Destinies

by Phony Pony Storyteller

Chapter 2: "The Visitor"

The cave entrance loomed before the grey unicorn. He stood there in the snow for a moment before letting a chuckle drift from his mouth.

"This is where you're from?" he asked, looking around as if looking for something more magnificent. Then he sighed.

His horn started emitting a faint orange glow, similar to the orange stripes in his blonde mane. A small journal floated from his saddlebags. its simple leather cover was adorned with a single symbol: a flaming wolf head.

He paid little attention to it as it floated before him, but he finally turned his attention from the opening to the book as it snapped open. The pages turned rapidly until, suddenly, he found the page he was looking for. He read some of the writing scribbled across the paper, then noticed that a picture had fallen out of the book onto the snow.

His horn glowed slightly brighter as he brought the picture close enough to examine it. It showed two grey mares, one an earth pony with a dark grey mane, the other a young pegasi, her blonde hair matching her crooked eyes. The unicorn sighed again. "Poor kid..." he mumbled, stuffing the picture back into the journal, before closing it and stuffing it back into one of his saddlebags.

He turned his attention back to the cave. He paused a moment, thinking about something, then took a step towards the opening. Before he set his hoof down, though, something slammed into him at high speed, knocking him on his side. He had only enough time to see that a changeling stood above him before it slammed a rock into his face.

---

The queen stood in her throne room, two slightly smaller changelings on either side of her. One was a drone, though it was slightly larger than a normal drone and had a lighter coat. The other looked like a smaller version of the queen, though it was still bigger than the drone on the opposite side of her mother.

Chrysalis looked at the two changelings, glad to have them separated, if only by her. The two had become inseparable, and that had caused a few problems with her spell. Now, though, they two of them seemed docile, and she was able to focus her business.

"If you find the pony snooping around out there, take him down," she said, addressing the small army of drones in front of her. "Bring him to me if you can, but if he resists, kill him. Now go! You have your orders." The drones saluted in unison, and started exiting the room.

When the last had exited, the princess decided to share her opinion on the matter. "It would be wiser to take him alive, my queen. If we were to straight up kill him, we would never learn if he was here with friends, or if he is even affiliated with Celestia. He might be acting alone."

The queen turned to look at the changeling princess. "That's why I told them to bring him to me alive, if they can," was her response.

The changeling princess looked unfazed, and continued. "I know, but knowing the drones, it is likely he will be dead by the time he makes it here. That is why I suggest sending a drone or two to Canterlot proper."

The queen spun, shocked that the princess was able to consider such a thing. "Never," she shouted. "It is too dangerous. The drone might get killed." She took a moment to compose herself before continuing. "Let me explain. Now is when it is most dangerous. If the princess knows about us, and she thought her spy had been captured, she would be looking for a sudden appearance from somepony she had never seen before."

The princess looked annoyed, and replied quickly. "That's why we should send a changeling disguised as the spy himself." Chrysalis thought about it for a moment.

Suddenly, she got it. "And when the changeling got to Canterlot-" she began, but the princess interrupted.

"Princess Celestia would think it was the spy she sent. She would never know he was actually captured or killed."

Chrysalis was impressed. The princess sure had learned well, even if her loyalty was only guaranteed by the spell. "For this to work, though, we need him alive, at least for now."

The princess was about to say something else, but a drone suddenly ran into the room, chittering excitedly.

"What is it? Can't you see we're planning things?" The queen shouted at the drone, but it didn't faze him. He kept pointing to the door, wings buzzing.

"What's got him so excited, Chrysalis?" the princess asked, but the queen was having trouble making it out. Finally, it clicked when two drones came in, dragging a pony behind them. It was a unicorn, with an orange and yellow mane and a grey coat. Blood trickled from a wound next to his horn, and he was unconscious.

The queen put the pieces together and laughed at the picture. "He never had time to fight back, did he?" she asked, motioning toward the wound on his head. "Nice work. I don't think he expected us to come out there and get him. Take him to my room. Make sure he stays there until I get there." The drones dragged him off, and the queen turned back to her daughter.

"What were you going to say, my dear?" she asked.

The princess pointed to Ash, who was still sitting on the other side of the queen, and said, "I volunteer Ash to take his place in Canterlot." The queen laughed. Now she had a way of keeping the two changelings apart. Everything was turning out perfect.

"That sounds like a good idea."

---

The unicorn awoke in the dark. He couldn't see anything. Feeling around the floor, he realized he was likely underground. His head was throbbing. Suddenly, everything came back to him.

"Oh, come on! For crying out loud!" he shouted, slowly working himself to a sitting position. When he had finally worked himself into position, he took a moment to look around and realized that it wasn't completely dark. Emeralds along each of the walls seemed to emit a soft green glow, but it was only enough to illuminate the boundaries of the room. The unicorn turned to the darkest spot he could see, assuming it to be a door, and started talking.

"I know you guys are out there. What are you, changelings? Mind if I cast a light spell or something? I can't see anything." When he didn't get a reply, he decided to go for it. His horn began to glow, dimly at first, but eventually the light grew to the point where he could see around the room. It was a simple room, with a stone slab at one end, and a door at the other.

Through the door, he could see two pairs of bright blue eyes staring back at him.

"Ok," he mumbled. "One door, underground, and at least two guards. Oh well, things can't get any worse." A sudden voice startled him.

"I'm sorry to break the news, spy, but things just got a whole lot worse for you. As for me, though," a large - no, huge - changeling said, stepping into the doorway, "things just got very interesting." The unicorn was obviously unnerved. The changelings voice was strange. It sounded like many different ponies were talking at the same time, all overlaid on top of each other. There was only one changeling talking though. She was also so big. She had to be the size of Celestia.

"OK, miss..." he began, doing his best to sound calm.

"The would be Queen Chrysalis, spy," was the response.

"You think i'm a spy?" he asked, and Chrysalis laughed.

"Of course! Why else would you be snooping around our home?" She fully entered the room and was quickly flanked by two more changelings.

One was a smaller version of the queen. It looked slightly larger than he was, but the changeling on the other side of the queen was exactly the same size as him. It resembled the changeling that had attacked him outside, but this one was actually a dark grey, not black.

"Ok, then. Maybe I can explain myself. I'm not a spy, i'm a teacher," he began, but the queens horn began to glow green, and his saddlebags drifted in. They dropped to the ground, but a single book stayed floating in the air. His journal!

"How do you explain this, then?" the queen asked, motioning to the book as it opened to a page with several drawings of changelings and notes about their powers and how dangerous they are. He was about to explain, when he noticed the queen wasn't motioning to the book, but to picture that had fallen out. He lifted it close using his magic and realized just which picture it was.

"Octavia and... well, I don't know what they call her here. Either Bubbles, or Ditzy. Maybe Derpy." He paused, staring at the picture.

A single tear dripped down his cheek before he snatched the book from the queen's magic, stuffed the picture into the open page, and slammed the book closed. A moment passed as he set the journal gently down on the stone slab behind him, then turned to face the queen. "The book is mine, now. It used to belong to a friend of mine, but now it's mine. The picture, though... It's not mine."

"Who's is it, then?" she asked, prying for any information she could get, but it was too late. The unicorn trotted to the slab, and sat down.

"I... I'm done talking to you. You'll have to kill me, or you can talk to me tomorrow. I..." Suddenly he laughed. "You asked the wrong question." The queen's horn started glowing a bit brighter, and she might have been preparing to kill him, but suddenly, the smaller version of the queen, obviously another female, stepped between them.

"Let me talk to him. If nothing else, I can get Ash prepared for his mission." The queen eyed the other changelings suspiciously, but eventually consented.

"You have 15 minutes to either get some information out of him, or get Ash ready. I want to see his impression before he goes to Canterlot," the queen said before turning and exiting. The grey changeling stepped out the door, but it was obvious he was still nearby, and the other changeling approached the unicorn.

"Hello. Maybe we can start this conversation over, so let me start. I am-" She began, but the unicorn cut her off.

"I know who you are, princess. I know almost everything about you, thanks to our mutual friend." The princess was surprised, and she was obviously caught off guard.

"How could Derpy know-" she tried to ask, but she suddenly cried out, reaching for her head. A simultaneous cry from outside the hallway proved that spell had chosen that precise moment to start failing. He rushed over to the princess and raised her chin with a hoof.

"I need you to listen to me very carefully. Derpy doesn't know any of it, but I do. I do not serve Princess Celestia, but she just became my boss in Canterlot. I'm not a spy, i'm a teacher, and I have something very important to teach you." The unicorn looked out the door, then back into the princess's face. "Call Ash in here. Make him focus on you. Make him focus on the feelings you make him feel, and you do the same for him. The moment you two are free of the spell the queen cast on you, grab my book and run. Make sure you have the picture, you might need it. Meet me in Canterlot when you get the chance."

The unicorn stepped back as the princess stared at him for a moment, then took his advice. When she told Ash what to do, a bolt of lightning flashed across the room and connected both of their horns for a moment. When the moment passed, a little heart was floating around the room, which the unicorn quickly waved away.

As the two changelings gathered their wits the unicorn put up a temporary force field to keep the changelings outside from coming in and killing them, because it was obvious they knew something was up.

As they smashed against the transparent, orange wall, the unicorn rushed over to the two changelings and said to them, "You have no reason to trust me, but if you don't all three of us are dead." He turned to Ash, who had recovered faster and was now helping the princess up. "I know you can reinforce that shield. You don't know much magic, but I know you know that spell." The drone nodded, and moved over to the forcefield. A purple beam streamed from Ash's small horn into the orange forcefield, causing it to have a purplish overglow.

As Ash walked back to unicorn, the princess asked him what they were supposed to do now.

"I guess we run away to Canterlot? What about the other changelings? And if you know that much about me, you must know about the invasion my mother is planning." She paused. "And I still don't trust you, just so you know. I don't even know your name!" The unicorn stopped, thinking.

"I don't have a name in this world, but I guess you can call me Brimstone. How about Brimstone Blaze? Yeah," he said smiling. "I like that name." Suddenly, he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the two changelings alone. They turned toward the forcefield and noticed the queen was standing outside.

"And what do you two think you're going to do now, hmm?" she asked.

The princess began preparing a simple mass knockout spell as she walked over to the doorway.

"We are going to Canterlot, my queen. I guess i'll go talk to Derpy and see how she's doing."