//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Gaining an Ally // Story: The Conversion Bureau EarthGate Saga: Prisoner of War // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// “So, how long have you been opposing Celestia?” Zachary asked quietly as the group of three followed the path back to town. “Thirty-five years,” Noteworthy replied just as quietly.  “We—well, mostly my darling wife, here—organized protests against ponification, demanding that research be put into finding a way to either stop the barrier’s advance or enable humans to survive in a magical environment while still being human.”  Suddenly, the blue unicorn stallion grit his teeth and growled.  “We had no idea that Celestia was lying about humans being unable to survive inside the barrier.” Before Zachary could ask another question, Lyra added her own whispers to the discussion.  “Celestia interrupted one of our rallies with an announcement that both of our demands were impossible, and the ponies with us started to riot as a result.  The Special Forces put down the riot, and Celestia then had us put under house arrest until the Conversion War ended.  Our four children were still allowed to leave the house, but only under strict government watch.  She lifted our sentence after she won the war.” “But apparently, she was foolish to do so, right?” Zachary observed.  “You’ve started a secession movement, and I doubt she wants to deal with a full-blown rebellion.” “Yes, that was an error on her part,” Noteworthy agreed, nodding as they made it back into town.  “Now, we’ll have to keep quiet until we reach the castle, so just follow us and don’t do anything that could attract attention to yourself.” Zachary nodded, and they made their way to the tree-castle in silence. Inside the castle, the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, looked over a stack of reports from the towns around Ponyville and sighed.  There were many willing to aid in Lyra and Noteworthy’s revolution, but most were civilians, and the few who weren’t were former Royal Guards who were either retired, or quit after growing fed up with the Conversion War.  She couldn’t allow these ponies to fight to the death for her, it just wasn’t right. She’d already seen too much death while she slaved away to create that wretched potion forty years ago.  The screams of the humans who were killed by the failed attempts still haunted her dreams, and she couldn’t bring herself to allow that much death to happen again.  Besides, Celestia had the Solar Flares and the Special Forces, who were far better trained for combat than the Royal Guard, and Princess Birthright now had her own division of super-soldiers termed “The Death Blades”, and they would utterly slaughter anypony not on par with them. Tossing aside most of the sheets in frustration, Twilight stopped when her eyes noticed one final letter.  It was still bound, but with a seal she didn’t recognize:  a heart with ragged insect wings. Curious, she opened the letter, and read it: Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, My name is Queen Skitter, current Queen of the Changelings.  I am the daughter of the late Queen Chrysalis, whose death was unfortunately brought about by your actions.  However, I am not writing this letter as a threat.  I do not wish to avenge my mother, for she was foolish in trying to attack Equestria, and her death was a well-deserved punishment.  Under my rule, the Changelings have reformed, and we would never pull the kind of stunt my mother pulled. The reason I am writing this letter is to beg for your help.  Our hive is dying, being slowly killed off by a tainted food source:  the Newfoals.  We are unable to tell a Newfoal apart from a truepony, so some of the love brought back to our hive is tainted, and that taint is what is poisoning my precious subjects.  Newfoals seem to have great adoration for Celestia, but it’s unnatural and wrong.  I fear for the well-being of my hive, and I have been forced to resort to the use of a taste-tester for all the love I myself consume so that I don’t get poisoned, myself, for I have no heir as of yet. If there is anything you can do to remove the Newfoals so that we may live without fear, we will give you anything in return.  The lands south of our hive are full of resources that are useless for us, but ponies would likely find very useful.  If you would have us fight for you for any reason, we would be at your command until such a conflict were over. With great humility, Skitter Queen of the Changeling Empire Mother of the Last Hive Twilight blinked and re-read the letter in shock.  The Changelings would have to be quite desperate to beg ponies for help, after all, there was still anti-Changeling sentiment throughout Equestria, and likely many ponies would gladly let them go extinct.  This would require some thought before sending an answer. But before she could ponder the matter, her husband, Prince Flash Sentry entered the throne room from off to the side and trotted over to her, taking a seat in the throne that had been added for him next to her own. “Rough day, sweetheart?” He asked, nuzzling her affectionately. Twilight sighted and nodded before giving her husband the letter from Queen Skitter. After reading it over, Flash whistled in amazement and returned the letter to Twilight.  “So, they want our help, huh?  Well…  They said they’d fight for us, so they could help make the revolution a success.  But how could we possibly get rid of the Newfoals in their area?” “I don’t know,” Twilight groaned.  “If there was a way to reverse that infernal potion Celestia had me make, then we could attempt that, but there’s no known way to reverse it!  I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to bring myself to forgive her for using me like that!” Flash put a hoof on her shoulder to calm her down.  “Honey, it’s okay.  Please don’t shout.  You’ll worry the children.” Twilight blinked, then took deep, calming breaths before speaking again.  “Sorry about that, Flash, honey.  By the way, how are they doing right now?” Flash chuckled warmly at the thought of their children before answering.  “Dusk Gale and Mirage are playing together right now, and Astro Gleam is fast asleep in his crib.  I wish I could play with the little guy more, but you know what happens when he gets excited.” Twilight nodded.  Astro was an infant Alicorn colt, and being a baby, he didn’t understand the danger he was in and let loose large amounts of magic when he got excited. “I know,” she replied.  “He’s incredibly powerful for being so young, and every time he uses his magic in excitement, the Solar Flares always show up a few hours later, saying Celestia ordered them to ‘search for something’.  They always leave without finding him, but I know she sends them to track down the magic signature of a young Alicorn.  Flash, if she ever found out about him…” Flash put a hoof to Twilight’s lips to quiet her before she could become overwhelmed with worry.  “Shh…  Twilight, you and I both know that we’ll do everything in our power to keep Celestia from discovering Astro.  We won’t let her get her hooves on him.  As long as we work together, she’ll never know he exists until he’s old enough to protect himself.  He has the power to do it, so all we need to do is keep him hidden until he’s old enough to control his magic.” “Princess?” one of Twilight’s personal guards said, poking his head through the main doors to the throne room.  “there’s three ponies here to see you:  Lyra Heartstrings, her husband, Noteworthy, and an Earth Pony stallion who refuses to give his name but insists that he must speak with you.  Shall I allow them in?” “Yes,” Twilight commanded.  “Grant them entrance at once.” “You three may enter,” the armored pony told the trio.  “The Princess will grant you an audience with her.” “Thank you, sir,” Zachary said, inclining his head.  “My business may be confidential, but I assure you that it’s very important.” The doors opened, revealing two ponies on thrones:  an orange pegasus with a blue mane and tail, and a light purple Alicorn with a purple mane and tail which also had a single pink stripe and a purplish-blue stripe on each.  The Alicorn just had to be Princess Twilight Sparkle. Zachary opened his mouth to speak, but the Alicorn held up a hoof and said, “Please don’t speak quite yet, sir.  Due to who your companions are, I must ensure that we are able to discuss things privately.” Lighting up her horn, the Alicorn cast a spell over the entire room, forming a barrier covering every wall, the ceiling, and the floor. “There,” she announced with a smile.  “Nopony can overhear us now, and my guards already know to bar all access to the throne room when I meet with either of the two unicorns with you.”  The Alicorn gave Zachary a curious look and inquired, “Now, the guard told me that you refused to give your name.  Can you at least tell us your name?” “Certainly,” Zachary replied before shifting back to his default humanlike form and removing his Singulon helmet again.  “My name is Corporal Zachary Jenkins of the Dataramp Fifth Regiment, member of the Clerisiac army.  I’m here to offer the aid of my people to your cause and assist you in breaking away from Equestria.  I take it that you’re Princess Twilight Sparkle?” The mare nodded, but she didn’t say anything, just stared at Zachary in disbelief, much like the stallion seated next to her. “How is it even possible for you to be here as you are?” the stallion suddenly blurted out. “Yes, the only humans left are on Mars and Earth’s moon, but their ships get destroyed by the barrier!”  Twilight added, regaining some of her composure.  “If they tried to get inside, they’d fall to their doom!  That’s why the humans from Mars only perform laser strikes from space!” Zachary chuckled.  “Oh, I’m not human.  Well, not entirely, anyway,” noticing the confused looks the two seated ponies were giving him, Zachary explained in more detail.  “In the Terran year of 2095 A.D., the United States of America launched a colony ship into space, headed for the planet Centaurus, orbiting the nearest star to Earth besides its own sun:  Alpha Centauri.  In the year 2100, the ship encountered an alien artifact and tried to investigate it, accidentally triggering its defense systems, which warped the ship into a different system:  the Lalande 21185 system. After pausing for a couple seconds, he continued:  “The ship broke up while entering the atmosphere of the planet Funestis, and the survivors formed four nations.  Over the centuries, they encountered survivors from another colony ship from a different world:  the klackons:  human-sized, sapient anthropomorphic ants from the planet Kholdan.  After thousands of years, the two different races managed to become one race:  the pinnacle of human and klackon development:  Proteans.  Proteans are shape-shifters who can assume the form of anything that lives, including mixing and matching to create brand new forms.  I’m a Protean, myself, and the barrier doesn’t work on technology of Protean design.  We fought against Princess Birthright’s forces at New Hoofington, and drove them out, liberating the area.  Unfortunately, that brat of a princess took me prisoner to be used for experiments on a new ponification potion, for we Proteans are immune to the original potion.  I only escaped today.” “Wait, you mean they’re making a new one?” Twilight shrieked, recoiling in horror.  “I thought I’d destroyed all the notes on the potion!” Zachary blinked, then raised a fist, suddenly angry.  “You mean, you’re the one who created the foul brew that turned our human brethren into what they are now?” he demanded.  “You’re the one who robbed us of our dream!  I’ll—” Zachary stopped when he felt a hoof on his hip, then looked down to see Noteworthy shaking his head.  “She was fooled, like all of us were.  She knew humans could survive here, but she thought the barrier would kill them, and thought she was doing the right thing at the time.  She was deceived and betrayed by her own mentor.”  The unicorn stallion then pointed at the throne where Twilight sat and simply said, “Look.” Zachary looked at Twilight to see that she was in tears, her face in her hooves.  The stallion beside her tried to put a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Yes, it’s my fault!” Twilight wailed.  “I made the potion!  I’m the reason your dream was shattered!  I’m the reason why the Newfoals even exist!  And it’s all my fault, because I trusted Celestia with all my heart!  She’d never betrayed me before then, so I didn’t think to question her!  I’m sorry!  I wish I could undo all of it!  And the screams!  The terrified screams of every human who died during the tests haunt me to this day!  And I deserve it!” Suddenly, the stallion next to her rapped her firmly on the shoulder to get her attention. “Twilight, the past can’t be changed,” the stallion said gently.  “All we can do is try to make the future better.” “But Flash—” Twilight tried to reply, but the stallion cut her off. “No, Twilight,” Flash said with a shake of his head.  “Celestia is to blame, not you.  She took advantage of your trust in her and put you through an emotional Tartarus.  Now, let’s hear Corporal Jenkins’ proposal, okay?” Twilight nodded, then looked to Zachary, a small spark of hope in her eyes. “Well, I have good news for you,” he told the seated couple.  “It can be undone.  Doctor Fleck M. Eureka has managed to deponify three Newfoals and restore their free will.  He then artificially evolved them into Proteans.  They assisted in training us for this war.  I promise you that Clericorum will assist you, even though I don’t have the proper authority to speak on the behalf of my entire nation.  That would belong to the Chimeron, and I’ve already sent a message for spies from Clericorum to come here to back me up.  One of them will most likely bring a communications device so you can speak to him face-to-face.” “Thank you, Corporal,” Twilight breathed, wiping away tears from her eyes.  “You’ve set my mind at ease on multiple matters with your information and proposal.  Would you care to stay for dinner?  I’d like to learn more about your people, if you’d allow it.” “I’d be honored,” Zachary replied with a bow.  “And I’ll tell you anything you want to know over dinner.” “Lyra, Noteworthy, how about you stay for dinner, too?” Flash suggested. “Prince Sentry, we couldn’t possibly—” Noteworthy tried to reply before Lyra spoke over him. “We’d love to!” the mint green mare blurted out.  “Melody can take care of the other kids, Noteworthy, she’s done it before.” The blue stallion sighed and nodded before Twilight and Flash got up from their seats and led the way through a side door after Twilight dispelled the soundproofing field. Just to be safe, Zachary shifted back to the pony form he’d been using before following.