Various cultures around the world of Eques mention a creature, from before any could remember. However, depictions of this creature stop suddenly and no one knows what happened to this ancient creature.
Long before many empires were even a passing thought to any, a creature was born. This creature was born long before the rise of the Three Tribes of Equestria, long before Boreas' image graced Eques and rose the griffons from squabble and squalor, and longer yet than the first native set hoof on Zebrica. It watched over the birth of the Solar and Lunar diarchs, it observed as the glorious mountain empire of the Diamond Dogs crumbled and vanished in the winds of history. It lead the enslaved zebras from Griffonia to Zebrica and helped them settle the untamed wilds of the new continent. In many countries, the world over, the first recorded pieces from many empires were of this creature, some depicting it as a god, others as a mortal with a curse laid upon it for some unknown deeds, and others claim it to be no more than an icon of goodwill and that the creature never truly existed. After all, once empires were established and understanding of the world grew, fewer and fewer sightings of this creature occurred before it eventually vanished from the world altogether, soon becoming nothing more than a myth and legend told to the young at bedtime.
Twilight groaned as she pulled herself up from the cavern floor, her body sapped of energy from blasting random shot after random shot of the smiling image of her foalsitter overlaid on the various crystals in the room. Her mind was a storm of emotion, hatred, betrayal, pain, remorse, and exhaustion. Just an hour previous, she had confronted her foalsitter from her foalhood, demanding an answer for her behavior, only to find out that she wasn't her foalsitter. Her friends had abandoned her, her mentor was mad at her, and she was trapped in an unknown location, while her brother was soon to be married off to a pretender.
She looked around the cavern walls, looking for any way to leave. As she tried to light her horn to cast a simple light spell, her horn sent a sharp pulse into her head and caused her to cry out in pain as a spike of pain flowered through her head. She shakily stumbled over to one of the crystalline walls, one not pock-marked in burn spots from her horn, looking for some semblance of balance as her world spun. However, as soon as she went to lean against the crystalline wall, she fell through the wall, and immediately had a sense of weightlessness, before abruptly slamming into the hard floor and blacking out.
I sat silently, unmoving, unbreathing, unalive. As close to death as I could get, as death had always refused to take me. Things that would kill a normal creature, or even some of the stronger ones, like Breg-Dar the Dragon Father or even the near godlike princesses of the pony tribes, barely made me feel a thing. When I learned of my immortal and undying state, I spent millennia traveling around the world, called many things by the various races around the world. The Zebra called the planet "Soltera" or 'Plane under the Sun', the various pony tribes called it Eques, and the dragons called it 'Prlathiara', named after their goddess of Creation.
However, for the first time in nearly 1,750 years, a presence entered my prison, bringing me from a state of eternal hibernation to surprised consciousness. The last creature to enter my prison was the Solar Diarch, Princess Celestia, merely asking why I was putting myself into a self-imprisoned stasis. I never answered her, as I know she wouldn't like the answer. Opening my eyes for the first time in nearly a millennia, the pitch-black darkness of the spacial pocket seemed to glow before my eyes. The thud of a body hitting the floor of the small black room drew my attention as I looked over at the unmoving body of a small lavender unicorn, her chest rising slowly the only indication she was alive.
I moved closer to the unicorn, looking down at her, the star marking on her flank indicating a sense of importance, something the Tree always enjoyed doing when it interacted with the mortals it so dearly loved. With a single movement, the black, lifeless room vanished, replaced instead with a simple bedroom, although probably woefully outdated to what this mare is used to. As light and color fed into the room, my shape slowly reformed, until I looked like a shadow cast by a stallion given life, before condensing into a solid shape of an Earth pony stallion with a black coat. Frowning slightly, the coat color changes to light orange, and my mane slowly grows from the leftover wisps of my formation, taking on a light green tone, before shifting to a sky blue color palette, much like the mints used in the griffon kingdoms.
Refocusing on the mare, I carefully lift her up with the ambient mana of the spacial pocket and lay her on the sole bed, before forcing the mana through her body, acting very similar to the healing spells unicorn medics would cast in the various battles between the pony tribes, though with less of a glow, as I don't use my own mana, but the ambient mana of the room. I remove the ambient mana that didn't join with the mare from her body, and step back. Almost immediately after the ambient mana has left her, she gasps and bolts upright in the bed.
"What are thee doing here, child," I ask the mare, my tone low and calming, much like that of a father talking to his child. As soon as I speak, the mare looks over at me, then quickly lights her horn in an attempt to defend herself from me. "Calm thyself, I'm not your enemy, if thy wish to leave, the door is behind thee."
"Who are you, and why are you talking in an older Equestrian dialect?" The mare asked glancing at the door on the wall, warily.
"I have many names, many lost to time, however, thy may refer to me by the name given to me by Celestia, Infinitum," I answer the mare, as I sit in an old armchair from my childhood home. "Our dialects are different as I haven't spoken to another living soul in almost 2000 years".
"2-2000 years," the mare whispers softly to herself, the spark of curiosity flaring in her eyes before quickly vanishing and giving way to worry and anger plastered over her face.
"Tell me, child, what has thou so perturbed," I ask, my face blank as I watch the filly look up at me.
"Twilight, my name's Twilight," Twilight speaks, before sighing and sitting on the floor. "There is currently a wedding going on between my brother and my foalsitter from when I was young, however, she seems different, evil, and when I tried to point this out to my friends, they didn't believe me and just said that I was jealous of her for stealing my brother away."
"Were you jealous?" I ask, my dialect quickly becoming more complacent with the more modern Equestrian dialect. She looks at me with a frown as I chuckle. "I'm merely curious, Twilight, but jealousy doesn't cause another pony to become, as you say, evil."
"I think when I first heard about my brother's wedding, I was jealous, but when I found out it was my old foalsitter, I was so happy, as me and her used to be such great friends," Twilight smiles at the fondness of the memories before it vanishes being replaced by a frown once more. "However, today, she seems like an entirely different pony, she's mean, standoffish, and has this air of superiority, but no one believes me when I tell them that something is wrong."
"Hmm, and how did you end up down in the caverns far beneath Canterlot," I ask the unicorn.
"Well, I was getting really upset at all of my friends and mentor not believing me about her, so I approached her myself, however, she cast this weird-looking green fire that sunk me through the floor of the castle, and I found myself in this crystal cavern with her laughing at me from the crystals, and I got so angry that I used all my magic reserves trying to destroy the laughing illusions," she sighs and shakes her head, cheeks slightly red from embarrassment.
"Green fire, huh?" I tap a hoof to my chin. "May I ask who the bride is, Twilight?"
"O-Oh, um, it's Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," Twilight spoke, before quickly adding. "Or Cadence, as she prefers to be called."
After a short moment of silence, I let out a soft laugh. Twilight seemed a bit nervous at the random laugh and slowly stood up and began inching closer to the door.
"Sorry, please forgive me, I'm just surprised that she finally found a special somepony as you ponies say, I suppose that means I lost a bet however," I sigh and scratch the back of my head, before glancing back at Twilight who looked even more confused than before. "Princess Cadence is very likely also being held down in the crystal cavern, as changeling teleport magic can only link one location, and I highly doubt they would have enough time to change the teleport location after body-swapping Celestia's favorite niece, so please, when you find Cadence in the cavern, make sure she stays safe and that she gets to be the one to say 'I do' instead of that horrid bug queen. Oh, and Twilight, thank you for talking with me, however brief, it has been so long since I have had company."
With a quiet squeak, the ambient mana of the room picked up the startled unicorn and forced out of the spacial prison, and carefully placed her on the ground, before releasing her and dissipating. I sigh as watch the confused unicorn look back at the crystal wall, before quickly looking off to her left and running off, leaving me alone again. However, for the first time in nearly three millennia, I am sad at the leaving of another.
Twilight stared at the chitinous pony before her, blood dripping from her muzzle onto the cold stone below. She breathed heavily, her ribs likely broken in a few spots. Chrysalis laughed, her voice echoing through the wedding hall, with Twilight's brother behind her, locked in a hypnotic trance.
"You lost, Twilight, however, you put up more of a fight than I'd expect from a soft, untrained pony," Chrysalis gloated, staring down at Twilight, then the unconscious forms of Celestia and Cadence, and frowning. This should have been harder, far more difficult to infiltrate the capital city of Equestria, replace an alicorn, and fully achieve her goals.
"You haven't won, once my friends get back with the elements of harmony, you will lose," Twilight grunted out, barely standing. Chrysalis shook her head, before glancing out of the many windows in the wedding hall.
"Your friends have been captured already, Twilight Sparkle," Chrysalis spoke, observing her changelings flying about Canterlot. "Please, surrender."
"Never," Twilight spoke, her vision wobbling slightly as she looked at the changeling queen. She was losing energy, but she had to remain standing.
"Shame," Chrysalis spoke, before turning back to face Twilight, her horn glowing sickly green as she charged a simple incapacitate spell. As the spell launched, Twilight tried to form a shield in front of her, however, as her horn sparked and sent a ripple of pain through her, she closed her eyes, waiting for the bolt to impact her. When the bolt never hit, she slowly opened her eyes, before gasping and taking a shaky step back. In front of her, the bolt hung frozen in the air, a black mist covering the bolt and holding it still, before crushing the bolt in a shower of green sparks.
"You've gotten weaker in the past 1700 years, Chrysalis," I spoke as I slowly walked into the wedding hall, stepping past the occasional chunk of rubble, or unconscious changeling or Royal Guard. Twilight and Chrysalis looked at me, both having vastly different emotions visible on their faces. Chrysalis out of shock, fear, and anger at seeing the last creature she ever wanted to see again. Twilight stared at me out of curiosity, confusion, and relief. "What are you doing, Chrysalis?"
"Infinitum, is that you?" Twilight finally managed to ask me, her voice soaked in exhaustion. I smiled at the mare, my wings ruffling at my side. "I-I thought you were an Earth pony, why do you have wings?"
"Another time, Twilight, just sit down and check over Celestia and Cadence for me, will you?" I asked the mare, before glancing back at Chrysalis. "Again, why are you doing this, Chrysalis?"
"Damn you, Shifter, why did you have to show up now of all times!" Chrysalis spat, fury hidden behind her eyes. She took a deep breath. "I can't go back now, I either win or I die, can you live with killing me just like you killed my mother?"
"Chrysalis, stop, I don't wish for anyone to get hurt," I spoke calmly, remaining in a neutral position as I spoke with her. "Explain to me why you are invading, and maybe I can help you leave her alive."
"Why in the Weaver's name would I trust you," Chrysalis spat, her wings unfurling ready for a fight. "You never liked the changelings, so why would you want to help us now! It's your fault I even had to invade Canterlot!"
I stared at her silently before running through my head what I had last done to or for the changelings, before mentally cursing at myself and frowning.
Long ago, far before the reign of Queen Chrysalis, the changeling lands were divided into various hives, all led by the mothers of the hives. Chrysalis stood next to her mother, staring out at the various spires that made up their hive city. Mother Philia, mother of the Philia hive and closest of all changeling hives to the various pony tribes, was an oddity among changeling mothers. Unlike her sisters, she had a very good opinion of the various pony tribes and wished on several occasions to increase relations with the neighboring pony tribes. Something that had worked very well so far, however, something had changed. The last time a changeling envoy traveled to the pony tribes, it barely made it back to the hive, before succumbing to its wounds. It had said that the ponies that were normally happy to see the changeling envoys had attacked the small group of changelings, killing all but one, who had escaped barely.
Mother Philia was confused, she had made certain that relations between the nearby pony tribes were above randomly attacking her changelings, however now, none of her changelings trusted the ponies, and even worse, they didn't trust her anymore.
"It doesn't make sense," Philia spoke softly, watching the sun dip under the horizon to be replaced by the moon. She very much wished to meet the supposed alicorns of the pony tribes, if only to tell them how beautiful they made the sky. Philia sighed, before walking away from the window. "Chrysalis, go find Shifter, tell him to meet me in my private chambers."
"At once, mother," Chrysalis bowed, before rushing off in search of Shifter. Philia smiled softly as she watched her daughter run off, before looking away and letting a few tears run down her cheeks, before making her way to her private chambers. She should have told Chrysalis, but she couldn't bring herself to tell her only daughter. She entered her private chambers and sat on the small wool bed, running through the problem of the suddenly hostile ponies and what she could do to ease tensions once more.
"Hello, Philia," Shifter spoke softly, smiling as he walked over to Philia's bed. Philia smiled back, before patting next to her on the bed. Shifter took a deep breath before sighing, knowing what was coming next. "Are you sure you want to do this, without telling Chrysalis?"
"Yes, she would be adamant about not doing it, but it is something that must happen," she spoke softly, her voice wavering as she held back tears. "You promise to make it painless, correct?"
"Yes, I will make it as painless as I possibly can," Shifter nuzzled up to Philia, who nuzzled back. Shifter felt a tear trail down his cheek, before turning his head and planting a soft kiss on Philia's lips. "I'm sorry that I can't help you with this, but I hope the Weaver will smile upon you for all the good you have done, Philia."
"Thank you, Shifter, and I'm sorry for making you do this," Philia took a deep breath, before laying in her bed and staring at me. "I love you, Shifter."
"I love you too, Philia," Shifter's horn glowed a soft white light, which touched Philia, who closed her eyes and her breathing slowed, before coming to a stop. When the magic stopped flowing, Shifter felt tears running down his face, as he buried his face in Philia's chest and sobbed as he held the mare he loved. However, as much as he wished to stay, he pulled himself from Philia's peaceful body and moved to the balcony. As the mist that made up his real body shifted, his form turned into that of a pegasus, and he flew off the tower, tears continuing to spill from his eyes.
By the time anyone found Philia's dead body, Shifter was long gone and labeled a traitor and terrorist in all Changelings hives. Chrysalis fell into a dark spiral of hatred and rage, unifying the changeling lands into a single nation, rivaling that of the rapidly growing Equestria. However, when other hives were taken by Chrysalis' hive, those of that hive either had to swear allegiance to Chrysalis or were used as a food supply. The whole time Chrysalis searched for Shifter, wanting revenge for what he did to her mother.
I slowly came back to reality, staring at the ground, tears pouring from my eyes. I tried to bring my emotions under control, before slowly looking up at Chrysalis.
"I loved Philia, I loved her with everything in my body, Chrysalis," I spoke softly, sorrow digging at my heart and soul. I fell back onto my haunches. "Philia had thaumic cancer and had only confided in me. She had at first believed I'd be able to cure it, but I had told her I was unable to cure anything with a creature's thaumic pathways. I explained to her that she would die a very painful death, so she finally asked me to kill her, to end her suffering before she started to hurt and show how much pain she was in, to the other Changeling mothers, but most importantly, to you."
"Y-You lie, if my mother had thaumic cancer, she would have told me, you would have told me!" Chrysalis accused, pointing a black chitin hoof at me. "A-And if what you say is true, why wouldn't you stay and explain your actions to me or any other changelings!"
"Because I hated myself, long before I met your mother, I made a promise to myself to never let another creature I loved suffer or die before they were due, and I failed your mother," I sniffled as I took a breath to calm my emotions once more. "I believed you should hate me for what I did to your mother, for not being able to save her. That is why I left that day."
Chrysalis had tears running down her cheeks as she stared at me, trying to find the hatred in her heart to launch a spell at me, to kill me where I stood and enact revenge for her mother, but she couldn't. Instead, she collapsed and sobbed into her legs, several centuries of pent-up anger coming out in tears. I remained still, waiting for her to stop crying. She cried for nearly 15 minutes, her face slick with tears and her eyes red.
"I know you probably hate me more than anything in the world, Chrysalis, but please, tell me why you are invading Canterlot, and maybe I can help you," I finally spoke when Chrysalis had stopped crying.
"We're starving, we have been for nearly a century, however with incursions into Equestria, we have been able to survive on a strict rationing system," Chrysalis spoke softly, staring at the floor. "I-I was so blinded by hatred that negotiating with the ponies was impossible, so I took the most drastic action, now my changelings and I will be tried and executed for attacking another nation. I failed my mother, and I failed the changelings."
"If your populace was starving, we would have helped you," I glanced behind me, staring at Celestia as she slowly rose up from the floor. "We would never have refused to aid those in need."
"I know, but I fucked it up," Chrysalis stared at the floor. "Please, kill me and let my changelings live, I was the one pushing for this invasion, and my changelings will live without me, just please don't kill them, please."
Celestia stared down at the changeling queen, no emotion visible on her face.
"No one will be killed, Queen Chrysalis, your back was against the wall, so you chose a drastic action," Celestia spoke, resting a hoof on Chrysalis' shoulder. "If I were tried for every time I reacted negatively to a situation where I was in a corner, I'd have been dead long ago. Your changelings will be pardoned of any crimes committed, except for murder and rape, and will be allowed to return home, you will be pardoned of all crimes, and we will establish a trade deal between our two nations."
Chrysalis stared at the solar diarch, before launching to her hooves and hugging Celestia as tight as she could. She sobbed into the diarch's neck, as Celestia rubbed her back. I stood slowly and approached the sobbing changeling queen. When Chrysalis broke from her hug with Celestia, I immediately grabbed her and hugged her tight, letting several tears flow as I hugged Phiria's daughter. Just being close to her felt comforting. I was glad I left the spacial prison.