If there were two things that could surmount fear, it would be thirst and hunger. Rasua had put on an air of stoic calm as she made her way from the ambassador quarters of the castle and out to the closest food court.
Every drone she passed was courteous enough. Most gave passing greetings, and casual acknowledgements. None of them seemed to be trying to liquefy her brain with mind bullets, so that was a plus. I’m going to be stuck in this techno bug hive for who knows how long. If they do end up frying my brain, I at least want to die with a full stomach.
Unbeknownst to her, Aegis had Intel and her squad on standing orders to shadow Rasua the moment she left the ambassador wing.
Intel was perched upon a cloud above the dining area when Rasua arrived. <Aegis, our guest is eating. Thunderfury says her aura’s cloudy, but she seems much calmer compared to the last few days.>
Aegis was cantering past the Tree of Harmony and hit the barrier just outside the cave. The barrier itself felt like soft taffy as she shoved her way through. <You think she’s gotten over the fact that we’re all psychic?>
Intel unfurled her spyglass to take a closer look. Rasua flagged down a waitress with what looked like a friendly, if perhaps neutral expression. Intel’s query towards the waitress drew the same conclusion. <Well she’s not trying to drench us in holy water anymore so we have noticeable improvement.> She couldn’t help but chuckle at that particular memory.
In her attempt to exit the cave, Aegis had got her left leg caught in the barrier, and was now buzzing her wings and scrabbling on the ground in a bid to free herself. Aw come on! Moooom! Why did you have to retune the shield frequency on me!
It took a minute, but Aegis was finally able to yank her leg free. <Alright, I’ll be right over to talk to her.>
Rasua was discovering the wonderful world of waffles and maple syrup. The exquisite sugary delight was interrupted by the waitress returning with an omelet and bacon laden plate right as Aegis came in for a landing next to the table.
“Heyya, Rasua, glad to see you finally poked your head out of your bedroom. Mind if I join you?”
“This is your city, Princess, you can sit wherever you please,” Rasua replied with forced warmness.
Aegis was starting to get better at reading Rasua’s emotional aura, and was able to pierce the friendly mask to find the undercurrent of fear. “Still, I think it’s polite to at least ask.”
The pair lapsed into silence long enough for each of them to take a bite. “So are you finally chill with all of us being… psykers, I think you said?”
“I have come to the realization that I have been letting my fear get the better of me, and as such I am making a poor example for my species.”
“Fear can be a powerful influence,” Aegis replied evenly with a mouth full of egg. “But I’m glad you are at least trying to see us as more than just brain-stealing insects.”
The constant buzzing sound from all the flying drones still brought shivers up her spine. “Y-yes, well, it helps that you’re sapient and at least look half mammal.”
“All is well then...” Aegis trailed off as she enjoyed a few more bites and some apple juice. The pause started to worry Rausa. “Except for one thing.”
And so falls the other anklet. Rasua’s fork paused in front of her mouth. The syrup threatened to drop onto her lap as she tried to guess as to why Aegis’ tone with mildly sour. “And that is?”
Aegis chewed her food for a couple of bites to make Rasua sweat. “This agreement to have some of your psyker friends settle in Alliance territory.” She stabbed an egg laden fork at her pensive feline associate. “You played me like a drum to get that agreement for nothing more than to show you we Lings are moral people.”
To her credit, Rasua looked insulted. “I don’t know what you're talking about it.”
“Oh don’t gimme that!” Aegis snarked back. “A show of morality for sanctuary for a whole group of people?”
“Are you saying you’re backing out now?” Rasua replied with condescending tone.
It was Aegis’ turn to finally set terms. “No, we’ll still help you with it, but we need a couple of concessions from you to show that we are all honorable people.”
Rasua chewed her latest bite very slowly to think. “I brought little money with me.”
“Nothing so materialistic as that,” Aegis replied with a slight chuckle. “First off, if these sphinxes are settling Alliance territory, they will not be some outpost of the Federation. They have to become citizens of the Alliance, with all the allegiances that entails. Since your own people can’t stand them, that shouldn’t be an issue.”
“I can pass that along to my contacts,” Rasua replied with a small amount of disappointment. “Some might not agree to that.”
“Well they will have to if they want to come here,” Aegis replied coldly. “The second thing I want is some of your blood.”
Rasua gave Aegis a look like she was crazy. “What could you possibly want my blood for!?”
“Because I want those,” Aegis pointed a mechanical finger at Rasua’s hands. “These metal hands are clunky, and a pain the flank for numerous reasons. If I could peel the alchemical secret to shifting flesh and blood hands out of your blood, then I’d be one very happy bug.”
Does she really have to keep reminding me she’s an insect? Rasua started nervously wringing her hands. “You don’t need to actually do anything to my hands, do you?”
“Nothing outside of just drawing some blood.” Aegis smiled, purposely showing off her fangs.
“…I can agree to that,” Rasua started with a bit of fire, “but I remember what you said about altering yourselves after others. I want assurances that you will destroy any information you gain about any other part of my body. It’s a matter of personal privacy.” Not that a race of psykers could understand the concept.
“You have my word,” Aegis replied with a victorious smirk. She was practically salivating at the prospect of having morphing hands. “So as a sign of good faith, why don’t you come down with me to the clinic to get that blood taken care of right after breakfast, and then we’ll make sure your letter back to Stratholme gets there in good time.”
Rasua had little choice in the matter but to extend her trust on the matter. “That’s fair. However, I would like to ask some questions first.”
“As long it’s not classified,” Aegis returned agreeably. She took the time to polish off her omelet and paused before ordering a second one. The gears started churning in her head as she suppressed a growing grin. If she asks what I think she’ll ask. <Bow Tie, I’d like some soup for my friend and I.>
“I think I remember you mentioning that any drone would willingly agree to… something you called a rebirth.”
Rasua’s request brought Aegis back to the present. “That’s right.”
“What does this rebirth process entail, exactly?”
“No one’s ever really asked that before, I don’t think.” Aegis was suddenly aware of how problematic a true answer might be. “Well… the root alchemy compounds, array carved into the pod or floor, and the right spellwork first put the person to sleep and cuts off all pain reception. Then the body basically breaks down into a liquid with the person’s consciousness temporarily transplanted to nerve clusters that line the cocoon.”
“Y-you liquefy?! So each rebirth kills you?”
“N-no, not really. Like I said, your consciousness is transferred to nerve clusters that are mapped to your patterns before the person is fully liquefied. After the body’s gone, the rest of the alchemical formula is filtered into the cocoon to reshape the body to the desired format. This is what allows us to avoid having like… 200 year old brains in the body of a teenager or whatever. The body reforms around the nerve clusters and then BOOM, a whole new you.”
“That’s too outrageous to be real!” Rasua insisted with disbelief written all over her face. “Surely you’re toying with me.”
Aegis leaned back and shrugged with a snide grin. “Hey, just because you don’t believe something, doesn’t make it false. I’d show you the soup Blitz will be in about a month if the hatchery wasn’t strictly off limits to non-changelings.”
“How can you be so blasé about such… insanity?!” Rasua managed to keep her volume conversational, but her tone was anything but.
As if right on cue, the waitress arrived with two bowls of chunky chicken soup for each of them. “Why? You ask.” Aegis dipped her spoon in and lifted out several bits of meat and vegetables. “Because this was me a few months ago.”
Rasua frowned at the changeling princess who was doing her best to stay serious. However, Rasua’s unamused scowl proved too much for her. Aegis’ spoon clattered loudly on the table as she started laughing uproariously, clutching her gut when her sides started to hurt. Most of the surrounding changeling simply rolled their eyes at her and continued on their way.
“Normally I’d fear risking a diplomatic incident with this, but, Princess Aegis, you are such a tool.”
Through teary eyes, Aegis looked up at Rasua who was doing everything in her power to not look like she was pouting. “Bwha ha ha ha! Y-you actually bought it!”
To think a crown princess is allowed to act so… so… childish! Despite her irritation, Rasua felt the corner of her lips arch upward. “So what is the real truth?”
Aegis let her giggles run out before picking herself off the ground and waved off some of her siblings who were worried she might actually laugh to death this time. She reclaimed her seat and shot Rasua a winning smile. “I’ll give you the simplified version. Alchemy is a combination of spellcraft, chemistry, and biological manipulation that we’ve been perfecting for the past millennium or three. The alchemical spells are so complex most of them have to be etched in multi-layered arrays. We’re talking up towards thirty arrays on a single strain.
“The arrays and spells act like guides and instructions. It changes each cell one at a time, using the alchemy components as fuel/food for the cell changes. Certain chemicals together allow for certain alterations. The contents of the alchemical slurry inside the cocoon also act as life support. Now, while alchemy is technically possible without the components, it will feed off of the recipient's own body without them and can result in death.” Which is why Aunty nearly died when she was turning.
“Consequently, rebirthing allows us to recover from just about any wound, and all non-magical diseases since the alchemy hits that stuff at the same time, so that’s another plus. The whole alchemical process is much more involved than that, but there’s no way I can explain it all. It really is it’s own field of study. One that only the queens can truly master.”
Rasua hummed in between spoonfuls of soup. It was quite good actually, and she resolved to find out what it was called later. “Certainly a fascinating method of pseudo-reincarnation. However, the way you previously mentioned this rebirthing thing, it sounded like a personal sacrifice on the drone’s part. If they’re getting a new body, then why is that?”
Aegis lost much of her mirth, and proceeded to was dunk a cracker in her soup while she framed her response. “Simply put, any drone-rebirth erases the person’s memories. They still have their root personality intact, but none of their experiences.”
“Drone-rebirth? You mean there’s more than one type?”
“Ah, yeah. I underwent a royal rebirth. For all we know about alchemy we…” Aegis hated that it was her turn to be embarrassed. “We don’t actually know why alcohol and,” she caught herself before giving away too much, ”and it’s companion substances allows royals to retain most of their memories, while drones can’t.”
Rasua quietly ate as she digested the information. “So… do you also use this drone-rebirth as a form of personality execution for criminals?”
Aegis’ mood soured greatly. “We - we had to do it once. Granny’s done it a whole bunch of times over the centuries.”
Execution was by no means a rare sentence in the Federation. I remember having to execute my fair share of rogue psykers and other criminals. “For a people who have no hesitation to use fire as a means of war,” Rasua glanced at Burny strapped to Aegis’s back, “You have such strong attachments to those of the same hive. These criminals got the punishment they deserved didn’t they?”
“Pah, as if a non-changeling could understand. It’s bad enough that criminals are starting to pop up amongst my brothers and sisters from time to time, but the worst part is their hive voice becomes so bitter and resentful. It becomes painful to hear amongst the chorus if you get too close to them.”
Hive-voice? That’s one way to put it. “Well you have my sympathies. So… Those drones that sacrifice themselves to be reborn. Why can’t they keep their memories like you did?”
“Because they didn’t undergo a royal rebirth,” Aegis replied as if it was obvious.
“And why would making every rebirth a royal one be bad?”
Aegis had to remind herself that Rasua was asking out of ignorance. “Royals like myself are rare because of two major factors: our intense desire to lay eggs and expand the hive, and the proto-queen stage of our life-cycle. As a proto queen, we have to lay eggs. Around five hundred of them over the course of a month and a half. So our species would grow uncontrollably if every rebirth was a royal one.” I mean, sure we princesses require like four times as much love as a drone just to function, but that’s a moot point as long as I get rutted every day. A familiar itch in her loins urged to be scratched. I’m glad that’s the funnest workout in the world.
Rasua recoiled a bit at the excited princess, only she assumed Aegis was imagining laying eggs. I think it might be a good idea to avoid mentioning the possibility of aborting the eggs. “So can’t you take the brain restructuring part of the royal rebirth and use it in the drone version for non-criminals?”
“Not to my knowledge.” Aegis polished off the last of her meal, and saw Rasua had done the same. “Come on, we can keep talking on the way to the clinic, and maybe burn off a bit of those big meals while we’re at it.”
The pair jogged through the city as Aegis continued. “I’m not as proficient in alchemy as my queens, but what I do know, is that the science essentially is split into two fundamentally different disciplines. Royal and drone. It’s not a simple matter of throwing alcohol and the companion substances in the cocoon and think you’re going to get a royal version of that drone. Say like, if I wanted to have a strain with stronger wings, I would use a variance 46-B9 array pattern with…”
Aegis caught herself almost giving away secrets again. “A formula mixture with a classified amount of mana. But if I put the royal mixture into that, the poor drone could end up with two heads and less brain cells. Believe me, we’ve tried, but the complications are just crazily convoluted. Royals require a vastly more complicated mix that I’m still learning.”
She gave various other harmless facts about alchemy as the pair returned to the castle and into the bowels of the former colony ship. Rasua wasn’t too familiar with the palace, but it seemed odd to go so deep. “Shouldn’t a clinic be much closer to where all the people are?”
“Yeah, see about that, that was the original plan. Then I contacted momma about it, and she said we should head over to her alchemy lab instead.”
Does she even know what she’s doing half the time? She didn’t stop talking the whole way either, so she ‘spoke’ with her mother at the same time as me? Rasua mused worriedly as Aegis skidded to a stop in front of a large set of double doors. The two Queens’ Guards glanced between Aegis and Rasua before stepping aside for them to pass.
Aegis entered without knocking, leading Rasua into a large room, and a massive wall of chemical odors. It was the same lab where Twilight had assisted Cadista in her alchemy project, the results of which sat in four sealed vats off to one side against the wall. The gentle hum of the stirring motors mixing them would fill the air for the next two days.
Rasua quickly noticed two additional Queens’ Guards on the inside as well, though they remained outwardly silent.
Twilight Sparkle was in the middle of a large waxed wooden floor with a dizzyingly complex array drawn in chalk around a glass basin filled with a murky silver liquid. A second array was on the low lying ceiling on that section of the room which Rasua realized was twenty layers of thick glass pancaked together on sliders that moved into the adjacent room. Finally, there was a briolette cut crystal that Rasua could have mistaken for a massive spear tip.
The purple matriarch’s horn was alight with the same lavender/orange glow that filled the various arrays. “Ah, good you’re both here.”
Twilight stepped away from the glass basin and gestured Rasua towards a sink. “You’re in luck, Aegis. I was planning on analyzing this dead timber wolf,” she tilted her head at a pile of lumber sitting in a cage, “for its secrets. Rasua, would you kindly wash up to your shoulders? We need to eliminate as many contaminates as possible.”
Washing up gave the wayward blacksmith just enough time to truly take in the enormity of the alchemy lab. It doesn’t seem that far off from the chemistry labs of my homeland.
Aegis on the other hand was over by the timber wolf cage kicking the inert logs. “Momma, you weren’t planning on actually making a wooden drone strain were you?”
“Ha! No, I wanted to analyze the magic so I could make moving statues and possibly improve our clockwerk designs. Aside from Rarity’s help, we don’t have enough artistry around here. Besides, the Tea’la would be a better source of information for that kind of project.”
Rasua stepped towards Twilight and gave a respectful bow. “I am ready, your majesty.”
“Good to hear you volunteered for this.” Twilight’s warm tone belied the sourness of her hive-voice. <Even if it came at the cost of even more refuges, Aegis!>
The guilty princess shrunk down at Twilight’s stink eye. <It’s still a good cause.>
<Humph.> “Alright, Smith Rasua, all you need to do is dunk your arm – um - leg… forelimbs! Dunk them into the tub here and nothing else. That way we won’t get any other parts of you analyzed.”
Rasua looked dubiously at the chemical soup in front of her. “I thought you would only take a blood sample, your majesty.”
Twilight gave Aegis a questioning glance, only to find her looking at all of the arrays with a bewildered expression. “My daughter was mistaken. Blood only tells us so much.”
The roiling silver colored concoction let off a large bubble, making Rasua’s wings shiver. “I hope this won’t cause me any sort of illness.”
“You don’t have any cut skin do you? Even a rash or scab would be very problematic,” Twilight cautioned. The three of them searched every inch of her forelimbs before deeming them unblemished. “Excellent, now put them in so we can begin. This will take a while, so get comfortable.” Rasua cringed at the cold fluid, but complied without complaint. “Oh, I almost forgot. Shift one paw into a hand, but leave the other as a paw. That way we’ll get information on both.”
“Sounds reasonable enough.” Rasua complied and watched Twilight charge her horn for the activation switch.
“Now hold still. If I do this wrong, it’ll hurt a little. If I do it right, it’ll hurt a lot,” Twilight deadpanned.
“Wait, what?!” Rasua shrieked as the light of the arrays doubled in brightness and the crystal sent a beam of purple light into the alchemical tub. The liquid started glowing with magic, making Rasua flinch away, but she kept her forelimbs in place.
A few seconds passed with there being a distinct lack of pain or even a numbing sensation. “Ah, I must have done it perfectly then!” Twilight declared. Rasua looked back at the glowing tub before turning towards Twilight who was struggling between mirth and regret. “Sorry, sometimes I let my sister’s influence get the better of me.”
Aegis had enough tact to keep a hoof covering her snickering face, but little else. Rasua decided to pointedly ignore the princess. “It is not the worst surprise I’ve had since I came here. So I have to ask, is Princess Aegis the only one interested in my hands?”
An unspoken conversation passed between mother and daughter with Twilight internally sighing. Sometimes I have to double check her purple fur to make sure she’s my daughter. “Aegis has it in her head that she needs hands. With your species, I can understand the need, but all changelings have telekinesis, so hands seem a bit redundant. It’s important to remember that making a strain overly complex causes unnecessary waste and more ways for things to go wrong.”
“You laugh, scoff, and make fun, momma, but I’ll prove you wrong about hands,” Aegis said with an excited buzz of her wings and a smile to match. “With Blitz and me armed with arms, we’ll be the best hive yet, you watch!”
“I certainly hope you are,” Twilight replied before refocusing on the crystal above Rasua. First Mother knows how many resources I’m putting into this grand experiment of hers. “Are you comfortable, Rasua?”
“Enough, your highness.” About as much as I can be with this slurry seeping into my fur, yuck.
“Excellent.” Twilight looked deep within the crystal to see several arcane formulas taking shape within. “Good, the information is coming in nice and clean. It’ll take the analytical arrays some time to filter out the errors caused by contaminates. Not even washing can eradicate it all.”
Rasua shifted on her haunches, thankful that Twilight had the presence of mind to pull a cushion over, even if it was flat from constant use. “How long did you say this would take?”
“About four hours,” Twilight replied quickly. “We’ll need to repeat the process once or twice more depending on how clean the data is.”
Oh happy day.
Aegis stepped up to observe the process more closely. Even with Blitz taking the role of the civic queen, Aegis still wanted to learn everything about her royal duties.
Rasua eventually resigned herself to playing guinea pig. Well it doesn’t look like these changelings will get much out of this little donation to the cause. If Queen Twilight is that dubious about my hands, then she might order Aegis to give up on it. Then I’ll have conceded to one of their ‘requests’ with them gaining nothing from it. Either way, a win-win for me. Suddenly, the icky feeling of the lukewarm slurry covering her arms wasn’t so bad anymore.
A clock on the wall ticked away for several minutes before Aegis looked at Twilight. “Momma. Will we be able to integrate these new hands into Blitz before she hatches?”
Seeking to glean anything about alchemy, Rasua listened intently. Plus there wasn’t exactly anything else she could do. For her part, Twilight's eyes remained glued to the ever expanding information in the crystal. Even I can’t keep up with this. I’ll have to create a Linkscape later to study it all. “I probably won’t have this worked out for some time.” She guided Aegis’ eye to the swirling cloud of arcane symbols and graphs that were forming into the crystal <As you can see, young one, the sheer amount of information gained from a living sample is enormous.>
<Wooow.> This was the first time Aegis had witnessed alchemical sampling and the data looked more akin to a fluid work of art than anything scientific.
<The trick, my little Spitfire, is first mapping everything. Then we have to figure out which parts of this data holds the key to the trait we want, namingly shifting hands. Then we have to carve out all the unneeded sphinx data and interpose your strain on top of it.>
<Oh, Oh! I know the next bit!> Aegis butted in, <You have to run alchemy tests on small tissue samples to find a way to get my Ling cells to accept the new genes without dying or causing cancer.>
<Excellent, Aegis. Now what’s the next step?>
Aegis felt all warm and fuzzy at earning her mother’s pride. It was always more intense whenever she was learning scholarly pursuits. <You have to figure out what combo of chemicals, array patterns, and spellwork will safely transform me from my current self to the new and improved me. Although results vary depending on the future rebirthee’s strain. Some changes, even complex ones, are easy while others are impossible no matter how hard we try. Like love production before you became a ling, or our inability to remove the holes in our limbs and wings.>
<Ten points to you, Aegis, well done. I just might make a proper queen out of you yet.>
Rasua rolled her eyes as the two audibly silent changelings squashed each other in bear hugs, but said nothing. That stupid psi-talk of theirs is so damned rude to everyone else in the room.
Twilight let go of the hug and refocused on her work, with Aegis hovering nearby to help in any way she could. Small talk between Aegis and Rasua allowed the pair to pass the time when Twilight wasn’t directing her daughter’s attention to key points in the alchemical scanning process.
Even though Twilight had no interest in gaining hands for herself, she was still fascinated that the sphinx’s natural evolution would cause them to gain such a natural and highly specific shapeshifting. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they were two different species who were perfectly fused into one.
Sadly, Twilight’s excitement over new scientific discoveries was interrupted by Gentle Touch. <My queen, I think you’re going to want to attend our budget meeting tonight.>
Is she serious? I was going to spend the whole night with Ratchet on a romantic night out. <You know I had plans for tonight right?>
<Indeed I do, and I have already cleared tomorrow night for you and Ratchet, but I think you need to investigate this sooner rather than later.>
Twilight hummed in thanks. <Glad you took that into account, my dear. So what’s so important that it needs to postpone my scheduled Romance Night?>
<Weellll,> Gentle started with supreme sarcasm. <The boys down in the shipyard just sent us a preliminary laundry list for the logistical costs of supporting the new “carrier” from SG. This would more than eat up the thirty million we just got from Grandmother’s trade savings. That would mean you’d have to stop egg production immediately again.>
<Are they mad?!> Twilight half-raged, <We have to use that money to boost the economy and allow us full egg production again. Mother said it should only take ten million at most.>
<Well then I would bring it up with her, or the engineering crew. You might want to investigate the ship itself to see what the issue is.>
Twilight was starting to lose focus on the data from the crystal. <I’ll have to. The R&D department always go over budget if you let them. Put a hold on any funding requests until I can inspect the ship myself.>
<As you wish.>
Rainbow may be content with just being a general, but I need to bring her back in on this so she can learn how to curb the money hungry research teams.
get
___________
laugh, scoff,
____________
... I can not get the image of a sexy LingOtaur Blitz out of my mind.
One step closer to Aegis getting herself some flesh and blood hands.
im surprised rasua didnt ask anything about the hivemind
It really is it’s own field of study. One that only the queens can truly master.”
its*
”and it’s companion substances allows royals to retain most of their memories, while drones can’t.”
its*
Twilight should put Spike into a vat up to the base of his head and do body scans of him. Indestructible draco-lings would be amazing. If they have ways to do advanced neural mapping too they should do that. A dragon is supposed to live a crazy long time so maybe their minds have a greater potential for memory retention. Maybe it could keep the memories for drones easier? I dunno. But I also think Aegis would love fire breath. Twice the burning.
ok i will admit the author's note section was funny and good job so far on the story still waiting for the other updates.......
You are cracking out this story like a mad man. I envy your diligent writing skills. I look forward to seeing how Rasua continues to interact with the changelings.
Genetics do not work that way.
...
Actually, nothing works that way.
5816954
And Pretty Pony Princesses don't move the sun and moon, and metal battleships don't fly, and unicorns and pegasi aren't real, psychic hiveminds are figments of imaginations, zerg-like assimilation and mutation of species is just a thing of games, magic doesn't exist except in slight of hand and storybooks.... what's your point, exactly?
5817005 I understand a phobia being difficult to deal with. in fact i agree with you about them. but Rasua's fear of psykers seems to be more of a society based fear. Granted, she may have had unpleasant encounters before, but i don't recall any mention of Rasua being a victim of a psychic attack. I just think Aegis would get Rasua calmer a lot faster if she just said "lol no we can't touch your mind" or "hivemind is totally different thing than what you're talking about."
Also, I find the term "Knowledge is power" to be quite helpful in dealing with new stuff.
But then again I'm weird
5817076 totally forgot about the fear of insects... But I agree with you on all those counts. Hopefully she does start asking questions because that'll put her mind at ease alot
starcraft II reference
it's good to see rasua is sort of coming to terms (or at least figuring out how to get leverage about it) with the changelings all being bug-psykers.
I hope one of the lings takes time to explain it to her properly.
5816974 The key difference is that those phenomena are either unexplained or have been explained in ways that are not very bad science. Changeling alchemy has been explained in a way that involves very bad science.
Coming up with weird magicy things that codify the traits of one creature into a package that can be applied to another is...well frankly I'd still be inclined to criticize that but it wouldn't be wrong per se. Using magic as a stabilizing influence on a process defined scientifically through biological principles is an entirely different fish.
Besides, not a lot else going on. For all the interesting possibilities over the psychic mess, this chapter is dominated by the far less interesting search for hands and casual lechary of changelings. This is my unimpressed face. It is unimpressed. And face-like.
5816847 This one fully approves of Dracolings.
5817484
You seem to be quite the scientific guru. It's easy to just criticize, so I'd like to see some ideas to give your grievances some actual weight.
Genetic is magic? Alchemy? XD
The explanation about alchemy is quite interesting. But I just began to wonder if the proliferation of twi brood will be good for the rest of species, because the have lost the main population limitator was the need of love. But now they keep the insane growing rate of the changelings, plus the increasing life quality and spam associated to their amazing technological development. In some hundred years they should be able to populate all the planet. I suppose the only thing that keeps the rest of the sentinent species safe, is the kidness of twi heart
Sorry for the babling
It was funny to imagine the R&D team of crazy scientist hungry for money xD
5817528 I'm a very scientific minded person, yet even I can suspend my disbelief. I'm surprised Ryvaken is having this much issue with it. In a world where Evolution doesn't function right at all, how is it alchemy that bugs him?
5817484
Also, there are spells that turn birds into flying oranges, your argument is invalid.
5817528 Your story's interesting, but alchemy has always been one of the background pieces I've done my best not to think about. You made that impossible in this chapter and cranked the illogical up to eleven, snapped my suspension of disbelief like a twig.
The hardest piece to swallow was the implications of specific gene chains creating a specific end result. DNA isn't like a blueprint, it's like a fractal. A relatively simple equation that, when used properly, gives rise to a much more complicated, perhaps infinitely complicated, pattern of forms and traits. The function of what you want to do is to take a trait from one organism to another. That's phenotype, observable traits and end results. The language you're using is genotype. That's kind of like studying Latin to prepare yourself to visit France. There's a relationship there, sure, but it's just not the right language to use.
It's good to see you on a roll
5817669 the population limiter is meat, thought changelings require meat unlike automation changelings.
also, i believe that the author mention some other limitation in a previous comment on a previous chapter.
5818033 Oh I did not read all the comments
Hmm but they are ongoing both industrial revolutions very fast. The improvement in technology should cover the need for food soon. Also with the new cattle they are getting plus their knowledge of "genetics" the meat should not be a problem. Or maybe they discover the seaweeds and tofu XD
5816954 Magic, that's all i say.
5817995
DNA is definitely a blueprint. Definitely, no way around it. Specific gene chains do, generally, produce a specific end result.
DNA is, quite simply, code to make proteins. That's it. Of course multiple genes all expressing together can make a bunch of protein which can then be combined into more complex things etc.
You can take any section of code from any species, and put it into any other. As all life on Earth uses DNA (or RNA, which is almost the same thing and we use it anyway during protein transcription), everything can code every protein if given the code.
Some examples:
Glow-in-the-dark dogs. These dogs were genetically manipulated to possess a gene that codes for a luminescent protein (GFP? I think? Might be something else as well as that, I've seen both red and green glows), originally extracted from jellyfish.
Insulin production uses the human insulin gene inside bacteria.
One treatment for cystic fibrosis involves a virus (okay not technically alive but it's the same technique) containing the corrected ion channel protein code for the sufferer being sprayed into the lungs.
Genotype is the entirety of DNA that an individual possesses. Take any body cell, extract its nucleus, and there, you have the entire genotype.
The phenotype, on the other hand, is the gene expression. It is the culmination of the genes that have been activated over an organism's lifetime.
For example, the broadleaf plantain. This is a small plant, does well on grazed grassland. If it isn't touched all that much whilst it grows, its leaves grow upwards, becoming fairly thin and spear-like.
However, if they are exposed to trampling, they grow flat and close to the ground. Their leaves are far rounder, too.
So the genotype holds all of the information about all of the possible phenotypes. Barring external stimuli such as food availability (consistent abundance of high-quality food = maximum possible size as determined by genetics/frequent starvation and malnutrition = stunted growth etc) or injuries.
Different stimuli will trigger different proteins to be made. A small-scale example would be the chemical 'cascade' after an injury. Damaged cells will release a protein which will trigger other proteins in the blood to change, and these changed proteins will then trigger more until a scab forms etc.
For limb development, much of that is complicated, and in a lot of animals, can only be triggered once per lifetime, with the rare exception of a few species which can grow them back if damaged.
In regards to the story, the real test is how to reconcile DNA with magic. DNA only produces proteins, so is magic a product of a protein-stimulated chemical cascade? *shrugs* Sometimes it's better storytelling to leave things a little bit vague when trying to work science and magic together.
Like Rasua's shape-shifting paws. Does she possess the DNA for both appendages at the same time, use magic to change the expressed gene sequences and remould into the desired version (in an instant 'reduce to primordial soup and grow back again' process)? Or do both versions exist at the same time on different planes of perception where the magic switches between them?
So it's less like studying Latin to go to France, than it is studying Latin and therefore understanding French far more than you did before, because now you can draw parallels between English and French words using their Latin roots. And as a result, you can make a decent guess at Spanish and the other Latin-root languages too. Still, you'd need to study each one in turn to actually learn them. Then the more you know, the easier it is to pick new languages up. I don't really know what I'm doing with this analogy.
Actually, one thing that is a little bit off is that just analysing Rasua's arms is still going to allow them to access all of her genetic material, because each cell in the body contains 100% of the DNA needed to create an entire organism (apart from gametes, of course, that's a given. Unless you're a plant, because who knows what the hell they're doing).
Of course, this is operating under the assumption that the genetic material of the creatures in this world is in any way close to DNA. It might be comprised of entirely different material, or at least be a different structure to the double-helix. The balance of elements in our world that led to DNA being made of what is is might be different in Equestria. After all, magic exists, and who's to say that's not woven into their genetic material too?
Wow, this was a bit long, sorry!
Great chapter!
5818323 Well that was might lot for the scientific analysis but I think you are correct in your assumption here.
As to the author I really like this chapter it was nice to see Twilight and one of her kids bonding in such a way Past few chapters you haven't seen that so it was a nice change of pace I can't wait to see if Cadista's alchemical experiment worked I WANT MOAR SOON! If that is alright with you
5817995
You're right, Twilight is talking Penotype because that's all she knows. I have made it a point to completely avoid using the term DNA in any part of the story because none of the queens (twilight included) knows anything about DNA. You can have genetic manipulation without knowledge of DNA. Just look at the history of corn, wheat, dogs, and cats as a few examples. (granted that was through selective breeding, but the end result is the same.)
The alchemy scan isn't reading the Rasua's DNA, it's reading the end product, namingly Rasua's arms. Think of it like this: modern scientists see DNA in C++, where as alchemy reads everything in Java, and DNA is the end product application.
The alchemy scanner works by reading how the targeted cells/tissue express themselves and then spelling it out to Twilight in Java. Then she figures out the alchemical formula to replicate the desired traits, and then impliments them with a combo of spellwork, arrays, and chemicals.
All Twilight knows is that this SAC combo A produces result B.
She has no clue about DNA. What she doesn't know, is that her Java is not only forcing the cells to expressing the desired trait, but also rewriting the DNA to match it.
If alchemy didn't to the second part, then there would be potentially massive complications (cell death, cancer, etc etc.) If those complications occurred, Twilight would just assume it was a bad alchemical formula and try again.
I cant really do into this kind of detail in the story because i have to work within the characters' knowledge.
5818323
You pretty much got exactly what i was going for. Alchemy reads cell expression where modern scientists are able to look at the DNA (blueprints)
5818195
If magic supersedes reality, it's called fantasy. If magic supersedes logic, it's called lazy writing.
5818323
I had a couple paragraphs that actually addressed that but cut them because hey, too much science content. Short version: take a look at how many of your examples are making a protein, hormone, or other compound manifest in an organism. Then look at the donor for those gene changes and ask if they manufacture or use the same compounds the same way. Yeah there are going to be a few cases where they do, but in most cases there are differences, often extreme ones. The glow in the dark dog is a couple compounds in the skin, and the result is pretty boring because hey, fur. Try giving that dog hands or a wing. It's not going to work. Physical structures are a completely different thing.
Try this for an analogy: computer programming. Changing a subroutine is relatively easy, although often unpredictable. Changing part of the result of calling multiple subroutines without messing anything else up is a completely different thing, and is basically impossible to pull off by just stealing the code from somewhere else. By the time you're done, you'd have put in more work than writing it from scratch.
Your point about how environment expresses phenotype also strengthens my argument. The chapter is about an animal trait that is defined in the phenotype -- shifting hands. Even with all the genes for all the necessary physical structures scattered throughout all the chromosomes -- many of which serve roles in defining other physical structures -- you only have part of the picture. You're missing all the influences environment has on how the genotype is translated into a phenotype, much the same way Latin is missing a thousand years or so of cultural development into French.
5818323
i.imgur.com/IW8simF.gif
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5818049 would seaweed and tofu have enough protein for them? because, iirc, that was the main thing, a herbivores diet couldn't supply them with enough protein.
5818927 Well if we use real science, the problem is not the proteins but the aminoacids(that is what proteins are made of) Dunno about changelings but it suppose to be able to obtain all of them from fungus, seaweed and vegetables... But you alwas play safe and use milk and eggs ;)
Thank you for another prompt update!
I have a question: will we find out about those disappearing marks in changeling wings? Please, say we will!
5819262 i don't know about fungus and seaweed, but i do know that vegetables have far less amino acids than meat. fish contains almost as much as mammalian meat and would probably be the easiest source to obtain in a large amount, assuming they manage to figure out how to do so.
It's almost a shame, that complete bodily liquidation explanation was fun while it lasted.
Dang, an airborne naval fleet is apparently not cheap.
Just being really picky here, but I'm pretty sure it should be "Why, you ask?", not "Why? You ask."
Excellent chapter, as always
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Ahh, the wonders of budgeting on a governmental scale.....
5818601 why did this comment get a thumbs down
5830190 Because some person either doesn't like GIF reactions, or thought I was being a smart ass and took offense to it, or they just felt like downvoting something. Hell if I know.
5830517 what an aaasss ho
5830588 Ikr?
5818566
Sounds like protein folding.
5817995
And they've stated that they don't know the process well yet. They're messing around with something that was likely put together by a savant, and they're just eighth-grade science students. They can follow the manuals, and are trying their own recipes, but nothing they're doing is assured. Once they find a new blueprint, they can use it to make more like that.
5836300 hmmmm yeah you're right that's a little bizarre that they reference having tanks in a nation that has almost no weapons, and the ones it does have are either magical or medieval.
Continuity error maybe? There's a lot of those, especially in the first season.
5836546 Schizo Tech. Or the Royal Guard is only a ceremonial force and not meant to be an actual military.
In addition to the tank reference, we've seen, scattered throughout the show: modern-looking police officers/security guards, night-vision goggles, army helmets and (iirc) flak jackets. And ponies do have access to cannons. Pinkie has one, and it's not the only one we've seen, iirc. They also have modern medical technology, which has been seen multiple times.