The Conversion Bureau EarthGate Saga: Prisoner of War

by Dolphy Blue Drake

Chapter 1: What is Harmony?

Corporal Zachary Jenkins of the Dataramp 5th Regiment glared up at his captor as she took him through a swirling multicolored vortex in the middle of a moderately-sized town where New York City once stood. The ponies called this pathetic excuse for a replacement “New Manehattan”.

“I swear to Ahura Mazda that when the others come for me, I’ll personally tear you to pieces!” Zachary yelled as they entered the portal, warping instantly to another world, off to the side of a road.

“Ahura Mazda?” the red armored mare said with a tilt of her head. “A Zoroastrian, huh? Well, just to let you in on something, I’m doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, you know. Your religion teaches that maxim, correct?”

“You lie!” Zachary seethed. “Those are words of Druj! There is only one path, and that is Truth! You aren’t following the path! For Truth wouldn’t justify your actions! You aren’t doing the right thing! If you were, you’d turn my human brethren back! What you are doing doesn’t match up with ‘Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta’ at all!”

“Oh, but my thoughts are good,” the mare protested with an insolent huff. “As are my words and my deeds! You are the one who doesn’t understand! Humans are chaotic, and the universe must be brought into complete harmony! By extension, Proteans must be chaotic as well, for only ponies are truly harmonious!”

“You know nothing of harmony!” Zachary snapped. “If you believe that only your kind can be harmonious, you’re wrong! The Ellecor sometimes live under a system of government called ‘The Great Joining’! All of them become of one mind, thinking the same thoughts, just one mind in many bodies! They willingly converted to that form of government, and when the one yearns to be many again, the Progenitor, Ha Thorth CII, willingly gives up her position as the center of the unimind, gives them their individuality back and changes to a different government! That is an example of harmony you’ve never known! I’ve never known it either, but I admire them for having the courage to trust their leader to that much of an extent as to put their daily lives in her hands!

His captor stopped in mid flight out of shock, and Zachary continued. “Then there’s the government system of my own nation: Proteocracy! The Chimeron is the most flexible adult citizen willing to volunteer for the position, and the senate are very rigid individuals conscripted to serve to balance him out! And one day a month, the entire nation becomes the government, able to make huge changes, expel anyone from office, pass new laws without the usual process, overturn laws with a simple majority vote of the populace regardless of how old the law is, make sweeping changes across the board! Every voice is heard, and no one person has more influence than another! Everyone’s one vote is of equal value to every other vote! On the day of the national forum, even a politician’s voice is no greater than that of a college student working at a burger joint! Even the Chimeron himself has no more influence than anyone else for that day once a month, and anyone in the nation can propose any change they’d like to see! An incredibly plastic and responsive government like that is much more harmonious for the incredible freedom and influence we enjoy! Every voice is heard, and the billions of voices create such wonderful music! Can you claim that you possess that much harmony?”

“That’s a bunch of horse apples,” the armored mare spat as she resumed carrying him up a mountain. “Such a system would never work. Harmony can only be achieved by the whole universe becoming one race, and that race is ponies!”

“Well, good luck with that one,” Zachary chuckled, finally getting the mare to start fuming at his continual resistance to everything she said. “According to the nations of klackon descent, Kholdan is very far away from both Earth and Funestis! I doubt you’ll ever find it! And the universe is vast. Countless galaxies with millions, if not billions of star systems each! You’ll never know if a system has sapient life until you investigate it, and I doubt you’ll ever find every sapient race in the entire universe.”

“SHUT UP!” the mare screeched, diving to the ground to slam Zachary into it. “YOU KNOW NOTHING, YOU STUPID SHAPESHIFTING APE! WE PONIES ARE SUPERIOR TO ALL! I’LL MAKE YOU SUFFER, AND YOU’LL BEG ME FOR MERCY! BUT I, PRINCESS BIRTHRIGHT EQUESTRIS, WILL NOT GRANT YOU RELIEF! NOT UNTIL YOU BECOME ONE OF US!”

“Well, I could always just shapeshift into one of you,” Zachary chuckled in spite of his now-hurting shoulder. “Will that do?”

“NO!” Birthright screamed as she suddenly began flying straight for the top of the mountain, leaving her troops to take the path on their own. “YOU’LL LOOK LIKE ONE OF US, BUT YOU’LL STILL BE THE SAME CHAOTIC APE INSIDE, AND YOU COULD TURN INTO ANYTHING ELSE AT ANY TIME!”

“Geez, lady! Chill out!” Zachary chuckled. “This much anger can’t be good for your health!”

“AND STOP LAUGHING AT ME!” Birthright screeched as they reached a castle in a city on the top of the mountain.

“You’d better behave, or you won’t get your snack!” Zachary teased. Captive or no, he was having fun!

“DON’T YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” Birthright screamed, tears of pure rage flowing down her cheeks as they entered the castle and she continued flying, guards giving the passing pair one glance and shaking their heads. “I’M A PRINCESS! I’M AN ALICORN! COMPARED TO ME, YOU’RE NOTHING!”

They burst through a pair of doors into a throne room where a white Alicorn who was much larger than Birthright was seated. Her eyes were darkened, and there was a slight amount of purple mist leaking from them, but it was almost unnoticeable.

“Great Aunty Celestiaaa!” Birthright bawled as she threw Zachary onto the floor in front of her, still pinned by her magic. “He keeps teasing me! Make him stop!”

“Hey!” Zachary snapped, “It’s not my fault my kidnapper happens to be an insufferable nag!”

He cut off when “Celestia” took him from Birthright’s grip and levitated him right in front of her face.

With her own magic, she levitated his helmet off, then touched his forehead with her horn, which suddenly took on a black aura for a second before she set him down, still trapped by her magic hold.

“So, this is a Protean,” Celestia said simply.

“Yes, Great Aunty,” Birthright sniffled. “He deserves to be punished for mocking me! He’s also the reason we lost New Hoofington!”

“And he shall be punished, my dear great niece, don’t worry about that,” Celestia said with a creepily calm and almost warm voice. “But first, when scanning him, I found that his is indeed not fully human. He looks completely human on the surface, but his cells are in a state of ‘stable flux’, I guess you could put it. He could shapeshift better than a Changeling ever could. And there’s the feel of an insect-like creature in him, as well. He feels similar to a Changeling in that regard, but he’s much more advanced. Able to become practically anything that lives.”

“Well? Are we going to start tests on an upgraded potion?” Birthright asked eagerly.

“Yes,” Celestia replied with a warm smile that chilled Zachary to the bone. “But first, there’s something in his brain that needs taking care of. Someone’s recording everything he sees, hears, feels, tastes and smells. And we can’t have them discover where we’re taking him.”

Zachary’s heart skipped a beat. She knew about the MILQUETOAST implant!

“So that’s why you were so sure you’d be rescued!” Birthright giggled wickedly. “Well, hello there, whoever you are! You’re not getting any more information on this soldier’s experiences unless we want you to!” Turning to Celestia, she suddenly became extremely excited, bouncing up and down while begging, “Great Aunty? Can I do the honors? Can I? Huh? Can I? Pleeeeeease?”

Celestia smiled and replied, “Of course, my dear great niece. The honor’s all yours.”

Zachary struggled as the smaller Alicorn’s horn lit up and he felt something probing the inside of his head. He moved his head from side to side rapidly, keeping the bratty princess from locating his implant.

“Make him stop!” Birthright whined. “I can’t deactivate it if I can’t find it!”

Celestia narrowed her eyes at him and the golden glow from her horn increased. Suddenly, Zachary’s head became locked in place, leaving him completely immobile.

“Thanks, Great Aunty!” Birthright chirped right before Zachary felt the probing sensation lock in on the location he knew his implant had been placed in during surgery.

Celestia smiled, and Birthright’s expression suddenly turned dark and cruel.

“Actually, I have a better idea!” the brat cackled. “I’ll still deactivate it, but how about I give them one last piece of information first? One to show them we mean business? An early start to his punishment?”

“Brilliant idea, Birthright,” Celestia replied with a nod, still using that creepily warm tone that didn’t match the situation. “Do it.”

Zachary felt the probing sensation suddenly envelop his entire implant and start tugging on it mercilessly.

His eyes widened in both fear and incredible pain as the implant was torn from his brain, taking a few nerves with it just to keep the information flowing until it was deactivated.

The implant was pulled through tissue, then burst through his skull, causing him to lose control over his shapeshifting abilities as his body changed into random shapes and colors as he let out a blood-curdling scream of “AHURA MAZDA! SAVE MEEEEE!”

Struggling to remain conscious after such a heavy injury, Zachary’s form returned to human-like, and he watched feebly as Birthright levitated the biorobotic implant in front of his face, nerves still attached to it, all of it dripping with his blood.

“See this?” the brat sneered at Zachary, but actually directing it at whoever was collecting the data on his senses on the other end, “I’m shutting it off now! But don’t worry. We’ll put it back in and boot it back up for you. Only when we’re ready to, that is! Buh-bye!”

And with that, she zapped the implant with a jolt of electricity, and the lights on it winked out.

Zachary could no longer stay conscious, and as the magical grip released him, his already kneeling body crumpled to the ground into a pool of his own blood, skull fragments and broken tissue as everything went dark.

Author's Note:

And now begins Book 2A! The writing with this one is a bit slower, so I'm changing my schedule to once a week, every Tuesday. This. schedule may change in the future to become more frequent once I get on a roll again like I had with the first installment. Don't forget to tell me what you liked in the comments, and if there's anything you feel I could've done better, let me know about those, too, so that I may improve. Finally, whether you want to know some of the info on this AU, wish to join the project, or you simply want to be alerted whenever any new fic is added to the saga, follow this link to find the group for the EarthGate Saga. See you next week with chapter 2!

Comments

[The REAL Mister Pkmn]

On the day of the national forum, even a politician’s voice is no greater than that of a college student working at a burger joint!

Great quote!

The implant was pulled through tissue, then burst through his skull, causing him to lose control over his shapeshifting abilities as his body changed into random shapes and colors as he let out a blood-curdling scream of “AHURA MAZDA! SAVE MEEEEE!”

Ouch. Poor guy.

[big A]

Kill those bitches

[Kingmoonwar19]

6759826 kill them all ( the bad ponys )

[Kingmoonwar19]

Ps more