Changeling Heart and the New Moon

by ambion

chapter twenty three

Changeling Heart and the New Moon

chapter twenty three

The rain fell and though Shining Armor shield kept him dry, he still looked as damp as anything; a pony with much to do and too little rest to endure it with. His face was set with a stony expression of determination. The pegasus Wax, on the other feather stepped forwards instantly, standing tall and flaring his wings so that he caught more rain than any, all the while seeming to burn with a latent energy.

“Oh? Then...lets talk! Dreary weather, isn't it?” Wax snarled, and the twist to his smile put Wane on edge. Tired and frustrated as he also was, particularly with the self righteous unicorn, it unsettled him to see his brother snap in such a manner. The good captain scowled and stood his ground, but as his expression softened. The rain continued to fall in a curtain of spatters from the umbrella of magic; Wane already shuddered with the chill as it was, let alone what Wax was pointlessly putting himself through to make some kind of point.

“I’m not trying to pick any fights,” Shining said, and with his words the umbrella spell extended over the brothers.

“This will be about our lady mistress, of course?” Wane stepped forwards to his brother, but a wing blocked his path and shushed him.

Shining sighed. “Of course it’s about princess Luna.” Wax snorted and forced himself to stand taller still, his wings flared to their utmost. For all the effort Shining Armor was the larger pony, but more than that Wane feared his brother’s sudden shift in mood. He had never seen him so wrathful, and anger all but crackled unseen through every stiff pinion. “I see you’re not with her, for instance.”

Wax’s heavy breathing was unsettling. Wane interposed himself between the two, leaning against his brother’s chest in as much a gesture of assurance as of restraint.

“Captain, please,” Wane said tersely, “if you have something to ask, be done with it. You know where we stand on the matter, and nobody stands to gain from provocation.”

For a moment, there was only the sound of rain on the stone; rivulets running through petrified claws.

“Fine, then. Is Luna part of some changeling plot? What poison has found it’s way into her?”

“Luna is nothing less than whole and pure! We love as she deserves, and all should.” The spell above them fizzled into nothing, falling upon them all with equal vigour. Shiny widened his stance, and Wane pressed tighter against his brother, and still Wax trembled.

“Don’t,” he whispered to his brother, “please. It wouldn’t help her. Or us.” Wane had never seen him like this, or felt fear like this in all his years as Wax’s brother. “Please...”

Wax’s eyes were the pale green of budding leaves when he broke his gaze from the good captain. His breathing shattered into shallow, erratic little breaths, and his trembling had become like that of a fever, ravaging its course through him. With each breath though, Wax steadied. Wane sheltered him as he could under a wing, letting himself feel hope.

“Or is it you, then,” Shining began again, his voice solemn and resolute as the armor he wore, “that has something to hide?”

“Damn you!” Wax roared at the unicorn, shoving Wane behind him. The sting of cold grit was nothing next to the pain of surprise, and Wane raised his head only to see that Wax stood over him, but his eyes...they were two boiling emeralds, centre pieces to a face that twitched convulsively as it pulled itself into the rictus of a sneer.

Shining Armor whinnied, stepped back and conjured a quick defense about himself, unsure of his next move. “Wane?” the pegasus cried piteously, his voice hollow and unnatural. For a second Wax’s eyes were his own and every muscle of his face warred with its neighbours to remain himself. “Wane!” he wailed, the painful echoes of it cut short when the pegasus’ face contorted once more and all semblance of Wax was lost in those magic touched eyes.

Wane could not stay, nor could he leave. In the hesitation it became too late to choose either; strong magic bound his hooves.

“Nobody’s leaving!” Shining shouted. “Come peacefully, or I will force you!” His glance shifted between the pegasi, caught between identical faces full of terror for quite opposite reasons.

Wax sprung forwards from standstill, his wings driving him headlong into Shining’s defence. The shimmering spell buckled but did not break. His horn flaring with renewed effort, Shining fell to one knee but did not yield.

“I. Feel. So. Much. Love!” The pegasus screamed, each word coming from a place beyond thought or memory, the manic delight in each twisted by disease or madness into something monstrous.

Wax spoke truth: for Wane the love was a palpable surge rolling off his brother, rising up like something noxious from a wound. Wane could feel it wheedling into him, poisonous to every part of him, and in that realization his choice was made; he could not stay. Not if there was love - real love - in him for Wax, not if there was hope at all.

Wane could only watch as his brother hit and tore at the shield, biting at it, bashing at it with his face. On every breath Wax snarled proclamations of love profound as any poetry had ever dared attempt. Even as his voice cracked and his breath shattered into a desperate wheeze for oxygen he railed on, adulations in all things love.

Blood welled up from cuts in his cheek, and there was love. The shield was dispelled, Wax fell through it and was met with a surge of magic that drove hard into his chest. Wax was driven into the dirt with a horrendous smack of flesh, and that too was love, writhing like a beast.

It bled through to Wane, whispering madness into the edges of his thoughts and lending him what felt like boundless strength. For all his terror Wane's face smiled of its own accord, a wide, happy grin, a mirrored shadow of Wax’s. Shining Armor's binding was less than perfect; Wane wriggled and tore his back legs free of the shimmering mesh. Full of panic and haste he took wing, his forelegs still bound, thinking only to set things right. He slammed broadside into the unicorn, bowling them both over.

Wane tumbled and bounced until his back crashed into the legs of Discord and the breath was knocked from him. Pain muted the toxic thoughts and he remembered that he must leave, he must.

The good captain's armor had spared him much of the damage. He proved himself quickest in shaking off the daze. Before Wane could collect his thoughts Shining advanced, but not on him. His horn charged with searingly bright magic as he pinned the wildly smiling Wax beneath him.

Just one terrible draught of air filled the pegasus' lungs. From some vestige of himself he cried out. "Wane! Get out of here!"

There was no hesitation, no denying such desperation. Wane spread his wings and took to the air, shaken and uneasy in his ascent.

"No!" Shining shouted, but in turning to face Wane, Wax found the chance to break free of the pin, and a hoof rose up in desperate vengeance, slamming the unicorn’s jaw with the force to jar his head aside.

The last Wane saw of them, a white hoof came down atop his brother's skull with a trembling crack, then a blinding flash of magic consumed them both. When he looked back a second later, blinking the searing light from his eyes, there was nothing.

Only rain, and a statue of Discord: his expression unreadable.

It did not look to remain dry much longer, Luna noted as she descended at long last back to ground. As if the clouds themselves had drawn of the upset and anger from her thoughts they had become gray and uneasy, but in turn the dark princess felt more herself.

Canterlot sprawled out beneath her, Luna spiraled down, gazing over the city's loneliness. The capitol boasted few pegasi, even by the standards of a grounded city, and with so few willing to step outside in less than perfect, sunny weather, it could be as if the whole world were empty.

As always the castle and its grounds dominated the vista, even seen from above, and yet not even it could shake loose the melancholy she saw, as if it pervaded the very air she breathed and flew upon.

She sighed and tilted her wings into a steeper descent, turning away from the castle as she did so. Calmer, yes, but she was not free of her disquiet. The embers of her anger were still there, sputtering and drowned for a time under her solemn thoughts. Luna did feel quite yet ready to face herself, or Celestia for the latest outburst.

As much intending to find answers as escape her own thoughts, Luna angled herself towards the unassuming orphanage, tucked away in a corner of the city, well away from the more envied and opulent quarters.

Seeing nopony and being seen by none in turn, Luna descended beneath the rooftops. Sprout's Orphanage was looked to be nothing more than a large house. Indeed, it may once have been just that, but a sign of raised wooden letters over the door declared its present purpose.

Luna hesitated on the doorstep. What business did a princess of Equestria have here? Thinking on it a moment, she asked herself instead what business a princess of Equestria didn't have there. Nevermind that a changeling lurked within, it was downright shameful that it had taken, at a changeling's insistence no less, a request for such a visit to occur at all. What other ponies were as vulnerable as these? Who else would be there for them, if not her?

Deciding that a princess did not need to knock, she parted the doors and stepped in. A little yellow filly looked up at her, screamed and fled. Luna was not all that upset, considering.

"That hasn't changed," she muttered under her breath. In no time at all a familiar pink pony rushed down the stairs, followed by the sounds of a somewhat more safe and sensible pace set by the matron. The filly hugged closely to the green mare, babbling about a scary 'unicorn-esus.'

Surreal went from motion to stillness with no particular deceleration, just staring intently as if Luna might vanish forevermore should she look away. The princess, however, paid more mind to Brussel Sprouts, as she reprimanded the filly gently.

"You know this one, Goldy Locks. Alicorn. Not 'unicorn-esus.' The word is alicorn...alicorn!" and on that note the easy trot echoes became those of a frantic mare indeed. "Princess!" the mare shouted as she stumbled over the last few steps.

Luna nodded slightly to the startled matron, forgiving her the outburst.

"This is...sudden!" the mare cried in shrill tones, struggling to keep her calm and failing notably. "Not that we mind sudden!" A foal poked his face around the stairs, as did another filly.

Something in the foals quizzical looks made Luna smile. "Be easy, Brussel Sprouts. Calm yourself."

“I...I...”

Luna drew an edged breath through her teeth. Quieter, not louder: that she must remember.

“Forgive us our abruptness,” she managed to say softly, gracing her stammering subject with a slight bow. “I have acted without consideration, it is right of you to be caught out.” Luna made herself everything she could of softness and smiled for the foals. “Hello, children.”

A few whispered cautious hellos back, among them Surreal’s own was tense, yet not out of place amidst the awed little voices.

The green mare sighed; something on the breath carried the tension from body and mind.

“Well,” she began, sighing again - perhaps one, no matter how nice, would cut it - “come in then. Surry, would you bring everyone some drinks please?”

“Mhmm” the changeling mumbled, hesitant to leave, jerking her body away when she did.

The matron lead on to a room that could only be called a living; certainly many hours of innocent little lives had passed in the otherwise spartan room. Playthings were scattered about, and colours of all sorts made for a refuge from the atmosphere outside. The princess of the kingdom took seat upon a couch possibly more ancient than she, and infinitely more experienced from the looks of it. The softness of the slightly smelling cushions swallowed her up.

“Your, uh, highness...I don’t know how to be formal. And everything’s a bit-”

“Do not be worried.”

Brussel sprouts bowed: quick and deep. Her hooves skittered in place, her eyes flicked to and from the alicorn. “I’ll just...call down the other foals then?” Some already, more offput by their matron’s hesitation than any seeming doubts of their own about Luna.

“That would be prudent.”

“Alright then. Thank you,” she muttered hastily as she took her leave.

There were foals, and there was Luna, possibly more lost than they. A blue one and a red one stepped up, but it was the yellow filly between them who spoke.

“Are you princess Celestia?”

Ah, it was to be like that then. “No. I am Luna.” No sudden outbursts, no loud noises. She could do this.

“That’s her sister,” the little blue colt said with complete disregard for her regal presence. It was rather strange, all in all. “I learned it in school.”

“I like your mane,” the red filly chimed in, then hid away behind herself. Possibly blushing, but it was impossible to tell.

A thoughtless compliment, but one that struck Luna from out of the blue. Well, out of the red in this instance, but the point remained.

The alicorn of the night felt she walked on the eggshells of butterflies, yet somehow despite herself dared hope she managed alright.

“They said you were bad a long time ago.” There was something about the colt...in twenty years time Luna could imagine that flat, neutral gaze would be trained down his muzzle through the lenses of reading glasses. ‘Aloof’ was the word that came to her mind, followed by the thought that she would be there to see if such imagining held true, if she so wished. Twenty years further too. So on and so on, all the days of his life. A red hoof prodding Luna’s star woven tail brought her back to herself.

“Yes, I was.” She didn’t speak down to them, and her voice became its more usual self, if sombre for what memories were brought to it.

“And Celestia sent you to the moon.”

“I got sent to timeout once. It was terrible.” The yellow filly gave a look of such unadulterated sympathy that Luna could not help but smile.

“Why?” the red asked, tracing the flowing ripples of magical starlight with an intrusive, inquisitive gaze.

“Because she wouldn’t lower the moon,” said the colt before Luna could speak.

“Why?”

“Because she wanted to make it nighttime forever.”

“Why?”

“Because...I don’t know. Why?” If there was a foal sized table and chair, his hooves would of been steepled under his chin. They just would have been.

Luna breathed and stared at the crackled paint of the ceiling, tracing the little black lines as they jittered this way and that. Had she ever told this story before? She couldn’t recall. In its fullness? Never. She could tell them nearly anything, and they would believe it. She could jade young minds forever against her sister.

But she wouldn’t. The memory, or perhaps the ghost of Honesty within her showed another path. A silvery filly took silent seat next to Luna, and others still reverently filled the room.

Something in the unbiased innocence called to her. Let them by my judges, she thought, and there was a peace of mind that came with it. The nightmare was the most quiet it had been in weeks. Subdued or placated, she couldn’t tell, nor particularly cared just then.

Surreal slunk her way into the room, a platter of cups and a pitcher of juice on her back. Luna’s magic made short work of serving them. The simple display delighted the foals, and with only a few spills more and more were crowding around Luna.

The princess eyed the changeling. Several fillies and colts cosied and cuddled the pink mare and she patted at them affectionately, her eyes forgetting Luna for brief, precious moments.

“You know,” Luna began, “I have never told anypony this before. You’ll be the first... maybe the last.”

“That’s not fair!” the yellow filly squeaked. “Nopony ever gets punished without both sides of the story being heard.”

“That’s the rules,” the blue colt said, nodding. “Matron Sprouts says so.”

“She has a good heart,” Surreal murmured. Luna turned to the changeling, false eyes shining magenta and nodded.

As if on cue, the green mare strode into the room, smiling a little smile. “What’s this now? A story?” Again, Luna only nodded. She did not quite trust to words.

With a tug on her wing, the alicorn paused. She’d kept them furled tight to her sides, as was fitting for indoors, but what did foals know or care of etiquette? Luna opened her dark wings, except now they were improvised blankets. After a moment’s conflicted feeling, she let one feathery brush settle over Surreal and the foals curled up to her.

She didn’t sugar coat it, or omit the necessary details. There was only young, wide eyes and truth, feeling like warm storm rains that washed her clean. There was no intrusion on her but one, and that was the red filly again, saying she liked Luna’s voice.

“The Elements of Harmony never intended to be used by just two ponies, even such as we. There was nothing else we could do though, and we had to act.”

“What did you do?”

“Celestia and I, we did what we had to. We...bent the Elements: three to each of us. She and I were so close then...we hoped that would be enough, but we had no choice regardless. Discord was everywhere: in all things. She took up Laughter, Kindness and Generosity, and I took up the mantles of Loyalty, Honesty and Magic.”

Luna paused a moment, heavy with memory. Not to think. Just to feel.

“You had Magic? Does that mean you're more powerful than Celestia?” This sparked something of a debate; Brussel Sprouts quirked an eyebrow but did nothing else. Of their own accord the foals settled, united in the desire to hear more. Luna’s wings were rapidly becoming the prizes of squirming and sneaky shoving.

Magic. The most elusive Element, and the most powerful. It was a tired old secret, one she not often recalled, one that came to her only in her darker contemplations.. “Yes,” she said after some thought. “Yes, I have more power than Celestia. And together, she and I had enough to defeat Discord.

“But we were not unscathed in victory. The draconequus saw the strain of our control over the elements...our weakness.”

Luna would not forget that struggle. Ever. The spirit’s smugness as his last, spiteful ploy struck, the impossible swiftness of hoof, wing and heart as Luna dove between her sister and the spell...how everything had twisted within her.

The night princess had not thought with such clarity on Discord since, well...that false love wasn’t there anymore, was it now? She could spare the foals that much anyway. They didn’t need to know of such things just yet.

Brussel Sprouts shifted on her spot, away and back from the foals.

“So it was all Discord’s fault then!” shouted the red filly, who had since won herself a substantial portion of the downy feathers, draping Luna’s wing over herself.

“No.” Blaming him was easy. Had always been easy. It didn’t make it right. “He only...” she struggled for words, “only helped set in motion what was already there. A pony must always take responsibility for her actions.” From her moment of dark reflection, Luna recalled her audience and smiled. “Learn that earlier in life than I did; you will be wise mares and stallions indeed.”

It struck the right chord, for the foals beamed with pride to be so highly appraised. If only the story could end on such a note.

“Nightmare Moon came later. Later enough that we had time to undo Discord’s reign, and it was good. And yet...” Again, foals did not need the full extent of recollection here, “Nightmare Moon still came.

The world was simpler then, and I was so alone. At first I thought they were my thoughts...and they were.” Luna took a deep breath, shut her eyes and released it. Maybe the opening of old wounds would let them finally bleed cleanly... “She is me. Discord gave her potential, but it was only I that could fulfil it. And I did, eventually.”

Luna did not realize she had been terrified the foals might shun her and frighten away until she saw that they would not. Indeed, one was hugging her left foreleg with a soft vicegrip of warmth. The green mare watched on with cold interest.

“I was more powerful, but as Nightmare Moon grew within me she filled my heart. The more of it she filled, the more of my magic was hers. I still cannot...” Luna trailed off.

How did she say it? How could she? That the Mare in the Moon had been so sure...so confident. So understanding, and Luna had been so alone, so uncertain. How did she tell the world she had given herself willingly to it?

“Nightmare Moon is insane,” Luna said, more to affirm what she needed to hear than anything the foals might. “Even when she returned from banishment she thought she could make the world better. She’s always believed...well, the new bearers of the Elements defeated her, and here I am.”

It didn’t feel complete, but the princess of the night lost the heart to brave any more. She drank of her cup - orange juice, it was - and drowned her voice in it, if only for a moment.

It didn’t drown the whispers at the edge of her mind, but she could manage those. As she always had.

Nobody spoke for a time. Then, of all ponies: the matron. “That was certainly...engaging, Luna.”

“Where are the snacks?” a foal asked of her.

“The...oh. Right. Surreal, would you come help me with that? Surry?”

The changeling was slow to rouse herself from Luna, but followed after the pony in due course.

“She never forgets the snacks...” muttered the blue colt. Alarm bells rang through Luna, ones she did not know but felt, felt intuitively. She extricated herself from the fillies and colts and hastily conjured baubles of starlight not dissimilar from her mane and tail for them. They moved and rippled with touch, quickly capturing the children's’ collective attention

“I will help as well,” Luna said quietly, removing herself from the room as discreetly as an alicorn could hope to in such circumstances. The hall lead on to the kitchen; a homely, functional affair for feeding hungry mouths. A door lead further on to a back alley.

It was ajar. A cool, wet breeze spilled through the warmth. Trusting to her feeling and fearing it was right, Luna hastened outside.

Surreal wouldn’t leave her willingly. As Luna understood it, the changeling couldn’t, and though conflicted thoughts pervaded every aspect of that, the alicorn had time for none of them.

The Queen of changelings was not expecting pursuit so soon, and the unconscious body held aloft on magic - still in the guise of a pony - did no favours to her mobility. Luna caught them up. Filmy wings fluttered once, and once again as if the Queen considered running, but rather she turned and faced the alicorn.

First things first. “What did you do with the mare?” It was a dead end alley. Chalk drawings and scattered toys were scattered about behind the changeling, but short of flying or getting past Luna there was no easy way out; she did not think the Queen could outrun her in the air.

“You care? How sweet,” Chrysalis hissed. “They’ll find her peacefully asleep on the bathroom floor. She’ll wake up confused, but fine. Does that set your fears to rest, little moon?” The big changeling stepped back, her gaze flicked quickly behind her and back again. “Surprised? I’m not the monster here, Luna.

“I think I heard enough.” Chrysalis bared her teeth, not in her usual grin, but as a creature cornered. “You’re slipping, aren’t you?”

“Chrysalis...”

“I don’t care! I’m taking Surreal back.” The Queen grinned wickedly.

“Would she want to go? You don’t get to just take what you want.”

“Oh really? And that’s not what you do at all? You won’t stop me here, little moon. I promise you that.”

Luna shifted her stance, bracing herself for anything. “I can’t let you just take her.”

“What part of your existence hurting her don’t you understand?” Luna lunged to grasp Surreal, but emerald fire swept the spell aside. The slumbering form of the little changeling drifted behind her Queen, oblivious to the struggle. “Just let me go,” she hissed, almost pleading.

How could the creature even think such a thing? She was Luna, alicorn of the nightmare! The dark pony closed the distance with slow, intentful strides.

“You’re forcing me to do this,” The Queen spat. Her magic flared - but not at Luna. Green fire spouted from her horn, then imploded on itself. With a pop and a surge of darkness, what had been nothing became a small, shimmering jewel of icy ocean blues. It glowed with a steady pulsing of light, even as it dropped to the ground before Chrysalis. She put a twisted hoof atop it.

“That’s it?” Luna could laugh. She took another step.

Chrysalis leaned her weight forwards, onto the gem. Luna gasped as if the blackened hoof were embedded in her ribcage, stumbling on the spot.

“Does it hurt, much? I didn’t lie, you know: when all this started. I really had no idea what I was doing, or what would happen. Remember, Luna. Little moon. You came to me. You begged me for this.”

Luna choked, her eyes threatening to blurr out entirely as the crushing weight filled her chest. Chrysalis raised her hoof and struck down with it. Luna screamed, fell, and could see only the endless expanse of angered gray clouds above.

“It’s a little bit funny, Luna, and a little bit sad. I pity you, really.” The changeling’s hoof twisted this way and that, grinding atop the jewel as if it were Luna’s own bones. “You did so much, tried so much to get rid of these bits of yourself. And even after all that, they still hurt you.

I’m not a sadist.” Chrysalis gave a vicious twist of her hoof. “Not much of a sadist, anyway. And you know what? I’ll be honest: you scare me.”

Heaving and panting, Luna tried to crawl to her hooves, given a moment’s reprieve from the torment. A voice suddenly sounded in her ear, so close she could feel the Queen of changelings’ breath, whispering darkly.

“But, Luna, you don’t scare me half as much as the other half. Nightmare Moon, is it?”

The alicorn shouted through her ragged breath; a sound without words, only anger and sorrow.

Chrysalis grinned wildly, rearing back, her wings churning air. “Good night, little moon. Sleep tight; don’t let the bad bugs bite!” And on that she struck down.

Luna winked out like a light, her last echoing thought the recollection of a dream.

Above them all the first drips of rain began to fall, pattering chill waters across the fallen alicorn.

Comments

[Alondro]

Yep, as I thought, the gems contained parts of Nightmare Moon.

Meh.

[ForSpite]

Well, good luck with that peace treaty now.

Shining Armor's happy, though I'm not sure "I provoked Luna's guards into attacking me" really counts as evidence of anything, I suppose forensic magic could find some of the taint from that spell of Chrysalis'. Which is why she really needs to be pickier about dumping those things on people. Or at least make sure they don't activate on their own and give the game away instead of waiting for you to hit the switch.... It's pretty weird that she actually managed to achieve that with the spell she didn't know what she was doing with and not the deliberate one, but I suppose magic can be like that.

I liked the way Luna slipping back into Nightmare when she backed Chrysalis into the alley was fairly subtle. Since it was from her perspective the only clue that it wasn't just normal Luna was one italicized half word and that was enough.

I see you had the same odd but boring troll group thing happen to you as I did.

[Shachza]

Trying to figure out Crysalis' angle on all this is making my head hurt. She seems to wantonly hurt EVERYTHING around her. Surely she realizes that, moreso than when she was disguised as Cadance, that the things she does are going to get noticed. And purposely picking on Luna can't possibly do her any favors. She keeps pulling these stunts that only ever work against her supposed mission of peace.

Does she hope that Luna's three crystalized loves will give her the ability to take on Luna and Celestia at the same time? Possibly the Element-bearers as well?

I just can't figure out what she thinks she's going to get out of all this.

[Rennoc215]

Hmm... Count me as intrigued. The gems causing serious amounts of tangible pain? Interesting... Also, even though she took all the love out of one pony (Shining) she was still defeated by that same character. Am I sensing a correlation? Or am I just going into immense detail?

[Flutterstrucked]

Think guys think!So I don't have to. You all are coming up with many points, and this really helps the feedback. I, in my own sense of blind opinion, is with Chrysalis all the way, but I'm torn between the two because Luna is also one of my most favorite characters, and I'm with her ll the way as well. So all I can do now is think "This is such a great and interesting story...." then, just go with the flow from there on.....I mean if it had Fluttershy in there somewhere as a Main character, I'd probably be the first person to literally clone myself cell-by-cell three times just to be on all of there sides

Oh, and how did I get soooooo off context>

[ForSpite]

Am I the only one who finds it strange people think Chrysalis grabbing Surreal here is a sign she has a terrible plot or an attempt to get something for herself? I was thinking it was (possibly magically assisted thanks to feeding on Luna's warped loves) character growth. She gains nothing and risks everything, but she can't help herself because, as previous chapters indicated, she actually feels bad about using Surreal as her canary in a coal mine. I've focused a lot on Luna's growth as a person in my comments but it's been clear for some time that Chrysalis is changing as well.

It'd be a tragic irony if it was her few attempts to do good that doomed the peace process more than her still large nasty side. It's not like she can't truly want peace and enjoy jerking people around.

EDIT: And, she's attacking Luna because Luna's in the middle of turning into Nightmare moon again like she did when she was fighting Shining Armor and it freaked Chrysalis out. See the bit where Luna's own thoughts call her the "alicorn of nightmare"

[Zervziel]

And the plot gets more and more convoluted. What does Chrysalis stand to gain from all this? One moment she acts like she truly cares for there to be peace between her changelings and ponies and the next she's jerking Luna about again and then the next moment she does something just out of the freaking blue like this. How does torturing Luna with these gems help her? Plus I don't see how putting them back into Luna would make her Nightmare Moon again considering she wasn't NMM when she first came to the Changelings.

I'm enjoying the story, but holy hell it gets annoying when I can't figure out just what the hell the characters are up to. Also why the flying fuck hasn't Celestia gotten on to SA yet? I mean no matter how he feels or even if he's justified (which he's not) his actions undermine the Princess's authority...both of them! I mean just because his loyalty is to Celestia doesn't mean he can freely ignore Luna's wishes.

[TheOverPoweredOne]

Excellent story and i cant wait for more

[ambion]

I am DANGEROUSLY STOKED with how I got the chapter out before Scootaloo's Best Episode EVER. Our favoured princess spending time with the young and vulnerable?

Totally did it first! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png

I also take it to be an awesome thing: the discrepancy in how CHatNM Luna uses and handles the situation in comparison to canon Luna.

All hail the princess of the nightmare resurgent!

In other and Completely Unrelated news, I've changed the tag from Everbody to Teen. It might've been due for sometime, but I think 23 definetly tipped it over, just a little. Oh, and the changeling tag was added, because changelings.

[Razzy]

Damn she's unstable.

[Ralanost]

I give up. I just don't understand what's happening. The gems from Luna's heart are a mystery. No idea what Chrysalis is planning. Everything with Surreal is confusing. I don't understand anyone's motivations or goals. I was hoping by now something would have been explained, but it all makes as much sense as the first chapter, so none at all.