The Prelude, Illuminate the Shadows Book 1

by SaphireTsuki

6 Overture

Changelings are a unique species. We appear to be insectoid ponies, with the ability to transform and mimic the magic of each. Our wings and hooves have holes in them, and our horns are either sharp or twisted, or both in the case of Queens. For all the ponies would think, we were threats of an Old-One bent, and no one is entirely sure how we were born, same as any of the other races. Some claim we are descended to fallen Alicorns, others that we were created, but regardless of the truth of our origin, we exist. We feed off of love, the love of ponies towards another in all forms. It's necessary for us to survive, there is some dietary need met by feeding off of it, and without we go under the same malnutrition as ponies, with the addition that no matter how much physical food we eat, we never feel full. This is called The Hunger.

There are three main classes of changeling. The drones make up all the male and female members of a Hive who are not Royals, of which there are at least two and always less than ten. Royals are subdivided into two groupings, Queens and Princes. Queens are the rulers of the Hive, and have an extended nymphood. Princes support the Queen, serving as Consort or managers of the Hive. The specifics I leave to the Queens when you return to the Hivelands, but suffice to say there is no such thing as a King of the Hive, all Queens will one day rule a Hive, but not all Princes are Consorts.

SE 1015

Moonlight and Silent Gaze had been given a room on par with those from Saddle Arabia, though not that exact one. There were shelves with books, a balcony to the left, and a large bathroom the likes of which Moonlight had never seen to the right. In front of the entrance was a giant window, framing the bed in the center, a giant one large enough to almost be the floor of a tent. Despite having spent almost the entire month travelling between this room and one of many conference rooms, Moonlight still had to fight the urge to dive onto the bed and bounce for hours on end. It helped that this was the morning she met with the dignitaries for her final evaluation. If she failed to win them over, she would be sent forth without her father. Or, at least that's what she thought they meant...

She shook herself, donning the unicorn disguise she had used for the past month, a flicker of blue within some of the flames, before stepping out into the hall. She made her way through the building, nodding to guards as she passed. She had no time to mess with them today... she knew that she would be stepping in mid-meeting, that was the plan. Hopefully the Princesses wouldn't mind that she was in disguise, she didn't want to risk the guards attacking her in panic at seeing a changeling in the middle of the palace. She paused outside the door, hoping that she wouldn't have to wait for too long to enter.

About a half hour later a guard signalled her to enter, just as Princess Luna was finishing her perfunctory explanation, "...is why we have chosen you. The bearers shall act as the escort, and Princess Twilight and Spike as the ambassadors of Equestria, whilst I shall act as Envoy of the Lunar Empire."

"Our goal, to reiterate, is to transfer the treaty to Equestria as a whole, rather than just the Protectorate Lunar Empire?" the Beacon asked, Moonlight paused halfway through the room, winced and turned her head to silently gag. The Beacon had been in the castle for about a week, and it had been increasingly difficult not to feed off of it without permission. It wasn't love... or, at least not like she had felt from her father, but it was, though she didn't know the word herself, overwhelming. She could feel it wherever she was, and had been very much aware of it's approach, and only now could she see what it was... which she did.

The beacon was a purple Alicorn, just a few inches taller than the ponies to either side of her. She had a cutie mark of a purple and white starburst, with several stars surrounding it, and her wings- folded carefully at her side- were larger than one would expect, even peaking over her back just slightly. Her horn, a beautiful spiral, was just starting to sharpen at the tip, lengthening bit by bit. Her mane and tail were almost a navy purple, with one each of magenta and purple streaks through the middle. Moonlight recognized her, not through meeting the Beacon, but rather through descriptions she had received in previous lessons. The Princess of Friendship, Spirit of Magic, Alicorn of Magic, Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville.

Then, those beside her: a cyan pegasus with rainbow mane; orange earth pony with blonde mane; pink earth pony; white-coated unicorn with purple hair; and a yellow pegasus with pink hair, must be her friends, the other Spirits of Harmony. There was another out of her sight, she could barely make out the radiating love of the strange creatures that were called changelings, yet she did not think they were... changelings did not have the ability to radiate love. She had tried!

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle. Tis our- my hope that we can trust the young Princess." With this, Moonlight shook her head, with a flash of flame she returned to her natural form once more. She... it would be bad to show up in disguise. She was asking a favor, even if she didn't want to leave the forest, she had already come this far! Luna glanced in her direction, causing Moonlight to nervously jump forward a few steps, remembering that she was supposed to actually be moving.

Right, Princess Luna was trying to be dramatic.

How was she supposed to... oh, that was it! With a nervous clearing of her throat, she spoke, "I-I," A cough, and then she was already being looked at by the ponies, who had turned to face her when she had spoken, causing her to gulp. "I guess that introductions are in order." She inwardly winced, not able to remember right that moment the right words to use when in a formal situation. "I am Princess Moonlight, it is nice to meet you." She knew she got that wrong somewhere! "Am I late, Princess Luna?"

Moonlight knew that she wasn't, but this at least she remembered. Make her entrance as dramatic as possible, play off of false familiarity, give the one called Rainbow Dash no reason to react aggressively. So, she expected Princess Luna to do something similar to what she did next. "Not at all, We," Luna paused, frowning slightly, before resuming her open, friendly facade. "I was just about to call for you. These are my friends, and your escort and co-travelling dignitaries, Princess Twilight Sparkle will lead the diplomatic party, alongside myself and Spike," She paused to allow the two of them to offer silent waves by way of greetings, "Your guard will consist of Applejack,"

Another pause, during which said pony offered Moonlight a hoof, which she took and shook, actually ending up being shook, "Mighty fine to meet you, Ah'm Applejack as yeh just heard," Moonlight just let out a vaguely polite sound, having been set down, and putting a hoof to her forehead.

"Pinkie Pie,"

The blur of pink and joy wasn't even intelligible to Moonlight. She said something about new friends, parties. She even danced around, or jumped... Moonlight shook her head, after which she could finally think properly. Now, at last, she could hear what the Pink Joy was saying, "... and then we'll have marshmallows. Oh, do you like chocolate? I know I do! Is it some sort of Changeling delicacy? It's physical love, right? No, wait that's the Crystal Heart!" The what? "I'll have to ask Cadence, maybe she-"

"Enough, Laughter." A blue magic field covered Pinkie's mouth, which Pinkie continued to talk through, despite the muffled sounds coming out of it. "To Princess Twilight's right is Rarity." Moonlight would feel sick from the maelstrom of reactionary emotions if she weren't still mostly emotion-blinded by the Beacon's mere presence. Which Moonlight still felt was odd, Princess Twilight Sparkle was not the Alicorn of Love... yet she still radiated something close enough to it that Moonlight almost felt bloated just by being next to it.

"A pleasure, dear." This time there was no hoofshake, for which Moonlight was thankful. Also, the disgust felt like several windbytes ruffling her thestral disguise's feathers, and was quite unpleasant, even if it was so muted in comparison as to only be at most an afternote. She was fairly certain that her natural form was cute, so that was uncalled for!

"The pleasure," Pleasure... she'd have to look up that word later. "Is mine."

"Fluttershy," Luna gestured to the pegasus who had somehow hidden behind both her mane and the Princess, "Is right here." Moonlight... couldn't hear what the pegasus said. She was a bit young for her hearing to have improved enough to do so, though she wasn't quite sure how long it would take to develop that. She had been basically just growing larger for her whole life, not really developing past her baby stage. Luna sighed, and then pointed with her right forehoof to something directly above. "The pegasus above is Rainbow Dash, We hath ordered her not to attack thee."

"Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash." Moonlight tried to initiate the conversation herself, but said pony only folded her forelimbs and turned her head to the side, as though it were the typical scene of a stubborn mare. Moonlight waited, but sighed when in the end the mare refused to even acknowledge her. At least there wasn't any attacking done, so that... was a good sign. OK then... she moved around them, "Then the final member of our party must be you," She pointed to the not-changeling now standing in front of her, to whom she curtseyed.

The not-changeling radiated love, sufficient that even she could feel it piercing the overwhelming presence of the Princess of Friendship. He was tall, almost as tall as or taller than Luna, from her perspective it was hard to tell. His coat was green, with purple eyes and insect-like wings. There was a red beetle-like carapice on him, red and green respectively, and white stone-like protrusions on his neck. Below said protrusions the green faded into orange, which appeared to continue under the green caraprice that had the red on his back, and atop his head were two stag-like orange horns.

"Ah, yes. I'm Thorax," A cough from Princess Luna, "R-right, King Thorax of the Badlands Hive. Nice to meet you, Princess Moonlight." The, the Badlands Hive? She blinked in surprise, he was... a King of the Changelings? He wasn't a changeling though! In her childlike naivete she actually said as much.

"But, King Thorax... you're not a changeling!" Everyone turned to stare at me, at which point I coughed. "Uhm, I mean... I tried the whole... giving love thing and it didn't work. Changelings can't do that."

"All of my changelings share love." I curled inward a bit, especially as Rainbow was starting to scoot forwards. "We're just as much changelings as you are."

"M-maybe you are a different kind?" I whispered it, my voice going high pitched and hard to hear. "L-like the... the thestrals and pegasi?" Before anypony could do anything, however, Luna clapped her hooves together.

"That is not the focus of our meeting. Yes, King Thorax will be joining us in the trip, he is a King of a Hive, so just as you must be presented, so must he." Luna frowned, "We had thought that the conclave was lost in the last thousand years, else We would have sent him to the last one." We? She paused, "Now, We must return you to the Conclave, Moonlight, per the Lunar Empire's treaty. However, we can assign Silent Gaze as a personal guard/liason, which We shall do. He will be the sixth member of the protective party." With two Alicorns, there was no need for guards, but it was best to be safe. Or, so it had been explained to her.

"I get to stay with-" She coughed, looked to the side, and buzzed her wings slightly, "I mean, thank you Princess Luna." If she could blush, she would be.

"Now then, our trip will start taking the Royal Train, through Ponyville and the Dapperfall Forest, all the way to Discord's Swamp, where we will disembark and begin the two-month trek through swampland to the Uncharted Wastes, there is an undocumented fort within which we shall wait for our guides, who shall take us to the Conclave via portal. This way their secrecy is maintained, and we have a relatively safe path to the-"

"Safe? Discord's Swamp is called that because it's not safe!" Oh, Rainbow's voice was kind of tomboyish. "There's creatures we've never heard of there! It's where Wonderbolts go for combat training, and it has more chaotic weather than any other country besides the Everfree Forest! We're taking a baby changeling there?"

"I'm eleven, not a baby!" Moonlight pouted, just like any child, and was about to argue only to stop when Princess Luna raised one hoof.

"I know you are worried, but that is why I called you six, with Twilight and myself most creatures will likely not attack, Fluttershy can calm those who are alarmed by our presence, Rarity is resourceful, Pinkie Pie is licensed for heavy artillery, and Applejack and you are strong enough to protect her or aid in destroying the creatures which may object to our presence."

"I don't like it. Even if she is an unreformed changeling," Rainbow humphed before flying to place a wing protectively over Moonlight. Who was... quite confused, especially as she could feel the warring gentle warmth of what she assumed was maternal instinct warring with... she didn't understand the unpleasant mix of emotions that made up the second half of Rainbow's emotional state. An emotional state that could only be felt once this close thanks to Twilight's own. "She's still a kid, you know."

"I do, Rainbow." That... was a question. What exactly convinced the Princess to trust Moonlight? Said changeling had no idea herself, so she could only assume it had to do with those dreams she could only vaguely remember... but she did not want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Right, then when are we leaving."

"Right now." Wait... what?

---

Overture -Introduction to an opera or other large musical work.

Author's Note:

I suppose my goal of uploading every Wednesday morning is no more, afternoon to evening is my current goal for the last few chapters. Also, for the next two weeks my writing will be much slower as I work on a paper for class, I don't know yet if I'll still get the next chapter on next Wednesday or not.

That said, I hope you enjoyed the first introduction of the Friendship Council, and Thorax. Who will only have a minor role and will be forgotten once they arrive and finish the Conclave. At least, for a while. He is a good window into how the Badlands Hive work, of course, but this is Moonlight's tale, about her creating her own Hive, one that has nothing to do with the Rainbow-lings. I do have a plan for what they are, though, because as I've had Moonlight say repeatedly: In this universe, they are not changelings. They are something different, a thing that was thought lost. This is my first separation from things-that-could-have-happened-in-cannon.

Also, sorry that this chapter is shorter. I was going to include part of the train ride, but ran out of time with how many times I had to rewrite the meeting scene. It was difficult to find the series of events I felt worked.