Chapter 1:

The royal Wedding of Princess Cadence and Sinning Amor had come to an end well into the night. The celebration was grand and the memories of what had happened with the changelings felt like a distant memory. Twilight and her friends having stayed so late into the night stayed in the castle's guest rooms upon Princess Celestia's invitation. Celestia herself had proceeded to her bed chambers for the night while Luna remained to perform her nigh time royal duties. Luna was making her rounds through the castle and surrounding gardens with the day's events replaying in her mind. It was a beautiful wedding and she loved every moment of it with the exception of course of the issues encountered with the Changelings and their queen. Luna worked to keep those thoughts aside and tried to focus on the brighter side. As she was about to exit one of the castle's larger gardens filled with bountiful flowers of all colors, expertly sculpted and cared for hedges made into the shapes of famous past and present ponies, and a large fountain with Star Swirl the Bearded standing in the middle as a monument to his contributions to Magic, she thought she heard the whimpers of a crying child. She proceeded to follow the noise emanating near the fountain.

When she came upon the source of the noise she was immobilized by shock. What she had heard was not a child. It was not even a pony. It was a single changeling. The changeling had been hiding behind and partially underneath one of the six stone benches surrounding the fountain. This changeling did not appear to have noticed Luna's arrival as it was curled up into a ball and was indeed crying.

"Have I ever seen a channeling cry before?" Luna thought to herself. In truth she never had. Of course she had seen changelings earlier, and she had encountered them before that and they never showed the kind of emotions one would link with sadness or distress.

Luna thought for a long time still immobilized by her discovery. Should she confront it? Should she summon the guards? She was not sure for some reason. Every fiber of her being was telling her to lock it up as fast as possible before it could hurt anyone, and yet she just could not do that. Why was this changeling crying? Why was it in its true form and not in a disguise? Things just were not adding up and she intended to find out why.

Luna stepped into an offensive stance, opened her wings in preparation for fast flight and had her horn glowing with its blue aura ready for anything this changeling might try. "You there! What are thou doing in the Royal Garden?" Luna asked in her loudest "Normal" speaking voice filled with strong authority, as she did not want to use too much volume incase others were to be awoken.

The Changeling did not answer, nor did it flee. Instead it did the exact thing Luna was not expecting, it curled itself into a tighter ball and began to sob louder.

"What is going on?" Luna thought to herself. "Perhaps it is injured as a result of the Magic that dispelled the Changeling army?" Luna continued in thought.

"P-p-ple-please…" was all Luna could hear in a dry tear-chocked young female voice.

This caught Luna off guard and only worked to confuse her more. A female voice? Weren't all the Changelings sex-less drones? It seemed she was out of answers as she had a limited working knowledge of changelings.

"What are thou doing in the gardens?" Luna repeated but in a softer and slightly kinder voice. She was still not sure what was happening and did not want to drop her guard.

"Ple-p-please don't hu-hurt m-me… I didn't do anything… I sw-swear. I did not want to be part of the attack, but m-mother mad-made me…"

The Changeling's voice was becoming less tear-choked and as such was becoming easier to understand however it was clearly filled with terror.

"Will thou show thy face to me?" Luna asked.

The Changeling only shivered and whimpered slightly at this.

"We will not hurt you. Please show thy face to us." Luna said in a much softer voice to better convey this fact. Her horn was no longer glowing and she tucked her wings back to her sides, but she remained in an offensive stance not wanting to let her guard drop too far.

The changeling slowly uncurled itself. Its wings separated from its body and flapped quickly a few times in what appeared to be a stretch while its head was lifting. Luna came up on the changeling from behind when she found it as the changeling was now looking away from her. It slowly turned its head with a face full of terror and anticipation for attack. When no attack came, it opened one eye slightly to look at Luna. She was looking at it with confusion, worry, and sadness, but still possessing a firm amount of anger and mistrust. Luna saw that this changeling's eyes were not like the other changelings.

All drones she had ever seen had dull full-blue eyes, while the queen had green eyes with more reptilian pupils. This changeling's eyes looked like any other pony's eyes. They were wide with fear but had the most beautiful deep full aqua blue color to their irises. The changeling looked like other changelings in all other respects with a hard shelled black body, holes in the hooves, insect like wings, and fin-like mane and tail.

"Pre-tell, what is thou? We have not seen a changeling like yourself before." Luna inquired.

"I am not like the other changelings. My mother called me an abomination. I do not act like my brethren and I did not wish to attack the castle. I asked her why we could not just live with the ponies, but she only had hate in her heart. When they were all dispelled by the shield I was left behind." The changeling said.

"Are thou injured?" Luna inquired.

The channeling nodded but Luna could not see what was wrong with her.

"Please, turn and better face me." Luna asked.

The changeling did as asked and turned its body so it faced front and center before Luna. Luna immediately saw what was wrong with this changeling. There was a large bite mark near the right bottom side of its neck. The bite mark had two prominent puncture marks from what looked like fangs.

"What bit you?" Luna inquired.

"One of my brethren attacked me when I refused to rampage around the city and attack the other ponies."

"Why did the queen… erm… your mother call thou an "abomination" and why did thou not want to attack?"

"I was supposed to be the next queen of the changelings, but it seems I did not turn out as my mother had hoped. When she saw me for the first time after I hatched I became an outcast. She knew from the beginning I was different and she was right. I never acted like my brethren; I never was filled with the hate and anger that they possessed."

"A queen!" Luna thought in amazement.

"I never fit in with the other changelings and I don't fit in with ponies as they see me and fear me. Please make my punishment quick." The changeling said.

"Punishment?" Luna though. Why would this changeling need to be punish…?" Luna's thoughts were interrupted. She knew what the changeling was referring to. How would anyone trust a changeling after everything that just happened? Already the few changelings that had not been blasted away from the castle had been captured and imprisoned.

"Come with me little one, we have much to discuss." Luna said.

Luna walked closer to the changeling, knelt down to it, rested a wing on its back and her horn began to glow. Moments later they were both gone, the garden now calm and empty.