//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 - Unanswered Questions // Story: A Changing Perspective // by Dragrace //------------------------------// A small bolt of pure energy flew across the room at lightning speed. To anypony who had not witnessed magic before, they may not have even seen the tiny bolt. Speed alone was enough to send the changeling flying into the wall, since the bolt itself was almost void of mass. Twilight was still covering her eyes, and the two doctors stared at the collapsed changeling in shock. Slowly, the changeling began rising once more, shaking his head in attempts to regain proper vision. Jack was panting heavily, slumped downwards, positioned on all fours. He rarely used magic before, and the one time he did he was almost completely drained after just levitating a small stone. Jack gave a few quick blinks, his vision was shaky and it was hard to focus. If there was something he had to do, it was protect the ponies he had become so accustomed with. Barely conscious, Jack took a step forward, the step echoing through the bakery, and this drew the attention of all the eyes in the room. Twilight, now uncovering her eyes, turned and saw Jack slowly marching towards the changeling, with a new horn glowing faintly in the dimly lit light. "Is that... Everything... You got...?" Jack chirped, panting heavily between breaths. Magic was still quite unfamiliar to him. In a state of panic he had created a horn from himself, hoping to at least throw an object in the way of the changeling. Emotions, however, got the best of him, and he sent a bolt of pure energy accidently. Still trying to regain his composure, Jack took another step forward. The tension in the air was unbelievable, each breath was slow and long, save for those of Jack and the changeling. A sudden movement from the changeling caused Jack to flinch, although the movement was limited to the changeling lowering its head. Was it conceding? There was a sudden flicker of light emitting from the changeling's crooked horn, and a nearby table rose and was sent flying through the air towards Jack. Barely able to react in time, he dove to his right, hitting the ground hard and sliding a couple feet. ‘I need to get this thing out of here, before somepony else gets hurt…’ Jack thought. Rolling over to get into a better position, Jack quickly jumped back onto his hooves and tried to throw a chair with magic. The chair lifted about a foot, shaking to extreme levels, and then was thrown through the air no more than two inches away. Twilight gave herself a massive face hoof, while Jack lost concentration again due to lack of energy. The changeling, charging at him once more, tackled him out of a small window. The glass pane shattered, sending tiny shards of the transparent substance through the air, while the bodies of the changelings followed. Landing on the darkened streets, the two rolled over one another in attempts to get a better vantage point. Normally it would have been almost impossible to see the changeling in such darkness, but Jack's nocturnal vision provided him with the vision required to assault the enemy. Kicking the changeling off of him, Jack carefully eyed the changeling, preparing for any unexpected moves. Adrenaline was coursing through his blood, allowing him to ignore his current fatigued state. Staring at the changeling for another minute, Jack began a charge. He felt a breeze blowing through his hair, and as he approached the enemy he closed his eyes, lowered his head and prepared for impact. But there was no impact. Opening his eyes and looking behind him, he saw that the changeling had vanished. Lacking vision of what was in front of him, he crashed head first into a cart, knocking him onto his back. "Ughhh..." Jack groaned, "Where did the changeling go...?" >---< A few minutes passed while Jack rested on the ground. Nothing had happened and the changeling had vanished completely, so the adrenaline slowly began to fade from his body. His head began pounding with pain, and so did the right side of his body, more than likely from the dive earlier. He was also extremely tired, and almost didn't have the energy to get up from the floor. Barely able to focus, Jack looked around his surroundings to determine if there was anypony else around, the changeling easily could have taken another disguise and he wanted to stay safe. Shaking his head, he slowly began rising to his hooves once more, taking a considerable amount his available energy. "Jack!" Said a voice, at a moderate distance. "I found him everypony!" Looking around in attempt to figure out who may be speaking, he found himself looking downwards at a small dragon in the distance. Shortly after spotting the dragon, four ponies appeared from around various corners. Jack had not realized how far the charge had taken him; he was out of sight of Sugarcube Corner. Squinting to determine who was approaching, he saw a purple blur, a white blur, and a pink blur all approaching at once. He knew who they all were, but he could only remember Twilight due to his fatigue being of such great levels. The purple blur began rushing towards Jack, and as the blur came closer and closer he was more easily able to determine the equine shaping. Twilight, now resting a hoof on his back, stood there for a moment in silence, staring at his new horn. "I know what you're staring at..." Jack said breathlessly. "Well... I honestly don't know what to say. I haven't seen something like that happen in a long time now..." Twilight responded, a hint of suspicion in her voice. "I'm sure I can explain this... One way or another..." Jack whispered. >---< Twilight continued to stare at the grey stallion's new horn. It seemed completely real, but she couldn't quite pinpoint how it had just... Appeared. She knew changelings could easily create wings or horns, she had just read an entire series about changelings. Magic was a possibility, although his severe drain of energy after basic spells seemed to rule that possibility out. Either that or he had specialized in a specific form of magic. Specialized unicorns were rare, although nopony seemed surprised when they met one. Pondering about possibilities other than being a changeling, Twilight stood there giving a blank stare towards Jack for several seconds. That was, until the silence was broken by Jack. "Uhh... Twilight? You okay?" He asked. "I think so... I'm just... thinking...." Twilight responded slowly. The two stared at each other for a lot longer. Jack shifted uncomfortably, more than likely the nurse and spike had been staring at him for a while as well, but Twilight was mostly staring at the horn. The shiny, new, horn. Twilight wanted to take a look at her own horn, although she knew that she would need a mirror. Some sort of comparison, in order to determine if the horn was real or not. 'But it HAS to be real... where would the bolt that saved Lyra have come from if not from him?' It was quite dark outside, the moon was at its peak in the sky, and was very dimly lighting the streets. Most of the houses had the lights off, the occasional house here or there still had the lights on. The night was quiet, the only sounds that could be heard was the unnatural breathing coming from Jack's lack of energy. A voice finally spoke up, breaking yet anothe awkward silence. "So... Should we tell the minister about the changeling at the party or what?" Spike stated, while poking Twilight's leg in attempts to get her attention. "Yes... I think that would be best for now..." Twilight said, giving a quick glance to spike before returning her gaze to Jack. "But we do need to be careful. We don't know how many there are..." >---< The room was dead silent. It was the same room Jack had seen the minister talking to Trixie with earlier, except this time the minister had invited both Twilight and Jack inside to speak with him. Aegis was pacing back and forth in the small room while Twilight explained what had happened at the party. Luckily for Jack, she had not mentioned anything about his horn. Once Twilight finished reciting what had occurred, the minister looked in Jack's direction. "So you were one of the witnesses, and you helped take care of the assaulted pony?" The minister inquired, eyeing Jack suspiciously. "Yes. I was there, although I know nothing about medical treatment so all I could do was watch the changeling." Jack replied with an uneasy feeling. "Twilight says the changeling got away, that it teleported somewhere else in town. If you were the one responsible for guarding the changeling, I may have to say you had something to do with its escape!" The minister said menacingly, with an evil grin spread across his face. "Minister Aegis, might I remind you that there are other witnesses? Jack wasn't the only one responsible for watching over the changeling." Twilight said. "How should I know that you aren't involved in the changeling incident then? How do I know you are ponies at all? What should make me believe that everypony there taking care of the unconscious unicorn weren't changelings feeding off the helpless mare? I should have you all jailed right now!" The minister scolded. "I'm Celestia's personal student; a changeling would never be able to get even close to me!" 'I beg to differ...' Jack though, giving a small grin. "What's he smiling about? He's already been caught spying on me before, why should I trust him? I bet he's nothing but trouble!" Jack's grin turned into a frown. He never liked the minister, but he seemed quite hostile towards him and Twilight. Then again, it seemed Aegis was a lot more hostile towards Jack over Twilight. "Since the two of you are witnesses, I can't jail you on the spot, seeing as the changeling escaped without taking one of your forms. However, I can put you on trial, and should the crowd believe you are changelings-" "Alright, you know what?" Jack interrupted, "I'm sick and tired of your attitude. You've done nothing but stare at me suspiciously and assume I'm going to do something. You think you're ALL THAT but really, you're just a weak old wizard who can barely keep a shield around the town!" The minister stood in shock at the sudden outburst, his mouth left wide open. Twilight had a similar look, although hers was more surprised than shocked, she almost seemed a little happy after Jack had verbally assaulted the minister. "Ha! You think I'm a weak old man do you?" The minister said, after a minute of collecting his thoughts. "Maybe I will arrest you on the spot, see what the rest of the town thinks." "On what grounds do you plan on arresting him, minister?" Twilight inquired. "Last time I checked, this little brat didn't have a unicorn horn."