The Shapeshifter

THE SHAPESHIFTER

• By Cesare Blanc -

If you really want something to hide, put it under everypony's eyes.

Old Zebrian proverb

Queen Chrysalis hit the ground with a sound of thunder, making dust and dirt explode out in a wide radius around her; a brown cloud surrounded her body, and she moved no more.

But it was just for a moment; while her Changelings where still falling down from the sky in the fashion of a shower of stars, hitting the ground themselves around her, some far away, some closer, she burst out in a laugh, her limbs shaking in the dirt.

It was a laugh that washed the ground and the air in ripples, full of vile triumph and of her distaste for her enemy; she turned on her belly and her silky wings fluttered in the air, shaken with her mirth; from a group of nearby trees, a flock of birds flew away from the terrible laugh.

Then, the silence came back, and the Queen rose on her four hole-filled legs, and stood tall and proud, grinning, in direction of Canterlot.

Yes, it may have been a defeat, but in the defeat she had received some assurances that now paved the road to the future victory, the Queen thought while moving to the next small crater where the remains of her Changelings were, paralysed by the love spell, broken by the fall.

It had been... a sort of more direct measurement of the relative power of Princess Cadence, and of her husband, too; and she had found them greater than she had expected. But in the end, the Queen had received much more important information.

She stood before the shattered body of one of her minions, in a puddle of its own fluids, its black keratin in shards; it seemed to move for a moment. The Queen raised a hoof, and stomped it on the poor thing. Again. Again. Until she heard the exoskeleton break with a satisfying crack and a hiss of green vapour coming out of its husk.

Queen Chrysalis closed her eyes down, and smiled again; time now to go back.

Looking up, she saw one or two of her Changelings falling down from the sky; she did nothing to intercept them and save them from sure death. Instead, she moved her wings and fluttered in the air, in a zigzag fashion, not unlike a mosquito. She decided she didn't like it, and she began to turn back.

It would be a long process. Unlike the disguises of her 'minions' and of herself, this one was a powerful spell, one known only to the most powerful Pony wizards... and to her. But she shouldn't be amazed – memory of the past was sort of lacking in Equestria nowadays; this both pained and relieved her. Because it was sorrowful that one more of the things associated with her dominion was lost; and it was exhilarating because it put her miles ahead of her adversaries. Past was, as she had always knew, the key to the future.

Quite frankly, she though while flying in direction of Canterlot, her flight now more steady, the buzz of her wings more subdued, she had feared that somepony would have understood.

It had been a test of sort in many regards, and this one was maybe the most important – but her spell, meant to turn her at a level that a mere masquerade would have never been able to reach, had done its job very well, even resisting to the wave of Cadence's magic. Only now, by her own choice, she felt its thread cracking, its cloak fading.

Now, thinking again about the day – her greatest enemy had been, once again, her pride. Even though Twilight Sparkle was more or less supposed to find her out – and if she hadn't well, much better for her – in fact revealing 'herself' in the middle of the hall had been one bold move. Not that she hadn't been known, back in her day - how amusing of her to use that expression! -  for her boldness of her actions, but in the end that might have been a wrong one.

Except for the fact that all this invasion mess was supposed to be just a test, of Celestia's strength of mind and magic, and of Twilight's and her friends place in the hierarchy of the threats, that she already knew being very high; so, being tossed away with her 'army' had been one minor setback, at best. Cadence would need to do better than a spell like that – as much powerful as it had been – to even hurt her a little bit.

The Queen was now flying over the Everfree forest; she had decided to make a long stroll, and to go back to Canterlot from a different direction from whence she came. She was also taking her time: between a thought and the next, she bathed in the beauty of her surroundings in the dimming light of the Sun. Evening was approaching fast. Her flight was now steady; her silky wings sported now a few dark feathers. Even the rest of her body had been changing: the holes in her legs closing, their haggard appearance starting to show an elegant line, her mane and tail darkened.

But the failure of the invasion was but a detail in a much grander plan, and that grand plan had worked perfectly; she gave out into another triumphant laugh, and under her, the creeps and monsters in the Everfree cowered and moved down into deeper caves and between darker shadows.

For a start, she thought while her wings, now almost completely covered in long, dark feathers flapped with elegant movements, she had demonstrated to herself how the so-called Royal Guard was but a receptacle of incompetent individuals with little to no real knowledge of a fight. Her minions had had an easy game getting the upper hoof with them. And the only one who could actually be a problem – the Captain - had been puddle in her hooves just until the last moment.

Next time, she would have to regard him, and Cadence, with much more respect; and maybe not expose herself in first person... well, she would have time to think about that.

Then, there was the part with Twilight, her friends, and the Elements of Harmony; not only Celestia had proved once again how much she relied on the old things to vanquish her problems, but also how much vulnerable she was without them. Of course, she had taken her time to stall Twilight and her friends with a small contingent of her minions while the rest took over the sacred room where the artefacts where stored. It was one part of her plan that had worked perfectly.

Likewise it had been that 'threat' made to Equestria; who knows by whom, who knows why! But more than enough to toss a few dozens of dumb and scared aristocratic Unicorns into panic. And that had showed her just another one of the things she needed to know: Ponies were nowadays – but for a handle of individuals like Twilight or Cadence – truly cowards. One thousand years of safely grazing without a care in the world had made them weak, fearful, and easy to control.

Put together, all the information she had gathered by today's little test was a staggering show of lack of preparation on the part of Celestia's subjects... and, what was best, on her own part.

At once, while the sun was setting, she stopped in the middle of Everfree, looking at the last shivering rays of gold going down beneath the horizon; she had almost completely turned back to her true form, now, her enchantment of shape changing lingered only around her horn, which still retained a distorted shape, but now looked like distinct Unicorn horn, its spires a deep blue and its point sharp.

That was the moment when she called for the remains of herself that she had shaped into her 'minions', an old trick that she had used many times, even though seldom making this many a minion; and from the craters where the 'Changelings' had been, across the sky, blue shapes of what looked like shivering smoke, filled with trails of stars, responded to her call and to her came, shaping into a mane of dark sky and stars, and a tail similarly fashioned.

And then she turned up her proud head, and from her eyes, now filled with two blue pupils, came a white light, and with it came the shroud of the night, and the Moon rose in the west, its pale face like a steward that every Pony, and every quivering creep under the stones, and every might Dragon in the north would look at and know that her dominion was now restored once again.

And a dark crown and a dark halter formed on her head and neck, and four silver shoes adorned her hooves, and there, in all her glory, stood Princess Luna, ruler of the Night..

And she laughed again – a tinkling sound, this time, gentle, one appropriate to a socially awkward mare, who didn't know how to fill well into a crowd of Ponies, who was sort of shy and full of weaknesses, who wouldn't even know how to behave in public and talk in an old fashion. They hadn't even stopped to think, not even for a moment how she could have just forgot how to talk in the current language when she had done so during her first visit in Ponyville, two years before.

She laughed again, flying over the outskirts of the Everfree, and there was great mirth in her voice, because, like she had just assured Twilight Sparkle that afternoon, she indeed had fooled every single one of them.

And now she was going to complete her masterpiece; the lights of Canterlot shone in the distance while she kept flying toward them.

A smile danced of Luna's lips, while she recalled, in the cooling air, the rush of power, of might, she had felt when, for the first time in a thousand years, she had clashed horns with her own sister, though in disguise – to the point where her own magic had been distorted – and how shocked and exhilarated she had been to discover that her own might was greater than she had thought!

When the Elements of Harmony had stripped her of most of her power, she had believed that to regain it, she would have to wait many years, maybe even decades; instead, maybe due to the fact that they have been used by a group of simple ponies, and not by an immortal goddess like herself was, she had instead started to regain them quickly. So quickly, in fact, that she had found into herself the sources of power to overcome her sister.

Her sister, her beloved, older sister, her wonderful, wiser, kinder, always respected, never-make-a-mistake-forever sister. Her sister, whom had claimed one of her stars, one of her suns as her own, and she, Luna, Princess of the Cosmos, ruler of Time and Gravity, had allowed it to her, vassal of lesser things, vassal of Light and Warmth, and thought it cute.

How wonderfully she had been repaid for her gesture of kindness; how greatly she had tasted the gratitude of her loved sibling! One thousand years, trapped in her own dominion, not even able to scream!

Forgetful, ungrateful, foal!

But, she thought while she was now flying on the side of the Unicorn Mountains, approaching Canterlot, now the time of submission was going to end; she would need a few more tests before being sure, of course. She had started to wonder if it was the case to wake up her old and most faithful student, the self-appointed 'King' Sombra; see if he was still wishing to serve her and her cause, 'King' as he may be.

Put Twilight Sparkle and her friends to another little test; who knows, maybe even suggest to move the bothersome royal couple that had just married to the Crystal Empire, so to have them all wrapped up in a single bouquet. Yes, she thought, that would be lovely.

She could even use other things.

There were so many of them, down, deep down in the holes of the ground, and others in the forbidden recesses of the sea floor, and others still, in the spaces between spaces where the stars scream their song of death, things that had been forgotten, things that would soon be remembered. Her enemies lacked the power that knowledge may bestow, and Knowledge, as it had always been, was Night.

That said, she needed allies; in Ponyville, especially, she needed a pair of eyes to look through. And she remembered the little orange filly, Scootaloo, in whose dreams she had seen an overwhelming nee of trust. She would become that trust. And she also had to give and idea or two to that lovely travelling mare, Beatrix Lulamoon, about a way to have her vengeance. Maybe even provide her with a little magic toy, or something like that.

Yes, she thought while gliding to the square filled with music and happy ponies and the happy friends and the happy couple, this was going to be so much fun; and so much right compensation. No more dumb careless days, strolling through the fields with a sunshine-filled mind, numb to the greater calls of knowledge and greatness and discovery. One thousand years of Sun – and the Pony race had dwindled and diminished itself in happy lies told to each other. That had enraged her, and saddened her, and it was now time for reckoning.

Not to live like brutes Ponies were made, like her wise and lovely sister had made them; but to follow Virtue and Knowledge!

She flapped her wings a few times, approached the ground of the pony-filled square, and got ready for the icing on the cake.

Still smiling, she spoke, and in the looks of Twilight and her friends, and in the unsuspecting eyes of her Sister, she saw once again the foalishness that had paved her road to victory.

“Hello, everypony,” she said, her voice a tinkle; “did I miss anything?”