Chapter III
"In light of their recent accomplishments, not least of which being their discovery of their cutie marks for raising the sun and moon, I, Princess Platinum, hereby relinquish my title, powers, and responsibilities to Equestria's new goddesses of harmony," Platinum announced from the cushioned platform to the gathered nobles in the throne room and turned to Twilight and Luna, who stood behind her and across from Hurricane and Puddinghead. "Do you accept?"
Stepping forth, Twilight and Luna said in unison, "We do."
Removing her crown, Platinum continued, "Then from this day forth, you will be known as Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Equestria's fate will rest in your capable hooves." As Hurricane and Puddinghead stepped forth to stand on either side of her, Platinum added in a voice too low for the crowd to hear, "Make me proud."
"My armies and I, Commander Hurricane, will serve you until our dying breaths, Princesses," Hurricane said, bowing.
Puddinghead radiated affection and admiration in an aura only Twilight and Luna could see as she wrapped them in an unabashed embrace, eliciting murmurs from those among the crowd who weren't accustomed to her eccentric mannerisms, and said, "I, Chancellor Puddinghead, just know you two will be the best diarchs Equestria has ever had! Technically you'll be the only diarchs Equestria has ever had, but if we'd ever had diarchs before you, you'd outshine them all." Hearing Platinum clear her throat behind her, Puddinghead let them go and added, "Oh, right, I'll also happily serve you as a royal adviser for as long as you'll have me, barring extraneous circumstances like death, disease, or dismemberment."
"Thank you both," Twilight said, looking to each of them in turn before resting her eyes on Platinum with the faintest smirk, "and thank you, Platinum." Twilight added in a voice too low for the crowd to hear, "My sister and I wouldn't be standing here if not for you."
Platinum blushed and cast a meaningful glance toward the crowd.
Twilight nodded and turned to face the nobles with Luna.
"We didn't have time to prepare an acceptance speech," Luna addressed them, "but perhaps that's for the best; what you're about to hear comes straight from our hearts. While my sister and I share many of the same thoughts, she's proven herself a better orator in the short time we've existed among you, so I'll let her do the talking."
Twilight took the floor, "As my sister explained, I speak for both of us when I say how honored we are that your leaders have deemed us worthy to nurture the future of your budding nation, and we have no doubt that with proper care and pruning, it will grow into a beacon of hope to the bleak corners of the world where love, tolerance, and harmony are still as scarce as water in a desert. You have already found the oasis, my little ponies, and so long as you will have us, my sister and I will guide you to the rain forest."
The crowd applauded, satiating her and Luna's growing appetites with respectful admiration but little of the loving adoration the general populace had offered earlier, before shuffling out the door.
Twilight turned to Platinum and asked, "How was that?"
Platinum kissed Twilight's cheek and gazed up at her lovingly.
Paralyzed by the fluttering in her chest as her heart swelled with Platinum's affection, Twilight wondered if Platinum hadn't relinquished so much power over her after all.
"Aww!" Puddinghead squealed.
"Called it," Hurricane said smugly, draping a wing over Puddinghead's withers and leading her away as the last few nobles trickled out. "Let's give these lovebirds some privacy."
Luna headed for the door as well—probably on her way to bed, as the dawn was ending—winked over her shoulder at Twilight, and thought, "Try not to pounce her until we close the door."
Twilight tore her eyes away long enough to watch them go. In the moment of reflection, she realized there was something unusual about Platinum's kiss—something that hadn't been there before. Once the door closed behind them, she hid her concern and turned to Platinum. Knowing only one way to get to the bottom of the matter, Twilight swept her into an open-mouthed kiss. Twilight's heart skipped a beat as something pricked her tongue. Twilight realized exactly what was out of place—Platinum had fangs.
***
"We are gathered here today," Puddinghead said, sniffling, "to mourn the passing of... of our former... our former princess, Pla—" The rest of the word was lost as she burst into tears, whirled to face the unlit funeral pyre, and threw her forelegs over the sealed wooden coffin housing Platinum's remains. Heaving sobs racked her body. "Why, Platinum? Why did you leave us? Why, why, why?" She punctuated each repetition by banging her hoof against the wood paneling.
Hurricane stepped forth from where she'd stood next to Twilight at the front of the modest gathering of nobles who looked like they had somewhere else to be, lead her back to the podium, and continued the eulogy herself, wearing a brave face despite the tears in her eyes.
Puddinghead avoided eye contact with the crowd as she clung to Hurricane's side and cried into Hurricane's mane.
Twilight's inner scholar struggled to concentrate on the eulogy, as no historical text transcribed it, but Twilight found the words blurring together. The pitiful spectacle coupled with the knowledge that Celestia was responsible made her stomach turn and her eyes sting. Twilight wanted to cry, but Celestia refused.
Having finished the eulogy, Hurricane grabbed a torch in her teeth and touched the lit end to the treated branches of the funeral pyre. The chemical reaction was swift and violent, wreathing the entire structure in glowing flames which twisted into a black column of smoke that carried Platinum's ashen remains into the heavens, where stars were just starting to appear in the fading light of the setting sun.
Twilight couldn't bear to watch. Her focus turned inward, but all she found to greet her was the sequence of memories that had brought her here just a week from her coronation.
Lying in the nest of cushions with Platinum curled up against her side after another passionate evening, Twilight had mentioned her earlier observation.
Platinum had run her tongue over her newly pointed teeth and gasped. Her eyes had widened, and without another word, she had fled to lock herself in her quarters, where she had stayed for several days.
Twilight had gone to check on her each day, and each day, Platinum had refused to let her or anypony else see her. On the fourth day, the only answer to Twilight's pleas had been muffled sobs, incoherent mumbling, a scream, and shattering glass. Twilight had forced the door open—a less intimidating feat than it sounds, as she had magically unscrewed the hinges first.
Upon stepping inside, she had recoiled at the sight of the hideously disfigured abomination quivering on the floor beside the broken mirror.
Patches of the creature's white coat had been torn out to reveal sleek black chitin. Her once-purple mane and tail had hung limp, lifeless, and drained of color. The creature had turned to look at her with a face that had been unmistakably Platinum's but split diagonally from her hairline across her snout to her neck. One half had had the cold, emotionless features and solid-blue eye of a changeling. The other half's natural azure eye had streamed enough tears to make up for her inability to control the other one's tear ducts, matting the fur on her cheek. She had asked in a discordant distortion of her once-melodious voice, "What's happening to me, Celestia?"
"I'm sorry, Platinum," Twilight had whispered, falling to her knees and pulling her into a tight embrace with her wings and forelegs. "I'm so sorry."
"They won't let me sleep," Platinum had rasped, clinging to her like a foal caught in a thunderstorm. "They won't let me think. They just keep screeching in my head. I keep asking them to leave, but my voice is just one among thousands." She had pressed her crumbling, cadaverous hooves into Twilight's chest, stared into Twilight's eyes, and begged, "Please, Celestia. Please help me."
Twilight had reached into Platinum's mind, but the infernal din within had shattered her concentration and forced her out. Then she had done something she hadn't anticipated. She had leaned in and kissed Platinum, feeling Platinum's fangs poke her bottom lip and watching the anguish drain from Platinum's eye. They had stayed like that for some time as the novel feeling of experiencing love as only a changeling can pacified Platinum.
Platinum had been the one to break the kiss. She had smiled the saddest smile Twilight had ever seen, hung her neck over Twilight's shoulder, wrapped her forelegs around Twilight's back against Twilight's wing joints, and said on the edge of audibility, "Thank you, Celestia. Having known the taste of your lips one last time, I can die happily."
Twilight hadn't processed the last few words at the time, but she had seen the glint of broken glass out of the corner of her eye. Realization had dawned on her too late for her to do anything but look on in horror as a long, jagged shard of Platinum's mirror, encased in a faint green aura, thrust into the soft flesh at the base of Platinum's—
"Sister?" Luna asked, jarring Twilight from the flashback.
"Yes?" Twilight asked, feeling the warmth of Luna's wing around her as she stared vacantly at the smoldering embers clearly visible in the soft moonlight under the heap of ashes before her.
"I'm sorry I couldn't attend, but ever since my cutie mark appeared, I've found staying up during the daylight hours impossible."
"I don't blame you."
"You shouldn't blame yourself either. You couldn't have known our... condition... could be spread in such a way."
"I should have."
Luna was silent for awhile. "She gave me an idea, you know." Receiving no response, she continued, "I stole it, technically." She pretended not to notice Twilight's ear perking. "I wanted a backup plan in case I couldn't raise the moon on my own, so I scanned her mind for the means by which she harnessed the will of her subjects. Having succeeded without it, I wondered what else it might be good for. That's how I came up with my latest project—the Elements of Harmony."
Celestia looked skeptically curious at best, but Twilight was on the edge of her seat at the prospect of learning how the Elements came to be—another subject suspiciously absent from historical texts.
Luna seemed to forget the world around her as she spoke, reminding Twilight of herself lecturing about a recent experiment or discovery, "Imagine a set of six enchanted artifacts that would allow ordinary ponies embodying the cardinal virtues of harmony to harness the will of everypony in Equestria. Should trouble ever find our little ponies while we're unable to come to their aid—"
"They need only band together, and any threat they face will be powerless before their love for one another," Twilight finished Luna's sentence. Even in Celestia's morose state, Luna's passion was infectious, and she could think of no more beautiful way to honor Platinum's unwitting sacrifice. "I assume this has something to do with your being absent from court these past few days."
"Indeed. I checked the Canterlot Archives and found an abandoned stronghold deep enough in the Everfree Forest that the wild magic released in the enchanting process will only pose a negligible threat to civilized areas."
"You'll want to warn the Ursa Major."
"Of course."
***
For the second time since her cutie mark appeared, Twilight awoke to find the moon still in the sky. The first time had been when a surge of untamed magical energy radiated from the Everfree a few hours ago and woke her in the middle of the night. Luna had warned her to expect as much before seeing her to bed and setting off to collect the items they had selected for enchanting—six gold-set gems equal in dimensions but unique in color—so Twilight had promptly returned to bed. Not that she had much choice. Like Luna, Twilight had developed a special connection to her change and encountered great difficulty staying awake while it wasn't in the sky. That Twilight had no such trouble at the moment meant the time had come for her to raise the sun. Luna must have known that, yet she hadn't lowered the moon.
Leaving on her nightstand the gold-and-amethyst jewelry she had commissioned as a symbol of her rule from the same jeweler who crafted the Elements, Twilight threw her bedroom window open with a flourish of magic, leaped into the sky, and soared over Canterlot in the direction she had followed Hurricane two weeks prior.
Her wings had grown far stronger since her last long-distance flight, so Twilight was watching the dense tree line disappear under her a few short hours later. To her dismay, the moon was still frozen at its apex, and the sky was still locked in perpetual dawn.
Assuming the stronghold was what would come to be known as the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters by the time she and her friends confronted Nightmare Moon, Twilight could have gotten there far quicker were she in control of her body, but since Celestia had never been there before, they had to rely on sweeping telepathic scans of the forest. Approaching the precariously balanced stone structure that looked to be in only slightly better repair than when she would return a thousand years hence, Twilight expected to pick up on some kind of signal if Luna was still alive and present. Twilight didn't expect to be forced into a hard landing just beyond the tree line by the mental assault of a legion of metallic voices like what she had heard in Platinum's mind.
Twilight immediately severed the connection and galloped across the not-yet-rickety bridge toward the first structure, through the entrance, up the winding stairs, down the musty corridors, out the back door, up the path to the second structure, and into the main room.
In the center was a raised dais, on which sat the Elements in their original, unbound form. The air around them shimmered from the raw magical energy they still emitted. Ordinary enchantments often took several hours to stabilize enough to safely use, and the Elements were no ordinary enchantments, so they could be unstable for days.
A changeling that looked much like Celestia's natural form lay propped against the side wall beneath a broken window with her hind legs crossed in front of her, her hooves pressed against her head, and her eyes clenched shut. She took no notice of Twilight's entering the room.
Twilight stood stock still and looked on in abject horror, for she saw far more than Luna's mentally and physically violated form. The image triggered a flashback that wasn't her own. Through Luna's eyes, she saw the events of the previous night unfold.
After notifying the Ursa Major, who was nursing a newborn Ursa Minor and took the news amicably, Luna had returned to the stronghold with the mundane Elements in tow. The intense magical expenditure involved in enchanting them had left Luna weak and vulnerable. Reasoning that she wouldn't be disturbed within the walls of the secluded ruin and she had several hours before the moon needed to be lowered, she had elected to rest by the base of the dais and bask in the warmth of her creation.
That plan had gone straight to Tartarus barely an hour later when a fire portal had appeared, from which emerged the form of a changeling queen, but not the one Luna and Twilight had seen on their last day in the hive. From the twisted grin on her face, the menacing look in her eyes, and the dried ichor still staining her fangs, this one had taken the old one's position by force. She had stalked toward Luna, who had managed to raise herself into a fighting stance, and said, "Mother was a fool to trust you. She should have known you'd turn your back on the hive the moment you had a taste of power."
"You say that like you didn't do the same, impostor," Luna had said, her voice frailer than intended. She had lacked the strength to fly or teleport away, and they had both known it. Talking had been her best bet to delay whatever the queen had in mind.
The queen's sickening grin had split her face. "What I did to her was a mercy compared to what the hive would have had she deprived them of sustenance any longer. Now she can know the starvation we have for the last thousand years."
"What did you do to her?" Luna had demanded, lowering her horn and lighting it with an impressive cerulean aura that illuminated the entire room and fizzled out seconds later.
"Nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you, traitor."
Luna had been powerless to stop herself from being levitated in an unnatural green aura and hurled against the wall, where she collided with a window, shattering it. Her wings flaring at the last second had saved her from falling into the chasm below, but not without being speared with fragments of glass. Her magical body had mended the damage that would have grounded a pegasus pony for life, but the pain had distracted her long enough for the queen to magically bind her in place without resistance. Not that Luna had been in a position to pose any.
"Show me that smiling face of yours," the queen had said, standing over her and penetrating Luna's mind with all the subtlety of a lobotomy.
Her disguise dispelled and her body bound to the wall by ethereal chains, Luna had never felt so vulnerable. She was at the mercy of a queen who probably didn't know the meaning of mercy. Luna had only been able to bite her lip and wait for the queen to finish her off. In what sense of the term, she hadn't known, but she had had a feeling she wouldn't have to wait long to find out.
On cue, the queen had splayed Luna's hind legs, crawled over her, turned Luna's head to steal a forceful, venomous kiss on which Luna tasted the old queen's blood, pulled herself closer so their chitin-skinned bellies, among other things, rubbed together in a way that was both electrifying and terrifying, and whispered in Luna's ear, "By the way, Luna, my name is—"
"Celestia," Luna begged, jarring Twilight from the flashback. "Please help me."
Twilight was speechless. The act that had brought her and Platinum such pleasure had been corrupted for the express purpose of bringing about its unintended consequence of reverting Luna into a mindless drone. It was unthinkable, but it had happened. That the mental effects had manifested so quickly could only be explained by the dormant neural network already being in place on account of Luna's already being a changeling. Twilight wondered if a changeling queen could ever truly be reintegrated or if the process would merely drive Luna insane. History implied the latter, but she'd come to distrust history.
"I don't want to die," Luna whimpered, drawing Twilight's attention back to the matter at hoof.
"I won't let you," Twilight said, sitting beside her and pulling her into a hug with her wing as Luna had done for her at Platinum's funeral. Twilight assumed Luna wouldn't be able to call back her disguise with such a cacophony in her head, which meant Luna couldn't appear in public again until Twilight found some way to cure her. Knowing from her experience with Platinum that the surgical precision necessary to do so directly would be impossible under the conditions, Twilight cast a depressant spell instead. "How's that?"
Luna removed her hooves from her head, looked across at her with reptilian emerald-green eyes that had long since run out of tears, and said, "Thank you, Celestia. It's... better. I can still hear them in the background, but I can think a little clearer. The new queen, Chrysalis, she—"
"I know, and I'm sorry, Luna. I should have been here to protect you."
"You'd have been too exhausted to fight. Had you tried, you'd be in no better condition than I am. You've done all you can. Now let me see what I can do." Luna closed her eyes. A faint green aura flickered around her horn and grew brighter before bursting, making her release an anguished cry and press her hooves into her forehead.
A brief telepathic scan revealed what had happened. In attempting to use even the minor amount of magic necessary to call back her disguise, Luna had overtaxed herself and undone the depressant spell, but the voices hadn't just come back. They had come back worse than before.
Twilight recast the spell, wrapped her forelegs around Luna, and rocked her gently back and forth. "Shh... It's okay. Everything's going to be okay. We can fix this. I don't know how, but we'll find a way."
"What about the sun and moon? With Platinum gone, you and me are the only ones who know how to move them. Tartarus will break loose if we don't maintain the cycle."
"You're in no condition to lower the moon, and the energy I'd expend trying could be better spent helping you get better and protecting you should Chrysalis return. A few extra hours of twilight won't kill our subjects or their crops. Besides, who knows when we'll be able to spend this much time together again?"
Luna laughed mirthlessly. "To think that we've already spent more time with each other than we have since our coronation, and this is how we're spending it."
Twilight held her tighter.
***
"Celestia," Luna began.
"No," Twilight cut her off.
Meditation, complete cessation of magical expenditure, and Twilight's constant vigilance keeping her mind at rest, Luna spoke without difficulty, "What do you propose, then?"
Twilight gazed mournfully through the hole in the crumbling ceiling at the ghostly visage of the full moon, which hadn't moved an inch in what her biological clock was telling her had been days. "I..."
"What will our subjects think?"
"That you're a madmare bent on bringing about nighttime eternal, we've been locked in battle for the past several days, and Equestria's survival hinges on my victory," was what Twilight would have said were her lips her own despite the last few days having made clear that the old ponies' tale she'd grown up with was as far from the truth as everything else she'd thought she'd known about Celestia and Luna. The tragedy that would soon follow was one thing Twilight knew was inevitable, though, and it filled her with apathy as she watched herself go through the motions. "There has to be another way. We could—"
"No," Luna cut her off. "I realize they haven't been tested, I realize they may not be entirely stable, and I realize they could as easily kill me as cure me, but I also realize they're our only chance."
Twilight wanted to quip, "They wouldn't kill you directly. That's not their way, but a thousand years on the moon is a guarantee of slow, agonizing death by starvation." She was curious how that logical conclusion would be averted, but she knew she wouldn't find out until the drama blew over. Instead, she was resigned to sighing, leaving Luna's side to trudge sullenly to the dais where the Elements rested and still emitted traces of magical radiation, and saying at length and entirely too theatrically, "I guess there's nothing left to say."
Luna drew herself up, wobbled over to her, draped her surprisingly dexterous insectoid wing over Twilight's back, nuzzled Twilight's furry neck with her fanged, chitin-skinned snout, and said, "You're the only one who can know what really happened here and the only one who will be able to come to my aid, so I need you to be strong if something goes wrong. Promise me you'll do that."
"I promise," Twilight whispered, staring at the Elements as if they were coiled snakes. She closed her eyes and channeled her magic into the Elements. The Elements levitated into the air of their own accord and circled around her and Luna in a rainbow of colors. Her eyes opened, but all she saw was blinding white light, which is all an outside observer would see upon looking into her eyes. The rainbow tightened its orbit, shrouding Luna and covering every inch of her body like a mummy before flashing out of existence with her in it.
When the light faded from the Elements, gravity remembered its job, and they clattered to the cold stone floor. Twilight collapsed amidst them. She had always found the Elements' magic rejuvenating, but this time, they left her feeling as if she were coated inside and out with putrid slime.
Looking through the ceiling, she saw a unicorn's profile imprinted into the moon as it sunk toward the opposite horizon. The level of ambient light increased as the sun eagerly moved into position, forgetting to ask her permission. The stars faded. Her vision blurred. Tears dampened the fur around her eyes. Despite her outward appearance, Twilight only felt hollow.
In her peripheral vision, she watched with cautious interest as the Elements lost their luster and transmuted before her eyes into smooth spheres of stone embossed with their original shapes, presumably as a show of defiance to being harnessed again until ponies properly attuned to the Elements' virtues appeared.
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For some inexplicable reason, my changeling stories always end up alluding to sex and gore. I've updated the rating accordingly.
is ok I liked it.
I had been wondering if 'Nightmare Moon' hadnt been caused by the changlings, interesting way of doing it up
Uh oh.
Then what about Shining Armor?
What about Discord? Kinda skipped that part…
2065081
2067200
Shining and Discord star in the final chapter.
So I imagine this tale shall end in death?
I can already see that Celestia sacrificing herself for the good of the whole of all Equestria.
2074908
I'm hesitant to reveal details about the conclusion, but Luna stated in Chapter II that starvation is the only way a changeling queen can die, and she and the old queen are currently the only ones in danger of that. To think that we have four changeling queens running around is ridiculous.
2064280
Where was the part that alluded to gore? I just know the sex bit. Odd how you make having sex with a changling turn the non-changling into one. What struck me as questionable though was how Celestia and Luna are now queens(?), yet the pony becomes a changling connected to the original queens network but in a way that is disastrous to their physique.
Not liking the timeline on this. They've barely been ruling when you put this out and Them never actually living in the castle. I think this is cuyrrently the weakest thing i see here
5510177 I like the idea, but I agree that the timeline is too rushed. It would've been better had the Castle been commissioned by Luna and her entourage (which eventually grew into a sizeable city) while she conducted her experiments/some magic thing like that. Taking years to actually succeed in creating the Elements (the binding of which caused the Everfree to be so unruly - draining the Harmony from the nearby area) would've had more impact.
While I love the ideas and story, the timeline is too rushed. It's been maybe a week, with no Discord, and ALL OF THIS has already happened?