//------------------------------//
// Chapter 67: Kindling's Mole 
// Story: Secrets of the Everfree 
// by PaisleyPerson 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 67
Kindling’s Mole


“BUUUUUURRRP!”
“YAH!” Charcoal again found himself tumbling from his brother’s jaws, trying to kick off his changeling hitchhiker. This time, the changeling let go without much of a fight, and both struggled to catch themselves before they collided with one of the hippogryphs below. This time, Garble did manage to catch both ponies in his claws. 
“Are you alright?” Glitter had obviously made it back alright, because she, Trixie, and Spectrum, now joined by Gilda, worriedly peered down at Garble’s clasped claws. The dragon began unfurling his talons before he realized one of his prisoners wasn’t particularly friendly.
“Changeling!” he gasped, carefully rearranging his fingers to release Charcoal, but keep the changeling pinned down.
“What is it with you and changeling stowaways?” Pierce jibed.
“You brought another?” Shift exclaimed, carefully feeling his way along Garble’s shoulder, still blindfolded. Trixie reached out to catch him before he went too far.
“Where’s Pound Cake?” Glitter searched the air for the missing pegasus. Charcoal stared blankly forward in Garble’s palm.
“Char?” Garble tenderly lifted him up, where Glitter and Trixie eased him onto the relatively solid surface of the dragon’s shoulder. 
“Charcoal? What happened?” Glitter cooed, wrapping a wing about the distraught colt and putting a hoof on his shoulder.
“Changelings,” he rasped in a croaking, dry voice.
“What about them?”
“Did this guy do something to you?” Garble glared at the black and red form squirming in his palm. Soot swooped forward, his passengers clinging for dear life as he tore the changeling right out of Garble’s claws. “Hey!”
“I can take care of him,” Soot snarled, flames already tickling the corners of his mouth.
“N-no! D-don’t h-hurt me,” it pleaded, curling up as much as Soot’s tight grip would allow. Soot had no intention of listening to the changeling, but Fink changed hands yet again as Fizzle dove ahead. His passengers likewise lurched, and clung to his back.
“You moron,” he smacked the side of Soot’s head. “We can get information from him!”
“There’s nothing that insect can tell us that Shift can’t,” Vex pointed out.
“And I don’t want to work with any more changelings than we have to,” Clump agreed.
“I cannot hear much of what is going on in the hive at the moment,” Shift rubbed his head. “It is hard to hear over the insults they scream at me.”
“But if we reform this one, too, then they’ll scream insults at it, and then we’ll have two useless changelings.”
“Pierce! Shift is our friend!” Glitter indignantly gasped. 
“Please! Master Charcoal! Tell them I did not do it,” Fink wheezed, trying to lift some of the pressure from Fizzle’s iron grip.
“Master Charcoal?”
“Didn’t do what?”
“Char?” The green colt was still staring dead ahead, but Glitter gently guided his gaze to meet hers.
“She... turned them all into changelings. Wild Flower. Cedar. The Cakes. All of them.”
“She what?” Garble didn’t even sound angry- just broken.
“Oh my goodness!” Glitter recoiled in horror, retreating into Trixie’s consoling embrace with a hoof still clamped over her mouth, denial in her eyes. Gilda’s, too, filled with sympathy.
“Char... I’m so sorry.”
“Pound Cake... is gone?” Spectrum sagged, fear and grief causing him to collapse.
“So that’s it? It’s over? There’s nothing we can do?”
“We might as well surrender now! It’s hopeless!”
“No, it isn’t!” Trixie raised her voice, demanding attention. “Listen to yourselves! We can’t give up! We might not have been able to save everyone, but there are still thousands of ponies the changelings haven’t gotten to yet. We can save them.”
“Trixie is right,” Gilda agreed. “We can’t just surrender! Where’s the honor in that? We can’t let everypony else down. Right now, we’re their only hope.”
“And who knows? With the right spell, we might even be able to save the changeling-ponies,” Trixie suggested.
“Is that even possible?” Glitter gasped.
“Almost anything is possible through magic,” Trixie shrugged. “Though, Twilight will know better than me, once we get her back.”
“Unless they’ve been turned to changelings, too,” Spectrum glumly pointed out.
“I don’t think so,” Charcoal shook his head. “Chrysalis was going to take me to her, but then this weirdo, Kindling Pyre, came in and started yelling at her. He said that to get me back out of the prison they’re keeping them in would mean temporarily releasing the Elements, and he wasn’t going to risk setting them free for a second. He’s not taking any chances.”
“Whoa, hold it right there. This Kindling Pyre actually yelled at Chrysalis? And got away with it?”
“Get this- she’s engaged to him. He’s not under a spell or anything- I guess he agreed of his own free will.”
“ENGAGED?!”
“Who in the hay is this guy?”
“He’s a destral.”
“Leave it to Chrysalis to marry the most powerful pony around.”
“Oh, great. Another evil, all-powerful villain we have to defeat.”
“Two, actually, one with an army of minions.”
“Without the Elements of Harmony.”
“But we have an army of our own,” Gilda pointed out, gesturing to the hundreds of hippogryphs soaring around them. “And we’re on our way to recruit even more.”
“I still don’t think we’ll have enough ponies to match Chrysalis’ army.”
“It’s not numbers that matter. It’s strategy. And information,” Charcoal glared at Fink, who gulped. “That’s Kindling’s personal puppet. He’s bound to have information for us.”
“I cannot detect this changeling in the hive mind at all, even above the clamor,” Shift noted aloud, brow visibly furrowed beneath Trixie’s cape. 
“Shift? They already know where we’re headed. You can drop the blindfold.”
“I do not want to give away any more identities than I already have.”
“I don’t think your buddy here is so concerned,” Fizzle snorted, chucking the changeling at the group. Fink’s wings were not large enough to catch him in time, and he skidded along Garble’s scales. Spectrum pinned him in an instant, rage and anger over their lost friend welling up inside. Fink whimpered and shielded his face, pleading for Spectrum not to strike him.
“As I said, I do not believe he is even connected to the hive mind,” Shift rephrased the message.
“No! I’m not!” Fink pleaded.
“Changelings do not show emotion, either. This one is different,” Shift assessed, keeping his voice level. Inside, he was thrilled. Another like him? But he wouldn’t let his hopes up just yet. This could just as easily be a trick.
“Why aren’t you connected to the hive mind?” Charcoal narrowed his eyes.
“I was Kindling’s personal servant and aid. He cast a spell that disconnected me from the main hive,” the changeling quivered. “He calls me Fink.”
“Even Kindling named him a tattle tale!” Pierce exclaimed, emphatically smacking his head.
“You really think we can trust him?”
[You must get them to trust you.] Fink nearly jumped as the one voice he could still hear entered his mind. He was disconnected from the main hive, true, but he hadn’t told the ponies that Kindling could now hear anything and everything he thought or said.
“Why would Kindling disconnect you from the hive?” Charcoal continued the interrogation. Fink tensed. What could he say? His master would surely kill him if he revealed the truth.
[You useless oaf! Come up with something!]
[What should I say, Master?]
[Tell them...] Even Kindling had to be careful of what he said. One of Chrysalis’ drones was still eavesdropping. He probably still had some time before she found out; he had convinced her to allow Fink to monitor Shift’s thoughts 24/7, so unless another drone happened to pick up on the conversation and relay it to Chrysalis, the information would be safe. Still, it was only a matter of time before word reached her. Now she would be alerted to the fact that he had disconnected one of her drones. This would definitely cause new trust issues. Ugh, that troublesome freak was always getting in the way of his plans!
“Well?” Gilda suspiciously glared at him, and primed her talons. Fink shrank away from her, but beckoned for Charcoal to come close. The colt cautiously did so.
“The drone,” Fink whispered into his ear, nodding at Shift. “I cannot betray the information to Chrysalis.” Just as Kindling could read Fink’s thoughts, Fink could read Kindling’s. The destral definitely hoped Chrysalis hadn’t posted a second drone to listen in on Shift. The information was safe, but his behavior was still suspicious. He may have to get rid of the changeling queen sooner than he thought. Right now, though, he really needed to get rid of her mole, Shift.
“Fine,” Charcoal tersely nodded, accepting the explanation as reasonable. Spectrum took this as a gesture to finally release Fink. “How did he disconnect you from the hive mind?”
“Kindling Pyre is a powerful and brilliant master,” Fink humbly bowed. “He knows great magic.”
“So it was a spell,” Trixie mused. “I wonder if Runestone could work out how he did it. For Shift,” she nodded at the other changeling. Shift instantly perked up, the thought of getting the accursed voices out of his head a very welcome one. This gave Kindling an idea.
[Tell them you can teach them this spell,] he ordered.
[Master?!]
[I will give you the instructions when the time comes,] Kindling rolled his eyes. [Just do it, you incompetent foal!]
“I know how to recreate the spell,” Fink all-too-quickly offered. “I can teach you!”
“You can?” Charcoal raised an eyebrow.
“Why would you do that?” Fink paused again, waiting for direction, but none came. His master wasn’t going to come up with a whole script for him. 
“I wish to be like Shift,” he slowly came up with the dialogue himself. “Free of the hive. Free of Chrysalis.” 
“I thought you worked for Kindling, now.”
“They are one and the same to me.” The gang exchanged glances.
“Well? What do you think?”
“I would feel much better if Shift could make sure he’s telling the truth,” Spectrum growled.
“You came to trust Shift without anyone to read his mind,” Fink desperately pointed out.
“He has a point,” Glitter shrugged.
“I’m with you, Charcoal,” Gilda decided. “You’re the one that got us all into this. I’ll trust whatever you decide.”
“Same here,” Spectrum piped up. 
“Me?” Charcoal had organized the effort, sure, but being nominated its captain was a bit much to take in. He was only fifteen!
Everyone was looking to him for the final verdict, now. Charcoal took a deep breath.
“Could you teach the spell to Trixie?” Fink considered the unicorn mare.
“A more experienced, more powerful unicorn will be required for this spell,” he assessed. Trixie turned up her nose with an indignant huff.
“Then we’ll meet up with Runestone to perform the spell when we land. If it works, then-”
“Charcoal?” Regret was plastered on Glitter’s face. “Runestone isn’t coming. The whole changeling incident in Cloudsdale has him paranoid. He doesn’t believe it’s really me. And he said that even if I was telling the truth, he said it’s impossible to safely transfer that many ponies such a long distance.” Charcoal’s heart sank. Runestone was their best hope.
“Very well. We’ll just have to find somepony else powerful enough to perform the same spell. If the spell works, then we’ll know you’re telling the truth.”
“Fair enough,” Garble decided.
“Thank you, Master Charcoal,” Fink dipped into another bow. Charcoal uneasily shifted.
“But don’t do that,” he requested.
“As you wish, Master.”
“And don’t call me ‘master’.”
“Very well... Charcoal.” Using such a familiar, informal title for his superior was an alien concept to Fink. But the colt finally received the acknowledgement with a curt nod. 
With that, Charcoal nestled between Garble’s scales, lay down, and closed his eyes. Heckley and Bandit both attempted to console the obviously miserable colt, but to no avail. Bandit squeezed his nose under Charcoal’s jaw, and once his head was through, it was relatively easy to worm the rest of his body between his owner’s hooves. Bandit provided a pillow, and Heckley likewise fashioned himself into a rather odd scarf. The three lay in compatible silence, hoping that by chance, sleep might befall them. But even with his pets’ comforting presence, Charcoal would not sleep. Not after what he had witnessed today.
Gilda, the strongest flier, returned to the air to make room for a passenger that needed the rest far more than she. Glitter also followed her, as did Spectrum, while Trixie settled in. Shift readjusted his grip on the one hoofhold that kept him from blindly wandering, and Fink cautiously sat down. His heart pounded. He had successfully infiltrated the resistance force.
Kindling smirked to himself. Teaching these ponies the spell would disconnect Shift from the hive, thereby terminating Chrysalis’ source of information. He would not have control of the changeling, either, though; Shift would be completely free. But perhaps it was for the best. Kindling was not convinced that Shift would be as obedient as Fink. And besides, what could one free changeling do to stop him?
[You have done well,] Kindling praised. [Perhaps you are not as useless as I previously thought.] Fink shuddered. Kindling and Chrysalis weren’t the same at all. Kindling was far, far worse. If only he truly could be free of his tyranny. 
But it could never be so. Even far from Kindling’s reach, the destral still had a hold on him. If he even considered betraying his master, Kindling would use their psychic link to transmit a termination spell, therefore ending his life. He was not really Kindling’s assistant, or even his servant. He was a slave.