Chapter 63
Recruitment
They had been traveling sharply northwest from Dragon Country, but this still only brought them to the southernmost shores of the Hayseed Swamps. It was here that they parted ways with Shift. Baltimare was not far, and he could already hear the whispers and murmurs of his hive. He would stay out of range for a while to buy them a head start, and then cut through the heart of Equestria, making for Cloudsdale. Meanwhile, the dragons would continue to skirt the shoreline, just barely keeping it in sight. Once they reached Fillydelphia, though, they would have to cut through to the mountains and hope they weren’t spotted. Garble assured that with enough altitude, they would go unnoticed.
Despite the dragons’ assurances, everyone held their breath as they eyed the changeling swarms from high above. Even if none of them thought to look up, if Shift hadn’t timed things right and revealed the information too soon, they could enter into a fatal race for the mountain.
Though the increasing altitude came with potentially lethal cold for the dragons and thestral, they pressed on, ever climbing, ever travelling, gradually closing the gap to the hippogryphs’ abode. Everyone was shivering by the time they reached the top of the mountain.
“There’s no sense in all of us freezing,” Charcoal shouted above the howling wind and the sound of his own teeth chattering. “Spectrum and I will go down and talk to them. If we can convince Gilda and her friends to come, we’ll meet you down at your old hangout at the base of the mountain.”
“What if you can’t convince them?” Vex inquired, the question barely audible over the sound of his own teeth chattering.
“Then I guess we’ll be looking for a while,” Char nervously sighed. Only Gilda could lead them to their old hangout, as Charcoal didn’t know where it was. He really didn’t want to get lost in this frozen wasteland again.
“Stay safe,” Garble bid them goodbye.
“Stay warm!” Pierce suggested, already following the rest of their pals to their new destination.
“Ready?” Spectrum called, not quite as frozen as the cold-blooded creatures but still shivering.
“As I’ll ever be,” Charcoal replied as the two dove off Garble’s back. They plummeted down, down, down towards the pine trees, pulling up just before they collided with the soft blanket of snow. Charcoal hoped that from this perspective, he would be able to retrace his steps back to the hippogryph home.
“Don’t you know where we’re going?” Spectrum shouted, the wind nearly carrying his words off with the snow.
“It’s around here somewhere,” Charcoal shivered. “Look for a house embedded in the mountainside!”
“Like I can see anything through this snow!” The blizzard was picking up, creating a thick curtain of snow that made vision beyond five feet impossible.
“GILDA! RIVER? WINTER GREEN! HAWK!” Charcoal cried, listing his friends.
“WE CAN’T KEEP THIS UP, CHAR!” Spectrum informed, now screaming over the storm.
“ANYONE?!”
“You just don’t learn, do you?”
“WINTER!” Charcoal could vaguely make out the green form of smirking Winter Green as he swooped next to them, but through the snow, it was really his wingtips brushing Charcoal’s side that truly verified his presence.
“Come on, you passed up the cabin a little ways back,” the hippogryph informed, banking sharply left and disappearing into the snow once more.
“WAIT!” Charcoal desperately turned after him, catching Spectrum in the process and dragging him along as well.
The two ponies barely caught glimpses of Winter as he pushed ahead, but that was enough to keep them going in the general direction of Nana’s cabin. The snow was so thick that by the time they did reach the house, it came up so fast the boys nearly slammed into it. It was only Spectrum’s quick thinking and stunt maneuvers that landed them through the door instead of the window. Winter quickly shut the door behind them.
“Charcoal?” Gilda looked up from a book on her seat by the fire. “What are you doing back here? I don’t have to go get your parents again, do I?”
“Actually, that’s exactly why we’re here,” Spectrum wheezed, rolling up off of Charcoal and shaking the white powder from his coat.
“Who’s this?” River bounded into the room with incredible interest in the rainbow-maned colt.
“Charcoal, I thought we agreed to keep this a secret,” Hawk Stripe groaned.
“I didn’t have a choice! Please, just hear me out,” Charcoal begged. “We need your help. All of you.”
“And we’re listening,” an elderly pony waddled into the room.
“Nana! You’re... up!” Gilda exclaimed, rushing to the hippogryph’s side and gently easing her into the armchair.
“You’ve already had one close encounter with the weather up here, boy. You must have good reason to come back?” Nana prompted.
“I do,” he gulped. “Changelings are attacking Ponyville. Well... more like all of Equestria.”
“Changelings?” Hawk gasped.
“So why aren’t the Elements of Harmony doing anything about it? Can’t they stop them?” Gilda inquired, wide-eyed.
“Mom and Dad are missing, along with the rest of our folks and all the elements,” Charcoal remorsefully reported.
“Oh, you poor dears,” River sympathized, outstretching a wing. Charcoal dodged it to put emphasis on the importance of the rest of his message.
“So that’s it? There’s nothing we can do?” Winter was obviously jarred by the news, blankly staring out into space.
“We’re not going to let those slimy creeps just waltz in and take over, are we?” Hawk angrily demanded. Charcoal smiled.
“You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that. I have a plan to fight back, but we’ll need everypony’s help- including all of you.”
“Whoa, there, kid. We want to help, but only so long as it doesn’t expose hippogryphs. They don’t exist, remember?” Gilda reminded.
“But that’s exactly what’s going to make this work. Hippogryphs have been ‘extinct’ for so long, even Chrysalis won’t be prepared to take them on.”
“So let me get this straight. You want us to suddenly reveal ourselves to the world?”
“Think of it this way. If ever you wanted to return to Equestria, now’s the time. You’ll be remembered as heroes for rising up to defeat the evil,” Charcoal bribed.
“He’s got a point, guys. I’ve gotta admit, becoming a hero sounds pretty good to me,” Winter wildly grinned.
“I sure would like to lend a hoof myself,” River piped up.
“I’d like to kick some changeling flank!” Hawk cried.
“Even if you wanted to, you can’t, guys. This effects every hippogryph in existence. It’s not your call.”
“I bet Nana could convince them. Everyone listens to her,” Hawk reasoned. “Get her support and you’ve pretty much won over everyone else.”
“And my support you shall have.”
“But Nana-!”
“Gilda, hippogryphs have been itching to rise again,” her nana quietly croaked. “If we do nothing, the changelings are bound to find us anyway. Would you rather waste away in these mountains until they do, or take a stand now, while we hold the advantage?”
“Are you sure about this?” the gryphon sighed.
“It is the right thing to do, dearest,” Nana gently assured. Gilda looked around at all the pleading faces about her.
“Okay. We’re in.” Charcoal nearly whooped for joy.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no clue how much this means to us!”
“So? What now?”
“Garble and the dragons are waiting for us down at your old meeting spot. Let’s round up all the hippogryphs we can as quickly as we can and go meet them.”
“Whoa! You brought Garble and the gang? I haven’t seen them in ages... I thought they were still out in Dragon Country!” Gilda offered a crooked smile.
“Yeah, well, we brought them home for an early migration,” Charcoal chuckled. “So, let’s go! Where are the other hippogryphs?”
“Slow down there, son,” Nana chuckled. “You nearly froze to death- again- coming back out here. I think you best let River, Hawk and Winter collect the others.”
“But we’ve come all this way! And frankly, I’d love to see where they all live!”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but their homes really aren’t too different from this little lodging,” Winter chuckled. “There aren’t a whole lot of us left, all scattered through the mountains.”
“But what we lack in numbers we make up for in strength and determination,” Hawk boldly declared. “Combined with the dragons’ might, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”
“Oh, we’re not done recruiting, yet,” Charcoal winked. “We’ve got one more stop to make before we take on the changelings.”
“Oh?” Nana’s interest was piqued.
“Let’s just say you weren’t the first ‘mythical’ ponies Mom and Dad came across.”
“Ooh! We can call it the Impossible Army! I love it!” Spectrum happily cried.
“Hey, the Impossible Army. Sure sounds like the stuff of legend!” Winter Green offered the pegasus a congratulatory hoof bump.
“Not bad,” Hawk shrugged.
“Do we really need a name?” Gilda groaned. Nana just laughed.
“When you and your ‘Impossible Army’ return, rest assured that I shall be the first to write of your valiant victories and triumphs,” she wearily smiled.
“You’re not coming with us, Nana?” River sadly looked to the old mare.
“Nana’s not coming with us to fight a war!” Gilda shrieked.
“I believe I’m getting a bit old for such things, love,” the hippogryph agreed.
“Well, at least come with us to Tall Tale Beach. We’ll find a safe place for you there where you won’t be left alone,” Charcoal pressed.
“Tall Tale Beach? That’s where we’re going?”
“Nana can’t manage a trip like that. I’m not sure if I could manage a trip like that, and that’s saying something,” Hawk Stripe exclaimed.
“But the dragons can. We’ve got six fully grown ones waiting for us, and they’re more than happy to give us a lift.”
“Can they carry a hundred plus hippogryphs?” Hawk skeptically raised an eyebrow.
“We can take turns, cycling who flies and who rides. The elderly and sick get permanent seats, of course. And any pony who can’t fly. I mean, if hippogryphs are going to make an appearance, we might as well start here. There’s a whole village of potential recruits around here, too.”
“Well, aren’t you just a clever little fellow,” Nana kindly smiled.
“Who knows? Maybe you’ll earn your cutie mark as a war general,” Winter Green half-jokingly suggested.
“I sure hope not,” Charcoal shuddered. He didn’t want his destiny to be striking down other ponies.
“Anyway, we better get a move on. Chrysalis might be searching for us right now,” Spectrum reminded. Gilda’s eyes widened.
“You brought her here?!”
“Not exactly...”
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain later. All you need to know now is that she’s probably been tipped off by now that we’re in the mountains, but she doesn’t know exactly where or why. If we hurry, we can all get out of here before any of her scouts come looking for us.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Hawk exclaimed, leaping into the air and knocking over her chair in haste. The door flung open in her wake, flooding the room with a flurry of snow and waves of freezing air.
“We’re on it,” Winter saluted before taking off after her.
“Meet you at the grove,” River Rush waved, exiting into the white wonderland and shutting the door behind her.
“How far exactly is the grove?” Spectrum asked as Gilda left to fetch Nana’s scarf and coat.
“Not far. It’s close to the base of the mountain on the south eastern side, pretty evenly spaced between Fillydelphia and Canterlot. Almost dead center, actually.”
“With nothing but open countryside nearby,” Charcoal nodded.
“Here. You’ll want these.” Gilda tossed the boys spare jackets.
“Thanks.” Charcoal slid it over his head, elated to find that the wing slots sized for hippogryphs would accommodate his oversized dragon wings.
“Ready to go?”
“Sure am,” Spectrum responded.
“You, Nana?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be, love.”
“Don’t you want a coat, Gilda?” Char inquired.
“Na. I’m good.” Her thick plumage would be enough to shield her from the cold, so she concerned herself solely with supporting Nana.
“Alright, folks, let’s head out.” Gilda opened the door, a key in one of her talons. She locked the door as everyone filed outside, not that it would do any good; no one was crazy enough to come all the way out here. Even if the changelings managed to find this place, they wouldn’t let an old door stop them.
Nana was very independent, and preferred to travel on her own, but the old hippogryph’s frail, tattered, moth-eaten feathers stood no chance against the blustery winds. Gilda kept one of her strong appendages under Nana’s to support her, and Charcoal also helped out on her other side. They were able to glide in such a manner, though Gilda was left with the bulk of the work. Still, it was nothing the capable gryphon couldn’t handle.
Slowly but surely, carefully but cunningly, the quartet made their way down the bluff. Thanks to Gilda’s knowledge of the area, they were able to exit the frigid atmosphere of the mountain and descend into the warmer levels before anyone froze. In fact, the temperature was rather temperate by the time they reached the meeting place, causing Charcoal and Spectrum to shed their winter gear.
Charcoal emerged into a lush green grove, and he heard the gentle trickle of a waterfall, though his view was mostly blocked by a wall of white scales. The grove was tight quarters for the six fully grown dragons. Charcoal carefully wormed his way around Fizzle and into the dragons’ midst.
“Well, well, well. Looks like the gang’s back together, eh?” Gilda called out.
“Is that who I think it is?” Vex inquired, trying to reposition without bowling everyone over. Unfortunately, a few trees and shrubs still suffered as they all swiveled.
“I don’t believe my eyes!” Pierce exclaimed.
“After all these years, we weren’t sure if you were coming back,” Soot commented.
“Yeah, well, you guys outgrew the grove and I was needed back home,” she shrugged.
“So you’re going to help out?” Fizzle asked.
“Yeah. The guys are rounding up some extra support,” she supported.
“I don’t believe it! You actually convinced her?!” Pierce burst. Everyone stopped to stare at him a moment. “Er... I mean... I knew you could do it.”
“Sure you did, Pierce.”
“So, it looks like we’re going to be working together again,” Garble noted, expression unreadable.
“Looks like,” Gilda agreed. Garble finally cracked a smile.
“Good to have you back, Gilda.” She likewise smiled.
“Good to be back, guys.”
“Gilda? Won’t you be so kind as to introduce me to your friends?”
“Oh! Right. Nana, this is Garble, Vex, Fizzle, Soot, Clump, and Pierce. Guys, this is my Nana.”
“That’s Nana?!”
“Not what you were expecting?” the old mare chuckled.
“No, no! It’s just... we’ve heard so much about you,” Fizzle quickly amended.
“It’s good to finally get a face to face,” Garble agreed.
“Likewise,” the hippogryph nodded.
“How much longer do you think they’ll be? We’ve got to get a move on,” Garble fretted, searching the skies for signs of the hippogryphs.
“Not much longer,” Gilda promised. “We had to take the long way, and those guys are pretty fast and know all the shortcuts. It should be any minute now.”
“We totally beat you!”
“You wish!”
“Ah. Speak of the devil.”
“We were first. Weren’t we, guys?” Winter Green looked back to a long string of hippogryphs woven through the trees behind him, all of which vigorously nodded.
“Face it! Team Hawk crushed the Green Team. Isn’t that right, folks?” Hawk likewise turned to the rainbow of faces behind her. They too nodded, and some even gave enthusiastic squawks of agreement.
“Guys? You turned it into a race?” Gilda sighed.
“You bet!”
“Well, you both definitely beat River Rush. Where is she?”
“We’re here,” the blue mare called, landing gently on one of the few available patches of snow. Many low-flying hippogryphs lighted in the forest shrubbery or some even in the trees themselves. Charcoal looked around, gravely noticing how few had actually showed up. If these were all the remaining hippogryphs, they were indeed an endangered species. There couldn’t have been more than two hundred. He could only hope the trees currently concealed their true numbers.
“Is this everyone?” Spectrum was just as surprised.
“Everyone on the south side of the mountain and the pony village,” Winter corrected. Charcoal was a bit heartened to learn there were more resources at their disposal, but then again, if this was half of them, then not very many more would be on the way. “We didn’t have time to fly over the whole mountain range. But we gathered everyone in immediate danger of the changelings. And I have to say, not everyone took it so well.” He nodded over to where a group of teens still blubbering about how hippogryphs were impossible and it was all just a cruel prank. Charcoal snorted in amusement, but shuffled over. Unfortunately, he recognized the three.
“Cool Draft!” he called. The blue pegasus with stormy hair stopped his blubbering for a moment, caught off guard. When he and his two henchponies identified the source of the voice, they instantly turned cold.
“You! I know you! You’re that freak from the glass shop!”
“And you’re the gang that tried to rob my sister and I,” he reminded, just as evenly.
“Did you do this?” the yellow earth pony gestured to the hippogryphs all around them.
“I guess you could say that, yes.”
“You think it’s funny?”
“What’s funny?” Charcoal asked the unicorn.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. You’re trying to get revenge for what we did!”
“I hat to break it to you, guys, but the world doesn’t center around you. There’s a war raging just outside these mountains. We’ll need an army to fight back.”
“War? We never signed up for any war!”
“Right now, we’ve just got to get everyone out. Changelings are coming, and they’ll plunder every home and capture all the ponies they come across. We just saved you from slavery. You’re welcome.”
“I didn’t say thank you!”
“So you would rather be changeling prisoners, then? Because if so, we’ll be happy to leave you behind.” Charcoal’s last remark silenced them. “Good. Now get ahold of yourselves. We need to keep our heads.”
“Why should I listen to you?” Cool Draft challenged, coming nose to nose with him. “I don’t take orders from anyone but me. Are we clear?”
“Rolling on the ground in a blubbering heap wasn’t exactly getting you very far.”
“You think that’s funny, freak? You may be able to turn into a dragon, but that trick isn’t going to scare me a second time.” Charcoal sighed.
“Look, we got off on the wrong hoof. The point is, right now, we’re going to have to work together to get through this. Now, I can’t make you do anything, so I am asking very kindly for you to cooperate.” Cool continued to glare at him as he considered the offer.
“Do you want to live?” Hawk prompted.
“Just for now, Cool?” the earth pony suggested. The gang leader sighed.
“Don’t think for a second this makes us friends. I still don’t take orders from you.”
“Fair enough. Go ahead and mount one of the dragons.”
“I just said I don’t take orders from you!”
“Then have fun flying the whole way to Tall Tale Beach.” He strode away from the arrogant pegasus, still grumbling in frustration. Charcoal turned to Spectrum. “Look around and see if you can find a black earth pony called Blow Pipe. Do me a favor and make sure he ends up on the same dragon as those chuckleheads.”
“Why?”
“I know for a fact that he’ll drill some sense into at least two of them,” he commented, noting to the two without wings. Spectrum slyly grinned.
“I’m on it.” Charcoal turned back to Winter as Spectrum soared away.
“How many more do you think we can expect?”
“Maybe double this? A couple of our friends are busy warning everyone on the north side. We’ll take a detour to keep away from the changelings and meet you at Tall Tale Beach.”
“You’re not coming?” River fretted.
“I should stay and help warn everyone,” he shook his head. “Meet you there?”
“We’ll wait for you,” Charcoal promised.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye for now,” Winter extended a hoof.
“See you on the other side,” Charcoal gave it a firm shake.
“Maybe I should stay and help, too,” Hawk mused.
“So the sore loser wants a rematch, eh?” Winter challenged with a twinkle in his eye.
“Sore loser?! We beat you!”
“Fine, this will be the tie-breaker,” Winter grinned, spreading his wings and preparing for lift-off. Hawk mimicked the stance and crouched beside him. “On the count of three. One... two...”
“THREE!” Hawk took off with a wild cackle.
“CHEATER!” Winter laughed, chasing after the red-feathered mare. Those left on the ground chuckled.
“Changelings!” One somber, urgent voice broke through the sky and shattered the light mood. Everyone made as much room as possible while hippogryph stallion with grape-tinted plumage roughly collided with the ground. He quickly jumped back up, looking around to the inquisitive faces about him. “The changelings are on their way,” he gasped again, sides heaving.
“Where are they?” Garble demanded.
“Coming mostly from Fillydelphia. Just a few miles out,” the scout panted. “It won’t be long before they find us.”
“Then we haven’t got time to lose,” Charcoal determined. “Garble, can you guys take on a few passengers?”
“All aboard!” Pierce announced without waiting for a response.
“Get everyone unable to fly to Tall Tale Beach mounted on a dragon,” Charcoal directed, loudly addressing the entire assemblage. “I know it’s a cross-country trip, so we’ll take turns resting.”
“Hurry now, there’s not much time,” River agreed, ushering a few young ones between Clump’s wings.
“Will you be alright?” Gilda asked, easing Nana into the crook of one of Garble’s spikes.
“Don’t you worry about me, dearie,” she croaked in response. “I’ll see you there.”
“We’ve got to go,” Spectrum reminded, pulling her away as the rest of the flock took off.
“Have a safe trip.” Gilda, one of the strongest fliers, was expected to fly point with the other able hippogryphs. Charcoal and Spectrum soon joined her, and quickly became lost among the rainbow of plumage. The swarm was eventually flanked by six enormous dragons, each carrying quite a load of passengers themselves.
Charcoal fretfully looked back at their troop. It seemed unlikely that such a large company would go unnoticed, especially if the changelings were nearby. Even splitting up would be risky; they hadn’t enough time to properly organize groups, and it would be easy for an entire band to go missing. Besides, it would be next to impossible to sneak one fully grown dragon out unnoticed, let alone six. No, it was best to stay together and pray they went unnoticed.
And pray they did.
Changelings swarmed over the mountains like vultures descending upon their unfortunate victim below. They had found nothing aside from frozen wings and numbed limbs. Perhaps Chrysalis’ missing drone had undergone some sort of memory alteration spell. After all, it did seem rather unlikely that one would betray the very Queen that had cared for all changelings for centuries, especially for ‘friendship’ that certainly did not exist. After all, Chrysalis told them that they could never be loved by others. And she couldn’t lie, could she?
Their comrade ‘Shift’ might have been fooled by the ponies’ crafty words, but the rest would not be swayed so easily. His time severed from the hive mind must have jumbled his reasoning.
“There’s nothing here,” one soldier angrily hissed to another, agitated by their most recent failure and impatient to duck out of the cold atmosphere.
“Chrysalis will have our heads,” another agreed.
“Perhaps not,” a third suggested, nodding ahead. A large, trampled grove stuck out like a sore hoof from the forest below. The changelings mutually agreed to steepen the slope of their dive, spiraling down to investigate the site.
“This was recently trampled,” one noted.
“Something big must have done this.”
“The traitor is traveling with dragons. They were here!”
“Chrysalis will be pleased,” their leader grinned. “Inform her immediately.”