Chapter 1

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My mind was going blurry, becoming nothing but a fog of what I remembered. "I can't believe I've done this." I said. "Has it really come to this? Have I really come to the point were I can no longer be around anypony? Heh heh, I guess we are all just pawns to the game of fate." A crystal slowly starts to from around my body as the spell takes it's toll. My mind is racing, telling me this is a mistake, that there has to be another way. But I know all to well that that isn't the case. I know that if I stop now there may be no way of being with her again. As the crystal slowly envelops my body, finally reaching my head, I can think of only one mare. I say my last words before I go into a deep slumber. "Don't worry Luna, I'll be seeing you soon...

A few years earlier...

It was a beautiful day in the land of Equestria, the sun was high in the sky, the birds were chirping, the flowers were swaying in the gentle breeze. A small cottage near the Everfree Forest is where I lived in. It wasn't a big house, not that we would need one. The outside of my house was big enough as it was, I had plenty of space to play, practice in becoming a guard for the Princesses of Equestria, trying to use my changeling powers, and what not. It was a normal day just like any other. I was in the middle practicing jumping from tree to tree without using my wing when suddenly...

"DAWN! IT'S TIME TO COME INSIDE, IT WILL BE NIGHT TIME SOON!" called a female voice from with in the cottage. When she said this I got spooked and fell off to far to the right of the tree I was trying to land on. When I landed I felt a sharp pain on my left wing. When I got up I saw that my left wing had bent backwards at the middle. Being half changeling I was partly alright. The reason why I wasn't fully alright though, was because I'm also half pony. I'm the son of my pegasus father, Silver Wing, and my changeling mother, Roseta. My father is an average pegasus with a coffee brown coat, dark brown and mane and tail coloring that had a little silver highlights in his mane, with crimson green eyes. The reason he was named Silver Wing, was because of the oddity of his wings being, instead of a brown, were a silver color. My mother was the everyday changeling, having a slimmer figure being female. She had a lighter shade of black for her coloring and her eyes were a light rosy red.
"YOU'D BETTER LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER DAWN! YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THE EVERFREE FOREST CAN BE WHEN NIGHT FALLS!" called my father.
"I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!" I called back to them to them. I soon got up after, dusted my self off, tried to unbend my wing to no avail, and made my way home. When I got there I opened the door and went inside of the warm, fire lit house and made my way to the kitchen here my mother was at.
"Dawn, could you get your father out of his garden, he's been working on it all day lon- Oh my, honey are you alright!? What happens? Did something attack you in the forest!" my mother said panicked over my half bent wing. She started to pace rapidly in place thinking that something bad had really happened to me in the forest.
"No mother," I replied, "I only lost my balance when I was jumping from tree to tree."
"And why in the world would you be jumping from tree to tree?" She questioned.
"I was only trying to test my athleticism and maneuverability around small spaces." I tell her with a small blush creeping on to my cheeks.
"And what for would you need to do that for? You aren't dreaming still about becoming a royal guard are you?"
"It's not a dream, it's what I am going to do when I grow up!" I yelled back.
"What's all the commotion about?" asks my father who happened to walk in.
"Nothing just talking to mother is all." I tell him.
"Nothing? You bent your wing for bucks sake!" She yelled back at me. "He has been outside trying to become more like a ninja like always dear." "Why would he do that?" my father asks me.
"Because I'm going to be a royal guard when I grow up!"
"But they won't accept changeling, or halfers for that matter, and you know that Dawn."
"Your father is right, now let me see about that wing." she says as she leads me to the waiting room in our house to fix my wing. I look at my self in the mirror in the room to see if there was any more serios injuries that I might have missed. Fortunately enough there weren't any. I looked back at the reflection of my changeling self. I had cyan blue eyes with a smooth black changeling body with no holes in of my hooves, tail, wings, or mane. I then let out a small yelp of surprise when my mother suddenly unbend my wing with a bit of force.
"Dawn you really should be more careful. We don't want your wings to get permanently bent now do we?" she asked with a little laugh.
"Oh come now, don't be so sensitive Dawn." responded my father after hearing my yelp.
"It didn't hurt, I was only caught off guard when she unbent my wing." I said with a huff. "Now, hold still Dawn, we don't want you to hurt your self further now do we? Asked my mother as she checked for any other bruises on my wing.
"Mother, I'll be fine as long as I don't fall out of any more trees." I said with a small chuckle.
"Now, don't be going all dare devil and start doing stunts that'll just end up with you in the hospital you hear?" my father said. "Hay, I'm just training to become part of the royal guard, not some sort of crazy assassin!" (Unknown to me though how wrong I was...)
"Oh, come now Dawn we may not be at complete peace in Equestria, but we both know that we do not have any need for those kind of things in the battles that the Princess' go into with the neighboring lands."
"Yes, I know mother, I know." I look outside the window an I notice that the moon has already risen. I always had a thing for the night, it's almost like it was calling out to me.
"Well it's getting pretty late, come on son,Roseta, let's go eat." my father said to my mother and me, breaking my thought of the night as we walk to the dinning room. After eating a delicious soup (mother always was a good cook) I went to bed to rest up for the night. As I lay my tired body on my bed I can only think of how beautiful the night is. I think about the one who controls the night, Princess Luna, and how majestic she must be when she rises the moon.
"I wish the night would last longer, then maybe I would meet her. I would thank her for her for bringing the beauty that is the night." I say as my mind finally go to sleep, preparing for the next day. Unknown to me I would meet her soon, and not in the way I expected...

Chapter 2

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It was yet another normal, peaceful day where I lived. I woke up and got out of my bed and walked to the bathroom, hooves hitting the wooden floor making audible creeks, as I went to wash away my morning drowsiness.
"I wonder what we will be having for breakfast today?" I asked my self in my head.

The thought of blueberry pancakes suddenly filled my mind, as my mouth started to water at the thought. "I sure hope we are having blueberry pancakes today, mother hasn't made those in a long while," I said again in thought. I then made my way to the kitchen where, not so surprisingly, I saw my father eating pancakes, and my mother cooking some for her self and me for breakfast. I take a seat at the table and ask mother, "Are those blueberry pancakes your making mother?"
"Yes, they are. I know how much you like them," she answers. As she says this she stakes three freshly made blueberry pancakes and stakes them onto a plate. She then sets the plait in front of me and goes back into the kitchen to continue cooking pancakes for herself.
"Enjoy, but please don't make too much of a mess this time."
"Mother, I'm not a filly any more, and you know that!" I whined to my mother. She still likes to think of me as being a filly. After that I grabbed some blueberry jam for my pancakes (I really like blueberries) and added some to my stack of pancakes, then I grabbed a fork and started to happily wolf down them.

After I had finished eating my breakfast, I walked back back to the bathroom to clean my self up. After a few minutes of cleaning blueberry jam off my face and picking a small piece of breakfast out of my fangs. I then look at the mirror to see how I looked.
"Now aren't you a handsome changeling?" I compliment my mirror image. I then go back to the kitchen, where I see my mother eating some pancakes, and my father cleaning the dishes.
"Mother, father, is it alright if I go outside and have fun?" I ask them.
"Not right now Dawn, I need you to go and buy some groceries with your father," she replied a small frown appearing on my face.
"Can I at least go in my normal form?" I asked.
"Now, now Dawn. You know that we can't let anyone see you as a changeling, if not they will-" starts my father.
"They will panic and I could get into serious trouble, I know. But we have been in hiding from everypony else! Why can't they see me or mother in our normal forms?" I question a bit annoyed about not being able to show the ponies in Ponyville that I am part changeling.
"You just can't, alright? You must never show any other pony your true form, do you understand?" my father replies back. I shuffle my left hoof on the wooden floor and grumble under my breath.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you, speak up Dawn."
"I said fine, now let's go then to the store. I don't want to be standing here all day." I respond back, with a hint of annoyance in my voice.
"Alright then, go get your back pack your going to need it with the supplies," said my father as he went to his closet to get his saddle bag carrying his bits.

After spending about ten minutes to find my back pack, I finally found it and went back down stairs from my room to the front door, where an inpatient pegasus was waiting at the door, tapping his hoof on the floor.
"Don't want to waste your time do we? Well it sure doesn't look like it to me Dawn, now does it?" asked my father.
"Sorry father, it's just that I couldn't find where my back pack was," I apologized, "But hay, I'm here now so let's go."
We then flew off, away from the comforts of my house, and into the small town of Ponyville.

It took a couple of minutes, but we finally made it to the town. Knowing the drill, I changed into my discus, which was a lighter brown pegsus with a ruffled mane and tail that had a darker shade of silver highlights compared to my father, with cyan blue eyes, and a silver feather under a dawning sun set as my cutiemark. The resident ponies that lived in Ponyville knew me as Dawn Wing, though I preferred them to simply call me Dawn. I hadn't made allot of friends, though most ponies had already recognized me as being the son of Silver Wing. No pony would usually talk to us or ask us questions which is how we liked it. Or at least that's how they liked it. I actually wanted to show everypony who I really was, but even I knew that that would only cause problems. My mother told me that most ponies didn't like changelings like her self, and being a halfer could make things worse if I were ever to be discovered. Which is why I trained being so agile and sneaky to avoid being caught if was ever to be seen in my true form. I'm pretty good at it, I've only had on occasion when I was still very young when I wandered into a school for fillys. I played with the other students, but accidentally let my disguise fall. They didn't panic or even scream, all they did was stared and then asked me what I did, what I really was, and how i did what I did. I explained to them that I was half pony and half changeling. Even after what I told them about what changelings did, they still wanted to be friends with me. So we played some more until it was time for them to head back to class. I told my mother about the ordeal after I returned home. She only told me that I was lucky, that fillys were naturally curious, that I should be more careful about what I do. I listened to my mother and was more careful from then on, though I still kept in touch with those ponies I played with on that day. Every other fifth night we would secretly go into the field near the out skirts of the Everfree Forest and play, laugh, and talk with each other. After having our fun we would say our goodbyes and head on to our homes. "Those were the good old days," I thought to my self, " I wonder what they are all doing now that we are all older?"

"Dawn, are you coming with me then or not?" asks my father, breaking my train of thought.
"Yeah, I'm coming," I answer back as we walk into a grocery store. There we buy all that we will need for the house, which should last us about a week or so. My parent's like to go into town as little as possible, fearing what would happen if we were to be caught. After we got our groceries together we went to the counter to pay for the the products. We were greeted by friendly earth pony by the name of Mark Iplier (We asked him once of why he had such a strange last name. He had told us that it was a family name) that had on a a pair of glasses and a light sandy brown coat with a short black mane and tail, brown eyes, a cutiemark with a big red and black out-lined letter M, and a curly pink mustache.
"How may I help you today, Mr. Wing?" he asked.
"Oh me and my son are just here buying groceries just like every other week," my father said, "So, how has your day been, Mark?"
"Oh like every other day, except I got pranked by some fillys that thought it would be funny to drop some water balloons on me today. But I got over it and now I'm just here, doing my job."
"Well we would like to buy these please," said my father as he gave Mark the the products. Mark then counted all of the things that we had and added up the total prices in his head. He was quick to give us the amount due (He was always really good at math. I always thought that he could be a rocket scientist if he wanted to, but he told me that he had tried that and all that ended up with was a smoking creator where a prototype rocket had crashed landed. No one was hurt though but because of this he had lost his job in the rocket department).

"That should be about, thirty seven bits," he said.
"Alright here you go," replied my father after getting the amont of bits needed to buy the products out of his saddle bag. After passing the money due, we packed the groceries in my backpack and my father's saddle bag, we started to make our way out of the store.
"Tell Roseta I said hi, will you Dawn?" he called out to me.
"Sure thing Mark, see you next week!" I called back. We then started to make our way through the middle of town to get to our home when we suddenly see a crowed were the podium stand is at. Me and my father go to investigate and what we find shocks us both, and mentally scars me for life.

On the stand I see a changeling, in cuffs with a loose rope around it's neck which is tied to a wooden frame around the changeling. Next to the changeling is a colt wearing a top hat and a monocle over his left eye. He is an older pony then my father, around his mid 50's maybe. As he lifts his right hoof up in the air all the commotion coming from the crowd ceases and then he speaks with a gruff voice.
"Citizens of Ponyville, I, Mayor Stone Heart have come here today to show that we do not accept creatures such as this one you see before you! This creature here is known as a changeling! Creature that has the ability to shape shift into any mare or colt as it pleases in order to feed of other ponies love! They are a vermin to us and should not be allowed to live in our peaceful town! They are nasty animals, with nothing but selfish, troublesome, and evil intentions! That is why I am here to show you that there will be no more need to fear of this changeling in our town!" As he says this, he lays his left hoof on a lever on the side of the wooden frame. He then says to the changeling, "Any last word before you are sent to death?"
The changeling then opens his eyes, revealing white spheres with black rings for irises, but has no pupils. He then looks at the mayor and swears in a changeling language. He then looks around the crowd and states, "I'm the monster? I have not even done a crime and you all just go and kill me for being a changeling? Forget about me, you are all the real monsters here!" he then sets his gaze on me, staring at me with those cold white and black ringed eyes staring right at me. For a moment I though he was just trying to induce fear into me, but then he smirked and whispered some words that only I could some how hear. He whispered, "It's up to you."

I don't know what he meant by that but I knew I had to do something. I couldn't just stand here and watch him die just because he was different. I then made the decisions that would change my life for ever. I dashed toward him and shouted at the mayor, "DON'T DO THIS! DON'T KILL HIM!"

The crowed then turned to me in utter shock. They could not believe that a pony would stand up to protect a changeling.
"What is the meaning of this!?" the mayor roared.
"My name is Dawn Wing, and I am here to stop you from killing an innocent pony!" I yelled back.
"What are talking about? He is a changeling, not a pony! Why in the name of Celestia would you protect an animal such as this!?"
"He hasn't done any thing wrong! He is just a changeling, and for that you are going to kill him?!" I stated back.
"If you think that I will let you kill him," I tell the mayor with pure anger in my voice, not noticing my disguise falling, "Then you have another thing coming!"

(To be continued...)

Chapter 3

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"If you think I will just stand here and watch you kill this innocent changeling," I state as my disguise fails,"You have another thing coming!" I then rush toward the mayor and tackle him to the ground to stop him from pulling down the lever that will send the changeling to his chocking death. As we continue to struggle against each other, I give the mayor a well placed hoof to the head, knocking him out. I then proceeded to hastily remove the cuffs from the changeling and the rope around his neck.

"Are you alright?" I ask him.
"You made a brave move their," he said, "There aren't many changelings out there in the world that helps another in need. And for that I thank you." He then throws down a smoke bomb (that he got out of nowhere) and the whole crowd as well as our selves get covered by the thick cloud of black smoke.
"You'd better leave kid, they'll be sending out the Royal Guard after us soon." His outline then disappears from my field of view into the smoke.
"Who knows, maybe we will see each other again some day." he says as he makes his escape from the crowd. I then realized that I'd better get going my self. I made my way through the smoke and found my father standing where he had been when I had caused the commotion. He looked shocked(big surprise there), and all he could say was one thing.
"We'd better go."

After the whole ordeal we finally made it back home. I knew that I would have one heck of a long talk with my parents once we got there.

-30 Minutes Later-
"Look father, I am very sorry for what I did. But I just couldn't let him die for being different!?" I told him in defense for my actions.
"That's not the point Dawn! You've revealed your self to everypony in Ponyville!" my father yelled back at me, "Do you know what you have done?! Because of you they will come after us and kill us!"
"I.... I didn't know, I'm sorry...."
"What's all the arguing about? Did Dawn get into trouble again?" interrupted my mother.
"Oh, he did more than that Roseta. He revealed him self in Ponyville. And to a crowd no less! Come on, we gotta pack what we can and leave right now before they-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence as he was interrupted by a Royal Guard already being at our front door.
"This is the Royal Guard! Open up now or we will be forced to come in there and arrest you!" called one guard.

Shocked I came to the nearest window to see just how bad this was. To my horror there were at least fifty Royal Guards waiting out side of my house to arrest us. I then heard the door finally break down due to the brutal force applied to it by the guards. As I ran back to see what was going on I saw my father taking down some of the guards with his bare hooves while my mother defended her self by turning into a royal guard to confuse the others. When the guards started to over power them and come after me, they both could only said only one word to me.
"DAWN, RUN! GET THE HAY OUT OF HERE AND DON'T TURN BACK!"

Doing what they had told me to do, I ran (as much as it pained me to do) into the deep darkness of the Everfree forest. I kept running, running, running like there was no tomorrow. I kept running until I ran out of energy and finally collapsed under a tree that was located in a grassy clearing in the forest. There was a full moon in the sky tonight, but I couldn't stop to admire Princess Luna's work. I had to keep going I had to escape I had to.....
"Leave my parent's behind," I mumbled out loud, " Am- Am I really that kind of pony? Running from danger when I could help fight back?"
"Why... Why did I listen to them!?" I ask my self, tears starting to form in my cyan eyes," How could I leave them behind!"
"You were too weak to help them," said a voice in the back of my head,"You couldn't help any one because you are too weak, you couldn't help them even if you tried. You'd probably only end up getting your self killed, if not worse..."
"Shut up!" I screamed at my self trying to silence the voice in my head "You don't know any thing! I had to leave them! There was nothing I could do to help them! I had to leave them!"
"Excuses,excuses,excuses. That's all you've ever been, and that's what you'll ever be."
That's when I noticed that the voice was coming, not from my mind, but from somewhere around me.

"Who's there?!" I demand as I look around frantically, trying to see or at least hear from where the voice was coming from.
"Hmph, and your supposed to be the one that is to lead the future rebellion against the Solar Empire?"
I turn to the left to see that the voice was coming from the atop of a hill where a lone tree moved blissfully against the wind as it's leaves shivered in the cold air. I then walked cautiously up the hill and looked around it. To my confusion, I found no pony there.
"I could have sworn that I had heard the voice coming from up hear?"

"Maybe you should look above you," said the voice. As I looked up I saw the changeling from earlier sitting on a high branch just above my head.
"Gaahh!" I exclaim in surprise as the changeling jumps down from the tree. When I look back at him I notice that he was wearing a hooded cloak with two things on the side of each of his front hooves, and a black mask that covered his mouth.
"Wha- Why are you here? And why are you wearing that?" I ask him.
"That doesn't concern you, what you should be concerned about is what will happen if you get caught." he states back.
"What are you-,"
"I heard heard the yell come from over this way!" called a voice from inside the forest.
That's when I heard a bunch of hoof steps coming from were the call had come from. No doubt it was the guards that were after me from before. To my surprise the changeling grabbed me by my mouth hauled me away from the light emitting from the moon. I tried to scream out for him to let me go but all that came out of my mouth were muffled sounds. As I look down to see if there was away for me to escape from the changeling's grasp, to my astonishment, I find to see that I can't see his hand. Or amy of his body, or mine, for that matter.

"What kind of trick is this?" I asked my self in my thoughts.
"Just keep calm and they will pass us by. Make any sudden movements and they will find were we are hiding." said the now invisible changeling. I couldn't tell if he had some how read my mind, or if he just could sense my anxiety. As the lights from the guards finaly pass the forest edge, they began to search for us all over the clearing.

"Are you sure you heard it come from this way?" asked on of the guards.
"I swear to Celestia that I did! The noise came from this location!" stated back the other guard.
"Would you mares stop arguing and get back to work looking for the fugitive changeling!" barked another guard, most likely being the leader of the group. As I start to fidget, the changeling restraining me starts to whisper something in my ear. He whispers, "If you give of our position, you will have sealed your fate, as well as ours. We can't lose you, your to damn important for us to lose now."
"What is this colt talking about? I ask my self as the guards start to pass right in front of us. They at some point passed us and continue their way across to the other side of the clearing and eventually into the Everfree Forest. The changeling finally released me and returned to being visible again.
"What the buck was that! I've never heard of a changeling being able to become invisible!" I state just low enough both of us to hear.
"Again, that does not matter as of right now. What does matter is that I get you to safety. You'd most likely die out here if you were on your own. It's my job to protect you until you cross paths with our princess."
"What are you talking about? Why would I meet Princess Celestia, especially in a time like this?"
"Not that tyrant, I meant the Princess of the Night!"
"You mean Princess Luna? Why would I meet her? She's probably just as bad as her sister."
"Do you really not know about the actual story about the two princess'?"
"What are you talking about? Everypony knows that the two princess have ruled over Equestria for as long as any pony can remember. Celestia controls the day time cycle and Luna controls the night time cycle."
"You actually believe that?" he questioned me, "You don't even know half the truth, do you?"
"What are you talking about! What is it that you want with me!" I demanded.
"We can't talk here, not now. Besides I think you need to rest."
"What do you mean by tha-" just as I said this I look over to see his face only to have a hoof punch me square in the face, as I slip into unconsciousness.
"Why didn't I see that coming?"

(To be continued....)

The New Lunar Republic: The Dawn

by Wilfred Warfstache

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3