A Mentally Unstable and Powerful Changeling...Yeah

by Taken-By-Insanity

Chapter 8: A New Day, A New Recovery

The day after everything had happened, Shade awoke to a room. The smell of chemicals, white walls and roof, some beeping to the left. Yep, a hospital room.

Shade stood and looked down to herself, seeing a hospital gown on her. “Why the gown? Ponies usually aren’t wearing clothes anyway.” After a huff, Shade looked toward the heartbeat monitor and lit her horn. She unplugged the monitor before removing cords from her. She hated those things with their constant beeping.

With the annoyance now gone, Shade decided to wait. The sunlight pouring in from the windows suggested that it was morning, so she assumed that some medical staff would show up to check on her.

A familiar pony eventually stepped through the room’s doors. It was the doctor she previously interacted with. A white coat, blue mane, turquoise eyes. A unicorn stallion. A scar over the cutie mark, a scalpel and syringe making an X. What was his name? She couldn’t remember.

“Hello again Shade,” the doctor said, walking over to her right with a clipboard floating next to him. “I see that you’ve finally woken up. How do you feel?” Ah yes, health talk first, pleasant conversing later.

“I feel…okay. Great, actually.” Shade felt more powerful than she’s ever felt since she first woke up as a changeling. She felt like she could do anything with just a snap of her fingers if she wanted to. If she had fingers.

The doctor took a pencil that was resting on his clipboard before writing into it. “So nothing’s sore or feels strange?”

Shade gave a shake of her head in response. “I feel like I’ve just woken up from a pleasant nap.”

“Alright then,” the doctor lowered his pencil and placed the clipboard into a pocket in his coat. “I should reintroduce myself, since it looks like you forgot. My name’s Doctor Extreme, short for Extreme Operation. Now, you’ve been out all night while Princess Cadence’s wedding was done over and it is currently the day after. You’ll be staying here for the day, so we can make sure you’re in good condition, before you are released and allowed to start on your job.”

“Huh?” That last part confused Shade some. She doesn’t recall getting a job. “What job are you talking about?”

“Oh yes, you probably received it while unconscious. Princess Celestia appointed you as a maid in the castle under the service of Princess Cadence.” Doctor Extreme paused, gauging Shade surprised expression before continuing. “But you don’t have to worry about that right now. Just focus on resting. Is there anything you need before I go?”

I took a moment before Shade responded but respond she eventually did. “Uh, no thank you. I’m sure I can pass the time on my own.” Doctor Extreme nodded before turning to leave. A farewell was given between the two before the doctor left the door and Shade was left alone once again.

She sighed. Perhaps she could practice magic again? She still needed to figure out how to actually cast the spells outside of telekinesis. The only times she seemed able to use magic was when she was overcome with a feeling or emotion. She needed to rely on something else, for she couldn’t control herself when like that.

But then the realization hit. There’s nothing she could practice on. ”I don’t even remember any of the spells I looked at other than levitation.” She heaved a heavy sigh at that. ”Guess I’ll have to pass the time in some other way. Might as well give an attempt at lifting that heart monitor though, since it’s heavier than anything else I’ve used telekinesis on so far.”

Shade lifted a hoof and faced it toward the monitor on her left, channeling her magic as she did. Instead of using the imagery of a simple hand, she decided to use something more…unorthodox. Instead she used the image of some type of tendril reaching out of her hoof and wrapping around the heart monitor. Her mental image then covered the monitor, as if moss had grown all over it within an instant. This resulted in the monitor being covered in Shade’s purple aura.

“There’s step one. I need to learn to not use my hoof eventually. It’s a bit inconvenient, in all honesty.” Now, all she had to do was move it. Shade’s image moved within her mind. She imagined the tendrils simply pulling upwards. And, just as her mental image did, Shade’s magic lifted the heart monitor into the air, if only barely.

The excitement Shade felt at the accomplishment was amazing. She felt alive! She felt like she could take on the world as her eyes gained the color blue and her mane gained a yellow stripe that faded to pink.

She couldn’t help a giggle escaping her mouth as she gladly clapped her hooves. Her joy was unimaginably immense. It was like nothing could go wrong and ruin this mood. With her now endless bounds of energy, Shade picked up the heart monitor again with her magic. Instead of only slightly lifting it, Shade had it move around the room. First, it was moved to the corner farthest from her, then the closest to her right.

Before she could move it somewhere else, a sudden pain went through Shade’s head, breaking her concentration as she put her hooves to her head. The monitor fell, but didn’t break or anything, due to it only being an inch off the ground. The stripe of color faded away and Shade found herself no longer full of joy. ”Did I…lose control there?” How easy it was to lose herself was astonishing to Shade. It was like she always needed to be calm, otherwise she would go out of control.

Maybe she should take a nap? The doctor did tell her to rest after all. That sudden pain certainly cemented the fact that she should recover. She distantly remembers hitting her head before waking up in this room. Yeah. That sounded nice. Shade’s eyes slowly drifted closed and she soon joined the dream realm.

---

“I’m personally excited. I wonder how our newest addition will be like.” A somewhat posh and deep voice spoke within the castle staff break room. A unicorn stallion wearing a butler outfit was the one who spoke. He had a white coat of fur with a black mane and green eyes. On his flank was the image of a paper with a red ribbon.

“Me too, I wonder what they’ll be like?” An earth pony mare responded, sitting across from the table the unicorn sat at. She had a light pink coat with a blue mane and tail with orange eyes. She was wearing a maid outfit and her cutie mark was the image of a chunk of obsidian.

“We’ll find out when we find out.” Another stallion spoke, sporting a higher-pitched voice compared to the other stallion. This was a pegasus also wearing a butler’s outfit, who had a green coat and a violet mane and tail with blue eyes. The cutie mark on his flank was the cartoonish drawing of a gust of wind. Somehow, two mugs were floating next to him as he walked over to the two, a third mug carried in his hoof. He took his seat and the two extra mugs landed in front of the other table occupants.

The unicorn gave a nod of agreement, picking up his mug as he spoke. “Very true. You seem to be getting better with that air manipulation, Gust.”

He and the mare took a sip of their drinks before the mare added on, “And you’re getting better at making coffee.” The three chuckled before they continued taking their sips of caffeine. “I’m still curious though.” The mare set down her mug before resting her head in her hands as she propped up her arms with her elbows. “Have either of you heard anything about our mysterious new coworker?”

The unicorn gave a shrug in reply, but the pegasus named Gust gave a verbal response. “I’ve heard a thing or two while the Day and Night Princess were having their morning meal.” The two turned to him, the mare telling him to go on. “Well, they’re a mare, so Snowflake over here won’t be the only one here.” The mare, presumably Snowflake, gave a small cheer at this news while Gust continued. “She also has a pretty unique talent. She doesn’t manipulate wind or anything like me, but she apparently has a talent for a type of reality warping magic.” This piqued the two’s interest even more, especially the unicorn.

“What kind of reality warping are we talking about?” The poshness in the unicorn’s voice was gone as he was fully interested.

“Well, Count, she can bring art to life, apparently. Too bad I couldn’t listen in to anything else, I had to attend to other duties before I could learn more.” The unicorn sagged at that, the mare merely giving a disappointed sigh before continuing to enjoy her drink.

“Oh well, I suppose we can simply wait and ask her. She is able to come tomorrow after all, according to the doctor that checked up on her.” The unicorn picked up his drink again and took another sip. Gust really knew how to make a good cup of coffee.

---

And we’re back in the darkness of Shade’s dreams. Once again, a small light showed Shade’s body and what was in her hands and she sat against a cave wall. It was the journal she had read during her last visit into the land of dreams. She opened the book and found herself not in the first entry. She didn’t remember seeing this one in her skimming last time.

Entry 58
I’ve been thinking. I’ve heard that the more spirits you have, the more power you get. Not only that, but you’d be able to take more emotions to feed yourself with. What if one changeling took in a lot of spirits and shared the consumed emotion with the rest of the hive? Mother said that it was too dangerous when I brought it up with her. But it hasn’t been done before. What if it worked? We would never need to leave the hive to get more emotion! But, the changeling will have a lot of difficulty with controlling themself with all those spirits. They’d need to be kept in check or something. I have a good aptitude with the spirits. Could I do it and not lose control?
Sincerely, Snow.

”Don’t tell me they actually tried it.” Shade went to the next page. Before she could read it though, a sudden clatter sounded off nearby.

Shade snapped to attention toward her surroundings, finding that she was no longer in the dark cave. She was now in someone’s living room, sunlight pouring in from a window that showed the streets of Canterlot. She looked up to the roof of the room. The noise had come from that direction. Closing the book and standing from a black sofa, Shade went up stairs that were conveniently in view. Up the stairs lead to a hallway with five doors.

Shade opened the first to her left, a simple white door that led into a bathroom. The next one was black with a keep out sign on it. Inside was a simple room with an oak dresser and a bed with black sheets. The door across from the black one was orange and inside was something similar. The only difference was that there were two oak dressers instead of one and there were two beds, one with orange sheets that looked to have red and yellow stains, and another that had bright blue sheets.

The next door to the right was white like the bathroom. Inside was a larger bed. Likely the master bedroom. The sheets were white and there were two other doors. Likely a walk in closet and a bathroom, based on the lack of a dresser and instead there being nightstands next to the bed.

And then there was the last door. It was grey with a sign saying ‘Please Knock.’ Inside was like the other rooms. It sported two beds and dressers. On the right was a dark purple bed with curtains hanging from a ceiling. A nightlight was plugged into the wall next to it, and multiple stuffed animals were strewn on top of it.

The left side of the room was the disturbing one. While it followed the trend of a bed and dresser, this one being grey, there was a knocked over chair next to the bed. It was then that Shade noticed a shadow on the ground as well, shaped like a pony. Shade slowly looked up. Before she could see the source of the shadow, darkness suddenly covered her vision.

Shade awoke with a gasp, sitting up instantly and looking around her surroundings. She was back in the hospital room. After taking a few moments to catch her breath, she sighed in relief and put her head into her hooves. ”Please don’t tell me I witnessed what I think I just did.” She didn’t exactly see what the source of that shadow was, but it didn’t take much thinking to guess what it was. She definitely wasn’t going to get any more sleep tonight. Luckily, it looks like it’s about to be sunrise.

Hopefully this new job of hers won’t be too difficult.

Comments

[Cursebringer]

Great story. Please don't cancel it.

[MindMelon]

This is good!