(2) Cinder Phoenix Trilogy: Changelings Can Change!

                                                       Changelings Can Change!

                                                             By CinderUnicorn

Gaar* walked through the deadly forest. The was no trace of others anywhere. Changelings, anyway.

After a while of desperately battling his way through the thick bushes, escaping from menacing timberwolves and deep swamps, the changeling eventually found his way out of the forest. Looking up, he spotted a tall, majestic tower, which he recognised from when he and his fellow changelings went to Canterlot. He figured that if he went there, he might find some of his comrades.

So, he set off for Canterlot. He passed a town full of ponies**, though he paid no attention to them. He saw a colt standing there with his mother. The mother placed her hooves around him and flew into the air, her wings clearing many clouds on her way. The changeling copied the colt's form, and walked towards the train station. It was only then that he realized he had no bits to buy the ride with!

He sat down to think, when the train driver trotted towards him.

"Ah, Cloud Dash!" the train driver called, smiling slightly. "I guess you must be here for a little ride on the train, eh? But I'm afraid you can't today. I'm scheduled to drive the train to Canterlot. But if your Mother doesn't mind, I could perhaps bring you with me, and you could help me."

"Sure!" he cried happily. "I'd love to visit Canterlot!"

                                                               ~ ~ ~

Later, Gaar managed to distract the driver by showing him an interesting conversation at the back of the train about some gossip. He quickly ran off the train and when his senses reoriented, he saw that the city was packed with ponies. He trotted quietly to the Canterlot tower. He looked around where he saw a white alicorn princess and a unicorn filly. Gaar couldn't see the filly that well, so he followed her find out who she was.

He stalked her from a distance, making sure she didn't see him. When the filly eventually felt that she was being watched, she turned around. Instead of hiding, 'Cloud Dash' stared at her, unable to move. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She had an adorable, soft pink mane and tail and a shiny white coat. Her eyes were bright orange, like the sun rising at dawn. She wore a necklace of orange and fuschia, a fancy red and orange dress, bright orange slippers and red earrings in the shape of a quarter full moon. To Gaar, she looked just like an angel.

She disappeared into a corridor, but soon appeared again beside him.

"Why were you following me?" she hissed.

"Because I love y- to look at things...?" Gaar tried his best to smile. The filly just stared at him for a while, but shrugged and started to walk away. Suddenly, she turned to look at him again. "Don’t follow me anymore." Her icy tone cut to his core. Before he could say anything, she turned her back to him and walked away

"Wait!" he shouted after a moment, galloping after her. "What's your name anyway?"

"Cinder," the filly said after a while. "What's your name, then?"

"My name?" he hesitated. "Well, uhm... my name's... uhm... Gaar."

"Gaar?" said Cinder. "That's a strange name. I don't know anypony called Gaar other than you. Anyways, I must go. I need to find my friends and say goodbye to them. They're leaving to Ponyville." She galloped away without even saying goodbye.

Gaar stayed there and watched her until she vanished. "I've never seen anything so beautiful before in my entire short life," he sighed happily.

"Dost thou likest Cinder?" a booming voice asked from behind him. Gaar turned around and looked up. There in front of him was a dark blue alicorn. He expected that she must've been a relation to Princess Celestia.

"Oh uhm, your majesty...!" said Gaar, bowed and tried to act as if he revered her.

"We know that thou art not pony," responded Luna, frowning down at him. Gaar immediately jumped back, staring at her.

"How...?" asked Gaar, disheartened.

"Because we are the Princess of the Night. We raise the moon in the evening and lower it at dawn. We can also enter dreams and appear, likest now."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

The princess of the night flew upwards into the air. The sun started to rise, getting bigger, and bigger and bigger until Gaar couldn't see. He closed his eyes, hearing a lot of noise surrounding him. He opened his eyes. He was in his hive with his fellow changelings.

He stood up. It was all a dream. Gaar could hardly believe it. He walked outside of his small room and looked around. Changelings stood there speaking, young ones frolicked around, playing with their friends and few adults flew around, towards where their queen usually stayed.

The queen. Chrysalis. She was Gaar's mother. Most other young changelings respected him, although he didn't really care if they treated him like any other or not.

Gaar walked towards where his mother might possibly be, wondering if he should tell her or not. Gaar knew that although sometimes his mother's reactions are different, this one would be particularly bad. So he took his time, thinking of all her possible reactions that could be reality.

"Well, son," she would say, "Perhaps you should go see for yourself, perhaps this is your destiny!"

Or maybe the total opposite. Anyway, that didn't matter. When Gaar eventually got to where she was, she was talking to a lot of drones.

"We should wait another while," she said to one. "We could catch them off guard and kill them all! I'll see at a later date. Let's just wait for now." She turned around and noticed Gaar.

"Ah, Gaar," she smiled. "How nice of you to join us. I was just about to come and wake you up. I need a drone to go to Canterlot and earn trust with a bird called the Cinderphoenix."

"I can," suggested Gaar. "I can earn its trust easier because I like animals."

"Great thinking, Gaar," grinned Chrysalis. "Sometimes, you have great ideas, my son. But of course, you get it from me." She patted him on the head playfully. "Now go! Find a disguise and earn its trust for me."

Gaar nodded. He turned around and left for Equestria. Another adventure was just about to begin.