The Changing of the Sun

by brokenimage321

Chapter 1

Lightning flashed, and Twilight Sparkle shot awake with a scream. She clutched her blankets to herself, then rolled her eyes and sighed. Just a storm… the same storm that had been on the calendar for weeks now…

She rolled out of bed, shot a jealous glance at Spike, somehow still asleep in his basket, then stepped outside her bedroom into the library proper. She shivered at the sound of rain against the trunk of the old tree; any other night, it would be a comforting sound, a sound of safety against evil things—but tonight, a night of bad dreams, it sounded like wicked hooves galloping towards her.

It had been two weeks since Cadance and Shiny’s wedding. She still remembered how happy she had been to see the two of them—the two best friends from her fillyhood—finally say “I do.” Nothing—not even the Changelings—could take that away from her.

But life, as they say, was making a good run of it.

Even as the pundits and newsponies screamed about the failures of the royal guard and the intelligence services, Twilight could tell something else was wrong. Celestia, the kind, loving Princess who had ruled Equestria for over a thousand years without so much as changing her hairstyle, was different. She rarely appeared at court anymore, and hadn't even come to the train station to see Shiny and Cadance off on their honeymoon. And then, she’d started to cancel major engagements she'd always kept. For example, she'd officially kicked off the Canterlot Summer Start-Up herself for the past six hundred years—but this year she’d canceled her appearance without warning. Twilight couldn't even guess what, but something was definitely wrong.

But the oddest detail of all came from, of all ponies, Rarity. She had always kept tabs on whatever the Canterlot elite was up to, especially the Princesses—and she was now telling anyone who would listen how Princess Celestia had taken to wearing clothes.

Oh, to be sure, Twilight wasn’t opposed to the idea—clothes were nice, at least when the occasion called for them. But Princess Celestia had started wearing clothes even in situations that didn’t call for them: for example, rumors were that she had worn an elegant ballgown to an otherwise completely pedestrian breakfast with Princess Luna.

But that hadn’t stopped Rarity any. She was almost deliriously excited for this new development—”the fashion trend of the century, darling!” she’d squealed—and now spent most of her time dreaming up new dresses she thought Princess Celestia might like.

But, for all her enthusiasm, Rarity seemed to miss whatever it was about the situation that was making Twilight uneasy. Something was wrong. Something had changed. And Twilight desperately wanted to know what it was.

By this time, Twilight was pacing circles around the reading table in the center of the darkened library. It soothed her, being around her books—not to mention simple, repetitive motion had been proven to calm agitated nerves. In fact—

BANG BANG BANG

Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin. In the middle of the worst storm in years, with the rain lashing the windows and lightning splitting open the sky—someone had knocked at her door.

BANG BANG BANG

Twilight stared at the door, then swallowed. She took a hesitant step forward. Maybe it was somepony who needed help—after all, there was that one time that Muffins had—

BANG BANG. More insistent now.

Twilight hesitated, then pressed her ear to the door. For a moment, all she could hear was the rain… but then, over the storm, she caught a vicious, crazed snarling. Something was out there—and it wanted in very, very badly.

She almost turned around and went right back to bed. Just left the problem for another day. After all, there were other trees to take shelter under—other doorways that might keep out the wind a little…

But something inside her wouldn’t let her. Call it courage, call it friendship, call it stupidity—but Twilight needed to know what was on the other side of the door.

And so, she threw it open.

For a moment, she could see nothing. Just blackness and rain. But then, the lightning flashed again—and Twilight screamed.

“Princess Celestia!”

Princess Celestia took a half-step forward, then collapsed onto the floor. She stared up at Twilight, her eyes full of pain and madness. Foam flecked the edges of her lips. Her disheveled mane spilled across the floor, and several of her shredded wingfeathers dropped free. She wore nothing, not even her crown—which, somehow, made Twilight even more afraid.

And, spreading across her chest and down her right foreleg—Twilight’s mouth suddenly went dry—

—were glistening black plates of chitin.

Changeling chitin.

Comments

[Relux_the_Relux]

Rated Teen for some (very) mild language.

but you rated it Everyone?

[brokenimage321]

8375386

Good catch :S
Fixed

[Viper Pit]

so that happened

[JazzyWaffles]

Changeling chitin.

Darn, if only it was BEETLE chitin, then Celestia would be... wait, now that I think about it, changeling chitin is best case scenario as far as chitin goes.

[Lurks-no-More]

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, Princess Celestia appeared!

[KvAT]

9883233
*gasp*