Chapter 6
“I can’t believe this!” Lauren fumed as she trotted through the portal, leaving the Townsville Conversion Bureau—and Earth—behind for what may have been forever. “How could The Amoeba Boys NOT have been the answer?! How could ordinary ponification potion ruin our lives like this?!”
“I’m just as confused as you are, Lauren,” Craig shrugged in defeat as he joined her in floating into the bright white light inside the spinning metal ring of the portal. Stout Heart and the Bureau Manager waved them hearty goodbyes as their forms were obscured by the light and finally disappeared into it. The rest of the herd followed, Twilight leading the Element bearers after the two ex-humans in charge while Gell, grumbling, brought up the rear.
“At least I’m finally getting to Equestria,” the new gryphon thought to himself. “Maybe I can squeeze in a full page of observations on my first mission report. That way they’ll only shred MOST of my skin off.”
The light absorbed the gryphon as well, blinding him so that he had to shield his eyes as he trudged forward. But as the former human approached the other end of the tunnel that seemed to be made of nothing but light (making him rather nervous about what he was standing on) shapes began to appear. At first there were only silhouettes, but then colors began to reemerge and finally the ring of the other end of the portal passed by Gell and he walked into the Receiving Station, headquarters of the Conversion Bureaus.
The massive building looked like something that might have been a cross between a train station and a science lab back on Earth, except here magic replaced anything remotely technological. Rows of portals, each bearing plaques with names like ‘NEW YORK’ and ‘JUMP CITY’ and ‘DIMMSDALE,’ lined the walls on one end. On the opposite wall were a series of security checkpoints and welcome desks.
After passing some rather terrified and eagerly bowing ponies the herd strolled out into the bright sunlight of Equestria, revealing the most pristine blue sky Gell had ever seen. Then again, it was the only sky he’d ever seen; back at the place on Earth the sky was nothing but baggy brown clouds filled with poisonous pollutants from centuries of gaseous industrial waste. The country below the sky was no less breathtaking, showing rolling pastures, quaint towns that looked like something out of a medieval illustration, and even the capital city of Canterlot in the distance with its towering spires and proud palace.
Gell looked around with apparent lack of interest, too preoccupied with how he could weasel his way out of his present situation, when he walked right into what might have been a rather disgruntled ball of feathers and what might have been a miniature sun. The new gryphon stumbled backwards, only to see the feathery sun he’d run into doing the same, only it ended up knocked to the ground.
“Not the kind of dignified first impression I was hoping to make,” the feathery fireball muttered in what Gell recognized as a distinctly feminine voice before picking itself off the ground with its wings. After ruffling its feathers and wiping the dust off its coat, the flaming feathery figure bowed low at Gell’s feet. “I bid my greetings to you, Gell the Gryphon. I am Valor Firefeather of the Pheonix Tribe of the Gryphon Kingdoms, and I humbly extend to you the best wishes of the Gryphon Kings themselves.”
Gell took another uncertain step back as the fiery feathers of this creature rose to a standing height once more. It had what might have been the head of an eagle, if it weren’t coated in violently vibrant red feathers as the rest of the front of this creature was. It was smaller than Gell, its form graceful and slender, with a prim beak and large green eyes. It was also wearing what appeared to be golden armor bearing the insignia of a gryphon and a dragon locked in battle emblazoned across a shield.
“I am to be your designated guide in this world,” it—no, she—spoke in that melodious voice. “And I am honored to meet you.”
Gell’s heart skipped a beat. Before he realized what he was doing, the former human’s eyes began to trace her fiery feathers and her magnificent wings before his gaze was locked onto her eyes. They were rich and green like a summery meadow. When he did realize what he was doing, the new gryphon snapped himself out of it rather violently.
“No, no, NO!” Gell hissed, yanking his gaze off of Valor and stomping the ground with his claws. “This can’t be happening! I can’t have ANOTHER distraction!”
“Am I…not presentable?” Valor wondered, sounding hurt, as if she had failed something.
“No, it’s not you—well, it is, but it’s not your fault, it’s just…AUGH!” Gell exasperated. How was he supposed to explain that he couldn’t afford any more distractions when his mission was already so bucked up? How was he supposed to explain that the problem wasn’t her—it was his new species’ hormones? “Look, thanks for coming all the way to Equestria to show me around and everything, but I don’t need a guide. So, I’ll be seeing you—”
“But, Gell!” Valor protested as the new gryphon tried to walk past this red vision. Their feathers brushed, and Gell shivered before jumping away and spinning to face her. “You have not yet let me inform you of the riches of this world, especially those which the Gryphon Kings have prepared to offer you! If you choose to become a citizen of our Kingdoms, the Kings will make you a Lord with a castle full of riches all your own!”
“Yeah, that sounds nice and all, but I’d rather be poor and alive than rich and dead,” Gell insisted, beginning to swiftly walk away again. “That being said, I’ll be checking out Equestria—and only Equestria—on my own.”
“I am sorry, Gell,” Valor spoke, sounding genuine, after a moment of thought. “But in the name of the Gryphon Kings, I place you under custody of the Gryphon Kingdoms.”
The new gryphon felt a disturbingly familiar cool air waft over him, and swished his tail around to confirm that, indeed, he now had a SECOND black band on his tail, crisscrossing the first to form an ‘X.’ The two bands glowed where they touched, and the now doubly imprisoned gryphon was pretty sure that it wasn’t a good thing to mix the magic of two nations, but he had something more pressing to be angry about right now: the fact that Valor had banded him in the first place.
“Okay, that’s far enough,” Craig spoke up before Gell could launch into a furious rage, flying over to the two gryphons from where the rest of the herd had apparently been watching the whole event unfold with growing chuckles.
“Discord?!” Valor gasped. “But—but we heard that you were recaptured in your prison of stone!”
“Different draconequus,” Craig sighed. “But I’ll be twice as nasty as he was if you mess up what we’re trying to do here. This gryphon is under Equestrian custody, and ONLY Equestrian custody.”
“But he is a gryphon!” Valor protested. “He belongs with us!”
“Maybe so,” Craig replied. “But right now, we need him more, and so he isn’t leaving Equestria until we’re done with him.”
“Then I shall remain by his side until such a time arises as he may join the rest of his kind,” Valor stated defiantly, displaying some real courage by speaking up to a draconequus. “It is my royal duty to be his guide, and be his guide I shall.”
“Suit yourself,” Craig shrugged. “But don’t try and fly off with him, or you’ll have me to deal with.”
“What—but—no!” Gell spoke up at last. “Look, if I have to stick with you guys, then at least don’t make her have to come along too! My plans are far too bucked up as it is!”
“Why wouldn’t you want her to come along?” Lauren questioned, raising an eyebrow and smiling slyly. “Don’t you want a friend who shares your species? Don’t you want a very special friend?”
“What?!” Gell screeched. “No! I don’t! I don’t care if we’re both gryphons! I never wanted to be involved with any of you, so the less beings I have to deal with the better! At least grant me this one request!”
“Well, since you asked nicely—” Lauren started to say sarcastically before Twilight tapped her on the shoulder. Leaning down to listen as the lavender unicorn whispered in her ear, Lauren shrugged and then rose back up. “Twilight here says that Equestria and the Gryphon Kingdoms don’t have the best of relations, so it’d be best not to tick them off. Especially if all we’re asked to do is let a single extra gryphon stick with us.”
“GAHHHH!” Gell roared. “You don’t get it, do you?! None of you get it! You ponies will throw me in the Canterlot dungeons if I don’t go along with your plans, and who knows what captain Fire Feathers here will get her precious Kingdoms to do to me if I don’t cooperate with their plans. You want me to stick with you to unfurl the meaning of some crazy freak accident that happened to all three of us, but if I waste any more time with you interlopers than focusing on my REAL reason for being here, I’M GOING TO DIE! PAINFULLY!”
“You’re going to die?!” Pinkie Pie piped up. “Oh, no! That’s terrible! Have you got a disease?”
“Worse!” Gell responded. “I’m a special case! I didn’t WANT to come here, the human government SENT me here! If I remained on Earth they would have killed me, but they only let me come here to this world if I agreed to follow a very specific plan—and if I don’t, they’ll kill me anyway.”
“I hardly think the human government could reach you here,” Twilight remarked. “And even if they could, why would they want to? You’re out of their world and out of their hair now.”
“The human government may have been the ones to send me here,” Gell went on, glaring darkly at the lavender unicorn. “But they’re not the ones who are going to kill me. These people are much, much worse.”
“Just what is going on with you, anyway?” Craig wanted to know. “What makes you so dangerous?”
“They’d kill me just for telling you,” Gell said. “I might get flogged for telling you this much. But if it’ll get you all off my case, I’ll give you the answer to your stupid ‘anomaly’ problem. I didn’t want to say anything—I wanted to interact with you all as little as possible—but I know what caused your freak mutations.”
“You WHAT?!” Lauren lighted up. “You knew?! How could you know?! And even if you did, and I’m not saying I believe you do, but how could you not have told us?!”
“One, you all have been a pain in my neck since the second I encountered you,” Gell informed her. “Two, I’m not supposed to interact with ANYONE or ANYPONY. Ever, until my plans are executed, so that I won’t be. But it looks like I’ll have to break a few rules to finally be rid of you.”
Gell walked up to the rest of the herd, Valor following close behind him like a second shadow (albeit one that was on fire), and stuck out his wrist. The herd crowded around to see the travel bracelet he had received from the Conversion Bureau, complete with its interface touchscreen and solar power panel.
“Wake up, AI,” Gell commanded, and the touchscreen winked on.
“Hello, new applicant!” the AI’s familiarly obnoxious mechanical voice spoke to the herd. “What is your name and identification?”
“We’re not in the Bureau anymore,” Gel informed the AI. “In case you haven’t noticed, you chip is in a travel bracelet. I own you know, and that means you have to do what I say. Right now, I say you tell these ‘nice’ ponies and their monster friend here what you told me back in Townsville. That way I’ll at least have ONE kingdom off my case.”
The AI was silent for a moment, its usual smiley face having switched to display an emoticon bearing a look of confusion.
Finally, it said “Does not compute.”
“What?!” Gell gasped. “Don’t you dare play that game with me! Show them! Show them you have a personality, that you experimented on all of us to appease your sadistic scientific curiosity!”
“Does not compute,” the AI intoned again.
“Um…” Lauren said uneasily. “You know AIs don’t have personalities, right?”
“This one does!” Gell insisted. “It was the AI interface unit at the Townsville Conversion Bureau, and it told me itself that it experimented on each of us!”
The herd simply gazed at him with a funny look.
“I’m not making this up!” Gell hissed. “It’s all true!”
“Maybe it really is all true,” Craig wondered.
“What?” Lauren inquired, turning to the draconequus with a look of confusion.
“To him, I mean,” Craig stated. “Maybe Gell here thinks all this really is true. If he’s a ‘special case,’ as he keeps telling us, then maybe the reason he was sent here is because he’s an insane criminal or something. Either that or he’s a bad liar with a worse imagination.”
“I’m not crazy!” Gell protested. “And what use would I have to lie to you?”
“You do want to get away from us as fast as you can,” Twilight pointed out. “And Dis—Craig’s thought does make a lot more sense. I’ve done some studying on human technology, and they don’t usually let any newfoals bring it with them to Equestria. I’m guessing the only reason you have that travel bracelet at all is because it’s really a tracking device.”
“This is your last chance,” the distraught gryphon whispered menacingly and desperately to the AI. “Either tell them what you told me or I’ll throw you in the nearest lake I can find!”
“Entering reboot sequence,” the AI informed them all before blacking out and displaying a loading screen.
The herd stood there uncomfortably for a moment.
“Alright then…” Lauren spoke at last. “Now that that’s out of the way, I think we better head back to Canterlot. It’s been a long day, and it’ll be dark soon. We can resume our search in the morning.”
The herd began to trot uneasily away from the rather disgruntled gryphon, talking amongst themselves in whispers just loud enough for Gell to hear. Gell watched them go, then looked back to Valor, then at the travel bracelet again, and then followed after the herd with a grumble.
Valor, playing the shadow once more, followed suite.
. . .
“Did you find what you were looking for, Mother—I mean, Lauren?” Celestia asked as Lauren and the rest of the herd trudged into the royal palace back at Canterlot at nightfall. It had been a long walk from the Receiving Station back to Canterlot, and on top of that everypony’s moods were more than a little off for different reasons. Craig had offered to teleport them all back to the palace, but the Element bearing ponies had quickly gasped a “No!” and so they had been forced to walk.
“I’m afraid not,” Lauren grumbled, shooting Celestia a sorrowful smile mixed with the fact that she really didn’t know how to handle the situation from here. Not only was she now out of leads, she had no idea what she was supposed to do next. Try to come up with a cure for an anomalous ponification transformation without any clues? No, she’d just be running into the same brick walls all others who had attempted to reverse the change inevitably ran into. Accept her fate as a pony? No, she refused that notion even more than the first—she wasn’t giving up that easily. But then, what was she supposed to do? “We’ll…we’ll think of something in the morning.”
“Certainly, Lauren,” Celestia nodded. “You have all of Equestria at your disposal. I wish to help you in any way I can.”
“Thanks,” Lauren said sheepishly. She really did appreciate all the help this monarch was giving, but the way Celestia still looked at Lauren when the Solar Princess thought the new alicorn wasn’t looking still gave her an uneasy feeling. On top of that, the new alicorn didn’t like taking advantage of Celestia, but getting help from the government was indeed the fastest way to solve this case.
“The Guards will escort you each to your rooms,” Celestia intoned, turning to the rest of the herd. “And I do hope you and your friends do not mind staying here in Canterlot for a while, Twilight. And oh, who are these?”
This last remark had come about when the Solar Princess caught sight of Gell and Valor, the former of which was looking around the palace intently with actual interest while the latter stepped forward and bowed to Celestia.
“I am Valor, your majesty,” the flaming gryphon replied cordially. “I am the representative of the Gryphon Kingdoms our embassies had discussed. I am also the guide of Lord Gell, who you see before you.”
“What?” Gell snapped to attention at the mention of his name. “I never agreed to go to the Kingdoms with you or accept your fancy title! I already told you, I’m staying here, in Equestria!”
“But, Lord Gell—” Valor began.
Lauren cut her off with “They’re with us. The gryphon who isn’t on fire is another anomaly case from the Conversion Bureaus. The one who is on fire is who she says she is.”
“Is this true?” Celestia inquired, suddenly looking confused. Gell was about to answer when he saw that the Solar Princess wasn’t looking at him or Valor, but at Twilight and her friends.
“We met him in the Conversion Bureau we visited today,” Twilight affirmed. “The transformation happened before we got there, but two employees assured us that is what happened. I don’t know how else a gryphon could have gotten to Earth, either.”
“But, but that’s…” Celestia stammered. “Twilight? Could I see you for a moment in my private study? The rest of you, I bid you good night, and I shall see you in the morning.”
Twilight followed Celestia as the Guards led each of the rest of the herd to their respective rooms. Once the mentor and student were in the royal study and Celestia had put a magical lock on the door, much to Twilight’s surprise, the Solar Princess fell back into her cushions by the fireplace. She ushered Twilight to join her.
“Is something wrong, Princess?” Twilight wondered, noting the exhausted look on her mentor’s face.
“Indeed something is, Twilight,” Celestia sighed. “I was so sure that Lauren really was my Mother placed under some spell of Discord’s, but with that new gryphon…”
“What do you mean, Princess?” Twilight queried.
“Even Discord doesn’t have the magic to meddle in the affairs of something a world away, and that draconequus they call ‘Craig’ was here in Equestria when the gryphon’s transformation took place,” Celestia explained. “Therefore, I don’t see how the anomaly could have happened, and if it wasn’t by Discord’s hand, then maybe all of them really were once humans.”
“I see your reasoning,” Twilight mused. “But, Princess, I wouldn’t count out Discord just yet. He’s broken our expectations before; I’m sure he’d love to do it again. Though, like I said earlier, I don’t think they were humans or your Mother—I think Discord’s just trying to get to you through a doppelgänger of your Mother. Maybe he’s allied himself with the changelings, and that’s really Queen Chrysalis feeding off of your love?”
“Even the changelings wouldn’t be foolish enough to ally themselves with that monster,” Celestia explained. “They know that he only enjoys brewing pain and strife among ponies, not the love they would need to survive here in Equestria.”
“Then maybe—” Twilight started.
“Twilight, why do you insist on this being a plan of Discord’s even when I dismiss it as such?” Celestia questioned. “As much as it pains me to say it, nothing would make me happier than if that really was my Mother and this was all some convoluted scheme of that wily draconequus, because at least then I would know she’s alive and that we could save her from his spell. But all evidence points to their story being the truth.”
“But their story doesn’t make any sense either,” Twilight pointed out. “How could perfectly ordinary ponification potion turn humans into replicas of your alicorn Mother, our greatest enemy Discord the draconequus, and a gryphon?”
“I don’t know, Twilight,” Celestia sighed again. “I just don’t know. Maybe it was the rift between our two worlds that meddled with the magic of the potions when they were transferred to Earth. Maybe the potion didn’t agree with those three individuals’ genetic makeups. Any number of things could explain it, but it seems Discord and my Mother are not among them.”
Twilight was about to protest this when a knock was heard. Twilight turned towards the door, but Celestia rose and trotted over to a section of the walls between two bookcases. Touching her glowing horn to the wall, Twilight watched in surprise as the false wall slid to the sides. Out of the darkness behind that wall stepped a tall, dark stallion with a white mane and tail.
“Your majesty,” the stallion bowed. “I bring news most dire. I’m afraid we—”
The stallion stopped short when he noticed Twilight in the room, watching the conversation between her mentor and this newcomer intently.
“Uh, your majesty?” the stallion in black questioned, pointing a hoof at the lavender unicorn.
“Speak freely,” Celestia commanded. “This is Twilight Sparkle, my most trusted student. Our secrets are safe with her. Twilight, come here; I want you to meet the captain of my Secret Police.”
“You have Secret Police?!” Twilight gasped, leaping up. “But I thought those were just a myth! Propaganda spread by the anti-Celestials!”
“The Secret Police are very real,” Celestia smiled. “But you are right in thinking that everything spread about them from my opponents is false. The Secret Police are not needed in Equestria; they protect Equestria’s needs on Earth.”
“Oh,” Twilight sighed with relief, trotting over to shake hooves with the stallion in black. “Pleased to meet you. As the Princess said, I am Twilight Sparkle. So, you protect the Conversion Bureaus?”
“Something like that,” the black stallion replied. And though I’m afraid I must insist that I cannot tell you my own name, you may call me ‘The Stallion in Black.’”
“He’s always been a stickler for codenames,” Celestia commented. “What news do you bring, captain?”
“I’m afraid we’ve had our first breach in security,” the captain answered grimly. “We found a spy from the Gryphon Kingdoms lurking about our headquarters.”
“Valor?!” Twilight gasped. “But she seemed to nice! Maybe that’s why she was really sent here.”
“‘She?’” The Stallion in Black echoed. “I’m afraid we caught a spy of the other gender.”
The Stallion in Black waved his hoof forward, and out of the shadows behind him stepped three more ponies, each as grim looking as he was, all with their cutie marks hidden. Between two of them was strung a long wooden pole from which a gagged and bound gryphon was dangling. The third pony, a unicorn, was levitating what looked suspiciously like a zap rod. The gryphon began to silently yell at the sight of the Princess, and the unicorn jabbed him with the rod, sending an electrical shock coursing through the hybrid creature that silenced him immediately.
“You?” Celestia wondered, confused now more than ever. “But, how?”
“Gell?” Twilight gasped again. “What are you…but, why?!”
The unicorn magically undid the new gryphon’s gag, prompting Gell to gasp for breath.
“Why?” Gell gasped once he had had gulped in enough air. “WHY?! Because we were right! We were right all along! I may have been caught, but I found out what I needed, and I’ve sent it to your worst nightmare! I thought being stuck with you guys was going to get my cover blown or back up my mission and get me killed. I thought I wouldn't even be able to send my first mission report by the time my superiors required it. But sticking with you guys was the best thing that could have happened for my mission! You led me right to this 'Secret Police' headquarters, right here in Canterlot!”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight demanded, glaring at the maniacally laughing gryphon with anger. How dare he infiltrate the government of this new world after it had been kind enough to offer him refuge from his dying planet?
“Why don’t you ask your precious Princess?!” Gell spat, still laughing. “Maybe she’ll tell you everything!”
“Princess?” Twilight asked, confused, looking up at her mentor. What the lavender unicorn saw there frightened and confused her more than anything she’d seen today. Celestia looked afraid, but even worse than that, she looked…guilty. “What’s going on? What does he mean?”
“It’s…it’s nothing, Twilight,” Celestia spoke.
“Tell that to the Human Liberation Front when they come calling,” Gell continued to chuckle.
“You mean—” Twilight started to say, her eyes widening.
“Yes,” Gell replied as a sly, dark smile lit up his face. “I never wanted to come to Equestria at all! This was all just a kamikaze mission, and I was willing to give up my humanity to see it through. And, by the look on your face, it was worth it!”
“But what could you have possibly found that would give the HLF reason to come here?” Twilight wanted to know.
“Enough!” Celestia ordered at last, breaking out of her state of shock. “Take him away! Throw him in the dungeon! Interrogate everything you can out of him, I don’t care how!”
“I’ll gladly tell you everything,” Gell guffawed. “I have nothing to lose now! We won! Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter what you do to me. I know you ponies don’t have it in you to kill, and soon enough I’ll be liberated by my superiors anyway when they take this country.”
“But humans can’t survive the magic of Equestria!” Twilight protested as the other unicorn went to re-gag the gryphon. “Oh, no—Celestia! Tell me he didn’t find a way to allow humans to survive here!”
“Yes, ask your Princess!” Gell laughed for a final time as the gag went on him. “Ask her about everything she’s ever told you, the lies about it all! About the rift! About the Conversion Bureaus even existing in the first place! But most of all, ask her where you came from, Twilight Sparkle…or should I say, Tara Strong?”
. . .