Author's Note

It is nice to know that I still have it within myself to get something written down. First off I wanted to apologize to those who wanted a new chapter of The 7th Element. It has not been my intention of letting Season 2 die as some have speculated. Life has been hitting me pretty hard these past few month's and for the past year, I've been struggling with writer's block. Now I'm trying to back into the swing of things.

And so I bring you this, The Winds Of Change. I know that the title has been used more time's on this site than I can count but I really couldn't think of a better name for a changeling centered story. Now for those of you who don't know this is what my story was originally going to be about. The 7th Element, however, took on a life of its own and I ran with it. This is the story of a changeling trying to live his life in Equestria to the fullest and maybe even find love along the way.

P.S. I will be working Season 2 of the 7th element in my spare time while I get this story up on its feet.

Chapter 1: Friendship Is Magic, Part 1.

6, 21, 1000, C.E.
Ponyville, Equestria.
5:42 A.M.

Star galloped through out the streets of ponyville, the fear was palpable even without his sixth sense to help him discern the emotion itself.

"Who was that?" He asked himself. Soon other voice's began to mingle with his own.

"Nightmare Moon?"

"What's going on?"

"Why is it still dark outside?"

"I have to stop this!" That thought stopped Star in his track's. He pulled off to the side of a building in so as to not get trampled by the surge of ponies and searched around the frantic crowd trying to pinpoint the source of the rogue thought. His vision settled on a purple unicorn mare who was running towards the outskirts of town.

"Just what are you up to?" He thought as he broke away from the building and followed her. As he continued to follow the strange mare he soon felt the presence of others. He cast his head back and was surprised to see five other mares trailing behind him. Soon a cyan pegasus, who was leading the small group, swooped ahead to where Star was.

"So what's your story?" She asked as she flew along side him. He just gave her a small nod.

"I heard her,-He said motioning towards Twilight with his muzzle,- talking about some way of fixing this." He said gazing toward's the unnatural night sky. Rainbow just sighed.

"Yeah thought she knew something about all of this." Rainbow thought to herself. She gave Star a nod.

"Just keep up with us ok?" Star nodded. The group slowed down when they saw Twilight enter the library.

"How did the summer sun celebration go from awesome to sour?" Star thought as he trotted up to the door and pushed it open.

6, 20, 1000, C.E.

Ponyville, Equestria.

7:16 A.M.

Ponyville was in a frenzy today. Everywhere Star looked there was a pony or two running about trying to get one thing or another done for the Summer Sun Celebration.

"Can't believe it's just around the corner." He thought as he made his way over to Sugar Cube Corner. He gazed up at the sky.

"Rainbow need's to get on with the Cloudbusting." He smirked as he thought about it. "Of course she is the fastest mare in Equestria so I can see why she's so lax." He mumbled to himself.

"Ok, let's see what on the list?" He asked himself as he pulled out a small note from his saddle bags. Soon a small list of part's was floating in the emerald green glow of his magical aura. He chuckled to himself.

"Wow, uncle. At this rate, I could have just gone to the junkyard and gotten most of these items." He muttered quietly. His gaze lifted up just in time for him to push the door to the confection shop open.

"Ok, back to work after a quick bite for breakfast." He showed his list in his bags as he went to the back of the short line for the cash register. "Hmm, I wonder who all will be at the town hall tonight?" He looked around the store.

"Pinky is definitely going to be there." He said as his eyes fell on the pink pony at the cash register. "Let's see." His eye's scanned around the room for other potential party goers. He soon began to list off all of the pony's he thought would be present.

"Lyra, Derpy, Big Mac, Berry Punch,-" "Hello! Welcome to Suger Cube Corner!" His train of thought was derailed as he made his way to the front counter and Pinky did what she did best. Get a pony's attention. Star gave pinky a nervous smile as he focused on his order taker.

"The usual Pinky." He said as Pinky's hooves flew across the register's keys. "Oooh, you mean the Uber Barry Sundae, minus the raspberries, strawberries, and chocolate, and extra blueberries and caramel, hold the whipped cream?" She asked at a mile a minute.

For anypony who didn't know Pinky or how she operated this would have surely thrown them for a loop. Fortunately for anypony who's lived in ponyville for a the past few year's, this was second nature to them. The first thing pony's learned about ponyville was Pinky Pie. The second thing they learned was how to understand her.

Star chuckled as he nodded his head. "Yup Pink's that the one." He said, a cheery smile plastered onto his face.

"Here you go!" Pinky said handing him a receipt. Star grabbed the piece of paper and tucked it in between the strap of his goggle's on his head. He then went to a small table next to the door and waited for his food to be done.

"Huh, wonder what Uncle Dexter is up to?" He said as his brain drifted off to thoughts of his family. They were all supposed to meet up at his parent's house and head on over to the town hall later on tonight. In the mean time, Star was working with his uncle to help him get some of his wacky inventions to work. His uncle wanted to show off some of his newest gadget's at the Summer Sun Celebration, hoping that the Princess would take an interest in them.

Star wasn't entirely sure if the Princess would notice his uncle's hard work but he was still determined to help him out any way he could.

"Number 127!" He checked his number, got to his hooves and went over to the pickup counter.

"Here you go!"

"Thank you, Pinky." Star headed over to the door.

"See you later on tonight!" Pinky shouted as the door opened. Star gave her a wave as he trotted outside. "You too." He called just at the door shut.

"Ok got my breakfast, now to find a nice quiet spot to eat."

It took Star a few minute's to locate a nice quiet bench at the park to sit at. With his spot and his food, he began to eat in peace and think about just what he was going to do today.

"After I help out Uncle I have to go down the track and get my daily exercise routine done. Then I can go over to the library and get some new spellbooks to study." As his brain thought of spell's he mentally face-hoofed.

"Almost forgot to recharge today." He thought. He scooched over his saddle bag's and dug around in them. Finally, his hoof stopped as he grasped the object of his desire. He pulled out a small locket with a heart shaped stone in the middle of it. The locket was no bigger than a bit but it held significant importance to Star. As he gave it a soft stare a smile reached his muzzle.

"Hey, there mom, dad." He said as he opened the locket and inside was a picture of two black bodied, hard shelled, pony like creatures. Sitting there in between them was a smaller creature that looked exactly like them.

"Well, not much has happened yet. Today is the start of the Summer Sun Celebration so you know what that mean's." He continued to talk to the Locket. As he did so the heart on the front began to glow a soft shade of blue. If there was anypony around to pay attention to the strange exchange they would have noticed a faint green mist begin to make its way from the locket to Star's opened mouth. He didn't choke as he breathed the mist into his lung's so no pony was the wiser.

"You know I can't wait for the royal guard entrance exams to open up again." Star continued between bites of his food. Just as Star finished up his food he looked around for the clock tower. He spied it peeking out over the tree's of the nearby ever free forest.

"7:37. I better get going or Uncle is going to be in a tiffy." He told the Locket as he closed it, the green mist seeping back into it as he stored it in his bag's. Star got to his hooves and stretched out his limbs and began to long trek back to his Uncle's house.

10:57 A.M.

"Oh wow, that Smart's," Star said as he limped through the streets of ponyville. To say his Uncle experiment was a success was a drastic understatement. His newest invention a "Jetpack" as he called it was supposed to allow any earth pony and unicorn to fly like a pegasus.

"Why would you even need that?" Star grumbled. Dexter had asked Star if he wanted to test it out, stupidly Star said yes. And now here he was lucky to be alive and still in one piece. The thing had sounded like a train going full throttle down the tracks with its break's locking up all the while. On top of the fact that it was damn near impossible to steer the stupid thing in any meaningful direction but up, just made the whole idea about a thousand time's worse.

"Next time he asks me to be a guinea pig," Star grumbled as he trotted the library. His sour mood went into full-blown confusion.

"Why is there a sign on the door?" He went over and read what was on the door.

"Out for lunch. Be back in 20 minute's." He put a hoof to the bridge of his nose. "Ok time for plan B." He said as he trotted off to the local gym. Shooting Star was not an athlete by any stretch of the imagination. He was however very interested in joining the royal guard, so that entailed that he at the very least be physically fit enough to at least pass the Phys. Ed portion of the test.

"48,49,50!" He grunted as he let his body rest, cutting off his magic and laying there on the cool workout mat. As he lay his head on the mat looking off the side he spotted a mirror on the wall. Looking into it back at himself he could see a definitive difference in his physique since he started working out. His back and fore legs were toned. Not ripped but he didn't mind that all that much. His back was sturdy, his barrel was solid. All in all, he felt great about himself. Sure the mare's eye's weren't glued to his flank but he saw the occasional glance in his direction as he passed. Plus he could hear the thought's that followed. They helped keep up his confidence and his visit's to the gym. However as great as the voices were he really wished he could get the attention of one particular mare.

"Her head's always in the cloud's." He thought as he took a quick shower to get the smell of sweat off his amber coat. His jet black mane got into his eye's so he used his magic to straighten it out. He checked himself out in the mirror.

"Not too shabby." He said as his green eye's roamed over his coat to see if there were any out of place hairs. His eye's settled on his cutie mark. A bright yellow star surrounded by a green fireball with a trail behind it. Simple, yet it said so much.

"My ability to push past any limit." He spoke to himself. Changeling's with cutie marks were rare but not unheard of at least not in his old hive. Star had met several other's when he still lived there. He heaved out a sigh as he shook his head.

"No time to dwell on the past." He took his towel, wrapped it around his barrel and trotted out the gym. The cool evening air felt good as he walked out feeling nice refreshed.

"You know I wonder just what Dash is-" "Look out Below!" Time slowed to a crawl. Star looked up to the voice and was surprised and delighted to see that it was in fact none other than Rainbow Dash herself. Then his eye's roamed over to the pony in Dash's flight path.

"Oh no." He said as he made a split second decision. The purple mare was more than a few inches away from Star, In fact, if not for Dash, Star would have bumped right into her. As quick as lightning, Star's horn flared to life. The Purple mare was engulfed in a green aura and moved over a good foot away. As Star's magic cut off, time began to flow normally again. As it did so Star soon saw the fatal flaw in his "heroic" act.

"Crap!" He muttered as all of the force Rainbow was going to impact on the unfortunate mare was now unleashed upon him. The two of them were thrown backwards by the impact. To add insult to now very big injury the two ended up landing in a big puddle of mud. Dash was the first to recover. She got to her hoove's like a champ and looked down at her unintended victim.

"Oop's," She said rubbing the back of her head. "Hehe sorry about that."

Star was at a crossroad's. "This has to be either the best or worst day of my life."