The Threat of Change

A faint light could be seen deep within the caverns of the gorge, a steady green glow. From the outside, the light was all that could be seen and the faint buzz every now and then was all that could be heard, however if one was to travel deeper into the cave and down its corridors, the stillness betrayed the dangers within.

"Your Majesty... I am pleased to report the remaining hounds have retreated."

Chrysalis was busy admiring her handy work as the changeling reported the status of clearing the cavern. A grin crept onto her face as she lowered her head to meet the narrowed, golden eyes of the dog suspended upside-down by the green sticky, and slightly glowing, goo the changelings were known to create. For months the Diamond Dogs had kept their keep out of the hands of the changelings and their queen, forcing them to stay out in the gorge, but now that the queen had a new plan and her hive recovered as much as their magic allowed, the Diamond Dogs couldn't escape fast enough.

Indeed, they had put up a resistance and several Changelings met their end in the depths of the dogs' territory, but a few casualties were expected in war... and they had won this battle in a single day, overwhelming their opponents in a matter of hours, capturing or killing them. At one point, Chrysalis offered to allow them to live if they retreated, so they did. Now the caverns were available for her hive, a safer place than in the open gorge against the elements and the odd manticore who wandered too far into the gorge and became a sizable meal - but not before heavily wounding a guard or two.

"Good. I can feel her presence growing stronger among us... it wont be long before her connection is permanent... and then she will be mine to control," Chrysalis smiled a toothy grin, but her eyes flared in dark triumph. The dog before her let out a rough growl.

"Never will we bow to you! Hideous Monster - fight the sun and the moon and you will fall like you did before," the dog said, but was suddenly gagged when, with a brief glow of Chrysalis's horn, the green goo snaked itself magically through his jaws and nose, blocking his air way.

Chrysalis's angered frown slowly morphed into a dark smirk as she watched the helpless dog suffocate, flailing his arms, trying to claw at the sticky substance in a hopeless attempt to pull it out. The queen turned around and brought her gaze upon the guards by the entrance as the dog's lifeless limbs fell to the ground and the choking sounds faded.

"I have no time for those who think they stand a chance against my army this time. Remove this filth from my presence," Chrysalis beamed and turned away, the scowl having returned as she paced her way to the temporary throne that had been built for her. Temporary - yes, soon the High Throne in Canterlot would be hers and there would be no need for this stone and bone built one.

"Only a few more days... I can feel it... Discord may not be assisting the transformation this time, but I am," she turned her head towards the two changeling guards standing by the tunnel entrance yet again, "fetch me the Diamond Dog Chief... I have work for him... and a Princess to break."

~~~~~

"If-Princess, if this happened before and the Archmage was researching into a cure... shouldn't there be notes and research on it already?"

Twilight had been asking several questions she already knew the answer to - it was simply to confirm them. At the same time Celestia permitted her to write notes about this, and her student furiously scratched the parchment with her quill as she asked and Celestia answered. Luna had long since retreated to the Throne Room to hold Night Court, leaving the two alone.

"Yes, there was much research done and mountains of notes and statistics taken - along with the results of trials," Celestia said, taking a moment to think back, tapping her chin as she tried to remember what happened to them. When she did remember however, a disappointed frown formed and she preemptively answered Twilight's next question, "but Discord had them all burned when one of his changelings successfully sabotaged the castle..."

"They- what?"

"Changelings could take the form of other ponies at the time as well - but usually there were give-aways or signs, the magic was no where near as perfected as it is today and often their glowing eyes, torn ears or fangs remained even in their transformed form. So a guard with jagged ears was easily picked out as a Changeling in disguise... unfortunately not everyone was aware what they looked like, and one did sneak past and into the Archmage's tower where the research was held. Apart from a guard with a broken jaw, another with a severe concussion and the Archmage with minor burns, no pony was killed or otherwise hurt. It was concluded the changeling's mission was to destroy the research - and it unfortunately succeeded... the changeling in question suicided in the explosion however so we could never be completely sure...

Though there were no assassination attempts or further bombings and with the loss of so much information, restarting would take time Aerith didn't have," the sun goddess said, regarding their decisions to abandon the project perhaps the biggest mistake they could have made. Even if they didn't have the time to save Aerith, the research would have now saved Celestia and none of this would be happening - Twilight would never have to worry about the Princess of Equestria turning into a monster, and Luna would not have to suffer the loss of her sis-

Stop thinking that. There is still time.

"So they abandoned the project..."

"Yes."

"Celestia... I know what will happen... but," the words in Twilight's mouth vanished and she found herself unable to speak for a moment, dreading the truth she would find behind Celestia's answer. The princess however, knew what she was trying to ask and, keeping her emotions at bay, she answered.

"Aerith's transformation took just over two weeks. It was a slow process and those... hmm... 'bursts' happened more frequently the further the change took her. However, her real turn was much quicker than that. Within a week she started showing signs of aggression - it was like two sides to her, she was Aerith and then the next moment, without warning, she became violent and unresponsive to others trying to calm her - not even recognizing her name. Of course, she had no memories of these outbursts. Eventually - as you read in Ventios's journal - we were forced to chain her. By the 10th day of the transformation, it was no longer Aerith. Spots of her glowing silver fur still stuck and shreds of her emerald mane twisted in the fraying dull green it turned into, but that was all that was left of he-" Celestia was forced to stop talking when she lowered her gaze back on Twilight and saw the new fear in her eyes. The purple unicorn had stopped writing and had lowered her head to her hooves, ears flat.

I'm upsetting her... scaring he- Of course she's afraid of me! But what can I do?

"Twilight, it's still me," Celestia begun, lowering her own head to nudge the unicorn's muzzle. Twilight had kept her emotions back while they talked, trying to keep a straight face to record everything she could, but when Celestia finally started sharing what exactly would happen, it was just too much and stray tears escaped, running down her cheeks.

"I-I d-dont want to lose you..." Twilight said quietly, her purple eyes locking onto Celestia's pink. The princess was about to speak when her mind reminded her of something. Yes, go ahead and lie. Lie to her. Tell her everything will be okay when you know it wont!.

"Twilight, I-," Celestia barely started her sentence when a furball of purple jumped into her hooves, and Celestia welcomed the embrace, holding her student tightly as she wept. Even the goddess herself let several tears fall, but regained her composure and wiped away the remnants of tears as Twilight leaned back slightly to look up at her. Her eyes were filled with fear, sadness and even the usual spark of hope that motivated her, was missing. They simply sat there, Celestia lifting her hoof to Twilight's cheek to wipe away the tears and the small smile of gratitude that fell on her student's lips found its way on hers as well.

They stayed like that for a while, the silence enough to bring peace to the unfortunate situation they were in. Neither spoke, they just listened to the crackle of the fire in the fireplace and watched the stars through the window as the night plowed on.

~~~~~

Twilight had fallen asleep next to Celestia long ago, and the goddess was content with simply enjoying the moment of bliss. Undisturbed, peaceful, not a care in the world, just her and her student.

The moon had reached the horizon and Celestia felt the mental tug of the sun as it pleaded to be raised for yet another day. Careful not to wake the sleeping unicorn, she stood up and walked out onto her balcony, taking in the fresh smell of morning. Celestia had not slept that night, the rest she had during the day was enough and she was not tired. The goddess lowered her horn and located the sun, sitting just below the horizon. With a brief moment of concentration she locked her magic onto the sun's core and lifted herself up in a single, graceful movement, as the sun slid over the horizon and began rising for the new day.

She lowered herself back onto the ground, wings tucking in, and turned back to her room.

At first Twilight thought Celestia merely stopped as a surprise reaction to her finally awakening, but she soon realised this was not the case.

"Princess Cele..sti..a...?"

There were hoofsteps heard in the distance but neither paid them any heed as the doors to the balcony closed gently and the Princess entered the room. She stopped barely a meter into the room and after a moment's hesitation a swift green flaming ring drifted from hoof-to-horn in a matter of seconds. Celestia's decaying form had been further consumed, her mane's aurora of colours had melded into a single muggy green and a large majority of her front legs and back were completely absent of white fur. The most frightening part however, was her narrowed eyes and grim smile, shiny teeth slid against her hard black lower jaw as her upper muzzle flexed into what could be called a snarl and she lowered her head, as if readying to charge.

And that's what she did.

"Celestia! Stop! WAIT! IT'S ME!"

Twilight barely had enough time to teleport out of the way as Celestia lunged forward, horn lowered as a deadly weapon, to where her student had been only moments ago. Twilight re-appeared behind her mentor-turned-monster and quickly looked around for a way to escape. She turned around and tried to open the balcony doors - both with magic and with force- but failed. There was a bright light and the sound of lightning as a bolt of green light danced across the room, barely missing Twilight.

The terrified unicorn yelped and galloped to the other side of the room to where the entrance doors stood and attempted to pull them open.

"HELP!"

The was a reply but it was muffled through the doors, followed by a rough bashing on the wood as the two guards stationed outside attempted to gain entrance.

The hoofsteps in the hallway became louder and more frequent, like somepony was running.

"Celestia! It's me, Twilight! Ple-" Twilight lunged to the side with a fearful cry as the creature that was once Celestia pounced forward, fangs bared, ready to snap onto her protege, a high-pitched animal growl filled the air as she launched forward.

Remember what she said! Unresponsive - she can't hear me! Think Twilight thi-

Even her thoughts were broken as she hurriedly escaped the death-lunge directed at her, but this time she was not so quick, and Celestia's jagged horn clipped Twilight's side, stabbing into her flesh and tearing from her shoulder blade to a spot halfway down her back. Twilight screamed in pain and fell to her side, blood seeping out of the wound and temporarily rendering her left foreleg paralyzed. Her cry was drowned out momentarily by an explosion on the other side of the room as the double doors were engulfed in dark blue magic then blown off their hinges, shattering and splintering. Several splinters of wood flew across the room and burrowed into both the alicorn and unicorn's skin, but through the pain of her injury she could not feel them.

"Luna.. help," was all Twilight managed to gasp out as Celestia's magic encased her student and lifted her off the ground.

Is this how it ends?

Twilight saw a blue form dart across the room towards them. The suspended unicorn was lifted higher.

Everything I've learned... the friends I've made...

Luna's horn flashed blue and a bolt of white lightning shot towards Celestia. In shock of the surprise attack as well as sheer pain Celestia released her grip on her student.

...By the Princess of Equestria and my mentor?

Twilight fell to the ground without the chance to stop the fall and only succeeded in smashing her skull into the bed frame. Stars filled her vision and the world around her seemed to spin. She heard another crack of lightning and then saw the black and white figure of the princess flung over her and across to the other side of the room. The goddess didn't get up again.

Darkness crept into her vision and sound blurred. Twilight thought she heard a pony call her name, but she had not the strength to lift her head nor the certainty it was her name she heard. Searing pain was all she could feel, but even that was starting to dull and she felt her body being turned over. A white and gold face filled the little vision space she still possessed and was abruptly pushed aside and replaced with a dark blue face. The face said something, but she didn't hear it as sound completely silenced and her eye lids slowly closed.

Then darkness.

~~~~~

Beep-Beep... Beep-Beep... Beep-Beep...

"How did this happen?"

"That's none of your concern."

Twilight began to stir, pain shooting down her shoulder and back. She felt pressure around her body, like something was wrapped tightly around her. Her head still felt sore and she felt the tightness of something around her forehead as well.

"It is. As a doctor I must be able to understand her injuries by knowing what happened to her."

"An accident. That's all you need to know."

"Princess Luna, I am getting the horrible feeling you're not telling me the whole truth."

"Doctor Cross, We are sure that you would much rather prefer to keep your job and save patients instead of arguing with Us."

Her eyes flickered opened and she stared at the roof. It was white - everything was white.

"Large stab wound, seven separate pieces of wood lodged into her skin, concussion and large open wound to her head - I don't know what you're hiding but she's lucky whatever stabbed her didn't go any deeper or she'd be in a lot more serious danger!"

"This is not serious enough?"

"We've magically managed to heal most of the wounds... but neither her head injury nor whatever attacked her cut into an organ - thank Celestia - and she should be fine within a week or two."

"Thank... Cele.. - That's too long."

"Princess Luna, you can't be serious!"

"We are. She's important. If I must, I will have her stay with me personally but she must come back with Us."

Twilight slowly shifted her head to focus on the two talking. Her awareness slowly came back to her and she had only just started to understand what they were saying when the doctor accused Luna of lying. Which she was. But why was Twilight so important?

"Princess, please, with all due respect, she can not leave this hospital until Thursday - at the earliest!"

"Hospital..?"

Luna's response froze in her throat as both her and the doctor's attention were turned to the purple unicorn lying in the hospital bed. The Princess moved over to her side and looked at her with worried eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Twilight held her gaze for a moment with a smile and a slight nod, but it then vanished as quickly as it came, "what happened?"

"'What happened?' indeed. You lost a lot of blood and along with the shock and a concussion, you fell unconscious... so I'd very much like to know what happened as well," The doctor said flatly, clearly frustrated.

Luna thought over what to say and then turned to the doctor and motioned for him to leave. He gave a look of disbelief but after receiving a stern look back from the princess, he grumbled and left the room, closing the door behind him. The night princess turned back to Twilight.

"Do you remember anything from last night?"

"I remember... seeing Celestia at the balcony, she'd raised the sun and then...! Celestia! Where is she?!"

Twilight looked around frantically but was stopped short when a searing pain shot across her back and she visibly cringed, yelping quietly at the sudden pain. The Princess had also winced, both at the apparent pain the unicorn was in but also at the question's answer.

"Isolated."

Twilight turned back to Luna with confusion, but only saw sadness and fear in return. Along with the pain it was then that Twilight's memory flooded back to her. She remembered the evil glare Celestia had as she launched towards her, she remembered ducking, running and leaping out of the way to save her life. She remembered being too slow at one point and the charge succeeding and she remembered the door exploding, falling and then nothing.

Celestia had attacked her. Her sudden power of raising the sun had awakened the monster hiding beneath the surface and nearly cost Twilight her life - at the hooves of the one pony in all of Equestria she thought she had utter trust in.

Twilight's eyes watered and she made no attempt to hold back the tears. Luna leaned forward to comfort her in any way she could and found the unicorn's hooves wrap around her chest and pull her closer. A patch of her fur dampened as the unicorn released the grip on her emotions and tears welled out, down her cheeks and soaking into both her fur and the princess's.

But Luna didn't seem to mind and she wrapped her hooves around the smaller pony and comforted her.

When Twilight was all cried-out, both ponies released the other and Luna gave her a comforting nuzzle before pulling away again. The silence was broken when the lavender unicorn decided to speak, "what... what do you mean 'isolated'?"

Luna sighed, her ears lowering just that tad more as she replied.

"A section of the castle no one goes in. She knew eventually it would be required... we're both deeply sorry we had not done it sooner... Our timing could have been better, if We had been just a few minutes late..." Luna trailed off, her mind wandering on how the events may- no, would have played out if she had been even a few seconds late.

"She can't hurt you - or anyone else - now."

Twilight's confusion increased and she looked up at Luna expectantly.

"A select few Day and Night guards know - and so does the Jail Keep."

"Sh-she's in the Dungeons?!"

"Twilight, please understand this is for her own good - she even was the one who suggested it, not I. We had suggested she simply be locked in her private quarters... but .. well," Luna looked at Twilight and Twilight looked down, understanding that her plan had clearly failed.

"Red Cross will not allow you to leave for a few days at least... although he wants you to stay for longer... I would not be sur-"

"I want to see her."

Luna recoiled, taken aback by the sudden determined tone that had taken over Twilight's voice.

"Are you sure?"

"I want to see her."

Luna did not say anything for a brief moment and simply stared at Twilight with disbelief as the figurative gears clicked in Luna's mind and she tried to understood why. Celestia's actions were unforgivable, regardless of the fact she was not in control at the time. Was it that easy to forgive someone? Even when it nearly cost you your life? But it was the fact she was not in control that Twilight would forgive her. It was not the Princess of the Sun that nearly mauled her student, it was that of the sick twisted monster that was consuming Celestia. Was it so different to her own conflict with Nightmare Moon?

"An Element of Harmony, so willing to put the past in the past and forgive those who've wronged you. You and your friends are quite special in that sense... Even though I witnessed it myself, I will never fully understand how you can do this..."

"Please, Luna..."

Twilight looked up at the night princess and the determined scowl morphed back to the scared whimper it was before. After another moment's hesitation, Luna nodded and received an appreciative smile in return from the purple pony. She then tried to gently turn on her side but frowned as the pain returned.

"We will take our leave and allow you sleep... Soon enough We will take you to see her," Luna said quietly, almost whispering. Although Twilight gave no response, the night goddess dipped her head slightly as if to say a silent goodbye and quietly walked out of the room, leaving Twilight alone in the white hospital room with nothing but the steady beeping of the heart monitor to break the silence.