Changeling Heart and the New Moon

by ambion

chapter one

Changeling Heart and the New Moon

chapter one

The tree could very well be the largest in the world. Or rather, once it might have been. All that remained was an immense and broken trunk that clawed at the sky. Countless strangler vines had weaved across its wood centuries ago. The tree had died, but the vines had entombed the withered husk and held it like a grisly monument to a forlorn forest.

It was evening, in so much as it could be called that with a gray sky and thick mist that clung to the ground. It was dark and cold, but Luna was no stranger to these. She travelled between the choked trees with a ghostly grace, barely disturbing the heavy mist with her passing.

A raucous caw broke the silence and flew away in a burst of black feathers. Luna suppressed the worst of a shiver and pressed on, her gaze slipping askance at the trees and fog. The ragged fingers of the great tree were her beacon. Pulling her dew heavy cloak tighter about herself, the princess of the night pressed on.

Heavy vines faded in and out of view, and the mist stifled all sound. Not a single insect hummed or frog croaked. The mire watched Luna with held breath, strangled and choking in silence.

Though she could not see them, she knew eyes followed her movements. Luna mastered her fear once more; she would show none of it. She had gone too far to turn back now.

Luna was close. She had to crane her neck back to see the shattered peaks of the dead tree, just a silhouette through the haze of mist.

There was no suggestion of motion as the first changeling was revealed. It simply appeared before the alicorn and watched her with expressionless eyes. Luna stopped to regard the creature and, in the privacy of her heart, brace her courage.

It made no sign to attack. It made no move at all. The changeling stood still as a statue, barring her way. From the slight shifts of shadow and mist more changelings emerged where seconds before Luna might've sworn there could be none.

All were as silent as the first. No wing or leg twitched and were it not for the occasional ponderous blink, Luna could have believed they really were statues.

She took a steadying breath from air faintly sweet with the long decay of plants. These were what she had come for, the reason she had left Canterlot in the dead of night without warning or escort. Her departure must have seemed abrupt. She felt the familiar stings of regret and shame, but those would not stop her now.

Luna looked back to the towering tree before her. It had borne the steadily increasing constriction of a thousand vines over hundreds of years. Of course, it had eventually shattered from the strain. That had probably seemed abrupt too.

“I would see your Queen,” Luna said. Like silk, her voice was soft and strong.

She met the gaze of the nearest changeling, giving it the slightest nod. Whatever thoughts passed through its head, Luna saw no hint of them. It merely turned about and walked away. Under the blank scrutiny of the others, Luna followed. The others fell in around her.

Both trees and mist thinned out as they neared the home of the changelings. The ground opened at a gentle incline into several pits around the immense husk. More changelings lurked around the entrance and followed them as they descended.

The tunnels were large enough to comfortably fit Luna and her host. It was dark, but not so much that she couldn’t see with the aid of living threads hung from the ceiling, glowing a pale green. Luna's growing escort traversed the path of faint lights, first carved out by the tree's ancient roots.

The only constant was down. The lights hung in uneven clumps and the path meandered this way and that, going wherever the blind roots had pushed. More changelings appeared around every bend. Her guide took no note of them, but the numbers surrounding her had easily swelled past a hundred. The occasional flutter of one or another's wings broke the silence. Luna found herself welcoming the sound.

The tunnel gave way to a chamber as spacious as any in Canterlot. It had been dug out from the space of the original tap root into a central hall, if it could be called such a thing. The changelings had done little more than expand on what nature had started and the earthen walls still dripped with moisture. They stepped out onto a wide balcony made from a thick growth of fungus. Above Luna was the husk of the tree and further above were the jagged tops of the broken trunk. The light of the open sky was visible here, but further down the illumination was dominated by hundreds of the glowing threads hanging from every surface. From the other terraces, above and below, changelings stopped about their business to look at her. Those that had been flying about settled to watch her.

The buzz of her guide's wings brought Luna back to herself. She quickly took wing and followed the creature down and still further down into the sickly green glow to land on damp, cool soil. A pinprick of sky was all that could be seen from here. For a fleeting second it nearly looked like the moon on a cloudy night, but Luna couldn't afford to be distracted now.

The lowermost tier of the changelings' home was a modest space, opening up into several alcoves. From these came the strongest of the green light Luna had seen yet, but before she could look closer her breath was taken away.

All the determination she'd held to herself, all the preparation for this moment fell away as Queen Chrysalis stepped forth, her body shimmering with an oily slickness in the glow. Luna had told herself again and again she wouldn't be afraid, but to see the changeling towering over her and sneering proved otherwise. Luna bit back her fear.

The changeling Queen circled the night princess, whispering over the alicorn's shoulders.

“Well,” she said as she stepped well into Luna's personal space, “this is a surprise. Did you think you could come to gloat over your victory?” Chrysalis purred like a cat with a new toy.

Luna could already feel the changeling's touch pressing against her mind, gentle and sinister and looking for a way in.

“No,” she said. “I came here to speak.”

Something like a smile crept up the face of the Queen of changelings. At least, her teeth were bared.

“Talk? You want…” A flash of green fire ran across the changeling's form, consuming it. The image of Celestia stood in her place, whispering in Luna's ear. “…to talk, sister? Whatever about?”

Anger struck through Luna. Anger and dismay that Chrysalis would dare do such a thing, and that the disguise was flawless. Luna flinched away and felt another surge of presence against her mind.

“Chrysalis, enough. I came here in peace.”

“And you might leave in pieces,” the Celestia-thing replied with a disdainful snort.

Luna's hoof scraped at the ground instinctively. “Do not make idle threats on me,” she said gravely.

The mimic whirled about. No matter how exact the copy might be, the contorted grimace on her face gave the façade away clearly. The thing regained a serene composure and circled around the alicorn once more. “Oh? I think we both know which of us the stronger sister is, and I defeated Celestia. No tricks. No minions. Just power.”

“And how much of that power was stolen, Chrysalis? How much of it do you have left? I do not think you could defeat me now, or you would not be playing these games.”

The Queen of changelings emerged from the image of Celestia with another bout of green fire. She shrugged. “Maybe, but you can't really expect me to play fair if it comes to that.”

“I would get to you before they would get to me,” the moon princess growled.

Chrysalis yawned and walked away. She curled up on an expansive growth of spongy fungus and Luna was almost lulled in by the Queen's sudden laxity, except the pressure of the changeling's power on her mind hadn't relented.

Chrysalis sighed with boredom and idly prodded at the frills of her makeshift couch. “And you tell me not to make idle threats? As if you impress me in the slightest? If you think you can put me down, try it. Do or don't, the swarm will still take you. I win without having to raise a hoof. So go on, threaten me and call me the evil one, I don't care. I stay and feed my people. Where do you go when yours need you? The only thing you ever did for Equestria was usurp it.”

Luna's self worth fell apart in so many sparkling little pieces. Her mouth hung open, but no sound came out. Her whole body felt as if it were made of lead, she could barely stand for the weight of it.

“No… I…it was…”

Ah, there it is, the Queen thought as her power found a foothold in Luna's mind. The taste of Luna's love, twisted and confused was exquisite. Luna had centuries of refinement and doubt and hope and turmoil to flavour it. Had it been a drink for ponies, the rich would pay very large sums for very small glasses. It would be the talk and pride of connoisseurs.

“No!” Luna's wings flared. “Get out!” She threw up walls in her mind, but Chrysalis already had a beachhead. The Queen of changelings smiled from her restive perch, but she made no further move physically or magically. She wanted to savour this.

Besides, she was curious.

“So, foolish little princess. Tell me. Just why did you come here?”

Luna breathed heavily under the weight of the Queen of changeling's power. She braced her legs as if a very real weight threatened to crush down upon her. “I came… to ask… an exchange.”

“Oh. Celestia's little moon, are we? So much for being a co-ruler. No escort? No brash decree? If she sent you, I think she meant for you to fall. And hers seemed like such a direct, pure hearted love when I held her in my grasp. So much for that notion.”

Suddenly the heaviness was gone. Luna blinked with surprise, she felt herself once more. Almost herself. The seeds of Chrysalis' power still lurked at the fringes of her mind. She knew that if she acted against them it would only force the Queen to react.

“You can read our minds?” Luna asked with sudden morbid curiosity.

“No more than you can read the mind of an artist when you view their paintings. Most ponies are so simple and warm and alike. You I could build a gallery around. But tell me again, why are you here?”

“I love my sister-” Luna said defensively, then instantly wondered why she had.

“I can see that.” Again there was that expression, almost a smile, except that it never quite got past the Queen of changeling's teeth.

“…but I am here for myself. Tell me, Chrysalis, you speak of viewing paintings.” Luna's gaze fell to the floor. Her heart seethed with what she needed to say next. “Can you… change the painting?”

And then the Queen of changeling's smile did reach her wide eyes, even if they only looked like a wider type of tooth, brimmed with interest.

Chrysalis stood up and stepped closer, her eyes never wavering or blinking. “Go on,” she crooned.

“You feed on love. Can you take that love away?” Luna stared woodenly at the ground between her hooves, her voice barely a whisper.

“And the exchange you wanted?” The Queen's voice came from so close to her ear that Luna could feel the gentle breath of it. It was soft.

“I am not equal to my sister as a pony I… can admit that… but I am equal as far as the title of princess goes. I am half of Equestria's rule. You might find… diplomacy…” Luna's quavering voice died.

Chrysalis nuzzled the alicorn, and her touch was so gentle. Luna shivered.

“Don't touch me,” Luna said, but her voice lacked command. The alicorn's back bristled.

Chrysalis broke away and laughed aloud. The absurdity of such bounty practically begging to be taken was just too much. It echoed back and forth, twisting as much as the Queen's own body. Luna shrank away from the heart of the sound.

“But little moon,” she crooned as the echoes died, “we're going to have to be even more intimate than that if you truly want this.” The Queen of changeling's teeth managed their sharpest smile yet. “Little moon, you would have to open your heart to me, if I were to change it.”

There was nothing but the sound of the princess' breath as the seconds ticked by.

The dark alicorn stood upright and met the changeling's eye. Her voice spoke with the quiet assurance of a princess despite the heaviness of her breathing. “I would have certain... safeguards in place, before doing this.”

The Queen of changelings flicked her tongue over her teeth. “What would you have me promise?”

“Nothing. A promise from you is worthless.”

Chrysalis shrugged. “Well, yes, there's that of course. No pretending that isn't true, but still,” she said with a gleeful hiss, “ there’s not much else you have to work with besides my word down here.”

Luna found it within herself to grin, a tiny, sharp edged little grimace at the changeling looming over her. “But there is. I will have it on your pride. And your duty.”

This gave the Queen of changelings pause. “What?”

Luna let her head sag under the effort of keeping Chrysalis contained at the outermost of her mind. It was exhausting, yet she smiled. “It is true, I am completely in your power now. By my consent or the passing of minutes you will break through me. If I could outrun you, I am still in the deepest pit of your home and the swarm will take me. But disregard everything I have said and drain me dry like a juice box and you prove what every pony in Equestria already believes of you.”

“Oh? What is that?” The changeling sneered, but the doubt rang clear through her voice.

Luna took a deep breath as the strain bore down on her again. “That you are no queen. You are just the fattest leech on the heap. That you will scamper and crawl through the dirt for any and every morsel you can scavenge, no more deserving than a locust. That is your pride I will hold.”

The princess of the night fell to one knee as the strain on her mind intensified. “I'm not finished yet!” she shouted defiantly. “No matter how delectable you say I am, I am still but one pony! You cannot feed all the changelings from me alone! Would you abandon your people to your own feasting, locust? I will hold you to your duty... or they will.”

Luna collapsed to the ground panting heavily, but her words reverberated through the walls and echoed to the higher echelons. The darkness erupted with the angry calls and fluttering wings of untold numbers. How many hundreds had followed her down here?

Chrysalis made no move on the fallen princess. Her expression settled into the poker face of her subjects and she waited patiently. The last of the raucous din seemed a long time coming.

“You're playing a dangerous game with me, little moon.” The Queen's voice was carefully neutral.

Shorter and on the floor, Luna still managed a gaze that looked down on the changeling. “There are no games... in matters of the heart... there is only... love and loss.” Gritting her teeth, Luna forced herself up on trembling legs and turned a hard glare on the Queen of changelings. Her chest heaved with stolen breaths. “I am ready... to balance those... are you?”

Comments

[Tonto the Trotter]

Interesting, let us see what Luna wants from Chrysalis. Great story btw.

[richfiles]

Very interesting. Go on...

[MorteMcAdaver]

Indeed! Do go on.

[Tuume]

This is an excellent beginning chapter. Everything reads so easily, yet with an eloquence that's hard to deny. The emotions and dialogue just feel so very natural. I'm looking forward to the rest.

[Razzy]

Time to read this again, this was one of the first changeling stories I've ever read and I always remembered it fondly. And now it's even better seeing how the show writers completely dropped the ball with changelings.

[Yubella]

How dare you sun worshiper!? Kneel!