//------------------------------// // Blood Moon // Story: Thirteen Reasons // by canonkiller //------------------------------// My brother has changed. She did not even notice that she referred to Sky as hers, and to be honest would not care even if she had. She had approached the town, and, seeing a house with a broken window, trotted up. "Oh, honey! I thought you ran away!" A tall, extremely curvy unicorn sauntered out of the house, her coat sticky with sweat. "Give Mommy a hug!" She leaned forward, but pulled back at the last second with a little laugh. "Oh, I guess I shouldn't. Work came home today." Glitter Dancer... the Unicorn with a name that didn't sound like magic... Celestia was suddenly very grateful that contact had been avoided. "Mom..." The word felt familiar in her mouth, "where's Dad?" Her face fell. "He'll be home... soon. Come inside, Sky." "I'm sure you know the story by now." The memory fizzled out with a snap, and Celestia could see that she was outside, pinned under a semi-transparent wing. Judging by the high stone walls, this was it. Her final moment. Queen Chrysalis continued talking, her voice a mere whisper. "The evil Changeling emptied the soldier of love. He became her first victim, but there were many. They were produced naturally, through the breeding of the transformed." She laughed, and the 'chink' of chains and a slight choke notified Celestia that her collar had been pulled taught. "And eventually, she attacked you. Did you know her then? Did you see yourself reflected in her eyes?" "Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings!" Another jangle of metal as the Queen lifted her head, probably looking the speaker in the eye. "Yes?" "This is to be the day of your execution! Do you have any last words before you are punished?" She growled, loud enough to see the guards around flinch slightly. After a few moments, they caught on that she was laughing. "You think... you think that I will give you the pleasure of begging for my life? No such thing!" The guards snorted in shock. Hoofs pawed angrily. "You really think that I, Queen of the Changeling nation and ruler of millions, will fall to her knees and pray to your goddesses?! Fire away, boys!" She ended with a maniacal laugh, her breaths rasping from starvation. "Take your best shot." She struggled against the chains until she was standing tall, and lifted her head proudly. Even in death, she was the epitome of pride and dignity. The magic of the unicorns swirled as one, each pinpoint of light a bright gold. Celestia heard Chrysalis sigh. "You've already done this to me once." The eyes of a few guards burned white with the power they were amassing. "Don't think it'll work this time, either." The beams started lancing towards her, and Chrysalis charged her own spell. "Goodbye for now, Celestia." The entire scene disappeared in green light. ----- Celestia's eyes snapped open in her own room. Her body was drenched with cold sweat. She felt like she didn't fit in her own bones. Panting and bleary-eyed, she rolled off of the bed and blundered into the bathroom. Her hooves felt light, her head felt heavy, her fur felt like it was stuck to her flanks... She clicked on the light and stopped dead. She was staring into the eyes of a off-white Changeling Queen. With a terrified screech, she reared up, kicking the intruder. A cracking noise followed quickly, and the Queen vanished under a spiderweb of cracks. "P-Princess! Are you alright?!" Sky cantered in, silently cursing himself for closing his eyes. "Prince... oh." Slowly, Celestia turned to face him, consciously aware of the lack of her mane flowing beside her face, the lack of wings folded warm against her back. "Sky..." She slowly kneeled, rolling onto her side and staring into the mirror from the ground. That was her now, she noticed. She was as tall as she was before. Her coat was a bit grayer than it had been before, and her mane was a pearlescent pink-blue. That was where the similarities ended. Her eyes were slitted like a cats', the irises around them a pale purple. Her horn was a twisted, holey mess, and her ethereal mane was reduced to a thin, silky sheet, also riddled with holes. Her wings were the same not-quite-gray as her coat, an insectoid web folded into itself. Her back was covered in a domed shell that matched the two-color sheen of her mane, offset by three blue bands on each side of her ribs. Her tail matched her mane almost perfectly. And on each flank was a pale, splotchy, crude crayon-esque sun. "My... Queen." Sky muttered, still in shock. "I am no Queen." Celestia growled. She heard the echoes of her own voice, the three-part cadence that made up her new speech. She thought she detected Luna and Nightmare Moon in her own words, and sighed. "Queen Celestia." Sky repeated, bowing down on one knee. "I am under your command." "I told you, I am no Queen!" Celestia yelled, jumping to her hooves. "I am a Princess of Equestria! I am a Sun Goddess... not a... matriarch of monsters..." If Sky was offended, he didn't show it. "My Queen, you must tell your sister of your developments, or I will." "You will do no such thing!" Celestia growled, turning to glare at him. Sky was suddenly aware of just how much taller she was than him. "A-as you wish. B-b-b-but she will see you at some p-p-point, won't she?" Celestia grimaced, looking back to her splintered reflection. "I guess I will have to remain here until I master my own form." "You can't." "I will." She replied firmly. "No matter how long it takes." "Not that, you just can't." "Elaborate." Sky sighed, scuffing his hooves. "You can't ever turn back into your own form." Celestia snorted. "You did." "I was created differently than you were!" He protested. "I was drained... you were... assimilated." "What's the difference?" "The ponies drained of love still retain clear memories of themselves and their lives. Assimilated ponies find their memories too garbled with that of the Changeling that changed them to discern their own form." Celestia scoured her mind, trying to find a way to link that perfect princess she had in her mind to a memory, to something that would make it her. The further she struggled into the memories, the harder it was for her to catch glimpses of herself,. A single memory flashed out of the gloom. A pale white face stared towards her. "I'm sorry." It mouthed. And then it was gone. She sank to her knees, her panicked breath fogging up the glass. "Who am I? What do I do?" Sky slowly lay down beside her, reverting back to semi-instinct as he began gently preening her mane. "Your name is Princess Celestia." He softly reminded her. "You have a sister named Princess Luna..."