Chapter XVIII
“When do ya think she’ll wake up? Ah mean, Rainbow and Written Script were up and about lickity split, but…”
Twilight grumbled a little bit, but ignored the annoying, yet strangely familiar voice. Didn't they know she was trying to sleep?
“You heard the doctor, Applejack. She’ll awake when the spell has worn off, and no later!”
“I hope she’s alright… I mean, she did get attacked by one of those nasty changelings, and from what Rainbow said, she was the closest to the scroll…”
Before anyone said anything else, there was the sound of a door opening, causing Twilight to groan inwardly. That’s just great… someone else to keep me from sleeping…
“Hey, guys- Oh! Good! Twilight’s awake!”
“Uh… I beg yer pardon Spike, but Twilight ain’t awake.”
There was a tutting sound, one that Twilight had always dreaded hearing. It meant that her little dragon assistant was tired of seeing her sleep the day away. “Guys, if you’ve lived with Twilight as long as I have, you start to pick up on a few things.” There was a gentle shuffling sound, which Twilight had long ago associated with the end of her peaceful slumber. “You see, Twilight is in that weird spot between being awake and being asleep. She probably doesn’t even remember what happened earlier, and just wants us to go away. Luckily for you, I know the secret of getting her to get up.”
There were more of those odd, shuffling footsteps, followed by a weight on the bed right behind her head. It doesn’t matter what he offers this time, I’m not getting out of this bed… she thought to herself.
“Twilight… Celestia said that she found Starswirl’s lost work, and she wants you to decipher it…”
Instantly, Twilight was wide awake, upright, and holding Spike’s chubby cheeks between her hooves. “Really? Then we don’t have time to waste!”
She was then out of her bed in a flash, took two steps, then suddenly realized that this wasn’t her room. “Spike… Where…?”
Then, like a bolt out of the blue, everything came back to her. She had been in ~Alex’s~ room, the guard had given her that note, then…
She looked around, and noticed immediately the general hospital feel of the room. What also caught her attention was the fact that she and Spike weren’t the only ones in this room. Next to her bed were Applejack and Fluttershy, while Rarity was lounging in a chair a little closer to the door. Rarity had a book in her hooves, but she seemed to have closed it when she realized that Twilight was awake. “Twilight! You’re awake!”
Her friends all came together around her in a group hug, but that was hardly comforting to the young unicorn at the moment. “What… What happened?”
“You’ve been out cold since that changlin’ came and stole ~Alex~ away, sugarcube,” Applejack said as she took a couple of steps back.
“Wait, what?” Twilight shouted at the top of her voice.
“You better sit down for this one, Twilight. It’s a bit of a doozy…” Spike said, folding his claws in front of him.
“Wait… if there are changelings… then how can I be sure that-”
“I’m going to stop you right there, darling,” Rarity said as she walked back to her chair and picked up her book again. “Spike has already vouched for himself, seeing as how he knew exactly how to wake you. And if he’s not a changeling, than it’s quite likely that none of us are changelings. But we will submit to a magic disruption spell if you wish. It has already been cast on all four of us at least three times today alone…” At that, Rarity rubbed her head right behind her horn, as if she were still nursing a headache. “But if you really need proof, I see no reason why not…”
“No… No, it’s okay, I believe you…” Twilight said, rubbing her head uncertainly. “Just… what happened?”
Applejack shook her head a little. “Ta be honest, we don’t really know much. Just that ~Alex~ was taken, and Princess Luna took yer brother and a bunch ‘o soldiers ta go get him back.”
Twilight furrowed her eyebrows at that, then her eyes went wide. “The medical beacon!” she said, suddenly understanding how Luna would know where the hapless ~human~ had gotten to.
“Bingo,” Spike said. He then pointed behind himself at the door. “According to the doctors that were taking care of him, he’s not only still sending data, but we’ve apparently learned a ton of information about how his body works.; I dunno what half the stuff they were talking about means, but they apparently are going to have a lot of questions for him once he learns the language.”
“But more importantly than that, we now know where the changelings are hiding!” Twilight said as she moved towards the door. “If we have any luck in this, Luna will be able to capture one! Then we’ll be able to figure out how… to…”
Twilight trailed off when she heard a commotion from beyond her hospital room’s door. She gave her friends a questioning look, but they seemed just as confused as she was.
“That’s odd… I do hope nothing dreadful happened in town…” Rarity said as she closed her book again. “That attack by that… hideous beast earlier left a lot of ponies without their homes, or worse, their lives...”
Twilight shook her head at that. “When that happened, you could feel it from the castle. You guys didn't feel anything strange while I was out, did you?”
When the others all shook their heads in the negative, Twilight turned back to the door and, with a deep, cleansing breath, reached out with her magic and turned the knob.
The door swung inward, allowing Twilight and her friends to see a doctor and two nurses rush past, pushing a gurney and chatting with each other quite animatedly. Following close behind was a soldier, a look of grim determination on his face as he followed the medical professionals past the open door.
While Twilight was quite knowledgeable in a variety of fields, she was hardly a trained medical professional, and as such, most of what the doctor and his nurses said was complete gibberish to her. Not that she had paid much attention to what they said, anyway; no, her attention was solely on the black, bug-like creature that lay writhing in pain on the gurney that the nurses pushed between them...
* * *
“Tell me, please: after you have obtained from ~Alex~ the information you require, and after you have brought his tormentors to justice, what do you intend to do with him?” Celestia asked, her eyes boring into the snake-alien before her. She also wanted to ask ‘and after him, what do you intend to do to us?’ but felt that she might be pressing her luck with that. Celestia knew that the alien in front of her was supposedly friendly, but that did not mean that she had the planet of Equis’ best interests at heart.
Despite the subservient tone this ‘Akitesh’ had been taking with her, Celestia knew that the snake held all the cards. With only a word, she could unleash a firestorm from the heavens, burn away the atmosphere, and kill every last living thing on this planet. The aliens didn’t need to ask for anything. They had the power to take whatever they wanted, and there would be nothing that the Equestrians could do to stop them.
Which is why it was so confusing to Celestia that every single thing this Akitesh had wanted from the Equestrians had been asked for, not demanded.
“We have law, that young race, your race and his, not be contact. We not supposed to talk, you not know we here, until you grow up,” Akitesh said, an apology lingering in her eyes. “That law broken, so next law very clear. First, we catch responsible party.”
Celestia was a little bit offended by that, but she didn’t show it. After all, calling her and her people ‘young’ was a lot nicer than calling them ‘primitive.’ It showed that Akitesh at least saw the Equestrians as potential equals, rather than stupid savages. Still, it was somewhat galling to be called ‘young.’ She hadn’t been called young in over a thousand years. “And what is the next step?” she asked, pushing down her irritation for the moment.
“Next, if possible, remove disruption, and erase memory of existence,” Akitesh said with a bow. “At moment, not think possible. Too many see, too many know. Very hard to remove all, someone slip through hole, damage still done.”
Celestia didn’t know what this ‘erase memory of existence’ entailed, but she didn’t like the sound of it, not even a little bit. “And because it’s impossible now, what will you do?”
“Now, once things calm, and guilty caught, we leave teacher,” Akitesh said, inclining her head ever so slightly. “You young, and harm caused by knowing things before ready can harm. We leave teachers, to teach and guide. Up to you, listen. Up to you, learn. But we lessen damage as much as can. You people, done great disservice. Not allowed to grow at own pace, not allowed to become at own pace. We lessen damage as much can, teach at you pace if can, but know cannot fully give back what was lost. Not able to give back what you not know you had.”
Celestia was… honestly a bit shocked at that. It was the last thing she thought she was going to hear at these meetings. But still, deep in her gut, she felt that there was something that Akitesh wasn’t telling her. “And what will these ‘teachers’ require of us in return?”
“No want anything in return,” Akitesh said, shaking her head a little. “They there not work to be paid, but work to pay back. We in you debt, not other way around.” She let out a slight cough, then rubbed her lower hands together. “If possible, we-” the snake started to say, but stopped when she noticed the conference room door opening.
Celestia quickly turned toward the door, both dreading and hoping at what the widening portal would reveal. She quickly spotted one of her sister's captains enter the room, a serious look on his face as he approached the solar diarch. “Yes, Captain?”
“Your Highness, your sister and her guard have returned,” he said in a whisper only Celestia could hear. “She wishes to inform you that the mission was largely a success, though there were unforeseen complications. She wishes to speak with you at the earliest possible convenience, as what she has learned may affect any further decisions.”
Celestia didn't answer the soldier immediately. Instead, she turned back to her guests and gently inclined her head. “I apologize, but it seems that something has come up. We will have to continue this discussion at a later date, but in the meantime, I will speak with ~Alex~ about your request. For now, I would ask you to return to your vessel.”
The large insectoid, ‘Hazalk’ if Celestia was pronouncing it correctly, discreetly returned the small ‘calculation device’ to the pocket at the side of his trunk and leaned over to whisper something to Akitesh. Celestia was certain that she hadn't been meant to notice him pull that device out, or the many times he had returned it, so she had pretended not to. The princess guessed that the strange creature had been communicating with his ship, which made sense, since he seemed to not possess even the basic translating magic that his snake-like counterpart had at her disposal, making his presence ceremonial at best.
While Celestia appreciated the gesture, she would have rather had the strange creature not been there. If Celestia was being honest, both aliens were quite disturbing, their very appearance evoking a nameless dread of things that were beyond her understanding.
Akitesh nodded at what Hazalk had said, then turned back to Celestia and gave a low bow. “We return tomorrow. Hope continue build trust. Hope continue work together. Take care of ~Alexander Cunningham,~ let know what talk about today.”
“I will. My guard will see you to your craft.”
The two aliens respectfully inclined their heads, then moved to follow the soldiers back to their landing craft. Celestia waited until they had left the room completely before letting out a sigh of relief and turning to the captain at her side. “What news have you brought for me, Captain?”
The captain bowed to the princess, then straightened. “Before we begin, I would ask you to perform a magical disruption spell on me, to eliminate from your mind the possibility of a changeling trick.”
Celestia looked at the captain questioningly, but did as she had been asked. “I am sorry for this, Captain.” Her horn hummed ominously as she wove the spellform in her mind, and without a second thought, released the spell on the hapless dust pony.
The effects of the spell were instantaneous. The captain fell to his side like a felled tree, his limbs splayed out stiffly, while his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Celestia waited patiently for the poor stallion to regain his senses, well aware of the pain that that particular spell could inflict.
It took the stallion a good four to five minutes to regain his head, during which time Celestia’s guard had returned, informing her of the alien’s departure. “I apologize for the wait, My Princess,” the guard said as he got unsteadily back to his feet.
“It is fine. Now, tell me, what news do you bring from my sister?” Celestia asked, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.
The guard gave an uncertain bow, then returned to an at-ready posture. “The meeting with the changeling queen was both more productive, and more disastrous than we initially thought. As of now, The Queen has surrendered her entire hive and people to us, as well as the secret to unmasking her citizens.”
Celestia was floored by this news, with the guards that she had present muttering among themselves at this turn of events. No wonder the captain had requested a magical disruption spell; an announcement like that would have almost certainly been met with distrust. “Why? How? A little under a year ago, she and her ilk were attempting to conquer our whole nation!”
“I assure you, it is quite true. There is a catch to this news, however: She is not the only changeling queen, and her hive is not the only one out there. According to her, it was a completely different changeling queen that staged the attack on Canterlot. This ‘Queen Chrysalis,’ as she calls her, was also responsible for the attack on ~Alex~ and the two bearers in his company. All this queen did, as she claims, was intercept ~Alex~ and hold him for our arrival.”
Celestia looked at the captain skeptically. “How can you be so certain of her words, Captain? She is a changeling, and from the little that we know of their kind, they live on deceit.”
“It is quite simple, Your Highness. While we were there, this ‘Queen Chrysalis’ sent her minions to attack the surrendered hive. There were many casualties, and Canterlot General has been turned into a wartime relief hospital,” the captain said with a bow. “Even now, we are sending more troops to reinforce the hive, while the Queen, Princess Luna, and the ~human~ all await your presence in the throne room.”
Celestia stared at the captain for quite some time, trying to make sense of the information that had been dumped on her. It seemed completely fantastical, yet something in the captain’s eye told her that he wasn’t making any of this up.
This I must see for myself… Celestia thought as she swept past the bowing captain. “I take it you were there during the conflict?” Celestia asked as she opened the door to the council chamber.
“I was, Your Highness. I was part of the strike force that Shining Armor led to reacquire ~Alex.~”
“Good. You are to come with me, and tell me all you can along the way, Captain…?” Celestia asked, briefly turning back to the messenger.
“Knight Breeze, Your Highness.”
“Very well, Captain Breeze. Now, tell me more about these ‘friendly’ changelings. I wish to know all you know about them,” Celestia said as she left the room, Captain Breeze hot on her heels.
* * *
The guards that the two had left in the room looked at each other, hope rising in their eyes. “Do you think it’s true, sarge?” one of them asked.
“Only time will tell. From the sound of it, though, they’re going to need help down at the barracks and hospital. Get a move on, stallions!”
With a grunt of acknowledgement, the soldiers filed out of the room, firmly closing the door behind them.
The room was almost eerily quiet after that, the only sound being the faint sound of hooves in a distant hallway, and the only movement being a lone bird at the council room’s window. The bird looked into the room, its eye revealing far more intelligence than its simple frame would suggest as it pondered the information it managed to overhear. It didn’t twitter or sing, its expression never changing as it unfurled its wings and turned away from the window it had perched upon.
Without a second thought, the bird took off into the quickly darkening night sky, its wings taking it south, out of the castle grounds and into the city proper. It ducked low over a familiar building, before swooping into the open window and alighting on the bed frame it found there.
The owner of the bed, a nondescript beige pony with curly, green hair, looked up at the unannounced guest, then quickly made his way to the window before shutting it firmly and drawing the curtains closed. “What have you overheard, Glitterwing?”
The pony turned toward the bed, his eyes seeking out the creature that had once been perching on his bed. It was gone, and in its place stood a changeling, its expression that of complete panic. “They know how to rout us out! The Queen’s plan of destroying Providence has failed!” the changeling said, as he nervously bounced from hoof to hoof.
The nondescript pony’s face turned down in a frown. “We must leave Canterlot, then. We will only be discovered as the Equestrians rout out all of our kind and execute us. We must warn the Queen, and inform her that Providence has doomed us all.”
"Sir, what about Thorax?”
The nondescript pony just shook his head, before dropping his disguise. “We must leave him. If he manages to return, then good. If he is caught, he knows what his duty is.”
Glitterwing looked like he was about to argue, but thought better of it. They didn’t have the ‘lingpower to mount a rescue, and the tightening of the security of Canterlot Castle meant that it was now impossible to get a message through. With any luck, the poor changeling could manage a beacon teleport before Providence could reveal that magic’s weakness too.
As fire engulfed the two changelings, however, Glitterwing couldn’t help but feel as if he were abandoning Thorax to a fate worse than death.
* * *
Queen Chrysalis was not happy. Not happy at all. The weird alien weapon had slipped through her hooves again, Providence had escaped her grasp, and now all of Equestria knew how to sniff out her agents.
And the worst part was that she knew it was all her fault. All because she had underestimated this ‘weapon.’ This thing that, when she had first heard about it, had filled her with an overwhelming hope.
This weapon, she thought. Surely this weapon is what we need to conquer Equestria.
All she had to show for her efforts, however, was a dead or captured contingent of some of her finest forces, and an allied front against her. With a frustrated snarl, she swept past her drones, causing them to scatter as they desperately tried to stay out of the queen’s way. Eventually, her warpath led her to a closed, fleshy door, its quietly undulating folds carelessly preventing the fuming queen access to the room beyond.
A bit more forcefully than she intended, she touched the door with her horn. Open, she ordered, sending the command through the hive and to her consort. After a few seconds, the door dutifully opened, allowing her entrance to the room beyond.
This room was surprisingly bare, containing only a few stalactites and stalagmites, remnants of the cave that this hive used to be, and a single cocoon which dangled from the ceiling.
The cocoon was complete, so as to hide the majority of the creature it contained from view. It did, however, allow the creature’s face to be shown, and that alone was enough to give Chrysalis the shivers. Its dark grey chitin was cracked in several places, but it still spoke of something otherworldly, something far beyond her understanding. Its mandibles were slack, and its bright green eyes were staring out into space.
Chrysalis’s horn briefly glowed, causing the creature’s eyes to glow in response. It looked down at her, its eyes still staring unseeingly at the changeling queen, patiently awaiting her orders.
“Tell me more of this ‘weapon’ you were making,” Chrysalis said in the still somewhat unfamiliar tongue of the alien. “I thought you said you lobotomized it, that there should be nothing left of its old personality and ingenuity.”
The alien looked down at her blankly, its stare uncomprehending of what Chrysalis had asked of it. “We did…” it said, its monotone voice giving the impression that the creature had no idea what it was saying.
“I saw it with my own eyes. It wasn’t wearing the restraining band around its neck, yet it cut through my troops like paper. Explain.”
The alien took a deep, shuddering breath, before answering in the same, monotone voice. “The weapon should be incapable of more than basic thought and movement. A vegetable without any sort of controller. If it is capable of more… I must inform the emperor… He needs to know that the experiment was a failure…”
Chrysalis frowned at the alien, as the alien’s true personality started to show through the queen’s brainwashing. With a negligent charge of her horn, she reestablished total control, the alien’s face becoming slack once more. “Tell me, what was your experiment supposed to accomplish? What were you hoping to achieve with this… monstrosity?”
The alien’s eyes stared at the queen, his breath slowly echoing through the chamber, before he opened his mandibles and answered her. “The experiment was to see if control could ever be established against our enemies. The experiment’s race shares many unique qualities with our enemy, qualities we were hoping to exploit. We hoped to bring our enemies under our thrall. The weaponizing of the experiment’s body was merely a ruse, in case our work fell into their hands.”
Queen Chrysalis looked at the alien with interest, her eyebrows furrowed as she stepped closer to the cocooned creature. “These… others, these enemies of yours, they are powerful, yes?”
“They are.”
“Good… good…” Chrysalis said, a sinister smile appearing on her lips. “Now, tell me everything you know about these… enemies of yours…”
The alien pulled in another, shaky breath, before he started to talk, unfeeling, unthinking, and completely unaware of the role he was to play in the days to come.
Yusss!
New chapter
Oh, Chryssie, Chryssie, Chryssie...
Arrogance will drown your hive in flames.
This is a good use of a cliche.
I love how every failing of hers thus far in the apparent timeline, is entirely due to her own negligence and underestimating of an enemy's capabilities. Basically, she's barely competent, but not enough to fulfill her megalomania. Granted, she could've reasonably presumed that Twily wouldn't have given Cady a chance to prove herself, but still left a contingency guard of civilians that they wouldn't likely endanger with combat (which was foiled by Cadence having a bouquet in Hammerspace, but who could've predicted literal mind-control could be thwarted by fucking flowers). In other words, for a counter point for (most) of Chryssies incompetent moments, look for joshscorchers video on the issue (still doesn't account for "ridiculous sentiment", if memory serves, but that was the point where she fucked up).
Following this, of course, she failed to account for how Equestria would react to these happenings, and is currently paying the price for such. In short, her biggest shortcomings seem to spring from her inability to consider the ramifications of her actions through gross incompetence on either her part, or her espionage branch. Also, the whole prospect of changelings overtly attempted to conquer anything was a fucking stupid from the get-go. What is she even hoping to accomplish by taking over the world...?
I always thought the prime directive was stupid, but I still hope Celestia rejects the snakes offer, and not just because we already know their intentions.
yay thanks for the new upload! I enjoyed it! It kinda sucks that chrysalis is still alive and in charge of her hive. I just hope at least some of her hive comes out of this alive, including thorax. After these most recent episodes of MLP, i'm starting to grow fond of the changelings. I can't wait to see the shock on bug's, lizard's and tia's face when they learn what chrysalis is trying to do >:D
Good to see the next chapter is up. Looking forward to what will happen next.
I'm not disappointed. I see this chapter as a good bridge to whatever comes next, and not too shabby in its own right.
Somewhat predictable, but that's what makes it funny.
I bet he was doing more than that, Celestia. They probably heard what the guard said too, one way or another. I wonder what of the battle they were able to observe from orbit?
Poor guy is in a tough spot now, or so he'll believe, I'm sure.
Hehe.
Wow, she really is dumb. How does she expect to deal with the aliens who built that weapon after tearing Equestria apart? I see 3 possible explanations:
1. She has discovered some magic she thinks she can use to manipulate the bug aliens.
2. She just really hates Equestria for some reason.
3. Her lust for power precludes logical thought.
It's probably some combination of these and more.
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I think the snakes will be surprised when they find out how "young" Celestia is.
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Yes... I can't find the argument that I once read against it. Shame, too; it was very cogent.
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I think this is a good one.
My favorite point ‘I have never invented a vaccine or suffered from a plague, and I don’t particularly care if the guys researching new vaccines learned the trade from guys who did, or from aliens who cured all theirs a million years ago. Civilizations do not invent technology, Individuals or groups do, yet we still assume that the rest of that civilization ought to be able to benefit from that. We don’t expect every person to learn microbiology before taking antibiotics.’
8449460 It's an interesting conundrum. Can you claim to be Intrinsically wiser than the being that has lived a thousand years just because someone else of your species learned how to make a specific type of technology?
IT LIVES!!!
I hope the wife is feeling better. This chapter seemed up to the same level of quality you usually bring about, which is fantastic. I really hope to own your trilogy in hardback on my shelves some day.
Again great chapter and sucks about your wife getting sick, but I can sympathize when I was young my mom took me and my sister to Disneyland and I was sick 4 of the 5 days we were there.
Wait SLC comic con? YAY ANOTHER CRAZY RESIDENT OF UTAH!
Our boy Alex is going to end up beating a motherfucker with another motherfucker by the end of this, isn't he?
So, leaving teachers behind? Good alternative, but there still is probably some ulterior motive.
Or maybe not. Time will tell.
Yep, no wonder the guard wanted Celestia to perform the detection spell as the news indeed seemed too good to be true for someone who just heard about it.
As for that last scene... oh no. That does not bode well for anyone.
Heyo, the self insert trope is subverted via cameo!
It's not too surprising, seeing as they never recovered the body, and you never assume until proof has been attained.
It will be interesting to see what Chrysalis can pull off, magic can take you only so far...
Won't everyone be so surprised when Alex has basically become fluent in the apparent space of hours!
Keep going! ;)
Oh Chrysalis. The enemy of the bug people are snake people. And from the looks of it snake people are good ones. So, contact the enemies of the bug people and get even more snake people on the planet. Can't imagine Celestia being happy with that.
Oh...
Hello there [Previous] and [Chapters].
...
Where is [Next]?
...
Buck.
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weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ill-beat-a-motherfucker-with-another-motherfucker.jpg
8449581 8449481 8449387 Going to tell you right now, I don't think the Prime Directive is a good idea either, I just wanted to use it here for the Quzin. Also, their Prime Directive is more tied into their religion than anything else. It's less about interfering in their culture, and more to do with not wanting to be worshiped as gods. Supplanting another person's or race's god or gods is one of the highest sins in their religion.
On top of that, their law does allow them to interfere, they just aren't allowed to reveal themselves unless a number of conditions are met. One of those conditions is, obviously, someone else revealing themselves. Another condition is the culture advancing to a point where the race will not view the visiting aliens as gods or anything akin to it. If you remember, the only reason it was decided that earth wasn't contacted was because of the war at the time, and their fear that the Krin's attention would be drawn to the Quzin's unusual cousins.
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Indeed, the greatest problem with the Prime Directive is that there are good reasons to have some sort of rules regarding interaction with a new species of sophonts. I don't think that any simple, easy-to-quote, rule will ever accurately reflect the reality on the ground. Heck, "interfering in their culture" might actually be narrow enough to prevent abuse, but allow for aid.
Scientists baffled at Queen's ability to fuck up at every turn.
-a statistical impossibility claimed a passing janitor.
-how did you get pass security? Asks a woman in a lab coat.
We may never know the true answers. Over to race car wrestling with Anthony.
I never really understood this cliche rule about aliens not wanting to interfere with undeveloped planets because of some "law" regarding cultural evolution. On Earth, there's nothing saying that the people from a 1st world country cannot send aid to a 3rd world country, or even bring their cultural ideas to it. In fact, it happens all the time. Wouldn't a space faring race have realized that revealing themselves to other planets is exactly the same principle, just on a much larger scale? Because what is a planet, other than a small landmass in the sea of space? If countries of different levels interact all the time, I see no reason why planets should not do the same.
well snap my crackle and call me poppa, i did not see that plot twist. im curious to see how much the sneks can actually teach the ponies (or better yet how much the ponies can teach the sneks)
Y'all gonna be tribalist now?
Ooooh, a comic book resurrection scene!
Dead bug spilling his guts to Crazy bug thus gonna make shit go buggy!
It's good to see an update out of this. It's gonna be a long, hectic ride for our heroes, I'm sure.
Twilight still has a lot to learn before she is ready.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgULWoFXB8g
8450644 8449821 The bug is a survivor of the crash. Not really a resurrection.
8450616 Dust Pony is what I call Night Tribe earth pony, meaning he's got cat-like eyes and fangs. This was actually brought up in an earlier chapter in this story.
8450321 I've actually already answered this in a previous comment. Look for the spoiled out comment of mine.
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Sorry, didn't mean to imply that.
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Oh, okay.
I was finished reading and then, all of the sudden, just as I'm about to turn in for the night, the realization hits me.
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We are talking about the Queen who wiped out her Hive's entire food source over a slight. Taking an educate guess, she is barely less petty than a pre-reformation Starlight Glimmer..
8450199 That makes me curious how the snakes would react to the ponies viewing Celestia as a god as is common in a lot of fics.
Hell, it's about time.
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I'm pretty sure they were talking about Ilisk, who we last saw impaled on Alex's claws and thrown out of a window. They probably assumed that Chrysalis salvaged his corpse and brought him back to life, rather than having "rescued" some random alien from the original shipwreck.
8453258 Yeah, that's why I posted that message. Ilisk is dead, very dead. Alex made sure of that.
Nice, that was a great update!!
I feel silly asking this, but with so many non-human and non-pony alien races involved, I'm having a hard time picturing those characters in my mind's eye. Can I get a little help building a "character sheet"?
Enemy: Bug people (not changelings) with grey chitin, mandibles. Created Weapon!Alex.
Ally: Snake/lizard people (K'zin), color unknown?, they also have hands?
Ally: whoever the insectoid dude with the "trunk" next to Princess Akitesh was (yet another bug race?)
And of course we have the two warring changeling tribes as well. TOO MANY BUG PEOPLE lol.
Any chance there's a "cheat sheet" describing all the species involved? It would really help with reading the story!
8454140 Hazalk (the 'trunk alien') is of the same race that kidnapped Alex and turned him into a weapon. It's why he feels personally responsible for what's happened. His race looks roughly like this:
camo.derpicdn.net/ff5757959023063e60b4adf67d4c42a9363c8f96?url=https%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-m4M4F313TW0%2FVLIjUCczy4I%2FAAAAAAAAACw%2FYgOp6KL05JA%2Fw225-h353-no%2FKrin.png
This is a picture I drew a while back, near the beginning of this project. I really should go back and retry this, because this is just terrible.
As for the rest of the 'character sheets', I'll work something up and post it in my blog. Then I'll put a link to it in future chapters.
8455227
Thank ye kindly--keep up the good work!
remember when you asked for help on the big reveal about the changelings and who was helping them? this was SO much better than what i was expecting! excellent dude!
8471755
Treated kevlar is more compact and mobile/flexible than any other stab-proof material, ESPECIALLY riot gear.
Plastic riot gear might be lighter, but it's not more effective, and the difference between them is the difference between a nice business suit (a tiny bit restrictive, but not bad) and a 1960's Lunar landing era space suit (where you're walking around like you're practically in a full-body cast). Granted, that's a metaphorical comparison, but it's absolutely true in the key principle we're discussing.
TL;DR-
Yes, there are other options like you said, but if you want the best possible option, treated kevlar is exactly that: The best of all (currently) available options... unless you're doing this on a very small budget, but clearly that's not the case in this story.
8472922
There most certainly ARE better alternatives out there than kevlar - which admittedly is the tried and true workhorse for stab-vests - the first that comes to mind is UHMWPE, AKA Dyneema/ Spectra. They are ultra high density, Polyethylenes that have recently replaced kevlar in some military applications. As for plastics in armor, your ideal armor is PLASTICS. They are light, flexible, offer good protection against blunt force trauma and make stab resistant under layers significantly more effective. They have real-world testing that confirms they are the best balance of flexibility and protection. This is modern stab-armor.
My past time is practicing historical European martial arts, I know a thing or two about armor - both medieval and modern. The only reason why I didn't tell you to go maille is because modern polymer fibers also offer shrapnel/ballistic protection. Otherwise, if firearms are of no concern, just maille up your soldiers. With a proper layer of padding, they'll laugh away stabs and slashes.
Wow, this was done in a totally no cliche way from what you had us previously believe. I was expecting you to have the Krin be hiding out with them, feeding them information and promises of helping the Changelings take over Equestria when his buddies arrived in exchange for capturing Alex and bringing him to him so he can pick through his brain to find out what went wrong. And I thought you were stuck since you'd have to explain how Alex didn't pick up on this guy's tech if he was possibly communicating with the traitor or when Alex hacked the satellites which would have picked up on his gear. But having Chrysalis be stupid and have the alien as her brainwashed prisoner who she was picking random bits of information from is alot more understandable and easy to write in. I think it's an even less dangerous outcome than Chrysalis teaming up with the Krin to conquer Equesria since what info she gains from him is limited by her own stupidity. She's using him as a tool and a mind slave, so she completely fails to understand just how dangerous his kind are and what they can do. She thinks that if she's powerful enough to make him her thrall, she can easily subdue an entire fleet of highly advanced aliens and use them to conquer Equestria because she's that over confident about her own power. That'd be like the guy from Castaway showing up stranded on an alien world with nothing but sticks and Wilson, and those aliens thinking humans must be easy to conquer because he one example they have looks like a highly primitive non-threat they could kill with no effort. Then they get her and are weapons rip through them like wet cardboard.
Can I have more please?
8489587 Hmm... What if I told you the next one is ready, but just needed to be reviewed? (check my blog)