Spike's Gaiden III: Snapback

=== The Conversion Bureau: A New Age, A New Life ====== Gaiden 1.3: Snapback ===

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[ Ryik-al-Tural, Central Dragon Territories -- May 15, ??? + 1 ]

"So we've been out here for what, six weeks give or take?" Spike said as he looked out the window at now the fourth city-state he visited on this long trek through the badlands.

"Well considering the fact that no official from Equestria has tried to call you back, things must be stable enough to not need you back yet. Besides, we have to compile quite a bit of information so that you can start practicing your Draconic Invocation once you return to your 'sister'," Rosethorn answered, figuring that Spike had been compiling quite the repository of study material whenever he got back to wherever he lived in Equestria.

Spike just nodded as he rolled out of his bed. "Yeah, I figured as much. You've probably spent quite a long time as a teacher, I can tell by the way you carry yourself."

Yeah, you don't know the half of it, young whelp... Rosethorn thought to herself.

Spike went over to grab his goggles and cloak as he and Rosethorn walked down the hall of the inn to the exits. "So, what's on the agenda for today? We've spent the last 3 weeks on body-enhancing chants."

"As I said, since I have no idea how much time I'll have with you until we get to Karrak-za-Jalve, I need to show you the basics as best I can. So first we focus on simple attacks and protecting yourself and those around you," Rosethorn explained as Spike took his cart out of the rear area of the Inn. He was thankful that either no one thought his cart was valuable, or that they couldn't do anything about it.

"So is this field practice today or what?" Spike said as he and Rosethorn walked away from the inn.

Rosethorn thought for a few moments, before coming to her decision. "Field Practice, you need to practice your barriers some more, and I'll need the room."

Ugh, she is an absolute demon when she fights. And I know she's holding back big time when she's training me... Spike thought to himself, remembering the last field session ending in his entire back scorched like a roast left over the fire too long.

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[ Qural-ga-Alzo, Central Dragon Territories -- June 10, ??? + 1 ]

        Rosethorn settled in to her and Spike's new room at one of the nicest of Qural's hotels. "Well, this should be the last major stop until we get to Karrak, Spike."

Spike was in some inward contemplation, as his breadth of knowledge in Draconic invocation, and his ability to draw Equestrian mana, increased, so did his sensitivity in the flow of the Terran Mana into the world. What distrubed him some was how the flow of Water mana seemed to be odd compared to the other three.

I wonder how things are going on Earth.  I might not be the most sensitive to mana, but the blue Water mana just feels... funny.. somehow...

"By the way Spike, I've noticed something. You seem to be developing Invocations that don't require the use of Draconic words..." Rosethorn thought out loud, as she wondered which necklace to put on that evening, having spent a fair bit on souvenirs through her travels.

Spike scrambled for an explanation. "Um, am I doing something wrong then? I mean it's still a second language for me, so it's kinda hard to remember everything."

Rosethorn just chuckled as she posed in the large mirror. "Oh no, nothing is wrong. It's something that those hatched and raised outside of a typical Dragon family do. Although none have been this proficient this early with it."

"Um, you don't say..." Spike replied nervously, as he knew the look that Rosethorn was giving him meant she had something else she was thinking of.

Rosethorn floated over to Spike, draping her arms over his shoulder. "Well... there is something else about you that interests me. Mostly I noticed that sometimes when you chant, the runes that show up on those pretty amethyst scales of yours are a lot more angular than normal Draconic runes."

Spike was stammering and stuttering, not only from Rosethorn's invasion of personal space (again), but also the fact the razor-sharp dragoness was putting two and two together fairly fast. "Ahh, um... well... I..."

"In fact, dear Spike... I've been doing my own research the entire time... and I've finally figured out just exactly what those runes are. So we're gonna take another field practice session outside the city walls, okay~?" Rosethorn politely suggested with a very wide and fanged grin on her face.

Figures she'd start putting two and two together... just who the heck is she? Spike thought, as he grabbed his cloak and goggles.

        A short while later, the two of them were quite a ways away from the city limits, and hopefully away from any prying eyes.

Rosethorn walked around the area for awhile, just taking in the sights. "Well I wanted to come out all this way to show you what I was speaking of back in the hotel."

Spike just sat on top of the cart, wondering where Rosethorn was going with all of this.

Rosethorn suddenly came to a stop and stretched out both of her arms, her body suddenly lighting up with a stunning amount of green Earth mana in a just a few seconds.

WHAT?! When did she figure it out?! Spike thought to himself, as he jumped off his cart in utter shock.

She then let loose a mighty roar as she jammed a fist into the ground, burying it and her half of her forearm. Which was followed by a massive conical spire of granite shooting out of the ground; nearly 20 ft tall and sharp to a fine point.

Rosethorn took a few moments to admire her quick work. "Hrm, I see... it was as I thought at first. I am guessing the far away land that you experienced your Flash Puberty in, was not anywhere reachable by normal means, is it?"

Spike didn't know what left him more speechless, the raw power it took to form a spire that solid so quickly, or the fact she had put everything together in the span of a little over two months with him, with him not using all that much Terran Magic.

Rosethorn then gave Spike a glare of someone who lived an interminable length of time, a teachers stare to the nth degree. "There are a lot of things that I want to ask of your Princess, Spike. But I will save my questions for when we arrive at Karrak-za-Jalve. I am fairly sure the Council of Elders will want to hear all about this."

Spike quietly agreed, knowing he was in no position to refuse now.

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[ Karrak-za-Jalve, Central Dragon Territories -- July 05, ??? + 1 ]

"Well, I guess it's finally the day," Spike sighed as he walked up to the giant hall; in very fancy and nearly unreadable to him script the sign said "Meeting Hall of the Council of Elders".

Rosethorn sighed as she and Spike walked up very, very, very long stairway to the entrance. "Yeah, when you live for millennia upon millennia you tend to develop some strange quirks."

I guess that something I have to look forward to... Spike thought to himself with disdain, still not appreciating all the potential years ahead of him.

After a good ten minutes of stairway climbing, another hour of processing, and ANOTHER hour of waiting, Spike found himself one 'person' away from his audience with the Council of Elders.

Oh Celestia, what am I supposed to tell them... Spike thought to himself as he fretted about, the fact that Rosethorn had suddenly disappeared only making it worse on him.

"NEXT! A... 'Spike'?! Hrm, odd name; but nevertheless, the Council will see you now!" one of the guard-dragons stated in a loud and imposing tone.

"Well I guess it's now or never."

"So you are the whelp that has come before us with a most incredible of claims?" a fairly large, full sized, and positively ancient looking Dragon stated, with another seven below him in their humanoid forms.

"Uh... yeah. My name is Spike... and... and... and..."

"Out with it lad, we don't have all day for people who stammer and stutter." the ancient Dragon barked, trying to get Spike to the point of his appearance.

"Ugh, Wraithwind, you always have a way of making anyone under a thousand feel utterly uncomfortable..." a voice familiar to Spike called out.

The familar rose-pink scaled Dragoness took her seat underneath Wraithwind, the leader of the Dragon Council of Elders.

"ROSETHORN?! You're one of the Councilmembers?" Spike shouted in total shock.

"Indeed I am young whelp. I was simply on vacation when I came across you. I did not lie when I said I had business to attend to here in Karrak. The Council started its semi-annual session today and they cannot conduct official business without all nine members present. Then again we haven't actually done anything beyond these walls in quite few centuries,"

"Oh there you go again, sister. If you and your faction would just give up making nice with the other species we could get on with our own business," a silver and blood-red Dragoness, about the same build as Rosethorn, snarled at her.

"Bloodthorn, our race cannot truly prosper until we begin more formal dialogues with them. That is why I personally took the Avatar of the Sun under my wings after her Ascension," Rosethorn replied to her sister, taking much the same snide tone.

"WHAT?! You taught Princess Celestia?! I... wha..." Spike stammered out, the whole everything not quite clicking in his head.

Wraithwind called to an aide to speak to the dragons manning the ledgers. "Tell them to suspend every appointment until further notice. I have the distinct feeling that we all might be a while with this one."

"Alright then, let's get this straight. You were hatched roughly 12 years ago by the Equestrian Magical Prodigy Twilight Sparkle, who was then taken under the wing of the Princess of Equestria, Celestia?" a black and navy blue spined Dragon asked, rubbing his temples the entire time.

"Yes... um... Silentclaw. Twilight Sparkle is effectively my surrogate sister... I guess that'd make Celestia my surrogate mother to a small extent."

"Whelp, you realize this means you are only the third Dragon to be hatched by these means? The last was nearly 1500 years ago," Silentclaw added, only now starting to come to grips with the news.

"And on top of this, that... creature... has gone to an entirely separate dimension. No doubt to raise an army against us..." Bloodthorn snarled, still in a sour mood that her sister was making nice with more outsiders.

"Madame Bloodthorn, could you please not refer to the Princesses of Equestria as 'creatures'. Pegacorns and Alicorns have clearly been established to be naturally occurring, even if exceedingly rare," a sapphire-scaled and teal green spined Dragon said, tone calming and soothing to most anything that heard him speak.

Calming to anything except Bloodthorn. "That's just like you Frostwing. None of you get it, the less time we spend making nice with the others, the better it will be for all of us. The more time that goes, by the more the rest of the population ignores us. It won't be long until the Council becomes completely vestigial,"

Wraithwind slammed an over-sized (even for a Dragon) gavel down in order to regain everyone's attention. "I WILL NOT HAVE THIS MEETING BECOME ANOTHER AVENUE FOR YOUR SQUABBLING!! Now, Spike, please resume your story and your request."

"Oh, yes sir, Wraithwind. As I was saying, I was hatched by Twilight Sparkle, and she raised me like a surrogate sister. Last year, the Princesses and later the Elements of Harmony, of which Twilight is one, forged a contact with the other dimension that myself and Rosethorn mentioned,"

Wraithwind interrupted Spike for a bit. "I see... one question before you continue: how would you describe the dominant species of this dimension that you all entered?"

Spike thought for a few seconds to find the words. "Well, um, I would guess they look like tall, hairless, and somewhat skinny apes. They are highly intelligent, extremely adept and making tools and machines due to their lack of magic... well before now."

Wraithwind nodded along with Spike, and asked a follow up question. "Interesting, from your last statement, their magic was either non-existent or barred until recently. Care to elaborate on this fact, Spike?"

"Oh, okay. Well... I am not exactly sure how they unlocked that magic. After they were supposedly done, the sky went black in that other dimension, and there were explosions in the sky, similar to fireworks. After that, everything went hazy because I underwent what they call 'Flash Puberty'."

He underwent Flash Puberty in a separatedimension with an ancient magic? That confirms it then... Wraithwind thought to himself before he lifted his head to make a formal statement.

"Spike, seeing as you are the first Dragon to experience this first hand in nearly 100 Millennia, I will explain more thoroughly what happened. Your Pony friends in all likelihood re-forged contact with the Will Of Terra, or, as they apparently call the planet now, Earth. My generation of hatchlings were among the last to have any contact with Terra before the link was shattered by the Cataclysm. What followed that was absolutely horrifying. Multiple cataclysmic winters nearly broke the Dragon race's culture. It took all of our patience and skill to preserve what records we could until Windigos were more or less beaten back to the Northern Wastes. We owe a lot to the ancient Pony kingdoms for developing the Warming Hearth spell; much to the probable chagrin of Bloodthorn and the War Sub-Council,"

The look of utter disgust on Bloodthorn's face was evident to everyone there.

"Anyway, the news that the link to Terra has been re-forged will not be lost on the other great Nations. I feel now is the time to begin moving on Rosethorn and the Diplomacy Sub-Council's plans to open more formal relations with the other Nations; and we will most likely have to begin scouting the Earth as well,"

"WAIT! Wait, Leader Wraithwind, we should not be so hasty in trying to open up formal relations! We have yet to gauge the intentions of Celestia and her sister in re-forging that link to Terra," Bloodthorn shouted with an almost pleading tone.

"Bloodthorn, do you truly not trust Princess Celestia? She spent nearly 100 years under my, and to a large extent, our collective tutelage. Do you believe she would turn her lessons back on her teacher?" Rosethorn asked of her hyper-aggressive sister.

"We do not know what she has done or developed in all those years since she left these walls, Rosethorn!" Bloodthorn quickly snapped back.

"Indeed, which is why it would do us far more good to re-open formal relations with not only Equestria, but the other Nations," Rosethorn started, before being interrupted by Silentclaw whispering something into her ear. Her face lit up with surprise, and then a very devious grin. "And besides, we would not want to leave the whole of Earth's population ripe for the picking."

"What do you mean 'ripe for the picking'?" Bloodthorn asked, confused as to the wording.

Rosethorn chuckled a bit as she winked at Spike. "It seems that our dear Equestrian Princesses, in their seemingly infinite mercy, and the humans in their desperation to leave their rotting world, have developed a methodology for altering their forms into Equestrian forms. It would truly be a shame if we were to allow Equestria to have free reign over their world and all their immense numbers."

Bloodthorn looked as if she was going to boil over with rage, until the light-bulb went off in her head. "I see sister... I hope you can 'negotiate' something before I have to show up with a legion of soldiers in Canterlot."

"Wait, B-B-Bloodthorn... why would you show up with soldier dragons?" Spike asked, confused to the greater conversation.

"Because, whelp, I will absolutely refuse to watch Celestia bolster her numbers while I sit idly by and twiddle my claws!" Bloodthorn shouted as she slammed a silver claw on her desk.

"What my dear sister is TRYING to say is that we cannot let Celestia have free reign over the Earth's population when it comes to this situation in particular. I am not sure of the situation on Earth vis-a-vis her and her plans, but I will make certain the Dragon Nomads are not left out of the loop. Besides, as I stated, She and I go quite a way back; I believe she would sooner listen to me than Bloodthorn and her soldiers," Rosethorn stated as she leaned back in her chair at her desk.

"Whatever, sister. I would hope your tongue is as good as you claim it to be..." Bloodthorn concluded, not wanting any more to do with this conversation.

"Lovely. Spike, I would like to make a request of yourself and Rosethorn. When you return to Terra, tell Celestia we are open to discussing a larger diplomatic meeting between all the larger Nations of Equestria. Also, tell her that we recognize the existence of the plans to physically alter the inhabitants that occupy that world; and we would like to, how could you put this, 'buy in'. Do take care to mention that refusal on her part will be seen as a rejection of an official treatise by the Dragon Nomad Central Council, and might result in the further refusal of her overtures," Wraithwind stated, in a clear and stern tone.

"Um... yes sir. I understand." Spike answered sheepishly, not sure if the whole thing was over with already.

"This council will adjourn while we discuss the plans for proceeding when any member would be absent for an extended period of time..." Wraithwind said looking straight at Rosethorn; Rosethorn only replying with an audible sigh and a highly exasperated look on her face.

After another couple of hours, most of it passed reading more scrolls about chants to practice, Spike finally met back up with Rosethorn.

"So what did the council say?" Spike asked of his informal teacher.

Rosethorn just sighed some more as she rolled her eyes just thinking about it. "The usual admonishments about being late to the start of a Council session. I honestly would care more if we actually DID anything of worth with these sessions."

"So what we supposed to do now? I ack--" Spike began to say before hacking up scroll from Celestia.

"Man, that's the first time she's sent me anything in like 3 months... anyway let's see what we got here. Yadda Yadda... oh man... oh man this is not good..." Spike said, with a pall of concern coming over his face.

"Well with that kind of tone we should probably discuss this in private," Rosethorn said, her face now cold and calculating as she looked for an empty conference room.

After a few minutes, they found one, and Rosethorn placed a sound-proofing enchantment in order to ensure their privacy. "Alright Spike, spill it. The tone of voice you used implied something serious is going on with Celestia."

"It's about the Conversion Movement, the kinda informal name we got for the project. She's saying many of the Nations of the Earth are under assault from internal rebellions, but they appear to be organized under a global banner. Anyway, at the rate they are going, the Princesses might have to completely fold their presence on Earth for the time being. Although, at least according to her, they have a failsafe in place in order to maintain some presence," Spike said; he was frightened by how cold and calculating Rosethorn looked compared to her warm look just yesterday.

"Tell me Spike, have you ever experienced a Dragon's Teleportation Spell?"

"Well seeing as you're the only Dragon I've spent any time with until now... no."

"You're about to start then! Maxl Yazluro!" Rosethorn shouted as she and Spike teleported all the way to an Equestrian/Dragon-Nomad Border Checkpoint.

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[ Safe Haven-- July 10, 2081 @ 2:15 PM PST ]

"You've got to be KIDDING ME, Princess..." Rosethorn said as she tried to keep up with Celestia as she scrambled through Safe Haven.

"I am not kidding Rosethorn. I have Bureaus currently under siege; and one of my sister's direct subordinates has effectively lost his mind in the chaos of the last six weeks or so," Celestia said, wishing she knew a spell that could slow down time enough for her to formulate a better plan.

"It's Vague isn't it... it feels like there is a massive concentration of corrupted Water mana somewhere on this globe," Spike said, whole body shivering.

"Yes, it's along the Southern coast of this country's official territory. I would move to assist the Elements of Harmony and the others, but as you can see right now... I'm currently tied down at the moment," Celestia said with all manners of exasperation.

"Then we'll go in your stead. Spike! It's time that you got some real time combat experience," Rosethorn said, with a stern look at Spike.

Spike just sighed, as he figured once he got back it would come back to this. He was an adult Dragon now, and he'd have to start living up to that body he was granted. "I understand Rosethorn. Princess Celestia, can you at least show Rosethorn exactly where that corrupted Mana is? She hasn't had time to teach me Teleportation yet."

Celestia finally took her matronly tone she was famous for, for the first time all day. "Yes Spike, I'd greatly appreciate this. Also Rosethorn, I will owe you big time if you all can bring back Blue Vague safely."

As if I didn't need more leverage for our negotiations... Rosethorn thought to herself. "I understand Celestia, hopefully once we get this situation calmed down some. We all can get more formally acquainted."

Celestia sighed as she went back to her commander's role. "I hope so too Rosethorn, I really do."