> (2) Cinder Phoenix Trilogy: Changelings Can Change! > by CinderUnicorn > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A New Adventure Begins! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Changelings Can Change! By CinderUnicorn Gaar* walked through the deadly forest. The was no trace of others anywhere. Changelings, anyway. After a while of desperately battling his way through the thick bushes, escaping from menacing timberwolves and deep swamps, the changeling eventually found his way out of the forest. Looking up, he spotted a tall, majestic tower, which he recognised from when he and his fellow changelings went to Canterlot. He figured that if he went there, he might find some of his comrades. So, he set off for Canterlot. He passed a town full of ponies**, though he paid no attention to them. He saw a colt standing there with his mother. The mother placed her hooves around him and flew into the air, her wings clearing many clouds on her way. The changeling copied the colt's form, and walked towards the train station. It was only then that he realized he had no bits to buy the ride with! He sat down to think, when the train driver trotted towards him. "Ah, Cloud Dash!" the train driver called, smiling slightly. "I guess you must be here for a little ride on the train, eh? But I'm afraid you can't today. I'm scheduled to drive the train to Canterlot. But if your Mother doesn't mind, I could perhaps bring you with me, and you could help me." "Sure!" he cried happily. "I'd love to visit Canterlot!" ~ ~ ~ Later, Gaar managed to distract the driver by showing him an interesting conversation at the back of the train about some gossip. He quickly ran off the train and when his senses reoriented, he saw that the city was packed with ponies. He trotted quietly to the Canterlot tower. He looked around where he saw a white alicorn princess and a unicorn filly. Gaar couldn't see the filly that well, so he followed her find out who she was. He stalked her from a distance, making sure she didn't see him. When the filly eventually felt that she was being watched, she turned around. Instead of hiding, 'Cloud Dash' stared at her, unable to move. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She had an adorable, soft pink mane and tail and a shiny white coat. Her eyes were bright orange, like the sun rising at dawn. She wore a necklace of orange and fuschia, a fancy red and orange dress, bright orange slippers and red earrings in the shape of a quarter full moon. To Gaar, she looked just like an angel. She disappeared into a corridor, but soon appeared again beside him. "Why were you following me?" she hissed. "Because I love y- to look at things...?" Gaar tried his best to smile. The filly just stared at him for a while, but shrugged and started to walk away. Suddenly, she turned to look at him again. "Don’t follow me anymore." Her icy tone cut to his core. Before he could say anything, she turned her back to him and walked away "Wait!" he shouted after a moment, galloping after her. "What's your name anyway?" "Cinder," the filly said after a while. "What's your name, then?" "My name?" he hesitated. "Well, uhm... my name's... uhm... Gaar." "Gaar?" said Cinder. "That's a strange name. I don't know anypony called Gaar other than you. Anyways, I must go. I need to find my friends and say goodbye to them. They're leaving to Ponyville." She galloped away without even saying goodbye. Gaar stayed there and watched her until she vanished. "I've never seen anything so beautiful before in my entire short life," he sighed happily. "Dost thou likest Cinder?" a booming voice asked from behind him. Gaar turned around and looked up. There in front of him was a dark blue alicorn. He expected that she must've been a relation to Princess Celestia. "Oh uhm, your majesty...!" said Gaar, bowed and tried to act as if he revered her. "We know that thou art not pony," responded Luna, frowning down at him. Gaar immediately jumped back, staring at her. "How...?" asked Gaar, disheartened. "Because we are the Princess of the Night. We raise the moon in the evening and lower it at dawn. We can also enter dreams and appear, likest now." "Huh? What do you mean?" The princess of the night flew upwards into the air. The sun started to rise, getting bigger, and bigger and bigger until Gaar couldn't see. He closed his eyes, hearing a lot of noise surrounding him. He opened his eyes. He was in his hive with his fellow changelings. He stood up. It was all a dream. Gaar could hardly believe it. He walked outside of his small room and looked around. Changelings stood there speaking, young ones frolicked around, playing with their friends and few adults flew around, towards where their queen usually stayed. The queen. Chrysalis. She was Gaar's mother. Most other young changelings respected him, although he didn't really care if they treated him like any other or not. Gaar walked towards where his mother might possibly be, wondering if he should tell her or not. Gaar knew that although sometimes his mother's reactions are different, this one would be particularly bad. So he took his time, thinking of all her possible reactions that could be reality. "Well, son," she would say, "Perhaps you should go see for yourself, perhaps this is your destiny!" Or maybe the total opposite. Anyway, that didn't matter. When Gaar eventually got to where she was, she was talking to a lot of drones. "We should wait another while," she said to one. "We could catch them off guard and kill them all! I'll see at a later date. Let's just wait for now." She turned around and noticed Gaar. "Ah, Gaar," she smiled. "How nice of you to join us. I was just about to come and wake you up. I need a drone to go to Canterlot and earn trust with a bird called the Cinderphoenix." "I can," suggested Gaar. "I can earn its trust easier because I like animals." "Great thinking, Gaar," grinned Chrysalis. "Sometimes, you have great ideas, my son. But of course, you get it from me." She patted him on the head playfully. "Now go! Find a disguise and earn its trust for me." Gaar nodded. He turned around and left for Equestria. Another adventure was just about to begin. > The Coronation > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gaar flew high above the clouds, diving down to land on them every now and then to catch his breath before taking off again. Although he was only a young Changeling, he was still surprisingly good at flying. He headed for Canterlot as his Mother had instructed. As he flew, he wondered if the pony in his dream was real. He doubted it, but there was a slight possibility. He wished to meet her again, but what if she would find out about his true, Changeling self? He sighed. The chance was small anyway. But even if it was possible, it’d be hard to get her to like him. He was, after all, a Changeling. At midnight, he reached Equestria. His wings were sore from flight by then, so he landed carefully beside Sweet Apple Acres. Copying the appearance of a small, white and ginger Pegasi colt, he trotted into Ponyville. He spotted Princess Celestia with six ponies; two Pegasi; two Earth; a Unicorn; and a purple Alicorn. Gaar was shocked since he thought there was only three Alicorns. He eavesdropped on their conversation and heard what was to happen. Twilight, the Alicorn, would go to Canterlot and her friends would follow. Fluttershy, one of the Pegasi, mentioned ‘Cinder’ who Gaar thought to be the Cinder Phoenix. Perhaps if he followed them, he’d be able to befriend the Cinder Phoenix. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the six friends walk off towards the train station. When he escaped from his deep realm of thoughts, he began galloping after them as quickly as he could. He knew he couldn’t fail his Mother even though he disliked her plan. Just before the train took off, Gaar flew onto the top of it and clung on for dear life. The trip to Canterlot wasn’t as long as the one in his dream was, but perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing. He’d have more time to find the bird, befriend it and bring it back in such a little amount of time that his Mother would be so proud. But little did he know just what he was going to find in Canterlot… ~ ~ ~ Meanwhile, in Canterlot itself, Cindy sat beside a tree in the Royal Garden and whistled to entertain herself. She would’ve been doing what her special talent is, but she just couldn’t quite figure out what her cutie-mark meant. She knew it was something to do with being a bird, her cutie-mark being a phoenix and all. It definitely wasn’t flying, she couldn’t set herself ablaze, use fire magic and she certainly wasn’t at all similar to Fluttershy and her special talent. Cindy sighed and stood up, walking towards the Canterlot Castle. She turned into her bird form, flew over to the train station and stood perched on a nearby roof, keeping watch over the ponies pouring in and out of the newly arrived train for some time. She became bored for the second time and began to fly off, but then she noticed a familiar Pegasus amongst the crowd. It was Fluttershy! Alongside Fluttershy were Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Princess Celestia. Cindy couldn’t be certain, but she was almost sure that Twilight was a unicorn the last time she saw her. Cindy sat there for a while, utterly confused at the whole situation. Many questions ran through her mind. What was Fluttershy doing here? Why is Twilight an Alicorn? Was she always an Alicorn but her mind was playing tricks on her? Cindy decided not to interfere and to instead, just sit there and watch. Fluttershy and her friends were lead off by Celestia, followed by a crowd of excited ponies. As they made their way to the Canterlot Towers, Cindy flew off the roof and turned into pony form before following everypony. Cindy’s questions were soon answered once they got into the towers. Twilight was having a coronation. Fluttershy and her friends were only in Canterlot especially for the event. Although she was there for another reason, Fluttershy kept glancing around as if she was looking for something. Cindy just watched from in the crowd, waiting until later to attempt to create a conversation. The coronation was fairly short. When it was completed, Twilight said a little speech on the balcony overlooking more large crowds. After that, Twilight led her friends to another room where they stayed for a while and chatted about the recent events. So Cindy followed them to talk to them for a while only to be greeted coldly by the door slamming against her face. Gaar was not having good luck today. He tried to find the Cinder Phoenix, but instead he found only a few red macaws and a mocking jay. He thought back a little. He remembered his mother talking about how she could change appearance to being pony and a selection of many other creatures, but she could be anywhere. She had said that the Cinder Phoenix is usually a red Pegasus, but when reborn she could change her pony appearance to anything. She was only reborn four times, always a Pegasus. But the last time, she was Unicorn. And she wasn’t red either, which surprised the Changelings quite a bit. Gaar noticed that there was a lot of cheering coming from the distance. He guessed that that the ponies he spotted earlier were celebrating. So without delay, he galloped toward the direction the cheers were coming from, since the Phoenix would more than likely be where an Alicorn is. He tried to fly a few times, but his wings were too small. That’s what he hated about Pegasi foals. The wingspan was miserable. When he reached the Canterlot Towers, he spotted the figure of a young Unicorn, sitting by itself in an empty corridor. As he walked closer, the figure became clearer to see. Then he figured out who it was. It was the filly. The filly from his dream. And she appeared quite sad and lonely. > Cindy and Gaar > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gaar could have died he was so shocked. This was indeed the filly. But how? Gaar decided to walk over to her and introduce himself. He tried to think of the best wording he could display, but it was too late because the filly had already noticed him and was now starting to talk to him. "Oh, hi!" she lilted, resuming to her ordinary bubbly personality. "I'm Cindy. I haven't seen you around before, are you new here?" "O-Oh, um, yes," Gaar stuttered in reply. "I just moved from... from Ponyville and-" "Oh, my friends are from Ponyville!" interrupted Cindy. Then her joyful mood perished. "But I guess they aren't my friends anymore..." "Why, what happened?" "Well they don't seem to care about me... I walked up to them and they slammed the door on my face..." "Maybe they didn't see you." "What kind of friends wouldn't look for you when they visit?" Gaar put a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her. "I know how you feel; my friends back home hardly noticed me. They didn't care, hell I wouldn't even call them friends." This was true. The other changelings rushed around doing important errands so frequently that they didn't notice him at all. But Gaar didn't at all mind, he spent most of his time daydreaming that he didn't think it was that necessary to have friends. "Surely it was lonely?" Cindy asked, her question dragging him back into reality again. "No," replied Gaar sincerely. "I got used to it." Cindy smiled faintly at Gaar, "Well, if they aren't going to be my friend, will you?" "Yes." "Thank you. Do you want to have lunch at the café just outside the tower? I have a few bits in my saddlebag." "Sure, okay." Gaar acted calm, but really, one could tell that he was excited as the two friends walked off to the gardens to retrieve Cindy's saddlebag. Cindy herself was excited. She was starting to get attracted to Gaar. As they took the saddlebag and walked to the café, Gaar's interesting conversations kept her from thinking about how her friends had forgotten her. And for once in a very long time, Cindy was as happy as her personality suggested. They arrived at the café which had hardly anypony in it. "May I get a daisy sandwich, please?" Cindy asked the kind mare serving at the counter. She had to stand on her hindlegs to get noticed. She looked at Gaar, asked for what he wanted, and repeated the reply to the mare, "Make that two, please." She sat down beside a table designed for foals, and Gaar sat opposite her. The mare brought them their daisy sandwiches shortly after. "So, what's it like to live in Canterlot?" Gaar asked Cindy, digging into his sandwich. "Most of the folks here are easily disliked," Cindy sighed. "Especially the foals. Princess Celestia enlisted me into the school for magically gifted unicorns. I don't like the other foals, though. "Your parents must be really proud of you for getting into that school." "I never knew my parents. I grew up in Canterlot with the princesses." "Oh... well I ran away from my parents, so I don't have any anymore either." Cindy was about to reply with expressed worry, when a chubby and short unicorn colt walked into the café. He levitated a large bag above his neatly combed golden mane. He wore a posh suite that made him look much older than he was. His snow white pelt looked as if dirt had never touched it before. Cindy, ignoring Gaar's existence, immediately turned to face the colt, "Heya, Alistair." "Greeting, Cinder," said Alistair in a distinct Manehattan accent. The bag flopped onto the table in front of Cindy and some bits spilled out onto the floor beside Cindy's left hind-leg. As they both reached down to retrieve them, Alistair's hoof touched Cindy's and she pulled it back, her face blushing a deep scarlet. Alistair held out the bits in front of Cindy and smiled, "You can have them if you want." "Thanks!" "Would you like to accompany me to the coronation party of Twilight Sparkle? As you probably know, everypony is invited. Even those dreaded country blokes." Alistair glanced at Gaar. Gaar felt like killing him, he was so outraged. To Gaar surprise, Cindy agreed to go with him. Before leaving, Cindy smiled at Gaar, "I'll see you later, okay? You are going to be at the party right?" "Of course I will!" Gaar threw on a fake smile. "Good. Well, see ya!" "Bye..." Gaar watched them leave, his hate for Alistair growing past the breaking point. ---- Later, Gaar had devised a plan to get some time with Cindy. The first step was to find Alistair. Gaar searched the castle first because he had expected that he'd be with this so called 'Twilight Sparkle' the new princess. He was right. Alistair was chatting to a yellow pegassus mare with the longest pink tail Gaar had ever laid eyes on. "Um, excuse me," she looked at Alistair shyly. "Can you please tell me where my friend, the Cinder Phoenix, is? Only if you want to, I mean..." "She will be at the coronation party, Madame Fluttershy," Alistair smiled. Gaar was surprised that his ticket to a better life was so close. Queen Chrysalis would be so pleased that he found the Cinder Phoenix that she would actually notice him for once. He honestly didn't mind the other changelings ignoring him, but he thought that his mother's appreciation might let him have an important job when he got older. Ever since he could remember, he wanted to be one of Chrysalis' guards. That was what he used to daydream about as the changelings ignored and made fun of him behind his back. He would stare out of the golden, decorated pod-like window in his small, gloomy room and watch the swarms of unrecognizable soldiers dart high up around the brightly lit hive's ceiling with a desire to join them on their quests. Alistair's startled yelp woke Gaar from his transitory flashback trance. He turned to see that Alistair, for whatever reason, was now on the balcony that Gaar was sitting on and was staring at him, his eyes full of terror but his face surprisingly calmed. Gaar had forgotten that he turned back to his original form as he awaited a chance to come face to face with Alistair. Gaar stood up and walked calmly over to Alistair, grinning slightly. Alistair tried to back away, but Gaar lunged at him, entrapped him in a chrysalis before he could fight back, and took his form. "Don't worry," Gaar snickered at him, patting the chrysalis preserving the petrified Alistair. "I'm only borrowing this form for a while." -------------------------- Meanwhile, Cindy had gotten rid of Alistair's presence and went back to the café in search of Gaar. He was nowhere to be found. It was as if he had spontaneously combusted. She wasn't even gone a minute. Alistair had trotted off to meet the princess and left her there after being purposely trampled on by two bullies that suspiciously reminded her of Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. So she decided to check the place that Twilight's coronation party was going to be held in. The chance that he'd be there was little, but Cindy was running out of places to search and she was tired even though it was only midday. But he could've been there. Cindy had no such luck. And what was worse, Alistair was there. "Greeting, Cinder," he beamed. "Come early to meet the new princess?" "No!" Cindy exclaimed a little louder than she meant. Alistair stared at her. She went quiet for a while before continuing, "I... I mean no, I just wanted to drop by to see if anyone was here. I was.. just planning on resting for a while" -she yawns- "for a few hours." "Oh, okay... well I will see you at the coronation party then..." "Bye..." Cindy galloped off to escape the awkward situation. She went to her room in one of the Canterlot towers. Immediately as she entered, she saw a pink letter on the table beside her bed. She picked it up and read it in a quiet whisper. It was a love letter from Alistair. She threw the letter on the ground. She was disgusted even thinking about Alistair and herself together. She thought that they'd make the most unlikely pair. She walked over to the balcony but found that the door was locked. She used her magic to take the hidden key from under her mattress. As she opened the door, she noticed that it didn't open fully and something was blocking it. She stepped out onto the balcony and pushed the door closed again. Cindy almost screamed. "Alistair!" she cried out, surprised. She touched the chrysalis and then examined the surface. She realized that she had noticed something off about Alistair's voice when she last met him. He was an impostor.