A mother will do a lot for her child, even give them up if it meant them having a safer life growing up, despite the obvious pain that comes for the parent.
****
Darkness hung over the Equestrian capital city of Canterlot. The city was quiet as the moon hung low, the mare that controlled it silently watching the planet below. The only activity in Canterlot’s higher end districts belonged to the occasional patrol of the city's guards, or the odd stray animal prowling the night in search of food. Most of the night activity took place in the lower districts of Canterlot, where all of the night clubs and speakeasies were located.
But tonight was different. Tonight Canterlot was host to a cloaked visitor, prowling through the streets. The visitor had an equine form, but it was trying to avoid being seen by anypony, guard or random civilian.
Taking a break in an unlit alley, Queen Chrysalis removed her hood. Ensuring that nopony was watching, she lit her horn and retrieved her map. She was looking for one house in particular, a house belonging to one of Canterlot’s lower noble families. Chrysalis had done her research, sifting through family after family trying to find the perfect one; and in the end there was really only one viable choice among them. The household of Night Light and Twilight Velvet.
-Twilight Velvet-.
An odd coincidence she shared a name with the nymph contained in the bundle Chrysalis held close.
-Princess Twilight of the Badlands changeling hive, daughter of Queen Chrysalis-.
She had been named Twilight due to her sparkling lavender eyes. Most queens were born with green eyes, but her daughter was different. The first time she had looked upon them, they had reminded Chrysalis of the sky at the edge of the Badlands, only coloured so during the transition between day and night - twilight. Twilight's carapace was pitch black, and holes were lining her hooves just like with every other changeling. Her mane was a transparent blue with a green highlight striking through it; her tail had the same colouration. Small wings fluttered on the back of the sleeping nymph and a small black stub of a horn just poked through her mane.
Chrysalis had been so overjoyed when Twilight was born; and she had vowed that day to protect her beloved daughter no matter the cost. And what a cost it would be. Changelings can survive without love energy; simply by eating both meat and vegetables, but they are extremely weak without any love.
A maturing changeling queen is very different. During their early years, a new princess requires a steady stream of passive love in order to survive. A lack of love energies during this period would be fatal. The problem is even more striking during puberty, and young adulthood, where the transition from Princess to Queen begins. During this stage, the ling changes from needing passive love to active love, and with this change comes a huge hunger; needing more love in a short space of time then they have ever absorbed throughout their lifetime.
Therein lays the problem. The Badlands hive was in the middle of the worst love shortage for over two hundred years. The amount of available love energy in the hive would never be enough to sustain the new-born ling. Chrysalis loved her daughter more than anything, but the love from one Changeling can't be absorbed by another; it had to be from the reservoir (the name for the hives communal love storage), or another sentient species. So Chrysalis had to make a choice, give up her daughter, or watch her starve to death.
She chose life.
Night Light and Twilight Velvet already had a son, a young colt by the name of Shining Armor. The couple had been noted as one of the most loving families in Canterlot, and her spies had told her that Shining had been wishing for a sister for quite some time – anything and everything counted when it came to saving Twilight.
Chrysalis finally spotted the house she was looking for, and quickly made her way up to it. Standing just by the front door, Chrysalis looked down into the bundle she carried, watching as Twilight sleepily opened her eyes. A small giggle emerged from Twilight as she booped Chrysalis's muzzle with her hoof. A warm smile crossed Chrysalis's face, but tears also came to her eyes; giving her up was the hardest thing she had to decide, and likely ever would have to do.
"Shh, go back to sleep, and remember that… that… ” Chrysalis choked down a few of her tears, “that I will always love you..." Chrysalis gently nuzzled her daughter, who slowly closed her eyes and drifted back into a peaceful slumber.
Chrysalis's horn lit up and enveloped Twilight, slowly replacing the changeling nymph with the image of a small lavender unicorn filly.
"I will always be close by, my child; I will always keep you safe".
Slowly and reluctantly, Chrysalis placed the bundle on the doorstep. Next to the bundle she prepared to place a small piece of paper with a name written on it. While changelings don't tend to have last names, ponies do, so Chrysalis had to invent one for her. As Chrysalis looked down at Twilight, a patch of cloud moved out of the way, and the moonlight shone through. Twilight rolled in her blankets, and as she did so, one of her eyes cracked open. For the briefest of seconds, the moonlight sparkled back up at Chrysalis, before Twilight closed her eyes and rolled back over. That was it; she knew her daughter's name.
Placing the paper down on the bundle, Chrysalis knocked on the door several times, as loud as she could, and then hid in a nearby alleyway again.
Lights switched on upstairs, slowly progressing to the ground floor, until the door swung open, bathing the doorstep in light. A very, very tired Twilight Velvet emerged.
Squinting her eyes, Velvet called out. "Hello?"
Night Light quickly came up behind her, and swung a glance up and down the street. Seeing nothing, he shook his head. "Huh, damned pranksters, likely just some colts messing about in the dead of night."
Velvet sighed. "Let's just go back to... wait..."
A small gurgling sound could be heard.
Velvet noticed the bundle on the door step, and looked closer. She was met with the face of a sleeping lavender filly, with a dark blue mane and a pink highlight striking through it.
"Huh?! Nighty, look at this!"
"What is it dear… a new-born filly? On our doorstep? Who would abandon the poor thing like this?"
"I don't know, but we can't just leave her out here like this!"
"I... you're right, bring her in. Oh Shining's going to love this..."
"Well dear, you better go and wake him then," Velvet smiled. Night Light retreated into the house to wake his son, while Velvet gently picked up the bundle and examined the filly within. "Hello there, what's your name?"
It was then Velvet noticed the small piece of paper, levitating it up to her she read the name out loud.
"Twilight Sparkle."
Eighteen Years Later...
Six mares sat just outside Ponyville, enjoying a picnic in the idyllic countryside, before said picnic was interrupted by the belching of a small purple dragon.
"Twi... light! ...I... have... Lemme just... " Spike spluttered out, before a belch and a roar of green flames erupted from his mouth, causing a note to appear in front of Twilight.
Twilight picked up the scroll and read it out loud.
Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot.
"Wedding?" Twilight became confused.
I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music. Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified than you to host the reception. Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering for the reception. Rainbow Dash I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom complete their "I do"'s. Rarity, you will be responsible for designing the dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids.
At that point Rarity seemed to stop functioning.
And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all: Making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon.
Yours, Princess Celestia.
"But... I don't understand. Who's getting married?" Twilight asked questioningly, wondering if perhaps they had heard anything.
"Oh, wait! Uh, I was probably supposed to give you this one first!" Spike realised and handed Twilight a second scroll.
Twilight rolled her eyes, and read out the second scroll. "Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and... my brother?!"
I am, and this will be interesting. Eager to see how this differs from another fan fic.
i like twiling stories. good luck.
illbe watching
Brilliant idea for an original story.
I'm interested in how you will change the invasion. I'll keep my eye on this.
I love stories where other ponies are Changelings, but this story seems a little bit close to another story I read... Where Twilight was a stillborn and Chrysalis replaced her with her Changeling heir. I will keep reading, but I'm worried about the two stories becoming exactly the same.
You've officially gotten my attention. Let's see where this goes.
You have my upmost interest on this story tom117z.
You my good writer have gotten my attention. Now let's see if you can keep it, shall we?
All jokes aside, I like the start of this story. Can't wait to see what happens next and I have the most interesting theory that during the wedding Twilight is forced to change back by Crysi~ and that could lead to quite a few developments that really give this story a lot more potential in the long run. Either way I can't wait for some interesting story to come out of this fic.
This beginning looks very familiar...
Please, story - stay alive!
Hmpf. Whole concept looks stolen from Mirrors image story.
6541428 I've had this story planned even before I read 'Mirror's Image', now I'm trying re-plan parts to try and make it more different, extra work...
Hopefully I can make it different enough, though there may be similarities here and there, though that's pretty unavoidable with the premise. Remember though this story in itself is just a small piece in a much bigger story-arc.
6541440 Every Saturday I will update this, it will not die so help me...
6541480 Is that why it sounded familiar? Wow. Haven't read Mirror's Image in a long time. Well, stories can begin in a similar way, but it doesn't mean they're the same. Let's see where you take this one!
6541486 Define "Help"... is it simlar to "Editing"?
*Twilight's
*it
6541428 yeah maybe but it could also go very differently as well. I just hope it gets updated I like stories like this.
6541742 Did you read my comment? You're basically repeating what I said.
I very much enjoy stories where Twilight is secretly a changeling. Liking and tracking to see where you take this idea.
6541225 link to that story? That would be a fantastic read for me
6541683 It was an expression
Support for this story has been... I can't even comprehend, and I thought 'Mare of The Moon' did well, and I've only released the prologue!
Your support means a lot to me, thank you!
You can expect an update very soon...
6541774
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/26961/mirrors-image
6541764 yeah you said this looks familiar. I know there are several stories like this but this one could go alot differently than they have... namely this one might finish fully?
6541225 Man, Mirror's Image stabbed me right in the feels with its first chapter.
For my part, I have zero problems with multiple stories taking a similar theme. This theme in particular is a pretty obvious choice, considering our (non-MLP) changeling mythology and how they were said to behave. I look forward to seeing how this goes.
Rarity.exe has encountered a problem...
A story with such a high like/dislike ratio is very rare, and this one has earned it despite its length. I'll be keeping an eye on it.
6541873
You missed this one. Anyway, we seem to be agreeing on the same thing.
This line is really, really awkward.
6541797 I had the same thought. I hope it doesn't follow too closely to it, but the description does seen like it's heading that way. I'll see where it goes, though.
6541779 XD Well, you at least have convincing cries for help.
I will give this a read to see how much change there has been compared to Mare of the Moon. That story felt very rushed. There is a lot to be learned in writing and it requires a lot of balance, though right now I feel detail needs to be worked on. Don't tell the readers what is happening, show them.
Like instead of saying Twilight is sad, describe how her face contorts in grief and tears fall from the corners of her eyes are she shakes her head in denial. More description in the correct way will have the reader more strongly relate to the characters.
I look forward to seeing you improve in skill.
6541960 Practice does make perfect after all... practice was also one of the reasons I started work on FIMfiction, I'm doing a creative writing course in Collage.
That and I quite like MLP
6541471 And also I have noticed that several of the characters appear to have been ripped off from a cartoon series, too. Hrmph indeed!
There are many different places that one can go from the same basic premise. This could well turn into an entirely different story from Mirror's Image. Or it could share some similarities, and I'll still be fine with that. I just want to read fun pony stories. :)
And then everypony was once more a cherngelerng...
And in 18 years, never once did Twilight (who didn't know she was a changeling) have any sort of accident during which time her unconsciously-held disguise was lost.
She was wholly defended at every turn by her immensely dense Plot Armor... stupid cousin of her brother, Shining Armor.
6541774 It's called Mirrors Image, but it's also incomplete, so be prepared for being on the last chapter and going "What? NOO!"
I would post a link but I'm on my tablet, so that might be a bit difficult....
Ya, I tried, I can't do it on my tablet, sorry.
6542197
6541797
Lel I already had it favourited xD
thanks though <3
i look forward to twilight's reaction when it's revealed that not only is twilight a changeling but chrissiliss`s daughter. yet alone all her friends, adopted parents and the princesses reactions.
This is an interesting start to a story, I look forward to seeing where this goes.
6542148
Um actually...
I really hope this doesn't get abandoned like so many other 'mother Chrysalis' fics are.
Tagged and watching.
Hmm, not entirely sure on this one. I'll add it to tracking for now. See where it goes.
Hm, this is looking like it could be very good. I really liked the bit of Chrysalis we saw so far and this is always a strong setup for an interesting story. It is still too early to say if it will be good or bad, but I am definitely looking forwards to the next chapter.
Also, I noticed a few little mechanical errors so you might want to look into getting an editor for future chapters.
6542148 ...Except for that one time her disguise failed in her sleep, but Shiny was too much of an idiot to realize it was not normal.
I love stories like this. Was it inspired by Mirror's Image by chance?
Reading this first chapter is giving me a lot of Deja vu.
Hmmm, this story interest me. Can't wait for the next chapter.
This story gets a like from me.
Its not the first time I've seen this sort of thing done and sadly most of the time it seems to fall flat. Lets see if you can do this right. I'm on for the ride, lets see what you can do.
This shows promise...
I feel like I've read this before somewhere else
Interesting intro, looking forward to how you will develop it.
6541793 There's a few concepts that generally do well if you're can write. Changelings, Sunset Shimmer, Growing up Stories (I.E. Filly Twilight, Sunset, Trixie growing up as a protege to a goddess)