//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Oh, my head... // Story: A Mentally Unstable and Powerful Changeling...Yeah // by Taken-By-Insanity //------------------------------// The changeling awoke with a splitting headache and a feeling of exhaustion. ”That’s weird. Naps aren’t supposed to make you tired.” They idly thought to themself as they stood from their position on the floor. They slowly looked around with a squint and a hoof on their head, rubbing their temple. They were out of the cell. “I’m not going to question it.” They whisper to themself. They took this unexplained situation in stride as they walked toward the sunlight they saw up ahead. Though, they weren't expecting to see corpses as they came to the exit. They were practically everywhere. Members of the three pony tribes were what made up most of them but there was also the occasional griffon or minotaur. Too much blood stained their colors red to tell what they would have looked like before. “What in the name of oranges and spaghetti sauce happened here?” The changeling asked themself, appalled by the corpses. The smell of blood was thick and concerning. Yet…somehow nice? Now armed with some worry as to what would happen if they stayed any longer, the changeling went from a walk to a ran out of the cave and into the forest. Unbeknownst to them, however, the corpses and blood were quickly burnt away by a small purple flame before also vanishing, leaving the cave untouched by carnage and death. “So, what you're telling me, Luna, is that there is something new and potentially dangerous in Equis?” “Indeed sister. What I sensed was something that I’ve only sensed before my banishment. When the Bloody Priest was alive.” Within Canterlot, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were speaking within the day monarch’s private study. It was a lovely room with some books on the walls and a large desk with some piles of paper on either side of it. It held one window overlooking Canterlot, which was currently covered with blinds, leaving the room to be lit by candles. “The Bloody Priest?!” Celestial incredulously asked. The princess wore her usual golden crown and necklace, an amethyst of some form taking back in the center of the jewelry. “Yes.” Luna nodded. Unlike Celestia, Luna was wearing a light blue nightgown, having just gotten out of bed to inform her sister of this. Celestia sighed. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Luna. I’ll try to look into it. It was somewhere in the Badlands, right?” A simple nod was given in reply. “You should get some rest now. You still have duties to attend to tonight.” Luna nodded before lighting her horn and disappearing in a flash of light. Celestial let out a breath that she didn’t realize she was holding and opened the blinds, letting the light of the sun flood the room once more. “I hope this turns out to be nothing.” She says to herself as she looks down toward the morning streets of Canterlot. “If this being is anything like the Priest, then I’ll need to be very careful. The Priest caused too much havoc all those years ago. I cannot let so many die again.” Celestia said, resolute. As she looked away from her ponies and streets and into the unknown sky, her mane gained flecks of flames before she took a breath. “Remember what I taught Cadence.” She raised a hoof to her chest and she breathed in and then pushed it outward and she let go of the air in her chest. “And repeat.” She said, repeating the previous sequence of actions. The changeling had made it to the edge of the forest, slowing her run back into a natural walk. “That should be…” They looked up as a shadow seemed to blot out the sun, keeping them in complete darkness. “Huh. I didn’t think Cloudsdale would be here.” They backed up into the treeline to hide themself, in case any ponies happened to be looking down there. ”Man, why couldn't I come to this world with the know-how to shapeshift?” The changeling complained. They put a hoof to their chin in thought. “Maybe I can just say what I want? That’s how I somehow ended up in the Frozen North…” “I want to be a pegasus,” They confidently said to themself. They waited for a few, expecting to see a transformation take place, but nothing happened. “Of course it isn't that simple, why would it?” ”Maybe I need to think of a method? Other changelings probably didn't need to since they were raised around shapeshifters while I have the mind of someone who hasn't.” This idea seemed plausible to the changeling, so they attempted to test their hypothesis. They held up their right hoof and put the image of a mask in their mind. ”Now to just use magic to make the mask... How do I do that?” A groan of frustration was made as the changeling found a flaw in their idea. They need to know how to use magic in order to do this in the first place. After this thought was made though, something unexpected happened. A purple mist came out of the changeling’s hoof and slowly made the rough shape of a mask. The changeling blinked in surprise at this, suddenly able to use their magic just fine without difficulty, despite not knowing how to. They sighed, choosing to count their blessings before putting the mask onto their face. The mask became mist once more and covered the changeling’s body before fading away, revealing an entirely different being. In place of the changeling was a pegasus mare. She had a white mane and tail and a turquoise coat of fur. Her cutie mark was of a cloud that was shaped like a lightning bolt. A name came to mind with this disguise, Cloud Bolt. Man, what an uncreative name. The changeling-turned-pegasus felt their head with a hoof, finding no horn. They looked behind them and flexed their wings to get a look at them, somehow knowing how to use them despite not having them before. ”Guess changeling transformations come with free basic knowledge on how to use new limbs like these.” They assumed. ’Cloud Bolt’ gave their wings a test flap, finding themself a few inches off the ground after. ”I didn't even use much force.” The disguised changeling blinked, confused by how such a gentle flap of the wings gave off enough force to lift them. They shrugged after thinking of it for a few seconds, an idea popping into their mind. If such a gentle flap did that, what would happen if they actually tried to use some force? They walked out of the tree line before bracing themself. They spread their wings before giving a hard, forceful flap, launching them into the air at surprising speeds, while leaving a small crater behind them. They broke through the cloud city’s floor and landed after. That was about four miles crossed within the span of a few seconds! They put a hoof to their hand, dizzy from the speed they went into the air. ”The name makes more sense now.” They shook the dizziness out of their head and looked around. They were on a sidewalk, other pegasi walking and flying around, living their daily lives. ”Okay...Now what?” The changeling didn't think things through. They had no clue what to do now that they were in the city. ”Wait, what is the date? What’s happened recently?” Conveniently, a newspaper was on a table in front of a cafe. ‘Cloud Bolt’ walked to it and picked it up before continuing to walk past, opening it up to look through it. Most of it was pretty bland, not much exactly happening. That was, up until they noticed a brief mention of a competition in Canterlot that concluded. The National Dessert Competition, to be specific. At first glance, it wasn't very noteworthy to the pegasus. Up until they remembered the episode within My Little Pony that involved desserts. A headache suddenly came, prompting them to put a hoof to their head. “Ma’am, are you okay?” The pegasus mare suddenly blinked, rubbing her eyes as they adjusted. She had closed her and stopped without realizing. In front of her was a pegasus stallion with a concerned look on his face. She gave a slight nod. “Yes, I'm fine. Kinda just zoned out there. Hehe.” She gave a nervous chuckle while scratching the back of her head. “Are you sure you're okay ma’am? You seemed pretty out of it,” the stallion said, concerned that the mare in front of him needed medical attention. “I’m fine, thank you for the concern but I'm good. Anyhow, I gotta get going. Have a nice day!” The mare went around the stallion with a wave before going into a trot further into the city. The stallion watched as the mare trotted away, still concerned but ultimately deciding to let her go. He's sure that she would seek some help if it happened again. That’s what he would do, at least. ”That dessert competition. It was the final episode of the season before the start of the next one. It’s the start of…season three next? It’s whichever season starts with the wedding. If I want to get there to see this happen, I gotta get to Canterlot before that bubble shield comes up and stops me. I don't know when the wedding is or if it even is in anyone’s minds yet but it's better to get there early than to get there late when the shield comes up.” After trotting for a minute, ‘Cloud Bolt’ halted. They face hoofed a moment after with a sigh. “I’m a pegasus, what am I doing running?” They gave a flap and they were high in the air once again, gently flapping their wings to keep them in place while looking around for the large, out of place mountain that Canterlot sat on. ”Found you.l It didn't take long to see the mountain and its city. The pegasus changed their position to fly forward and they sped toward Canterlot. Those that happened to look up would‘ve seen a streak of white going through the air, reminding some of how Rainbow Dash often made a streak when she was going fast. The couple known as Cadance and Shining Armor had just left one of Canterlot’s restaurants, taking a break from their wedding planning, which was almost complete and was going to take place within the next week or two. As they left, the sound of an impact was heard above them.  They two looked up and found a pegasus mare stuck within a wall of the restaurant. She had a white mane and tail as well as a turquoise coat of fur going with her purple clothing. “Oh dear,” was all Cadance said as she saw the pegasus try to push themself out of their situation. It only took a few seconds before they managed to get their head unstuck, falling to the ground and landing on their butt. “By the gods and their demons that smarted,” the pegasus complained, keeping their eyes closed as they rubbed their head. “Note to self, try to not go so fast next time.” “Are you alright?” The pegasus looked up with one eye open, finally noticing where she exactly was. Princess Cadance was holding a hoof out to the pegasus, who accepted it and was pulled up. “Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine. Probably gonna have a headache for a bit but that's probably it. I think.” “Do you know where you are?” Cadance asked, hoping that no damage to the brain occurred from that crash. “Uhh, Canterlot. Right?” “Okay, good. Do you know the date?” “Uhhhhmm... May 12th?” Cadance gave a sigh of relief. “You should probably get checked by a doctor when you can, okay?” The pegasus nodded before walking away. Cadance gave a wave before looking toward her fiancé. “Did that just happen?” He looked to the quickly disappearing pegasus, an expression of confusion on him. “Yep. That did. Are you just as confused as I am?” “Yes.” The princess answered.