Author's Note

It's nice to be back to making these more often. Grab some Yorkshire tea, sit back, and relax.

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

"I'm not even in this supposed show!? A moving picture show, and they don't include me?!" the tiny Obsidian exclaims, throwing her front hooves into the air while standing on the end of the walking stick I'm using.

"Nope, haven't seen you once. At least, you aren't a speaking role. Maybe in the background? Though you would thiiinnkk that a tree infused pony would be pretty important. Oh well." I say, smirking at her shock.

"Ooohhh the BIG me is gonna have something to say to those damned elements." mumbles Obsidian, pouting profusely.

"Maybe there's a reason you don't get involved. After all, they seem to create peace quite easily without you. Ooorrr perhaps you're doing stuff behind the scenes? Defeating more gruesome monsters that wouldn't befit a show for children? Hmmm?" I ponder, putting forth a worthwhile theory.

Tiny Obsidian gains a thoughtful face and aura for a few minutes, then nods before speaking. "That sounds about right. I've stopped around thirty-three monster related attacks after they were crowned as the new elements. It seems that natural energies released by them draw in some of the more wild animals. Isn't that right Xirandine?"

I gain a confused look before sighing when a small weight plops down on my shoulder. A vulture is sitting there, somehow giving a grin of satisfaction and pride.

"Yep! I would say that I felt a force radiate outwards from the old castle when those ponies were named the Elements of Harmony. Tasted good, a lot of emotions on that magical wave." squawks Xirandine the vulture.

"Why are you here huh? I was going to enjoy my peace and quiet on this mysterious trip and yet you two are here." I groan while stopping near a ruinous looking area and speaking once again. "The sun is setting, so I think it's time to get some rest. The night is going to be cold, so I'll get a fire started. I assume you're going to keep watch little lady?"

"I am going to indeed! Not having to sleep is nice, though it makes the nights so much slower. Xirandine, did you give Devan his gift?" Tinisidian asks, giving him a motherly look.

Xirandine seems to think for a few seconds and then smack his head gently with his own wing. "Ah, I forgot! Devan! Did you happen to find a gem for that 'Blue Magic' technique? If so, I can give you something pretttyyy useful."

I actually did recently.. Echo found a nice gem that has the right colors for it after I gave him a decent sum, though he said he would have done it for free considering I'm his captain. I believe it's a Jasper? I need a proper vessel for it. I'm already loaded with more than the required amount of magical items. Any more and I feel as if I'll get mugged by some higher entity or a traveling group of adventurers that thought I was some boss. Buuuutt.. I suppose learning one little spell on the gem shouldn't hurt, right?

"I did find one, this would be the first time putting a spell onto it, so I hope you have something reallllyy good!" I reply, smirking and crossing my arms.

"It is! I mean, I think so. After all, I use it all the time. Ready?" Xirandine asks, turning back into his true form.

I ready the necessary spells and see a magical essence cover his body temporarily. Analyzing the spell he's casting, I see him turn into me, then back to normal. I cock my head in confusion and stop my spells.

"All you did was change into me and back into yourself. I've seen that plenty of times, what's so useful about doing that?" I ask, legitimately puzzled.

Xirandine starts snickering and wipes what I assume is a tear from his face. "I give you the most powerful tool that Changelings have, for free, and you complain? You're a pretty rude being Devan."

Wait what?

Sure enough, when I tap into the gem, I see the spell labeled as 'Change'.

I'm glad I implemented a system in the spell to auto-name it based on what I would call it. It was so annoying having to name the spell each and every time.

I cast it, but nothing happens. I try again, nothing.

"Nothing happened when I tried casting it." I say in frustration.

"Did you try, ya know, thinking of what to turn into?" Obsidian says with a roll of his eyes.

Oh.. yeah..

Before I begin to cast the spell again, I stop for a second and realize something. "If this works, will I be able to turn back into myself?" I ask Xirandine, scared that I'll remain whatever I become forever.

"Good question! I feel as if you can turn it off like any other spell, since it does require magical essence to power. Due to it being something we Changelings do naturally, it doesn't take much. I'm sure you'll figure it out, now change Devan! I want to see what you become!" he replies, excitedly watching me.

"Alright, alright. If I do get stuck, you both better help fix me." I reply, ending with a groan.

I can't believe I'm about to do this. What should I even become? A dragon? No, that might be too much. A bird? That's kind of unimaginative. How about....

Casting the spell for the third time, I think of a simple but common thing that I've seen before enough times to feel comfortable becoming. A light green flash happens, blinding me for a split second, and afterwards I feel a bit smaller. My arms are replaced with two more legs, and my body allows me to walk on all four of them. The small breeze that blows through my fur and mane confirm that I've done it. I am a pony.

"Well, how do I look? Did I get it right? I didn't really get to look a specific way." I ask, getting used to my different vocal cords and throat.

Strange, I sound a bit deeper. I suppose a huskier body would do that.

"You look.. Kind of amazing." Obsidian replies, not blinking once while gazing at me.

"A pony? That's it? Bah, so boring! But she is right, you look like a.. Very pretty male? Pretty enough to become the target of plenty of Changelings yearning for the sweet taste of love." Xirandine remarks, looking me up and down.

I feel a blush come to my cheeks and sit down on my butt... Flank. I look at my newly acquired hooves, turning them slowly while I inspect every bit of fur on me. Looking farther down at my stomach and my rear legs, I marvel at the fact that I actually turned into a pony. Then I see it. I feel a great redness take over my body, and release the spell, turning back into my normal form.

It was just.. Out there.. It was bigger than I was used to.

Looking up at them, I see a tiny Obsidian who is turned away and covering her eyes. Xirandine is on his back rolling around and laughing.

"Sh—shut up! I forgot okay! I guess I got excited because of the spell or something." I stammer, embarrassed by how I revealed myself.

Xirandine stops for a moment and gives me a giant grin before replying. "Oh you got excited alright! Hah!"

I scramble to get up, using my walking stick, and continue to the south. Putting the gem back into my pocket, I realize that it might get lost that way and look at my walking stick. Using a simple transformation spell, I embed the gem into the stick, creating a staff. Obsidian is back on the end of it, looking away from me still.

Stupid bug... I hope I didn't freak Obsidian out too much. Ugh, Pinkie would be so mad I bet. At least the spell gave me my clothes back. I'd ask how that works but I don't care right now.

Stopping for a moment, I feel Xirandine bump into me from behind. I turn a bit so that he can hear me speak. "Thank you. That ability means a lot to Changelings. To just hand it over to another being must mean you trust me a lot."

Walking by me, Xirandine gives a cheeky smile before responding. "Well, I can't let you die yet. I'm still getting paid after all. That should help you blend in at this 'Klugetown' without any issue. Now, what do we do about that?"

Turning back to my front, I see Obsidian standing on my staff and pointing at the creature in front of us. A giant worm, specifically a sand worm. It's body is around twenty-five feet tall, covered in stripes and resembles a worm eating another worm. Initially I couldn't help but feel like it looked familiar, after a second I shook off that feeling and got a few spells ready to be flung.

Time to practice a bit of the techniques Echo taught me two days ago. Alright, let's get this going!

The sand worm rears back and roars before leaping at us. Obsidian just waves at me and melds into the staff while Xirandine turns into a Vulture again and flies out of the way. I pull magical essence from inside me and cast a simple but somewhat risky spell, feeling myself slip into the ground, specifically into my shadow. The worm strikes, but I feel nothing.

It's as if I feel like I'm being pushed, but not hard enough to hurt me. I just need to wait for the worm to stop digging into the ground and get back out there.

While I'm waiting for a few seconds, I take a look around. There is almost nothing but darkness. Above me I see a dim version of what's above my shadow.

This 'Dark Space' that Echo told me about is kind of strange. If I remember, it's almost like a dark version of the world you enter from. Supposedly there's everything in this world that there is in the light world, though you need to be from that world to see anything. I guess it's like being a ghost or in limbo. Can't see anything nor can anything see you. Ah, looks like the worm is almost done.

Above me, the worm is frantically looking around for a target. Xirandine is now his signature form, a large Manticore, and on the back of the worm. He bites down onto the body of it and wraps his own body around it, clawing at the sides. While the worm is distracted, I pull myself out of my own shadow and attempt another technique that was inspired by Echo. Feeling magic flow out of me, I focus on the shadow of the worm and make a motion as if I was pulling it up out of the ground.

I haven't tried this on a bigger scale, especially not monstrous sized, but it should work. It feels like it is, considering it's taking a large chunk out of my magical essence supply. Annnnd...

Large hands spiral out of it's shadow, grabbing onto it and holding it down to the ground tightly. The worm attempts to break free but barely moves as it's tail writhes about. After another split second of it being held down, dozens of small spikes pierce through the worm down the length of it. A final, larger spike, stabs through it's head. After a second or two of painful roaring, it dies down and slumps onto the ground, motionless.

Whew, that took quite a bit of concentration. Used up a bit more than I thought too. Ah well, it was quite big.

I dust myself off and move to the worm slowly, being careful that it didn't actually perish. Before I am halfway there from my last position, Xirandine and Obsidian reveal themselves.

"That was amazing!!" spouts Obsidian, jumping up and down on my head. "You learned THAT much already? Enough to take down that creature so easily?"

"Impressive! For such a squishy being." Xirandine remarks, flashing a smile. "A bit flashy though. Could probably have done more with less power use."

"Yeah yeah, but I wanted to practice with my dark based magic. I'll be fine in a few hou— BEETLEJUICE!" I say, ending with a yell.

"Beetle Juice? Are you making fun of my species little one!?" Xirandine snarls, gaining a scary aura.

"No! That worm reminded me of a creature from a show I watched a while ago NAMED Beetlejuice. You're not a beetle, just a dumb mosquito." I say, putting my hands up in defense.

Xirandine looks me up and down and sighs before responding. "Hm... Don't say something so stupid again then. We do liken ourselves to mosquitos, but beetles? They are pathetic."

"Riiighht" I say nervously, returning my attention to the humongous corpse in front of us.

I'll have to find out about these 'beetles' sometime. Apparently, they are worse than Changelings? Whatever, now lets take a look at the 'loot'.

"Obsidian, you're versed in magical items and materials being so in touch with nature. Anything good on this corpse?" I ask, activating a scanning spell just in case.

"Well, it's hide is most likely tougher than average lighter armor. The teeth that were so.. gracefully shown are most likely venom infused or at least more powerful than normal. Other than that—" Obsidian trails off, gaining a thinking posture.

My scan finally finishes, and three magical parts of the worm are shown to me.

"It's eyes. They're magical. Why is that?" I ask, ready to butcher a creature for the first time in my life.

Xirandine pipes up this time with a somewhat clear answer. "Potions are the first thing I can think of, though there are spells that require eyes as well. Though this worm is outside of my knowledge, so perhaps you should just get them and find out?"

"I will, though there's one more thing. There's something magical inside of it. Right abouttt.... There." I state, pointing my staff at a part of the worms body a little bit past it's head.

"It must have eaten something important! Perhaps an ancient relic?" Obsidian says with glee and fascination.

"Stand back, it's probably going to be messy when I rip open the belly of this creature." Xirandine warns, seemingly filled with just as much glee.

Oh boy.. Yeah, I don't really want to ruin my new clothes on the first day I set out. Why is it that this stuff always happens to me? Must be Main Protagonist syndrome, hah.

As Xirandine gains a form that seems to be mostly claws and teeth rather than flesh, I step around twenty feet away from the body. The sharpened limbs of this strange new Xirandine start to rip through the worm at high speeds, to the point where he disappears in the guts of the creature. After a few seconds however, the sound of flesh being cut stops, and I hear a voice.

"Devan, Obsidian, you might want to come here." Xirandine says loudly from within the worm.

"Probably going to show us something stupid like some magical poop or something." I say with a scoff before heading down to him and carefully peering into the worm.

The sight in front of me is dark, but unmistakable. Xirandine is back to his regular form, and on his back was indeed the magical thing I sensed. The body of an anthropomorphic cat creature, someone that seems young and somewhat feminine. The cat-person lifts its head and gives a heartwarming smile.

"Thank you." says the feline humanoid before passing out and losing the magical aura around it.

"I also found some poop" chimes Xirandine as he floats a piece of literal shit in front of me.