It had been one week since the strange storm had appeared above Ponyville. One week since a certain stallion had withstood the pain of a lightning bolt and had destroyed the storm on his own, wielding a power no pony else had ever wielded before. That stallion had ended up in the hospital, his body charred and destroyed beyond belief, and the doctors had nearly given up on him by the third day. Then the impossible had happened, the stallion got up for the first time in three days and his wounds slowly began to heal.
The other four days were busy for him, as he regained the ability to walk, to fly, and to talk. During that time he was visited by his friends, who wanted to know how he was doing and what had driven him during the storm to withstand the pain. He was visited by the majority of the Mane Six, the only one missing being Rainbow Dash, and he was bombarded with questions. The only things he wondered were what had he missed and where was Rainbow Dash.
As it turned out he had missed Nightmare Night, which kind of blew since he had wanted to pull a prank on several ponies that night. Sunset Shimmer, he was told, had taken the train to the Crystal Kingdom, hoping that she could make things up between her and the royal couple. His friends had also gotten pets, which made sense considering that they had pets in the other timeline they had been from. The only weird thing was that nothing strange had happened on Nightmare Night, other than Princess Luna appearing to get, as she put it, her 'funk on'.
Apparently, Rocket discovered, everypony in all of Equestria knew of his mastery over the wind element and the power that came with it. He was given some respect by those he had never met before, in both this life and his other life, and it was actually annoying to a point. In his other life he had earned both the respect he currently had and the fear from his enemies, now he was earning so much respect that it nearly made him punch something. There was only one constant thing that he shared between both of his lives; some level of power.
Chrysalis, he realized, would be coming after him again once she realized that he was okay and was walking around the town at long last. She would have recognized his level of power was at least worth the effort of trying to capture him and turn him to her side. This time he would be prepared to meet his enemy and, hopefully, gain all the attention he needed to lure the Changeling Queen out.
~Later that day~
Nighttime had descended on the small town, which is what Rocket had been hoping for after he had been discharged from the hospital. Now he was sneaking through the night, keeping his eyes for any of the signs he had discovered while living with the Changelings for over a year. He knew that at some point a Changeling would talk to him form an alleyway and then the entire group would be on his tail. Ne might not have his magic this time, but he could out fly the majority of his enemies before they could capture him. That was considering he even got the chance to make an escape before he was surrounded.
There was always the off chance that his friend Wisdom would be keeping an eye on things, watching over his friends with the help of Pinkie Pie. They had originally organized everypony into some sort of war effort for when the Changeling had arrived to capture him the first time and he suspected that they were doing it again. There was one Changeling he wanted to see, the one Changeling that had saved him from his grim fate the first time around. That mare was Rose Petal, the daughter of Chrysalis and future Queen of the Changeling Hive. She was the one that could save him from any fate imaginable, any fate that he didn't deserve.
There was a sound of wood breaking behind him and he spun around quickly, his eyes scanning the area as he looked for the Changeling he suspected was behind him somewhere. Sure enough there was a black armored pony shaped creature lurking in the shadows, trying to hide itself from his prey.
"I know your there," Rocket called, his eyes continuing to scan to give him the appearance of not knowing where his enemy was, "You and your 'friends' might as well show yourselves before I rat you out to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends."
"He's bluffing," one Changeling whispered to another, "He doesn't know that we're here. He lacks magic, so we can take him without a problem."
One Changeling stood behind the two, her eyes focused on the stallion they were after. There was something familiar about the stallion, something that she couldn't place her hoof on despite how much she thought about it. The more she stared at him the more she thought she was seeing a different, more majestic stallion who could handle the assembled group.
Another Changeling burst out of the shadows and rushed the stallion, who spun around and landed a solid kick to the back of the head. The poor Changeling was knocked to the ground instantly, uttering some hisses that invited the remaining guards out into the open. Unfortunately Rocket was ready and he slammed a hoof into the face of an unfortunate guard, knocking him into his friends. A third guard got clipped by one of the stallion's wings, knocking him off his hooves with ease.
There's something familiar with his fighting style, the Changeling thought as she watched the stallion knock three more guards off their hooves and crash them into the ground, the way his body seems to move, the fact that he continues to point his head at others like he has magic. Some of these moves are ours, yet he knows them as if he had trained with us before. What is it that I'm forgetting?
Before she knew what had happened she realized that the fighting was somehow over, the stallion standing in a circle of defeated guards. Thirteen of the best guards in the Changeling Army, defeated by one stallion who seemed to know all their tricks and all their tactics. He seemed not to notice her presence, so she continued to stare at the stallion and tried to understand what had happened. Then, like magic, she saw something else.
The stallion had a longer body, more like the Royal Princesses and the Changeling Queen, with long wings and a long unicorn's horn. His mane and tail, long as long as Celestia's, was colored golden and his eyes were the purest silver color. He was dressed in royal jewelry, similar to the Solar Princesses except that it was aquamarine colored. Then the next instant the stallion was normal again, leading her to wonder if she had imagined him being an alicorn.
"Believe it or not Rose, but it's true," the stallion said, turning to the shadows to see her, "The truth is much more dangerous then you think."
"How do you know me?" the Changeling asked, surprised the stallion knew her despite being in the hospital for most of his stay in Ponyville.
"That is in the past," Rocket replied, turning towards the train station, "Your mother wants to create a monster to destroy her enemies, but you won't allow that. You will stand up for what is right. If everything goes as planned everything will be restored to their proper place."
Rose was surprised and shocked; she knew nothing and yet this stallion knew what was supposed to happen.
"I will be leaving the town shortly," Rocket continued, "I need to restore everything to their proper place. Keep your mother away from my friends and we'll call our score even."
"What score?" Rose asked, following the stallion to the station as he purchased a ticket to somewhere.
"You saved my life at one point," Rocket answered, stopping before the compartment before he continued, "You saved me from a fate worse than death. I will even our score at one point, but for now it rarely matters."
Rose watched the stallion board the train before it left the station, unsure of how to go about the situation she found herself in. She could report the disturbance to her Queen, that she was going to do, but what was she really going to report? How does one go about reporting that one stallion, who had no military training whatsoever, had beaten the best guards in the Changeling Army?
Rose sighed, all she knew was that she and her guards were in trouble once they returned to her house.