Diplomatic Solution

by Starscribe

Chapter 18

Getting back from the dangerous anti-magic crater proved a far easier task than getting themselves lost in it in the first place. Granted, it was much easier to climb out of the place when every part of it wasn't trying to kill them. They could've flown out, assuming Ocellus was willing to change into something big to carry the two members of their group who couldn't get airborne.

But even while she wasn't wielding the scepter herself, she had a feeling that trying to carry it while looking like another creature would anger it. She had used the object meant only for Zecrin, she had to stay this way until she handed it off to someone more deserving. It only made sense.

As they walked, they discovered plenty of signs that they were not the only ones to pass that way, and recently. A large Zecrin airship was still actively on fire, wedged into the space between two large trees. A number of bodies lay scattered around it, in various stages of devoured.

"Those look like uniforms," Sandbar said. "You think the Watchers ordered creatures to go after us?"

"The ambassador knew about our plan," Silverstream whispered. "After going in here, we didn't have magic, so they could attack us if they wanted. Isn't that how their religion works, Ocellus?"

She nodded, bobbing her head the way the natives had done. The gesture was a little different, but close enough that it still made sense. "How it used to work. It doesn't actually say creatures with magic. It says that species with souls need to respect and make no war with each other, and protect each other when they're threatened. They got around helping by saying that only creatures with magic had souls. No magic, not a person, so the Enti could go ahead and kill the whole Stellar Compact if they wanted. Wasn't their problem."

They continued past the burning wreck. Strangely, there were still some large local animals around, lurking in the shadows around the crash. Ocellus didn't need to be a changeling to know exactly what those scavengers would be eating as soon as they didn't feel threatened by bigger creatures.

"Used to work," Yona whispered. "What you did—did you change them? Force the stubborn almost-dragons to see? Someone should."

"In a way," Ocellus said. She could've explained the complex reasoning—how creatures who had lost their magic taking the scepter and then curing the planet of its corruption would be seen. But Yona had no patience for the local religion, now or ever.

"I was afraid just... taking the scepter wouldn't be enough to convince them," she said. "The ones in charge don't want to give their position over to an emperor. They might work very hard to take back control, hide what we did. But healing the planet—that is too big. Everyone will feel it. They can't bury their heads and pretend."

"Good." Yona wasn't the curious type, anyway. Simply sounding plausible was enough for her to nod with satisfaction. "We win. This is what matters."

"They'll join the Stellar Compact," Sandbar said. "Right? Once they realize what they should've known all along?"

She nodded again. "I don't know how fast. Changing a whole society takes a long time. But big wars take a long time too. If they send magical experts to the Compact, that might be enough. Just give everyone a better way to fight Enti. But knowing what I do about them, I'm sure they'll send warships too. They've spent all this time craving a fight. They're about to find one."

Ocellus was half-expecting to find the Fortuna a smoking ruin by the time they finally emerged from the jungle. But as the sun finally rose, and they passed through the trees, she found the ship still parked exactly where they left it, and not melted into a broken puddle.

Nor was it alone. Another ship rested on the grass not far away, one far older than the shiny wreck that crashed into the crater behind them. This one had different symbols on it, the same marks she'd seen from Degara when he arrived with their desperate plan.

A huge white pavilion whipped about in the ocean breeze, positively overflowing with Zecrin. Almost all of them wore the white cloaks of the Separatists. A few wore armor, and carried weapons. These pointed to Ocellus and the others as they emerged from the jungle, so that over a hundred different Zecrin poured out, filling the field. All of them watched as they approached, standing in solemn silence.

A familiar figure appeared from the crowd, one of the few who was brave enough to emerge. Degara, now wearing metal armor instead of a cloak. But the change wasn’t that strange, not for creatures as naturally warlike as the Zecrin. He eyed them, but most attention was focused on Ocellus. "I did not know one of our own had braved the jungle."

"Oh, they didn't," she said. "You spoke with me earlier, remember? I'm the changeling. Your scepter didn't want another kind of creature using it."

She reached into her satchel, removing it carefully with one claw. The desire to use it to cast some world-changing spell was not nearly as strong as before—even artifacts could run low on power and take time to recharge. It would be days, maybe weeks, before this one was ready for something as powerful again.

But no magic was required for what happened next. Every Zecrin in that field, from the snapping youths to the wrinkled elders to Degara right in front of her—dropped low to the ground. They didn't fall to their knees the way ponies or even humans did, but they bowed forward, so low their heads almost touched the ground.

"Emperor." The whisper echoed through them, spoken with religious reverence. "She holds the scepter."

"Technically," Ocellus said. "But Degara, I think the scepter wants one of you to rule, not me. If I kept this power, I'd have to stay Zecrin forever. Your planet is beautiful, and being one of you is very interesting—but not forever. I couldn't be stuck as one thing."

She held out the scepter, extending it towards Degara. "I promised you we would give this away. Before I do... I have one decree. My first and only act as emperor."

The bowing Zecrin all stood, watching her. Several of them had cameras—this entire encounter was being filmed. It would probably end up in a history book one day. Did she deserve to be part of some distant alien race's whole future, just because she found an old stick in the woods?

Unfortunately the alternative was the Zecrin hiding from the war until the Stellar Compact was annihilated and the Enti ruled the galaxy.

"You can't!" someone yelled, pressing through the crowd. It was Ha’luu, emerging from the Fortuna and fighting his way through the watching Zecrin. "You went into the crater, I saw it! You've sacrificed your souls on this insane quest! Without power, you have no authority! Even your lives are forfeit if any creature wishes to take them."

He was already through the crowd, only a dozen meters or so from Ocellus. None of the armored Zecrin moved to stop him—what were they supposed to do against someone in ambassador tassels, who did the will of the Watchers?

He reached toward Ocellus with a claw, attacking with a sudden force of will.

Ocellus was not trained in magical combat, not like some unicorns. Even so, she recognized the attack for what it was—a powerful, direct strike, meant to kill the target on impact. Ambassador Ha’luu meant what he said about any creature killing them who wanted to.

Unfortunately for him, she was still wielding the emperor's scepter. Maybe if he'd taken even a few seconds to consider what her transformation meant, he would've realized they still had their magic.

Ocellus could never have reacted in time, not on her own. But the scepter gave her strength and reflexes she never could've managed.

She turned aside the strike, gathered its power together, and aimed it back at the caster. But not to kill—that would be too easy. Ocellus didn't know much about killing, but she knew a whole lot about transformation.

The ambassador grunted, toppling to the ground with pain. "H-how... can't... saw you go inside..." The change progressed rapidly. His body straightened, tail and scales vanishing and leaving only pink skin.

"You tried to kill me," she said, gripping the scepter in both claws. "I was more merciful with you... because my kind do not kill. We change. Now we will see if you can learn to change too."

Every eye was on them. Gallus drew his sword, holding it protectively between them and the ambassador. But there would be no need to fight him anymore. Those hands didn't have razor claws anymore, and the teeth in his mouth were barely even sharp.

"W-what have you done to me?" he managed, body shaking back and forth, naked in the grass. "My magic, I... it's gone!"

"Lucky for you I still have a decree to make," Ocellus said, turning her back on the ambassador. She raised the scepter again, and this time wasn't interrupted. "Let all who see us now witness we lost our magic, and had it returned again. We've proven for all of you that magic is not the mark of a soul. It is power, but it can be given, or taken, and the individual remains alive.

"Let all Zecrin everywhere witness that the mark of a soul is consciousness itself—that all creatures on all worlds who can reason—who can communicate, who can feel love—where you find Friendship, you will find creatures with souls. Any Zecrin who search for evidence can travel here, to where once a crater stole away the magic of all who entered, and creatures devoured any who crossed its borders."

She gestured back the way she came, pointing. "As the magic has been returned to this land, so will magic one day come to other creatures we find in the stars. We are never to judge them for less, ever."

"It is recorded," Degara said.

"We will obey," many others agreed. Not that the direction would be hard for this separatist group to believe. It was their entire purpose, after all. By giving them the scepter, Ocellus would be overturning the balance of power on an entire world. She might even be inciting a civil war.

Hopefully friendship would win out.

"With that command, I relinquish my title." She turned back, offering Degara the scepter. "Take it, Degara. Your world should be ruled by someone native to its soil, not a stranger."

He did. For an instant, the scepter had two claws on it, and was torn between two wills. Then Ocellus let go.

Degara responded to the scepter better than she had. But most of the magic was drained now, and he wasn't pretending to be Zecrin. "This isn't a command—but I suggest you end this diplomatic visit here," he said. "With what just happened... there will be many who think to do as this ambassador did. I hope you will return—after Zecrin everywhere see and understand. Not before."

Ocellus bowed to him, then changed back into herself with a dramatic flash. A few Zecrin in the watching crowd gasped at what they saw. The camera kept recording. "We look forward to that day, Degara."

They left, leaving the ambassador curled in a limp bundle in the grass.

"Just like that?" Smolder asked, as they ascended the ramp to the Fortuna. "You didn't want to order them to join the Stellar Compact? You know, the... whole point of us being here?"

"No." Ocellus waited just inside, then retracted the ramp. Degara was right about leaving. If they could get off-world quickly enough, they could potentially avoid the word getting out about what they'd done—for a little while longer. "They have to make that choice for themselves. But at least this time, they'll come with the understanding of knowing all creatures are worth protecting, not just the ones with magic."

The inside of the ship was almost exactly as they'd left it. One of the computer panels had been removed, and the workings were exposed—but from the look of things, the magical Zecrin could make little sense of entirely non-magical human engineering. The computer still responded to their commands, warming the engine for launch.

Ocellus was all the way to the captain's chair before she noticed a set of eyes watching from one corner of the room—a human captive, cowering behind a chair. One of Ha’luu's slaves. "Right! He brought his whole staff!"

She waved. "Hey, Smolder, could you round up the ambassador's... staff? Get them situated for launch. They've just lost their jobs, but you can go ahead and tell them we have something better for them." She met the terrified woman's eyes, speaking slowly. "The Stellar Compact doesn't have slaves. If you have any family, I'm sure they'll be happy to see you again."

"On it." Smolder rose from her chair, walking calmly over. "Hey, friend. We're about to launch, let's find you a couch. And anyone else aboard... don't want anyone getting hurt..."

They left.

While they worked, Gallus and Silverstream took their stations. Engines cycled, then began to hum.

"I think we'll need FTL as soon as we leave the gravity well," Ocellus announced. "Gallus, plot a jump out of Zecrin space. If there's anything waiting for us up there, let's be ready to be somewhere else."

"Where?" He flipped through the controls, scrolling through a map of nearby space.

"Anywhere. We'll work out the details of getting back to Equestria once we're away from here."

"We actually did it," Sandbar muttered, from the station just beside her. "All these years they've been refusing ambassadors, and we did it. We won the war."

She grinned back. "Don't get too far ahead. Even if the Zecrin accept their new emperor, even if they join the fighting, we still have to win. We don't have peace in the galaxy yet."

"But we will," Silverstream said. "One day. When the Zecrin accept that other creatures matter, they'll join, and they'll help us win."

"I hope so." Ocellus settled into her chair, snapping several straps into place. "Helm, go for orbital. I think we've overstayed our welcome."

The Fortuna rocketed upward, leaving the healing scar of the emperor's crater behind.

For better or worse, Ocellus and her friends had done as much for the Zecrin as they could. It was up to them to accept the lesson of friendship.

Comments

[Chicago Ted]

Am I the only one here who thinks this is ripe for a sequel?

[Numinos]

11476347
No, you're not : )

Pretty good story, but it scratched the setting's possibilities just a tiniest bit : ) I hope to see more from it.

Nevertheless, this one is ended on a good note : )

[Gavier]

A short ride, but a good one nonetheless. Shame we did't get to see the Enti shit their space-pants, but oh well. That's what imagination is there for

... or sequels

[parlaptie]

That was a pretty short fic, but that's really fine. Only way I could see this going on would be if the Separatists betrayed the Young Six, but that would've just been trite, honestly.

Ocellus's decree is unexpectedly smart. She didn't do anything to upend the entire Zecrin religion, just made one amendment that brought it closer to something reasonable. Such a thing didn't really seem possible from the first few conversations with the Zecrin, but it seems so obvious in hindsight.

[minibox]

So it ends. Not everything is settled and the real battles are far ahead but now there is hope and a path to victory.

[Cozy Mark IV]

I remember when America did something like that. Rich people felt threatened so it ended in a years long civil war. Then after they lost they pardoned themselves and bent the rules with inventions like loitering, voter suppression and linch mobs such that we still haven't completely fixed their racist mess 158 years later. Ask Floid if you don't believe me.

Let's hope a culture of slave holding velociraptors is more moral than the USA.

[ponepony]

"I was afraid just... taking the scepter wouldn't be enough to convince them," she said. "The ones in charge don't want to give their position over to an emperor. They might work very hard to take back control, hide what we did. But healing the planet—that is too big. Everyone will feel it. They can't bury their heads and pretend."

I'm pretty convinced they could galaxy brain their way to some insane conspiracy crap to justify the planet healing as a hoax or something.

Also wasn't there a zero point cult, or is that for later? I hope this continues.

[Level Dasher]

Hm. Short, and not a bad ending, but this is just itching for a sequel. Looking forward to it.

[Inucroft1]

That... was shorter than expected.
Decent ending and good setting ripe for a sequel when you're ready

[FanOfMostEverything]

An engaging journey, but it's a brief snapshot of a much larger setting. It feels like this introduced a lot more than it actually used. Still, glad I got to the parts I missed. I do hope you explore this universe more in the future.

[Mocha Star]

Another great story. Short but effective.
I know it won't happen, but you could write a sequel and get a lot of readers on it.