Infiltrator

by Phonyyx

Prologue

First Changeling Invasion of Canterlot

Kore'kel turned to face the terrified family. The mother and father huddled together at the end of the alley, shaking in fear at the sight of him. Between the two was a small, young filly. He looked down at himself and around him at the invasion. "Kore'kel!" A voice called out to him in his mind. Kore'kel turned to see another changeling. "Are there any ponies over there?" His voice was raspy and sounded like two voices speaking at once, but then again, so did every changeling's voice. Kore'kel looked down the alley and back to the changeling.

"No. I think I saw a group of them heading that way." Kore'kel pointed to a street further away. The group of changelings took flight down the street, leaving Kore'kel and the unknown ponies. "You have to run. Get out of the city, take the sewers and tell everypony you come across to do the same." The three ponies stared at him, their faces of fear unchanging.

"W-Why should we trust you?" the father asked. Kore'kel himself was unsure why he was doing this. If the rest of the Hive found out, he'd be executed, or worse, exiled. Kore'kel was about to answer when he heard an explosion from behind him. He turned to see a large wave of purple magic rushing toward him. He could hear the voices of his brothers and sisters screaming in his head. He felt the wave force him into the air, sending him hurtling into the badlands.

Kore'kel felt pain. It was all he could register. His vision was blurred and swinging, his ears rang. He tried to shout for some help, but the most he could muster was a weakened semi-groan. He lifted a hoof to rub his head but found it was ripped. Green blood flowed down his hoof. He felt more blood trickling down his chest and realized his lower jaw was gone. Although he couldn't see it, he could feel the remains of his carapace; cracked and ripped wings.

Royal Changeling Hive

Queen Chrysalis stood before a green cocoon. Inside it was one of the changelings that accompanied her in the invasion of Canterlot. Chrysalis peered inside the cocoon. There he was, the centerpiece of her latest plan to enact her revenge on Twilight Sparkle. A friend on the inside of her circle of friends. Someone who could gain their trust and then tear them apart. Chrysalis levitated a black, bent sickly dagger to her side and cut open the cocoon. The diluted healing gel sloshed outward from tear and the changeling slid out. He was the first of his kind; no longer a mere scout, but now much more than a simple infiltrator, he was a hybrid between the two.

The unconscious changeling laid in the center of a circle of messenger changelings. "Those are the memories you wish for us to wipe, our Queen?" one of the messengers asked.

"Yes. Make sure they are replaced with the correct false memories." Chrysalis looked down upon the changeling. "Soon you will bring to me the head of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, Kore'kel."

Bordering Between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest

The changeling never ran faster in his life. Behind him were the sounds of howling timberwolves giving chase. With his emotional stores dangerously low, all he could do was run. Run and hope that by some miracle, he escaped the Timberwolves.

Daring to look back, he saw the alpha of the pack mere feet behind him. He could see the remains of its previous meal, still stuck between the jagged wood that were its teeth. Facing forward again, the changeling spotted a tree whose roots formed a barrier with an opening just big enough. Changing directions, he dived for the hole. He tumbled over himself on the ground, cutting and scrapping his already severely damaged carapace. Taking the few precious moments he had, he sighed and breathed.

The sudden gnawing and tearing of rotten wooden teeth at the roots made him jump back. The alpha was determined to get him. Mere moments later the rest of the pack surrounded the tree, cutting off any exit he had. Focusing the very little magic he had left, a green aura formed around his horn and shot straight up through the tree and dozens of feet into the air before exploding, illuminating the surrounding area in a brilliant emerald hue. That was it, the last of his magic was used in that spell. If no other changeling saw it, then he was doomed. Hell, he'd take anything sentient creature finding him over these Timberwolves.

It turned out, that whatever being in control of the world decided to spare him. Not long after the magical explosion had occurred were the sounds of more explosions, smaller and more frequent, and getting closer. But no brilliant colored hue in the early morning sky. Whatever was the source of sounds, it was enough to temporarily drive away the Timberwolves. But the alpha stayed longest, eyeing the changeling until finally retreating into the depths of the Everfree Forest. The changeling's eyes blurred and blacked until he finally passed out from exhaustion.

Three fillies just made the most foolish, stubborn, idiotic, and dangerous stunt in their lives. But ultimately it saved the life of the changeling. Apple Bloom was the first to speak up. "Is that a changeling?"

"I think so," Sweetie Belle responded. "Should we help em?"

"Sweetie Belle, don't you remember what Twilight told us about the changelings invading Canterlot," Apple Bloom retorted.

"So your saying we should just leave em?"

"No. Ah'm not sayin' that."

"Well whatever we do, we need to do it fast. Those Timberwolves aren't going to stay away for much longer," said Scootaloo.

"Help me with em," Sweetie Belle groaned out as she tried to heave the heavier creature onto the wagon. Apple Bloom got underneath the limp body and pushed up, getting the changeling onto the wagon.

"Ah hope ya know what yer doin' Sweetie." Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both hoped back onto the wagon. The three fillies froze at the sound of a low growl. Slowly turning around, they saw the alpha timberwolf creeping out of the deep woods, eyeing them hungrily. "Go Scoots, GO NOW!" Apple Bloom shouted to her friend. Scootaloo didn't waste any time in getting them out of the woods.

"Are they following us?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yes!" a frightened Sweetie Belle squeaked out. Sweetie Belle, in her fright, accidentally shot a blast of magic. The same kind of magic blast they used earlier to scare off the Timberwolves. A lightbulb lit up above her head and Sweetie Belle shot another blast of magic, this one, aimed at the Timberwolves. Most of the Timberwolves stopped chasing them after that first blast but four Timberwolves, one of which was the alpha, kept on the chase. "Umm, they're still chasing us!"

"Don't worry, Ah got this," Apple Bloom said as she pulled some rocks and plants out of the bag wrapped around her shoulders. She quickly crushed the plants between the rocks and poured the mush into a potion bottle of water. She started to mutter the recipe. "Two crushed rosaries, a pinch of poison joke pollen, and shake vigorously. Remind me to thank Zecora later." Apple Bloom tossed the potion at the Timberwolves. When it hit the ground and shattered, numerous thorny branches sprouted from the ground and surrounded one of the Timberwolves, trapping it. "Yeah!" Apple Bloom cheered in celebration.

Scootaloo looked around, trying to find a way to escape from the remaining two Timberwolves. Then she saw it, a river. One particular spot of the edge was high enough and at the perfect angle for her to ramp them over the water. The only problem was that between her and the river was a jungle of vines, thorns, rocks, and trees. But this was Scootaloo, the greatest -Scooterer? Scooterie? Ahh, whatever you call people who ride scooters are- in Equestria. If anypony could make it, then that pony was her. "Hold on back there. It's about to get bumpy!"

"Bumpy how?" Sweetie Belle asked before she saw the path Scootaloo was taking. "Ohh. That's how." Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both grabbed onto their respective sides of the wagon and held for their dear lives. Scootaloo's wings buzzed furiously, propelling them and the cart through the undergrowth. The wagon's wheels pulled up thorns and vines from the ground. Sweetie Belle dared to look back and saw the alpha and the last timberwolf gaining ground on them. Gulping, Sweetie lowered her head and focused on the spell Princess Twilight taught her. Soon a green blast of magical energy hit the timberwolf in the paws, causing it to tumble over itself and shatter into a million splinters. Suddenly the wagon lurched upward and flew across the gap until finally bumping and sliding to a stop.

Apple Bloom groaned and held her stomach. "Ah feel sick."

Unbeknownst to the three fillies, the changeling they had saved had been passively feeding off their friendship for each other. He mumbled and moved a bit, but didn't awaken. "Let's get back to Ponyville. This is enough excitement even for me." Scootaloo told her friends. Nodding their agreement, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom hopped in the wagon. Scootaloo revved up her wings but the wagon didn't budge. She got off the scooter and found the wheels were wedged in the undergrowth. "We're gonna have to push. The wagons stuck." The three fillies started pushing but stopped when they heard a loud thud behind them. A snarl told them exactly what It was, the alpha timberwolf. It had jumped the gap and was now looking hungrily at them. Scootaloo pushed the scooter as much as she could but it was a fruitless endeavor.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, realizing they were cornered, clumped together shaking. Apple Bloom's teeth chattered, Sweetie Belle hid her head inside the circle, not wanting to see what happened next, and Scootaloo defiantly stood, placing herself between her two friends and the timberwolf, so that when the timberwolf did attack, her friends could have a few precious seconds to run away. Scootaloo closed her eyes and steeled herself in expectation of the timberwolf's mangey jaw.

But it never came. She heard sounds of teeth, but there was no sharpened wood digging into her, no screams from her friends, no fatal end to her. Scootaloo opened her eyes and saw the changeling.

Before the timberwolf made a move that surely would have ended the lives of those three fillies, the changeling jerked up and awake. His body coursing with one emotion. Fear. The fear was essentially pumping adrenaline through him, but it clouded his mind, made him forgot. But at that moment, what he was, who he was, or where he was didn't matter. What did matter were the fillies. Jumping between the orange pegasus and the timberwolf, the changeling formed illusions around him. His carapace split open and two sets of translucent oval wings spread out. He bared his fangs and his tongue flicked out into the air wildly. Fires burst into existence from beneath the timberwolf. Fiery tendrils stuck to its paws and crawled up its wooden body. Scootaloo saw no flames. Only a timberwolf howling in pain and sprinting away.

Author's Note:

I googled it, they're called scooterists. And yet autocorrect still hates that.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Alright, a sleeper cell. Let's see if he can overcome his programming!
Keep going! ;)