//------------------------------// // The Arrival // Story: A Change of Scenery // by Silent Sir 224 //------------------------------// A grey stallion trots down a path aimlessly, or that's what most would see. This stallion's name is Turrok, he is a changling. Turrok has been slipping from town to town trying to find some place safe to hide. What could a changling possibly need more than a clever disguise to hide from? Other changlings, of course. With a prize on his head, any in the area would no doubt try to seek him out and collect. Two have already tried, once in Manehatten, and again in Cloudsdale. How he managed to get out of that one was still beyond him. I need to find a small town, somewhere that I could slip into and settle in without being noticed by too many. Turrok noticed a fork in the road with a sign, the right side pointed to a town called Ponyville and the left directed to Canterlot. Looks like I'm heading to Ponyville. After taking a decisive step down the right path a green blast came from behind narrowly missing his head by an inch. He pulled a 180 degree turn to see a disguised changling in front of him standing ten feet away, no doubt sizing up his target. Turrok dropped his disguising, prompting his assailant to do the same. The two now looked almost identical, a jet black shell covering their entire bodies, a pair of blue translucent wings, a horn and legs littered with many holes and a pair of sharp fangs and telltale green eyes. The true form of a changling. "Turrok Galvann," the changling spoke through a series of clicks and hisses, their native language. "I seek to collect the bounty placed upon you by the high council. Surrender, or risk death." "Why must you all attack me?!" Turrock replied. "The crime I committed has never warranted capture before, why now!? "That's not something that concerns me, you left your brothers on the march on Canterlot. You betrayed them, and now Yanu has suffered because of it." "Hold your tongue!" Turrok shouted. "You have no right to speak of my young brother, let alone speak his name! Your mad queen killed him when she sent him to fight a pointless battle!" "Queen Chrysalis was a good leader, you traitorous worm! She sought to improve the lives of her people." "No you fool, she sought to increase her own power, and you all were blind enough to believe her!" The attacker took a step back, "This talk is getting me nowhere, if you will not come quietly I will use force." He jumped back and fired a green blast again, but Turrok was prepared for it. Using his wings to launch himself skyward, dodging the blast quite easily. The enemy just kept firing, many missing their mark without the need to dodge. He is going to burn himself out at this rate. One beam came a little too close for comfort, forcing Turrok to strike back. His horn gave a green glow, focusing his magic on the ground beneath his assassin. They jumped up as a large spike popped through the ground where they stood. An opportunity presented itself or him with his opponent was recovering. He fired a green energy beam that caught the changling off guard and sent him into the ground with a heavy thud. Turrok flew down to make sure the attacker was finished, there was a long trench from the impact that led up to a loan tree near the path. They propped themselves up against the tree, a small crack in the shell covering their chest. "Do you submit?" He asked, wishing to avoid anymore fighting with the injured being. The response was a very quiet hissing, he couldn't quite make it out. Hesitantly, he approached the tree. "What did you say?" "I... said... NEVER!" The changling closed the distance between them and punctured Turrok's left shoulder with his horn. He slammed them back against the tree, feeling his shoulder writhing in pain. "You little wretch!" Out of anger and adrenaline, he slammed their head against the tree hard enough to put them out cold. Damn it, I can't believe he just did that! But, I'm no murderer. He left the changling there and tried walking again, but found the damage to his shoulder was too much to continue by walking. His wings began beating quickly enough to lift him off the ground a few inches. As he pressed on he put on his disguise, a simple grey pony, with the addition of wings to avoid any suspicion. Although, he was losing blood from the wound that he received by desperation. That would have been pretty suspicious, to say the least. He passed the fork in the road leading toward 'Ponyville' with hopes that he could hide there for a while. Continuing down the road his thoughts drifted to something that was pointed out by his assailant. Yanu, if only you could have gotten out in time... Yanu Galvann, Turrok's younger brother, was going to escape with his older brother the night before the attack. A patrol of their camp stopped him shortly after Turrok slipped away. The window passed and he was forced to abandon his morals and attack Canterlot. If that wasn't bad enough, he met what was described as the ponies' 'champion.' A being that took the form of a pony, but controlled lightning similar to that of a god. There were many victims of that creature, although most were simply wounded. Some were a bit more severely hurt, but were not in danger of dying once they received medical attention. Yanu was one of two victims of the siege. The other being Queen Chrysalis, who was turned to stone if the rumors were indeed correct. She was fully deserving of her fate, though. Claiming the attack would benefit her subjects, complete bullshit if he ever heard it. She was just a greedy monarch, seeking to increase her own power. But little Yanu, he was not deserving of death, he should never have even been apart of such an assault. But the conscription of the two made it so. Ever since that day, the two planned to slip away before going to battle. Only one of them managed to do it. It should have been him! He should have gotten away, not me! He never deserved such a horrible fate! Why didn't I make him go first!? Tears freely fell from his eyes, fully gripped by anger and remorse. After an hour of painful travel, two things happened: the town of Ponyville came into view, and the blood loss from his wound had taken it's toll. Well, I have one shot. I just need to get to a hospital, from there... I'm really at their mercy. Turrok laughed at the pure irony, relying on the enemy of his people for salvation. He must have really been light-headed from the lack of blood. Going into town, he noticed how there were few ponies actually in the town. It made his task of getting to the hospital unnoticed that much easier. He saw a large building with a red cross on it, that had to be a hospital. The wings that had carried him so far were at there limit and forced him to limp through the door into an empty lobby. "Oh my, sir stop right there!" A nurse shouted as Turrok limped through the door. He followed her directions, did she see through my cover? "You shouldn't be moving with that injury, Doctor we need a gurney!" He gave a sigh of relief, before feeling everything become fuzzy, then black. *** Dusk had been enjoying a lazy day in Ponyville, like every other day since they got back from Canterlot. He didn't have any immediate goals like he did before, he had everything he wanted right there. His parents visited regularly, he had become engaged with the most beautiful mare he had ever met. He had literally nothing to do. When one's special talent is conjuring lightning, job prospects are a little unlikely. He was sitting on the couch of his home, when a frantic knock came from the front door. Being home alone for the time being, Dusk opened the door to find Twilight with a fearful look in her eye. "Hello, Twilight, how are you?" "Uh, not good, I need you to come down to Ponyville Hospital right now!" She started pulling him down the path. "Who's there, Rainbow Dash?!" She has been there before, even gave me a concussion a while back. "No, no one we know, at least not right now!" She kept pulling him, despite his willingness to go. "So, why do we need to go there?" "Because, everyone's lives could depend on you being there!" "It's not like we have another changling invasion to deal with." She gave him a very serious look, one that told that he hit the nail square on the head. "Dear Celestia, where's Fluttershy!? I will not let her go around by herself if there are changlings here!" "No time! We need to hurry!" "I'll make time! You get to the hospital and we'll meet you there!" There was no persuading him about it. "Fine! But you better hurry!" She ran off as quickly as she could back into town. She has to be in the market, Dusk concluded and started running toward it. He heard many greet him as he ran through town, but he had no time to reply. He was too focused on finding her for anything else. He stopped in the center of the town square surrounded by vendors offering a variety of produce. He spotted a familiar pegasus talking to her friend at an apple stand, and immediately ran up to them. "Rainbow, AppleJack, have you seen Fluttershy anywhere?!" "Yeah, she just picked up some apples a minute ago," AppleJack explained Think she said somethin' about gettin' asparagus, why?" "Twilight just came by the cottage, she said I needed to get to the hospital. The only thing I gathered was it had to do with changlings. Just head down to the hospital, we'll meet you there." "I'm gonna go get Rarity and Pinkie, AJ, you go to the hospital and tell Twilight what's going on." "Right." The three took off in completely opposite directions, Dusk sifting through the market as quickly as he could. Where is that stand?! After a few minutes of searching, he came across the vendor and gave a sigh of relief. She was there discussing the price of the asparagus she picked up. Not a strand of her flowing pink mane out of place, nor a scratch on her pale yellow coat. She started to walk away from the stand, satisfied with the price she paid, and immediately noticed him. "Dusk, what are you doing here? Not that it's a bad thing, it's just I told you I was going to do the grocery shopping this week." "No time to explain, we need to get to the hospital. The rest of our friends are meeting us there." "Is someone hurt?" "Twilight said she needed me at the hospital, mentioning only one thing, changlings." "Let's go." The two rushed to the hospital to find that Twilight and AppleJack were there, as well as someone else. "Ah, my student, so nice of you to join us." Her voice carried the regal tone, but there was a hint of irritation present as well. "Sorry, Mentor, but if what Twilight said is true, I want to make sure that my fiance is safe. Nothing would have convinced me otherwise." "Your heart was in the right place, now come, you need to see this." She turned and motioned for the two to follow. The three made it to one room of the hospital where a sign on the door handle read: Authorized Staff Only. Celestia turned the handle and pushed the door open just enough to get through as Dusk followed behind her with Fluttershy being the last to enter. The window was covered by the blinds, leaving the room fairly dark. A single bed could be seen, but it was too dark to see what was laying on it. A lamp that sat next to it, came on, and showed the thing that Dusk feared more than most anything else. A changling was laying there on the bed, unconscious and bandaged up around it's shoulder, but there. "What is it doing here?" It was all he could manage to say. "According to the doctors, it passed out from blood loss when it came in. It was disguised when it made it through the door, but it collapsed and revealed it's true form. The medical staff thought it better to take it in and hide it, keep the masses calm about it." "Fine, so what do we do? It's in no condition to be out on its own, do we just kick it out?" "We can't just do that... can we?" Fluttershy replied, approaching the edge of the bed. "She's right mentor, we do have a moral obligation." The princess said nothing, appearing deep in thought. "Let it rest here for now. When it wakes up, it will be questioned. From there, it would be best to play it by ear." "Thank you, Princess." Fluttershy bowed to the monarch. "Do not thank me for making a simple judgement call, you both are correct. We can't toss it out into the streets, not like this." I can't believe this, I suppose I should be grateful though, my morals outweigh my fears. "Dusk, are you okay? I know last time you encountered one of these things, things didn't end too well." He glanced over at Fluttershy, looking at him with a worry look in her eye. "Don't worry Fluttershy, I'm fine." He wore his bravest face, her worrying on top of everything wasn't going to do any good. "Please don't try to act tough for my sake, it's alright if you're scared." She held his hoof with hers, " I know I am." He pulled her close, "So am I. Just promise me you'll be careful around this thing. I've only seen you visit me in the hospital, I don't want to see it the other way around." "I'll be careful, I promise." The two held each other for a short time before the rest of the group slipped through the door. "Thank you for joining us," Celestia stated, probably because of the awkwardness of being a third wheel. "So this is it? The changling?" Rarity pointed a hoof at the bed. "Yes, when it wakes up, I will question it and see what should be done." The conversation ended when the creature began to stir, it was waking up. "Fluttershy, get behind me."