Lightning Dash was flying. The wind in her main, the smell of heather. She flew and flew. Checking her map, she realized she was close to the changeling realm, so she transformed into a changeling. It wasn’t as fast as white wings, but she was starting to get the feel. She saw the castle in the overhead. Looks pretty scary. Kinda cool.
...
Look, another changeling!
She smells funny.
Hey, wake up! WAKE IT!
(Point of view change- Lightning Dash)
I woke up. “What’s your name?” a little one asked. “Hush,” said his mother. “We don’t know what happened to this changeling. Then it hit me- There were families to destroy. We saw but the army during the attack. I was sent to destroy families, ruin lives. I have to stay strong to do this.
Did the princess really know about the changelings, anyway? They attack, yay, let's take a normal civilian and send her on a quest to hurt people. Why? The army is what mattered. sweep in, bomb the place, I'm done! These are lives, lives that matter to someone. In fact, this even might aggravate them more. Is there a secret motive?
(Point of view change- Queen Chrysalis)
I saw the little creature. “I did not give birth to this one!” I cried. “Do not kill it! Be wary!” I was fairly worried of this wayward changeling. It was...different somehow... I would learn more of it soon. I would take it as my apprentice and teach it our ways... It knew little so far. “Come with me,” I told it. We headed to my chambers. I asked if it had a name. I shouldn’t say, thought Lightning Dash. My name is not like theirs, is it? “I don’t know,” it said. I told her, “From now on, you are Shadow’s Depth. You will be my apprentice, and I will reteach you in our ways.” The others were born with my memories. She would be interesting.
(Point of view change-Lightning Dash/Shadow’s Depths)
I liked my new name. I would, sadly, have to kill her soon. I could do it now, before I got to know her well. But the day was almost done... I would do it tomorrow.
I woke up to Queen Chrysalis’ loud and kind voice. It was reminiscent of a quieter version of Princess Luna’s royal voice. “Today I will begin getting you up to date, Shadow’s Depths, with everything here, starting with the history of our kind.
(Narrator here- read it. You technically don’t have to read the whole thing, but read most of it.)
Once, long ago, there was one equine race, Alicorns. Some had the power of shapeshifting, some could walk on clouds, and some had stronger magic. They evolved into four peaceful races, Changelings, Earth ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi, though some Alicorns remained. The Changelings were ridiculed for their ragged dark features, their strange abilities. As shapeshifting was bred out of the other races, many forgot the Changelings were perfectly benevolent and saw nothing but shady appearances. It wasn't bred out of me! And so, Emperor Helione and Empress Selesnia, Sun and Moon respectively, banished the whole race of Changeling to calm the other races. They died shortly after bearing children, one of which was the Heaven King. “We know it was of guilt, and we bear nothing against those rulers, who made a very hard decision.” Queen Chrysalis wistfully smiled. She was reading over Shadow’s’ shoulder. “Go on.”
Queen Solar and the Heaven King were not so caring, but soon make sure that the threat is gone. There was no threat. One changeling tried coming back to Equestria, but was stopped by guards and made an example of. Trying to keep the peace, the changeling refused to fight back. When he was killed, the Changelings attacked. The Alicorn Panel, the ever-shrinking group of 76 Alicorns, devised spells to fight back. The strong spells landed all changelings back to their own realm. The first ruler, Queen Starlight, kept peace, but the second queen, known as the queen of Blight, led many revolts. After that, the Changelings fell back for millennia.
“Now,” said Queen Chrysalis. ”this book hasn’t been updated for recent events. I nearly succeeded at speaking to the princess about readmission into society. I got into the kingdom, and into her chambers. But she rejected me before I said anything! So I decided to get revenge. Our people have been ridiculed long enough, and this needed to happen. We will need to wait for a new leader of Equestria to negotiate peace a different way. Honestly, I feel a bit guilty. Maybe I should have just left a note. Nevertheless, revenge helped our kind feel better... until Cadence came back. Then we were once again expelled.
For months, Shadow’s Depths shared good times with the changelings. For months, she sent reports back to Princess Celestia.
“Here are the notes,” said Lightning Dash. “Thank you,” said Princess Celestia. Lightning Dash cringed, feeling guilty as she flew back.