Chapter 13
Ocellus took no joy in deceiving others.
There were many—mostly ponies who had been harmed in the ill-fated Canterlot invasion—who still thought that changelings were creatures born of deceit, with no desire towards honesty. She had grown all her life hearing the whispers of her own inherent, irresistible corruption.
Even in the era of spaceflight, she knew there were still some creatures back home who would always see her that way. It would take generations for those old views of changelings as love-devouring parasites to finally die.
As the Fortuna touched down for the second time on the Zecrin homeworld, Ocellus felt no satisfaction in their successful deception. Even with a close, personal view of their escort, feeling his transition from frustration to disbelief, then finally to betrayal, she felt only calm
When the universe needed her to lie a little to save a whole civilization, she could still manage it. Barely.
"I'll grab our stuff," Gallus said, rising from one of the deceleration chairs, and vanishing out the open door into the hallway beyond.
"Looks like we found somewhere safe!" came Silverstream's voice, over the ship-wide radio. "Outside is a little scorched, maybe from earlier ships. Matches the description we were given of the Halidom."
"You were... given," Ha’luu repeated. He rose from his own chair, shaking himself out with visible discomfort. The seats weren't carefully molded to a single body as on a human vessel—pony ships might have a wide variety of different species aboard.
Even so, none of them had quite anticipated something with his body plan. Dragons were close, but also so tough that the couch was basically unnecessary.
Ha’luu looked nothing like so tough. He wobbled when he stood, stretching that long, thick tail. "This was no accident. You intended to come... where, exactly?"
He made his way to one of the external windows, staring out at the jungle.
Ocellus followed, though not so closely as she might have to a pony or a human. She couldn't feel Ha’luu's emotions with anything close to the same level of detail as a more familiar species. Even what she could sense didn't necessarily combine into a coherent picture.
Would the dinosaur-alien react with aggression? Would he be humble? Or would he try to murder every member of the expedition?
Ocellus couldn't tell the alien planet apart at a glance, it looked basically like jungle to her, with purple bioluminescence visible on the edges of leaves and stems.
"This is the Accursed Crater, grave of the Final Emperor," he looked back, eyes wide. "Watchers’ name and stars sake, why would you come here?"
No reason trying to hide it anymore. "I'm sorry you had to ride along for this, Ha’luu," Ocellus said. "I'm afraid your next few days might be quite uneventful. You'll need to wait aboard our ship while we travel down into the crater and retrieve the scepter."
In that instant, Ocellus learned something else about the reptilian Zecrin; they could feel surprise.
Ha’luu's mouth hung open, exposing both rows of razor-sharp teeth. Yet he didn't lunge for her, he just stared, utterly baffled. "You crossed the galaxy..." he finally said. "You risked the wrath of our fleets, and appeared before the Watchers... all to let your souls burn away in the fire of chaotic magic?"
"Ocellus, we need you!" Gallus called, from just down the hall. "No one else can touch this thing without setting it off. You should carry it."
She kept her eyes on Ha’luu, and began backing away from him. The sooner they got moving, the less likely she would be to abandon this risky plan and leave saving the galaxy to someone else.
"We don't intend to rule over you," she said. "Only to prove a point. The Stellar Compact needs you—but before it can have you, Zecrin need to see that creatures without magic are no less significant than those who have it. Our planet had to learn this lesson too. When all our magic got briefly taken away, we saw that friendship continued. Its power was stronger than anything stolen from us. That's the power we'll use to find the scepter, and the power that will unite the Stellar Compact to fight off the Enti."
Ha’luu shook his head. "You've lost your minds, visitors. Whoever told you that there was any success possible in the crater, they filled your head with lies."
She kept backing away, into the hall. She turned the corner another moment later, and hurried through to the armory.
When they set off on this diplomatic mission, Ocellus doubted they would even need to enter this room. When visiting the planet of a previous hostile alien race, there was little reason to expect a few guns and some armor would make a difference.
Even so, Equestria had given them the best. Princess Twilight Sparkle was not a pony to leave things to chance.
Equestria was well on its way to developing powered-armor designs, like those used by the marines of other Stellar Compact races. The clothing arrayed here was simpler than that, really just knife-proof fabric with some light ballistic plates over vital areas, along with helmets full of sensors.
There were weapons too, both bladed and projectile, with which her friends had almost no experience. They could dress up like marines, but that would not make them into fighters.
On the other hoof, Gallus had already rotated the hidden storage compartment out of the wall, displaying its contents for them all to see. All but one of the strange objects was already removed from its foam casing.
Each race of Equus had contributed something to this mission, a powerful artifact that might serve as proof of power, useful tool in negotiations, or maybe even bargaining currency.
As she stepped inside, she heard the glide of metal on metal as Gallus slid the huge sword into its scabbard, set along his back. A strange curved grip emerged, one equally suited to claw or beak. That was the enchanted weapon ponies affectionately nicknamed "Excalibird", not a name the griffons seemed to appreciate.
Smolder had her own object, one classified by ponies as "dark magic." Just looking at the stone directly had a strange effect on the mind, far stronger if one happened to be a dragon. Hence it was wrapped in a thin layer of dark cloth, one that concealed all but its basic shape.
Sandbar's own object wasn't just one item, but six. The ponies wouldn't say so, but Ocellus suspected it was the equal of the others combined—the Elements. No group of total strangers could wield them, but of course they weren't. There were many reasons this particular group had been chosen.
Sandbar wore them in a tight satchel, not visibly different from a pair of saddlebags. But Ocellus could feel the power radiating from within even while it was closed. There was no telling just what the object was capable of, if they had to release the power contained within.
Maybe nothing. Maybe rewriting an entire planet.
Yona's tribe were not a particularly magical folk, and had not contributed anything of such power to this expedition. Instead, they had extracted an ancient favor from the zebras. She wore a strange piece of curved metal wrapped around one of her forelegs, banded of two separate materials that gave it stripes. A large diamond was set into the center, itself striated with imperfections.
Ocellus could not feel anything from the artifact, not at this distance. It was the only one of these objects that only affected its wearer.
Ocellus was not surprised to hear Ha’luu follow her in.
"Listen, all of you. This course is dangerous beyond anything you've considered. I do not know what strange things you have experienced on worlds outside this one, but they have not prepared you for what lies beyond.
"The Accursed Crater contains an artifact of unrivaled power and significance to all Zecrin, you clearly know that. Have you not stopped to think why such an object would not be recovered, given that?
"Many, many attempts have been made. All possible resources have been expended, short of making some infernal pact with soulless beings to retrieve it. Many lives have been spent in this futile endeavor. There isn't a young Zecrin on all Kavaal who does not dream of discovering the secret resting-place of that scepter, and uniting Zecrin. Of ending the period of custodians and stewards.
"But that is simply not possible. There is nothing waiting for you in that crater other than a painful death. Even worse, your souls will not leave to join the chorus that waits within the core of all creation. You will be destroyed utterly, erased as though you had been born an automaton. It would be better that you were born one of the cursed beings that wander this planet, for at least they live in ignorance of what they lack. You would not even have that."
"Don't you get it?" Gallus asked, stomping over to the unarmored ambassador. Maybe all that thick plating made him feel braver—more likely, it was the sword on his back. "We don't agree with your religion. Equus has all kinds of creatures living on it. Some have almost no magic, others have a ton. We don't measure how alive someone is by how many spells they can cast!"
"And we're going to prove it," Silverstream said. She hurried past them through the doorway, over to her armor. There were no artifacts for her to grab—unlike the others, her people relied far too heavily on their object to let it leave the planet.
Besides, if they failed here, the Pearl of Transformation might be the galaxy's only hope to stop the Enti. But that line of research hadn't been one shared with her, so she wouldn’t speculate on it.
Instead, Ocellus made her way to the case, then levitated the object contained within.
It was a sphere of many layers, at least a dozen levels of transparent mesh that sparked and hissed with electrical energy. That was something humans had built for them, all to allow her to bring this object along.
Trapped inside was a chunk of anomalous black stone, suspended over the mesh without touching any of its sides. All she had to do was rotate these layers, and she would release its effects, nullifying any magic that did not come from a changeling.
Humans had been able to handle it without any effect, and produce this little cage. With it, she could carry it around other magical races, without causing the otherwise debilitating symptoms of an antimagic field.
Ocellus dressed in her own armor, then slung the object carefully into her saddlebags. It would either be the most useful thing they had brought, or the most worthless. They would soon find out.
"I can't let you leave," Ambassador Ha’luu finally said, stepping in front of the doorway. "I would be held responsible for your deaths. You've come to our planet as our guests. You deserve protection. Whatever, whoever persuaded you into this self-destructive course... can't be allowed to destroy our peace before it even begins."
"But you can't stop us," Ocellus said matter-of-factly. "Your doctrine forbids one magical race to harm another, doesn't it? You would have to attack us—even if you won, you would be doing an even greater harm to the peace."
The lizard rocked violently back on his sharp claws, shuffling in his elaborate robes. She felt his anger boiling over—was he about to attack? His mind spun with strange plans, but in the end, he only slumped to one knee, stepping aside.
"Once you step into that crater, you will not return as people any longer. If you survive long enough to flee, you will return as chattel, soulless beings. We could not send you back to your home in such a sorry state."
"Unless we have the scepter," Gallus said flatly. "Then we'll prove you wrong. And Zecrin all over your empire will have to admit that creatures without any magic can still have souls. Or... be significant, or however you say it."
He slumped into a nearby chair. "Go then. If you're determined to die, you are correct. I cannot stop you."
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Got a feeling what ever it is that kills the Zercin uses their beliefs that no magic equals no soul to destory them.
It's gonna be interesting seeing what further actions are going to be coming from Ha'luu and other Zecrin of authority after this. For now, he seemed genuinely concerned for the well-being of his guests. I wonder if that's going to change.
The race to save the galaxy begins. Ha'luu may not be a obstacle now but who knows if he has the capability to communicate back home.
11444272
I'm guessing part of that depends on how they treated magic-drained Zecrin explorers in the past. There may be tolerance for the attempt, though I can't imagine them seeing this as anything other than an coup so their definition of "magical beings" might change. That being said, they may not want to send troops for fear of "losing their souls" and the crater maybe considered too sacred to bombard from orbit.
One huge flaw in their plan: They ARE magical creatures. If they do this, it'll just be rationalized that their innate magic is what allowed them to do it. What truly needs to happen is a HUMAN has to get the scepter, or some other non magical creature, all without their help. Otherwise what will they prove except that magical creatures are even more exceptional than was already claimed?
Not to mention they are bringing magical artifacts as backups. That info getting out would only further prove the magical aliens 'right', that the ponies must have used them in some way to help keep their souls.
11444519
Exactly. Was just going to comment on that. Even the dude who suggested the whole scheme said, and I quote:
Their success is just going to "prove" the point that magical creatures are superior/"genuine"/"ensouled" or whatever you call it.
Best case, they can actually become rulers (if that's really how it would work, which I somehow doubt) and make a divine mandate about nonmagical creatures not being organic automatons. Would it work, considering what we saw up to this point? Unlikely.
11444655
I've read Ha’luu's warning a couple of times. Any creature with magic is supposed to die in the crater before they get to the scepter. The assumption is also any magical creature that gets out of the crater alive, is supposed to have no more magic, because their soul has been burned out in the crater.
The young six both surviving the crater, and getting out of the crater with their magic intact, will prove that a beings soul is not the reason a creature has magic. Therefore non-magical beings can have souls as well.
11444519 11444655
There is a possibility, though— Ocellus could use that sphere to negate everyone's magic other than her own to show that it's possible for them to be non-magical beings. The others would probably show symptoms of losing their magic (as would Ha’luu, most likely), while Ocellus could just fake it— even though she doesn't like lying she can just say it negates all magic, not all magic except changelings'. Then she can fake losing her own (shapeshift if necessary) to make it look like everyone's magic was negated. Then they can proceed from there.
11444914
by following that same logic you mentioned, the Y6 surviving the crater, and getting out of there with their magic intact would mean, in best case, that magical creatures are able to survive the crater's conditions while non-magical creatures cannot (therefore, they are lesser beings in case it wasn't glaringly obvious before). Worst case, they are just Crater's abominations which should be purified by <insert your preferred purification method here>.
11445069
And N chapters later it bites them in the ass because Starscribe's fic. Yeah, I can definitely see that happening.
11445107
Please listen, that's not how it is.
All historical evidence shows magical creatures are supposed to die in the crater. Our custodian even brings up examples of previous explorers not coming back. And forget about making an infernal contract with a non-magical creature to walk into that crater, and grab the scepter.
This paragraph proves that if the young six go into the crater, lose their magic which is considered their soul, and then regains their magic after they leave the crater. That magic is not necessarily irrevocably connected to a person's soul.
Wait I thought it was his suggestion.
Tirek sounds fun to have around these folks.
11445554
Other than the authority conferred by actually retrieving the scepter, I wouldn't think recognizing that automatons actually have souls should change much. There must be something that determines why some species have magic and others don't. And that something would probably be what hardline Zecrin society would latch on to.
I know it had to be the young six because they're the protagonists, but I can't stop thinking the whole situation was begging to have a born "soulless" complete the task.
11446509
Of course hardliners will always be hardliners. Luckily hardliners, at least with the one example being humans that we know of, are normally a small minority of the population.
There are Zercin who are born without magic, and are in as many chains as the other alien species that have stumbled onto Zercin Homeworld. (Chapter 12, second paragraph)