-1- The Advent of New Athens

~1~

The Advent of New Athens

Newfoals were still disappearing without a trace. While the equestrian government tried to investigate the possible causes of this, thousands of newfoals still went missing constantly during the last five years.

Since the detonation of the purification spell and the massive ponification wave during the last hours of human Earth, newfoals began to vanish. At first they were just small groups, never more than two dozens. But with each passing day, more and more began to leave Equestria, and since the odd radio signal began, the exodus of their numbers increased dramatically.

The few ponies who saw the last of these groups counted about three hundred newfoals, spending all the bits they had before leaving Equestrian civilization in massive migration caravans. The government didn’t do anything about it, but concern began to grow in Equestria when they noticed that these newfoals, nearly all of them, were illustrious humans in the past: doctors, and engineers, teachers, researchers, they held all humanity's lost knowledge. Most of those were also known for being no cooperative with their equestrian counterparts, relying in that “their knowledge didn’t belong to ponykind”.

Not many months ago, ponies ex-members of the PER offered to help about the newfoals’ disappearance. They built a long-ranged radio, based on human technology, a process that took months to finish, as they needed to rebuild each and every single component from scratch. At the present day, they managed to make it work, and searched the frequency of the ghost signal that had been calling to the converted humans for over three years.

Celestia was with her sister in the throne room, attending some petitioners, when the PER team scrambled into the room wielding the new radio. Their faces had unreadable expressions on them. “Your highness…” the leader began, “we are sorry to interrupt, but you need to hear this.”

“Very well… Guards, please, leave the premises.”

The guards did as commanded, leaving the PER team with the princesses. The team nodded between them, and the leader spoke again. “Your highness… you are not going to believe what you are going to hear…”

After a brief, tense moment, the pony turned the radio on.

“… to the events that will come. This is a great step for us, and I am sure that you agree with me. With this new dam, New Athens will have water and electricity beyond our consumption capacity. We will not have any more water or energy shortages!” a stallion’s voice said through the radio. The sound of clapping and hoof stomping could be heard as a gesture of approval.

“We are glad to announce, too, that the new solar plant Apollo One will be finished soon, giving enough power to sustain industry by itself. No more compromising the supply for civil uses.”

A multitude of claps and murmurs of approval seeped through the speaker.

“The Council of the Wise wants to remember to our citizens that the schools are going to open in the next months,” the stallion continued. “Thanks to the Industrial Department, we have a fully functional printing house, so this year, our children will have text books to use!

“And remember, beloved citizens…”

“For the future of humankind, hail New Athens!” the crowd cheered. “Long live the Council!”

Suddenly, the noise of being outdoors was cut off. Another stallion talked this time. “Well, that was the speech of the spokesman and head of the Council, Elder Socrates, about the inauguration of the new dam. People in the streets of New Athens approved the administration of the Council without hesitation. That’s a blast, remembering the Old World Governments, right, Sheila?”

“That’s true, Nick,” a mare said. “I can remember the problems we had with the political system back in Old Earth. Anyway, in other news, it seems like a migration caravan is approaching the frontier. That’s the third caravan in a month. What is happening in Equestria?”

“I don’t know, Sheila, and I can’t care less about it. But that remembers me about something that happened past week. An equestrian pony was with one of the caravans! Can you believe it? He wanted to be in our Polis!”

“Ouch, that probably didn’t end well, did it?”

“Oh, don’t worry Sheila, the infantry sent him back home with supplies to last the trip. But one of the soldiers told me that the face of the pony was priceless when they told him ‘Sorry, no equestrians allowed’. After that, he was a bit infuriated. Can you imagine it? An angry pony! I wish I could get angry. You know, that drug cocktail, the ‘Serum’ , sure gives the brain a kick…”

“You are drifting again, Nick… Focus…”

“Oh, that’s right.” Somepony, most likely the spokespony, coughed a little. “In other news, the use of…”

Celestia turned off the radio. Her expression was unreadable, much like the one the PER team had. “Luna, send for Twilight Sparkle. We need to investigate this personally”.

I opened my eyes when the sunlight bathed them, giving me the signal to engage the new day. Standing on my hind legs and with the aid of my prosthetic hands, I wore on my pants and shirt, along with the faithful bandana that always went on my forehead. My Council coat was in the floor again. “I must try to put my clothes in the closet before sleep…” I grumbled. Needless to say, all this was practically a ritual.

After I prepared myself for the new day, I opened the window and looked around at the world beyond the gentle breeze. It was something I dreamed of years ago, when the Apocalypse fell upon mankind – a bursting city, full of life, beamed into my eyes. It wasn’t New York, but we didn’t have the need for such big skyscrapers. A dozen residential towers were in sight, built with the aid of our former technology expertise and the hideous magic learned from the equestrians. Between the towers, lots and lots of residences sprawled across the land, showing a little of how much remained of our people.

The streets, even at this hour, were pretty alive, with lots of ponified humans strolling around. Most of them walked over their hind legs and wore clothes, like me, as they did before the fall of our race. It wasn’t mandatory, but most didit anyway. I could understand why: like me, they didn't want to let go of their ancestry if they could help it. And since everyone in New Athens had to at least carry one prosthetic hand, in order to use human-based artifacts, wearing them on the forelegs made it much less of a hassle. In the sky, there was quite a sight for the casual watcher, multiple pegasi and aerial vehicles cruising in harmony.

The streets were the apex of human urbanism, an almost perfect balance between nature and technology. The streets were paved with white or beige concrete, surrounded by lines of trees and flowers. There were green spaces everywhere, and since the water was unpolluted, the fountains and basins were very popular spots for their free usable water.

A feeling of bliss filled my heart. We made this ourselves. Sure, it would have been a lot harder without the magic of the unicorn newfoals, nut nevertheless, we were blooming again.

A new hope for humanity.

“A ponified humanity…” I retorted to myself. I was closing the window when a continuous beep from the intercom putted me back on reality. “Socrates at the com. What is it?” I answered.

“Elder Socrates, the rest of the council members are ready to depart to the inauguration of the Museum of Old Earth.”

“Thanks, Camille. I’ll be in the hall in a minute.”

I stretched a bit, snapping some of my joints in the process with loud pops. As I walked, I remembered how much my apartment looked like a small version of the ones back on Old Earth, simple and functional. It was a bit dull, but it was comfortable. I sighed and looked at the calendar. “May 22nd, 2089,” I read out loud. 'Time sure flies.’

I looked at my reflection to make my hair more suitable. I was one of the lucky shots that didn’t have anything against nature, in coloring terms; light brown coat, onyx-black hair, greyish eyes, and no other defining features. I styled my hair and ran to the hall of the building, careful about falling down the stairs. Living on the top floor, I'd be guaranteed a nasty drop, which is why we restricted the skyline to only six floors above ground at most.

Once I was on the hall, my six comrades and four bodyguards were waiting for me. “You sure took your time,” A yellow mare with red mane said. “You know you have an alarm in your clock, right?”

“What can I say? Yesterday was a great day. It drained all my energy, Sappho.”

A unicorn stallion, with green coat and a long, brown mane laughed. “Come on, Socrates! Move your lazy ass here. If yesterday was important, today will be the icing on the cake.”

I sighed. “Give me a break, Darius…”

They laughed more, and I joined in. We were happy because our dream was taking form and becoming true in front of our eyes. Nothing could sour our mood.

We were walking thought the main street when one of the council members, a pegasus mare with pink coat and blonde mane, approached me, a bit worried. “Hello, Socrates. How is your…” she didn’t finish, looking my forehead.

“I’m OK, don’t worry, Minerva. I haven’t had a headache since yesterday.”

She nodded and we continued to walk. I hate when they were concerned about ‘that’.

Soon enough we arrived to a stand in front of a wide building, with a dome in the middle of its square-like structure. Clad in iron were letters that we could read as “Museum of Earth” on a stand in front of the building. There was a square with a covered statue, which was our destination, between the two.

We stood up the stand, chatting a bit while the seats and spaces in front of us filled with citizens. A big crowd of happily chatting newfoals was waiting after a moment. Seeing as everything was ready and there was a sizable audience, I picked up a cord that was attached to the covered statue, went to the microphone and coughed, trying to get the attention of all of them. “Beloved citizens of New Athens! It’s a honor for me and the rest of the Council to announce that, after one year of construction and organization… the Museum of Earth opens its doors to the public!” I proclaimed, pulling the rope and showing the statue.

It was a representation of Old Earth in the twentieth century, and on top of it a human spreading its arms to the sky. It was all white marble, as clean and untainted as our hopes. “With this building open, we are one step further along the path to recover our identity, both as a species and a culture! We will not let our customs and knowledge fall upon alien hooves or claws! For Humanity!”

There was a massive roar or applause from the crowd. After that, some of them stopped to talk a bit with the council members, while the rest moved in for the museum's first tour.

I was chatting about the new schools with a young mare called Maria when one of our bodyguards approached with an alarmed expression. “Sir, we have a problem right in the frontier,” he whispered. I nodded and made a signal to my comrades, and they nodded. They were going to stay on the stage; if all of the council's members left the scene, people would start asking questions, and if the guard's alarm had a valid reason, it would be a spark that would erupt the powder keg.

The bodyguard led me to an empty street for security. “Elder Socrates, Alpha Squad in the eastern frontier says that they have an incoming flying carriage. What should we do?”

I thought for a bit. This was a major problem; only the equestrian elite used that kind of transportation. “Deploy the Pegasus Squad over the frontier and try to stop them civilly. If they don’t oblige, ask for credentials.”

The bodyguard came back after a short info relay. He was pale under his coat. “Elder Socrates… the Pegasus Squad was informed that they are the Equestrian Princesses and a VIP.”

‘Celestia, Luna and Twilight Sparkle… Predictable.’ “Tell them to escort the Equestrians to the front of the Council Chamber. Don’t talk to them and don’t try any hostile approaches. Then, you'll inform to the rest of the council that we have an Alpha-01 scenario. Can you?”

“Yes sir! A-01 scenario,” he replied nervously.

“Excellent. Now go. I'll be at the Chamber.”

Time was of the essence, making me do something I hated – I put off the prosthetic hands and cantered on all fours to the Council Chamber, a semicircular building in the fashion of the ancient Roman theatres. There, I stood right at the front and put my hands back again. I was waiting. I was not scared of them. I felt towards them a feeling supposed to be suppressed by the serum.

I hate them.

When they arrived with the escort, their looks betrayed them: as they looked around our city, they were amazed. But the well-known purple unicorn was the most impressed by far, not suppressing anything. They had only seen the decayed cities of the past, polluted and corrupted, not this little piece of technologic paradise. It wasn't a surprise that it would awe them so much, especially when it all came from human effort.

Their expressions did a one-eighty when they looked at the citizens.

Thanks to the Murphy’s Law, all of the ponified humans in sight, even the younger ones, were standing as bipeds and wearing clothes. Some of them looked at the Equestrians with disgust, others with fear. Some of them managed to even show anger.

I thought it was enough contact with New Athens’ citizens, and they seemed to think similarly, since Celestia addressed me before I could talk. “Are you the one known as Socrates?”

“I am Elder Socrates, leader of the Council of the Wise.” I took a step forward, making it clear that I was not walking as a quadruped, and I did some light gesticulation with my hands while I spoke to get the point further across. “I must say, in the name of my comrades and I, that I am very much not excited about the intrusion of Equestrians on New Athens. Though, since we want no hostilities, you were allowed this time. Let's enter the Council Chamber. We can talk in private there.”

Luna was about to speak when her sister stopped her. Twilight looked aggravated too, but Celestia nodded and followed me into the building, the other two in tow. Once inside, I walked to my seat in the center of the round side of the hemispherical meeting table. They stayed of their hooves behind the plain side.

“As a token of respect for your presence, I will not take a seat. I can see that our furniture isn’t adequate to your needs,” I said in a monotone. “Now that we are in a proper place to discuss... I must ask why both diarchs of the Principality of Equestria decided to come to our deliberately isolated city-state.”

Celestia looked at me, confused, while the other two were staring daggers at me, most likely because of the lack of decorum.

How amusing.

“We heard a radio transmission, and it converges with the disappearance of Equestrian newfoals over the past years,” Celestia said in a concerned tone.

I stood firmly, not changing my expression. “I didn’t know Equestrians had long-range radio technology...” I said, taking note about what the remnants of the PER and other newfoals over Equestrian soil were capable of. “But I suppose that is irrelevant. Is it that unsettling that we wanted to use our knowledge for our own benefit? We are a beacon for humanity, and the newfoals came here in search of their identity of their own will. They found a home far away from you ponies.”

“You are a pony, too, you are lying to yourself if you think otherwise!” Twilight replied angrily.

She was about to say more, but Celestia stopped her with a hoof. “We saved humankind from themselves. We offered our friendship and a way to survive with the Bureaus. We gave you new bodies free of your corruption…”

She stopped seeing my emotionless expression. “Sorry, Celestia, I am not falling for that. There are many newfoals who are very happy with their lives, of course. I am happy for them and hope they have successful and long lives in Equestria. But we of New Athens are not. I didn’t choose to be this… crime against my very being,” I said as I gestured at my body. “And so think our citizens. Almost everyone here walked through a forced ponification, and one of the things that we cannot tolerate is the violation of our free will.”

They had mixed reactions. “Maybe you wanted to die instead of living in a pure place like Equestria?” Luna said.

I closed my eyes to give my response. “Maybe yes, maybe no… I didn’t have a choice in the matter, did I?” I looked to my prosthetic hands and back to them. They were shocked at my words. “I didn’t sign up for this, and I wouldn't have even if I could have refused. I was forced.”

Celestia looked at me, surprised like she had just seen a ghost. “You… I remember you…”

I scowled. “I already told you what happened to the lost people over these years: they came to our city in hopes of finding a refuge, a haven to have free will and free speech. They found a new society, a thriving one. They live here, a human city made only for humans. Even with these cursed bodies, most of us remain almost the same mentally and emotionally, ones more than others, if I may add. So, to answer your 'question', Miss Twilight Sparkle, we are not ponies.”

My eyes landed on the clock mounted on a wall. “If you want to ask something else, make it quick, if you don’t mind. The Council is very busy right now, planning our schedule for the next months.”

“You are one of those newfoals that fled from Equestrian help,” Celestia said. “You didn’t even have an Equestrian name, did you?”

That started to make me angry. “I am not here to answer personal questions. If you don’t have more inquiries pertinent to the subject you came here for, I must politely ask you to leave New Athens.”

“How dare you speak to us in that tone!” Luna yelled at me, moving my bandana a bit. “You are our subjects, we are your sovereigns, and you shall address us as such!”

I didn’t flinch. The hate was compelling me not to break my stand. “We are not your subjects,” I said firmly with half of her volume and twice the sharpness. “We of New Athens decided, under our very own free will, to not accept your sovereignty and seek our liberty. Under the same free will we established a new independent city, far away from Equestrian frontiers, with our own laws and with the benefits of our own knowledge.

“We are a sovereign and independent state, and because of that, I address you as an equal, because I am one of the heads of the government of New Athens. As such, I must remind you that attempting to impose your sovereignty over ours is a crime against our rights and freedom, and will be treated as a declaration of war.”

Luna balked instantly at my words and their implications. They made her angry, but I had just listed a consequence she didn't want to risk facing.

Things were escalating quickly, and somepony made her reservations known. “Why are you rejecting us? Why are you doing this?” Twilight asked.

“Why did you exterminate us, Miss Twilight? Why did the equestrians slaughter an entire race? Just because we were different? You have performed the worst case of genocide in the story of our planet, and you nourish against us a feel of xenophobia just because we think differently. I can see it in your eyes.”

She winced and looked away.

“It was an easy choice. We didn’t want to live alongside an entire race that rejoiced in the extermination of another sentient race, our race, so we brought our knowledge and used it to create a new nation, independent and free. Our country, where we will be free of your tyranny and misconceptions.”

Celestia directed me a hurt look, but that didn’t work to break my will.

“That’s it? You decided to found your own country because you hold a grudge against us?” Luna replied. “We were just saving you from your fate. You destroyed your planet just by your mere presence!”

That card wouldn't win any chips; I was prepared for it. This was one of the predicted scenarios, after all. “We were healing our planet when you arrived. A big cluster of ecologist organizations, alongside the best of our scientists, developed ways to clean air, seas and soil. We were not working as nations, but as a race, united in a common goal, that is, until you arrived.” I directed an expression full of unmasked hate to them, to which there were mixed reactions. “You brought the end of the world for us. You destroyed our history, our cultures, our identity. You erased the very existence of humankind from the planet.

“That’s why New Athens exists: to preserve the legacy of our kind and, in time, see us reborn as a new humanity. In fact, we are now a new humanity, even with this cursed body.” I smirked. “It’s funny, though, that thanks to your wretched serum, the hatred between former humans disappeared. Now we can work together in common goals without hindrances.”
I felt accomplished for spiting that in their faces.

In the momentum of my speech, my bandana slipped further. “Sorry, just a moment,” I said as I turned to fix it, a bit embarrassed and hoping they didn’t noticed ‘that’.

“You are the philosopher…” Celestia said in a concerned tone. “Now I recognize you. What happened to your…”

“Nothing happened to my anything,” I replied, a little too quickly.

“His what, princess?” asked Twilight, always meddling in other people's affairs.

“Didn’t you notice, Twilight? His horn is missing.”

Just in a matter of fractions of a second, she and Luna changed their expressions from sad and angry to disbelieving and worried. Without asking, Luna pulled my bandana off with her telekinesis. They gasped, and boy how they gasped. In the middle of my forehead was my broken horn, nearly leveled to the rest of my cranium, making it easy to hide under the cloth.

“How… what happened?” they asked almost in unison.

“It’s not important.” I tried to say. “We were discussing…”

“It is important!” Twilight interrupted. “How long you have been like this?”

“Irrelevant,” I retorted. “I am not going to answer personal questions.”

“Five years and four months,” Celestia replied for me.

Luna and Twilight looked shocked at Celestia, who, in her turn, was looking at me with a grim expression.

“How do you know that, Princess?” Twilight asked

“Easy,” I replied. The gig was up now that Celestia had revealed something on the matter. I knew they wouldn't stop probing, so I decided to come clean. “She was present.”

Celestia let out a long sigh. “It is true, my faithful student. I found him soon after we started the last wave of forced ponification.” She looked to the nothingness, remembering that day. “He was still in his university when we found him. He managed to stay conscious during the process, and because of that his mind didn’t change in the way we planned. How he made it was still a mystery… but somehow he kept what he defined him as a human… an indomitable will and rejection against us.” Her voice sounded sad. “After I explained the situation to him, he just…”

She couldn’t continue, but I could, and that's what I did. “I broke my horn against a wall. I have the ‘ability’ to sustain great deals of pain, thanks to some freaky genetic mix.

“She tried to stop me, but she was too shocked to react properly, so I did it and ran away. Without anything that can hold magic in my body, nobody could track me.”

Celestia looked absolutely horrified. “I thought that after that you were going to fix your horn! But you damaged it even to make it look like it isn't there…”

I tuned her out; I didn’t need her bullcrap.

The face of astonishment Twilight had on was priceless. “But… without a horn, your magic must be building up inside you! You should have died by now!”

I laughed. “Well, I do have headaches, pretty bad ones, but nothing that some analgesics and a discharge every now and then can’t handle.”

“You… gave up your magic… just because you rejected what you have become?” Luna asked, considerably disturbed as well.

“Yes, I did,” was my matter-of-fact reply, “and I would have done a lot of more for New Athens. By breaking that horn, I gave my people a role model that gave up what he made him special as a pony in order to be as he was supposed to be: a person, defined by his own actions and will, not by a magic-throwing appendage or a mark on his rear.”

Celestia looked to my leg, to my flank specifically, and took a step back at what she saw with her magic. I just smirked at her. “Yes, I gave up all, Celestia. Absolutely everything.”

Twilight was speaking. “You… you need some help right now. You are not thinking properly. What you did to yourself, it's…”

“…like the deeds of a mad pony?” I laughed again, his time with some actual humor. “I am not mad, Miss Sparkle. In fact, I still have full understanding and use of my mind.” My voice turned accusatory. “It is you who are afraid of what you don’t know, like what we are doing here. A utopia that differs from yours. We are a wild variable in your pretty and sparkly order, and you don’t like it at all.” I was making them even more uncomfortable, if that was possible, and I enjoyed every second of it. The sly grin never left my face. “That is what you fear, little unicorn…”

I calmed myself a bit. “But that’s enough talking of me or any personal issues,” I said, covering my broken horn with hair and recovering my bandana. “If you don’t want to talk about really serious matters…”

“Yes, I have one… Socrates,” Celestia said, making it a point to address me by the name I’d given them.

“Feel free to talk,” I asked, polite but cold. “What do you have in mind?”

“We want to open an embassy in New Athens, and sustain good political relationship with your country,” she said slowly. Luna and Twilight were so surprised, they had their mouths wide open.

I smiled in more ways than one. She accepted the inevitable, and I knew that their beloved ponies didn’t want a war. We didn’t want one either, but we were ready to defend our freedom.

“I'm afraid I cannot allow that for the moment, if at all. As a basic rule of our government, any contact with Equestria or any other native nation is strictly forbidden,” I replied, again with my monotone voice. My expression betrayed my mood, though. “Just as we are not prepared for advanced external politics, we do not desire it.”

“But… but why? The princess just wants to be friends of your… nation,” Twilight said, again concerned. I asked myself how much shock she could take before she had a mental breakdown. From how some strands of her mane were already popping out, I would say ‘not many’.

“Look at this from our side, Miss Sparkle. Humankind was wiped out by ponykind, your kind. The other races didn’t help us in our times of need. We are living under human laws and society standards. Therefore, we don’t want any kind of relationship with any other sapient race in this planet. They left us to die at your hooves, so we have no reason to extend our hands to them.

“We want to be an isolated community. When our survival as a society is secured, maybe we can be open to think about such a bold petition as to allow an alien embassy.”

“Alien? What…” Luna tried to say, indignant. They didn’t like being called ‘aliens’.

Like I care.

“We don’t share anything right now. Neither history, nor culture, society or ideals. Nothing. The only thing we have in common is our physical forms, and I hope that, in time, we can rectify that at least to an extent. As you can see, even right now I do not stand or move like your kin do.”

Celestia nodded sadly. “I see. It truly saddens me that some of our little ponies reject me and my sister, but we cannot force others to accept us,” she lamented, walking towards the door. “I hoped that Equestria could be a friend of New Athens, and that our people could walk over each other’s territory without fear-”

“We are not your little ponies, Celestia,” I cut her off. “We never were. As for political relationship… I wouldn’t count on it soon.”

She and the others remained quiet.

“I can’t say it was an honor, since you know that you are the embodiment of all I reject right now. But It was a… pleasant meeting, at least,” I said. “I hope that, now that both heads of the Equestrian Government know their people are personae non gratae in our lands, no subjects of yours will try to enter our frontier.”

Luna frowned at me. “We can’t speak about other kingdoms, and I assure you that I will not talk in your benefit,” she snarled, unable to keep some of her temper in check.

I shrugged with a smug smile. That threat was moot. “We may not be in shape to establish foreign relations, Luna, but that doesn't mean we can't defend ourselves.”

She said nothing, brushing past the door and into the chariot. Twilight, in turn, was regarding me with the same sad expression Celestia had. “I know all of you in New Athens are scientists, teachers and researchers… If only we could share knowledge… we can learn so much about each other’s cultures and technologies…”

I scowled at what she was saying. “You lost your right to ask about it in the moment you called us monsters. Now we are going to keep our 'monstrous' knowledge and all you see here,” I extended my arms to the entire city, “so you can’t be 'tainted' by it.”

“You changed the meaning of our words. You are not monsters anymore,” she replied, offended.

That got a laugh out of me. “Just because we had our body shape changed? We never were monsters, Twilight Sparkle. Unlike your species, none of us holds the weight of destroying an entire world over their shoulders.”

She flinched as she walked to the carriage, but didn’t reply back. That would give them something to think about.

“Farewell, Socrates,” Celestia said, sad and frustrated. “I wish you and New Athens luck in your quest.”

“I will be a hypocrite if I do the same. Farewell, Equestrians.”

I made a two finger salute, looking at them until they disappeared in the sky. I sighed, and massaged my head, where a headache was building up.

Before I could do anything about it, the rest of the members of the Council were around me. “Socrates, we heard everything through the internal com system,” Darius said, smiling and patting me on the back. “You gave them a piece of our minds! Too bad we couldn’t break in there to show them how-”

A blue unicorn mare with a lighter blue mane interrupted him. “Shut up, Darius! You were terrified back in the bunker!”

“Come on, Pantea, you are being too harsh. We were all scared out of our wits, but Socrates managed it as well as planned,” said a white pegasus stallion with short, grey hair.

“We know, Caesar, but it doesn’t change that Darius is being an asshole,” rebutted Pantea.

We laughed a bit, but stopped when I hissed as the pain came back, making me a bit dizzy. Minerva approached me with worry. “Socrates, you're delaying your discharge session too much this month. You'll end up in the hospital again, like this.”

“I know, I know… I was going to do it after the event, but this kinda escalated a bit to do it, right?” I said, smirking a bit.

The last of the Council members, an orange stallion with a long, brown mane, approached us. “I'm not gonna carry you again, and you know it. Or maybe that is what you want?” he said with a play-seductive voice.

I punched him in the shoulder. “Perseus, you're an idiot,” I replied with a smirk.

“But all of you love me this way!” he said with a toothy grin. I tried to kick him in the face, but he jumped back. “Well, look at that. If he can try a roundhouse, he walk to the hospital by himself!”

“Yeah, yeah, anyway, we need to put up our schedule in motion,” Darius said, returning the discussion to its professional aspect. “We need those industries up and running ASAP. With the actual power outcome we can spare some of it to the production sectors of New Athens, and God knows how much we need them to produce composite alloys and electronic parts.” We all nodded in agreement.

“We need those quickly. Weapon producion rates are too low for my tastes,” Perseus said. “With that out of the way, we can finally research more in terms of cybernetic implants. I am really dying for a real set of arms and legs! Well, they are artificial but… you know what I mean.” Everyone snickered.

“We will try to put those at top priority. With healthcare and education covered, and hydroponic and irrigation crops at top production, we can focus on our defenses at last. Earth Pony magic may be helping us get there far more quickly than we originally predicted,” I said, “but we cannot nap right know. There's still too much to do.”

“You're right,” Pantea agreed. “On another note, we need to build another module factory as soon as we can. The last census estimates that current population is around twenty thousand and growing; we need to build more towers right away or the refugee camps around the city will get overcrowded. Their living conditions there aren’t the best we can offer,” she added with a frown.

I sighed and massaged my temples a bit. “We cannot put all of our problems at top priority, you know. But I hope you can find that out without me, because I need a discharge right now or my head is going to explode. Maybe I’ll see you later.”

After I left them, I heard hoofsteps. Minerva was by my side. “I'll go with you. I know those sessions leave you very exhausted,” She said, looking at me from top to bottom.

“Thanks Minerva, and yeah it does...” I replied tiredly. My head was really killing me.

We walked in silence, looking around our city while doing so. Everyone was happy, living their lives as they were meant to be. That filled my heart with joy in many ways: our very existence was a kick in the face to the royal sisters and the rest of those sick aliens, and on top of that, we were starting to recover.

My expression must have been very noticeable, because Minerva spoke at that moment. “What are thinking about? You have a very creepy smirk on your face right now.”

I laughed. “Just thinking about New Athens, Minerva, and how we are thriving right in front of Celestia’s white snout while she can't do anything to stop it. If she tries to declare war, we're superior in warfare technology, even as scarce as it is right now, they won't have the potion to rely on this time, and on top of that, she will be going against what she thinks we are… Her pretty little ponies. There are very few positive scenarios for them. If what we know of the other nations is true, the least bit of aggravation against us will reflect in their international affairs, and we're all pretty sure that the last thing she wants is a world war.”

“That’s a very dark scheme, Socrates...” she whispered. “Sometimes you really scare me.”

I sighed. “I know. I don’t want to be an evil overlord, Minerva, but I want our society to survive. We've been working on this for the last four years, and thanks for the efforts of all of us we managed to erect this city, in record time to boot!

“But I can’t let our people lose their focus, and that’s why I must give the picture of a strong leader. They don't need a caring pony to coddle them, Minerva. They need a determined leader, an icon to drive them on, and that's what I try to keep the council as,” I said with a tired but tender smile to her. “You know people tend to follow a strong and charismatic leader. Look at the Equestrians: they'll follow their princesses to the end of the world and beyond.”

I chuckled a bit. “That’s the only good thing about the serum.” That blasted thing made us more herd-like in our minds, so we were more easily swayed to follow an icon strong enough to be present on our lives. And she knew as well as I did that I had become that icon.

We were near the hospital, so enthralled on our conversation that we hadn’t noticed it before.

“But what when you're gone, Socrates? You know you can’t live forever…”

“I’ll try, at least,” I joked. “But remember, in all of my speeches, I always talk about the Council of the Wise, never about Socrates. They'll grow used to obey and respect the Council and, in time, I won't be necessary. Right now, our little society is like a newborn baby, and we need to do our best to make it grow, so it can survive the clash with others.”
She nodded, convinced, and we stepped inside.

“This is an outrage!” Luna yelled. “We cannot tolerate their ways, Tia! They are mocking us!”

Celestia sighed and closed her eyes. “What can we do, sister? If we try and succeed to bring them to us again against their will, we will be portrayed as the tyrants they say we are. They have already won, Luna. There's no choice here; we have to leave them be.”

“I cannot believe this, Tia! Just look at how that Socrates regarded himself as one of us! Us, the celestial sisters!”

“He's a very tormented pony. I’m still in shock thinking about his horn…” Twilight said, concerned. “It hurts so much just to crack it... I can’t imagine how painful it is to break it completely...”

All of them were shaken by their visit to New Athens. The unbelievable happened, a bustling city filled with human technology, unlike anything the could have expected, and to make it worse, its inhabitants were unanimously unfriendly to them.

“I do not care for that foal! He spat at us and all we offered them!”

“Enough of your tantrums, Luna!” Celestia shouted over her sister, making both her and Twilight freeze. She sighed. “I'm sorry about that, but yelling will not help a bit. I know this is a touchy issue, but we cannot let ourselves dwell in despair. They do not want to do with us, and even when I sensed hatred in Socrates’ mind I knew he was being honest with us. Maybe we just need to give them time...”

Luna was confused at Celestia’s words. “Are you really letting them establish a new country, just like that?”

“Luna, even if they don’t want our guidance, they are our little ponies and we need to respect their wishes,” Celestia replied.
Luna looked to Celestia and walked away from the throne room, stomping the floor in frustration and leaving a sad alicorn in her wake.

“Princess Luna looked pretty angry…” stated Twilight.

“I know, my faithful student. But I know her, she will not do against my wishes. I’m afraid about New Athens, though. They looked so promising, and yet they reject us…”

“Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll think of something. I’m sure that there must be something we can do,” Twilight reassured.

“I know,” the princess smiled, “but all seems so uncertain right now…” Celestia sighed. “Please, Twilight, I need to be alone right now. If you can…”

“Don’t worry Princess, I’ll be on my quarters if you need me,” Twilight said, walking out the throne room. She wandered through the castle with a thoughtful expression, thinking about how they could approach these rebellious newfoals. ‘After all, they're part ponies, they have a heart and only want to live in peace and harmony…’ she thought.

Something clicked on her mind, a plan already forming inside her head, all pieces coming together. They despised all about Equestria and the princesses, so she only needed to find something to make them move onto a more desirable path of action, make themselves more approachable....

The unicorn's face was adorned with a broad smile, her head feverishly considering a number of ideas.

-2- Falling Rocks and Shifting Tides

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~2~

Falling Rocks and Shifting Tides

The Sun appeared on the horizon, starting a new and bright day in the peaceful land of Equestria.

Or a land that used to be peaceful, at least.

It was half a year ago that the Princesses made contacted with a foreign nation of newfoals. When they made it official, most of the ponies thought nothing about it. They were just ‘crazy newfoals with crazy ideas’, as they were referred to, and so the ponies and other residents of Equestria continued on with their normal lives, and this ‘New Athens’ was mostly talked about in a critical but comical way, like the naïveté of children being laughed at by their parents.

However, things changed after the first four weeks. Out of curiosity, radio enthusiasts and other curious ponies began buying or assembling radio sets that could receive the signal from New Athens’ Radio, and when it became obvious that New Athens was indeed a prosperous new nation and not the joke it was believed to be, discussions about ‘the newfoal situation’ became increasingly common inside intellectual collectives all around Equestria, and ponies of all social classes and economical standings – including some circles of nobility and high society – came to support the newfoal nation and their distinct social and technological standings.

This, in turn, sparked a reactionary sentiment in some of the most traditionalist figures, which took no time to evolve into open hostility against the ‘human supporters’, which only made the waters more turbulent.

Even when it became crystal clear that New Athens wanted no contact, going so far as directly refuse all attempts of contact by even non-governmental Equestrian organizations, the mere thought of ‘them’ being out there doing ‘human stuff’ caused a sense of either paranoia or excitement in the inhabitants of Equestria.

Even inside the Royal Palace, not everything was what it seemed.

This morning was as peaceful as anypony, or any of the staff for that matter, could hope for. As they came to do during their breaks since the last couple of months, both servants and also guards that were off-duty huddled around a radio, all of them eager to a degree to listen for more news of the city of former humans.

“…to open the store. Some refugees outside the perimeter were openly showing their discomfort about the refusal of ingress. Not that I wouldn’t be angry if someone just slams their door shut in my face after I traveled far to see them, don’t you agree, Chios?” said the Neo-Athenian reporter, addressing the anchor man.

“I would indeed,” replied Chios, “but the statute is very clear about the emissions of citizenship. Next up: the industry sector continues to grow as the Institute of Human Research continues working to develop some of the most needed technologies that were lost during the Cataclysm. It looks like it’s going to be a blast when our boys show what they’ve been so busy with! More details after the break.”

“Those newfoals of New Athens and their machines…” a maid grumbled over the advertisements now on air. “They are going to ruin everything just as they did to their world!”

“Yeah, I remember when we were to one of their cities back before the conversion,” nodded one of the guards. “New York, I think it was… the air was terrible, the city ugly and dirty. I don’t even like to remember.”

When they were chitchatting, a lonely pony in armor appeared on the lounge, looking for anything suspicious. He was a guard, after all, and his training instilled that, even inside a presumed safe place like the castle, he needed to be wary at all times. He walked around the radio, silent as a rock, observing the others.

“It is plainly obvious that they are still barbarians under their coats,” said the off-duty guard from earlier, glancing at a clock on the wall. “By Celestia, look at the hour! So sorry, my pretty ladies, but I must go. Duty calls!” he announced, only partially mock-wooing the mares.

“We need to prepare for our duties, too,” one of the civilian staff said, rising up from her cushion and grumbling about a nephew as she left.

“Hey, Azure!” waved a second off-duty guard, an earth pony known as Leaf Shield, to the silent one, a blue pegasus with an orange mane and violet eyes that turned to the pony as soon as his name was called. “You’re on your break now, right?” Leaf asked, stretching the kinks out of his muscles. “Dude, I still don’t get why you chose the night shift.”

“Oh… well, somepony must be on those turns, right? It’s not such a big deal,” said Azure, shaking his head a little.

“Well, I wouldn’t count myself to do it,” the earth pony tutted, donning his own armor. “Anyway, can you keep an ear out for the broadcasts? Seems they’re coming up with some exciting stuff now!”

“Sorry, I’m not fond of listening to those mad ponies.”

Leaf shrugged. “Well, your choice, pal. Just make sure you are rested to the rest of your turn, alright? See you later, Azure,” he said, walking out to the barracks.

The others around the lounge followed suit, leaving Azure by himself in the room. The bulky pegasus let himself fall on a cushion and tried to relax, but the radio was still on. He tried to turn it off from his cushion, but his forelegs and wings weren’t long enough to reach the dial. With a sigh, he pulled out an alarm clock from his pouch, just in case he fell asleep. He frowned with disdain. “Damn Shining Armor… he couldn’t care less that I’ve been taking the worst jobs for this long,” he muttered, proving his personal opinion was contrary to what he said to his fellow guard. “Oh whatever… at least I’m doing something useful.”

Azure was a newfoal – the lacking cutie mark was a testimony of that – but something set him farther apart from the populace of Equestria: he had a very severe case of amnesia. He couldn’t remember anything before being a pony, and because of that, he couldn’t comprehend why they were mean to him. It wasn’t so bad at first, but the last six months marked a change in that.

He applied to the royal guard on a whim caused by his feelings towards a certain mare, but she was witless to his attraction, much like everyone else ignored him. He was lucky enough to be recognized as a valuable asset and promoted to work inside the castle instead of some frontier guard post.

He sighed again. It felt really hopeless, but he had nothing to go back to. The only option was to push on and hope for things to get better.

His thoughts were interrupted when a potent and determined voice came out of the speakers on the gadget next to him.

“Newfoals of the world, this is a message for all of you! I’m sure a lot will know me already, but this may be the first time for others, so allow me to introduce myself. I am known as Socrates the Wise, and I represent the Council of the Wise. As their spokesman, I call you, seekers of identity without aim or future.” Socrates made a brief pause for breath. “It is obvious that Humanity has fallen as a physical entity, but our ideas and spirit have been able to transcend this mundane limitation.

“Here, at New Athens, we give shelter to anyone who wants to recover their true identity. It is not a duty, but an honor, to be able to offer you this opportunity in this confusing and tangled world. Newfoals of the world, you will always be welcome for who you are, and we do not expect anything more. We are waiting for you.”

An eerie silence emanated from the equipment, as if they knew that after that brief speech the listener would need time to think about it. If they did, they were right: Azure found himself lost in thought. ‘I have a purpose, right? And we are all ponies, so why is so important to recall about that Humanity?’ he thought, until his alarm clock startled him. He needed to go back to his post. “Already?” he asked himself, huffing again. “Well, better keep this thing. He forgot to send someone to pick it up… again,” he mumbled, turning off the radio and walking back to duty with the piece of electronics on him.

It was quite late at night, almost morning, in fact, a period when nopony expected anything to happen, which was why there were so few guards presently active. Azure tsked: it was going to be another boring morning… or that was what he thought until he spotted an argument in one of the halls of the castle during his patrols.

The argument was between two younger ponies with elegant garments and one elderly pony, also well dressed and sporting a long beard. Azure sighed. ‘One of those again…’ he thought as he marched to them, but before he reached them, the two younger ones shoved the old pony back, sending all the papers and scrolls he carried sprawling on the floor. Azure snorted. ‘Well that was just rude! Okay, time to end this.’ He flew quickly in front of them, landing stone-faced towards the aggressors.

Before he could say anything, however, the old pony spoke with a tired voice, “Don’t worry, sir. It was my fault.”

Azure looked briefly at him, and the brats used the distraction to gallop away from the scene. The pegasus sighed, looking at the old pony with concern. Now that he was closer, he could see that the other was a unicorn dressed with a worn robe that looked like the ones used in the Magic University of Canterlot, and even more of an elder than it seemed at first sight. The poor pony just used his telekinesis to grab the documents off the floor, muttering wistfully as he did so.

“I do worry, sir, that’s my job. To assure the safety of others,” He said, helping gather the papers with his hooves. “Newfoals, I presume?”

“It seems that you keep your ears and eyes sharp, boy. Yes… the newfoals,” the old scientist sighed. Azure could see that the papers were very complex blueprints of machinery, filled with calculations and formulas. “Those two are the heirs of some of the investors of the University. I was trying to get help for this project of mine, which unfortunately lacks something that I simply cannot grasp. I did a mention on how I could improve my design greatly with the help of newfoal technology, as many of them are fond of trains and such, and… well, you know the rest.

“I just can’t understand why they can’t see how much we both can advance if they were just more open to our ways. Magic and technology can grow together, but they see the latter with evil eyes…” he said, looking to Azure’s eyes with his old eyes, a sad spark coming from them. “Delusions from an old pony, they say.” He turned his sight down to the floor. “Colts and fillies these days…”

Azure nodded, understanding the situation. This kind of problem had become common in Canterlot lately, and at the core, the Guard could do nothing to stem it.

He was picking up one of the prints with a hoof when he stopped, staring at it. “You have a problem with this component, right?” he said with a voice that didn’t sound like him. “From what I’m seeing here, it’s obvious why the composition can’t sustain it: you should have applied the Second Principle of Thermodynamics. You can’t turn heat into mechanical energy without raising the thermodynamic energy of the nearby ambient…” He froze in place and shook his head. “Wait- what the…?”

“Thermodynamics, you say?” replied the old pony, looking in surprise at the paper Azure still held. “Well, I never heard of it… maybe if-“ Then, he brightened like a flame. “That’s it! That’s why I couldn’t comprehend it! By my beard, boy, you just gave me something to work on!” he outright giggled, excited like a schoolfilly, then took note of it and recomposed himself with an ‘ahem’ and a faint blush. “Oh, but where are my manners? I am Professor Bronze Wheel.”

“Azure Windburst,” Azure replied, nodding numbly in response and shaking the hoof offered to him. “It’s a pleasure, Professor Bronze.”

Bronze couldn’t help his smile. “Well then, I must check on this right now! I hope to see you again, Mr. Windburst; maybe you can explain a bit more about those Thermodynamics when you are free!” Levitating his stack of scrolls and papers, Bronze Wheel happily trotted away with a skip to his step.

Azure just looked to the void, his mind totally absent about the event that just happened. He shook his head. “Better remember to give Leaf his radio back,” he said to himself, trying to think about anything other than his odd outburst.

The rest of his shift was boringly monotonous, or monotonously boring. It could be either or, whichever was worse. Only by the end of it did some activity begin to show, as a yawning Azure picked up the radio and trekked back to the Guard’s barracks.

Once inside the lodgings, he began looking for Leaf Shield, an easy work even for the worst detective. The pony in question was sprawled on one of the cots, reading a business magazine with his armor at one side. Without the bardings, it was easy to see why it was effortless to locate him: with his deep green coat and his blonde mane, he was impossible to miss among the other guards’ more muted natural colors. His golden eyes were presently locked on the pages much like a falcon wouldn’t get its eyes off its prey.

Azure just chuckled to himself. ‘Some ponies just never change,’ he thought. “Hey, business pony! Forgot something earlier, you know?” he called out loud, pulling the radio off his back.

“BY CELESTIA!” Leaf jumped up with a startled yelp. “Azure, dude, don’t do that!” he reprimanded the other pony, who did nothing but grin at his expense. “Man, I still can’t understand how the hay you get to be so sneaky being this big…” He then looked at the volume the stealthy stallion held out for him, and had the decency to look sheepish. “… I left it there again, didn’t I?”

Azure nodded. “I don’t know how you never forget your armor when you go out on patrol.”

Leaf’s amused snort faded as he gave the radio a once-over. “Thank the Princesses you got it, pal, this little thing cost me a fortune. I think I would die if something happened to it. You really are a pal!” he said, extending his hoof to Azure, who proceeded to complete the hoof bump. “So… what did they talk about? Things like ‘Don’t forget your prosthetics at home’ again?”

Azure faked euphoria for a second… “Oh, you know. They talked… they…” … then dropped it in favor of the most boring expression and monotone voice he could muster. “I slept through the cast and didn’t hear anything.”

Leaf laughed. “I heard they really are pretty boring sometimes, but never to the point of somepony falling asleep! That’s the Captain’s job!” After the mirth, both his and Azure’s, died down, he laid back again on his bed, picking the magazine back up. “Thanks again for keeping this junk. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to read the ‘new companies’ section. Maybe I should invest my bits this company of cider extractors… gotta squeeze every bit, right?” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully, right before he laughed at his own bad joke.

Azure was just thinking, ignoring most of his partner’s speech. “Uh… in that case, can I borrow it? The radio, I mean; I want to figure how it works. I promise I’ll not touch anything.”

Meanwhile, Leaf was dying on the bed, crying of laughter. “Squeeze…” he barely huffed. “Get it?” He tried to breathe. “Ahahah… okay, not it hurts… Sure thing, Azure, just remember to use your hooves. Last idiot who used his mouth couldn’t feel his tongue for a day.”

“Thanks for the tip, Leaf. See you later.”

Even in the barracks, Azure was in a lonely section, not that it mattered all that much for him. He walked away from Leaf and let himself fall on his bed, with his armor still on. “Better this way. Not like I was going on a date tomorrow or anything…” he muttered to himself, slowly falling asleep.

Azure awoke with a heavy breath and a sweating forehead, rubbing his face with his hooves. Again he had the dream of running away from something inside a dark alley, and then blackness. It was a recurring nightmare for him, and lately, it was getting worse. He sat on his bed and rubbed his eyes, with big black marks under them, making his sleep deprivation more than evident.

After yawning his mouth off again, he got up and headed for the lounge, setting the radio down and turning it on. Some music was on air, a relaxing and strangely familiar tune that made him feel relaxed and at ease. ‘Why do I like this song so much?’ he idly asked himself.

The voice of a mare brought him out if his thoughts. “This, my dear listeners, was one of the recovered songs of the Old World, Louis Armstrong with ‘What a Wonderful World’. Sadly, the original was lost, but we can still hear it, all thanks to Orpheus and the Musical Academy. As always, this is Diana Waves, presenting you the Morning Glory, your program of choice for the best matinal tunes. Stay tuned for the last news before more.” After a very brief pause, Diana returned with the promised information.

“Hot news for everyone: Equestrian ponies have been sighted again coming to our borders. But wait, there is something that is actually new: the newfoals that are coming with them refuse to enter if the Equestrians aren’t allowed in, too. They claim to be political refugees in need of shelter and their newfoal companions say they have the same rights as them to be in New Athens.

“The Council still hasn’t officially pronounced itself about the issue, but trusty contacts say they are taking a very cautious approach to it. The tension at the frontier is getting worse and only a clear declaration from the Council would help in this matter.”

Azure grumbled to himself. He was aware of the disdain of those New Athens newfoals against any and all Equestrians. ‘Why is everypony so fascinated about them anyway?’ he thought to himself, scratching a paper he’ brought up with a pencil, the insomnia already getting on his nerves. Before he knew what he was doing, Azure had pulled out some writing materials freely available for the staff and started to mechanically take notes about the details regarding machinery and technology that he heard from the radio, some part of his mind pushing him to do so. He felt odd, like he was finally awakening after a long slumber. As the radio talked on about turbines, prosthetics and more, he decomposed all of them in the relevant parts and numbers.

The papers began to stack around him. ‘Why I know how to do this? Why I can’t get it out of my head?’ Azure asked himself.

Then, a dam on his mind broke, and it all came to him, making him drop the pencil and stare at nothing as the memories flooded his brain.

After a couple of minutes in real time but an eternity in his mind, he came to his senses and looked to his body. His normal and also alien body. He felt suffocated, and was quick to tear off his armor, putting it aside and walking to the nearest window. His eyes went to the horizon As he stood over his hind legs and supporting him with his forelegs. ‘I remember everything… My family and friends…’ he mused, contemplating his hooves. ‘And her...’

The sound of falling books to the floor broke him out of the trance he’d fallen in, and he turned his head to see a mare he thought he would never see again. Azure’s blood ran cold. ‘Oh no… This is not good…’

“What are you…?” she asked, looking around the papers, and then to the radio and his discarded armor. Her expression turned into a guarded, cautious one. “You’re that newfoal guard. Are you planning to leave?”

Azure set himself back down on all fours, avoiding eye contact. “I won’t lie: I have been seriously thinking about that, Miss Sparkle. Tomorrow, I’m going to fill my resignation letter. Nopony will mourn my absence anyway, and I feel I can apply my knowledge better elsewhere.”

Now with her suspicions confirmed, the unicorn’s actual ear showed. “But you can’t leave right now! What will ponies think if one of the royal guards inside the castle decided to leave to New Athens?”

Azure lifted a placating hoof. “Nopony needs to know where I’m going, Miss Sparkle, and I doubt they’d care. I won’t tell a soul, but I’m not changing my mind on it.”

Twilight sighed and looked around to the papers around him. “Can you at least share a bit of this?” she asked, floating some of the papers with rough schematics of machinery “You know… for science?”

Azure looked at her and couldn’t help but give in. He sighed in defeat and sat on the floor, picking up some of the blueprints. “Sure, Miss Sparkle, help yourself. But I don’t know how much I can show you; these are just how I imagined some contraptions I heard of from the radio. It’s just a bunch of educated guesses.”

“Don’t worry!” she smiled. “Every bit of help is appreciated. Well, better get started. You’ll be leaving next morning, I suppose?”

He nodded, organizing the mess around him. ‘Only now that I’m leaving does she notice me. Me and my luck…’ He thought, sighing mentally.

In the shadows of the hall, something the ponies in the room were unaware of moved away, off on its own way.

After a couple of hours of explanations and formulas, Twilight happily trotted off, leaving Azure alone to go back to staring out the window.

‘It’s funny how fate plays its cards. The only day the mare of my dreams wants to speak with me, and it’s the day I leave this place…But I’m not staying for her. Those people need all the help they can get, and it’s not like she is interested in me anyway. I’m sure I could…’

His thoughts were interrupted by a metal hoof slamming him on the back of his head, almost sending him into unconsciousness. The next thing he could clearly perceive after a long string of muted sounds and blurred images was the feeling of a teleporting spell.

He found himself being thrown into a cold room. “If you thought your rebellious acts would go unpunished, you are too stupid for your own good, newfoal,” said a gruff voice, walking away from the dungeon Azure now recognized it as. “Tomorrow, at dawn, we will come for you, and you better have some good answers to our questions by then.”

The former guard shook his head, trying to regain focus on his surroundings as sour thoughts appeared in his mind. ‘Damn it, I can’t believe I trusted her! It was all far too convenient. I should have known…’ Shakily, he moved to stand up, and saw that there were more ponies in the other cells. ‘What in the world is happening?’

Before he could investigate his surroundings any further, a familiar voice called for him. “By Celestia… Azure, is that you, boy?”

“Professor Wheel?” he asked back, looking for the source of the voice. A nearby cell caught his eye - inside it was, indeed, the gentle old pony. “Why are you down here?”

“I could ask you the same, my boy… but answering that question, I am here because of my own stupidity. It seems that you can’t have ideas that drift too far from the mainstream…”

Azure chuckled bitterly, looking down to the floor. He could sympathize. “Yeah, it seems so. I’m here by my own stupidity, too.” He took a long, poignant look at the place. “I can’t believe they’re doing this to innocent ponies. Thinking different isn’t against any law I know.”

“It’s just hate born in the fear to the unknown, my boy,” replied Bronze Wheel. “Don’t you see? They fear the potential in the newfoals, and they act violently against them because of it,” he finished with a long, sickly cough, something Azure wasn’t oblivious to.

The clapping of hooves on stone drew the pegasus’ attention, which peaked when he heard a loud slam followed by a slump. Then, a cloaked pony appeared with a massive keyring in his mouth, hurriedly opening every cell down the hallway until he arrived at Azure, who watched the scene unfold with mild surprise. “Look who’s here!” yet another familiar voice rang out from under the cloth. “So you slept through the broadcast, huh?”

Now Azure was genuinely befuddled. “… Leaf? What are you doing here?”

“Shh!” hissed a familiar green muzzle. “Right now, I’m Ranger. I came to bail you boys and girls out of here. We’ve been waiting, but since they are openly imprisoning innocent ponies now, we made our move.” As he fumbled with the keys, he added, “We needed to do something, and I wanted a piece of that cake. I’ve had enough of it all.”

“… you’re a double agent?” the prisoner pegasus repeated the obvious, still incredulous. He shook his head. “… Never mind that, just get us out of here.” Ranger threw the door open, and he was quick to get out of it. “What’s the plan? I don’t think we’ll be able to saunter out through the main gates.”

Ranger snickered. “Don’t worry your pretty little head over it, we’ve got a route covered. There are more of us than you think: when you force a good guard to go against the ponies he swore to protect, it’s hard to keep loyal, you know?” he explained as he unlocked the final few cells. “Anyway, as for the escape plan, right now it’s a switch on the posts all around the castle. Two of our guys will be watching the garden’s exit. The route out of Canterlot through that way is way too steep to be of constant use, so there’s no heavy vigilance there. Sure, it’s really dangerous even for those lucky ones that can fly, but it’s better to risk a concussion because you slipped down a few rocks that being interrogated for information you don’t have, right?

“From there, it’s a clear shot to the base of the mountain, so you can go wherever you prefer. I’d either try and settle down on another city or try my luck with the newfoals. For what I heard, there’s more than one city, maybe not as pretty as New Athens… but it’s a start.”

All of the present ponies nodded and made their way up the stairs, except Bronze Wheel, who stood still, coughing as before. He waved off Azure when the blue stallion moved to help him walk. “Go ahead, boy. Some of us are a bit old to go,” he said, making himself comfortable on the mattress of his cell.

“Wha-“ Azure stuttered, shocked, “Professor, you can’t be serious! Come on!” he pleaded, trying to force the elderly unicorn onto his back, only to have him climb off. “Stop that, I’m not leaving you behind! Leaf, help me out here!”

Ranger shook his head glumly. “He’s right, Azure, he’s a liability. He’ll only slow us down, and this is already as risky as it can be. I don’t really want to leave anypony here, but we’ve got no choice.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m an old pony, they’re not going to mistreat me that badly,” Wheel complemented. “They may be rough, but they know the blood of an old scholar on their hooves will be a bad thing for them.” He slapped Azure’s barrel lightly. “Now go!”

The newfoal opened his mouth, but the words died within it, and he just nodded sadly before following Ranger out of the dungeon. “Good luck, Professor. I hope we meet again,” he said, solemn.

The group walked in almost complete silence through the empty halls, as per Ranger’s order and justification that they didn’t want to get the attention of the non-newfoal prisoners just as much as they didn’t want to raise the guards. They arrived at the verge of the gardens in just a couple of minutes, where only one guard kept an eye on the exit. The pony, whom seemed to be expecting them, eyed the group lazily and moved out of the way by a far margin, leaving the way open for the prisoners to rush out of the gate as soon as Ranger signaled them to do it.

Azure and Ranger were the last ones through and, after they nodded to each other, they ran with resolution through the grass of the gardens, until something pulled on Ranger’s cloak, revealing his identity. The ‘something’ turned out to be a Night Guard that was waiting for them, hiding in the shadows. “We knew we had a spy on our ranks, but I never thought that a pureblood like you would stab us in the back, Leaf Shield,” he said with poison in his words.

Leaf bared his teeth at the Equestrian. “As my boss would say…” Then, to the surprise of both the Night Guard and Azure, he lifted his body up on his hind legs, catching the bat-like pegasus by surprise with a vicious uppercut to his unarmored chin. “… fuck you!”

The Night Guard dropped like an abandoned puppet, leaving both escapees free to run out of the scene and away from the unconscious body. They made beelines through the gardens, avoiding the cover of statues and bushes in favor of gaining sheer ground, until they reached the company of the other prisoners outside the empty rear gate. Without stopping, the duo quickly took the lead of the herd, which followed their steps over a very steep road nearly obliterated by time and weather.

Behind them, they could now hear a massive ruckus of shouts and yells at the castle, and those who looked back would be able to spot that almost all windows had lights in them. “Darn!” Ranger cursed, almost tripping over a rock. “They weren’t supposed to find out something was wrong this early!” He sighed and diminished his pace to a canter, his fury easing as he let himself get engulfed by the band now lead by Azure so he could be heard by all. “Okay, ponies: if we’re lucky, they’re probably searching for attackers instead of escapees. The Castle’s Royal Guard doesn’t seem to really grasp the concept of prison breaks.”

“So what do we do now?” asked a mare.

“That’s a difficult question,” admitted Ranger. “You can try to stay in Equestria and keep a low profile, or you can leave for one of the nearby nations, New Athens or otherwise. You can try to say goodbye to your families, though, at least if that’s the first thing you do. The Guard’s communication network doesn’t work fast, so any guards you find should be still unaware of our status before five days or so.”

The ponies, who had slowed to a halt during the explanation, looked to the ground, depressed. They were outcasts on their own country, and probably they need to travel outside Equestria to keep themselves and their families safe.

Azure looked up to Ranger and signaled with his head for the other pony to follow him. “I know where we should go, Leaf,” he said after they were at a sufficient distance. “New Athens could use two former Equestrian Royal Guards’ combat and tactical abilities, not to mention the inside intel we have. They’re sure to take us in.”

Ranger sighed. “Maybe you have a chance, but I’m an Equestrian. New Athens doesn’t accept native ponies from here at all. The most an Equestrian immigrant can do is settle down on one of the refugee camps surrounding the city… and from what our contact at base told us, there are being some very tense situations there.” He opened his eyes, showing the somber luster in them, and began walking back to the herd of former prisoners. “But yeah, even with all that in the balance, it seems like it’s the most viable option. The griffins aren’t especially kind to ponies, and we don’t have a ship to travel to the zebras and seek asylum from them…

The pegasus looked up at the night sky as they reached their herd. “In any case, we really should get going. We cannot risk a pegasus scout party in such a precarious position,” he said.

Agreeing with the sound order, the group began making their way down the mountain, and Ranger cuffed him lightly on the side. “Hey, who retired and made you commander of the mission?” He chuckled. “You know, I can’t think why you were so low ranked… really, I’ve seen that you always keep a cool head and make the best decisions in almost every situation.”
Azure shrugged his wings. “I’m a newfoal and a blank flank. It was a miracle that they accepted me in the Royal Guard in the first place.”

“Blank flank?” Ranger snickered. “Well then, you should get your eyes checked, pal, and your flank too while you’re at it, ‘cause I sure see a cutie mark there,” he said with a smile. “I don’t know that it is though.”

Azure cocked his head and looked at his hind quarters… and there it was, the propeller of a plane seen from the front with metallic wings at its sides. “Well that is funny. When I was a human, I was an engineer, and I loved airplanes. Guess I got it when I recovered my memories…” He chewed on that thought for a second. “I get my identity as a pony when I recover the one I had as a human. Wow, the universe is playing the irony card on me pretty hard right now,” he said with an amused smirk.

After a snigger from Ranger, they remained in silence as they descended the dawn-sun bathed mountainside, with only the sounds of the wind and the gravel pushed by hooves as their companions.

The sun was already spreading its brighter rays when Ranger spoke again. “Speaking of the irony card… We Equestrians all used to think humans were mean spirited creatures, poor souls that needed salvation. Now ponies are suffering because ponies up at the Equestrian government can’t stand newfoals and their different ways of thought and lifestyle… and the newfoals are the ones who are offering a peaceful solution, not the Equestrians…” he muttered, his head hanging low. “Who is the bad guy here, Azure? I really can’t tell anymore.”

“… I feel this is just beginning, Leaf,” the escaped guard admitted. “I think the end of humanity as a species was just another chapter on our history, and now we’re here to change the world our way. Every sentient race over the planet is going to witness the changes that are going to happen in Equestria… for the better… or the worse,” he finished ominously, looking at the horizon.

What Azure did not know was that, staring at the same sky and sharing similar thoughts, now knowing about the jail break and everything that transcended that day inside the palace walls, was Princess Celestia. Her neutral expression was a mask for the sadness that corroded her heart from within… a mask she wasn’t able to remove even when there was no one to see it.

“This is unacceptable!” I yelled at Pantea, slamming my hands against the table.

“That’s the only way to obtain a beneficial outcome of all of this, Socrates! I understand that you want to have nothing to do with the Equestrians, but this is going too far!” she yelled back at me. Meanwhile, the other members of the council were trying to get a hold on one of the sides.

I was fuming with rage and I couldn’t think straight. “So you are telling me that we need to allow those ponies to live in our city because they were kicked out of home? And since when did we become a charity organization, Pantea? Until yesterday we weren’t one!”

“I’m not saying that! You aren’t listening to me! They are supporting us, Socrates! They are here because they believe on our cause, not that of their government!” she insisted, taking a deep breath. When she spoke again, it wasn’t with anger, but concern. “While we’ve been expecting them to leave for all this time, all that happened was that they kept increasing in numbers. I have reports of entire settlements being formed outside the city. Settlements, Socrates. They aren’t just a small group anymore; there are hundreds of them. We tried everything in our hands to make them move out peacefully, and look where that got us. It’s obvious that they’re not going on their own volition.”

“I say we need to give them the boot once and for all,” Perseus kicked in. “I don’t want Equestrians on our soil, and it’s not like we need them. Just look at what we have accomplished without them!” he spat, waving out at the windows to New Athens.

Darius smacked his hands against the table, glaring daggers at Perseus. “That’s not the point and you know it! They can be an invaluable asset if we combine our own technology to what they have! You know how our knowledge of thaumatology is rustic at best compared to theirs!”

Perseus just snorted. The air in the chamber kept rising in temperature.

“EVERYONE SETTLE THE HELL DOWN!” Caesar, the calmest of us, yelled out, in a move that startled the entire Council into silence. “We NEED to make an agreement today, and I don’t want to watch as you turn this session in a yelling contest more proper of preschoolers!” He sneered at us, especially me. I just averted my gaze from his, huffing in anger. “So, the choices are easy enough. Our first option is making them move out of our land by force. The second is making an agreement with them, allowing them to live inside the city… naturally, with the restrictions proposed by Pantea during last week’s session.

“Now we will proceed to vote. Who is against allowing New Athens receiving and adopting the Equestrians as differentiated citizens?”

I raised my hand immediately, quickly followed by Perseus. Caesar just waited, observing each one of us carefully.

After it became obvious that we were the only two favorable to that option, he continued, “In that case, The Council of the Wise approves the law that allows Equestrian immigrants to live on New Athens’ lands, under the laws presented by the members of the Council in the two previous sessions, plus the subsequent political contact that shall eventually be made with the Principality of Equestria and other nations… by five votes against two.”

The others nodded in agreement, while Perseus just tapped the foot of the table with his hoof. I, on the other hand, couldn’t take anymore: I left the room, almost breaking the glass door of the building on my way out. ‘How can they do this to me?’ I thought angrily. ‘We are allowing those bastards to live with us! Next thing we see, they’ll want hands and high-class homes too!’

My legs led me to a nearby park, where people were just enjoying the sun or relaxing in other ways. I sat on a bench, slamming my clenched hands against my legs pretty hard. “Fuck!” I screamed, both from the rage and the pain I now felt. I covered my face with my hands, rubbing my sore and tired eyes. ‘I just can’t believe they approved that illogical law… They are suffering? Let them suffer! Nobody replied to our pleas when we were been attacked, nobody gave a rat’s ass when we were suffering! Why should we aid them? They deserve every single little thing that happens to them.’

“Can I sit with you?”

I looked to the side and saw a rather sad Minerva. ‘Of all people…’ “Sure, whatever.”

“Socrates, don’t be mad…” she tried, but I cut her off.

“Don’t be mad? You people just sold the city to the fucking horses!” I yelled at her.

Then, something happened, something unexpected. She slapped me.

“No we didn’t! We did not sell anything to anyone by following the right path!” she snarled.

I didn’t reply. I was just staring at her, dumbfounded. She sighed. “Socrates, I know how much you hate Equestria. I’ve been with you since the beginning of all of this, remember?” she cooed. “But it seems you’re forgetting something very important right now.”

I snorted in disdain at the sugar-coated words. “And what would that be?”

“The things that make us human in the first place. It’s not a matter of politics, society, history, anything like that; those are marks of a civilization, not of our kind. What makes us who we are is our ethics, our compassion… Our hearts.” She sighed. “Did you forget about the human rights, Socrates? Those Equestrians out there… those people are refugees, not the rotten teeth that lead Equestria and called the shots on the Conversion. They are as much victims of them as we are, and they’re almost literally begging on their knees for our help.

“We aren’t going to be much better than those cretins from Canterlot and the others who did nothing when humanity was falling because of the ponification. We are better than that, and you know it.” She rests a hand on my back. “Those refugees don’t have a job, a proper shelter, or even a way to feed their families outside of charity. They aren’t living out there, they’re surviving.” She looked at me with those intensely blue eyes. “It is worth to ignore our ethics and morals just to punish innocents simply because they once shared a nationality with the ones we hate? The PER and the princesses were, and still are, the main culprits of most of the forced ponifications, and I don’t see either party among those poor souls out in the camps. They are just victims in the crossfire, Socrates.

“Tell me: would you let innocent humans, and children among them, starve and wither away while you’re knowing of their situation and able to help?”

I felt a lump in my chest, making every heartbeat ache. ‘I… didn’t think about them in that way…’ I mulled to myself, ‘but of course there would be innocents involved, you dunce! Not all ponies were enlisted in the PER or the Royal Guard, and even those don’t just appear out of thin air. They had, or have, families, children, and elders… who are now paying the price.’

I felt a painful sting when the realization of what I was prepared to do to all those people outside the city hit me full force. ‘… I’m a monster…’ I thought, rubbing my face again, not able to look at Minerva. After that, I managed to say, “I screwed up, didn’t I?”

“Nobody is perfect, Socrates. The wisdom lies in learning from errors.” She pulled me into a loose one-armed hug. “I think everyone back there has already forgiven you. You’re the one who’s been under the most stress lately.”

“That’s not much of a relief, Minerva…” I huffed, exhausted. “… Boy, how is it that you always know how to keep me in check?” She was going to say something, but I stopped her. “You know what? I don’t even want to know. But… thanks for being here for me now. I needed it. You are right, we can’t forget what makes us humans, even if my hate tends to blur my thoughts.” I sighed, getting up and stretching. “Am I right to assume that the negotiations started as soon as the law was approved?”

She shook her head, smiling gently. “They wanted to wait for you to get them going. You are the spokesman of the council after all.”

I nodded and rubbed my broken horn.

“Again with the itches?” asked Minerva. “They still don’t know what causes it?”

“They don’t,” I shrugged and started to walk to the Council Chamber, followed closely by her. “The headaches are also less frequent than before, and that’s alarming the doctors a bit. I just keep telling them that my body must be building resistance to magic or something like that. I live better with only small headaches from time to time, in any case…”

“So your body decided to do it right now, after all these years?”

I shrugged again. “What do you expect me to say, Minerva? I’m not a doctor, much less a magician; I have as much of a clue as to how my body and magic work as the average New Athenian.”

She just nodded. “You should keep track on that, though. I can’t put a finger on what, but I’m pretty sure that those itches aren’t good.”

“Now you’re just being paranoid. I appreciate your concern, but in fact, I’m feeling better than I did last year. I can’t see the problem in that,” I replied with a small smile, but then I frowned some. “But now we have business to take care of, and I’m surely not the only one who thinks we should wrap this up as soon as we can.”

Minerva nodded, but said nothing, waiting until we were in the Council Chamber proper, which didn’t take long. The others were looking a bit nervous and when we entered looked at me worried. I held my hands up as a sign of defeat. “I apologize. My outburst was out of place and am proud that the Council stood impartial and made a correct, rational decision regardless of my emotions on the matter.

“But we can chat idly later, in the evening. Let’s deal with the first setback: the Equestrian refugees will need a spokespony to make the negotiations official. Perseus,” I said, assuming a more professional stance, “make contact with the perimeter guards. We need a pony that is prepared to show his face in the name of them and is not afraid of getting their point across. Tell them that they have up to a week to elect the representative, and once they have done it, he or she will be called to this Council in order to put the new law in motion.”

Perseus simply nodded and walked away. Apparently someone had gotten through to him as Minerva did to me. “Until we receive a response, we keep to the usual routines. After so much acting on our part, it’s our time to wait for the others to catch up. Everyone in agreement?”

They all nodded and departed to their respective offices, some of them murmuring to each other. I got the distinct feel that they were talking about me, but I can’t blame them, not after the tantrum I threw. I walked back to my office, alone this time, and started on the paperwork. It wasn’t much, but we would all need spare time to re-schedule our assignments in case anything came up regarding this new situation.

As soon as I ended the third sheet, someone knocked on the door. Perseus entered the office with a surprised expression. “Socrates, we got word from the guards at the gates. The refugees already have a representative.”

I raised an eyebrow in surprise, much like him. “What? It was barely an hour since we came to an agreement ourselves. Who is it, anyway?”

“It’s a male earth pony, and he insisted to bring his wife and daughter with him. What should we do?”

I frowned, thinking quickly. “I can’t really see a problem with that request. Tell the guards to escort them here.” Something grabbed my attention in that line of thought. “Hmm… having a family together for the press and the public to see should tip the balance in our favor as well, show our consideration towards them.”

“It surely is convenient,” Perseus agreed with a satisfied smile.

After a quick intercom call for a gathering, the Council was reunited for the second time today. We silently traded glances between us: Caesar, Minerva and Pantea were relaxed, but Darius was still nervous, and Sappho was completely oblivious to the general anxiety. Soon, the doors were opened by a couple of uniformed guards. They broke line and made space to the spokespony.

Much to the befuddlement of us all, the stallion wore a pair of prosthetic hands.

Sure enough, his family was with him: the mare, a pegasus, was carrying a newborn and whispering something to her husband. He whispered back to her, and she nodded and walked back out, in the direction of the waiting room next to the hall. Then, he looked at me directly in the eye. I noticed how his cream coat and deep red mane were dirty here and there, and how he had dark bags around his eyes. He wore a simple shirt over his coat, adding to the run-down appearance.
He made a slow approach, eyeing each one of the members of the council carefully, but never without returning to me every few seconds.

When he was in front of me he just stared at us, expectant but passive. I took the hint and coughed into my fist. “Welcome to the Council of the Wise, sir. Pardon our daze, but we were mildly surprised by your provenience.” He did nothing but nod, and I pressed on, “My name is Socrates, spokesman of the Council, as you most likely already know.” I signaled with my hand to the main chamber. “If you could please follow us, we can start the matter at hand.”

We council members took our seats, while the representative sat in front of us, on one of the chairs that we placed after the visit of the Equestrians, due to the sheer increasing number of petitioners. The people of the city had taken the hint that the Council was more open to contact than previously known after that day.

One we all took a seat Minerva spoke first. “First of all, we must introduce ourselves. I am Minerva. Together with Sappho, Perseus, Pantea, Darius, Caesar and Socrates,” she explained calmly, with each of us nodding as soon as we were referred to by name, “I form the Council of the Wise. If you could please tell us your name…”

The pony nodded. “It’s a pleasure, council members. I am Malcom Smith, and I’m a worker at the metallurgic plant here in New Athens,” he said with a deep voice.

Darius was faster than me in asking the question I meant to. “We see you are a human. It’s curious that one of us would take the responsibility for the Equestrians,” he observed.

Malcom shrugged. “You asked for one refugee capable of making decisions, and I am one.”

“Excuse me, but that is not possible,” Perseus said, scowling in confusion. “The guards are under strict orders to allow any and all newfoals to enter the city as they please. Why do you consider yourself a refugee?”

Malcolm gestured to the door with his head. “Because of my family,” he said simply.

I put my hands under my chin in a pensive expression and looked at him. “Elaborate, if you will.”

“My wife is an Equestrian native, and the guards won’t allow her in the city. They only permitted me and my newborn child, and I don’t want to leave her alone out there.”

“But why leave Equestria if you have a baby to take care of? That sounds pretty irresponsible,” Pantea blurted out, earning a piercing glare from Malcolm.

“It’s a bit difficult to not try and leave with your family when you are constantly threatened with arrest for simply being who we are, ma’am,” he spat. “I much prefer to live free in a tent camp than to rot in jail, knowing that my wife and daughter are in danger just because they are associated with a former human.

“Four months since we left, I’ve been living at the camp with them, coming into the city to work at the steel plant. We… survive,” he said, ending it in a sad note.

After mulling silently over the revelations, I took the lead. “Well, Mr. Smith, this does explain yourself and your situation. Though the true issue at hand is, why should we allow the refugees in our city?” I asked, not showing any emotion, as I always did when confronting someone in the name of the Council.

His eyes flared. “Look, I know what you science types are doing here, and I know you’re angry because of… well… being ponies, but let me tell you something: we civilians from Equestria didn’t do anything bad. We were just living our lives peacefully when all went to hell.” he sighed “I’m not a smart man… heck, I didn’t even pass school when I was human because of the family business. But even then, all I wanted was a wife, a couple of kids and a simple house with a backyard for the kids to play.

“I was not forced to be a pony. I did it because I wanted to, because I fell in love with my wife out there, a mare. I ponified myself before those terrorist nutcases and all of that. We married, moved to Trottingham, and a year ago we had our daughter. Even with the crud job I had, we were happy. Then, half a year ago, things changed: ponies started to glare at me, refuse to attend me in stores… They began to even shun my wife and kid, all because I’m a newfoal. When they tried to put me behind bars, it was the last straw, so we left Equestria behind.”

Malcolm entered a staring contest with each and every one of us at the same time. “I’m just a man with a family to take care of, but I’m not the only one. There are a lot; we’re all honest workers, people, ponies, whatever you want to call them, out there, in the same situation as me. That’s why I volunteered. I saw those smart unicorns and their spells back at the camp, too. They can help with tons of things here.

The spokesman crossed his hands over each other. “We don’t want anything to do with Equestria anymore, and we’re all ready to pull our weight here. That’s why you should let us all in.”

As he wrapped his speech, we all fell each on their silent, personal battle, me included. ‘I couldn’t imagine that the princesses were so blind in their crusade that they were hurting their subjects in the process…’

Perseus, as always, was a bit ahead of us. “You don’t talk like a politician. I like that,” he said with a smirk.

Malcom shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said I wanted to be one. I volunteered and I was chosen not because I could speak fancy, because I don’t, but because I’m like everyone back there, a poor man with the worst of luck, and I’m not afraid of saying what I think,” he explained.

I nodded to him. “I think I heard enough to make a decision. Any of you has something to add or ask?”

‘After hearing this I can’t be where I am and do nothing. Minerva was right, these people are just like us, and they deserve a chance.’

Nobody said anything, so I piped in again. “Mr. Smith, before we can make a decision, you must agree with the following terms,” I said, passing him a couple of sheets. “Those are the laws the Council agreed that the Equestrians must abide to in order to obtain citizenship.”

He picked up the document and read it silently, frowning at some things. Soon enough, he looked back at us. “…Some words are kind of big for me, but I could understand most of it. Heck, you’re even giving them freedom of religion, that’s really nice. Though the way you’re restricting property rights, what with them not being able to buy a house before a year of citizenship, sounds like a bit much…”

“Mr. Smith,” I interrupted what felt like the start of a rant, “we’re not accepting any terms other that the ones proposed in that document. I will ask you directly, sir: do you agree with these terms or not?”

The response came after almost ten seconds of silence. “I agree with these terms.”

I nodded, satisfied. “Then, by the powers of the Council and after previous deliberations on the subject, I, Socrates the Wise of New Athens, approve the Amendment #1 of the Code of Adoption, which allows political refugees of other nations to live amongst the citizens of New Athens,” I said, stamping my official seal on the original document and passing it to my companions. “This document shall be filed inside the Civic Vault and copies will be made to anyone who wants to consult it. Mr. Smith, you may keep that copy you have for yourself.

“I also propose the promotion of Mr. Malcolm Smith to the charge of Voice of the Equestrian People, and that he and his family may be housed to fit his new position. Is anyone against this?” I asked. Not a single hand went to the air. “Then, by unanimity, the citizen Malcolm Smith is, from now on, entitled the Voice of the Equestrian People.”

Malcolm was quite shocked at this, and I smirked smugly. It was nice to sweep someone off their feet during a political discussion, more so if it’s in a good way. “You will be informed of and assisted by our Bureau of Internal Affairs, Mr. Smith, so don’t worry about your new line of work just yet. They’ll clarify the finer print for you. Just keep in mind that you are not an ambassador for Equestria, but the spokesman for the refugees that fled from there. Tomorrow, you’ll be relocated alongside your wife and child to a proper lodging, and the day after that, the militia will start to relocate the refugees to the new neighborhoods.”

I lifted myself off my chair and went for the intercom at the table. “Security, please allow Mr. Smith’s wife in. I believe he wants to give her some news.” There was a ‘yes sir’ from the device, and I released the button.

When his wife came in, meekly at first, Malcolm was still stunned, blinking slowly as his brain processed all that had just transpired. When she saw the face her husband had, she rushed to him. “Honey, what happened? Honey?” she asked him. It was enough to snap him out of it, and he looked at her with a bright grin. Then, without warning, he hugged her tightly, making room at one side to the little baby, and started to sob.

I managed to control myself, even though my heart skipped a bit after I thought of the hardships these two had been through just to get here. From my new standing position, it was clear that they weren’t only dirty and tired; they were worryingly thin as well.

‘I thought we would need more time… but we’re ready enough for the future as it is,’ I thought, looking at the couple. ‘Our presence is strong enough to drive pure Equestrians to our cause, and possibly even embrace our way of life. We were but a small speck of civilization, away from the rest of the world, but now we shine with our own light… The time of being a true international power for New Athens has come, and extend our hand in aid of those who are suffering is the perfect political movement to show that. It seems that, today, we all are going to win in the end.’

Respectfully, I approached the family, and they looked at me with their child, a little girl, on their arms. I raised my hand for a handshake with an unusual gentle smile on my face, but before Malcolm or his wife could complete the gesture, their baby picked one of my fingers between her tiny hooves, staring at it with big, curious eyes. I chuckled, shaking the digit slowly and gently, earning a giddy smile from her. “Welcome to New Athens, little one.”

She was most definitely an unusual party to wrap up an official meeting with… And it couldn’t have felt more right to do it with her.

Inside a deep cavern, a group of archeologists were, as usual, bored to death. “I tell ya, this is jus’ a bunch of rocks, like the last damn time,” grumbled one of the diggers.

“Don’t be a wuss,” said another. “We get paid a lot just for digging the dirt.”

“Ya, yer right… but it’s boring anyways…”

“Oh, just shut up and dig!”

They continued as every day since they first arrived there, two weeks prior. ‘Why were they in the middle of a desert anyways?’ was what a lot of them asked themselves and each other.

But something was different this time. A metallic ‘clang’ reverberated from one of the shovels. “Huh? What’s this?” the digger asked, trying to uncover the metallic object. He found a totally flat, vertical and metallic surface, too smooth to be natural. “Hey! I found something!” he yelled out to the others.

Soon he was surrounded by workers, with the overseer of the excavation coming in a hurry. “What have you found?” he breathlessly asked the one responsible for the discovery.

“See for yourself, boss. It’s like a wall, looks like some kind of metal. It bent the tip of my shovel when I hit it.”

He observed the point he was shown for a second. “Hey, the boy with the radio station!” the supervisor yelled back to the big tunnel. “Come here, quick!”

“Why? The next checkpoint to move the radio station is still 200 meters below!” was the reply.

“Just pick the damn radio and come here!”

Not too long after, a colt wearing huge saddlebags came to the group, bearing an irritated expression. “I hope this will be…”

“No time! The wire to the radio beacon is connected, right?”

“Yes, I checked this morning. All up and running.”

“Perfect!” the overseer exclaimed, picking up the radio and setting the right frequency. “Urgent Message to White Citadel. White Citadel, do you copy?”

“Deep Ranger, this is White Citadel,” came the response after a loud buzz typical of a radio entering the frequency. “What do you have?”

He took a deep breath. “Inform the council that Ruy Knight has big news.”

That last send-out received no reply whatsoever. After a couple minutes passed, the radio colt thought out loud, “Are we on dead air?”

Right as he uttered the last word, the radio flared alive again. “Cid, what have you found?” said the operator on the other end of the line, an operator that wasn’t the first one.

“We’ve found the Ark.”

Author's Notes:

After a very long time, the second chapter is finished, edited and uploaded!

I must say first that I was overwhelmed by all of you people. I created this story because I wanted to do an experiment trying to write something serious and giving my own ideas and concepts about a universe so convoluted as 'The Conversion Bureau'... and look at that, you liked the concept! I can't thank you enough for all your support. Each visit means the world to me, because it will mean that this project has a future and makes me want to continue it.
I need to confess that I had too many problems these last months and I didn't have much inspiration and will to do nothing, but I finally settled my mind and ideas to bring this chapter to you.

Special thanks for my editor Jack Kellar, for his patience and good advise on some things on the chapter that were a bit odd. You must thank him too, because without him this story would look worse because of my own language limitations (Hey, I try at least!).

TCB: A Beacon of Hope

by Khenlos

-1- The Advent of New Athens

-2- Falling Rocks and Shifting Tides