The Prelude, Illuminate the Shadows Book 1

by SaphireTsuki

11 Grave

A Queen's duty is to protect. You might not understand now, but when you find your own host species you will. Changelings are symbiotes, we serve at the need of those who give us the love we need, and we do so with as much or as little secrecy as needed. Our magic is naturally predisposed towards illusion, biomancy, and emotional magic. We are not, usually, physically strong or talented at combat magic. What we do have, however, is the ability to sense things that other races can't. It is a gift, but it is present in different amounts and forms amongst each of us, much like magical strength for unicorns, or flight for pegasi.

As you grow older, this drive will take hold. The desire to protect, to rule, and to improve are all tied together for us. This growth will, most likely, coincide with changes that you cannot explain. For me, I grew more skilled at flight, my mother found magic coming to her easier. This is but the first of changes which will happen, and no changeling is entirely certain how or why these talents occur before the others. When they do, however, pay attention. It will likely be your first trial.

SE 1015

Moonlight woke to find that everything was, for lack of a better word, sharper. The first sign was her ability to smell, where before she had been used to the subtle scents of winter, now she found the sharp mint of plants, and the sweaty scent of the other ponies. Next, when she stood, eyes opening, she was hit with the change of suddenly having everything she saw in sharp relief, certainly much clearer than before, though thankfully not quite to the level where she was seeing individual hairs. In addition, the subtle changes of the blanket falling off of her carapace as she stood, and the sounds of the guards outside talking, quietly, to themselves. She could not hear what they said, but where before it would be muffled, now there were distinct, if unclear, clicks of consonants and whooshes of vowels. Everything about her senses, for no apparent reason, was sharper and clearer than before, and noticeably so.

She left the tent slowly, the first few steps on the almost frozen grass of the base of the mountain causing her to jump, and she would have shot into the air were she not suddenly aware of exactly how the buzzing of her wings felt against her. In the entire two weeks they had made their way painstakingly through the swampland, to the base of the mountain range they would travel on the side of, she had never had even an inkling that she would suddenly and without warning become so... overly sensitive to the world. The first useful, and even calming, effect of this was the fact that she could hear hoofsteps. Well, more than just hear them, she could hear the changes in them. She knew exactly which guard was which, not only by emotional profile, but also now by the unique gait of their walk, and the same with the other ponies in the group. For example, Fluttershy, who she could now hear (if not understand) from across the meadow, moved with such light hoofsteps that the only sign she was moving was the rustling of the grass underhoof. How did Moonlight know that without practice? She wasn't sure, but it probably had to do with a combination of things that she was too young to properly bring together into one explanation. She just did.

More than a little unnerved by the change, she looked around, noting that despite the clearness she could see things, everything outside of their little meadow shifted and shimmered just slightly, as though there was a thin layer of gas surrounding them, or some sort of transparent cloth. Her wings buzzed once more, just a few seconds, before settling across her back. She made her way to Fluttershy, worried that something was going to go wrong and she would somehow be responsible. For the moment, she didn't want to talk, just stand near somepony that wasn't going to pester her, knowingly or not. Sidling up to the mare, she settled down to graze.

Fluttershy looked her over, but with her signature kindness, simply accepted her presence with no visible reaction. The two ate in a comfortable silence, until Rainbow Dash flew over to the two of them, Moonlight shaking the observations out of her mind, "Hey, Flutters. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Rainbow Dash." Moonlight heard her voice clearly just now, for the first time. It was a nice voice, light with a high pitch, but without the squeaking that might make it annoying to hear. Maybe she sang, because even when it was low in volume, it was still melodic and easy to listen to. Moonlight could easily imagine somepony falling asleep to a lullaby sung by her, at least, "W-why? Did something happen?"

"Nah, but the guards say we should be careful. There were weird hoofmarks in the grass, apparently." Moonlight's ears moved forward at that, and she made a mental note to keep an eye out for anything weird. "I just wanted to warn you. Now, I'm going to practice. The Princess says there's an hour before we leave, and I need to stretch my wings." With only a crouch and spread of her wings Rainbow Dash was in the sky, a trail of rainbow colored aftereffect left behind her as she performed jaw dropping action after jaw dropping action. Moonlight, attention caught, watched in fascination, noting that after a certain height even Rainbow Dash was covered in the slight gossamer shimmer.

Silent Gaze, looking behind him for a moment to see his daughter watching with fascination inwardly snorted. Of course Rainbow Dash, who even after this short period of time he knew was a showboater, would take the chance to flit about above their heads. He did wish his daughter would take the chance to get lessons from her, but knew there was probably some reason for her not doing so, and thus kept his tongue. He thought he saw one of the guards out of the corner of his eye, and turned to face it, but nothing was there. Shrugging it off he turned back to the swamp he was to keep an eye on. The bridge across it was still half rotted, and fog was starting to rise from the swamp, quickly. He thought it was too quickly, actually, but did not call an alarm. It wasn't like there was anyone near them, nopony was watching them or anything, there was nopony for days. They weren't even near the fort.

After the impromptu grazing session everypony set up in formation, albeit a bit looser. No longer were they kept together from the forests, after all. For the rest of their trip they were to travel along the bases of mountains, balanced between the swamp to one side, and the slow rise up the sides of the mountains to the other. There weren't many ways to get lost at this point.

Moonlight watched warily as everypony stepped out of the clear bubble, one by one each of them, in a matter of a few steps, grew out of focus. It was like a veil of water that was just slightly uneven, enough to see, but not to obstruct movement or sight. When she stepped through the bubble, her eyesight wobbled slightly, before settling to the same as before... only, everything around her had this sheen to it, even the ground. At this moment the fog finally reached the shore, covering the entire space, and Moonlight turned quickly on seeing somepony to her side.

All she saw of them were red eyes.

"Moonlight," Applejack called, her voice twanging with the country accent normal for her, "Hurry up. You're fallin' behind." What... what was that? It was gone now, but there was somepony just in the corner of her eye, just now. Applejack walked over to her, "Come on Moonlight, we're goin."

"Right." She looked around, keeping a sweeping gaze around them, but joined the rest of the group. The group headed off, Twilight Sparkle holding the map in her magic and directing them. Everypony knew they were supposed to follow the mountain, and so they did, even while the fog grew thicker. By midday it was so thick that they couldn't see around them for more than a few feet.

"Twilight," Rarity began, shaking one mud-covered hoof in an attempt to get it off, "You are quite certain that this is the correct direction?"

"Yes, I know we're going the right way. This is where the map leads." She gestured with a wing, "See? Right above us is the Cliffs of Marshmane," It swept to the side in the general direction of the mountain, "You can tell by their distinctive shape, with rings arou-" She looked up from the map, to see the swampland surrounding them. "What. But, we didn't turn...?"

"We must have," Luna walked over to Twilight, taking the map in her hooves, "Though I'm not sure how far we've gone. Guards!" Two of them flew to her, the others maintaining their vigil, "We have strayed from course, can you clear the fog?" They nodded, "Go in pairs. Never alone."

"Threes." Twilight cut in, "Go in threes, a pair could be split up, but with threes it should be safer." They nodded, going to grab a third before flying up, and out of the groups sight. Twilight took a deep breath, "We should stop moving. If we can't see, we're just going to get more lost." Luna nodded, and all of them huddled around the cart.

A half hour later, the guards still hadn't returned.

---

Grave -Word to indicate the movement or entire composition is to be played very slow and serious.

Author's Note:

I don't know how suspenseful this came out, but enjoy the mini horror flick. If anyone knows mythology, you might be able to tell what I'm using for the antagonist this time.

Comments

[Tael_Spinner]

Wonderful tension. A very sinister vibe to it.

[SaphireTsuki]

10085969
Thank you. It was my hope it would come out as such. Hopefully I can end it satisfactorily.