Darkness covered the Canterlot Gardens like a thick blanket. The moon was hanging high in the sky, while stars twinkled around it. The moon lit the garden softly; tonight everything was still. Everything except a small blue filly, who was walking by the sleeping roses. She sniffed them and sighed in pleasure. They smelled wonderful, even during the middle of the night. She looked around. Everything was so quiet at night: no guards clanking around, no busy ponies running off to the market, and no long lines of ponies in front of the castle waiting to talk to the Elders.
Her ears pricked to the sound of leaves rustling. She flared her wings and made her horn glow a bright blue towards the sound. “Who’s there?” she hissed.
The rustling stopped. A pony-shaped figure peeked out from the bush. Luna let her wings fall to the side, and lifted her horn at the sky, extinguishing the blue magic. She took a step towards the bush, while the creature took a step back, hiding itself further.
Luna lowered her voice, “It’s okay, I didn’t mean to scare you. I won’t hurt you.”
The unknown creature stood still, then slowly, it emerged from the bush, the moonlight exposing its strange features.
The blue foal gasped at the the creature in front of her. “Who are you? Why do you have holes in your legs? Where are you from? Why are you here? Where is—” The black alicorn took a step back, her green eyes staring widely at the blue filly. Oh no, she had scared the poor thing.
Princess Luna examined the creature. She had wings, but they were bug-like, her horn was crooked, her mane was a strange, tealish color, and her legs were covered in holes. Luna stood up straight and tried to remain calm, just like the Elders had taught her. She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry to have startled you, I just have not seen anything like you before. What are you?”
The young bug-pony took another step back. “I-I’m a changeling.”
Luna cocked her head to the side. “A Changeling.” She let the word roll across her tongue for a moment. “What’s your name?”
“Um, Chrysalis.” The tiny foal stood up straighter. “I am Princess Chrysalis of the changelings.”
The tiny Luna gasped, now completely disregarding formal niceties. “No way! I’m a princess too!” She stood straighter, trying to imitate Chrysalis. “I am Princess Luna of Equestria, Ruler of the night. See? That’s my special talent!” She waved her flank, showing off her splotchy moon cutie mark.
Chrysalis’ eyes widened. “Whoa that’s so pretty!” She looked at her own flank and frowned. “I wish I had one.”
Luna saw the young filly’s frown, thought for a moment, and then smiled. “Well, we have a wizard at the castle, and he says tons of other creatures don’t have cutie marks, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have talent! It just means that their talents are hidden inside of them! I bet you have one that’s super awesome that you don’t even know about yet!”
Chrysalis looked up and smiled. “You think so?”
Luna nodded really fast. “Yeah, definitely! Everypony has a special talent.” She looked at the tiny changeling. “So, why don’t I see changelings around Canterlot?”
Chrysalis sat on the soft grass. “Well, Mama says ponies don’t like things to change, so she says it’s better to live in the forest or go out in disguise, like this.” A bright green light enveloped the young Changeling as her hard, black chitin changed to soft, blue fur, and her small blue crown was replaced with a navy colored tiara.
Luna’s eyes widened, and she poked the copy of herself, the fur dancing on her hoof. “That’s me! You can make yourself look like me!”
Chrysalis blushed at the young fillies excitement. “Yeah, it took a lot of practice, but it’s what every changeling can do.” Another green light appeared, and Chrysalis returned to her true form.
Luna sat down beside the changeling. “I don’t get why you have to hide, though. You seem so nice.”
Chrysalis shrugged and shuffled her hooves. “Um, it probably has to do with our, uh... food.”
Luna cocked her head to the side. “What do you eat?” She gasped. “You’re not a car-ni-vore, are you?!”
Chrysalis shook her hooves furiously. “Oh no, no!”
Luna took a deep breath. “Well, that’s good. You scared me for a moment.” The pony looked at the wide-eyed changeling in front of her. “You know, I won’t freak out.”
“Yes you will.”
Luna folded her forelegs together. “Na-uh.”
Chrysalis sighed. “Okay then. I eat love. Okay?”
“Huh?”
Chrysalis shuffled her hooves. “Mama says ponies aren’t suppose to know, so I guess you don’t even know how it works, do you?
Luna shook her head. “No, could you tell me? I love learning, ‘Tia says I’m going to be the smartest princess ever when I grow up!”
Chrysalis tapped her hoof to her chin and thought about the question. “Well, it’s kind of like when a pony is in love or loves something; we Changelings take a little bit of that love—not enough to where the pony notices and absorb it.”
Luna sat there dumbfounded.
Chrysalis thought for another moment. “Well, it’s kind of like when a towel absorbs water. That’s kind of how a changeling absorbs love.”
Luna nodded. “I think I get it now.”
Chrysalis chuckled at the look on the confused fillies face. “I’m sorry, I wish Mama was here. She is a really good explainer about these things.”
The little blue alicorn nodded and yawned, then she looked up. The moon would have to be lowered soon. “Hey, Chrysalis?”
“Hm?”
“How about we meet again tomorrow? Right here and everything! I’ll bring my sketchbook, and maybe, if we build a big book of changeling info-stuff, we can show it to my sister and then she’d let you and your family come visit in Canterlot!”
Chrysalis beamed and stood up. “You really think so? We could come to Canterlot without hiding?”
Luna stood up and looked towards the darkened castle. “Of course! ‘Tia is my big sister and she’ll listen to me. She always does.”
Chrysalis looked at the blue pony. “Who’s ‘Tia?”
Luna gasped. “You’ve never heard of her?” The tiny changeling shook her head. “Well, she’s my older sister. She lifts the sun in the sky and brings it down. I raise and lower the moon and keep the stars sparkly.”
Chrysalis’ eyes grew wide. “Wow, that’s so cool! So, you two are like the most powerful ponies ever!”
Luna laughed. “Not really. Star Swirl could shoot me to the moon if he wanted!”
Chrysalis hugged the tiny princess. “Well, I hope he’s not that big of a meanie to do that!”
Luna hugged her back. “Oh no. He’s super nice. Maybe you could meet him sometime. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He’s not as busy as he says, he just says that because the Elders grow impatient with him sometimes—”
A deep voice rang out through the garden, loud enough to startle both ponies. “Princess Luna? Where are you? Princess Luna?”
The tiny princess began shoving her friend towards a bush, as she hissed under her breath, “Quick, hide! It’s Star Swirl.”
She had completely concealed Chrysalis behind the bush. Chrysalis whispered, “What about you?”
Luna looked out from behind the bush. He was close. “I’ll be fine. He’s super nice, remember?” She looked at Chrysalis and gave her a hug. “We’ll meet here again tomorrow, same time?”
Chrysalis nodded her head. Another call from Star Swirl rang out. It was closer than before.
Luna jumped out from behind the bush and trotted towards the familiar voice. “I’m here, Star Swirl.”
The bearded pony sighed in relief as he saw the young princess approaching. “You must stop wandering off for so long, you know how I worry about you at night.”
Luna began to walk beside him. “I’m sorry, Star Swirl, but I love walking through the garden at night. It is so beautiful.”
The mage chuckled. “I suppose you are right. The beauty of the night is sometimes underlooked, you must remember that, Luna.” The princess nodded, not really sure what he meant, and continued to walk towards the castle. She glanced back at the bush where she had left Chrysalis. She mumbled under her breath, “Goodnight, my friend.”
Chrysalis watched through the leaves as Luna walked away with Star Swirl, and whispered to the slowly disappearing shape of her friend, “Goodnight, Luna."
It was dusk. A small filly sat on her balcony, raising the moon slowly into the sky. Her stars began to appear one by one, piercing the darkening sky. Luna always enjoyed her duty as Keeper of the Night. No other pony, except her sister, could do what she did, and that made her feel special inside. On any other night, she would be relaxed as she guided the moon into its place, but tonight was not just another night. Tonight was the night where she would meet Chrysalis again. She hoped the filly was there. Luna had so much planned for the two of them.
The moon and stars finally reached their place, all blazing in the dark night sky. Luna trotted over to her bed, closing the balcony windows. She leaned down, dragging a navy blue saddle bag out from under the bed. The dust that had collected on the bags tickled her nose as she dragged it out of its hiding place. She had packed the bag earlier that day before dusk, so no pony would disturb her. She opened the blue bag, checking to make sure she had everything. Research Journal, check. Quills and Ink, check. Apples, check. Crayons, check.
Everything seemed to be accounted for. The little filly enveloping the slightly-heavy saddle bag onto her back, allowing just enough room for her wings to stretch open. She adjusted the straps of her saddle bag to fit around her tiny body with her magic. When she felt confident that the bag wasn’t going to fall off, she grabbed the doorknob in a bluish glow and slowly opened it. The guards would be at the bottom of the long flight of stairs, stationed there by request of the Elders. But she already knew how to get around them.
She encased her hooves in magic as she trotted down the stone stairs, silently. Spending time with Star Swirl had paid off, as she had constant access to spells in his cottage whenever she visited. She wished he would move into the castle, but he had insisted on having his own home. Luna saw silver armor illuminated in torch light, and as she rounded the bend, her steps came to a pause. Instead, she stretched her wings and flapped them softly into the air. She was soon just a few feet under the ceiling.
Princess Luna slowly flew above the guards, the darkness encasing her small body. Suddenly, she felt one of her slippers come loose on her hoof. She bit her lip as she saw it falling right over one of the guards’ head.
Abruptly, the slipper was caught in a faint yellow magic. “Guards, may I have a word with you?” Both guards now stood at attention to the gray stallion, who was clothed in a blue hat accompanied by a matching cape, in front of them. A green pegasus stepped forward. “Yes, Star Swirl. What do you need, sir?”
The old mage ran a hoof down his beard. “I’m afraid some mice may have gotten into the castle from my latest experiment, would you mind telling the Elders to send a few ponies to help me gather them up?”
Both guards saluted the stallion and chimed in unison, “Yes, sir!” before galloping down one of the halls of the castle.
Star Swirled looked up to where Luna was hiding in the darkness and chuckled. “Princess Luna, care to grace me with your presence?”
The small filly sighed and glided down to him, grabbing her slipper in her own aura of magic on the way down. “Thanks for the save, Star Swirl.”
The old mage chuckled again. “No need, Luna, just remember to tighten your slippers on your hooves before you go off flying again.”
The small princess nodded and laughed. “I will!” She turned towards the hall leading towards the door to the gardens. “And Star Swirl?”
The old stallion raised an eyebrow at the young filly. “Hm?”
She cocked her head at him. “Are you really that bad with animals that they run away from you?”
Star Swirl gave the filly a sly smile. “Whoever said they ran away?”
Princess Luna rolled her eyes and laughed as she trotted down the hall towards the entrance to the Canterlot Gardens, wondering how the Elders managed to find such a goofball to be Equestria's 'all powerful' mage.
The stars sparkled over the moonlit gardens as Chrysalis waited by the lush bush where her friend had found her the night before. She sighed and tapped her hoof in impatience. Where is Luna?
The changeling filly looked around the beautiful garden. Most flowers had their petals closed, although there were a series of white flowers which seemed to be in full bloom. She trotted over to them ,and the closer she got, the bigger the flowers seemed to get. As she reached out to touch one, she realized the flower was nearly three times bigger than her hoof. Its petals were so soft, softer than any of the other flowers she had felt.
“Those are called moon flowers.”
Chrysalis jumped at the voice emanating from behind her, turning only to see a smile spread across Luna’s face. Releasing the tension that had filled her body only moments ago, she sighed in relief. “Would you warn a filly before you go sneaking up on them?”
Luna giggled. “I can’t help that you weren’t paying attention. Besides, you seemed to be enjoying yourself.”
Chrysalis nodded once and turned again to the white blooms. “They’re so beautiful.” She turned to Luna. “You said they’re moon flowers, right?”
The blue filly nodded. “Yes, Star Swirl planted some of their seeds in the garden when he came back from one of his trips into the Everfree Forest. They’re extremely rare to be seen outside of the forest and only bloom at night. Pretty cool, huh?”
The changeling's eyes grew wide. “Wow, that’s super cool! I wish we had flowers like that at our hive. It would really liven things up.”
“Is that where you live?”
Chrysalis turned towards her friend. “Hm? Oh! Yeah, well I live in one that’s in the Everfree. Mama says there’s three hives in all and that they’re pretty far apart from each other.”
Luna jumped up. “Wait one second!” She sat her saddle bags on the ground and unbuttoned the sack. She began to lay all that she had brought on the ground. “I brought a research journal that Star Swirl gave me, so we can show Equestria that changelings are just like ponies!” She laid the journal in between them. “Oh, right!” She dug around in the bag until she produced two shiny red apples, floating one over to Chrysalis.
The black filly took it in her hooves. “Is this for me?”
Luna nodded. “Yeah! This way we won’t get hungry while we work!” She bounded her way next to Chrysalis and sat down. The research journal was placed in front of them by blue magic, followed by the quills, ink, and crayons.
Chrysalis pointed to the colorful, pointy objects. “What are those?”
Luna picked up a red crayon in her hoof and held it out for her friend to see. “What, these?”
Chrysalis nodded.
She placed the crayon into her friend’s hoof. “They’re called crayons, my sister melted down colored wax and gave them to me. You use them to color pictures. They’re kind of like portable paint, but you don’t have to wait for them to dry after coloring something.”
“Cool!” She took a bite out of her apple and pointed at the journal with a holey hoof. “What are you gonna put in there, anyway?”
Luna giggled and placed a hoof on Chrysalis’s shoulder. “Basically, it’s going to be a whole book about changelings, like you!”
Chrysalis flipped open the book to a blank page. “Okay, so I just say stuff about changelings and you write it down?”
The blue filly illuminated a quill in magic and dipped it in some ink. “Yup.” She traced the quill along the page, titling it ‘Changelings By: Princesses of the Night’
Chrysalis cocked her head at the title. “Why didn’t you put our names?”
Luna scoffed. “Pft! No great writer ever puts their real name! Besides, if people knew two fillies wrote this then they wouldn’t read it, probably.”
“Ah. You’re pretty smart, Luna.”
The blue princess smiled at her friend and put a hoof around Chrysalis' shoulders. “Thanks Chrysalis! I bet if we put our smart heads together we could rule all of Equestria!”
Their eyes met and they both burst out laughing.
Princess Luna flipped to a clean page. “Well, we better get started, huh?”
Chrysalis nodded. “Yeah! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!”
Luna tapped her chin. “Where to start... Ah ha! You said you live at someplace called a hive, right? We can start there.”
The changeling filly illuminated a quill into the air with a green glow and dipped it into some ink. “Well it kind of looks like this....” She began to draw several spiral towers on the page, adding little holes for entrances.
The blue filly gasped. “Hey! It looks like a bee hive!”
Chrysalis laughed. “That’s what I said when I saw it from the air!” She continued drawing. “We have guards up top,” She drew what looked like flying dots. “And Mama lives here.” She drew a crown on top of the biggest hive.
Luna floated some crayons over to Chrysalis. “Want to color?”
Chrysalis grabbed a green and black crayon with her magic. “Mhm, you grab a yellow one for the crown, and if you have another black or a gray one, you can color the hives with me!”
Luna grabbed a dark gray crayon, followed by a yellow, and began to color the pages with her friend.
It took some time, but soon they completed the first page of their journal, the colors popping out on the once-dull page.
The two fillies looked at their work and, in unison, they breathed one word, “Wow.”
The blue filly scribbled on the page, ‘Lives In Hives.’ Luna then flipped the page, making sure the ink on the first page had dried. “I want to draw what you look like, so can you stand up?”
Chrysalis chimed, “Sure!” Nearly bolting straight up. “How’s this?”
Luna nodded and gave a beaming smile to the filly. “That’s perfect, just hold still, okay?”
Chrysalis grew stiff with concentration, focusing a little too hard on remaining absolutely still.
“Okay!”
The tiny blue filly went to work, trying her best to draw the young changeling while munching on her apple. Chrysalis’s wings were different, along with her crooked horn, and the holes in her legs had to be drawn on, too. She saw Chrysalis begin to wiggle, and started to work faster so her friend could sit down. She sighed in relief and exhaustion as she finished drawing the last hole in the changeling’s back leg.
“Done,” she chimed.
Chrysalis unfroze and stretched. Having to remain still was hard! She trotted next to Luna and looked at her self portrait. “Wow, you’re pretty good! You should draw more.”
Princess Luna blushed at the compliment and shrugged. “I guess, I mean, I just never get the time to draw really.” She grabbed a green and blue crayon and handed Chrysalis a dark black one. “Ready to draw?”
Chrysalis flopped on the ground next to Luna, picking up her half-eaten apple and gobbling down the rest. “Yup!” She took the black crayon and began to color in the lines, just like on the page before.
The blue filly colored the sketch around the changeling’s horn in green. With a quill she drew a line and wrote, ‘Can Use Magic.’ She colored in the wings, and wrote, ‘Can Fly,’ After they were done coloring she wrote on top, ‘Filly.’
The little changeling beamed at her self portrait. “This is so awesome.”
Luna nodded in agreement. “Now,” She turned the page. “Can I see your hoof?”
Chrysalis stuck her hoof out. “Why?”
Luna dapped ink onto her friend’s hoof.
Chrysalis recoiled. “Hey! What was that for?!”
Luna giggled. “I’m going to put your hoof print in here.”
“Oh.”
Luna guided Chrysalis’ hoof over the page. Chrysalis stamped her hoof on the page, leaving it there for a few seconds before raising it. A few drops splattered on the side of the page, but a perfect hoof print was imprinted on the page. Luna produced a cloth and rubbed her friend’s hoof clean, although she couldn’t really tell if she got all the ink or not, since it blended into Chrysalis’ hard, armor-like exterior.
The blue filly once again guided a quill over the page, writing, ‘Hoof Print - Actual Size.’
They both looked up at each other and smiled. Princess Luna was about to close the book, but stopped and looked at the moon flowers blooming next to them. She gently plucked one with her magic and drifted it down to the journal. She turned to Chrysalis. “This way we can always have one.” She placed it in the back of the book and closed it.
Chrysalis gave the young filly a quizzical look.
“Oh! Well you can flatten flowers to create bookmarks!” Luna beamed at the changeling. “It makes it last a long time.”
The black filly nodded and smiled, then yawned. “I’m tired.” Another yawn. “I really wanna finish it tonight, but I have to think of more stuff to show you.”
The little blue filly produced a disappointed pout before yawning herself. “I guess you’re right, I don’t want Star Swirl to come look for me again.” She looked up. The moon will have to be lowered soon anyway, she thought, as she ate the rest of her apple. “So, see you tomorrow?”
Chrysalis bumped her hoof into Luna’s side and giggled. “You know it!”
They both giggled as they packed up the saddlebag. Luna placed it on her back and turned to Chrysalis. “Goodnight, Chrysalis.”
Chrysalis bowed and chuckled. “Goodnight, Princess of the Night.”
Luna rolled her eyes and laughed at her friend. She turned and trotted towards the castle. She heard the faint buzz of Chrysalis’ wings taking her home, growing fainter as she drew nearer to the door. She illuminated the handle in a blue glow and creeped the door open, trying to stop it from creaking. She peeked into the hallway and sighed. All clear.
She enveloped her hooves in magic, to cushion the sound of stepping on the stone floor of the hallway. She trotted inside, closing the door behind her with a flick of her horn, only to hear a thud behind her. She didn’t think she had closed the door that hard. She turned to see if she had cracked it, only to see a pink flowing mane attached to white fur, with a frown etched into the mare’s face.
“Lil’ sis’, we need to talk.”
