The Story of Chris the Changeling

by Silver Inkwell

Discovery

He followed it for days, it took him north to the icy cold frozen lands that no pony could survive, or has ever survived in, except of course for the mysterious legend of the magic ice ponies who lived in these parts and lands, but every pony knew that it was a myth, but then again, Nightmare Moon and King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis and Discord could have been myths too, so Chris assumed nothing as he went on.

It took him weeks, but he finally found what he was looking for, there deep in the icy cold frozen lands of the north he found a small ice hut, an igloo.

He entered it and the compass needle spun around in all directions, “I know you’re here, whoever you are,” he said out loud to no pony in particular, “Why don’t you show yourself now and end this mystery by stepping out of the shadows you hide so well and easily in? Face the consequences of your actions, and do not fear what you may face from others, fear me instead.”

“Oh, but what fun is there in the light? It’s so much better to hide in the darkness of the shadows instead, where you remain a mystery shrouded by lies, clouded by the truth, and where fear makes its home to live in.

The darkness is not as bad as you might think it is, Princess Luna could tell you that, it can restore your mind with dreams after a long day of hard work, but it is still a place where evil and fear lives, and both I and she would know, you could say that on some level we understand each other, and that we are related, and not just by thoughts and ideas, but by blood as well, by a fragment of the mind and of the heart joined together in a perfect harmony.”

“Who are you?” Chris asked slightly afraid, but putting a brave face on.

“Who am I the changeling asks, and yet he does not know who he is yet, what a delightful irony I see, but to answer your question I am Nightmare Shadow, maker of nightmares and shadow, and I will live in your mind and heart and fears, I will haunt you and all the other ponies so long as both they and I live.

I am to be both feared and respected, and you will remember my name, I shall not be forgotten, not now, and not ever again! Princess Luna may treat me like I am not family or blood, but she cannot deny the truth that haunts her!”

“If you’re to be remembered, than why not show yourself?”

“You wish to see me, but what you do not realize is that I already am seen,”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at your shadow, what do you see?”

“I don’t see what this has to do with…”

“Just humor me please,”

With that being said, Chris looked down at his own shadow, but he didn’t see just one, but instead he saw two, one that was his own, and one that was not.

“How is this possible?” he asked.

“To question magic is to question logic and reason itself.”

“I don’t know how you’re doing this, but I do know you’re the one responsible for planting the crystal flower seeds in the Everfree forest.”

“That is correct; I will not deny this blame.”

“But why, you put so many ponies’ lives in dangers, even young ones, so why did you do it? Why put the innocent lives of Ponyville under threat and peril and danger? Surely there is a better way for getting your message across?”

“THERE IS NO BETTER WAY!” Nightmare Shadow screamed, “THIS IS THE ONLY WAY! PRINCESS LUNA WILL NOT HEAR ME ANY OTHER WAY!”

“Princess Luna?” Chris asked confused.

“Yes, she is the one responsible for creating me, the one who gave birth to me, from her deepest blackest thoughts, ideas, fears, and dreams did I emerge, and now there is no going back, I will never go back. No pony will ever force me to go back to that cold desolate place on the moon, and while Princess Luna may have been fun and fine as Nightmare Moon, she has now lost that strength and turned into a pathetic weak creature, one that is not worthy of bearing the title of ‘Princess of the Night’, that title will belong to me now, the “Prince of the Night’, but not just that, of shadows, dreams, fears, ideas, and thoughts too.”

“How dare you say that about the Princess, Luna can never be replaced, not even Celestia herself was worthy or ready to replace her sister, and you are the least worthy and noble of all the ponies I have seen, you’re so cowardly in fact that you will not even step out of the shadows and show yourself to me,” Chris shouted with anger, but with a growl and shout of anger the igloo started rumbling and shaking and the ground started to split underneath him.

“HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME, IT IS LUCKY FOR YOU THAT I NEED YOU ALIVE, FOR I NEED YOU TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PRINCESS LUNA!”

Once Nightmare Shadow had spoken that the ground and igloo stopped shaking and remained calm at his feet, but then something strange happened.

The ground stopped shaking, and then the shadow under Chris gathered into a black pool of darkness across Chris and then formed into a pony, the pony had a body black as night itself, all of his body including his mane and hooves was that color, even his horn too, and his eyes were black as the night as well.

And for his cutie mark he had a silver ‘S’ on his flank.

“What’s the ‘S’ stand for?” Chris asked.

“It stands for Shadow, which I specialize in, and as you just saw I can change myself into it, so there is no way to defeat me, Chris.”

“How do you know my name?”

“News travels in the dark, even to the far reaches of Equestria, even in this cold icy frozen land of the north, but it does not matter how I know your name or anything else. What matters is that you bring this message back to Princess Luna, tell her that Nightmare Moon is coming for her and the subjects of Equestria, tell her that I will haunt their dreams and live in their mind, ideas, and thoughts, tell her I will do so until she faces me at the Castle of the Two Sisters, and tell her that if she is not brave enough to face me, I will not only haunt the ponies so long as both they and I live, but I will haunt her memory, her thoughts, and her ideas until she can no longer stand the madness of her mind, tell her that my fury will last as long as the night lives on.”

“I’ll make sure to tell her that, but I think you’ll have to say that to her in person yourself when you’re in jail. You should also think of a shorter name.”

“I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon, and as for the name since my first initials of my name are ‘NS” you can call me Ness I suppose.”

“Oh and why would that be exactly, Ness?”

“Well it’s a little thing I like to call shadow travel,” Ness said, and with that Ness put a hoof on Chris and suddenly Chris felt like he was being pulled by a mysterious strong force, and the world was black all around him, and then suddenly without any explanation or reason whatsoever, he was back in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Tree house in Ponyville, and there in the room stood the Princess herself reading her books, but when Chris came into the room and crashed into a well organized pile of books she lifted her head up at last.

Author's Note:

The guilty pony has been found, but where did he come from?

(Here is the best/ closet pictures of Nightmare Shadow. Note: Not my own art source/ work)

Stay tuned to find that out with a confession from Princess Luna in the next chapter.