Atlas had taken Fhil back to his region on the volcano. Once there, Fhillip bid farewell to Atlas and started traveling back to the base of the volcano. It was not to hard to go downhill as it was to travel uphill so Fhil was relieved that he didn't have to push himself to hard.
Atlas watched Fhil disappear after he went over the rim of the volcano and turned to a smaller dragon who wandered up to him. "Follow that pony." Atlas told a dragon whelp.
Fhil saw Chaos meditating where they had originally appeared the day before and walked up to the god, panting from the walk down.
"It's done but I may need a small favor from you." Fhil said catching his breath.
"Look's like you're finally getting into the spirit of things." Chaos grinned.
"Yeah right, I need you to talk to Atlas about the plan of attack. The dragons aren't stupid, they want to know more about you." Fhillip frowned.
Chaos nodded. "That's alright. I will send you onto your next mission and while you are at it, I'll mozy on up there and speak to him."
"What do I have to do now?" the unicorn shook his head slowly in disapproval.
"You're going to go visit an old friend. You are going to tell her about Equestria's impending doom and how it will benefit them all. However, you must tell her that the dragons will pull back from the fight before they completely take the city."
Fhillips eyes opened wide at this. "Pull back? How do you know that? Wait just a minute. Her? Oh, no you don't mean-"
"Yep!" Chaos cut him off and snapped his gauntlet finger teleporting Fhil away.
The dragon whelp saw this transpire but could not hear them. It ran back up the volcano stealthily so not to be seen. The whelp told Atlas about the creature it saw but Atlas wasn't sure what to make of it.
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A flash of bright light brought Fhillip to another kind of wasteland with orange soil. Looking around, he recognized the place and the fact that he was indeed right. It was Chanolis, the Changeling territory. The creatures mostly lived underground but they have been known to live on the surface. The queens chambers were in a cave deep underground and he knew his way there.
As he started to move towards the underground entrance, a group of Changeling guards had detected his presence and met him. Asking to see the queen again got him entrance immediantly. Following the underground tunnels, he was walked through a large set of heavy wooden doors that went into the dark throne room. Chrysalis was relaxing on the obsidian throne with her eyes closed when she was interupted by one of the Changeling guards.
"My queen, the diplomat from Equestria has returned." the guard said to her.
"They were already here earlier this week, what do they want now?" She asked it curiously.
"We don't want anything." Fhillip spoke up, cutting off the guard. "I've changed employers."
Chrysalis looked at Fhillip and then the guards. "Oh, I know whats going on. You were brought to me by my children in hopes you would screw these relations up so that we wont ally Equestria. My people are no fans of Celestia's 'kingdom'." She giggled. The guards smiled at each other, they wanted Fhillip to fail.
"Well they are right. But I'm not representing Equestria this time. I represent a creature that has want for the destruction of my homeland." he explained with a frown.
Chrysalis too, frowned. "You sound very enthusiastic.” she said sarcastically. “Enlighten me then on how you will top the Equestrian offer."
"The dragons plan to attack Canterlot in one big invasion. I have been to their lair and have met with their leaders and convinced them to do this. My boss will plan a day when this will happen." Fhil explained confidently.
Before Fhil could continue Chrysalis began her inquiries. "How did you manage any of this?"
"Well, we had info on the dragons plans and I used those to persuade them that Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom wanted to invade as soon as they allied with you."
"Why would anyone desire to attack the dragons outright?" Chrysalis asked with interest. "How did you convince them that we would even want to contribute to that?"
"They want to dominate the world, country by country." Fhil said bluntly. “No one likes that idea. They also don't know that I came here to tell you all this. Before they finish the job though, they will pull back, leaving Canterlot wounded."
She clopped her hooves together at this tidbit of information, "But how do you know they will withdraw?"
"Because my boss told me so." he kept his frown.
Chrysalis looked skeptically at him, "You will have to excuse me if I don't believe you."
"Well, that's okay. All I ask is that you watch Equestria with close attention. When the time comes, make your move. You will have the country and because of the dragons withdrawal, you won't have to share it with them. Oh, and you can keep the secret of your plant too." Fhillip turned around to walk away.
"True, I don't have to trust you, I can see results with my own eyes." She waved him away.
Fhillip started walking back to the throne room doors. "He may be in touch with you, so that you can prepare better!" he called to her.
“Wait!” Chrysalis commanded. Fhillip stopped right before the door as the guard blocked his way out. His heart ponded hard once then he turned and walked back towards her.
“You know you broke my heart last time you were here, Fhillip Buster.” she frowned.
Surprised by this, Fhillip quickly started explaining himself. “Well, your highness, please forgive me. I wasn't doing my best that day and I've been punished for it.”
Chrysalis grinned. “You don't seem to be happy about today either.”
“Can you blame me?”
“Not at all, but break my heart again, I will steal yours.” she kept her grin.
The unicorn didn't know what to make of that. “You will have what you want, I promise.”
“I know.” she laughed. “You may leave now.”
Fhillip was escorted from the throne room and went to the place he appeared on the surface with Chaos, exiting the many caves that make up the Changeling home. Chaos was waiting for him. "Glad I didn't let you get hurt while you did these dangerous things."
"That invincibility joke is getting old even though I am grateful. What do we do now?" Fhil asked with a sigh.
"You return to the dragons! I have talked to Atlas so most likely the other dragons know that I am legit. However there is one problem." Chaos shook his head sympathetically at Fhillip.
Fhil sighed. "What?"
"The dragons want you to go with them when they assault Canterlot." Chaos told him.
"And you told them I would be busy? Right?" the unicorn frowned.
"Look, I told you that you would get to go home.", Chaos laughed a little. "This is your ride."
"Where will you be? Won't you come along?"
Chaos nodded. "I'll be there eventually but I must see to it that this goes off as planned. Now if that's all you need, lets get out of here, dust keeps getting in my eyes." He slapped the back of his own head and dirt sprinkled from the eye holes of his mask. He then grabbed Fhil by the mane and they both flashed out of the area and back to the volcano.
They teleported right beside Atlas catching the dragon off guard and making him stumble backwards. "What the?!" Realizing what happened he calmed down, "You and your magic!"
"Sorry." Fhillip apologized to the red dragon. "Were back from making sure this goes off as planned."
Chaos nodded in agreement.
"If I am allowed to ask, what is it that you did?" Atlas questioned.
"I had to make sure the ponies that bare the Elements of Harmony are out of the capitol. They would delay everything and hurt your chances. Thankfully they are not there." Fhillip lied. He really didn't know where they were. He assumed Chaos knew all about the bearers whereabouts. Fhillip wished they would be there to help save the city. Just maybe they were there.
Atlas nodded. "Good then, when is the attack?"
"Tomorrow." Chaos simply stated.
"Want to kill the royal family that bad huh? Then we will meet at Skadholm and move together. It's what Av suggested anyways." Atlas told them.
"He is the large white dragon with the gold horns, right?" Fhillip asked him and the red dragon nodded.
Atlas made the commanding order to all the male dragons to begin the move. There weren't many dragons in this territory but if one were to guess, it had to have been at least fifteen male dragons. "We need to fly with them, It is my job to make sure they all get there."
"Then you will meet us there. I will teleport Fhillip ahead." Chaos said.
"Very well." Atlas acknowledged.
Another flash and Fhillip found himself by the elder, again at one's surprise. The small black dragon frantically jumped away from the pony. Fhil noticed that Chaos did not come with him which he assumed for good reason. "Atlas is on the way with his clan." the unicorn told the alpha.
"I'm not used to seeing teleportation these days. Let me have a moment for my heart to stop pounding." the elder laughed.
Fhillip looked around the tower. He noticed that the green dragon was asleep towards the edge of the tower. Ryalon the sky blue dragon was also snoozing next to the throne where the purple one, Skadholm stirred. The white dragon was nowhere to be seen. There was a huge firepit going and Huxio was cooking something over it. The elder took notice of the unicorns eye movements.
Unbothered, Elder continued where he left off on the subject of being surprised. “I suppose it could be worse. Like waking up to the zebra's that try to slay me. They have been using some new magic I've never seen before but I make sure to get out of its way.”
“What does it look like?” Fhil asked.
“The magic?”
“Yes.”
“Almost perfectly round objects of different colors. Almost like balls of magic but they don't appear to be magic from the looks of it. I'm not sure what it is.” the elder said frustrated thinking about it. “They are in serious need of therapy I think, worshiping some sort of shaman.”
“Shaman?” Fhil asked.
“Yeah, they worship some kind of shaman. That's what I know anyways, never seen him around.” the dragon admitted. Fhil knew who he was referring to.
"So, I was told that dragons get their names from cities they conquer. I just hear your name to be elder?" Fhil asked without thinking.
"Well, I'm very old if you can believe it. I can't remember my name." Elder said smiling.
"Oh, well its kind of .. plain. No offense of course. It just surprises me." Fhillip looked away.
The miniature adult dragon smiled at the unicorn. "Well, when you live as long as me, you tend to take many names. This one stuck."
Fhil laughed at the simplicity. "Well, can you tell me more about yourselves since were going into battle together? And may I say that I am honored to even have been at the meeting from earlier. A pony can't say that he met all the dragon leaders."
Elder looked around for nearby leaders. The other alpha dragons noticed when Fhillip came back and sent messengers to go retrieve participating dragons from each territory. They didn't go back to sleep though, to interested in Fhil to even bother.
The closest Elder saw was Huxio, the large yellow dragon with hair over his eyes.
"Hey, Huxio, come tell Fhillip about yourself." he called out to him.
"Why?" Huxio turned in his direction and frowned.
"He's going to fight with us. Now is your chance to reassure the pony." Elder laughed.
"Reassure me? What for?" the unicorn was puzzled.
"That we won't die Filly." Huxio explained.
"Oh, no I didn't even think that was possible. Alone maybe but not like this." Fhillip shook his head.
“Come over here and I'll tell you how I became a leader. Once you hear me out, you will know what will happen to Canterlot.” he invited menacingly.
Fhillip walked over to the giant fire and smelled what was cooking. It was meat but he didn't know what kind. Ponies don't eat meat but they can stand the smell if they do not think to much about it.
"Well, once upon a time, I conquered the capitol of the diamond dog nation, Huxi-Ovehn."
“I've never heard of it.” Fhil admitted.
"No surprise, it was certainly enough to undo them. Everything they held dear was in that city and after its fall, they were scattered." the black one nodded.
"How did you do it?" Fhillip looked on curiously.
Huxio put a claw to his chin and pondered for a minute before retelling his story.“This was shortly after Atlas joined up but I decided to go on a walk around unfamiliar territory. I found them hiding in some stone houses in the southern area you now call Equestria. Some buildings were big and some were small but it didn't matter to me. I ran through the city smashing everything I saw. That's until I spied the most extravagant house there. Well it didn't surprise me that it was the royal castle. I ripped off the roof and I saw the royal couple and.. I ATE THEM!”
Surprised by the outburst Fhillip hid his face with his hooves out of reflex while the other dragons laughed. "Well, just ate the important ones." He patted his giant stomach. He was indeed the biggest dragon here by girth size.
"He could kill them by just walking." Skadholm poked fun at Huxio as he flew over to them.
"Shut your snout Skadholm. My size makes everyone tremble so you should too." Huxio boasted.
"Right, because you're so heavy you shake the planet!" Skadholm laughed. "But seriously, lose some weight. It's bad for your health."
Huxio fumed. "This is how I am. It is the way I kill my prey. And you best not forget that!"
"Yea well, you won't be out of sight, out of mind anytime soon." Skadholm said plainly.
Elder cut in, "It's actually an impressive story, he was just wandering around. He had no previous plans to kill anything. He just went for it and I happened along to see him do this."
“Well, I won't get on his bad side then.” Fhil assured them. “So, Skadholm, what's your deal?”
Skadholm looked at Fhillip with regret. "Skadholm was... a pony capitol."
"Eh?" Fhillip looked at the dragon as if he were crazy.
"Yep, it existed at the time before the ponies came to Equestria although it is much further south. Needless to say I have been around a long time, not longer than Elder or Av but you know." Skadholm admitted.
"You looked sad when you told me that." Fhil observed.
"It was my home, once. Things change when dragons grow up, they want more for themselves." He turned his eyes downward. "It's ancient history, Fhilly."
"Oh. That's not so odd though. Ponyville had a similar thing happen with a dragon that lived there." Fhillip nodded.
"Was it destroyed?" Skadholm asked with great curiosity, drawing his head closer to the unicorn.
"It was getting there but if I was told right, he had help from some friends in finding his good self. Went back to normal after that." Fhil explained.
Skadholm looked away at this news. "If we could change the past..."
Elder and Fhil nodded in agreement.
Huxio was eating what was previously cooking on the large fire near them. Fhillip still couldn't make out what it was. The yellow dragon snickered at Skadholm's last words. "Don't regret becoming what you are. Embrace it." he rubbed his belly.
"Some wise words Huxio." Elder again nodded.
"I'm forced to destroy my home tomorrow too." Fhil told Skadholm with a hint of despair on his voice.
"I know. It's strange, you look so willingly but then so sad." the purple dragon told him.
Fhillip nodded at this. "I'm so mad at them all for abandoning me like they did. After one small screw up!” The unicorn yelled in frustration. The dragons looked on finally getting Fhils side of the story. “I'm sad because I want my wife to be safe. I don't hate the princesses but.. they did little to stop my unpaid leave. All because I got a little bit lazy, yeah. So what? I've done more good than bad but my wife doesn't deserve what is about to happen!" he finished looking down trying to hide his teary eyes.
"I'm sorry to hear of your misfortunes." Skadholm shook his head, "I'll tell you what though. Tomorrow, when we fly to Canterlot, tell me where you live and I'll take you to your home. You can try to get out of town with your wife." He stepped closer to the unicorn and reached out a large claw. "Deal?"
Fhillip had a bit of wetness in his eye as he saw that the alpha dragon was sincere. He put out his hoof in the awaiting claw. "Deal!"
The unicorn went to bed and with mental preparation of the day to come. He dreamed of Chaos again. The vast abyss had become less as more detail of the creature was apparent.
“When you get home, you are free. You will still be safe from harm because you have done so much for me. I'm proud of you Fhillip.”
That is all that was said as the unicorns dream faded to black.
Since that talk, Fhil could not sleep properly and the unicorn woke up before the sun rose. He noticed Atlas had made it to the tower and was awake.
“Hey there Atlas. How was the flight?”
“No problems, every-dragons ready for war. Are you ready?” Atlas had his green eyes on the unicorn.
“I'm running when I hit the ground.” Fhil told him bitterly.
“Smart.” the dragon turned to look toward the horizon.
“Hey, I've gotten to know some stuff about you guys. I'm curious about you. How did you become a leader?” Fhillip questioned.
“Ah, well I was a lesser dragon under the watch of another dragon named Atlas. This dragon earned his leadership by very cheap means. He found a weak race of mules who, at the time were a slave race and decided to destroy their home city. Well it was a loophole in the rules but ultimately no dragon had respect for him in the end.” Atlas shook his head.
Fhillip frowned at this tragic news.
“Well, I'm the ambitious sort so I decided to kill him. I succeeded and threw his corpse to be eaten by the dragons that followed him. Av recognized my victory and most were pleased by my methods.” Atlas looked at the rising sun.
“Huxio was eating something last night. I know you were not here but what does he usually eat?”
Atlas frowned because of the obvious truth he was about to tell the unicorn. “He eats everything but I know that for this occasion, it was most likely a pony.”
Fhillip knew deep down that this was a possibility. “I don't know how the dragons treat their guest, if they ever had any but didn't Huxio consider the fact that it may have been rude with me around?”
“It wasn't to offend you. He was getting his desire for the taste of ponies ready for today.” Atlas saw that Fhil put his head down. “Our kind has always planned ahead. We have so much strength in this union but I feel that it's going to be a long day.”
Fhil didn't know what the dragon expected to happen but he knew one thing.
Today, Canterlot would burn.