Chapter 1

Innocence and Loss Therof

Celestia had seemed rather brusque, snappish almost that morning when Luna had asked her how things were, and later didn’t seem to notice her. But Luna wasn’t troubled for her sister’s manner but rather for her sister herself. In the time after the restoration of the Crystal Empire the Crystal Ponies had inexplicably gone from being thankful to resenting their involvement in rebuilding the country. Shining Armor and Cadance had their hooves full dealing with it all.

As Luna sat flipping through the book she was looking at, not truly paying attention to the words. She was thinking about the conflict. How could the Crystal Ponies be so ungrateful? She didn’t expect the other ponies to be forever in their debt but a little cooperation certainly wasn’t too much to ask was it? She reminded herself to be more careful as she nearly ripped a page out turning it. She turned her focus on the words of the book she was reading, only to close it. Bah, no need to be thinking about the Crystal Empire right now, it would only make her upset. She used her magic to slide away the book onto the shelf and pick out another-an old childhood favorite and got herself so blissfully lost in it.

Just the familiar first words could almost bring her back to the old days, in childhood, it was so long ago but the memory stood out. Pleasant memories were something to hold onto when you needed a comfort from the other things-the like the depression of guilt that sometimes plagued her or the night horrors that came from the special knowledge she had as one of her kind, the Alicorn’s Curse. It brought her back to a time of innocence, before she came of age as an alicorn. Through a rose colored view of the world it was so much better back then just her and Celly, with Momma and Daddy. In the early days Momma and Father did the ruling leaving Luna and Celestia to be children. Despite what some of the rumors said, Celestia and Luna had always been quite close. In fact thinking back on it, without the filter of bitterness clearly some of the ponies who were close were shocked by her sudden change.

Celly was the spitfire back in her youth, the more mischievous and trouble inclined of the two princesses. Always with a scheme in her mind and a spark in her eye. Oh what Luna would give to see Celestia as she had once been. Mischievous, a trickster, but still so innocent. Celly refused to be what she was expected, to act like a simple storybook princess and her plans for her rule over Equestria would make it .a paradise for any filly or colt, Luna was the more grounded of the two and spoke sense into her sister. She was the sensitive child, often the more rule abiding one. She and Celestia shared secrets and Luna felt safe coming into her room at night-and even confiding in her fears about going through her maturation of an alicorn-and the curse. Her parents never answered questions about it, from what she could recall. Momma and Father avoided her eyes and told her it was something they couldn’t describe, or that it was improper to talk about. The most they could assure her was that it didn’t hurt one’s body.

But fate seemed to have cruel plans. The dreadful creature, Discord had taken badly to the rulers of Equestria putting limitations on the mischief he was permitted to cause and he wreaked a horrible storm over Olde Canterlot. Many ponies were killed in the conflict including-much to Equestria’s shock the King and Queen. Celestia went reached her maturity as an Alicorn sometime after and something in her eyes changed. She was no longer the filly Luna knew.

“Luna!” The Moon princess opened her eyes to find her older sister standing over her. Celestia looked concerned. “Are you allright?”

“Y-yes. “ Luna righted herself and set the book aside before her sister could see it. However the book’s highly decorated spine seemed to take her notice.

“It’s been quite a long time since I’ve seen that.” Celestia noted. “It was always your favorite when we were foals, but it looks as if it hasn’t seen daylight in hundreds of moons. Why are you reading it now?” Luna hesitated. She knew her older sister wouldn’t believe it if she said she just accidentally happened upon it, would she?

“I wished to put my mind on other things.” She said, “Was there something you wished to tell me?” She was surprised when Celestia bowed her head.

“I wanted to apologize” she said. “For my manner today. I treated you badly for no reason at all.” Luna smiled a little bit, after she had returned things had gotten better between her and Celestia.

“Thank you, but I understand. You’re worried about what’s going on with Crystal Empire, as am I.” she replied, “especially with Cady being involved.” Celestia smiled and lowered her eyes.

“That’s what scares me the most.” The older princess glanced out a window as if it showed what were going on all the way in the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor and Cadance were supposed to return a month after the Crystal Empire affair, when all was sorted out. But it had been longer than that. It was in the middle of the winter now. They were supposed to be out of it by Hearths Warming Eve at the very latest. Celestia sighed heavily and Luna saw the sense of heaviness in her eyes, the same heaviness that she noticed when the young mare took the throne. “She’s reaching that age, Luna. Soon she’ll no longer be a child by alicorn standards and she’ll have to shoulder the responsibility our kind holds.”

Luna broke away from following her gaze at the stars, in hope that they would calm her, and gaped at Celestia . “What? Now?” No,no,no,no. Now was the worst possible time. She had just gotten married for heaven’s sake! Not to mention it was a delicate situation where she was.

“Yes, now” Celestia said, “Perhaps I was wrong in choosing this time to send them, but I was certain that it wouldn’t take very long. I had no reason to think that the crystal ponies would rebel.” A thousand biting replies rose in Luna’s mind but she bit them back, remembering that such anger and blame in the face of trouble was what caused so many of her problems in the past.

She reminded herself that she wasn’t truly angry at her sister, only panicking. Celestia was right they had no reason to expect this.

“If we’re lucky my timing is off or Cady will be a late bloomer. A few months could be enough to buy us time. I have asked her to send word if she feels any different. No matter what the best thing we can do is be there for her, and use our pain and mistakes to help her make the right choices. Luna nodded. She knew all too well that if not handled properly this could be very bad.

--

If one were to step across the gateway on the other side was a world also possessing magic, but grim and burdened, so much so that a great portion of its magic had been corrupted. The good magic that remained was natural magic, woven into the being of some of its most sentient creatures. In a small rural town much like Ponyville, humans, not ponies lived, and went about their day. It was little known to most of them that a great sin of magic was about to be committed.

Skye Stryke was aiming to hurry out the door to meet with his friends. He had to set his alarm to remind him to wake up. Sleeping in had been a habit in the last year since the unfortunate incidences last spring, after all the loss he found himself trudging through most natural daily occurrences as if they were unpleasant chores like taking out the trash. Living with his grandparents this had been enabled considering they hired private tutors to take care of his education. But at his new home his aunt was firm believer in life as an antidepressant.

So here he was dragging himself up at the unholy hour of eight in the morning. He was able to motivate himself with the reminder that there were important things to do today. He noted as he reentered the room between morning showers and meals that spring was on its back again. Too soon. Way too soon. He could handle it but he couldn’t know how his younger brother was going to take it.

“What are you doin’ up so early on a Saturday” he heard Aunt Marina from the other room. Stupid one story houses. “You know I made an exception for those.”

“I have to go out today.” He said, “Got to meet Gem and Rus.” There wasn’t much use bothering to spend too much time on his hair, he grabbed a few things and hastily stuffed them in a bag and then headed out the door. He could grab a quick snack on his way out.

“What are you doing this early?” Marina looked like she didn’t believe they were ‘hanging out’ at seven in the morning. Fair enough, he had to admit.

“Uh…just stuff. Working on homework maybe.” He said, “Did Felix tell you where he went before he left?”

“Yeah right. Like you’d be going out this early to do homework with your motorcycle-driving twice-expelled adult cousin. “Marina caught him by the bag and held him back. While she seemed like the cool permissive aunt she could, at the same time be a bit more stringent than his mother was. “Now what’s really going on?” Skye sighed and rolled his eyes before he turned around. However he knew from the look on her face that she somehow knew he did that. If he didn’t know she wasn’t his dad’s kind, Skye would have sworn she was a mind reader (well he would…if mind readers worked that way).

“We’re not doing anything dangerous. We’re just talking with Felix about something. He might have an idea of who the Toyakas are sending to watch us.” He said. In the last summer he and his brother met quite of few of his father’s rival family, and the fact that his parents were no longer alive made it obvious that the Toyakas hadn’t stopped fighting even those who no longer wanted to be part of the family tradition. He knew that Shiro and his sister weren’t sent here just to go to a new school. “Think about it, they could send people right here.” Marina let go of his backpack but he could still see the concern in her face.

“Just be careful, okay.” She said, “You’ve been lucky so far, but …I just don’t want to lose you, kid.”

“I will.” Skye said, “And don’t worry, you won’t.” He gave her a quick hug and ran out the door. She shouted something after him about the café- he assumed that if must be where Felix ad Caleb were. When he stopped at the Tektons , his aunt and late mother’s old friend. “Good morning, Dr. Tekton, are Gem and Rus ready yet?”

“They’re getting ready, come on in.” She led him into the house, although he already knew the place by heart. “Pretty early for a Saturday, aren’t you.” She smiled warmly, “It’s good to see up and about, again Skye.” She didn’t say much more but they both knew what she was trying to say, how well he had recovered since the loss of his parents. It got frustrating how people acted around him since he returned to Banquo, but he knew at least that Dr. Tekton had the best of intentions. He waited in the kitchen making small talk with his friends’ parents while he waited for them to meet up with him. First to emerge from the door was Rusty.

“Whoa, you weren’t kidding about early.” He said grabbing a breakfast for himself.

“We got a lot of stuff to do.” Skye said, “And not nearly enough daylight to do it in.”

“..eheh I thought we were just hanging out.” Rusty smiled nervously and subtly made a motion toward his parents when they turned around talking their own business amongst themselves.

“Yeah, but still we need to be efficient.” Skye said. His friend groaned, fighting the urge to smack his forehead with his palm. He picked at the bandage on his hand. “Is Gem all right?”

“She’ll be just a few,” Rusty said, shrugging.

“But, how’s she doing?” Skye asked looking at him intently. He seized the moments when the Tektons weren’t paying attention. Rusty fidgeted a bit and shifted his position against the wall. When the Tekton siblings went to see him while visiting their grandmother a few months ago, their friendship with him got them in some trouble.

“Dude, she’s doing all right. You don’t have to worry.” He gave Skye a light smack on the shoulder. “You ain’t responsible for what that jerk does, he ain’t even your full brother.”

“Yeah, okay.” Skye said. They both stopped talking as they heard the sound of platform sneakers in the hall. Neither of them wanted to appear as if they were talking behind Gemma’s back. She had a penchant for taking things personally. She came in from the other room, still tying her hair into a scrunchie.

“Who is whose full brother?” Gemma asked, looking between them, “Rusty….”

“Dex” Rusty said quickly as his twin started to give him a look, “Dex isn’t Skye’s full brother.”

“…uh…yeah…everyone knows that.” She said, “I’ll just grab a few meal bars to go.” She left again and Skye decided they should change the subject away from dangerous territory.

“Still going vegetarian huh? Impressive.” He said. Rusty nodded.

“Damn straight, I couldn’t go without meat for a day.” He said, seemingly both proud of his sister’s self control and thinking she had to be nuts. Both of the Tektons looked over at him sternly. “What? I was giving her a compliment.” At that even Skye had to give him a look, a side eyed glance asking if he was even trying.

“Let’s just go.” Gemma returned from the pantry, and started ushering the boys out before any yelling started. “Bye Mom, bye Dad. Love you!” Skye and Rusty took her cue and started leaving with awkward goodbyes.

“So did Caleb tell you guys about this?” Skye asked. Rusty snorted.

“Caleb, tell us things? There’s a laugh.” He said harshly. Apparently Rusty getting along with his older brother when they last met was a temporary truce. All it took was being back home for them to start bickering again. Skye had only a few memories of seeing his friends’ older brother around town but he could remember that Caleb and Rusty did not get along. Granted Caleb had been getting in some trouble back then and their bickering was for entirely different reasons.

“He wants to keep us safe Rusty. Knock it off will you?” Gem glared at him, in the same way she had when she overheard them talking about Skye’s older brother and he had a thought that Rusty might have said something very uncalled for at some point. He shook it off knowing that Rus wouldn’t sink that low, he and his sister had been at the brunt of some nasty teasing themselves. “You’re such a jerk.”

“Guys…” Skye said. He hated to get in the middle of a sticky sibling fights, but it was worse to sit by and listen. He couldn’t afford to deal with the two being angry at each other while they tried to do something “Chances are he probably expected Felix to tell me.”

“I thought he knew Felix better than that.” Skye got out his cellphone to send a message.

“Apparently not.” He sent Felix a few messages in succession. He figured that Felix wouldn’t forget this time as he had a rather obnoxious ringtone. He flipped the phone close with an audible snap. It grated on his nerves more often than it amused him that he was more responsible than the twenty year old. As he watched and waited for the roar of a muffler he noted someone else, a certain pair in a car. When he made eye contact with the driver, and saw familiar smirk with one unusually sharp tooth, Skye gripped his phone.

They were here. Not only were they here, but how the hell was Shiro driving? He knew that the other teen was older than him, but not by that much. No secret he lied or cheated his way to it. He made contact right back and gave him a look of warning to tell him that at least some people in this town knew what he was. The rocks around him shook, and if Shiro weren’t driving a car or people weren’t watching, Skye would have hurled one of them right at him.

For all their paranoia and concern over plans, none of the teens knew something else was watching them.

Two pairs of hooves were making their way Tartarus-bent on getting back to the base before they collapsed. Their queen waited for them, expectant on getting the news that they had just gotten. The changelings bowed at the feet of Chrysalis, taking the opportunity to catch their breath.

“Your Majesty!” They both panted. “We …we have gathered information on -on the state of the Crystal Empire.”

“Good work, now come out of the cold, my changelings” She led them down into the underground entrance of the hive. She reached over to pull down the entrance they had engineered. Times had been hard when their power started to deplete but they learned to make do. As the two followed their queen and matriarch they found more of their fellows waiting expectantly. Hopefully they wouldn’t mind a few more minutes, one thought, because his heart was still hammering and throat still burning from the sharpness of the cold.

Chrysalis led them to a place to sit and offered them something to warm their throats. They were able to eat food but it gave them minimal nourishment and left them hungry soon after. But it was the best they had. Most of Equestria now saw them as monsters, if they didn’t already before.

“So” Chrysalis asked, as they downed the herb soup. “What did you find?”

“There is talk…” one of the young changelings said, “some of the crystal ponies think that they don’t need Equestria’s help anymore. “

“Really now?” Chrysalis said, looking skeptical. Equestria had just saved them it seemed a bit too good to be true. The changeling nodded eagerly.

“Yes. S-some of them are saying that they –they don’t need regular ponies’ help.” The other finished. “Someponies are e-even saying that i-it’s weird that the Equestrian royals a-are still there and i-intruding. Like…like they want to rule i-“Queen Chrysalis suddenly leapt up and hugged the stuttering changeling. He was already mortified as it was and amongst the whispering one young changeling muttered a wry comment to his friend.

Unfortunately for that poor fellow, Chrysalis noticed him and not someone else and she let go of the nervous cadet and then calmly made her way over to him. She got close and hissed in his face, “What did you say?”

“N-Nothing” he said. She leaned forward knocking him over, “I-it was nothing your highness…I meant no offense. “

“You MEANT no offense? YOU MEANT NO OFFENSE? I do not care whether you meant offense or not, you have disrespected your queen!” she snarled. She stood back up still glaring at him. All the other changelings stepped away from him, including the friend he had been sharing his comment with. When Chrysalis walked over to the other changeling, who at the queen’s command told her what he had said. It was a harmless comment really, but all the same it sealed his fate, all of the others gave him dirty looks. Chrysalis turned around to address all her subjects.

“Now, listen up! We have a chance that only comes once in a thousand moons. We will get back at Equestria through the Crystal Empire. We will turn them against the Equestrians, and then when they are weak and alone we will take them and go to war with Equestria.” There were a few whispers but when she gave them a sharp look, all went quiet. “For the first phase you will go out, pose as Crystal Ponies and aggravate the delicate political situation.” She nodded toward the changeling who had incurred her wrath. “Our friend here and his buddy will go first.”

The two changelings gulped , still avoiding each other’s glance.

Author's Note

I'll probably put up an edited version later once my proofreader gets back to me on it. Just wanted to get something with it up there, before I completely forgot about this