Chapter II
I sat motionless, staring at the chalkboard in front of me. On the board was a picture of a familiar fruit, while in front of the board was Scroll, the gray pony I had met in the woods with Carrot. “Khahu,” I said, trying to replicate the weird noises coming out of his mouth.
Scroll babbled something, to which Evening nodded in agreement. “He say you get main right, you not get last right. Has minor upturn voice, tone very important.”
“Khahu?” I said, hopefully making the necessary correction.
Scroll beamed at me, letting me know that I had gotten it right. “Good working!” Evening said, further reinforcing the feeling of a job well done.
Before we were able to go any further, I heard a light tap on the door. I looked up to see one of the doctors poke her head into the room, an expression that I couldn’t quite place on her face. She asked something that I didn’t understand, but she was quickly waved off by Evening. “Knowing, knowing. Not good overload, little by little.”
The doctor, apparently satisfied that the two ponies weren’t about to work me to death, gave a satisfied nod, then shut the door. Evening turned to me and gave an apologetic smile. “As much want keep move, already done hour now.”
“Ah… Are you sure we can’t keep going?” I asked. Their language, while complex, was quite beautiful. It relied as much upon the pitch and tone of the words, as the words themselves, to convey meaning. For example, the word ‘Ulralnad’ meant ‘defense,’ ‘defender,’ or ‘Stay where you are,’ depending on how it was said. I also found out that it was the word they used when referring to me when they weren’t trying to say my name. Why that was, I wasn’t sure, though it probably had to do with how my name was first translated, and why some of them called me Defender instead of Alex.
Evening just giggled a little, then shook her head. “Not think is time. Need time for lesson sink, stop for now. Though, if want, maybe review what learned?” she asked, tilting her head a little to the side.
I shrugged a bit, then nodded my head. “I don’t see why not. It wouldn’t hurt, and might help me remember a few things”
She smiled, then clapped her front hooves together. “Good! Then, tell what remember. Do not worry if not get right first, language take time learn, take years master. Go slow, as much can remember.”
I took a deep, steadying breath, then began to repeat all the words that I could remember, and their meanings. I tried my best to copy Scroll’s weird tilt when he had said some of them, but I’m pretty sure I got some of them wrong.
As I went on, though, I faltered a bit when I realized that Evening’s smile was becoming a little bit… strained, almost as if she was trying to put on a happy face when she knew that something was wrong. “Kala… a… sorry, is something the matter?” I asked, unsure at why she was making such a face.
She swallowed uncomfortably, then looked at Scroll for a second. “You not memory repeating, right? Those hurt long memory run.”
Scroll looked confused. He said something quick, probably in the negative, to which Evening gave him a really, really hard look.
“Look, I’m sorry if I butchered your language too badly, but please, don’t fight over that.” I said, holding up my hands in a placating gesture.
Evening looked back at me, then back at Scroll, then gave a heavy sigh. “No, not your fault, it… well, it not you carve up, but you get right. Too right. You… you copy Writing Words exactly. Not that only, but… so far, repeat every word, in order that taught.”
I stared at her for a couple of seconds before a light suddenly went on in my head.
I started to laugh. Tears came to my eyes, and I could see the worried looks on the ponies’ faces, but that made me laugh even harder. “Oh, if only Mrs. Morris could see me now… she would have a fit that this was happening,” I said as I got my breathing under control, the memory of my eighth grade french teacher making me smile even more.
This just seemed to cause Evening’s confusion to grow, though. “Excusing is me?”
I smiled at her, reached up, and lightly touched the metal hole on the back of my head. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I think I’ll be able to learn your language really quickly. Far quicker than I should be able to, in fact.”
The two ponies looked at me oddly at that, but that didn’t worry me in the slightest. After all, I’ve had these things in my head for over six months now. Might as well make them work for me, I thought to myself. I took a deep, steadying breath, then gave the two ponies a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a… a beneficial side effect from what happened to us,” I said as I draped a hand onto Kazimir.
Kazimir, or, rather, the cat that Kazimir was currently controlling, batted my hand away again in irritation. “Stop that, Alex. You know how I feel about being touched.”
I grinned at him. “Why do you think I do it?” I asked him. He turned his head to the side, clearly confused, but I ignored him, choosing to instead concentrate on Evening. “Let’s continue the lesson. Unless, of course, you want to stop for now. But just so you know, I can keep going. And if my theory is correct, I think I’ll be able to remember all of it.”
Evening thought about that for a second, but shook her head no. “Though you learn quick, we only have time small portion. Need teach more, need see more. Not that only, but we prepare only so much,” she said, then sighed as she rubbed her forehead with her hoof. “Beside, Sun Goddess want talk, want tell thing, want hear thing. We end lesson, go see Sun Goddess, yes?”
I smiled at her, got up, and removed my lab coat. “Yeah, I kind of forgot about that. If it’s not too much trouble, I also wanted to go and see The Pink One. I know she kind of had her heart set on a party, and I wanted to apologize.”
Evening looked uneasy, but she eventually relented. “Okay, but important: If I say ‘running,’ you running, no question asking?”
This caused me to burst out into a fit of giggles. “Yeah, I got it. You don’t need to tell me twice,” I said as I pulled on the really nice jacket that Wonder had made me. Before I left, though, I turned back towards the desk and the small metal cat that sat on it. “Hey, Kazimir, their ruler needs to see me for a second. Do you want to stay active? Or…”
“I am fine as I am, comrade. Though, to be honest, I may unplug myself later,” the cat said as he settled himself into a lying position. “Though the ‘sleep’ can be a bit annoying, what with us not being able to act or experience the world around ourselves, being disconnected from a body is still quite relaxing. Almost like an extended, lucid dream. We will be fine until you return.”
I smiled at him, then turned to leave. I was grateful for a familiar voice from home, but that didn’t make me feel any better about what Kazimir and the others actually were. Nor did it make me feel any better about what I did to them.
* * *
“Do you really think this is a good idea, Pinkie?”
The pink pony looked at Fluttershy, a flat expression on her face. “Of course I think it’s a good idea. He obviously hasn’t been to a party for so long, that he’s completely forgotten party etiquette! So there’s only one, possible solution.”
Fluttershy looked at the hot-air balloon, as well as all the party gear loaded onto it. “But… This doesn’t seem very safe. And how will you know everypony will be in this exact spot?” Fluttershy asked, worry clear in her voice. “If… If you don’t mind me asking, that is…”
“My ears and knees told me. Now, let me climb in, and when I give the word, you untie the rope. Got it?”
“Okay…” Fluttershy said. Even though the party pony had reassured her, all the nervous pegasus could feel was a faint sense of impending doom.
“Okay, Fluttershy! I’m ready! Let’er rip!” Pinkie shouted at the top of her lungs.
Fluttershy gulped softly, took the rope in her mouth, closed her eyes, and pulled. Even as the manic pink pony’s giggling laughter floated away into the sky, Fluttershy couldn’t bring herself to look.
All she could really do was pray that things didn’t go horribly, horribly wrong.
* * *
Akitesh was in a foul mood. There was no excuse for this kind of oversight. By all rights, these ‘humans’ should have been taken under the wing of the Quzin a long time ago, and hailed as brothers and sisters across the void. Yet this is the first time I’ve heard about them? She thought as she played a quick percussion on her desk with her fingers. We were on a scientific mission to Gel. GEL! And only because they found a species that bore a passing resemblance to the sky drakes of home!
At the moment, she could think of two separate worlds that deserved their attention far more than that pathetic rock.
Akitesh was pulled from her musings by a hesitant knock on the door, quickly reminding her why she was in her office in the first place. “Come in,” she snapped, irritation clear in her voice.
The door opened, revealing a nervous-looking Lokar and Kivalt. Despite the look on Akitesh’s face, Lokar took the initiative and entered first. “You wanted to see us, Priestess?”
“Yes, I do,” Akitesh said. Then, with a flick of her power, she activated the holoprojector on the table. The image of the human homeworld, with the examples of their species, instantly appeared next to her. “You mind telling me why I’ve never heard of these people before?”
The effect was instantaneous. But rather than look ashamed, both looked even more nervous than before. “Um… I’m sorry to ask this, but why do you bring this up?” Kivalt asked as she followed her brother into the room.
“Why? Do you remember our mission a week ago? The one to the planet’s surface? Do you remember why we went there?” Akitesh asked, her voice deadly calm.
Lokar glanced at the hologram, then back at Akitesh, comprehension dawning in his eyes. “Wait.... you don’t mean…”
“What?” Kivalt asked, not quite catching on as fast as her brother.
“Ki, the victim is one of them,” Lokar said, gently putting a single claw on his sister’s shoulder.
Her eyes went wide, and she started to shake uncontrollably. “But… how? We… we were so careful.”
“Careful how? Explain yourself,” Akitesh said, her eyeridges furrowing together in anger.
Both twins looked at each other for a second, then back at the Priestess. “Well, to be honest, the discovery of these people was a… recent development,” Lokar said, twiddling his thumbs together. “In light of the events that surrounded the discovery, it was deemed too dangerous to bring these people to light.”
Akitesh scoffed, her ire raised even further. “What possible danger could just knowing about these people prove to us?”
“You misunderstand, priestess,” Kivalt said, bowing her head a little. “We were not implying that they would be a danger to us, but that we would be a danger to them, even if it were indirectly.”
Akitesh’s fury came to a screeching halt. “...Go on.”
Lokar rubbed his forehead a bit, inhaled deeply, then exhaled. “The exact year that the Magi sent out an expedition to that planet was thirty-three, seventy-four.”
The two didn’t have to say anything else at that point. Akitesh already knew precisely why this had been kept so quiet. “The year before war broke out with the Krin,” she half-whispered to herself.
Even though it was muttered to herself, the twins still heard her. “Yes. Had we gone public with this discovery, the Krin who had been monitoring our communications would have picked up on it immediately,” Kivalt said, clasping her hands on her top-most coil. “Neither of us were part of the original team to discover that world, but we were part of one of the relief teams sent to help pack up our operation. It was deemed too dangerous to keep a presence more substantial than a cloaked probe, since anything more than that could spell trouble for our developing brothers and sisters.”
“...nothing is as simple as you want it to be…” Akitesh said as she slammed her head on the desk in front of her.
Lokar looked hesitant at his priestess’s less-than-pleased pose, but plowed onward regardless. “Uh… that being said, what with us being unsure about the whereabouts of certain Krin war criminals, namely the former Emperor, the Speaker had decided to restrict this information to a need-to-know basis. Aliz obviously felt you needed to know.”
“Yes, I guessed as much,” Akitesh said, rubbing her forehead with a single claw. “Well, that probably means that the ‘Emperor’ has his sights set on the victim’s homeworld. I’ll send a missive to the council immediately. Hopefully they’ll have a few ships out that way in a few weeks.”
Kivalt gulped uncomfortably. “Do you really think they have a couple of weeks?”
Akitesh stood up, and slithered over towards the door. “By the Creator, I hope they do.” She quickly opened the door and made her way out, motioning for the twins to follow her. “Come, I will need your help.”
“With what, exactly?” The twins asked in unison as they both got to their coils.
“We still have a lot of ground to cover, a wounded brother in need of assistance, and a society of exceptionally gifted equines to deal with,” Akitesh said as she led the way to the lift. “At this moment, you two are the closest thing to experts that I have at my command. I need insight into the mind of our brother, as well as more information about these equines. Until this mission is complete, I want you two at my beck and call.”
The two gulped uncomfortably as Akitesh pressed a button to call the lift, then turned to the twins. “Go to your rooms, and collect your things. Report to my second voice for your new quarters assignments. As of this moment, you’re part of my senior staff,” she said, sealing the two scientists’ fate.
“I knew I should have gone into chemistry…” Lokar muttered to himself.
* * *
Tusk Breaker groggily opened his eyes, then immediately regretted this decision. Not only was his head killing him, but there was a blinding white light directly above him. He raised his hands to his face to ward off the light, only to realize that the only parts of his arms he could move were his fingers. “What… where am I?” he asked. He tried to move his head about, but he quickly found out that that, too, was restrained.
“Ah… our friend with the loud mouth is awake…” a quiet voice whispered from the shadows. “I apologize for the restraints, but we have too much respect for the mighty Minotaur, and would rather he listen, and speak, before acting.”
“Who are you?” Tusk Breaker shouted, pulling at his bonds experimentally. They didn’t feel like any material he was used to; they had a slight give, and felt soft and malleable, but when he exerted any force against them, they became as tough as steel. Tougher, in fact. “What is this stuff? Why am I-”
Before he was able to finish his thought, he heard a sound very similar to sometaur hawking a loogie, followed by his mouth being covered by something warm and sticky. “Yeesh, with the questions… it’s always with the questions. ‘Where am I? Who are you? Why do you have a bucket of scorpions?’ On and on and on. It gets really annoying sometimes,” the voice said, his tone somewhat irate. “Fortunately for you, certain parties want you to remain alive.”
Tusk heard a fluttering, buzzing sound, and briefly felt something pass by his left side, but his restraints prevented him from seeing what it was. Terror poured into his brain as he felt a warm breath near his ear, and he couldn’t help but pray to The Old Ones that they would show him mercy. “You have a very noisy mouth. Noisy mouths are good for my profession. They allow me to hear things that others would not have me hear.” There was a pause, and Tusk felt the tip of something hard and sharp press against his temple. “And right now, what I want to hear is more about this ‘upstart’ that took everything away from you.”
Tusk rolled his eyes to try to see what was happening, but he couldn’t quite get a good angle. Before he could even think about what horrors were about to happen to him, he saw a bright flash of green light, felt a sharp, piercing pain in his head, and he remembered no more.
7177820 I ain't saying anything. However, I will tell you this: do not get your hopes up one way or the other.
No more hints.
Changelings too? Oh shit, >inb4 cooperation between insect species, lings and evil part of bugs. That's gonna be bad.
Damn changelings.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Sounds like this 'Tusk' fellow is having a bad time.
Atop his throne of broken dreams, the lord Murphy slowly lowered the chalice of tears from his lips and slightly raised his eyebrow.
It was the part with Pinkie and Fluttershy right?
finally a chapter. then why I feel that I need more already?
7200894 Sounds right to me, plus the extra dialog from the aliens.
Ooh, the party begins! I mean, no! Don't hurt the Minotaur!
You would think that the implant would have had some amount of translation software built in, perhaps it was damaged,rendered inoperable, or just simply "turned off" and nobody thought to check?
Regardless, machine assisted learning in progress!
Keep going! ;)
7200883 He's certainly about to. As are the humans, if things go badly.
7200981 Actually, that might be what he was referring to when he said 'side effects'. Think about it, he already has a basic translation for the Krin language built in, but since the ones that made it didn't know the Equestrian language in the first place, they obviously couldn't include a translation for it. So now whenever he learns something new about a language, the translation software is basically adding that knowledge to the database for later use.
As soon as it's mentioned, the gods of fate have accepted your challenge.
So many plot threads. Let's hope you don't get tangled up
I keep envisioning the Quzin as something between a Servine and a Serperior.
7201172 lots of different Old Ones out there. For instabnce, THESE old ones:
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Old_Ones
The alien bugs? Or the changelings? Either way, things just got worse...
I kind of feel that there are too many plots going on at the moment, that last scene for instance I have no idea what you're trying to do with it. It doesn't feel like it's part of the story plot and if you took it out nothing would be loss. Given the lengths of your chapters I would try and keep the plots a bit more simple and not have so many going on at the same time since there is still a lot of character development that you said would be in this that hasn't really happened yet.
Yay changelings!
RIP tusk breaker
Bets charchter
Miss-naming of the Quzin computer in this chapter.
Miss-naming of the Quzin computer in the epilogue of Done... I'm looking through that for something else and I noticed this.
...
Ok, what I was looking for was in Become.
This chapter:
Akitesh in the Epilogue of Become:
I'll have you know I'm only inordinately fond of cats, not obsessed, and I do not appreciate cultural generalizations from weird snake-like beings.
Headdesk: The universal language.
Well, it's nice to see that Alex is getting the concept of the Equestrian language pretty quickly.
At first, the "bucket of scorpions" line made me think of Discord, but it's quite clear this is a group of changelings--if not Chrysalis, herself...
If I were Tusk, I think I'd have preferred Discord
Dis gonna git guud!
ooooo....
I wonder if the changelings are somehow related to the Krin in a similar same way that the Quzin seem to have a relationship to humans (and possibly the ponies, too)?
7201664 Sorry about the name thing, I fixed it.
As for the monkey thing in what I've become, that was a legit red herring. The monkeys she was referring to were an actual different species.
7201452 Sorry about that, but Tusk Breaker's part Is quite important to the story. You'll see as time goes on.
As for too many plot threads, from now on, I'll try to make the chapters concentrate on only a few at a time. This chapter was just hard for me to write because of all the crap I've been dealing with at work. I actually had to take an extra day off just to get this done.
Like some asian languages if I am not mistaken.
7201452 I think the problem is more that a lot of plot line are opened and left on a cliffhanger.
We can handle many subplot, but a chapter should at least complete an idea.
7202315 Again, I apologize for that. As I said in an earlier comment, I've been dealing with a lot of crap at work. I had to take an extra day off just to get this chapter done.
7202360 No problem! We all have are up and down.
Whyyy...need more...that is all.
at least us humans do, seriously, we have enough nuclear weaponry to turn our planet into a radioactive slag heap. several times over.
and that's not counting the lost Soviet launch bunkers.
I think we could safely deter a moderate sized space fleet for a week.
So, a fast language learner. Let's see exactly how fast.
Fluttershy... you know that now everything will go exactly the way you hoped it won't, right?
So, Operation: Rescue Humanity ASAP is a go. Eventually. Once the leaders get the memo and decide to do something about it. Hopefully they're more active and reasonable than our governments.
And that last bit... well, what would we do without multiple dangers at the same time?
7202802
With what? Slow missiles against fast and agile ships that can cloak?
7203126 lol you need to read the sword in the stars lore. Most of the other races thought we were savages untill the Hivers tried to take earth...... we launched every remaining nuke we had and made them very very scared
7203126
Russia's SS-27 Makes Bush's Missile Defense A Fantasy
I didn't know three miles a second is slow,
I don't know what futuristic fantasy world you come from, but I'd really like to see one of your nascar races
cloaked? we're talking seige. I think it's hard not to see where the massive laser beams originate from.
7203185 but sword in the stars is a fantasy medieval book series?
No learn more! Caveman speak fun!
I have no idea how to respond to this chapter, but that might be because I just spent an hour watching the old Scooby-doo cartoons (the ones from 1969) while drunk.
...
It's an unusually fun experience, and I recommend it. Just follow up with a LOT of water if you don't want a hangover.
7203363 sorry i have mild dyslyxa and it makes me type the wrong words that should have been Sword of the stars
7203551 ah, no harm done.
I'll have to check that out
7203551 At least you don't spoon in Speakerisms...
7203363 He means this Sword of the Stars -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_the_Stars And this one -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_the_Stars_II:_Lords_of_Winter
Also, great story, just binge read the second book the other day.
7204122 o.O yush!
7204249 Sorry, didn't see the replies from snowkitsune. Man i'm a derp sometimes
7204122 End of Flesh is the newest one but sighs the game is sadly ded ded deadsci
7204509 Ah yes, the enhanced second game with the Loa, I forget sometimes because it's been a while since I've really played them. That and the sudden complexity of the second games interfaces Vs. the first game really confused me which is probably why a lot of people were't so keen.
7204490 aren't we all?
Ah, the bug ponies have arrived. Just once, I wanna read a story where the Changelings try to start a fight with a Human armed with a can of Raid.
The threats start, then the spray, then the bug convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Or one of those electrified fly swatters with the kill counter in the handle. Yes, those exist.
Yes, I'm a horrible person with a twisted sense of humor.
7206046
...Someone should go tell Dropbear about this, it seems like his brand of awesome.
7207255 Please link me if that gets written!