//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 
// Story: Diplomatic Solution 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Ocellus had seconds to act before the power of the scepter swept over her friend, and did who knew what terrible things to her. But Ocellus had felt its temptations before, she knew how debilitating they could be. If anything, she'd prepared for this exact moment. 

The wild magic of the crater stole her power away, even if the Thronestone allowed changeling magic to function normally. She couldn't levitate it out of Silverstream's grip. But even if her levitation was still working, she had her doubts that the scepter would permit itself to be taken away from its wielder. It was a powerful relic with a will of its own, not something that an outsider could easily unravel.

"Silverstream!" she called, her voice echoing through the empty throne room. She didn't move towards her, didn't try to snatch the relic away or attack her. That would only end the same way it had for the others, with them groaning on the floor in pain. Hopefully they didn't break anything. Silverstream wasn't trying to hurt them, right?

Her friend looked up, clutching the scepter with one claw. Her mouth formed words, but nothing Ocellus could read. She couldn't even sense her emotions to tell what she might be feeling. This was how other creatures felt all the time, deaf to anything but the most obvious physical signs. No wonder they had such a hard time getting along.

"Silverstream," she said again, a little quieter this time. "Look at me."

She did. Lightning crackled around her, scorching the ground with little bolts of energy. Tiles shattered, and the jungle pulsed briefly overhead. That came from the scepter itself, overcoming the Thronestone’s influence in this small area. "You can't take it from me!" she called. "We can't hide forever! A creature needs to take charge, teach them to be strong! We can't be victims again, can't let bigger creatures with big armies force us to cower and hide. We have to go out there and take what we're owed!"

"Nuts," Yona said. "The bird is nuts. Like dead emperor."

Ocellus ignored her, hoping Silverstream would too. Being told she was crazy would not help pull her back to reality. "It's using your memories against you," she whispered, her tone as gentle as she could make it. "Just like it did against me. You're not even thinking about the scepter right now, are you? You're remembering the Storm King."

Silverstream's grip tightened. Her whole body started to shake, and she clutched the scepter up to her chest. "We're not that different. Equestria... Stellar Compact... trying to hide away from the Enti. We think they'll give up, but they won't. The universe is cruel, Ocellus! Only power trumps power. We needed more of it, here it is! The Zecrin's greatest king, more magic than an Alicorn, right here! We'll cut evil fleets from the sky! We'll destroy the shields of their shrouded worlds! The invasion will turn against them at last!"

"You sound like him." Gallus clambered up into a sitting position beside the emperor's broken body, nudging the old bones. "The lizard probably wanted good things too. Thought he would save his tribes, make them strong. But look where he ended up—rotting away in a crater somewhere. Instead of uniting the Zecrin, they're the ones hiding now. They came up with excuses so they didn't have to help, then just closed their eyes and pretended there wasn't a war."

Silverstream fixed them with a furious glare. "The emperor gave his life for Zecrin everywhere! He saw the growing rot, he knew they were turning weak. He tried to change the world, teach them to be strong again. But he... failed."

Silverstream stared down at the scepter. Her claws twitched unsteadily. "He wanted to make the world—mean. Make it kill all the creatures he thought were too weak. But the others stopped him. The other Zecrin worked together, contained the corruption so it couldn't spread."

Silverstream dropped the scepter. It clattered to the ground, sliding away from her. She dropped in the same moment, panting with exhaustion. "Ugh. It was in my head..."

Ocellus embraced her, holding the hippogriff with one wing. "But you let go. That's more strength than the old emperor had." 

She looked up, over to where Sandbar had fallen. "Sorry I hit you! Are you okay?"

He nodded, shaking himself out. "Just a little dazed. Better than the locals, anyway." As he said it, one of the other bodies beside him crumbled away.

"I don't think any creature who isn't a Zecrin could control it," Smolder said. She stopped beside the scepter, but didn't try to pick it up. "It's like the one we dragons made. Other creatures have tried, but it doesn't work the same for them. Magic can tell the difference, you know?"

"That is... problem," Yona said, frustrated. "We have to bring it with us, then give away. Have to get back with it, or ambassador will make us slaves. He already said so, remember?"

Ocellus knew what she had to do. "Every-creature, stand back," she said. She slung the thronestone in front of her, gripping it in her mouth. "I have a plan. Maybe a little dangerous. Might want to be ready with your sword in case I can't control it, Gallus."

He drew it, backing away from her. "You sure you know what you're doing, Ocellus? This sword doesn't take prisoners."

"I know we need the Zecrin to join the Stellar Compact. To do that, we have to get this scepter out of the crater with us. I know it's going to try and control any creature who takes it."

"But our friendship was stronger," Sandbar said. "It didn't work. That's what the Zecrin who came before didn't have."

She nodded. "I'll need your friendship in a second—each of you." Ocellus twisted, sealing away the power of the Thronestone once again. The effects were instantaneous. Where the jungle creeped in around them, light flickered from its vines and leaves, pulsing a rapid alarm. Thousands of different creatures all raised their voices in fury, predators of every size with a sudden, common enemy. From all around the room, the corpses of an ancient court began to jerk into motion, just as the emperor had done. The scepter's power was much stronger now that it wasn't being suppressed. But Ocellus was counting on that.

The others all felt it too, gravity drawing down towards the scepter. It wanted a wielder, someone who could exact its will and channel its power all across the Zecrin empire. 

Ocellus stood right beside it, so the others would never beat her to it. She reached down, then touched gently against it with one leg.

As she expected, the result was instantaneous. A sudden explosion of power, as the scepter's magic overflowed through her body, ignoring the suppression of the jungle crater. It had created this magical dead-zone, after all, and thus had power over it. 

Ocellus didn't use that power to unmake the world, or blast Enti warships from space. Instead, she took it into herself, and transformed. She had seen plenty of examples by now—lean Zecrin bodies, with their long claws, flexible scales, and mouths full of sharp teeth. That was more than enough exposure to become one of them. 

The magic flashed, then went out. Suddenly the court looked so much smaller, now that Ocellus's body was stretched into a forward-leaning bipedal stance. She flicked the scepter between two claws, then lifted it firmly in one.

She felt—overwhelming confusion. Transformation magic was not unknown to the Zecrin, and perhaps had been even better known in whatever ancient day it came from. Was she one of them, or an intruder like the others, seeking to steal it away for some unknown war?

"Are you okay?" Silverstream asked. She watched from closer than the others, one claw extended. "I know how much it tries to mess with your mind. Whatever it's telling you to do, you can fight it!"

"It... doesn't know what to tell me," she whispered. Ocellus felt it in her mind, trying to make sense of her. But she wasn't just one creature anymore, she was thousands. Every form she'd taken changed her nature just a little, leaving her as nothing that could be easily classified.

I don't want to take you away, she thought, as though the artifact could even understand words. The emperor thought that Zecrin could only be saved through violence, but his plan didn't work. Soon creatures everywhere feared his jungle. But I have another idea.

Ocellus lifted the scepter high overhead in one claw. She felt resistance from the object—it had been committed to one vision for so long that it was reluctant to change. But it knew everything she knew. It saw the sorry state of Zecrin society, growing soft and fat when a desperate conflict waited for their help not far away. 

There was another way to make Zecrin strong again. "We won't have to force them," she said. "We'll use a far stronger magic than that: compassion."

All Zecrin were missing now was the understanding that the galaxy was full of suffering creatures who needed their help. There was already a powerful adversary waiting, a worthy foe who would one day threaten their safety too, if they didn't stand up.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Gallus said. "Sure looks like you're about to do something big, Ocellus. Maybe you should get along with it. Sounds like some big stuff coming our way!"

She was so overwhelmed with the spell she hadn't noticed at first. But Gallus was right, many creatures were hurrying down into the crater. The jungle had plenty of predators with wings, and all of them smelled vulnerable prey.

Take it from me, she thought. Stasis is the enemy. For a creature to survive, they have to change.

Maybe it was her words—maybe it was her transformation—or maybe it was just her sincerity. Whatever it was, Ocellus felt the spell explode from her in a single, terrible blast of magic. It overflowed from the scepter, rippling out and away from her in a wave.

Because she was holding it, Ocellus felt its effects blasting across the land. She didn't ask it to change the minds of Zecrin, or attack them in any way. Her actions alone would be all the testimony she needed.

She didn't attack the Zecrin race the object wanted so desperately to protect. Instead, she attacked the jungle itself. This crater was a scar on the homeworld, a reckless failure that may've doomed Zecrin everywhere, if it had succeeded. With the emperor's corpse finally turned to dust, it was time to undo the damage.

She didn't feel her magic coming back to her the way the others would—she had the scepter's power running through her, or she couldn't have cast the spell in the first place. But she saw them stand, strength returning to each of them in turn. 

At the same time, the terrible monsters of the jungle dropped where they were. Those that came from native species of the homeworld changed back into the benign animals that had birthed them. Those the scepter had conjured from nothing to guard its resting-place and challenge champions to fight dissolved into mist completely, their magic reclaimed.

Ocellus clung to the scepter a little longer, as the crater of magical decay rejoined the rest of the planet. Its plants returned to normal, and embraced the magical harmony that had brought Zecrin so much joy in the ancient days.

As quickly as it came, the spell was done. Ocellus didn't hold on one second more than she had to, stuffing the staff away into her satchel and strapping it down tight. It hung a little tighter on her transformed body, but it would last. 

"I think... the hike back will be easier than the way in," she said. Her voice sounded different—toothier in this body. But that didn't faze her. "Is everyone alright?"

One by one, the magical spotlights illuminating the throne room began to dim, leaving them with only the steady pulsing of the planet's harmony through the jungle bioluminescence.

Gallus slid the sword away, then took to his wings, hovering beside her. "Now that I can do this again? Yeah. Feeling pretty good."