//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 - No Regrets // Story: A Changing Perspective // by Dragrace //------------------------------// Twilight had tried so hard to stop the spell. Her first reaction was to create a shield, although she had completely missed Jack from the blast. Even in the blinding light, she was able to get a few spells off. As the blinding light quickly dissipated, the entire group of ponies was in shock. Looking towards the direction where she had last seen the changeling, she found him to be gone. Twilight let out a sigh of relief, she hadn't been able to stop the spell, but she had at least managed to get Jack out of there. The expressions of the jaw-dropped ponies didn't change, even after a few minutes passed. Half of them were looking at Twilight, standing near the last known location of Jack, and the other half looking at the minister, who had suddenly cast magic on a potentially innocent pony. The most shocking event was that Jack was now completely missing. Twilight had no idea if her spell was able to save Jack in time, and she still wasn't certain what spell the minister had cast. For all she knew, Aegis could have teleported the changeling into some sort of prison as opposed to exposing his true form. Shaking slightly, Twilight finally took a step forward towards the minister, who was still poised in an aggressive stance. "Stay back!" Aegis growled. "I do believe we may have a traitor among us..." The crowd became silent once more. Most of them were curious as to who the minister was addressing, however Twilight knew it was quite obvious he was talking to her. "Why else would she save Jack from my spell, if the only harm is does it expose a changeling's true form?" Aegis inquired. "And why would she defy the one both princesses trusted to protect this city?" Whispers broke out among the crowd. Twilight knew that the minister was planning something, but there was nothing she could do about it. However corrupt the minister may have been, there was no way she could prove it with the little evidence she had against him. As the minister continued to ramble on, Twilight felt tension building up, and she prepared for the worst. >---< The feeling was quite painful. The minister really wasn't lying when he had said that the spell should not be used freely upon ponies. Even after waking up after being knocked unconcious he still felt the occasional jolt in his chest. When he was hit, he didn't remember feelin any pain, but then again his system was probably in full shock from the sudden change of events. From the feelings he was getting now, more than likely the hit would have felt like an electrical charge directly towards the heart. Looking down at himself, Jack was forced to confront his natural form once more, something he had tried to avoid since he first discovered his abilities to change form. Since he woke up, he had tried to change back into his equine form, however every time he tried he felt a shocking sensation in his head. After multiple tries, trying to change into almost any form, Jack gave up, and began wandering his unfamiliar surroundings. Now Jack was back in the Everfree forest, which was really a giant maze of trees. Jack had been close to lose a few times before, however this time he knew he was nowhere he had been before. Studying his surroundings, the trees almost seemed as if they were swaying to their own accord, almost as if creating a maze. The brush was already quite difficult to navigate, and many of the plants on the ground seemed unsafe to touch. Navigating carefully through the woods, Jack felt grass shift into the tiny holes throughout his changeling legs. The experience was definitely much different than anything he had experienced before, it felt like the inside of his leg was being irritated, although he knew he could easily get rid of whatever was bothering him. The only good feeling Jack felt being in an unfamiliar place was that he knew what place he was in. The memories of the cave he had been in were still very vague, although the sense of panic was still there when he thought of it. Sudden shifting in a nearby bush caught Jack's attention. Carefully approaching the bush, trying to ensure he would not be caught in his changeling form, he peeked over and saw a little orange filly curled up in a ball shaking, holding one of her wings over her head. Feeling sorry for the filly, he approached her, ignoring the fact he was still a changeling. "Hey there... It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Jack said. The filly began sobbing louder, shaking more violantly than before. "I know you're afraid of me, and you have reason to. A lot of the changelings I know want to drain other ponies of their emotions." The sobbing from the changeling seemed to calm slightly. Her wing shifted slightly, as if trying to get a better look at the changeling. "Look, you can stay here and cry all you want. You know what that means? It means you're sad. Therefore, I'm not draining you of emotions. Otherwise, you honestly wouldn't care that I was here, and would probably follow me around." The orange filly stopped crying. There was still a lot of sniffling going on, however it was clear that the crying had stopped. Moving the wing from her face, Jack finally knew just who he had been talking to. It was Scootaloo. >---< Ponyville was in a chaotic state. Twilight could have sworn that discord had been released once more, the glowing purple shield resembled what little order remained in the city. It wasn't at the point where houses were being burnt down, or food was being stockpiled in fear of the apocalypse, but everypony was at the point where paranoia was setting in. The town seemed desserted, most of the doors were locked, even some shops had closed down temporarily. Posters had been hung up around town showing a changeling behind the minister, with bold text underneath saying "Watch your back". 'Propaganda' Twilight thought. 'He really is as crazy as Jack thought. Ever since he showed up, everypony has been becoming more and more paranoid about the changelings. But in reality, how many changelings are there? So far I only know of three, and Jack didn't have any bad intentions. Walking around town brought attention to Twilight. She had barely managed to escape the ministers grasps. Luckily she had helped the town out several times in the past, and the mayor actually stood up for her. Still, she would receive the suspicious looks from many of the ponies. Ignoring the constant staring, Twilight pressed through the town until she finally reached the Tree-brary. Inside there was a familiar red mare awaiting her arrival. "Oh, hello Domina. I wasn't expecting to see you here." Twilight said, as she closed the door behind her using magic. 'Actually, I was expecting you to be here. You always seem to follow Jack around, you and that other changeling... Cienna was it? Yeah...' Twilight thought. She paused for a moment. It was suspicious that there were TWO changelings of the group of three. One of them was agressive, the other was kind and caring. If Domina was a changeling as well, would it be agressive as well? 'If it was agressive, it would have attacked when the other one did. Perhaps the only one that remained was the neutral one. During both attacks, it was a bystander. It never took action to protect or attack. Then again, that's assuming it was a changeling. Domina nodded her head as Twilight entered, carefully watching her movements. "Domina, I have something to ask of you." Twilight said. Domina tilted her head slightly, as if curious of what the lavender mare was going to ask. "Did you know of Jack being a changeling as well?" There was a pause, Domina straightened her head. She looked down at the ground for a moment before closing her eyes. She then proceeded to nod her head. "How much do you know?" Domina looked up. Twilight knew that the red mare rarely spoke, and when it was she had only really spoken when Jack was around. From what she remembered, the voice had almost no inflextion in it when she spoke, it almost seemed mechanical and emotionless. The response proved her correct. "A lot..." >---< Plenty of things had happened in and around Ponyville since Jack first arrived. Most of what had happened had been related to him being a changeling, or just about changelings in general. He regretted not telling Twilight earlier that he was a changeling, although after his first experience with ponies as a changeling didn't turn out so well. Luckily for Jack, he was stil alive and in good health. He couldn't change form quite yet, and he hoped he hadn't lost that power altogether, but then again permenant magic was quite rare from what he had seen. Actually, he hadn't seen any sort of permanant magic, so he assumed he would recover. The few regrets he did have, the things he wanted to do, the friends he wanted to make, would have to wait a little longer. He still had plenty of time to do what he had always wanted to do, but the main (or in this case mane) problem was the minister trying to take over the entire city. Then again, Jack wouldn't be surprised should he return to the city and the entire city be following his commands to keep it a changeling free environment. He doubted the ponies would be that stupid to follow him like that, although with the events that recently took place he wouldn't be surprised if the ponies followed his word due to panic. The orange filly and the changeling continued walking down what seemed like a very faint path. It was almost as if the area of the forest had been used, the ground was quite flat compared to the rest of the forest. Scootaloo still refused to speak as the two left the forest. Her body position and facial expressions still told Jack that she was afraid of him, but she seemed to become much more comfortable in his presence. The silence really was killing Jack, whenever he asked a question the orange filly a question she would cover in fear, as if he was going to harm her with words. Scootaloo was leading the way through the forest. Jack could only hope she knew where Ponyville was, otherwise they may be lost in the forest for a while. There was a few streams of bright purple light coming from the gaps between the trees ahead. As they approached the light, the filly finally spoke for the first time since meeting the changeling. "I... You... Y... You're voice..." She stammered. "I think... You're... No. You can't..." "You probably know who I am." Jack admitted. "But that's not important right now..." The two approached the light. As they came closer, Jack realised what they were coming up to. "I... I've been s...stuck here for s... so long. I'm hungry... So hungry..." The purple light was definately caused by magic, and when Jack finally reached the opening, he realised why Scootaloo seemed... Smaller than usual. The town was in fact encased by a large purple sphere, and Scootaloo just happened to be stuck outside. He was still quite surprised that the filly hadn't wandered over to Zecora's hut, although not many ponies happened to go into the woods let alone to Zecora's place. "Don't worry. We'll get through this. Together" Jack said, giving her a genuine smile. His words seemed to finally bring hope to the filly. She let out a small grin, her upset expression finally vanished. "I've never met a changeling as nice as you..." She said quietly. What happened next, Jack thought would never happen to a changeling, even by another changeling. The small orange filly went right up to Jack's leg and gave him a nice, heart-warming hug.