Before the Dawn
Queen Chrysalis was nervous.
Nervous was not an acceptable emotion for a Queen to display. Concern was fine. There was a time for caution. But nervousness spread, and there was enough of it around right now. She could feel it, the sensation of an undercurrent of fear beneath the surface of the collective minds of her subjects. If handled poorly it could suck them all down into a maelstrom of panic. That would not be a suitable outcome to this crisis.
No, she could not show her nerves. Now was the time for a resolute Queen. Breathe in, breathe out, and be calm. Analyse the situation.
“Time?” she asked with a steady, measured voice, looking out the window to the east.
“Eight thirty-four AM, Your Majesty; three hours and twenty-seven minutes past expected sunrise” replied her aide-de-camp from her right, a slight tremble fighting its way into his voice through his years of rigorous military training.
Chrysalis mentally checked off what she knew. Instead of the sun making its way lazily up, as was to be expected at this time of the morning, the moon hung in the still-dark sky. The Mare in the Moon had vanished from its surface, leaving the orb smooth and featureless. Nothing else immediately presented itself. She allowed herself a small frown. Big events were unfolding, that much was painfully obvious. But there was so very little information to work with.
There was nothing she could do to change what was going on. This much was clear. While she held ultimate power in her realm, this was far larger than that. But perhaps, if handled correctly, she could control the reaction of her subjects.
With a quick nod of self-assurance she turned away from the window and faced her staff in the room. The nervous fidgeting subsided slightly as they waited for her to speak.
“I know the situation may appear disconcerting. But do not fear, I promise you all it will be resolved in due time. Aide-de-camp, I desire to speak with the Seer. Have her brought to my quarters. Captain, let the guards know we are not being threatened. However, send out patrols in order to maintain calm among the populace. The rest of you shall return to your duties. Dawn will come. You have my word as Queen.”
Two changelings saluted and ran out of the hall. The rest relaxed noticeably and walked back to their stations. Behind the reassuring smile she gave them as they left, Chrysalis’ mind raced. This all must have something to do with the Equestrians and their sky-controlling Princess. A malicious attack by them made little sense. The disappearance of the sun would affect them as much as, if not more than, any other nation. They had some sort of celebration about the sun around this time of the year, didn’t they? Did that have anything to do with this? Had their Princess gone rogue? And why was the Moon now a blank globe?
Deep in thought, she made her way back to her quarters and threw herself down on the lounge. Nothing about this made sense.
A few minutes passed before her attention was captured by a soft knock on the door.
“You may enter.”
The door slowly creaked open and the Seer shuffled in, her blind milky eyes framed by a ragged shawl.
“You have need of my services, my Queen?”
“A situation has arisen, and it is my hope you may be able to shed some light on it. It is twenty to nine in the morning, and yet it is still night. The moon is up, but looks strange – the Mare on the Moon has vanished from its surface.”
“I thought it unusually cold for the morning of the Summer solstice,” the Seer responded. She paused briefly, her horn and eyes glowed green, and a soft hum filled the room.
“There is a legend and prophesy – two legends, indeed, intertwined. I shall summarise them together.
“It is said that once the sky was ruled by two sisters, one of the day and one of the night. The two had fought great battles by the other’s side, to protect and guard their subjects, the ponies, from forces that act against them. But the ponies loved the light of day and feared and shunned the dark of night, and so the sister of the night felt in the shadow of the sister of the day.
“At first the night sister tried creation, making special creatures of her own to love her and the dark. But the desire for love the night sister felt was intertwined in them, and they fed on love, and as creatures of the dark they were shunned from the wider society.
“When creation failed her aims the night sister turned to destruction. She took and twisted her creations, giving them gnarled bodies and the ability to disguise themselves among the ponies. With her army thus created she refused to let night turn to day and rebelled against the day sister.
“Their defeat was swift. With the power of the Elements of Harmony the day sister banished her sister to the moon, and the ponies banished the night sister’s creations from Equestria.
“The prophesy is that on the summer solstice of the thousandth year of the banishment, day will not dawn and the night sister will return.
“The day sister is said to be Princess Celestia of Equestria. The night sister is said to be her sister, Princess Luna, who went by the name Nightmare Moon in her rebellion. Her creations are us, the changelings.
“I believe this is the circumstance in which we find ourselves now. Our creator has returned from her banishment. The prophesy does not say what will happen next.”
With that the Seer fell silent, and the glow and hum stopped. Chrysalis let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. A quick rapping came from the door. Chrysalis whipped her head around to face it.
“Yes?”
“Your Highness, urgent news from our agents in Ponyville, Equestria. Princess Celestia, who was visiting the town, has disappeared and a dark alicorn, calling herself Nightmare Moon, has appeared, pledging night eternal. Princess Celestia’s student and a group of five local ponies have headed off into the Everfree Forest, saying they are trying to locate something called the Elements of Harmony, which they believe may be the key to locating Princess Celestia and restoring normalcy.”
“Thank you. You are dismissed.”
The changeling at the door saluted and left.
“Seer, it seems you may be right. Tell me, can you sense anything from there?”
The Seer remained silent, but kneeled on the ground, and her horn and eyes glowed a strong, bright green. A few moments passed before she spoke.
“There is... a strong, dark, power, magnitudes above any normal being. Celestia I cannot locate. I can feel... I can see a fuzzy image of where they are and what is proceeding there. It is at a great distance; I have not the power to see it clearly, nor relay what is going on.”
“Then let me share my power with you, Seer, and share what you see with me.”
“Kneel facing me, Your Highness, close your eyes, and touch your horn to mine.”
Chrysalis did so. The base of her horn ran cold as the Seer drew power out. A few seconds later, her vision went completely dark, and kept going, until suddenly a sight of a room in a ruin snapped into existence in her mind. Inside were seven ponies, two of each race and an alicorn. The aura on one of the unicorns was uncommonly strong, but paled in comparison to the sucking blackness the alicorn radiated.
She could taste the emotions in the room. Confidence, uncertainty, wariness. And... fear, coming strongly from the alicorn? What could possibly...
Chrysalis’ train of thought was cut off as a blinding flash of light seared her mind. Just as quickly as it had come though, it disappeared, and Chrysalis could see the room again.
The alicorn’s aura was gone. No... not gone, diminished. And with them was another. Princess Celestia. Her aura was instantly recognisable. And with her rose the sun.
“That shall do, Seer.”
The vision cut out, Chrysalis’ sight rose through blackness again, and she opened her eyes.
“It seems the situation has resolved itself,” Chrysalis said.
“Perhaps,” replied the Seer, “and yet it promises to remain interesting. Princess Luna has returned, and was not banished again. Instead she exists in a reduced state, bereft of her normal power. She remains to walk on this earth.”
Chrysalis walked to the door.
“And still a lesser power than her sister. Seer, I believe it is time to do something about that. And not only about that, but also about the injustice done to us. We shall place both our creator and ourselves in our rightful positions.”
The Seer rose and stretched.
“I am but an old mare, but I will help in any way I can, my Queen.”
“Your assistance will be most appreciated. You may return to your duties, I must talk to my subjects.”
The Seer nodded and shuffled down the corridor. Chrysalis watched her go, going back into the room as the Seer turned the corner. Sitting down on the lounge, she opened her mind to the minds of her subjects.
“My dearest children.
“The night which has hung heavy over our heads has passed, and a new, auspicious day has dawned. It is the dawning of a new era for changelingkind. Our long-gone creator has returned to the world, and it is our duty to see she receives the honour she deserves.
“No longer shall we be held distant from the rest of the world. No, we shall take our rightful place in it. In the coming months plans will be laid and preparations made. We will have the splendour and the glory so long denied to us. We will make great our people and our creator.
“You have my word as Queen.”
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I enjoyed the story. Great job!
Please continue on this, it is a very interesting story concept.
5736266 I'll see what I can do. I've been meaning to get into writing more.
5736284 Thanks
I really hope you continue because i can't wait to find out what's going to happen 
Nicely written, and such an awesome origin story!!! I would love to see more with this.
I'll be honest. When I first saw this I was skeptical. An entire story in under 2,000 words is generally not my happy thought. But I figured I'd give it a shot, since it seemed interesting and not only was this absolutely great, but making it longer wouldn't make it any better. I mean, I very much would love to see more, but as far as this specific scene goes? Perfect.
Perhaps this is due to the changelings not fully understanding the situation, but the idea that Luna was simply going by a different name (as opposed to actually being Nightmare Moon, a distinct personality) is incredibly interesting to me. Gives a much more malevolent impression of her, that the whole thing might be a hoax so she'd have a scapegoat to blame. If that is what's going on and I'm not just reading too much into things that'll prove very interesting if you continue. And of course I'm sure everyone reading this story is wondering how the invasion plays into this.
One of the most fascinating portrayals of the Changeling's origins I've ever read.
An interesting take on both Nightmare Moon/Luna as well as the Changelings and their motives for invading Canterlot.
It does raise questions now as to how Luna reacted to her creations invading the city and the like.
And now makes me question even more where she was.
If you do continue this it would be most interesting but if you choose not to then the story also works well.
Huh. This is an interesting variation of the story. Good job thinking this up, it takes alot of imagination to make this kind of thing. Danka komrade
6353050 i think it might be you reading into it too much, they might not have known she became corrupted, and thought she was being a edgy rebel and changing her name
7423773
Entirely possible, the wording just stuck out to me, enough so that I still think about this fic when considering changelings like a year or so after reading it. I do so adore both variations on changelings and Luna/Nightmare Moon, and combining both in one story? Too good for me to not get my hopes up a little
But either way would be interesting to see, if Astronelson decided to do anything with it
7423798 then again it could be on purpose by the author to inspire thought, what you said is certainly interesting to think about. Since this incident it is possible luna has been using Nightmare Moon as a figure to shift the blame to. Makes me think about what she is planning now that most pones in equestria are beginning to trust her more.
7423809
She was suspiciously absent during the channeling invasion as well. Sure, she was present before everything went down, but then during? Nowhere to be seen. Often people claim she slept through it, although that doesn't actually make sense; a royal wedding is the kind of thing she should be awake for. Not to mention there are sixteen hours in a day, surely she doesn't sleep them all. Keeping this fic in mind, the circumstances surrounding Luna's absence are highly suspicious, to say the least
7423844 to be honest, im going off of what ive seen in fanfics for info on the story, im still watching season 1, just near the end, so i didnt know luna was absent for that. I wonder if it was on purpose or if they forgot to put luna into the story?