The Winds of Change

by AgentSnail

The Meeting

The Meeting

"Hey Twi, where's Spike? I haven't seen that little guy all day." Applejack asked as she walked into the library, followed by Twilight.

"I think he's helping Rarity with some dress design, to spend time with her probably." She rolled her eyes. "Like anything is really going to happen between those two..."

"Anyway, about that changeling..." Applejack said, trying to turn the discussion into something important.

"Yeah, it's weird..." She said while flipping through her notes. "I've never seen a changeling attempt anything non-melevelent. And healing your sister fits that bill."

"And that thing about parents was strange...Ah mean, ah didn't know changelings had parents." Twilight stared for a moment.

"They don't. That's probably part of his disguise." she said.

"Uh, Twillight, what do ya mean by that?" Confusion passed over her face.

"Well, think about it, it would further his disguise. It's not like he's actually a changeling with parents. That's impossible anyway." She thought for a moment. "The weird thing is though, I'm surprised that he would draw so much attention to himself. Generally changelings slip by with as little noticeability as possible, but this one almost seemed to draw as much attention to himself as he could."

"Well ah guess that makes sense, well not the second part, but ah still don't know why he would heal Applebloom."

"Think about it Applejack, you're less hostile to him because of it, I'd say he got exactly what he wanted out of that healing, and probably got some gratitude from your sister too."

"Consarnit, Twi, why didn't you tell me this earlier?!?!"

"Because stealing gratitude is harmless. It's much weaker than love, and the changeling isn't a threat to your sister anymore." she explained.

"But you're sayin' that he healed mah sister just to gain my favor?" Another look of utter confusion appeared on her face.

Twilight shrugged. "That's what I think, yes."

"And no other changeling has ever been seen healing somepony else?"

"Nope, this is the only time its come up."

"Weird..."

________________________________________________

Jason got to his feet as quietly as he possibly could, attempting to ignore the pain in his gut as he moved. He carefully reared up on his hind legs, and nearly lost his balance. He cursed under his breath. He peered over the dumpster, but had yet to see anything. He decided to risk leaving the safety that existed behind the dumpster and attempt to find the thing that had presumably crashed into the wall, but had yet to make any other noises. He tried to move some of the trash out of the way to get a clear path, but only succeeding in making an inordinate amount of noise. Deciding he would never be able to hunt any kind of no deaf animal, he resolved to quickly push through, ignoring the noise.

Finally free, he turned to look back to look at the damage. There was a dent in the brick wall, with a crumpled pony laying on the ground, at least fifteen feet below. Jason moved closer.

"No way..." He whispered. "No. Fucking. Way." The sky blue pegasus with a prismatic mane didn't stir. Jason walked up to the crumpled body, turning it over. "Rainbow Dash. I knew it." She was still breathing, luckily. Judging by the depth of the dent, it didn't take an expert to figure out that the mare had been traveling pretty fast before she collided with the wall. It also didn't take an expert to figure out that she wasn't just knocked out, if the bones protruding from one of her forelegs and the blood was any indication.

"Great. How am I supposed to..." Jason punched himself. "Wow. Healing. Just wow." He tapped his chin, deep in thought. "Okay, so this is a lot more serious of an injury than a punch to the face, so hopefully I have enough energy left for this." He focused some magic through his horn. "Here goes nothing..."

________________________________________________

"Hey Applejack," said Twilight, prancing back from the library door. "Look what I just got in the mail!"

"What is it, Sugarcube?" queried Applejack, cocking her head and attempting to figure out what was inside the small box that Twilight had in her magical grip.

"I replaced the book that was stolen!" Twilight replied excitedly, quickly tearing the box off with a pair of scissors. "So now we can figure out more about our suspect."

"How did ya do that so fast?"

"You could say that being Princess Celestia's personal student had its benefits..."

"Well quick, Twi, stop wastin' time! Lets get to it!" Twilight opened the book, and they both began to read.

________________________________________________

Twenty minutes later...

"Hold on a minute sugarcube, this here book says that there are these healer changelings. Ya don't think that--"

"Now Applejack, those are an old myth, they've never been proven to exist."

"But Twi, that thing healed ma sister, and while ah resent it for bein' near her, ya can't debate that it is mighty fine at healin' things."

"Well, you may have a point, but until we have further information, we have to assume that it's just a regular changeling."

"But Twi--"

"Listen, Applejack, if it matters so much to you, I can send a letter to the Princess about it." She sighed, and inhaled. "Spiiiiiiike" Twilight yelled out, causing a groan from Spike, coming from the other room. After nearly a minute, he walked in, looking groggy.

"What is it now, Twilight? If you don't mind, I'm tired from helping Rarity, and I just want to sleep."

Twilight rolled her eyes, remembering that Spike had volunteered for the job with Rarity. "Fine, Spike, just take a letter and you can go." She sighed.

"Okay, go ahead," Spike said after gathering the necessary writing supplies.

"Okay."

Dear Princess Celestia,

Although I have already informed you of the status of the changeling threat in Ponyville, along with measures that have been taken to resolve it, I am writing again to ask a very specific question after new information has come to light. We have concrete facts backing up the idea that the changeling from earlier today possessed advanced healing abilities. However, this coincided with the myth of healer changelings, and I have adamantly stated that they are just that: myths. This is why I am writing, though, to see if this hypothesis is actually true. If you could help clear up these issues, that would be much appreciated.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

"There. Send it Spike." A ball of green flame enveloped the letter, and then raced off towards Canterlot. She turned to Applejack. "Now we just have to wait, so that you can see that I'm right," Twilight said with a smug smile.

"Ah guess we'll see about that, sugarcube," Applejack replied, looking equally smug.

________________________________________________

"Agh!" Yelled Jason, his magic visibly trailing off of his horn and onto Rainbow Dash. He was quickly running out of energy. He punched his horn a few times to try to get the spell to stop, but whatever he did, the spell continued it's transfer.

The protruding bones on Dash's leg retracted and popped back into place, as did the other bones, earning a few retches from Jason. It was one of the most disgusting looking things he had ever seen, healing movements looking as jerky as an old movie. "At least she doesn't seem to be in pain..." As abruptly as the spell had started, it ended, just after the last of the minor lacerations had disappeared. Jason collapsed. "Note to self: never, ever, do that with anyone else ever again. His stomach growled. Jason moved to get up, hearing stirrings from Dash. Deciding to let her know of his presence, he spoke. "That was some crash there. You alright?"

The only response was a loud groan and a snort from Dash. "I've had worse." She said flatly. She turned her head, and upon seeing Jason, went stiff. She stared at him for a moment, allowing him to struggle to his feet, before she got up. Jason opened his mouth to say something, but Dash had sprinted towards him, pivoting around on a fore hoof to buck him. "Oh shit!" Both of Dash's rear hooves impacted him with a loud CRACK, sending him into the wall, which he promptly slid down, back into his garbage heap. Dash was back on him in an instant, punching his face, and jarring him around.

"You think you can just come here and try to do THIS," she gestured, "to ponies?" She yelled, sending another punch into his face.

"What, heal them?" Dash stopped punching for a moment, then decided against stopping, and punched him again.

"And why, WHY would a changeling help ME?" she yelled. "Frankly, It'd be easier for you to just get me out of the way."

"Because," He spit out some blood. He was starting to get hurt. 'Guess this armor isn't so impervious to everything.' "You were just left for dead here. I couldn't let you die."

"And why..." *Punch* "is that?"

"Because you were bleeding heavily, and it looked like you broke half the bones in your body. I'm a sucker for mares with broken bones. " he spat out between punches.

"I don't have any broken bones. This trick isn't going to work." *punch* *crack*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! SHIT!!!!!!" Jason yelled. She had cracked some of the chitin on his face. "This isn't a trick, you whore!!! You still have the scar on your foreleg from a protruding bone! Can't you see? I can't even fight back because of how much energy I used to heal YOU! Some ingrate you are, about to gladly kill their savior because of the reputation that changelings have AS A WHOLE. You make me sick." He spat at her, partially clearing his mouth of blood.

She looked shocked. She stopped punching him, and let him drop to the ground. Jason slowly lifted a hoof up, and touched it to his face. It came away completely covered in blood. He looked at Dash's hooves, which were also covered in blood. He tried to roll over and get up. He tried to look at her face, but his vision started to darken. "I--"

He passed out.

Notes: God dammit, I can't write long chapters for shit. Oh well, hopefully its clear why I had to end it there.

Comments

[Felixdragoon]

Yay update

[reader238]

nice cliff hanger at the end. I hope jason will be alright, I wonder how dash is feeling now and if everypony else believe that a changling actually saved dash's life out of the goodness of his heart, I wonder if twilight knows a scrying to detect if any healing magic was used on Rainbow Dash, and to what extent

[panqueques improbables]

Was that just a cliff hanger IHATECLIFFHANGERS

[DezzarTac]

Dash got told.

[Morphy]

Jason is learning a cruel lesson that is true no matter what dimension you're in:
Good deeds never go unpunished.

[Cold Spike]

Best Cliff Hanger EVER KEEP GOING + MOAR

[AgentSnail]

1747228
Yeah, that's pretty much what I do. Generally I aim for about one chapter per day, although whether or not that happens is usually a mystery.

If you or anyone else cares, I do post the release dates on my user page, and try to fulfill them to the best of my ability. So if you want to know stuff, look there.

[Rain_Bow_Dashie]

Nice Cliff Hanger... makes me wana stick around for another chapter

[NightmareKnight]

1747228I agree with Light. If you can't write long chapters, then just give us daily short chapters.

Can't wait to see what happens now.

[kragor]

Oh man, can't wait for the next chapter.

[Shadow Scryer]

I'm just going to say this;

Twilight is a fucking idiot. And even though Dashie wasn't exactly in the right there, I personally hate Jason a little more for what he called her.

That said, I have to admit it's not a bad story. Was worried about the former human being a Mary Sue/Gary Stu earlier, but the fear seems to have passed with your added lore.

[Crowsong]

meh ponys as a whole are a intolerant species look what they did to zecora and she looks just like them be with stripes lol racist ponys are quite amusing

[Icthelight]

Have an error. "I've never seen a changeling attempt anything non-melevelent."

[fferror]

"I've never seen a changeling attempt anything non-melevelent.

"malevolent"

[Luckysweep]

Yeash. As something ingrained into my personality, I dislike ideas that there is no such thing as a certain creature being good. I have this theory that no matter what size of a group, there will always be a LEAST one that thinks and acts differently from the others. Jason doesn't count in my opinion here because he was just dragged into the group.

[sorenxoras]

When in doubt, pass out.

[Pencil Lead]

4424055 That is the rule of life.

[Bright Light46]

Actually it goes... when in doubt flee, it's the grunt philosophy

[Luckyfanisaac]

"Note to self: never, ever, do that with anyone else ever again.”(—— His stomach growled.