19: Curtain Call
Alexia rested on a lounge chair watching the spectacular array of fireworks going off above Canterlot. Being from a small town in Kansas, she never had a chance to watch the truly magnificent fireworks displays in D.C. or any other major United States city during the Fourth of July pre-mion. Closest thing for me was watching it on the news or that one online game that celebrated the Fourth. Salina never had much of a budget for that sort of thing.
The dazzling explosions filled the eyes with all manner of color. Some of the more expensive fireworks managed to create griffins, minotaurs, and even dragons of sparkles and flame. Princess Luna even made it a new moon so that the fireworks would stand out even more brilliantly.
The alicorn was sitting peacefully by herself, off to the side while the rest of the royal herd continued to mingle with the other party goers. Alexia had more than her fill of the off and on celebrations over the past few months as civilization was still rapturous from surviving the war. Victory Day they call it. HA! The parties were non stop for a month back home.
At present, her mates and the rest of the party goers were dancing up a storm courtesy of a white unicorn DJ. For all the books Discord sent over to Earth, pony dancing some how slipped the cracks. As a result, the three terrans on the dance floor jostled and swung about in a lethal manner that betrayed their former profession. Most Equestrians were put off by the fighting moves turned to dance, but some, including visiting generals, saw the lethal beauty in them.
The scattered nobles scoffed at the notion of dancing to the ‘uncivilized’ music Loki had given the DJ access to via her wearable computer. The mane six and the DJ were ecstatic over the jamming beats thumping from the magic speakers. Fluttershy was even able to overcome her anxiety to join in. One elaborately dressed mare was stunned to see the water in the bird bath writhing in its basin in tune to the deep base thundering through the garden.
Only Applejack was absent from the dance floor, although merely just long enough for her to get some of the palace servants to help deliver some of her world famous cider.
As the farm mare set her drinks and kegs out on a few banquet tables near some hedgerows, Rainbow Dash was showing Conrad some aerial dance moves. The moves themselves made him snort out of amusement, and he yelled at her to be heard over the music. “Why do all your moves look like what everyone does on the ground, just in the air?”
“Because reasons!” Rainbow shot back with a sly grin. She bristled slightly from the sardonically raised eyebrow he gave her. “I’m a stunt flier, not a dancer. Besides, if I brought out my real awesome moves, your jaw would drop off the map.”
Conrad’s colorful retort died in his throat when he saw the carefully laid out mugs of Sweet Apple Acres cider. Twilight sang such praises about Applejack’s cider that there’s no way I’m passing this up. Leveraging his spy training, Conrad put on a show of false humility. “I’m sure you could.”
Without further word, Conrad raced over to the cider table. The spreading smell of alcohol tickled his nose with its heavenly fruitful aroma. Damn, I can’t remember the last time I had a drink.
Applejack spared no expense in gathering a whole collection of different containers, ranging from steins, to champagne glasses, to shot glasses (for the special reserve).
“Howdy, Mr. Conrad,” Applejack said during a lull in the music as it switched to a slow dance. “Go ahead and take yer pick.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Licking his lips, Conrad grabbed the largest tankard he could find. Real Equestrian alcohol. I wonder how it’ll measure up. He started slow, taking only half a mouthful to roll the cider around on his tongue.
Applejack watched him with a half smile, to see how the extraequestrial pony would react. He was still in the middle of his assessment when Rainbow Dash came in so fast she rustled Conrad’s mane with her backdraft. “Hey! I love cider as much as the next pony, but we were in the middle of a lesson!”
Forgetting his taste test, Conrad lazily averted his gaze from the stein. “I think you’ve shown me enough for tonight. How about we have a drinking game instead?”
A small number of party goers were making their way over to sample the cider as well. Rainbow and Applejack gave each other a brief look of bewilderment. “Ah drinking game? Can’t say ah ever heard of those.”
Conrad put his mug down in astonishment. “No games? Are you serious?!” The mares shook their heads as Loki, Crimson, and the rest of the mane six arrived to join them. He looked to his herd mates with snorting laughter. “Can you believe this? This planet has no drinking games!”
“You’re kidding?”
“Ha, no way!”
Applejack was more intrigued than annoyed. “Ah’ve seen ponies drink to unwind, friends, guilt, and all kinds of things, but for a game? That just don’t sound smart.”
“Smart or not, I’m up for any game you got!” Rainbow Dash blustered while thumping her chest.
“A GAME?!” Pinkie Pie jumped into the middle of the conversation with all the subtlety of a fog horn. “I’m game for any game! How do you play?”
Snickering at a fully expected win, Conrad shot Rainbow Dash a predatory eye. “How about we start off simple; Rainbow and I go one on one first. We drink at the same time. The first one to give up or puke loses.”
Rarity, Fluttershy, and most of the nobles were put off by the rules, but Rainbow Dash’s competitive spirit beat down any reservations. She spit on her hoof and presented it to Conrad. “You’re. On!”
Conrad and Rainbow Dash were surrounded by their friends, and the few nobles whose sensibilities could tolerate such reckless drinking, as the two sat at a table completely covered in empty tankards.
Loki and Crimson urged their stallion on with a rhythmic chant. “Chug, chug, chug, chug!” After the first seven rounds of both terran mares chanting and cheering each round, Pinkie Pie and her friends joined in. Rainbow’s friends flanked her, giving the same chant as the terrans. Many of the aristocracy fuffed and feigned insult at Princess Twilight Sparkle’s personal approval of such a ‘low-brow’ game. However, where there was money to be made, ponies found it easy to overlook such social slights.
The very idea that members of the Terran royal family would debase themselves with an uncouth game more fit for bums on the street is appalling, mused one particularly stubborn noblemare. So much was her disgust that she walked off. Profit be damned, I’ll just wait for real diplomats and businessponies. Assuming their whole planet isn’t full of such uncivilized behavior. The mare saw Alexia lounging by herself. Perhaps their princess is more respectable.
As much as the noblemare would have wanted to introduce herself to the terran princess, caution stayed her hoof. I think more observation is needed before I speak with her directly.
Uncaring for the flagrant aristocratic judgement, both mugs slammed on the table with a satisfying bang. Rainbow Dash shook a wobbly hoof at her opponent. “Youuu cun really ho’ yur cidar there, budda.”
Conrad could have sworn he saw two Rainbow Dashes in front of him, and casually leaned against the table to hold steady. “I toll you I’mma champ. Buddiesh alvays call meh, the tank!” He roared with gusto.
“Oh yeah!?” Rainbow half turned, half swung her drunken head around to Applejack. “Hit ush agin!” And with that, Rainbow Dash promptly keeled over and fell to the ground, snoring with thunderous effect.
Conrad gave a drunken smirk, and was about to deliver a scathing victory barb worthy of the ages, to be sure, but he collapsed onto the table and into drunken oblivion.
“It’s a draw,” Applejack chuckled. She shuffled her sky blue friend onto her back as Crimson did the same with Conrad. The crowd started to break away as the fireworks and other party favors caught their eyes.
Loki playfully nuzzled her stallion. “Poor guy, hasn’t had a drop to drink since the girls’ last birthday.”
One of Count Demonie’s close allies, Greased Hooves, stepped forward eager to slide into the Royal Herd’s inner circle. His dull grey fur and oily mane fit well with his extravagant tuxedo. “A marvelous show. I dare we should let Fuckface Loki have a go at it next.”
Twilight Sparkle lifted a foreleg in stunned surprise. “Excuse me?!”
The nobles perked up at the sudden flash of anger on Twilight’s face. Loki and Crimson were snickering madly out of view from Twilight as the purple alicorn stared daggers into Greased Hooves. The young noble’s ears fell flat. “Did I say something wrong?”
“I don’t…” It finally registered to Twilight that he had spoken it in English, not Equeish. Her anger shifted to moody indignation as she swiftly looked at Loki who was doing a fine job looking insulted.
“Why I never!” Loki fumed with all the acting of an oscar winner. “I am insulted beyond comprehension! Imagine it! Me Drinking! The very idea!”
Before Twilight could glare Loki into fessing up, Greased Hooves prostrated himself at Loki. “I deeply apologize and recant my ignorant error inflicted upon you Fuckface Loki. I didn’t mean to presume your abstinence from drink.”
Ordinarily, Twilight Sparkle would be quick to set the record straight about what Greased’s error truely was. However, the spymistress held her tongue and resumed her glower at the distraught noble. My Guard has been building a criminal case against him on racketeering, embezzlement, and corruption. I think he can sweat this one out. I wonder how much confusion this little prank’s going to cause when real diplomats arrive.
“I’ll have you know,” Loki began again with a flourishing hoof wave in the air. “That my family’s sobriety goes back for generations since the Fourth Great Rum War of 1589 BC.”
The believed insult was compounded exponentially by the revelation of it spanning multiple generations. Greased Hooves slowly started backing away from the crowd. “I ah, I see. Again, I must express my profound apologies. I think it would be best if I take my leave.”
With far more haste than his station would normally permit, Greased Hooves bolted out of the gardens leaving his compatriots to act as if they’d never met the stallion before.
Fearing any further social faux pas with the terrans, the majority of the remaining nobles decided to split away and mingle with other like minded ponies, while leaving the guests of honor to their own devices. Of course, they still kept close enough to listen in on everything they could.
“Why don’t you take him to your guest room?” Twilight Sparkle offered with a wry grin at Loki’s snickering and Conrad’s lolling face. “I’ll have a guard show you the way.”
Crimson nodded with a smile. “Thank, you Princess. He should really get to have a guys' night out more often. But he dotes on the kids too much to drink around them.”
Twilight hummed in agreement as she beckoned a unicorn Dusk Guard over to her. “Escort our guests to their accommodations.”
“At once, your majesty.”
As Applejack and Crimson followed after the guard, Fluttershy scampered after them to look after her friends new and old. Pinkie Pie bounced over to Loki with a party hat on. “Come on, Loki Dokie, you gotta show me how you work your computer wazzit thingy!”
“Nu uh,” Loki grinned. “The bet was that Rainbow Dash would beat my samurai. And since Rainbow passed out first, Conny won.” She earned a mildly condescending eyebrow from Twilight and Rarity. “Close enough at least!” she rebutted to the silent commentary.
Rarity sipped on her sparkly champagne. “It’s alright, Pinkie Pie. Why don’t you challenge Loki to a drinking game as well?” She gave the green mare a knowing grin. “Assuming her ancestors don’t come back to haunt her for it.”
Loki and Pinkie Pie shook their heads in unison. “Can’t do that” They blinked at each other and started giggling manically. “Jinx! Double jinx!”
Rarity leaned in Twilight’s ear to whisper with mock terror in her voice. “Oh dear, now there are two of them.”
“And here I thought there could be only one,” Twilight snickered quietly.
Since she was already familiar with Loki’s antics, Twilight Sparkle was more confused by the answer, than the two pink ponies’ antics. “What do you mean, can’t? We still have plenty of cider left.”
“Nope, nope, nope,” Pinkie bounced over to Twilight and wiggled her tail in the air. “Cramped hoof, itchy mane, and angry teeth means she has a bun in the oven, so no drinking allowed.”
Rarity’s high society veneer faded briefly, and she kept glancing at the terran’s belly. “You are?” Loki gave a massive toothy grin and nodded. “Well I must say congratulations are in order.”
“So that’s why you messed with Greased.” Twilight tactfully kept her low opinion of the stallion to herself. “When did this happen?” she inquired with a wide grin.
Loki twisted around and started swatting at her twitching tail, while looking up to make sure nothing was falling. “Conny and I did the deed only two weeks ago.”
“I must say,” Rarity began with wistful reminiscence, “my first child was such a blessing.” Even if she’s turned into a whirlwind of fashionless terror. “You have my sincere congratulations.”
“Well ya better save some of those congrats for Alex and Crimson too.” Loki completely missed the Equestrians’ bewildered expressions while she kept swatting her twitching tail.
“My word,” Rarity commented absently after recovering from the shock. “My herd could barely handle two little ones at a time, let alone three, not to mention the three you already have must be a hoofful to deal with.”
Twilight coughed into her hoof nervously. “It’s more likely to be four, actually. Alicorns usually have twins or higher, depending on our size.” I should know.
Loki stopped fussing with her tail long enough to shrug. “Really? I bet Alex is going to love that little tidbit. Me though,” Loki sighed with joy at the memories with Aurora, Violet, and Dusty. “We already have some cool awesome kiddos, and then there’s the whole unofficial ‘next generation’ plan SOL is funding, and we were like, yeah, more kids sounds great, let’s do that thing.” she cackled madly.
Pinkie Pie joined in on the laughter, sending the sane ponies into a bedlam of confusion. Rarity was the first to brush it aside. It’s hardly my business… but then again, it is such juicy gossip. Finishing off her glass of champagne, Rarity cantered around the gathering of giggling pink to reach Twilight on the other side. “My dear, we might get a less ‘Pinkie’ answer from your protégé, don’t you think?”
The pair started walking off towards Alexia. Pinkie Pie alone was a very friendly, if sometimes difficult pony to deal with. The presence of a second pony like Pinkie was too much for most ponies to handle for any extended period of time.
Loki was gnawing on a massive piece of cake with Pinkie bouncing on the table, rocking the empty steins, when she noticed everyone walking off. Her left ear started flopping while her jaw got creaky. “So ahh, any chance you can teach me this ‘Pinkie Sense’? I get this stuff all the time and I can’t figure it out half the time.”
Grabbing a square academic cap out of her mane, and some brown robes from under the table. “Gladly! Lessonario number one! You must unlearn what you have learned.”
Loki gave a smiling salute before lightly bonking her head. “Done.”
“Now, in order to use the Pink you must learn to let go of the woooorrllldd,” Pinkie continued sagely as she started to float while meditating.
“Aww…” Loki’s head sunk as she abandoned her cake, only to find Pinkie Pie had snuck up on her and wolfed it down in one go. “Hey!”
“Lesson three: Pinkie Sense needs lots of sugar! So let’s eat up!” She swung her hooves towards the freshly rolled out table of chocolate frosted cake.
A few of the stuffier party goers meandered by the table when inspiration struck Loki. Meditating is such a drag anyway. “Hey what if we pranked somebody?”
A manic grin creased the party pony. “What did you have in mind?”
As Pinkie and Loki schemed and plotted, Twilight and Rarity approached Alexia and exchanged pleasantries before sitting down and joining her in watching the fireworks. Wanting to glean as much information out of the terrans as possible, several nobles tactfully joined them to get within ear shot. None of them currently tried to speak with Alexia directly, knowing that Twilight would brook no interruption, especially after Greased Hooves.
The last several hours of dancing, small talk, party games, and general celebration caught up to the three mares. The official reason for the party was to welcome the terran ponies into Equestria. The unofficial purpose was to be a celebration of the Earth’s victory over the Mions.
For the royal herd however, this was more in commemoration of the assistance of Twilight (and Equestria in general) in helping the terran ponies learn to cope and thrive with their shift in species.
Being the one sitting close to Alexia’s left side, Twilight eventually spoke up after a bright azure firework lit up the night sky. “So I hear you’re with child, congratulations.” The rest of Twilight’s friends repeated the purple pony’s accolades.
Alexia snorted with amusement. “I wonder who let that slip.” She sighed wistfully and absently rubbed her belly. “Yeah, I can’t help it really. Even before I became a pony, I always wanted a large family.” Course back then I never thought I’d be the one carrying them. She turned her head to look at her smiling mentor. “It sorta helps that there’s been a general call for us ponies to… grow in numbers.”
Rarity arched an eyebrow at that, but recovered her composure to keep a polite tone. “I suppose after such ghastly loss of life, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise.” The equestrians shivered at the prospect of billions dead, yet couldn’t truly comprehend it. Few could without seeing dead cities across the globe in person.
Twilight’s insight saw the meaning between the lines. “You didn’t say terrans, only ponies.”
“Nothing gets past you, sensei.” Alexia looked back up at the fireworks with an approving grin. “Even after the war, humans still number over two billion, while we ponies number just over a one point two million.” No one’s counting those damned traitors who signed up with the mions. May they rot in hell. “So we ponies have some catching up to do if we really want to walk side-by-side with humanity on more equal footing.”
“It certainly sounds like a plan,” Rarity commented dryly. “Although it seems like it might cause a lot of friction. From what I understand, humans were alone on Earth for a long time, and now they have to share it with another species. Sure it helped that you were former humans, but after hearing what happened to you new ponies...” she shuddered at the dreadful thought, nearly dropping her glass of cider.
“We managed in the end,” Alexia said reassuringly. “As xenophobic as they are sometimes, make a friend of humanity, and you’ll have one for life.” At least that’s what I tell people. It seems to be working so far.
The conversation lapsed into silence for a while, the pause giving the fashionista time to mull over it all. “Glad to hear it. It’ll be most interesting indeed to see a human face to face.” I hope that nasty business hasn’t destroyed their love for fashion. Some of the designs Twilight showed me from Paris and New York were simply marvelous. Checking herself, Rarity recovered from her spiral of excitement before she could squeal. “At any rate, I wonder what will you do now? As a planet I mean.”
Alexia mulled over the answer for a minute. The fireworks gave one last grand finale before returning the night sky to the stars. The silver alicorn couldn’t help but to see a threat among the sea of twinkling lights. She lifted a wing and pointed at a random star. “Somewhere out there is an alien species that tried to wipe us out. We terrans are sort of used to living in fear, sad to say, but that used to be from each other, natural disaster or diseases. It was things and situations we at least had some measure of control over and within our scope of understanding.”
She dropped her wing, but kept glaring at that point of light. “But the Koridost are a bigger threat than any despot or plague ever was. If there is one thing we terrans are good at, it’s banding together in the face of a bigger threat.
“We’re unifying. A notion that was laughable even two years ago, but the war…” She heaved a heavy sigh. “We used to see each other as separate people. Americans, Russian, German, Chinese, and hundreds of others. The war galvanized what’s left of us into one identity: terrans. And the consensus of the people is behind it. ” Alexia recalled a news report on the war torn UN headquarters being remodeled to fit the singular government. Of the original one hundred and ninety three flags that used to fly in front of it, now only eight flew. The center mast bore a new flag with a grey and light blue globe of the Earth super embossed over flanking olive branches with three stars on top. The politicians rushed to enter the building while construction work continued.
“We’re going to rebuild.” Alexia’s mind wandered to Moscow and the sea of cranes and scaffolding. To the industrious farms and mines of the Rhineland, and as far as the rebuilt desert oil fields. Even the vast farmlands of the North America’s Great Plains, now cleared of the Mion fungal weapon, brought pride to the silver alicorn.
“And we’re going to find some way to defend ourselves when the time comes.” Alexia’s CIA training unconsciously kicked in, making her face unreadable. Being a silent partner in B&M Magitech, and a key researcher in magic, Alexia was privy to a great deal of weapons that would hopefully drive off the aliens that everyone on the planet knew would be coming. Everyone except for the conspiracy nut jobs at least.
She gave her mentor and friend a pensive frown. “It’s all we can do to survive what is to come.”
Rarity looked back at the struggles against Discord, Tirek, and Sombra, just to name a few. “The world, and now I guess the universe as well, can be a rather dangerous place. But I haven’t a shadow of a doubt that you will succeed in giving those horrid Koridost a good thrashing when the time comes.”
“Isn’t there any way to avoid fighting?” Twilight inquired with drooped ears and sad eyes. “I’m not saying you should just accept a demand for surrender,” she quickly clarified after Alexia cast her a confused glower. “But these Koridost have the capability to make something as incredibly horrible as the Mion plague. You don’t even know what sort of military technology they have. Things that could make your nuclear weapons look like firecrackers!” Twilight's ears wilted at terrifying prospect of hostile aliens glassing Earth. “Peace might be your only real hope.”
Alexia hummed contemplatively to acknowledge she understood what Twilight meant, but remained quiet. Some nobles were already planning on possible trade opportunities from Alexia’s comments. Information on Earth was extremely sparse, mostly from Twilight being the only contact until now. Yet there was plenty of magic export potential in exchange for technological secrets. None of that crossed Alexia’s mind. She had already decided to leave that issue to businessmen and economists.
“Peace…” she said at last. “There’s all kinds of peace, Sensei. I have a hard time seeing any worthwhile outcome where we don’t have to fight for it. It’d be nice though…” Maybe the Herald was sent by terrorists or a rebel faction within Koridost society. Wouldn’t that be a trip.
“No matter what happens, Alexia, we’ll stand by you all the way.” Twilight made sure her regal tone was enough to convey the gravity of her declaration. Alexia expected no less, given how much Twilight valued friendship, but it still managed to rouse a genuine smile out of her. “Earth doesn’t stand alone.”
“Thank you, Sensei.” Both alicorns wrapped themselves into a hug.
With the party winding down, and the DJ only playing slow music, most ponies were leaving. Perched upon a dimly lit balcony with his ear stretched out like a boat’s sail, Discord hummed in bemusement. “Interesting.”
Princess Luna stood at his side, half for the company, and half to keep an eye on him since her sister went to bed a few hours prior. She had been snickering at Loki and Pinkie Pie bombarding guards with confetti and pastries with her patented Party Cannon™. Stewing in their armor, the guards had to take it all without complaint since the Captain of the Guard was making his rounds at the party. Making a mental note to give those guards only a half shift tomorrow, Luna prepared herself to hold Night Court when his comment grabbed her attention.
“What is?”
Discord shrunk his ear back to normal and started floating on a chair sized tangerine. “It seems your species has just passed my little test. If barely.”
Confusion washed over Luna for a few seconds before remembering what Twilight had told her years ago. “You mean if ponies are naturally harmonious?”
“Quite so.” Discord started peeling his chair and eating the rind. “For the briefest of moments, Alexia actually considered peace with the Koridost. A foe she personally faced for years, who she has every reason to revile and hate, and yet…” He purposefully took several suspenseful seconds to chew his last bite of chair rind. “She desired a mutually peaceful resolution.”
“Don’t tell me you started this whole thing with Earth just to test that?”
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” Discord replied innocently.
“Your methods of entertainment are appalling,” she huffed irritably. “There’s no telling how much pain you caused by forcibly changing the species of her people.”
“Is this the thanks I get for saving a whole civilization from being wiped away?” He languished with a dramatic claw to his forehead.
Luna snorted in disapproval and started cantering out of the room. “I sincerely hope this is the last time you toy with another world just to put us ponies on one of your little trials.”
Discord teleported over to lean against the door she was about to cross. A rare serious scowl on his lips caused her to hesitate. “You just don’t get it, do you Princess Luna? The trial never ends. I wanted to see just how naturally harmonious and mentally advanced ponies are, and for one brief instant Alexia surprised me. For that one moment, however brief, she was open to possibilities beyond any of her kin.”
Luna took a moment to search the draconequss’ face. The serious expression melted away as he slid through the wall like a ghost, prompting Luna to follow him into the hallway. “You make it seem like she reached enlightenment.”
He started doing the backstroke through the ground. “If you really want to think in such small terms, I suppose the word fits. I wanted to see just how harmonious you ponies are by turning some violent aliens into ponies. To see if your inbred harmony was strong enough to overcome an enemy that would never be swayed by friendship.
“Puzzlingly these self-proclaimed terrans astound me. They can be the most violent people imaginable, and yet, to those they consider friends and allies, they will fight tooth and claw to protect them. Like you ponies did with the griffins and minotaurs, these terrans have a history of turning hated enemies into their best friends.” He looked at Luna with a superior grin. “To think there is another species, a wholly different world that adheres to a similar interpretation to harmony as you ponies. Yes…” he rubbed his chin contemplatively. “These terrans are beyond fascinating.” I wonder how they’ll act once they finally meet the Koridost.
Luna furrowed her brow in deep exasperation, and stopped to stare down the spirit of chaos pushing a rubber ducky across the floor as if it was water. “You speak as if your whole purpose isn’t to spread chaos.”
“It isn’t?” Discord asked with profound mockery, putting Luna off guard with his sudden mood swing. He put a claw to his chest and swooned in a circle around Luna. “What could possibly give you that idea?”
Luna just ignored the question and lowered her head to be a hair’s breadth from Discord. “There’s something I’ve always found off about you, Discord. You were the one who ‘inadvertently’ led my sister and I to the Tree of Harmony in the first place. You sat there, allowing us to use the elements on you, acting as if the Elements wouldn’t work. The crux of it all was the lockbox.”
“What? That old thing?” Discord replied mockingly. “I do admit that whole Rainbow Power magic body paint was a rather convenient fix for Tirek’s little power trip, but it wasn’t my doing.”
Luna gave a superior smirk, knowing she had him. “I’m more interested in how the lockbox was opened. Twilight told me you bookmarked all the relevant entries regarding the individual keys in their journal. I’m beginning to wonder if your ‘betrayal’ was just a part of your game to test Twilight and her friends.” She finally had Discord’s real attention, and he pulled himself out of the floor with a flat look. “You always put up just enough of a fight to make it seem real.”
She narrowed her gaze out of concern due to his shift in demeanor, but his silence prompted Luna to continue. “Every test you’ve thrown against Twilight and her friends, from the plunder vines, to your ‘reformation’, and the blue flu incident, was some test of yours disguised in a convincing façade of chaos and abrasiveness, wasn’t it?”
“This is all fascinating,” Discord sighed dismissively, purposely evading the question, before turning around to begin walking away. “But if you’re trying to make a point, then make it.”
Shoring up her thoughts, Luna tried to distill her theory into far fewer words. “Ponies across time, myself included, have always just assumed you live to spread chaos at your whim. So why test Alexia, and the people of Earth like you did? You know she’d never have an Equestrian pony’s perspective, let alone any of the humans. Why even stay on this planet if you could be free to do as you please elsewhere?” With her suspicions laid out, Luna pressed home with her most desired question. “What is your purpose, Discord?”
The spirit of chaos teleported to be face to face with Luna. “You want to know my goals and agenda, do you?” He leaned in to whisper in her ear, yet right as he opened his mouth, he stopped himself. With his trademark mischievous grin he floated backwards and away from Luna. “You almost convinced me to break the rules. Such a naughty pony.” He was rewarded with an ill-humored scowl from Luna. “I think I’ve left enough clues for you to figure it out on your own. You’ve already pieced together this much. Let’s see if you can fill in the blanks. Au revoir, Princess,” he smirked before vanishing into a cloud of parasprite balloons.
Luna huffed at so many unanswered questions. Why do I get the feeling the game he’s playing is on a far larger scale than he’s letting on?
A few thousand light-years from Earth, a space station was orbiting a gas giant of solid blue coloring. Screens and monitors sizzled and sparkled to life as several red warning light came on. On the primary screen a warning flashed: Preparatory Sphere designation 397 has declared total mission failure. Immediate action recommended.
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Lovely ending, and yeah it WOULD be a trip if it turned out the sphere was a rebel band of Koridost.
But... but...
*sigh*
Well, I won't pretend that's not disappointing, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.
Aww, I was hoping to see more interactions between Loki and Pinkie Pie. Oh well, at least Pinkie used the line.
We're done? Ah... Such a shame, but it has been a good run. Looking forward to more from you, boss!
DisQord is at it again.
And I really hope you do make book 3... This is an awesome series.
Very enjoyable read, thank you very much for all the work you put into this, and while i would love a book 3 as i am sure others would... I am glad to see this one brought through all the way to a very satisfying conclusion. And if you do a book 3, i would certainly say take your time to make it as fun and as high quality as this one, which would be much preferable to something just rushed out to keep those who want a book 3 happy.
Congratulations on finishing round 2! If you're planning on going a third, I look forward to it!
So... Any date for the next sequel?
P.S: Good Story
ABOUT TIME I thought this would NEVER update ONWARD TO BOOK 3
Good Story Law Abiding Pony I look forward to reading Book 3 if you decide to write one I for one would love to see what Happens to Alex and Her herd how they deal with the changes to earth and how they cope with everything thats happening as well as more for the good Story Line and more for the content that you have showered your readers with Love the story Keep it coming Please
...Fucking hell, Discord's the Korridost, isn't he?
5705425 Six billion.
Oh no....
Make it stop! X'D
'Nother great chapter, loved how you gave Discord more of a "I'm above all of this, and watching you scurry around amuses me" attitude, even with Luna.
5706100 ...And why is it a shock when every other chapter, 20 of something dies?
Wonderful ^^ Deeply looked forward to, and did not disappoint!
I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed about the potential lack of another book - This has been my favorite fanfic since I stumbled into it early in it's life... But, I suppose it's your call in the end. Thank you for going this far ^^ And good luck, whatever you do next.
*mutters* Well, now the CToH group's importance has grown significantly...
Sad to see it end, but still enjoyed the ride. Makes sense that you'd focus on your more popular Hive series(Love that series too). Maybe after season 5 completes we might see a book 3? As long as you continue to enjoy writing fiction this guy will continue to enjoy whatever you send our way.
5706507 ...Temporarily excusing the fact that I might just be a sick bastard, why is that surprising? We murder thousands of our own kind daily. So... Why are you acting like it's all this and all that?
5706507
It's also incidentally almost 3/4ths of the population of ponies as Discord claimed 4 million humans would be changed to ponies. There are 1.2 million ponies left (that aren't Mion allied).
5706764
I don't know who you are referring to by we. Many humans die every day, but even several thousand humans dying in a single attack would be condemned by everyone. Tens of thousands to millions dying over the course of a war would be treated with upmost seriousness. The chapter implied countries died.
5706938 ...That would make sense, since six billion died. I still don't understand your point.
Of all the stories on this site, I think this series was my favorite. If you ever decide to go ahead with a book three, I'd definitely read it.
5706965 ...Key words being, 'So Far'.
5706951
The majority of the population of the world dying is a surprising concept to almost everyone, except you I guess (perhaps all the post apocalyptic movies have spoiled the idea for you?). The vast majority of people in the world depend on things outside their control for their continued survival. Most people cannot really comprehend the fall of civilization and how it would affect them. Losing 3/4ths of the world's population is pretty much right above the edge case for the fall of civilization and I imagine the world would appear very different from what we are used to, but still be different from any post apocalyptic setting you can think of. With the
threatguarantee of war in the future, how would society rebuild, and what would their focus be? Most of the world as we know it is based on sprawl, but would a war-time rebuilding look or be designed to be anything like that?5707034 Who says we rebuild? I honestly think 2K has some kind of Oracle that they base her information for their games. I mean, Fallout and Borderlands seem like options that humanity would take. We are violent, evil people. We all have demons. We would all kill, under some circumstance. People think that monsters lurk in darkness and shadows... They're wrong...
They are everywhere.
5707035 Yeah... THAT'S gonna go well...
5707063 Exactly that, except with 100% more death.
Great job on book 2, hopefully there's a book 3, but fantastic job regardless.
5706007 No, it sounds more like Discord is actually the god/creator of the universe, or a very powerful high ranked protector. As Luna stated, most of the things he did was to 'test' the ponies. But what is the purpose of a test? To prepare them for the real challange. Discord could actually be very good, just in his own way.
An example is a different story having the background for Discord being, he took over and became as bad as can be in the past, and waited for someone powerful and good to come smite him (Celestia and Luna). For if they can smite him and his 'evil', they could stand up and protect the nation from any other evil there was in the world.
5707034
This is pretty much right. The real devastating part comes into play when you consider that the 75% death toll will not be evenly distributed. Humanity could very well have lost 98% of its energy infrastructure and many of the old and grey people who understood how it worked on a global level. This alone would likely send us back to the dark ages. Furthermore, there are many things that would no longer be sustainable with the greatly weakened underlying structure failing to support them.
Anything that didn't pertain to survival would probably be scrapped. Scientific research? Gone. Entertainment industry? Gone. Indoor plumbing? Gone in many cases without the personnel to handle water management systems.
However, pony magic does represent a game changer. Earth Ponies seem to be able to grow anywhere, offering an eternal solution to food shortages. Weather manipulation would be even more powerful, saving trillions normally lost due to inclement weather. And unicorn magic may have no limits.
Bottom line: nothing will look the same anymore.
If you do make a book three, I hope the Terrans make space travel and 'theoretical physics turned practical physics' at the highest importance. Second to rebuilding that is.
They need to make a global effort of scientific progress, not just what we have now where funding is just enough to make steady progress.
5710643
Funny, I disagree with almost all of that.
Survival in the short term is already possible (it was said that Earth Ponies already supplied the majority of food for the west coast, and the same with Pegasi controlling the weather to remove the threat of the poison clouds). The Mions left infrastructural piping (water, power, communications) alone and even repaired and extended it in areas because it was used by them. Add into that a lack of demand for both food and water due to losing 75% of the population and I don't think those will be constraints to survival. There are plenty of free open land now to boot, though I imagine that previous population centers have been hit hard.
As you said, the death toll was not evenly distributed and thus many areas would be in better shape for rebuilding (with others completely depopulated save for feral Mions and traitor ponies who survived). The loss of knowledge isn't as crippling as it may appear, due to the stockpiling of information and the internet as access to that information.
The entertainment (or at least propaganda industry) appeared to survive intact, and while it won't be nearly as huge as it once was, entertainment is a necessary requirement, especially in wartime. The focus of that entertainment I do expect to massively change though.
Survival in the long term is entirely dependent on the ability to survive the upcoming future war. That means research and development, and lots of it.
With all the captured assets of the Mions, I imagine bio-technical research to go through the roof, especially if they need to find a way to avoid a repeat of the Mion virus. Many of the hidden facilities constructed new and improved strains of the virus thus have production infrastructure to study as well. The communication facility also has new and improved technology to study.
The only parts that will need to be built from the ground up is space flight and magitek. With the study of automated machinery the Mions employed for production (see: Berry College egg harvesting machinery directly mentioned), harvesting and manufacture of space vehicles directly in space will probably be a priority of research. Though how much space technology can advance when there exists spells that can move things directly out of Earth's gravity well opens up many possibilities.
Magic, being the only thing the Koridost have no knowledge of, would be a priority research, especially since electricity to magic converters are available (and also allow for humans to finally read the various books that previously siphoned the reader's mana to have the translation spell running) meaning it will no longer be limited to just ponies. Magitek (the combination of magic and technology) I imagine will get the vast focus of research as it's the only advantage over the Koridost. It's also the field that Equestrians would be able to also simultaneously help with. I suspect it would get something like 50% of all the research done, if not more.
Now none of this really describes how I imagine the population centers to change from the described fortress of San Francisco (with people living in additions to the skyscrapers, missile batteries under heavy guard, pegasi blimp patrols, and even roof entrances for pegasi and helicopter drop-offs).
Vertical farming is entirely possible with Earth Ponies (see: Loki growing flowers with only a sun lamp and a small plot next to a stream), and the food export industry will probably not be reconstructed, but instead focus on locally grown farms in the middle and directly surrounding all the major cities. I kinda expect city state structures to make a come-back for efficiency of material used, and the land outside the major population centers more with a skeleton population for maintenance. I highly doubt urban sprawl would be repeated due to it not being defensible against airborne biological attacks as the Mion threat showed.
I expect a metric ton of power stations to be built, though the fact that the Preparatory Sphere rendered nuclear fission useless means we'd probably see alternative methods being used. Or maybe not as it was used by all the nuclear subs on the final attack, there might be nuclear power stations everywhere. Due to magic able to rely heavily on atmospheric mana, there might even be a push for mana generators constructed around the world to prop up the background mana supply. Anything beyond that which would rely on atmospheric mana I couldn't even begin to speculate.
In summary, it would look really different from both a post apocalyptic setting (at least in countries that survived with sections intact) and future settings because of magic, magitek, ponies (complete with a foal boom that could see the numbers increasing drastically), and preparation for a future conflict that everyone assumes is coming. Not to mention the use of magical translation to get everyone to read and speak the same language. Or mentioning how interaction, immigration, and trade with another planet and it's dozens of sapient species would have long-term.
5711142
We seem to agree on the food situation: the Earth Ponies have to step in to account for the destroyed systems to transport and deliver everything since most people can't grow their own food.
Even if the mions leave the infrastructure intact, the important part to remember about the infrastructure is that it's all useless if we don't have enough people left who know how to run it. Power plants are usually by the major population centers, so likely more than 75% of all the people who have the specialized knowledge to make things work on a day to day basis will be lost. So what if the nuclear power plants are still standing if we are bereft of techs who can actually run it. Hydroelectric dams for instance, will fail catastrophically within a few days without people to monitor them. The same is true with water purification, so those systems are not sustainable.
I distinguish between scientific and military research, and I mean anything that can't pump out weapons will be scrapped.
In short, I completely disagree with this:
The real value of this knowledge is that it's in people's heads. Yes, it's all on the internet some place, but you need years of training to be able to start to understand it well enough to use it. The universities of the world are in major population centers, so everything scientifically sophisticated will be hit disproportionately hard and the people they house will be lost. We will be left with very few people that have the knowledge to make systems work and their potential replacements will be cleaned out too.
The bottom line seems to be the same though: pony magic makes rebuilding move much more quickly.
5711371
I'm going to take the coward's way out and say the military protected assets and personnel of sites of strategic importance, and abandoned the rest where it could not. Not to mention refugees all from all over the place converging on the remaining strongholds. And while there was a significant loss of life, there were population centers and their universities that survived, assuming research assets weren't taken to safeguarded locations as soon as it became apparent that the military couldn't hold onto sections of the country.
So while there was damage and a loss of life, the war did go on for several years and we can assume that there were assets that remained intact and operational, or replacement assets that were constructed after the previous ones were lost.
Though there are probably large areas of the world that are probably completely devoid of assets after the war and would have to be colonized from scratch.
Probably true depending on how broad your definition of weapons is. Making a better bomb or weapon launching platform won't be the difference between victory and defeat against a significantly advanced space power after all, especially one that has shown mastery of targeted biological attacks that can convert enemy assets, advanced automation and AI to the point where a single AI was almost able to conquer the world by itself (if the AI was on the moon the war would have been lost), and FTL communications.
An aside, but my predictions of the future of this story brings up the idea of the effect of increasing atmospheric mana on the world. We know Equuis is a really weird place with even weirder life (Crystal Ponies anyone?), what's to say that things like The Everfree Forest and bizarre intelligent life doesn't spring up on Earth? Or the sudden magical uplifting of existing species. For example, dolphins could suddenly become an intelligent magic using species, or other bizarre outcomes.
5711599
I actually wouldn't call it the coward's way at all: it's plausible speculation. If nothing else, the war effort protected some of the greatest minds that could plausibly reverse-engineer mion stuff. On the other hand, the refugee point is more difficult since the logistics would be overwhelming. Even if the airports and highways are still there, fuel will likely be scarce at least temporarily. Still, I can see refugees converging back on the attacked capitals of smaller nations even if they have to fight anarchy at every junction.
Something that's always stuck with me is the statistic that France lost 25% of it's male population between 16-24(not sure about the range) during World War II, and this burdened them for decades; some argue that they still haven't recovered completely. Qualitatively, I'm compounding this devastation on a worldwide scale.
This same idea just came to me the other day. It'd make sense in story, and from a meta-perspective it would assuage our guilt as writer/readers for making it pony transformations only and neglecting the less cute species.
Discord's purpose is simple: reverse entropy.
Discord does not lie about being the lord of chaos. Chaos is not the anti-harmony. Harmony needs some constant to base all else off of. Chaos is that constant. Chaos is the eye of the steady storm that is harmonic balance.
5711895 what a perfectly discerned answer. it simply isn't that simple but at the same time such things aren't meant to be defined...
5712712
Do you really want to start an argument about theoretical balance of the universe?
5708126 ...Whether right or wrong, that's a damned good theory. Good job.
I started a comment / review, but quickly discovered I had far too much to say in the comments section.
So I wrote a blog about it!
Wow, so you really are finished with this part of the story, I have a lot to say, but I think I'll just say that thanks for writing a great story for now and I'll make a proper comment about everything later.
Children find great strife
Evil complicating lives
Stormy horizon
Here's hoping for a book 3 of this 'verse. ☺
Discord's little speech here is almost exactly the same as Q's in the Next Generation series finale. I don't know if I should smile or facepalm.
On the whole I enjoyed the story - great job getting it all wrapped up!
I was trying to work out why i wasn't getting any notifications relating to this fic for a while. Turns out i forgot to follow it XD
6185436
Universal health care, protection of the worker, total abolition of the death penalty, etc. The only matter here is that the government is very inefficient and corrupt. So if part of the population suddenly become ponis... oppression by the government? nah, maybe the opposite to gain more votes. Also here people use to align very fast with those that they know or their family
6543406 Well I have a new chapter in the works which i will post after the next hive chapter.
6612155
So....... it's both?
6612303 please go on. We're quite interested
Mooooore! This is a great story
I just finished reading this and I've been thinking for about 15 minutes about what I should say here. I've decided on something simple...
This is the best book I have ever read.
Excellent two stories here, although there were some grammatical issues. You have a heavy tendency in these two stories to have some missing or added words to sentences scattered about, but nothing too grievous. The ending of the conflict also comes across as a bit anti climatic after the encounters you documented in the story, just 'Hey, you're looking for this ball. Blow it up.' Tad anti climatic.
The character building, world building, and interactions are very solid, each character of the lead group was interesting and easy to engage with when reading, if that makes sense. You seem to have a good ability to solidly grasp, and then convey, emotions within the writing.
Only thing that really bugs me is you have this massive opportunity to look at the meeting of the two worlds, and how they can influence each other (Twilight running the equivalent of the NSA or Alphabet Soup equivalent in Equestria was hilarious) but you only briefly touch upon it in the Epilogue. Then, you time jump 100 years into the future. Kind of killed it for me, but the first two stories are solid and entertaining.
So, excellent job there. Good premise, great execution for the most part. Would probably read again in the not too far future.