Part 6 (Alex) - Chapter 1
Somewhere above, great birds circled on glacial winds. Eyes flickered like dead stars, all fixed on her. When their mouths opened, sounds that were not sounds glided down towards her. It was hunger, but not hunger as any mortal understood it. It was the ravenous sound the starving might make after going without food for thousands of years, knowing that they might not find it for thousands of years more.
She couldn’t say what she was; whether she was a pony or human or something in-between. Whatever she was, she stood tall in the dark, resplendent in a robe of pale silk written all over with runes. “Not yet!” Talons that had torn apart worlds bore down on her to rip and tear.
She might be without help, but she was not without defense. In her fifty thousand years, she had learned much about the universe. With friction she slowed the flight of the voidborn birds, and with gravity she was suddenly standing somewhere else. She filled the space between, but not with advanced alloys. Given this enemy, she chose iron, dredged from the blood of the earth and given form by fire.
The birds of hunger screeched in anger and frustration, hideous talons digging deep gashes into the barrier. “Your time is over, human! Your age is done. Let us in, and we will take your pain! It won’t hurt!”
She did not believe their lies. She was weak; much weaker than she should be. But buried somewhere in the earth was a single diamond of faith, a diamond that was her soul. Their faith in her had not wavered. Their faith was her.
So was their understanding. Rocketry was her chariot, and the CPNFG kept out the ravenous beaks. “Not today!” they said. “But soon. You are already dead! You just haven’t realized it! You belong to us!”
She banished them; ignoring the cackles and the angry calls. Perhaps they would come for her; not tonight.
She was not alone in the darkness. In her sleep, the dark thickened and congealed, stretching its many tentacles around her. “Archive.” Darkness wormed around her legs, wrapped around her eyes. Of course it was not true darkness. It was hatred.
“This planet is yours no longer. You will submit.”
“No!” Alex awoke in a pool of sweat, curled against all the pillows in her bunk.
She heard moaning from the bunk above her, and Mariah's voice. “Shut up.”
She did. Alex pulled out one of the many pairs of bicycle shorts that served as her underclothes these days. A quick glance at the screen set into the wall revealed it was three AM, so she didn’t bother with anything else. She slipped out the door, creeping past the stallion’s bay, then out into the head. After doing her business and a quick rinse with a warm towel, she felt a little better.
Not sleepy, though. She rarely felt sleepy anymore. Her strength came from the Earth. It wasn’t the kind of strength the earth had given her before, when she’d kicked down doors and broken concrete with her hooves.
Her role was not to have great strength, not anymore. What she needed was endurance, to carry forward the memory of humanity into the indefinite future.
Alex wandered into the cargo area, stopping by the armory. She lifted the hoof bearing the gauntlet, waving it in front of the security lock. The armor opened, sliding with the whir of servos and revealing the weapons the HPI had prepared for them.
Like all their small hardware, the hard polymer had a slightly layered look to it, like it had been 3D printed. It was a compact submachine gun, plastic except for a little metal rectangle in the back. The trigger guard was huge, wide enough for even an earth pony stallion to fit his hoof inside.
Half the weapon’s mass came from a spring-loaded bipod, which could be deployed to about a pony’s height with a single press if she needed it. Alex had been impressed that the HPI had managed to modify their own weapons for ponies after only a few months, with everything else they had been up to.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel serious concern that the HPI had thought there was going to be a need for them to have weapons specifically designed for pony use. Had they anticipated armed resistance? Wild animals? She didn’t ask now.
Instead, she slung the strap over her shoulder and slid down the ramp into the night. She could not see in the dark the way she had been able to before, though the full moon high above promised she would be able to see something once she gave her eyes time to adjust. So she relied on other senses. She stood in place long enough that she could feel the earth beneath her. She held still, slowing down her perceptions with an effort of will.
Beneath her, at a distance her mind could scarcely conceive, was the beating nickel heart of the planet. Her planet. She let the life fill her, then let it take her. She could not misstep or trip, even if she couldn’t see the ground she was walking on.
Alex didn’t know where she was going. It was a cold night, but the stamina of her race was enough to ward off the winter wind. She had felt colder things in her sleep anyway. Her eyes began to adjust as she walked, but she resisted the temptation to use her sight. It was still a shadowy night, and hidden roots and rocks could still trip her. The earth would not let her trip, though.
Alex found herself surrounded by trees, at the trunk of a willow tree. Its branches cascaded down around her like a blanket. She sat beneath the branches and thought about the monster that had taken her city from her. She rested her bare back against the bare trunk, and felt less lonely for it.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do,” she said to nobody. She wasn’t even really sure why she said it. “There’s something evil in there, taking ponies’ free will away. It already got Adrian. Oliver’s probably next.” Then in a voice that was barely a whisper: “I don’t want to be alone.”
The moon shone through the trees, fuller than she had ever seen it. There was something changed about the sky, though she couldn’t say what it was. Without the light-pollution of the city, she could see thousands and thousands of stars.
“You’ve overcome worse,” said nobody.
She didn’t even think it strange, though she hadn’t talked to herself before (unless she counted her journal). She did now, though. “I’ve never fought anyone before. I’ve never had anyone try to hurt me before. You’d think, living in the city-”
The voice interrupted her. “You fought every day of your life, my daughter. And your parents before you. And their parents before them, and their parents before them. You’re just better at it than you used to be.” The strange voice seemed to surround her, like all the trees in the world were whispering at once. It laughed.
No, it wasn’t a laugh. It really was just the rustle of the trees. There was nobody there.
Alex didn’t say anything, listening for the voice she thought she heard. Sure enough, her patience was enough to help it speak. If it was an “it” at all. “Guests I could tolerate, but this is no guest of mine. You will end it for me. Favored son, champion. My strength is yours.”
Alex blinked, searching with her night-weakened eyes for the speaker. She saw nothing at first. After a few moments had passed, a form began to take shape in the distance. “Who are you?”
“Have I been so long a time with you, and yet have you not known me?” The strange feminine voice faded into the wind, dissolving back into the trees.
“How?” Alex rose to her hooves, frustration rising. She didn’t know if she was still dreaming, didn’t know if the person she was speaking to was really there or not. “I’m not a unicorn! I don’t have magic!”
“You never have before,” the night said. “It hasn’t prevented you. The vastness of creation lifted itself in anger, and you didn’t let that stop you. You always had magic, daughter. From the moment I bore you into blood and darkness. Think about it, human. Of all the others, how many can look at the aftermath of a lightning strike and see not fear, but safety? How many could learn enough to try and kill me? How many could care enough to try and save me? That is magic, human. Not runes and spells.”
The motion she had seen far away began to solidify before her eyes. Alex expected some exotic figure, perhaps a goddess. If not that, then at least an empress. Instead, the being that came running at her through the dark was her dog.
“Huan?!” She grinned, even as he ploughed into her, knocking her sideways to the ground. After a hearty wrestle, one he always let her win, Alex was on her hooves again, shoving the excited animal away. “I guess they never found you either?”
The dog didn’t reply, and neither did the strange voice. He only met her eyes, seeming concerned.
“I know you would’ve gone with Cloudy Skies if you could. You always do what I ask.” He rubbed against her, almost as she was beginning to do with other ponies. A very animal way of showing support and affection. That much, at least, she understood. Even if it made her feel less human.
It isn’t hands that make you human. It wasn’t a voice anymore, not even a whisper. It was just a thought, one she wasn’t entirely sure hadn’t come from within.
“I’m glad you found me.” She turned back towards the Hummingbird. Not because she could see it, but because she remembered each and every step she had taken to get here. From them, she could imagine the circuitous path she had taken, one which would eventually take her back. “Things are gonna get pretty crazy. I wouldn’t want you in the middle of it.” The dog licked her face, then hurried off ahead of her, tail wagging. “Yeah, whatever.” She scowled. “Night vision it up, mutt. See if I don’t get goggles one of these days.”
She didn’t get goggles during the walk back, but she did get a call. She had no satellite phone. She hadn’t brought anything besides her gun, shorts, and the electronic device she wore around her right foreleg, which she had taken to calling her “cyber-bracer” because it sounded cool.
The thing didn’t have much more computing power than an average smartphone, at least when it wasn’t within a mile or so of an HPI vehicle. This close to the Hummingbird, it could make use of the aircraft’s main computer, or any of its communication network.
The face that appeared on the screen was one she had become accustomed to seeing over the last few months: Taylor Gamble. The light and color nearly blinded her to look at, at first, face bright and freckled and hair glowing red. She might’ve thought her pretty, in the days Alex had been human and noticed such things. But as time went on, she was beginning to forget what she had found sexually attractive about humans. She remembered finding them attractive, just not why she had felt that way.
The others thought Taylor was an engineer. That was true, though it was far from her main responsibility. Taylor’s primary role was as a diplomat; a coordinator with the “non-human auxiliary.” Alex sometimes spoke with the HPI’s director, but far more often it was their handler, Taylor. Her presence generally meant that some matter or another just wasn’t important enough to warrant Clark’s attention.
“Hello Alex!”
“Hi.” She yawned, pointing the bracelet camera away from her face so Ms. Gamble wouldn’t see.
“You’re up early! Burning the midnight oil?”
Alex shook her head. “Couldn’t sleep. Weird dreams.”
The camera briefly jostled, as though the world on Taylor’s end of the call had suddenly been shoved to one side. “Know the feeling.” Her words stretched a little as she said them, like repeating a mantra.
“You do?”
The woman reached up, brushing a few loose strands of hair away from her eyes, nodding. “I’ve got a theory; there’s a constant supply of weird dreams in the world. With all the people gone, they’re not getting spread out anymore. So all the people — and ponies too I guess — left behind have to get them. Get used to the parade.”
“Have you been dreaming while you’re awake?”
Taylor chuckled. “I hope you’re not. That’s a sign of some serious medical conditions.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “What’s the occasion, Ms. Gamble? You don’t usually call this early, or riding in a vehicle.”
Taylor beamed. “Oh, those two things are definitely related.”
“Commander Clark agreed to my request for help?”
Alex was dimly aware of a sound in the distance, like thunder bouncing off clouds. It was quite faint, but getting louder by the moment. “Yep! And seeing as I happen to be a fairly competent drone pilot myself, and I know more about you ponies than anyone else, I got volunteered! Pretty neat, right?”
It was getting difficult to hear her over the roar. Alex looked up, but she saw nothing. Not at first, anyway. As she looked, she saw a patch of sky darker than the rest. She followed it with her eyes, since she couldn’t hear Taylor anymore. Far above, she saw a few flashes of light, along with the sound of faint explosions. The roaring began to fade, but the darkness wasn’t moving forward. Actually, it was traveling up. “Sorry. The drones don’t like to be dropped from altitude. We lose a few when we do that.”
“You’re not landing?” Alex asked, her ears still ringing.
“Land an Albatross a few miles away from your pony city?” Taylor laughed, warm and genuine with flashes of white teeth. “Hell no!” A few seconds later, Alex heard a terrible crashing sound in the distance, and felt the earth groan beneath her hooves. Something, a very heavy something, had just landed.
“I’m uploading positional data to your wristcom now, if you want to see if they landed okay.” Taylor’s smile widened. “I understand we’ve got a city to liberate.”
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Oh boy. Last arc or no,nsomething tells me it won't be quite that easy.
Kind of figured Odium was an Outsider.
Oh man, dis gon' be gooood.
Cavalry's here! True, military forces rarely actually have much effect on the Godzillas they're deployed against, but it's still good to have some around!
Given their attitude towards humans so far, I'm looking forward to seeing how badly Odium will underestimate what's about to hit it.
I guess Taylor's idea about dreams is a suggestion of why Equestria needs a guardian of dreams in the first place. Kind of seems like Earth is going to have to do without for a while though.
Alex is hearing voices now, one of them apparently being Earth's will or something like that. There's also a possible tie-in with how Luna explained how humans create magic (though it may be just figuratively speaking).
Now the cavalry is here! Good to see the HPI helping the Herd; of course they won't be get close personally beacuse death by magic poisoning and all of that but it's good to have their support.
Prepare thyselves, the shit's about to hit the fan!
And so it begins. It's fascinating to see Alex's altered perceptions. She is becoming more... but her grip on existence is tenuous. She is at her most vulnerable in these early moments, and Odium knows it. But she is Humanity (or so it appears,) and while the HPI may not recognize her authority, they're still willing to lend a hand.
This is gonna be good.
Yeah, that's Gaia alright; naturally it would be an earth pony, whose connection with the natural order is so much stronger, who would feel Her call.
Alex may not be a fighter or a soldier but I would remind her of an old proverb: A warrior is not born but is forged in the flames of battle. Honour, however, is something one could have with or without that tempering and Alex has that in great amounts.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that they're going to try to trap or destroy Oroubos using the anti-magic shields. It will be interesting if it works and also if there are consequences of the battle ahead.
The voice is of Mother Nature, I guess?
Yay...Operation Liberation is commencing.
It seems to me Night Speaker is the focus, take him out of the equation and the rest should right itself.
Yeehaw! HPI tech for a hit order from Archive's employer. Buckle up.
Looks. Like Mother Earth does not like filthy trespassers on her land and harming her beloved children
I wouldn't actually call her Gaia. Gaia is the earth itself. She seems to be more the elemental of humanity as a people. Consider the comment about her 50 thousand years. That's the most common estimate of modern human development. She's using technology and knowledge humans discovered. And the birds of hunger claim it's not her world anymore. She's more a female Prometheus.
I've been looking forward to the Alex chapters, this is a good start. I think the idea from one of the previous interludes that the earth is speaking and given it's favor to Alex and the former humans is now confirmed. I still hope we find out more about what really happened to Alex. I like the addition of the name Archive, it is very fitting. The Nightmare or whatever is possessing the ponies seems to think that Alex is an alicorn like the Equestrian Princesses; but maybe she is a new type of alicorn and "Earth alicorn", that's why she is still and earth pony and now has a direct connection to the Earth. I guess we will see one why or the other. Though, being without wings or direct magic would force her to use 'human magic' (i.e. inventions and ingenuity) to overcome the problems that come up, and that would go very well with the idea that is is the embodiment of humanities memory. Overall good story so far, I look forward to the end of this and the story that comes after this. I really hope that Alex gets a happy ending and not a sad or bittersweet one, but whatever happens thank you for the story Starscribe.
Time for the final descent into madness.
And that sweet, sweet liberation.
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The fifty thousand years bit was in Alex's dream though, and might reflect Alex rather than the voice she was talking to later.
"How many could learn enough to try and kill me? How many could care enough to try and save me?" on the other hand doesn't really make sense as being Humanity speaking to Alex, but does make sense from a Gaia analogue speaking about humanity.
"Ryan, we are here to discuss the terms of your surrender."
A sapient planetary will of some sort? I wonder if this will tie into exactly what happened when the magic woke up.
There may just be some truth to that.
Ooooo, tech backup from the HPI specifically to help counter this crisis? Can't wait to see what that airdrop contains. "They" makes me think combat drones of some sort, that would be a convenient way for the HPI to assist without actually sending irreplaceable humans into deadly magic danger.
Man, I can't help but look at this early Alex Chapter and see the start of a decent into some sort of madness. Well maybe not madness, but definitely something Dr. Manhattan-ish...
That line actually reminds me of that "You are the result of 4 billion years of evolutionary success/Act Like It." line you see Courage Wolf Spouting
Edit: Sorry about the double post, I'll delete the first one.
Now, I understand that you are a powerful dark magical entity, Mr./Ms. Odium, and that you want us all to fear and obey you, but if I may present a counter argument: Assault Tanks.
Alex was once a man confirmed, by the Planet Earth no less.
Unless Earth likes movie quotes...
Sounds about right, free will, the capacity to learn, empathy and compassion... Traits that make us human, unique to us on this world, the best kind of magic.
Now is it actually Planet Earth talking, or future Alex sending a pep talk back in time...
Odium better watch it, Mother Earth doesn't appreciate vagrants and loiterers.
... When they said the world was out to get him I didn't think it was meant literally...
Hmm... looks like we're taking back the city.
And now there is this Mother Nature representation of the world, it's a well known theory in most media that if a concept exists, likely it can be real in some form or vision. Who knows really, it could be a weird dream, maybe it isn't.
Well anyway, we have a brainwashing unicorn, a bunch of cultist's, smoldering books, it's daytime and Alex is wearing spats...
Let's go!
6353811 Heh maybe its Liberty Prime s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/bc/af/78/bcaf78d6753a527de56a896407856146.jpg
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You might be onto something here.
After all, Alex -or rather, Archive- was turned into a concept. Ergo, concepts can come and be alive in a world saturated with magic. This would open up a whole host of possibilities.
... Is Alex going to forget what it is like to be (physically) human? It seems to be happening already. The perfect memory only seems to apply to memories from after the meeting with Luna, after all.
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Riiiiiigghhhhtttt I forgot about that. We can only have so much distrust and speculation in one series I guess.
Go ahead, Alex, keep on hating the ponies and mentally drumming up how awesome you are because you're a primate. Keep daydreaming about being on a conversational basis with Gaia/Eve/whoever, and how proud she is of you because you're her good little primate. Meanwhile, this is how the REAL HUMANS think of you: non-human auxiliary.
The instinctive tribalism and hostility that you draw inner strength from? It's the same thing that makes real humans consider you a horse creature, despite knowing that you were human. Welcome to humanity.
I really dislike this main character. She's portrayed well. It's just unfortunate that the circumstances of this First Contact requires a cowboy to be the hero.
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I kinda wish I knew why we'd created all these weird spelling differences. I understand it about as much as I understand why English speaking countries all have their own forms of sign language. Wouldn't it make the most sense to keep things consistent? Guess you can't really force language, though. It's organic, does what it wants. Unless you've got some big external pressure holding it down, the way Arabic has been kept stable by the importance of the Quran. But we never had that in the west, so now I'm writing story and gas and shop and all sorts of other things. Guess it keeps things interesting.
6353144
Too bad Princess Luna already had a job. Ponies of earth could really use her right about now. though I guess that's been true for this whole story. Things would've been way easier if they had an Alicorn around.
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I sure hope so! I know it's gonna be crazy, in any case. I guess it's for you guys to judge if it actually turns out good.
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I think there being consequences is the one thing I can guarantee. Good? Bad? That we don't know. But if nothing changed, what would the point of having a story about it be?
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Clearly not. Can't really blame her, though.
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Oh, you're welcome! It's been pretty awesome getting to this point. I'm way excited about the next story, though I won't be starting until this one is well and truly finished. Guess we don't have all that long to wait to see that happen. Well, maybe a little longer than I'd planned on, but... sooner than I'd like to say goodbye to the characters, for sure. Guess that's what sequels are for.
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But with magic, anything might be literal!
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Once more into the breach!
ichef.bbci.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/images/paintings/pwo/large/ny_pwo_temp7_large.jpg
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This is true. I guess it's a good thing she also kept a diary.
6356044
Not saying Changeling Riley couldn't be doing that, just that shes given a pretty compelling case to the main characters that she isn't, enough that they don't even suspect that it might be happening
6356605
I don't actually know what you're talking about here. Don't get me wrong, if this'd been the first story, I'd understand well. In "Last Pony on Earth," little Alex hated her body, hated being a pony. She thought of herself as inferior and weak. She would've changed back in a second without a moment's hesitation. She resisted attempt to change her language and constantly moaned about missing her hands and such.
Alex in this chapter isn't moping about any of that. She's overwhelmed that some kind of dark god is mind-controlling ponies and she's somehow expected to put an end to it. She saw the death it caused in Philidelphia and feels responsible. She does bemoan the lack of magic, thinking that not having unicorn magic is what's going to stop her from winning. I'm confused at exactly what you think Alex was doing to "hate" on ponies. She doesn't say a single negative thing about them this chapter, that I know.
Further, let's look at the ways Alex has changed since the early parts of LPoE. She's...
1. Adopted pony language.
2. Stopped hating on her body
3. Stopped daydreaming about being human (she's actually starting to forget what human desires are even like, such as forgetting why she found humans sexually attractive)
4. Made friends in Equestria, so far as even adopting their customs enough that ponies thought she was Sunset Shimmer's little sister instead of an alien guest. An example from this chapter:
She doesn't claim that being less human is a bad thing or a good thing. She simply sates the fact that showing affection in such a physical way seems animal to her, but she does it anyway.
5. Spent time and energy learning her powers, enough that she can use her earth-pony abilities in subtle ways, like navigating a forest at night.
6. Her priorities used to be "preserve the legacy of the human race," While she still thinks about his, her #1 goal seems to be these days "Keep my friends safe", a far more pony attitude.
7. Her anger at the princesses at the end of the last story has mellowed out, and she now seems to treat their decisions with understanding:
To my knowledge, the last time we saw any real hate from Alex, it was during her confrontation with Luna. Luna's words calmed her down, and I think she left Equestria considering that pony her friend despite all she'd done. If she's been hating on ponies, I haven't seen it.
In point of fact, this is nothing to do with why the spirit/dream/whatever is pleased with Alex. Let's review:
For sake of example I'll call the thing Gaia, though I'm not confirming that's what it is. Gaia doesn't seem to much care about the body Alex occupies. Further, look at the other thing Gaia says:
She seems to be praising creativity, ingenuity, compassion. All traits encouraged in ponies as well as humans, not seen as particularly human traits. Heck, one of the items from her list is a criticism of humanity. Namely, our destruction of the environment.
I guess I don't understand what about her behavior has anything to do with hating ponies, or praising primates. It seems to me Alex has come to terms with the fact she's a pony now. She may've resented Celestia and Luna's actions in the last story, but even that anger seems to have cooled now.
This first contact appears to be an evil spirit or god of some kind, so having a character who's willing to get down and dirty about it seems like it would be necessary. I'm not sure I would call Alex a cowboy, though. To my knowledge, she's never done physical harm to any character at any point in either story. She's joked about punching Joe in the early days, before she'd really started being pony, but since then... I don't think she's even thought about it. She went to Equestria, learned what happened and became furiously angry... yet never once even thought about coming to blows.
Whatever else she might be, Alex wanted to resolve her disagreements peacefully, even then. I expect that trend to continue into the following chapters, though I wouldn't want to give anything away. That said, sometimes the only way to solve things is some kinda violence. In the end, Sombra had to be blasted with magic, so did Chrysalis. Even ponies will rise to force when they have no other choice. Odium, enslaving and murdering, isn't really an example of Equestria. Alex isn't holding his actions against Equestrians as a whole. But he's clearly evil, and she's gonna try to deal with him accordingly. However she can.
Ow, right in the feels.
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England and Scotland had to figure out some way to differentiate each other...
Aaaand now Alex is having nice chats with Mother Nature. Literally.
...... Gonna go back to reading now.
Good job, movin up in the world. Woo!
Or as I always tell people when I'm in charge, voluntold.
7230010 WORD!
7230010 and the mother fucking winged hussars have arrived!
Person 1: So, we're gonna be liberating some ponies, right?
Person 2: Yes.
Person 1: Alright. What weapons should we bring?
Person 2: Yes.
I still think that everyone's just angry because they're hungry. Get these fools some snickers.