The Prelude, Illuminate the Shadows Book 1

by SaphireTsuki

8 Clef

The nation of Equestria is, comparatively speaking, young. It has existed for a mere thousand years, in a land that was once under the control of the ancient Alicorns. I will not go into detail of the history of Equestria, no doubt in recent years much of what is known will be completely rewritten as truths kept under wraps are revealed, but I will be teaching you about it's predecessor, the land of the Alicorns. Though they controlled the entirety of the land ruled by Equestria now, they did not populate it.

Much like we changelings, they served as a protective force, however they had no needs from, nor desires from, the creatures beneath their thumb, and thus let them do essentially whatever they wanted. Alicorns, you see, need nothing from the world at large but the knowledge of new magic. Alicorns may be born, and they may Ascend to their nature, but they are all chosen by the First and Greatest of their number, the Alicorn of Fate. None today remember her, for the Alicorn of Memory wiped her from our knowledge, for unknown reasons. Regardless, many of the ruins throughout the world are from their era, created by them or by their followers. Magics long lost are only known of due to these ruins, and each possesses some clue to the reason why the Alicorns were lost... clues which it is doubtful if either of the Princesses themselves know.

SE 1015

It had taken about an hour for everypony to eat breakfast, and just as long for princess Luna to fully wake up. Moonlight, knowing that she couldn't afford to put it off any longer, two days was already too long, made her way to the second half of the train, alongside the Princesses Twilight and Luna. The three of them moved in silence, though for Moonlight it was more like she was silent and they were blasting emotions. Off course there was the overwhelming emotions of Princess Twilight: a sucking mix of kind, curious, distrustful, and excited, but there was also the constant tap tap tappity tap tap of Luna's nerves.

Part of her wondered why Princess Twilight had such powerful emotions, but the rest of her was too busy being nervous about the meeting that was slowly but surely approaching, and what exactly she would have to do. The only thing she could do, however, to prepare was to attend the "Princess Lessons" that Luna had taken over during the trip. Her wings, still undisguised, buzzed off and on from her nerves, causing her to float for a few steps every so often. Even when she tried to suppress it, noticing the wincing of the two Princesses in front of her, it continued.

After what felt like an eternity, the three of them entered a compartment that was clearly modular, though she didn't know that word herself. Unlike the rest of the train, this car wasn't in the familiar pastel, but rather a dark blue, on the inside at least. The curtains were closed on windows, and floating near the center of the cabin itself lay a crystal glowing in the silver of moonlight, though bright enough that none of them were lacking any color. Instead of walls blocking off the two sides, there were several different tables and cushions, and to one side was a chalkboard. Luna walked over to it, gesturing to the two of them to take a seat at the table directly in front of it, "Until now I have had my seneschal teach you basic etiquette, Princess Moonlight. Your progress has been startling, but for the rest of our trip we shall have to meet for a very different series of lessons, hence why I have brought you here, Twilight Sparkle."

Curiosity blasted the changeling, as well as her excitement. She had, over time, grown more used to the power within Princess Twilight's emotions, hence her ability to sense the emotions of others, but it was still enough to stun her when the princess was excited or angry, but she managed to shake it off eventually, shaking her head once their attention was drawn from her. She managed to catch the latter half of Luna's response, "... not know where they are, but they seem at least somewhat different from Queen Chrysalis. We should be able to negotiate with them, as the Empire did before."

"And this Lunar Empire, it's in the Starsea Forest?"

"Yes, they are my thestrals, largely. I admit the forest was not so large as it is now, and I have yet to visit, being kept busy in Canterlot, but I do wish to do so." Luna paused, took a breath, and then continued, "Now that we have given our guest a chance to recover, it is time to proceed to the lesson itself. I will begin with explaining what the Royal Conclave is, as I imagine that none have explained it to either of you." She assumed such mainly due to the letter, but either way she would have to explain it for Twilight's sake.

Princess Luna lifted one chalk stick in her magic, drawing a basic structure, "For the sake of Twilight Sparkle, would you like to explain how the Hive is structured, Princess Moonlight? I assume you know at least so much." Moonlight nodded, allowing the princess to draw the pyramid, with a crown atop, scepters in the middle, and below various tools.

"There are three groups,"

"Classes," Twilight interrupted, to which Moonlight nodded with the sharp speed of someone who was nervous. The wing buzzing was back again.

"There are three classes of changeling: Queens, Princes, and Drones." She paused, wondering how to word it. The book was not very detailed on this bit of information, but... "Uhm, drones are mares and stallions who serve the Hive in var- var-... a lot of ways." She swallowed, willing her voice to even out, instead of splitting into two entirely different tones, and then continued, "Princes are stallion Royals, they never run a Hive, but they help and are Consorts." They were staring at her. Well, they were supposed to, but they were staring at her! "There are no Kings, all leaders are Queens." She frowned, "I don't know why yet... but all Hives are ruled by mare Royals. My mom wrote that "All Queens will one day rule a Hive, but not all Princes are Consorts." I don't get why, but she said that the Queens would explain it to me."

Luna nodded, "And what do these Princes do?"

"They, uhm, they help run the Hive." More buzzing, "I'm sorry, I don't know anything else." Luna nodded, and she zipped back to her seat, settling down in her spot with her dual-toned voice humming as well. It was so much more nerve wracking to stand in front of them than she had thought it would be. Luna, giving a moment for her to compose herself, continued the explanation herself.

"As stated, there are no Kings of the Changelings, save for Thorax." Moonlight's ear flicked, they still called him that, "It appears we never learnt the reason for this, but it it is at least not a social structure." Luna flicked her tail to one side, "Regardless, the Conclave consists of only Queens. King Thorax will be the first, and sole, King within their Halls. If they will even meet with him." There was another pause, and finally Twilight asked a question herself.

"Why would they not want to meet with the first of their number to be a male ruler?"

"Because, according to all of my research this past month, they consider the Conclave to be a sacred space for the planning of the future of the changeling race. Only mares may enter, you see. Even the guards must all be female within the building proper, and the stallions are to stand outside. It is unclear if this is a physical or magical defense, however. Not even their Consorts may enter." Twilight blinked, opened her mouth, "We know not why this is so, Twilight Sparkle."

What about Father, then? Moonlight held her tongue, not asking this question for fear of the answer, but instead asked something completely different: "S-so, what is the Conclave? You said it's to decide the future of all changelings?" Luna and Twilight blinked, as she had been quietly freaking out, but Luna took it in stride.

"The Royal Conclave is a bi-decadal truce between all Hives. Any wars between them, any contentions or isolationist practices," What were those? "Are to be swept aside for the sake of meeting. Some call it a council, others a Summit, but the summons are always under the title "Royal Conclave." Everypony can only bring so many guards as the organizer allows, marked in the Summons. This refers to those guards allowed inside of the building, however, not those stationed outside." So many big words... she'd have to ask Father about them. "Each Hive's Queen must come, alongside any princesses she cares for, and they are to introduce each princess upon reaching a certain age. I assume this must be six, given the letter sent to us."

"Fascinating." Well, yes, Moonlight knew that Princess Twilight was very much fascinated by the words stated. Not only was she radiating it in tidal waves, but the princess was leaning forward, eyes big and magic frantically scribbling away at a notebook that had appeared from... somewhere. "Is this like the Summits we sometimes have with Saddle Arabia and others? We meet with foreign nations to decide or negotiate."

"Not quite." Moonlight wanted those notes... well, no, she didn't. She just needed them. This was going to be a lot of information, she knew it. Luna continued, erasing the former structure and instead placing a large circle with several crowns, "The Conclave serves as a forum. For all intents and purposes, the Hives are each their own country. I don't understand the complex political situation, they have been extremely tight lipped so far, but the point is that each can run their Hive and territory as they wish." Each crown got it's own little circle, "However, Hives can, like any nation, form connections. When two or more Hives grow close enough, they may share territory or work towards each other's ends, forming factions that We believe are called An-Bale."

Twilight tasted the word, first mouthing it and then saying it aloud, noting the differences from traditional Equish. In the first place, even with just this one word, she could sense the musical quality behind it. "What does it mean?"

"I do not know." The Diarch sighed, "Nor, apparently, do my thestrals." Moonlight tilted her head, "To continue, each faction can suggest items for the docket, a limit of three per faction. Individual Queens are limited to one item on the docket, and if an item is suggested in different lists, it is granted a higher level of priority." Next to the circle she drew a list of possible topics, with different diagonal strikes to mark how many they had, and arrows to show how they would go up or down in priority. "The exact method of suggestions, what is allowed to be suggested, and how they debate such is unknown to us, but Queen Polaris was, for a changeling, forthcoming with the Empire."

"My... my Mother?" The surprise in her voice was enough to stop Luna mid-stroke, "Did you know her, Princess Luna?" She wanted to know more about her mother, of course, and was almost vibrating with hope.

"I did." Cue Moonlight falling over. "I was not aware that she was your mother, however. Only that you were the heir to her Hive."

"Y-yes, I don't know why, but I was given to the Lunar Empire as an egg." Another scribble, one of many, Moonlight only just saw that it had to do with changelings being born in eggs, but that wasn't the point! "Could you tell me about her? Please?" She raised her front hooves up in a pleading motion, her eyes seeming to grow larger and more doggy-like. "I hardly know anything about her, you see. I would be so," There was a better word for this! "Happy to learn more about her!"

The other two's ears had dropped down, before they looked one to another. Luna nodded, "Certainly, when we have time. It would be... nice to speak of my friend." Friend? Stars were practically dancing in Moonlight's eyes, but Luna looked to the side, "Not now, though. We have much to cover, and not long to use the board to do so!"

"Ok..." Moonlight's ears drooped this time, causing her to look down, only for the purple wing of Twilight Sparkle to land over her, squeezing gently in a hug. The sympathy rolling off of the Alicorn settled warmly around Moonlight, doubling the internal warmth brought to her. Luna gave her a few moments to compose herself, not that she was crying, before continuing on.

"Once more returning to the topic at hoof, we are not on this docket," outside of the list she drew a moon and star, circling it as she spoke, "Thus we might not be able to meet with them immediately. Luckily we do have an in to the meeting itself," within the list she drew a small crown, with a question mark next to it. "We do not know when exactly within the Conclave we are placed, but Princess Moonlight's summons was fairly severe. We can assume that it is enough that if we ask to enter with her we will be allowed, and of course at worst one of us can act as her sixth guard." She drew an arrow from the star and moon to the crown, "This will place us effectively in the same spot on the docket as Moonlight, who must be introduced to the Conclave as a whole.

"Our duty then is to wait for the organizer, a role who's designation, duties, and requirements we do not know, to recognize our presence. Likely they will decide what is to be done with Moonlight at this time, we shall have to accept the slight." Luna sighed, "Due to their isolationist nature, the changelings rarely deign to negotiate with anyone, the only reason we managed to make the negotiation we did in the Empire was because of Polaris. She spoke on Our behalf, convincing the Queens to take us seriously and consider Our proposals. At the time We were working on integrating the Lunar Empire into Equestria, before the Rebellion, so they had hoped for a new feeding ground, or at least safe haven for the Princesses. I never learned what happened to Polaris' ruler-school plans..." She drifted off in consideration, before shaking and focusing back on the situation. "Twilight, I wish for you to enter as her guard. If we must send one of the former Bearers back to stand with the Night Guard, I will leave who up to you... but We should be able to enter regardless."

"Understood." Twilight nodded, "What about Princess Moonlight, though? You said they would have to decide what to do with her?"

"All Changeling Queens must go through the Aulla Noes, a type of trial to prove her worth as a leader in the Hive. I do not know the age when they do such, but it is highly unlikely to be right when we arrive with her in tow... however, Princess Moonlight, it is my understanding that it is the current Queen's duty to ensure that her daughters are ready for their trial. As such, likely you will be, temporarily or otherwise, adopted into a Hive to undergo a crash course of some sort." Luna gave her an appropriately sympathetic look, and she found herself undergoing the curious sensation of being scrutinized in every square inch of her body by one pony, and given emotional hugs by the other. Yes, Twilight Sparkle's sympathy was still there, but she was also, as the only changeling in the room, the focus of a great deal of said ponies curiosity. Though, she felt it get 'shelved' so to speak as her emotions settled to be more... she wasn't quite sure. Focused?

"Ah, so they are liable to send her into some manner of foster care. Then they recognize us?" Twilight walked up, erasing the diagrams, setting up a brief list of what they had gone over. Which meant, of course, that it covered half of the board and only left the other half open for further notes. "Then we we first need to get them to recognize us as representatives of another country."

"Exactly. We do not have a Queen to speak on our behalf this time, so it is up to our own abilities."

Moonlight, recognizing that this was no longer a discussion for her, and that she was hungry, waved a hoof to get Luna's attention. After pantomiming her intention to go and get food for them, Luna nodded and she left. This... was a lot of information. She wished she had a notebook to take notes in herself, now. Heck, why did she leave her saddlebags in the room... she'd have to get that and wait out their discussion. After finding some napkins or something to write on.
----
Clef- In sheet music, a symbol at the beginning of the staff defining the pitch of the notes found in that particular staff.

Author's Note:

Now then... this is the first time that the spoken language of the changelings is brought up. Given the use of music terms for chapter names and my recent falling in love with it, I have decided that the Ar Tonelico series' language of Hymnnos would be fitting, not only because of how compact of a language it actually can be but also because of its emphasis on using both music and the literal translation of the word to express emotion, which is to a Changeling the most important part of any language.

This was not the original plan, I found it while looking for music to write to somewhere around chapter three, and have been listening to songs from the series almost nonstop ever since. It's actually really motivating to listen to it. My original plan was to make a series of terms that were unique to the Equish (english) termed language found in chapter 3, including a bonus chapter of translations. As it is I will make a glossary of terms found in the series, at the very least because Hymmnos is fairly old for a fictional language, and was never mainstream in the US. Not to mention, even if I linked the database of Hymmnos terms it would be difficult to translate what I wrote due to the fact that the language is extremely interpretive.

For example: An-Bale, the term for factions, is a compound word of An and Bale: An meaning together, combined, or with; and Bale meaning Sphere. Due to Hymmnos' nature as an extremely self-centered language, meant more for expressing emotions than conversation (though the latter is more than possible with practice,) I had to come up with a workaround. I use Bale's Sphere as more of a 'territory' or 'influence', so the members of an An-Bale influence together, or with each other.

Look forward to a bonus chapter on them, by the way. It will be up (probably) before next Wednesday.