A Changed World

by dredaich

1: Unleashed Change

It was the afternoon of the day after Twilight's coronation. She was having a picnic with Spike and her friends in the park of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was boasting how she would teach Twilight to fly again. It was a bit embarrassing for her, but the only time she was able to fly was at the coronation. Since then she couldn't even lift off.

She was only listening with half an ear, because her mind has returned to the conversation she had with Princess Celestia after the coronation was over. Celestia had talked about the Equestrian politics with her and assured, that she didn't need her help for the daily tasks. Therefore she gave Twilight the choice to return to Ponyville and live there with her friends. Only in times of need she and, if needed, her friends should come to aid.

She smiled to herself. It felt so good to be still here. Sure, the bowing and the exaggerated courtesies the citizens showed to her last evening and this morning became annoying in less than an hour. She had therefore given a short speech to the ponies of Ponyville earlier that day, so that she wouldn’t be treated differently.

She liked the announcement, even if it has cost her the whole night. It was a detailed explanation of why she didn't want to be treated like royalty, but still like a normal citizen of the town. The argumentation was flawless, she had cited a lot of well known ponies and used a lot of stylistic devices. In her eyes it was a masterpiece.

It was a shame that some of the other citizen didn't like it as much as she did. At the end of the speech the crowd has thinned out a bit and some ponies had to be woken up, but she was sure everypony at least got the message. That was the most important goal.

“Twilight, could you do it again?” asked a bouncing Pinkie Pie, bringing Twilight back to the present.

She blinked a few times. “What do you want me to do?”

“Transform into an alicorn. Wait, you are already a princess. So change back into a unicorn and then transform into an alicorn again!” stated Pinkie as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Pinkie, it doesn't work that way,” Twilight answered already preparing a small lecture about her change.

“Can you change into an earth pony then?” Pinkie replied, which caused Twilight to facehoof in defeat and scrap the lesson she prepared seconds ago.

There was a strange sound. It was a bit like ripping fabric, but far louder, at least as loud as Princess Luna using her Royal Canterlot Voice. Everypony turned to look into the direction of its source.

---.---

It was easy to follow the target. The speed of it could be matched easily in a slow gallop. The exchange of magical attacks between it and Arlok was troubling, but no fear emerged. Everything would be okay in the end. With Arlok nothing bad could happen.

There was a strange noise, a display of weird magic and from one moment to the other the landscape changed completely. The woods, in which they have been, were replaced by grassland near a small town.

With this change the target turned around, while coming to an abrupt halt. In its motion to stop it unleashed a big orange ball of magical power far greater than the attacks before aiming at Arlok. His weight on the back was almost immediately removed.

A second of fear that Arlok might be hurt passed, but was brushed away by his words: “Thank you, Confidant. Get some rest, I can finish it alone.” With that hunger and thirst came back.

There was a well some steps away. A mithril-barded horse could be seen inside the water, but it hid at the moment, when the muzzle touched the water. The water was cold and refreshing.

Suddenly an enormous magical shock wave was unleashed.

There was no time to act.

It washed over everything.

The world faded.

Things changed.

---.---

What happened next was so weird and ended so quickly, that Twilight didn't have time to process it, let alone to react on it before everything was over. To understand even parts of it, far more time would pass.

At first an extremely huge wolf, at least 3 meters high, appeared out of thin air. It was running, but after two leaps it dug its massive fore claws into the ground to stop and turn itself around. In the same motion it seemed to throw a strange orange thing with its tail back into the direction it came from.

At the same moment something else manifested at the place, where the wolf had appeared maybe a second ago. It was a giant earth pony or at second thought, more likely a horse from Saddle Arabia, about the size of Princess Celestia herself, which was completely covered in a silvery armor. On its back was a creature that seemed to be a huge wing- and hornless changeling with red glowing eyes and an emerald mist floating around it. It hold an enormous black thing, that was blazing in the sunlight, in its fore hooves.

The orange ball hit the changeling, which was sent flying backwards. It touched the ground with its fore hooves to bounce off making a backflip to land on its hind legs, while the horse changed direction and became slower.

The changeling breathed a green ball of weird flames into the direction of the wolf. But somehow a bush of roses grew rapidly and took the shot, which caused it to wither down as fast as it grew up moments before.

The changeling was now running on its hind legs, which were longer than the fore legs. Its hooves were strangely malformed. Another detail that caught her attention was, that the grass below it turned black and brown.

It reached the wolf after about five steps and swung the black thing with all its might at the wolf. The wolf, now engulfed in orange and blue lights, in return attacked the weird changeling with its massive left claw.

Before any of the two attacks could reach its destination, their was a blinding flash of light.

---.---

As the flash of magic faded Confidant felt strange. In fact, “felt strange” was a big understatement. He wasn't able to put a finger on it, but something, no, everything in fact, seemed off somehow.

As his sight came back he was looking into the water. A horse in mithril barding was looking back at him. But it was different to any horse he had seen before. It had a horn on its head and its eyes were orange.

Confidant was a bit scared, so he made a step back. Surprisingly the horse did the same. In fact its actions paralleled his own so perfectly that his fear turned into curiosity. He stepped slowly forward again approaching the water with his head. The strange horse on the other side of the water did the same, again perfectly synchronous to himself. Confidant raised his left hoof, while the other raised the right, again perfect in the same way as he himself.

It began to dawn on him, that this “other horse” was in reality nothing more than a reflection of himself. But wouldn't that mean, that he had this horn on his head? He looked upwards to search for it, and yes indeed he could spot it.

He could see a faint and unfamiliar magic around it. But that didn't matter at the moment, because now he was pondering. Has something else changed? He tried to remember, how he looked before, but somehow he couldn't. He had no memory about his past appearance, in fact he wasn't even sure, what he had been before the flash.

The armor-clad hooves seemed familiar to him, so he assumed, that they had stayed the same as they had been before, but anything else about his former self was shrouded in mystery.

He just knew that horses don't have orange eyes or horns. But what told him that he has been a horse before? Maybe he had always looked that way and he hadn't seen a reflection of himself before? But shouldn't he at least be aware of the fact that he had had a horn? And shouldn't he at least know what kind of creature he was?

---.---

Pinkie had covered her eyes before the flash happened. She was still blinded somehow, but she recovered much faster than any of her friends. Her eyes fell onto the two squabblers, who have both be turned into statures: the wolf into one made of stone with colorful crystals for eyes and claws and the other creature into one made of a silvery metal.

The strange giant pony was still standing near the well, but he has changed a lot. He looked in fact far more like a normal pony, although he was still very big. His legs weren't as thin as before, his muzzle has shortened and his tail know described a small arc instead of just pointing straight down to the ground. The tail has also changed its color from brown to the green of the spooky mist that surrounded the two-legged one before it became a statue. But the most amazing thing was, that he had now a horn. He somehow became a unicorn!

The only pony, who has changed her race was Twilight and now Pinkie saw another one doing this trick. Pinkie wanted to know how he did that. And his name. And why he let that meanie sit on his back. And she wanted to welcome him in Ponyville. So she made a step to appear behind him. But instead of arriving there, she just made a normal step forward.

She frowned. As far as she knew she wasn't watched, therefore she shouldn't be still there. She looked back to see if her being-looked-at-senses tricked her.

Her eyes fell on her friends, who where still holding their fore hooves in front of their eyes, and her jaw dropped to the ground. They had changed as well! Rarity, Applejack and Spike became pegasi, Fluttershy a unicorn and Rainbow Dash and Twilight were now earth ponies. Pinkie Pie concluded, that she might have changed as well.

Looking back she found no wings, but when she looked for a horn she found a bright pink one on her head. She grinned in glee. She would have much fun with it. And with that she teleported to the armored unicorn, leaving a small cloud of confetti behind.

---.---

Confidant was pulled out of his thoughts, when something pink appeared to his left. He jumped away, yelping in surprise. It was a pony, a brightly pink pony mare with a pink horn and a fluffy pink mane, that looked a lot like cotton candy. And she talked to him! It was in a language he couldn't understand, but still a spoken language with a broad variety of different phonemes. He began to belief he was dreaming, because he was quite sure that pink ponies don't exist. Especially talking pink ponies with horns don't exist, so he had to be dreaming.

He knew a spell that gave him the ability to understand what someone wants to tell. He concentrated on the pink dream pony and casted it.

“... and then we will have a party! Uh, what was that?” The dream pony looked confused at him, tilting her head. “Can you do that again?” She began to jump on the spot.

He wanted to answer, but he couldn't form words. He was in a dream, she was able to speak, so why wasn't he himself? He decided, that it was quite pointless to argue with the logic of a dream. Since his last spell seemed to work, he focused for another one.

This time he concentrated on a telepathy spell directed at the bouncing pony. “Can you hear me?”, Sending his words through his magic to her.

“Sure,” she smiled at him, “That was you, wasn't it? Are you a ventriloquist?” She asked.

“No, I used a telepathy spell to be able to communicate with you.”

She stopped jumping, staying somehow in midair for some moments, and instead looked at him bewildered. “Why?”, she asked and dropped to the ground. She continued talking after about half a second: “Oh, oh, a guessing game! You've got-”

“That wasn't intended as a guessing game. I used the spell since I can't form words neither in realty nor in this dream,” he interrupted her, only for her to go on with the talking.

“I'm dreaming? But where are the flying...”

“No,” he interrupted her again, “I am dreaming, since whatever seemed to have happened to me and the fact of your mere existence are crimes against the laws of reality, so this must be a dream.” The fluffy mane of the pink pony became flat almost instantly, her eyes filled with tears and she cried loudly.

Confident backed away some steps. He was sorry for her, even if she wasn't real, but he had no clue what to do. He looked around seeing some other weird colored horses, some with wings and one with a horn, but paid them no real attention. For some reason he expected to find Arlok behind him. So he turned his head in hope that Arlok would help him.

He froze in terror at what he saw. Arlok was indeed behind him, but he had turned into a statue! It had his magical structure, only the chilly, calming dust was somehow missing. Instead of it he was enclosed in thick layers of chaotic magic.

A banishment spell.

Confidant used their mind link to ask what happened, just to receive a diffuse but intense feeling of pain, panic and absolute horror. The pain overwhelmed him and his knees gave in. Some moments later the pain was gone. But the insight that this was quite likely reality remained.

He tried frenetic to undo the curse that was put on Arlok, but it was in vain. The spellbreakers, he knew, were either for creatures with hands or were far to weak.

He sacked to the ground and curled up. His vision became blurry. He was alone. Arlok his guardian and guide for so long had been turned into a statue and he was stranded in a strange and quite likely hostile place, that seemed to simply ignore the rules he thought to be true.

---.---

Twilight felt like she was hit by a train. She had a serious headache and her eyes hurt as if they were on fire. She couldn't form coherent thoughts until her sight returned to her and the pain vanished with it.

Has Rainbow spiked that Punch? was the first thought that came to her mind. Everything she saw was covered, no, infused with some strange substance. The theory was additionally supported by the fact, that she saw Rarity, but with wings and no horn.
She saw that the strange ‘substance’ was concentrated in her wings, with additional points of higher concentration in the hooves and around the muzzle. This ‘substance’ had no color and in fact no truly visual appearance, it was still somehow connected with pictures, but also with sensation of touch. The ‘substance’ in Rarity felt like clouds and was very soft.

After some moments she realized, that she heard a crying pony. She looked in that direction to see Pinkie Pie with a horn sitting near the well drenched in tears.

Twilight also saw the statues of the two combatants. Their ‘substance’, a mixture of colors, forms and things she had never seen before, felt just wrong in so many ways, that it mentally hurt her to just see them.

Twilight shivered and turned her head away, but decided she needed to help her friend. She ran to Pinkie trying to avoid looking at the combatants turned statues.

Pinkies ‘substances’ was more like water, but also had some sort of softness about it. It was concentrated on the same place like it was in Rarity, just that her horn was the point of the biggest concentration, since she lacked the wings. When she reached Pinkie she was aware of the wrongness within the statues, even though she looked into the other direction.

It took a while to calm the party pony enough, that she could tell Twilight what happened. After a short explanation about the exchange with the armored pony, Twilight was eager to teach this bully some manners.

She looked back, carefully, trying to not get the statues into her view. While doing so, she became aware, that a thinner ‘substance’ similar to Pinkies was in front of one of the statues. She didn't really believed that he was there, since this ‘substance’ had to be some weird hallucinations, but what did she had to lose? So she looked at the position, where she felt the ‘substance’ and to her surprise, she found a big armored unicorn there.

He was curled up, shivering and silently crying in front of the statue of the weird changeling that was earlier on his back. Her anger at him vanished and was replaced with sympathy as she saw the picture of misery in front of her. She moved towards him.

She noticed, that he had four different kinds of ‘substance’. Around his horn, muzzle and hooves was this water ‘substance’ like Pinkie had, but it felt a bit different. She couldn't tell what this difference was exactly, but she was sure it was there.

‘Substance’ like oil flooded through him, focused in his front hooves, eyes and his tail, while his armor seemed to be imprinted with ‘substance’ that seemed to be like a cross between ink and glass, shaped in strange symbols that had no meaning to her. The last ‘substance’ was like sand, that burned in an ice-cold fire, which was mainly located in his skull and in his chest.

She came to a stop right next to him.“Mister, are you okay?” But he didn't answer.

To her dismay she clearly felt the ‘substance’ of the statue, but the awareness became surprisingly dim, when she thought about not wanting to feel it. Nevertheless she wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. So she touched his shoulder.

He opened his eyes, saw her, backed away, only to be stopped by the statue directly behind him. He looked at her with great fear in his eyes. She jumped back a little, as she didn't expect such a strong reaction. After a moment of shock she saw how his eyes glowed for a moment in white light, while some of the oily ‘substance’ launched forward to hit her right between the eyes. This happened so fast she couldn't even close her eyes before it hit her. She still tried to evade it, although it had already hit her.

“What... what do you want?” asked a scared male voice. She couldn't make out where it came from. As far she could see through the breathing holes of his helmet, he hadn't moved his mouth, but his fearful gaze was focused on her.

“Was that you?” she concluded more as a statement than as a question.

“Um... y...yes?” was the shaky response that she heard in her head. She wondered why he didn't use his mouth, but decided that now wasn't the time to satisfy her curiosity.

“I'm here to help. What has happened to you?” she asked with genuine concern in her voice.

“Why?” was the only reply she received.

“Pardon?” returned a perplexed Twilight.

“Why would you help me? Only Arlok and those he paid have ever cared for me.”

For a moment she felt bad for him, but then she remembered that he had bluntly hurt her friend feelings. “You know this might be because you're rude to ponies you talk to?” replied Twilight coldly.

He seemed to panic. “Please, I'm not used to talk. I didn't even knew she was real, please, don't hurt me!”
Twilight looked at him bewildered. “I won't hurt you, but why are you not used to talk?”

But before he could response Twilight heard Rarity scream, “THIS. IS. THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING.”

Rainbow Dash followed with her own scream not a second after Rarities had ended “MY WINGS! THEY'RE GONE!”

Twilight looked into the direction of her friends. She saw Rainbow Dash and Rarity panicking. Fluttershy and Applejack, who have changed to a unicorn and a pegasus, respectively, tried to calm Rainbow Dash down even though both were clearly scared and confused themselves. Rarity was tended by a purple pegasus stallion with green hair, who had no cutie mark. Other than anypony else he seemed happy. Twilight couldn't shake off the feeling, that he looked familiar to her.

Other screams could be heard from the direction of Ponyville. Twilight saw some other ponies, that have been walking through the park before were now running back into town. As far as she could remember them, they had changed as well.

She took a deep breath. The drug hypothesis was pretty sure false. Something big, something bad had happened and was about to cause chaos. It was her task to find out what exactly happened and to reverse its effects.

She walked over to her friends. They had much to do.

Comments

[luna the writer]

No errors in this chapter. Good job, I like this!