the room when it opened and in came a maid who carried a tray with a tea pot and several cups, "-tea?"