Changing Tides

Chapters

On a Midnight Dreary
While I pondered, Weak and Weary
The Dreamwalker

On a Midnight Dreary

Trachnid was just finishing up his scouting mission into the everfree, his partners went ahead, as he was staying behind to finish up some business. as he began finishing up, some thing whipped right out of the darkness and shredded his left wing.

"Agh!" He exclaimed, as the claws of his assailant ripped through his wing. he fell to the ground, cradling his wounded limb. He recovered, and landed on his back hooves. he quickly pulled out his combat knife, and stood in a defending position. He couldn't attack yet, he needed to know what he was up against. While he waited, he assessed his wounds.
The torn wing was bleeding, and if he didn't take care of it soon, he might not live to see this thing's head mounted back at his hive.

He was startled when a loud roar erupted behind him, and he spun in place to see what he was up against. He Almost ran away from the hulking form in front of him.

From the shadows, a large Manticore was visible. It was easily twice his size, and he felt like he was about to be dinner if he didn't do something about it. In a swift motion, he jumped at the manticore, using his uninjured wing to propel himself at the beast. He wasn't so lucky as he thought. In the middle of his jump, his unbalanced wingspan made it so he was launched to the left, and he was stuck in the abdomen by the manticore's scorpion tail, impaling him.

Trachnid tried to gasp for air, but the manticore's tail punctured one of his lungs. he fell off the manticored tail to the ground, where he await death's cold embrace, when suddenly...

"Oh no!, why did you do such a thing, mister! Do you have a thorn in your foot again? Bad manticore!"

Trachnid thought he heard a voice, but he passed out before he noticed who it was.

==============================================================================

As Trachnid awoke, he began to look around. all he saw was a cottage around him, not something from his hive, but something Alien. As he began to remember what happened the other night, he attempted to sit up, but was met with a thousand cries of complaints from his abdomen and wing. the pain was enough to drive the breath from his lungs, and he landed on his "bed" gasping for air.

as he began inspecting his general vicinity again, he noticed a light yellow mare with pink hair, staring at him shyly from underneath the curl in her hair. he looked into her eyes, and she squeaked and hid behind her hair some more, as if she were afraid of him.

"You saved my life, didn't you?" Trachnid said. he already knew the answer, but he didn't believe this fragile mare could ever stand against a manticore that size and not be wounded.

"Um, I guess I did. you were so hurt when I found you, and I was afraid you weren't going to make it. I don't think you would have made it if I wasn't there to save you." she said, still behind her hair.

" I only have you to thank for saving my life. I would have never have survived if not for you. I am in your debt, Pegasus." Trachnid said, even though he hates ponies, this one did save his life.

"Well, you're welcome, but I'm afraid I need to clean your wound and change your bandages now." She motion to the Medical kit on the table in the room. " you might want to bite down on something."

Trachnid had never felt pain like this, even through resilience training. every inch of packed linen felt like fire burning inside his wound, since she hadn't been able to give him any pain medication. every minute was like and hour, an every second was like a living hell. he was constantly moaning in pain, which only made Fluttershy look at him in compassion.
Then the pain started to ease, being replaced by a warm fuzzy feeling. this feeling intensified as she hugged him and hummed an lullaby unknown to him. he hummed in pleasure, and he forgot of his wounds entirely in this warm bliss. he blinked and look at fluttershy, who had her eyes closed and was still hugging him.

"You can let go now." was all he said, as he started to regain lost strength.

Then there was a knock at the door, three quick raps that mad Fluttershy yelp and jump out of her skin. she started to panic, looking at the door then looking at Trachnid.

"Fluttershy, please be a dear and let me in, its positively dreadful out here, darling"

"um, Rarity, this isn't the best of times. can you come back later? I mean, only if you want too..."

"Fluttershy, what has you so worried? we're friends, we can trust each other, right? I mean, what can be so bad that you are hiding it from..." Rarity's words trailed off as she entered the cabin and say Trachnid laying there, bandaged up.
She looked Dumbfounded before she let loose a blood curdling scream and running out the door.

"No, Rarity! Wait!" screamed Fluttershy, chasing after her friend out the cottage.

Trachnid waited till he knew they were gone, then Attempted to get up and leave. The pain retured with a vengeance, and he gasped, but he still limped out the cabin door and attempted to get away before anybody else saw him and screamed bloody murder.

To Trachnid, it felt as if he had been limping away from the cottage for hours on end before he found a fence that looked like it lasted forever and what looked like an apple orchard on the other side. He managed to climb on top of the fence before losing his balance and falling to the other side, hitting his head on an apple tree. the last thing he saw was an apple falling from the tree and then all was black.

Author's Note

How good is this story, its my first thing I've written other than school projects, and I'm curious on how I did.

Please don't go easy on me, because I'm always open to new ideas and constructive criticism.
I think I did good, but I wrote this at 4 o'clock in the morning, so if there are any grammatical errors, please do inform me about them.

While I pondered, Weak and Weary

It was a warm, spring day, and it was about time for school to let out. some of the foals were getting anxious.

"Come on, come on!" whispered Scootaloo, who was watching the clock with enough intense concentration to burn a sprig of cedar. as the school bell sounded, all the young Foals left the schoolhouse in a hurry. Applebloom was one of the last to leave.

Applebloom searched for her friends outside the schoolhouse and shortly found them trotting away talking to one another.

"Hey, y'all, Wait up!" Applebloom hollered to her friends, as she was the last to leave and didn't want to be left in the dust. She picked up her pace until she was cantering towards her friends. she soon caught up, since she worked on an apple orchard since she was born. As she caught up, she noticed her friends were having a conversation.

"Okay, girls, what are we doing today?" said Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo put her hoor to her chin and though deeply on the matter, while Applebloom did the same.

"Lets just go to the our Tree house and decide what we are going to do there, it will be easier if we don't have to listen to third party conversations." Sweetie Belle said over the mass of Foals that had just left school, leaning in closer to her friends so they would hear her.

"Good idea!" Applebloom and Scootaloo said in unision, and the trio trotted away in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

==============================================================================

Trachnid felt somepony poking him in the side, and he tried to ignore it, he was to tired to get up right now, and he felt like he was hit by a bus.

"Hey, you alive?" he heard a young filly's voice call out to him. She kept poking, until she poked the spot the bandages were covering.

"Aaagh!" Trachnid exclaimed, as a spike of pain shot up his abdomen and strait to the base of his skull.

"Eeeeek!" exclaimed a group of voices, and Trachnid looked up, noticing the yellow one running away. Then he looked at the closest one; An orange Filly with purple hair and matching irises. she looked as if she had seen a ghost, and jumped when Trachnid motioned for her.

"Leave me alone, monster!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she turned around and bucked at Trachnid's face. Trachnid tried to stop the blow, but twisting made his wound flare up and he stopped his arms, yelping in pain.
the blow soon impacted his face, breaking his jaw and knocking him out.

"Good shot Scootaloo!" said Sweetie Belle. "Do you think you killed it?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to find out if it gets back up!" She said, running for the tree house. Sweetie Belle soon ran off in pursuit of Scootaloo.

==============================================================================

Applejack soon got back home from applebucking, still sweaty from the hard work. She stopped for her break, and was in the house getting a drink of cool Apple Cider. Then Applebloom throws open the door and yells between pants:

"Help! theres a monster near the tree house!" She stopped, panting from the long run home."Please, Applejack, Big Mac, somepony, help!" At this, Applejack put down her glass of cider and rushed to her little sisters aid.

"Whats wrong, what kind of monster, and where is Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle?!?" Applejack said, worried that they could be in serious danger.

"I don't know! I left a soon as it opened its eyes! please Applejack, you have to do somethin'!" Applebloom said panicky, as she doesn't know how her friends are faring.

"Well, Lets not waste any time gettin' there, either." Applejack said, hurrying out the door in direction of the tree house, Applebloom soon following in her sisters footsteps.

==============================================================================

"Rarity! Wait!" Fluttershy called, as she was chasing after Rarity, who had gotten spooked at the appearance of the changling." I can explain!"

"How can you explain the appearance of that Thing in your cottage!" Rarity said, quickly spinning in place. This took Fluttershy by surprise and, being surprised, tripped over her own hooves and landed in front of Rarity.
"Are you alright, dear?" Rarity said, worried that her friend hurt herself." That was quite the spill you took there."

"I'm alright, but I just don't want you to be worried over him, he got injured in a fight with a manticore, and I couldn't just leave him there, he needed help!" Fluttershy stated. "Oh, I'm sorry if I was a bit mean there, I just won't sit idly by while something is in pain." Fluttershy started looking guilty, as if she had stolen something and was caught red handed.

"Oh, you shouldn't be expected to ignore your special talent, Dear, just think before you take care of something that could hurt you instead of being thankful for your help." Rarity said, who felt sorry for upsetting her friend. "Now, we must go and tell Twilight about this, as she would know best on what to do."

Fluttershy nodded I approval before following her friend, who was walking at a fast trot.

==============================================================================

as Applejack and Applebloom arrived at the tree house, she was greeted by Scootaloo, leaning out of a window, beckoning her and Applebloom inside, whispering:

"Up here, and be quick about it, please!" she stopped leaning out the window and turned around to face the inside of the Tree house.

The sisters looked between one another, then climbed the stairs into the tree house, worried about the welfare of the two. As they got inside the tree house, Applejack started pushing for answers:

"Hey, y'all, where is this "monster" you all were talkig about?" Applejack asked, suspicious. "I'm hoping y'all wont do somethin' to the extent of this as a prank?" Applejack said, looking at Scootaloo in particular.

"Hey!, I don't joke about stuff like this, so get off my back." Scootaloo said defensively. "I know where the monster is, so let me show you I'm not lying!" After Scootaloo got up, stormed out in the direction of the fence where Trachnid lay. As they arrived Applejack was the first to speak.

"What in tarnation?" She looked scared at first, but then it turned into anger when she realized it was a changling. "Why on equestria..." her words trailed off as she thought of what to do with the Changling. "I say we take it over to Twi, 'cause I think she'll know what to do with it." She motion towards Applebloom. "Hey, Applebloom, help me carry it."

==============================================================================

Rarity and Fluttershy arrived at Twilights library after around 20 minutes of walking and Rarity knocked on her door three times in quick succession, much like how she knocked on Fluttershy's door. Impatient, Rarity knocks again, in the same manner as last time, before they hear a young male voice coming from inside.

"Im coming, give it a rest, will ya?" Before long, they see a dragon open the door. He was small in stature, purple scales with a light green stomach and a deeper green crest on his head. "Hi, Rarity" He said, love-struck.

"Spike, we are here for Twilight, so could you go get her?" Rarity said, blinking affectionately at spike, then winks at him.

"Okay, Rarity, come in" Still love-struck, he turns around and lets them in the library, then he calls for Twilight:
"Hey, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy are here for you!"

"Thanks, ill be down in a second!" Twilight hollers down the stairs, and they hear the scratching of a desk chair against the ground and you hear her hooves walking to the stairwell. "Okay, now what did you girls want again, I'm quite busy" She says as she is walking down the stairs, being in front of the trio when she stops talking.

"Well, I might have brought in something dangerous, and Rarity is worried about what exactly I brought in." Fluttershy said as she tried to hide underneath her hair again.

"Twilight, darling, she brought in a Changling" Rarity stated Matter-of-factly," And I was wondering what we should do about it"

"A WHAT?!?" Twilight exclaimed, looking scared and worried, "why on Equestria would you bring a Changling into your cottage, Fluttershy!" She started pacing around, freaking out. "Do you realize what could become of this?!. you could be banished for helping the enemy!. You could be thrown into the dungeon for aiding the Changling! you could..." At this, she began hyperventilating

"Twi, you are scaring Fluttershy!" Spike says flatly, and motions to Fluttershy, who Is cowering where she stands

"Oh my bad, hehe" she giggles," Well, I guess ill need to tell Celestia, punishments or not." Twilight motions towards spike. "Tell her that..." was all she said before the door was opened by Scootaloo, immediately followed by Sweetie Belle, and the sisters Applejack and Applebloom. Applejack and Applebloom were carrying a bandaged Changling, with two obvious hoof prints on his face. They walked in a bit farther and sat him down in the middle of the room.

This catches the group in the house by surprise, All of them gasping at the appearance of the Changling in question.

"Oh my, where did you find him?" Fluttershy asked immediately, breaking the silence.

"We found it by our tree house, it was passed out by the fence." Sweetie Belle motioned to his face, which was bruising. " it awoke and tried to grab Scootaloo, so she bucked it in its face." At this, Fluttershy went to her patient, and she checked his face for injuries.

"His jaw is broken, but there seems to be no other injury, except for the hoof prints." Fluttershy pointed out. "Who did this to him?" She looked at the three young girls in the room

" It tried to grab me, I got scared and bucked it in the face," Scootaloo looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry if I hurt one of your animals, Fluttershy"

"Oh, he isn't one of my animals, Scootaloo, but a Changling" Fluttershy says, and the filly's all look at each other weirdly and scratch their heads.

"What is a Changling?" Applebloom asks quizzically, confused.

"Changling's are shape shifters who feed on love and compassion, and could take the place of any one of us at a given point of time." Twilight says, never keeping her eyes of the Changling. "Their queen nearly ruined my brothers wedding and took over all of Equestria!" She put emphasis on the end of the sentence, pointing at the Changling. "That's why I want to send for the princess, because if one showed up here, who knows whether there might be more out there, staging an attack!"

In the commotion, Trachnid stirred, and the entire room focused on him. He winced as he woke, not used to his injuries yet. As he looked around, he blinked and tilted his head.
"Why are you all staring at me like that?" He asked, perplexed about why everyone was staring at him. "Who are you?" Rarity huffed at this question, pointing her nose to the air, while Twilight responded with hostility.

"Why would we tell you?" She said,

Trachnid flinched, then put his hoof to his chin and pondered her question. After a short while, he responded. "I don't know" He said, then he started to panic, looking between the multitude of faces in his fit of confusion. He soon deflated, looking more scared and helpless.

"Who am I?"

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long, I fell asleep at my computer while writing it :s

By the way, I'm having trouble finding the line in Anthro writing and Pony writing, so bare with me.

The Dreamwalker

It was midday, and the Library was bustling with movement

"What do you mean, you don't know who you are?" Fluttershy asked, Alarmed by the information she had just heard.

"I don't know, okay!" Trachnid exclaimed, driven frantic by the recent events. "I don't know who I am, where I've been, or who my friends are!" At the last word, he deflated, growing a more sorrowful tone. "I just don't know, okay?" Rarity, who had overcome her initial fear, felt only spite towards the Changling.

"And how do we know you aren't lying, you vile miscreant!" Rarity said, showing off her Vocabulary. "You Foul, uncouth..." her barrage of unneeded expletives was halted by Fluttershy, by placing a hoof over her mouth. Rarity looked at her friend in disbelief, then found that her friend was pointing to the Changling.

"Rarity, you're frightening him" Fluttershy pointed to Trachnid, who was cowering before the violent white unicorn. "Its okay, there's nothing to be afraid of." Trachnid seemed to be calming down, but would be wary of Rarity from now on.

"Yeah, he better be frightened" Rarity mumbled, keeping a keen eye on the changling, still doubtful about his amnesia.

"I think I know how we can tell if he has amnesia" Twilight interjected. "I was just reading a book about Possible Pony Plagues." She cantered up the stairs and retrieved the book. All the while, Rarity was giving Trachnid a Vile look. "Aha!" Twilight exclaimed as she had located the book. Rarity turned her attention to the stairs as twilight walked down, carrying a book with her magic.

"So, how is a book going to help us again, Twilight?" Rarity asked with a hint of poison in her voice, looking at the Changling with spite.

"I can look at his mind to gauge any mental trauma, or in short, I can detect, and if possible, cure his amnesia." Twilight explained while flipping through the book. "I don't know the differences between Pony and Changling anatomies, but they can't be that different, right?" She flipped to a certain page and began reading. Before long, she found what she was looking for.

"Alright, this book says this spell is really taxing on the caster, so if I pass out, please catch me, okay?" at this, Applejack and the Crusaders stood around Twilight in preparation in case she did pass out. "Hey, you ready?" She walked in front of the changling, and prepared herself for the spell.

"As ready as ill ever be, if that means anything." He said, looking unsure of himself. As he prepared, he squeezed his eyes shut as if alcohol were to be poured on his wounds. She charged up her horn, it's brightness increasing to a blinding degree, and she let loose a beam of energy that struck Trachnid in the forehead. Everything Flashed white and slowed down and the last thing they heard was her friends calling her name.

==============================================================================

Trachnid stirred, and he opened his eyes to and empty library. no one was there, not even the lavender pony who tried to cure his amnesia. He now, at least, knew his name. The amnesia "cure" only partially worked, as became aware to Trachnid. He remembers his name and how he had gotten to the cottage of the light yellow Pegasus, but no farther back. He looked around the room and listened carefully. He heard noises from upstairs.

So that's where they all went

He guessed that when the lavender one passed out, they completely forgot about him. he went to stand up and noticed that there was a blanket over top of him.

Well, I guess not all of them are heartless ponies

He grabbed the blanket in his mouth and pulled it off of himself, and stood up. As he stood up, he stretched his leg muscles to an extent. He didn't want to reopen any of the wounds, and he also didn't want any of them to notice he woke up.

He crept over to the window and peered out, but he didn't see anything. Feeling assured, he slowly leaned back to a standing position, as to not overextend anything. he went to the door and slowly cracked it open. the dry night air felt enticing, and he opened the door just enough so he could get out. As he opened the door he heard a clopping of hooves above him, which only made him open the door faster than he normally would have. When the door was open enough, he slipped out and turned to shut the door. The next few moments were a blur to Trachnid. He heard something in the bush beside the library, and from the sounds of it, it was something big. He turned to his left to check out the bush, and as he did so, the door was pushed open, and the edge of the door hit him where the majority of the bandaging on his left side was. Just so happens, the wound where the manticore tail pretty much impaled him was on that side. as the door impacted, he yelped in pain, which told the person on the other side of the door where he was at. he leapt into the bushes, only to meet resistance

The noise he had heard earlier wasn't his imagination, but was a Royal Guard on watch. They were lying in wait, and he fell right in the trap. As lithe as a cat, the guard in the bushes leapt onto Trachnid, pinning him to the ground. Trachnid looked up to the door, only to see the one pony that he hoped he wouldn't find. There, standing in the doorway, was Princess Celestia herself. Accompanying her was the librarian, Twilight. As she saw Trachnid there, pinned on the ground, her expression turned to one of smug content. "See, just as I predicted." She smiled and looked at Celestia, who kept a flat expression throughout the conversation. "Now, what do we do with him, Princess?" Twilight looked up to Celestia, waiting for a response. Celestia looked to the guard who had Trachnid pinned and nodded her head. The guard nodded back, and whacked Trachnid in the back of the head, knocking him out cold. By her command, the guard carried Trachnid to the royal carriage and packed him on.

"Why did you do that, Princess! He hasn't done anything wrong yet." Twilight asked, looking up to Celestia with confusion in her eyes.

"That doesn't mean he wont attempt to do anything. If what you said is correct, he could prove to be a valuable asset." She looked down to Twilight. "I'm just going to test him to see if he may be a threat. If he passes, he may return."

"But what if he doesn't?" Twilight asked urgently, wanting to know the possible fate of the Changling. All Celestia did was look up to Luna's night, with a sorrowful expression, and turned to her pupil.

"If he doesn't pass, I leave him to the judgment of Captain Shining Armor." At this she boards the carriage and sits down, Trachnid being in the floorboard of the carriage. The carriage takes off in direction of Canterlot, leaving Twilight staring after the carriage.

"Please be merciful, Big brother." Twilight turns around and goes to give the news to the girls.

==============================================================================

Trachnid awoke bound to a wooden chair in a dark dungeon, The only illumination in the room was a light on a ghastly set of tools, to which he hoped was only to intimidate him. He inspected the room closer, but nothing was of interest to him. Since nothing was of interest, he observed the tools once again. One was a pair of blood-stained needle-nose pliers, a tarnished hammer, a chisel, and an array of scalpels and knives. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to notice things that evaded his view until now.

On the floor, there were bloodstains everywhere, and of varying degree's of size. One was even larger than his wing. He noticed, to his horror, that there was a big pile of what looked to be pieces of Changling Carapace piled into the corner, along with a few Insectoid wings. His heart started racing as he looked at the hammer and chisel again, with a newfound dread creeping into his mind. He was startled out of his loop of dread when he noticed a dark form creeping in the corner. His eyes adjusted, and he saw the form of a Stallion before a hoof reached out for the light, tilting it at Trachnid.

"Well, look who finally woke up." The stallion, as he was talking, he walked into the light. He was pitch black with a fire- like mane. He was a big stallion, with a deep, husky voice. He walked over to Trachnid and began speaking. "When I ask you a question, you answer it, Got me?" He was blunt, but got is point across. "Otherwise, you will end up like the rest, he motioned to the piles Trachnid noticed before. "Now, Why were you in the Everfree when you were found?" He practically barked the question at Trachnid, who flinched and shrank in the wooden chair, ears laying flat upon his head.

"I don't know!" Trachnid explained, "I've been trying to tell everyone, I don't know what I was doing in the forest!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, wrong answer." He walked back to the table, and grabbed the pair of bloody pliers and the hammer. He walked back to Trachnid, and put the hammer against Trachnid's foreleg. "Now, tell me why you were in the forest, or you will regret it." He tapped Trachnid on the foreleg.

Trachnid got the hint, and he tried to pull his leg out of the bonds out of instinct, but the leather was taut around the limb. He looked up at his persecutor, Innocence gleaming in his eyes. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you want!" He looked down at his leg and tried to pull it out again, unsuccessfully. "Please, why do you have to do this?" Trachnid closed his eyes and looked away, in preparation in what was about to happen.

The Stallion just huffed, and lifted the hammer menacingly. He aimed the hammer, and he swung. the hammer stopped about an inch from Trachnids leg, and he slightly opened one eye to see what had occurred, and he saw that the hammer was almost frozen midair. He turned his head and opened his eyes fully to inspect the anomaly. the Stallion had frozen mid-swing, as if time had stopped, but he still had the look of malice in his eyes. and looked around, noticing that everything had stopped moving, even the insect that was buzzing around just a minute ago was frozen in suspended animation. Then the entire room glowed a bright white, making Trachnid turn and hide his eyes. once his eyes adjusted, he looked and saw a Midnight blue Alicorn, with Stars seemingly swirling in her flowing mane, standing not that far from him.

"Don't be alarmed, I'm not here to hurt you" She said, in a soothing voice. "You have passed the test my sister set before you, and you are free to do as you wish." She said, with a happy look. Trachnid looked around, completely caught off guard by this turn of events. "Oh, you must me wondering what happened." She walked over and used her magic to undo the bonds. "This was all dream, one of my many talents" she stepped back over to where she originally was. "I have dominion over the dream world, so I can control the dreams of all living things." She motioned to the spot next to her. "Come, sit next to me and I will take you back to the realm of the living."

Trachnid got up out of the chair, sore from the position he was sitting in, and walked over to the Midnight mare. He sat next to her, and looked up to the princess. She looked down, and with a calming look, she lowered her head and put the tip of her horn against his forehead. Her magic flashed a deep blue, and the world around Trachnid started to Fade around him. He felt the essence of sleep creep up on him, and he closed his eyes.

==============================================================================