Chapter 10: A Little Favor (291 AE)
Their new world couldn’t afford to waste chemistry on embalming. That meant Sky’s funeral was held the next day, in the old church that was still used as a church. Sky’s will named a priest and the rites she wanted, so there were few decisions Alex had to make on her behalf. Her death came as no terrible surprise.
It seemed like half the business stopped in Alexandria that next day. The funeral procession blocked traffic, and the old church spilled ponies into the aisles and up into the rafters too. Alex didn’t officiate, that was business for Sky’s eldest living child, an elderly stallion with Adrian’s coat and his mother’s mane.
Lonely Day stared at her face in the casket through the whole service, trying to decide if there was such thing as a soul. Could an immortal ever see her mortal friends again? Was there anything left of them to see?
She didn’t bother asking any of the city’s priests; Archive knew the contents of every holy book, every doctrine. Even the new bible, the one that replaced every reference to humans with ponies instead. She could take no solace in those words. If Archive was supposed to be the collective will and memory of humanity, where was her faith?
She didn’t feel helpless the way she had felt when Cody died. As she followed the little pine coffin into the graveyard, she felt only cold. It wasn’t the snow or the wind that made her feel that way, either. It was just as Sky had warned. If this was going to happen to all her friends, maybe the best thing for Alex would be not to have friends at all.
She stayed behind, staring down at fresh earth covering over in a thin layer of ice. “Not for you.” She was so numb the cold of winter couldn’t touch her. “You shouldn’t have to be here under bare ground all winter.”
Alex persuaded the grass, encouraging the empty spaces around the grave until they turned from brown and yellow to bright green. There had been a time when her grasp of earth-magic did not extend to pushing living things outside their season. With enough passion, she could now ignore that restriction. Even though her body never grew, her magic did.
“I need you to grow,” she persuaded, gesturing and stroking until the icy dirt had been covered. Several of the flowers mourners had brought took life and root again through her magic, springing into an unnatural bouquet. In the warmth of her magic, life could thrive again.
But not Sky’s life. Not even Oliver at the height of his skill had been able to turn back aging and death. Alex couldn’t either, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Maybe Sky had really been able to see something, and she was really someplace better. That was happier to imagine than her friend being gone forever.
As usual, Lonely Day was not left alone in her graveside vigil. This time though, the interruption came from ponies she didn’t expect. “Hey.” She looked up, at the figures approaching her through the gloom. Both were taller than ordinary ponies, with wings and horn both. Aside from these similarities, they couldn’t be more different. One had a bright orange coat, the other glistened with black chitin. One led a group of Equestrian immigrants to Earth, the other was the absolute monarch of the successful changeling colony that was Alexandra's sister city. “I missed you two at the funeral.” She gestured vaguely at the patch of warmth and green against the chill, at the base of Sky’s stone marker. “I already did the decorating, sorry.”
Sunset reached her first, and took up Alex in a hug of wings and body both. She had grown another few inches in the last few centuries, her horn longer and sharper than it had been, but otherwise she was the same pony. One touch of her coat banished the thickest winter and melted the snow at her hooves. “I came as soon as I could. There was an incident in… I think your word for it is… Korea? The ponies there needed our help until just now. I’m sorry.”
The queen greeted her next, her armor as cold as the winter air around them. Yet she was no less friendly for the contact. “I said my farewells three weeks ago,” she said, shrugging one shoulder. “A gathering of shared suffering would have served no purpose. A dead pony has no use for my mourning.”
Alex forced a smile, looking down at the grass under her hooves. “She wouldn’t want you to be sad for her. But if you didn’t come for her… what are you both doing here?”
She felt the ground shift as Sunset sat down beside her. Even so, it was Queen Blacklight who spoke first. “Debts must be paid. Debts must always be paid.” She sat down on Alex’s other side.
“She knew you’d be here.” Sunset reached out, stroking the frozen strands of her mane out of her face. “Sky told me you did this each time one of your friends died. Staying out here like this… you might’ve frozen solid.”
Day shrugged, staring down at the ground. “So what. I’d thaw out eventually. Maybe I’d get lucky and the ice would keep me from waking up until spring.”
Sunset shoved her. Not very hard, but hard enough that she couldn’t miss it. “Would that make you feel better? Would your friend want you doing that?”
“No.” She couldn’t meet her eyes. “She made me promise not to.”
“Why don’t you come inside.”
Lonely Day shook her head. “I’ll come in when the sun comes up.” There was no trace of hesitation in her voice. “I never promised I wouldn’t. She’s the last of the founders. If I don’t sit here, nobody will. If you’re going to try and get me to go in, forget it. Come and get me in the morning.” Riley sighed, but neither of the strangers budged. Aside from the wind, the night went silent again. They stayed that way all night, without complaint.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” she said to Sunset, near dawn. “About this feeling I’ve had. I figure you might understand.”
The Alicorn shrugged. “I’ll help you if I can. What feeling?”
“The same thing we talked about before, only now I think I can put it into words better. I don’t just feel like there’s something I ought to be doing, I don’t feel complete. A piece of me never got put into place.” She made vague gestures over herself with one hoof. “Do you know what I mean?”
Sunset was quiet for a time. “Not firsthand. I know what you must mean, though. It’s fairly clear.” Day waited. “Ponies are supposed to grow. From our first moments of life that’s what we do. You haven’t gotten to grow since you were in Equestria. You probably feel trapped. Every day you get wiser, smarter. You should change, but you can’t.”
“Yes!” She smiled for the first time that night. “That’s exactly it. How do I come unstuck?”
The Alicorn frowned. “I don’t have a new answer for the same problem even if we better know what it is. You’re not a pony anymore, we can’t change you back. Not even Discord could change you back now. You can’t go back, so you have to go forward.”
“The only way to go forward is to be like you. You’re the only step there is.” She deflated. “I’m not any closer to knowing how to do that than I was a century ago.”
Sunset let her stew a moment before replying. “You could always try to let your civilization grow. Enough people believing in you might be enough to trigger the change all on its own. Natural growth over time.”
“Maybe.” She shivered. “Ponies are changing so fast. Even if they haven’t lost the essential spirit of humanity, I don’t know they won’t one day. Some days I feel like the HPI is the only reason I wake up in the morning. I can’t do my job if everypony forgets. It’s a stupid paradox!”
“Just focus on something else, then.” Sunset learned closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. It didn’t make much difference; the only other pony there was Riley. There were no unwanted eavesdroppers. “Celestia did less for you than you think, Lonely Day. Luna selected you from the hundreds of other candidates because you didn’t have to change to be made into the Archive. We just provided the magic, but it could’ve happened on its own.”
“When it happens in Equestria, ponies are generally assisted along just as you were, if less directly. The last stage is always yours, though. You need to discover what magic is. To you, I mean. When you know the answer to that… not just intellectually, but really know it… everything takes care of itself. You’ll finish the transition Celestia helped you start.”
Day nodded, though of course she wasn’t any closer to her answer than she had been. At least she knew the direction she needed to move in, marked out by ponies that had traveled that way before. That would have to be enough.
* * *
“You think so little of me?” Riley asked, tone neutral. “Have I not been here long enough to qualify? You waited for Sky, will you not wait for me?”
Alex kept her tone flat, even if the queen's words implied offense. That was part of the way you dealt with changelings, a technique she had long since mastered. When emotions were food, reflecting your emotions was akin to bloodying the water for a shark. Even a friendly shark had to be treated with caution. “I never knew you cared about sentimentality, Blacklight. I would, of course, be happy to stay if you needed me. I just wasn't under the impression you did.”
“No sentimentality,” she echoed. “I will happily exploit the sentimentality of others, however.” She met Day's eyes as she said it, utterly without flinching.
“What exploiting did you have in mind?” It was all she could do not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
“In order to understand, you must learn more about the affairs of changelings than any outsider has been told. I will first require your word of silence.”
Alex glanced up to Sunset. “You won't sneak away without saying goodbye if I ask for privacy, will you?”
Sunset chuckled. “You know me too well. But not tonight. I said I would finish your vigil with you, didn't I? Sky was my friend too.” She left, though didn't go much further than the graveyard gate.
“What is it then, Riley? Something you want me to do to alleviate the guilt I'll feel to be leaving you behind?”
“Yes. As I said, you must understand the issue at hand first. I believe your concerns and mine are related. You know little of the private affairs of changelings... we queens have instincts that encourage reticence. Yet I tell you: among the other queens, it is not unusual to find less than one percent of drones ever becoming intelligent in their lifetimes. To my knowledge, my hive has more than any other, at about ten percent of drones eventually becoming intelligent.”
Alex gasped. “All the cooperating you've been doing with Alexandria... all the drones working all over the city... and it only worked for ten percent?”
Blacklight shrugged. “Tell that to the dozens of my daughters that have lived and died in that ten percent.” She chuckled. “Even so, your concern is mine as well. I believe a significant portion of the program's failure to be systemic. Ponies are most willing to enlist our help in the worst jobs, most thankless and dangerous. These jobs often isolate my drones, giving them no opportunity to spend time with ponies. Yet even a large portion of those who operate around ponies never wake up.”
“I taste your pain, Alex. You wonder if your friends who die before you still exist. I wonder if my daughters ever existed at all. Are souls distributed randomly among them, or does each have some seed which, when carefully tended, may grow?”
Lonely Day nodded. “I think I understand.”
Riley leaned down closer, close enough that Alex saw the sharp point of her fangs. Her voice was a deadly whisper. “Perhaps you do. But you fail to understand the implications. The lives of many ponies may depend on the answer.”
Day was taken aback, and indeed she retreated several paces from the queen, until she found her back against Sky's marker. “H-How?”
“A queen's power is tied directly to the size of her swarm. Yet this cannot continue forever, with changelings overwhelming all other beings, because we also depend on the emotions of other creatures to feed us. Even in Alexandria, where it is freely given, this resource is finite. Further, its use varies. Our sleeping drones, though weaker than ponies and less intellectual than dogs, grow swiftly and require little emotion to survive. When they wake, they require much more, almost as much as our males. Little nymphs and the queens they become require even more. Can you see why Alexandria's swarm is not the world's largest, despite our partnership with you?”
“You have more intelligent drones,” Day answered. “I know you don't force them to live with you when they wake up, but... most do. So the more successful you are at helping your drones wake up, the more food you take, so the smaller your hive has to be. How much of a difference is it?”
Such abstractions would've escaped an ordinary pony. But Alex had seen inside that mind, she knew the way queens thought. They did not see the world as other beings did. “A power of ten.” She let that sink in. “I fear I may be confusing you. I’ll explain it simply: if there is a way to guarantee every drone rises up intelligent and awake, I will be obligated to explore it regardless of the consequences. Perhaps other queens would be willing to sacrifice the personhood of their children on the altar of power. I merely inform you of the factors weighing on the decision to impart to you the gravity of my research.”
“Which I’m involved in somehow.” Alex sat down beside the grave. “I think I see how the questions are related. So you’re going to use my sympathy towards you to get me to do some favor that will help you figure out if your drones were always smart or not… and the answer I find out could have big consequences. What can I do that you can’t? And… why wait until now to ask? I would’ve helped you without leverage.” Not that it was really leverage to begin with. But acknowledging the attempt was part of the game.
“The experiment requires your full attention, which you could not give while caring for a dying friend. Cloudy Skies deserved every bit of your love, but she cannot use it now and so it can be repurposed. The experiment is… well, perhaps it would be easier to introduce you. May I bring her to your home tomorrow afternoon? It will take some time to make the necessary preparations. I would, however, need your assurance that you mean to agree before I begin. I will not callously waste the lives of my children, even drones.”
Lonely Day considered a moment, knowing she would get no more from the queen. She nodded. “For such an important cause, of course I’ll help. Though… as I said, I’m leaving the city. I have to meet with my estate manager tomorrow, make sure he’s clear about what I want done. After that… one more night’s sleep, and I’m out. Drop by Cloudy’s house. She left it to the city for an orphanage, but all those wheels are still turning. I’ll be around until evening, if that’s long enough.”
“It will be.” Blacklight touched her lightly on the shoulder. “Thank you, Lonely Day. If you can do this…” She sniffed. “You don’t know how much of a difference it will make.”
Alex felt purpose again. She wondered if this was somehow Sky’s plan. She didn’t even know why they needed her, and so she couldn’t help but be curious.
Alex finished her vigil at the grave of her friend, last of the founders. When the sun finally came, she said one last prayer for Sky, then turned her back on her city.
She went to her secret place, dug out the saddlebags Luna had given her all those years ago, and brought them home. She spoke with lawyers, members of the family, and used what spare moments she could find to load up on provisions for her journey. It was true, of course, that she could catch the train to Colorado.
She wasn’t going to do that. She would walk.
* * *
It was late afternoon when Blacklight returned, wearing her unicorn disguise and flanked by several camouflaged drones. She hadn't knocked, shaking Alex from her slumber on one of the couches. She sat up, and in a second she was coherent again. “Riley. Good to see you. Sorry, I… I think I dozed off.”
“So little sleep is bad for a pony.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “What’s it gonna do, kill me?”
The queen had no response to that, just stared silently for a few moments, as though she wanted to understand but couldn’t. Eventually she gave up with a shrug. “I brought her.” She gestured vaguely over her shoulder, and one of the drones stepped forward. On her back, Day could see a tightly-wrapped bundle, squirming slightly. Riley’s magic levitated the cloth away, setting the contents on the ground in front of her.
It was a drone, one of the youngest she had ever seen. It was perhaps the equivalent of five years, though she knew their accelerated maturity meant it was probably less than one. The poor creature had clearly been through an ordeal. Her face was haggard, her wings, hindlegs, and forelegs were all bound, and there was a strange, fresh-looking scar on the back of her neck. Alex fought back the anger. “Why has she been treated this way?”
“The markings on her neck.” Riley gestured with a hoof. “That’s a spell Joseph helped me write thirty years ago. I’ve tested it extensively, though not often on a drone that hadn’t awakened yet. It destroys the mental magic we changelings use to communicate. Our hive-sense, the one queens and males use to control lesser breeds. So far as I know, there’s no way to reverse it. She will never be a part of the hive-mind again.”
“Is that why you tied her up?” Alex leaned in close, trying to get a good look at the drone’s eyes. As she did, the bound being lashed out towards her, as though trying to stab her in the face with her budding horn. Alex was far faster, warned as she was through contact with the floor. Still, the attempt made her recoil.
“I originally hoped the spell would force young drones to develop their own identities. Without the hive-mind, they would be forced to learn for themselves. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as intended. In the adults, it inevitably resulted in violent insanity within days. The unfortunates had to be destroyed. In the young… more of the same, only not for so long. Violence, followed by a listlessness and general apathy. Eventually, they lose all desire to continue living. They starve and die.” She was clearly trying to sound stoic, but her attempt only partially succeeded. The pain of a suffering mother was quite clear in her words.
“So why maim her this way? Seems pointless to make the experiment harder.”
Queen Blacklight’s eyes narrowed. “Not pointless. You travel to strange territory, and it is my hope you will bring her with you. If you passed near to a single queen, or a single male, they might take her for themselves and the entire experiment would be ruined. Another queen taking over this one might sooth her immediate anxiety, since all drones long for a queen… but it would not help her.” She reached out, gently stroking down the drone’s back. She shivered all over, then stopped squirming. Riley seemed to know what she was doing.
“So here’s the experiment. Of all my drones this age, she was the dullest. The least creative, the least inventive, apparently the least intelligent.” She looked up towards Alex, and for just a second, Alex could hear a desperate little Riley instead of the imperious Blacklight. “There’s a soul inside there somewhere, Archive. Please help me find it!”
Day reached out, resting her head on Riley’s side. It was as high as she could reach. “I will.” She held the gesture for just a second, then turned away and walked into the kitchen. She emerged a second later with a sharp knife between her teeth, walked around until she stood directly in front of the bound changeling, then set it carefully down. “But if I help you, I’m going to do it my way. My methods are my business, until I either succeed or you take her away. Understand?”
Queen Riley’s eyes flicked from Alex’s face to the knife, then back up again. She nodded. “Completely. In some ways, her life was already in your hooves. I know no way to prevent her slow starvation now. Any attempt you make would be kinder than what my hive could offer. The kind thing would be to give her a quick death.” With a gesture, her drones departed, though Riley herself did not move. “What are you planning?”
“What Sky would’ve done.” She whimpered, gritting her teeth against the pain. Lonely Day had to remind herself that by helping, by doing anything, she was following the last promise she had made. She had to stay busy, couldn’t get stuck in the rut of depression and grief. If she did, it might take years to escape.
“You don’t treat somebody like an animal if you expect them to learn to be human. You treat them like they’re human and wait for them to meet your expectations. No tying her up like she’s some beast you brought in on a hunt.”
Riley shrugged. “Would you like me to remain here? When you cut those bindings, she will be violent. She may try to escape, or even to kill you. She is a drone, not some pony foal. She is not so weak or helpless as she appears.”
Alex shrugged. “I’m strong too. But I’m not going to need to be.” She turned. “Honestly, it might be best if you leave. Having you around might reinforce her behavior. Keep her acting the way she’s been acting around you so far.” Alex turned, approaching Riley and hugging her again. “I’m still leaving. Once I get her under control, I’m leaving and I might not be back for a long time.”
Riley returned the hug. “Check in whenever you can, Alex. I’m not immortal either. I can… feel it already. The weariness. My wings crackle when I fly sometimes, and I’m not as fast as I used to be. You’ll be digging a grave for me too, one day. I may’ve misled you into thinking I would have no more sentimentality…”
“It’s called love, Riley. I love you too. It’s a long trip to Colorado, but… I’ll write as often as I can." She glanced behind her at the drone. The poor thing had stopped squirming, and was staring at Alex like she was starving. She salivated from between tiny sharp teeth, even though she produced no sound. “She’ll be more trouble than Huan was. Less loyal, too. But we’ll make it work.”
Was Alex lying because she didn’t know for sure? No, she supposed. She was just committing to a possible future. Now it was her job to make it come to pass.
Riley nodded, taking another step towards the drone. “Goodbye to you too, 17,305.” She bent down, kissed the drone on the forehead, then departed. The doors banged shut, leaving Alex in the very big, very empty house.
Not completely. Day looked up, towards Sky’s family portrait. Her smiling face was still there, in her youth and surrounded by her children. There was hardly room for all of them, adopted and biological together, in the massive frame. “Give me compassion, Cloudy Skies. If you’re anywhere, be here and let this work.” She wasn’t sure if the prayer was answered. Wasn’t sure if there was anything left of her friend to answer it. But it felt better to be talking “to” her.
She returned her attention to the drone Riley had called “17,305.” It still watched her, its huge eyes hungry. Alex advanced. “I’m going to have to come up with a better name for you, little one. Sky… she was great at names. Named most of the first generation you know, and lots of the second too. Everypony brought their kids to her. Figured she had so many, it had to be good luck." She gestured to the knife. “I’m going to cut your hooves free, little changeling. I need you to promise you’re not going to run away or try to hurt me.”
No response. The drone just stared, apparently without comprehension. Alex waited, then repeated herself, with the same result.
Eventually she shrugged. “Alright, I’m cutting you loose. Don’t prove your mom right, please. There’s no reason for you to be violent with me.” Alex took the knife in her mouth, advancing towards the drone. She suddenly hissed and squeaked in fear, the first sounds she had ever made, flopping a few paces away.
Day dropped the knife. “I’m not going to hurt you!” She reached out, but the drone had the fear of death in her eyes and she continued to retreat, her sounds transformed from threatening to pathetic.
“Alright, alright!” Alex kicked the knife behind her as hard as she could, retreating several paces. The drone kept wailing, no longer seeming to see her. Riley had been right.
Archive sat on her haunches, taking a deep breath. She forced her frustration down, forced back her annoyance. Somewhere deep within was an infinite sea of human emotion. There was plenty of room in there for a little more of her own feelings. She took several deep breaths, letting herself drift into that sea. It helped that she was so exhausted, so close to sleep that all it took was for her to relax, and…
She was in the library again. She wandered, but not for very long. She had a mission this time, a mission and learning to seek from the ancients. Be they actual beings, or mere personifications of what she had read, she neither knew nor cared. She never even considered the question.
“What makes a man?” she asked, when she found the one she had been searching for. She had never been able to find him before, but now that she needed him… there he was, a tall man with a robe and rich brown beard. Not white, like she had imagined. She supposed if you were going to be a figment, might as well be a young one. “What if you can’t tell if someone is human? How can I find out?”
“What you ask is not so complicated,” he said. “Every inanimate, every plant, and every animal is Ergon of itself. The most elevated of the animals is no different in this, though his is different from all lesser beings, and beyond their reach.”
“So I can judge a human through their function? But… plenty of humans never follow any function at all! That doesn’t help me!”
The figure continued as though he hadn’t heard her, and his pause had only been rhetorical. “Man’s purpose is to combine logos and psuchē into deliberate happiness. No dog knows not to leap and steal from his master’s table at the moment he is weaned. Likewise do few men know their purpose without being taught. If you want him to be human, you must teach him.”
Archive frowned. “Her actually, but I see what you mean. How do I teach her?”
“Not without pain,” he replied. “We only learn by doing, and we can only teach others what we already know.”
“Do you always speak in platitudes?”
He shrugged. “You already know everything I wrote, but you asked anyway. What’s left for me to do but repeat until you learn. As you must do. If you want human, make it.” The man rose to his feet, suddenly towering over her. Then, rather suddenly, he lifted her by her forelegs, tossing her violently backward. The sudden fall made her scream.
She jerked back awake to find the sunlight from outside had gone. The lights were already on though, so it wasn’t dark. There was no longer a changeling in front of her.
It didn’t take her long to find the drone, stopped as she was against the front door. She continued to hit it with her head, thumping away. She hadn’t done any damage to the door, which Alex hoped meant she hadn’t hurt herself. “You were a way better adoptive parent than I’m going to be,” she told Sky's painting, before hurrying back for her knife.
She overtook the little drone before she could see her coming, shoving her away from the door and holding her steady with a hoof while she cut with the knife. The poor thing screamed again in utter terror… but of course Alex didn’t even scratch her. She kicked the knife away, but she didn’t let up the pressure on the little drone’s chest, holding her in place and preventing her from squirming.
“Hey!” she shouted, loud enough that the drone stopped screaming and looked up. “You’re not hurt. I just cut the ropes off.” There was no comprehension, so she gently pushed on the drone’s neck, pointing her eyes at her legs. There was recognition there, however faint. “Yes, I cut you loose. In a second, I’m going to get up. I’m going to get up and make us both dinner. It’s late, so you’ve got to be hungry. I know you changelings still need real food when you’re growing.”
She took a deep breath, then reached up with one of her hindlegs. She kicked upward, perfectly timed. The front door opened, swinging slowly out into the frigid, icy night. Alex started to shiver, and she felt the little drone do the same. Changelings were a little like cockroaches in that way; neither did very well in the cold. A queen like Riley had magic to keep her warm. A drone did not. Even an animal would be smart enough to tell the difference between safety and danger, right?
“I will never bind you again, little- seventeen thous- no, that’s stupid. Your new name is...” She could still see Sky’s picture looking down on her, even from the entryway. Alex couldn’t name like Sky, but she could pick the name of somebody Sky had liked “Ezri. Alright Ezri. I’m going to let you go. You can either come with me into the kitchen and have dinner, or go out into the cold by yourself. I hope you’ll stay. I want to take care of you, but I refuse to force you. If you’re going to live with me, then you’ll have to choose. Your mother’s choice for you isn’t good enough.”
Could the drone even understand her? Was there any point in talking to her? Yes, Alex decided. Not because she knew, but because it would have to be true for her to get anywhere. She would have to give the changeling her trust. “Alright, Ezri? I’m going to let you go now.”
She rolled off, up onto her own hooves, before taking several steps back. She stood still, smiling down at the drone and praying she would make the right choice.
She didn’t. Ezri watched her with little insect eyes. As soon as she was fully out of reach, she took off out the open door, little wings straining against their bindings as she did so. They couldn’t pull free, but that didn’t mean the drone couldn’t run. A few seconds, and she vanished up to her head in the snow.
Alex did not allow herself to feel frustration, fear, or anger this time. If she did, the little drone might be lost forever. Instead she turned away, focusing on the love she had for Sky and, by extension, the love Sky had always shown to her foals. Often they’d made a mess, as all the scratches and stains scattered through the house proved. Yet no crime on their behalf was ever enough to dim the love Sky felt.
The drone… Ezri… needed to feel a love like that coming from inside. Alex hoped some of that had soaked into the walls over the last few centuries.
* * *
Lonely Day wanted to go sprinting off into the night after the missing drone. She could have, and almost certainly would have found her given the drone would be unable to fly. Yet in doing that, she would frighten the poor thing just like she had done with her knife, and probably make it even harder to get her cooperation in the future.
She needed to make the drone come to her. Given the cold and the dark, she found it very unlikely the drone would have gone far. Alex walked calmly to the ventilator controls and dialed it up to maximum, filling the house with as much heat as the system would give. Far too much to be comfortable for long, if she had intended to keep it running. She didn’t.
That done, Alex made her way into the kitchen. All the while she forced herself to think only of hospitality, of her appreciation for Blacklight and her love for departed Cloudy Skies. She spared one glance to the door as she did so, and was convinced that she could see a dark face watching her from just within a snowdrift. Poor thing was probably freezing to death out there.
The latest version of Alex’s cyber gauntlet rested on one of the counters, beside the old Equestrian saddlebags she had been packing in preparation for her departure.
The latest model was made from a single piece of sturdy elastic, whose entire surface could be transformed into a display. Of course, Alex rarely interacted with the display when she could just talk to it. “Athena?”
The whole surface lit up with a gentle greenish glow. “Yes Alex? How may I help you today?”
“Play music from the ‘classical’ folder. Shuffle is fine.”
“Of course.” The electronic voice faded, and music began to play. The speakers were fairly good, at least for the little device’s size. The quality of the musical reproduction didn’t scare her nearly as much as the quality of the voice, however. The “Athena” system was linked to every HPI device these days. Every vehicle, every weapon, and every personal computer.
Most of Sky’s food was in the root cellar, but Alex had already brought in the makings of a stew. There were no more refrigerators, no more processing machines. She cut it all by hand. Well… she cut it all manually.
As the music washed over her, Alex lost herself in the simple pleasure of honest work for somepony else. Every moment and her attitude became less of an act, more of a reality. She did care about Ezri. Tomorrow she could see a tailor, and get something enchanted to keep the drone warm during the long journey ahead.
After a few minutes, Alex was conscious of a figure huddling in one of the dark corners of the room. She pretended not to notice, not even taking the time to shut the door. Nothing that might make the drone feel trapped. Ezri did not attack.
“I’m going to make you a bowl,” she said, not looking at the drone or showing any sign she knew where she was. “I hope you’ll eat it. I’m making it special. It’s one of Oliver’s recipes, one that’s supposed to taste close to eating meat. It’s really just mushrooms, but I think you’ll like it.”
When she was done, she took her stew into the dining room. Lonely Day took no shortcuts, making out the table as though for some formal occasion. Granted, the occasion this time was only a meal for two…
She heard a few faint, feeble sounds from the other room. Begging. She ignored them, and set out two steaming bowls. She took one of the backless cushions for herself. “You’re welcome to eat with me!” she called into the other room. “It’s your meal. But we’re eating it in here.” She waited.
It didn’t take so long this time. Either Ezri could understand English after all or else the food alone was enough to motivate her eventually. She made her way into the room, then hopped up onto the chair and lowered her head to the bowl.
“Good.” She ate like an animal, both forelegs on the table and her face buried in the stew. Day felt satisfied anyway. Of course this was proof of nothing: a dog could be trained. This did not answer Blacklight’s question, not yet. At least she had some hope there might be an answer.
Once she had eaten of both types of food Alex had to give, Ezri became more cooperative. She followed Alex around whatever room she chose to occupy, knocking things over and generally causing trouble. It took her nearly an hour to get the drone to sleep, trying every possible arrangement until she discovered the one that would work: Ezri would only sleep in a hammock, and only if Alex didn’t leave the room.
She didn’t dare leave the room at that point. Instead she planned out the next day mentally, knowing she could rely on her memory to bring back whatever decisions she made. At some point she slept, she couldn’t have said exactly when. She was far too exhausted to tell what times were which.
The next day was harder, since she had to go into town. She refused to bind up the drone as her mother had done, which meant she had to move very slowly, and patiently grab onto Ezri’s clothes each and every time she tried to run. After several hours, stopping to patiently explain she couldn’t run off into the city and cause trouble each and every time she tried, they reached her favorite tailor.
There was little business in the height of winter, and the boutique was mostly empty. Alex could hear the sound of a sewing machine somewhere in the back, though the sound stopped once she entered. “One minute!”
Day lifted the drone down from her back and set Ezri down in front of her, meeting her eyes. “I expect you to behave Ezri. We’re going to get clothes made that fit you better… with spells woven into them to keep you from getting cold. We’re here for you, understand? Stay close to me.”
Ezri didn’t stay close, but instead set about wandering the shop, ducking under and between the racks of clothes as every small child had done in clothing stores since the beginning of time. She seemed to have learned to be a little more careful, or else she had just been deliberately destructive the night before. Day did not follow right behind her, but she did watch her, and never let a moment pass where she didn’t know where the drone had gone.
After a time, a unicorn emerged from the back, with a light dress and her mane tied to keep it from her eyes. “Alex? Back so soon? A few last adjustments before you leave on your trip, perhaps?”
“No, Amelia.” Alex shook the pony’s hoof, trying very hard to talk and not lose track of Ezri at the same time. Amelia was a great-granddaughter of Joseph and Moriah, whose family had maintained the tradition of avoiding Equestrian names even though increasingly little separated them from the rest of the town. Amelia had her great-grandmother’s coat, though her eyes were far darker and she didn’t dress up nearly as often.
“My trip got more complicated, and I need more. I was hoping you might be able to take another break from your spring line and rush a few items through for me.”
“Not that I don’t like taking your chits,” Amelia began, following Alex’s eyes to the black glinting from the several little displays. “But I just put together an entire winter wardrobe. What more could-” She stopped, gasping. “Is that… You brought a changeling?”
“She’s the real customer.” She stepped forward. “Ezri, come back! The nice tailor needs to take your measurements.” Did spending money count as love? If so, that ought to get the drone’s attention. And it did, though she couldn’t be sure if it was her words or the attention or something else entirely. She wouldn’t approach Amelia, but she did get close enough for Alex to take her by the sleeve. Again she made eye contact, speaking to her slowly and plainly. “Listen Ezri… we’re going to be in the cold for a long time. You’ll freeze and die if we don’t get clothes made for you that keep you warm. Do you understand?”
The drone did not respond, as ever. But at least she didn’t pull away.
“You want me to…” Amelia started again.
“Yes. A full set, exactly what you did for me. Underclothes, leggings, coat, boots, cloak… better make it like you’re insulating for a unicorn instead of an earth pony, too. Changelings are extremely cold-sensitive.”
Amelia stared at Ezri for several moments. Little of her body was exposed, she had been wrapped so tightly in old clothes from Sky’s house. Tight enough that ponies on the streets hardly noticed how strange she looked. “Alex, I know you’ve been around, I know you’ve got more chits than most ponies. But… an entire second set of heavy winter gear.” She looked the changeling up and down.
“Is it really that hard? I know the enchantments take lots of time to sew… I could probably help if that would speed things up. I memorized the spells you used on mine.”
Amelia looked unimpressed. “Nothing like that. Getting somepony to empower the enchantments is annoying and the stitching is tedious, but those aren’t the problem. It’s the fabric.” She gestured vaguely at a bookshelf, with some pre-event reproductions on it. “I’ve read about tailoring from before. You could buy bolts of warm fabric that couldn’t get wet, and that would block out a wind. Or…” she shivered. “If you wanted to be ghastly about it, you could skin something that lived up in the wild and make your clothes… from its flesh. Assuming the books are even serious about that.”
“I never did cold-weather exploring before the Event, so I don’t know. My jackets weren’t ever made of real animals, if that’s what you’re asking. I lived where it was warm, so I just wore cotton.” Alex decidedly did not mention all the leather belts and shoes and books she had owned.
Amelia looked visibly relieved. “Well, we have to make do with our plants and enchantments, wool, stuff like that. There are ponies in town still wearing jackets patched together from before the Event.”
“I bet you smell ‘em before you see ‘em.”
The unicorn chuckled. “Often. Point is, it won’t be much cheaper than yours. How soon do you need it?”
“As soon as possible. Tomorrow?”
Amelia coughed. “Not a chance. I couldn’t do it if I worked all night. If I put every other order I have aside, I might be able to have it all ready in a week. That’s with a substantial expediter’s fee so I can give discounts to every other customer I’d keep waiting.”
“I know you’ll be reasonable.” Day lifted her satchel, letting it clink to the ground in front of her. “How much?”
Amelia took one last glance at the drone. “Seven hundred. Five hundred for the clothes, and two hundred to put all my other work aside.” She shrugged. “Like I said, it’s totally unfeasible. Now why don’t we just think about-”
Alex wasn’t listening. She flicked open the flaps, and lifted a large metal ring covered in bits of plastic. Each piece was about two inches square, deep red with a little holographic logo set into the center. There was also an RFID tag inside, though only banks had the equipment to check those these days. The red color indicated the chits were worth 20 meals each, a denomination never used in Raven but essential to the ponies. There was none larger, which meant large transactions were conducted with these 1,000-chit rings.
An average pony in Alexandria who saved very carefully might be able to set this much aside in a decade, after all their expenses. Alex had been saving for… quite a bit longer. Even so, this ring was the last she had after all her other expenses. Everything else was tied up in investments, real estate, and other such commodities. This little fortune had been meant to help get her started in Colorado.
Oh well. Alex mentally sacrificed it all on the altar of helping Ezri. She unclipped the ring, sliding ten of the plastic squares back into her pack before twisting it closed again and tossing it to Amelia.
She caught it in her magic, stunned. “You’re… You’re serious? No haggling, no…”
“No time for that. I’ve got to get out of Alexandria, or this city will kill me. I don’t care what it costs.”
Amelia took some time to recover. She took the chits back behind the counter, returning a few moments later with her tools following her through the air. “W-Well then… I suppose we should get started.” She stooped down a little. “What’s your name, sweetie?”
Ezri just stared, without any sign of comprehension. Alex gave her several moments of awkward silence before answering on her behalf. “She’s called Ezri. She’s very shy, but I’m sure we’ll be able to get what you need.”
“I’m sure.” Amelia gestured with one hoof. “If you could get her out of all that… stuff… we can get started.”
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Okay. I have some stuff from my head.
Last chapter was dated... wrong?
Sunset Shimmer can probably be "Future" like how Twilight is "Magic"/"Friendship", Alex is "Archive" and etc.
...
Also, Lonely Day, why don't you ask Sunset Shimmer for the naming!?
(PS: I've been dreaming about creating a taijitu drawing of your universes, with Lonely Day and the LPOE characters as the Yang side and Second Chance and the MLA as the Yin side.)
Whelp, I was wondering when the Changeling question would arise. Let's see where this little Golem will go. Certainly demonstrating the start of free will...
Also:
Laughed so freaking hard at that and it just demonstrates one of the potential blind spots of Archive's power. Though really, was she expecting to find "Imparting Souls for Dummies" up there?
Though I feel as If I should know the philosopher...
6654685
Well, that's a pretty awesome answer to that question!
That's an attitude I like to see from the representative of humanity! Alex was definitely, definitely an excellent choice.
The entire "what measure is a changeling" plot that's been set up here looks like it's going to get really interesting... but Riley all but straight out says that if Alex proves with this experiment that any changeling drone can be raised to become intelligent if it is raised by a pony that loves her, that she'll have to take any method available to her to ensure that happens for all of them.
Short of getting enough ponies voluntarily adopting and raising drones* the obvious solution is the method of mythological changelings - steal away a child and leave a disguised changeling to be raised by the unsuspecting family. Which, obviously, would lead to problems all round.
* Might actually be doable - Ezri's number divided by the year gives an average of around sixty drones born per year to Riley, and Riley implies an all-intelligent hive would need to be kept at about a tenth the population. Six per year might be manageable. The mere existence of orphanages might suggest I'm being optimistic though...
I know it's Day's grief talking, but it feels really weird to read Day debating the existence of souls considering she knows they exist, their existence being at the crux of the Event.
WOO
NEW CHAPTER
Great chapter!
Ezri is adorable, I kind of want to see an image of her.
291AE!?
wow!
6654694
Last chapter began in 50 AE, but covered 241 years of time.
6654877
Yeah, I was gonna comment on the same thing. While souls in changeling drones and animals might be up in the air, pony/human souls are all but absolutely confirmed.
This is probably exactly what Alex needs: Something difficult to focus on, and someone who depends on her absolutely to dedicate herself to.
6654694 The last chapter started in 50AE and progressed up through Skies's death (apparently a century and a half later).
6654685 Inrteresting. So by that specific phrasing you haven't fully decided where you want the story to go? Or perhaps you are misleading. Either way I eagerly await your next chapters!
I have to say, it's very hard not to picture Amelia as Rarity.
In any case, this is definitely going to be an interesting leg of Alex's journey. And we have both human and equine wisdom to consider for the two travelers. Definitely looking forward to seeing what you do with this portion.
6654685
It's okay man
Just saying in a way that you did good
You've really speed things up in your newest chapters. Though hopefully you'll start to slow things down with Ezri here! This is certainly a unique and FACINATING new turn for this awesome story! <3
Man... This was a rough chapter. Having to deal with Skies' funeral, Riley's request, the discussion with Sunset...
That said? Ezri kinda sounds cute. If you're familiar with Filly Queen Chrysalis, that's how I imagine her.
So, an adoptee will kick in Alex's mothering instincts which have been dormant since her foal/grandfoals childhoods. Well, one downside of having a perfect memory is that you can recall every time the children threw up on you. OR WORSE!
Aww, such a little cuteling. It will be amusing to see them travel together, hopefully for at least a couple chapters.
I'm calling it now, Athena is going to turn evil and wreck havoc on the very people who created her in the first place (just like in The Terminator, Wall-E, 2001 A Space Odyssey, etc.) After all, this A.I. is named after the Greek goddess of both wisdom and battle strategy. That does not have good implications for the ponies.
Spent the last two nights reading the trilogy so far.
One question: how would earth have the Equestrian herbs necessary to brew up a cure for Poison Joke?
6654694
If you draw something like that, it would be amazing and awesome and please let me know.
I'm not sure of what you mean with asking Sunset Shimmer for naming, though.
As for the year, it was right. Rather than putting a rage, I only put the first year the chapter included. It also had parts that were much further, but I didn't date those. That way people wouldn't know what the chapter was about until they read it.
6654723
You should! He's been mentioned here before.
6654807
Well, we'll just have to see what she has in mind. Assuming the experiment succeeds and little Ezri doesn't just get killed by something. Or if it fails. The experiment could fail. That'd be one sad Riley...
6654877
Well she knows some invisible force is required for humans to be intelligent. I think what she's pondering is if there's any sort of continuing existence after death. Having some kind of invisible essence required for sapience does not directly imply a continuation of conscious perception beyond the grave.
6655154
Thanks!
6655177
Me too! Let's hope Zutcha gets out of his funk soon.
6655298
Yes, but that doesn't mean Cloudy Skies and her other friends still exist after death. Just that something animated them while they were alive.
6655410
Correct, I don't know exactly where the story is going. I know the overarching story, and I know the ending. I have a few highlights... but beyond that, I still get surprised. Some of my writing is still "seat of the pants". Like right now, I genuinely don't know if Alex is going to ever be an Alicorn. I have my suspicions, but until it either happens or doesn't... I'll just have to wonder like everybody else.
6656467
Yeah, I'll try to keep the very large timeskips reserved to between parts, so that each part can really drill down and focus on the affairs at each time period I want to look at.
6656563
Ezri is all kinds of adorable. At least, I imagine her that way.
6657168
And every time they ever said "I love you, mom!"
6660891
Can confirm. At least a couple chapters. Whether Ezri survives the journey or not I will not confirm, however.
6667342
Hopefully they've shown up by now? >.>
6668121
She's working on it! Being an Alicorn is a hard job! Figuring it out when you're an earth pony and you weren't even raised as one is even harder.
6676136
You aren't in for a lighthearted read, unfortunately. X.x Lonely Day has some lonely days ahead of her.
6676326 Oh. I think you'll get it when April comes, because I CANNOT make something with that idea... yet.
No offense. I get great ideas but I fail the skill. I'm stll learning to use Photoshop
(and speak of the devil I just sended my dad a copy of the lightsaber I made with Photoshop!)
6676326 Sometimes we need a break from that which primarily inspires us, every once and a while we just need to calm down and sit back for few hours to just watch and breath.
i.imgur.com/o105j.png
The power in his hooves? His quest for glory?
Alex "training" Ezri is adorably reminiscent of Adrian trying to win her mother's trust so long ago.
Wouldn't that be "1,000-meal rings"?
That's a shitty way to preserve human history...
I would have loved to see a romantic ship of Blacklight and Lonely Day, but I knew since the opening chapters that it wasn't going to sail.
It looks like a good time to shelve that hope. Across the wordy seas of ink that pool in my daydreams, the wind will always carry a whisper of the proud vessel Lonely Light, the flagship of the Library Hive.
Previous post attached to incorrect chapter.
6654723
If you mean her memory, then yeah it's a very simple and basic 'blind spot' most people don't even think about with Perfect Memory.
That being that there is a difference between looking at "2+2=4" and memorizing that exactly as is "2+2=4"; And understanding WHY 2 of something, but 2 of the same thing, equals 4 of that item.
With Math it's hard to explain, so lets try something else. She memorizes all these things, and anytime they line up she can recall the answer. But because she only memorizes them and doesn't understand them, she can't use that knowledge to understand something she didn't memorized.
Going back to math. If she memorized 1+2=3, 2+2=4, 3+2=5, and 4+2=6 only, but didn't learn any math before. She would not be able to answer what 5+2=? or 12+45=? or anything. Because she had the first 4 memorized and can recall them, but she wouldn't actually KNOW math.
With simple math problems? Not much of a difference. But when you get into the much harder and complicated stuff? Until she knows how it works, she will just know the answers without understanding WHY they are the answers. And it's worse for things like in this chapter with philosophy and stuff that doesn't really have a right or wrong answer, or something very new and advance that no many really understand it.
--
So remember kinds, don't just ask for Perfect Memory, also ask for Perfect Understanding too!
Starscribe and other talented writers have created a series of extremely detailed and highly entertaining stories. However, for my own continued enjoyment of this wonder series, I want to learn more about the post-Event governments and how they develop over time in the Ponies after People universe.
Imagine that three hundred years after the Event, the American returnees combined with their living descendant now have a sufficient population base in North America to attempt to restart their American society. No longer worrying about basic survival, I can’t imagine that most American returnees would give up without struggle decades of loyalty and building their self-identity as American citizens. For most Americans, being an American citizen is a defining characteristic of who they are as individuals and as part of the larger American society.
I wonder why these humans turned into ponies and their pony offspring would attempt to create new societies from scratch, when it would be much easier to rebuild the existing American society. Most Americans would not want their American society to separate into dozens of independent city states that in turn would inhibit social cohesion, military security, and economic growth.
Also, as someone who campaigns for political candidates, talks to politicians, and votes in every election; I imagine that if I become a pony in this universe that I would remember that I’m still an American citizen and then work at America’s restoration, revised as a multiple species society.
Imagine that you became a pony in this universe. Would you forget all about being a citizen of your homeland or would you work to restore your nation?
But, you might ask, would there be sufficient returnees and natural-born ponies at any given time to restart their American society. My answer to that is the Nimitz Class aircraft carriers that have more than 6,000 personnel; while some cruise ships have between five hundred and six thousand passengers, not including crew. All these returnees would not give up on their American society and accept being part of one of many post-Event created, city-states.
Imagine the conflicts when the three pony species and other speaking species decide to rebuild America: First would be rebuilding at the city or county level, then rebuilding the states, and then rebuilding at the national level. For additional fun, fans of Ponies after People stories would create original characters and then have them run for city, state, and national political offices, including the offices of President and Vice-President.
What about returnee politicians attempting to win back their political careers? Imagine the fun of post-Event pony American presidential candidates attempting to court individual species, such as the Earth Pony vote.
How many citizens do you need to recreate a state government? Four of the original 13 American Colonies had populations in the low five digits and still had functioning state governments using only the most basic communications tools.
The 13 Colonies by population in 1770
1. Virginia 447,016
2. Pennsylvania 240,057
3. Massachusetts 235,808
4. Maryland 202,599
5. North Carolina 197,200
6. Connecticut 183,881
7. New York 162,920
8. South Carolina 124,244
9. New Jersey 117,431
10. Rhode Island 58,196
11. New Hampshire 62,396
12. Delaware 35,496
13. Georgia 23,375
http://www.yttwebzine.com/yesterday/2013/10/28/75757/population_13_colonies_chart
If the state of Georgia with a population of just 23,375 citizens could have a functioning state government in 1770, there is no reason why transformed citizens could not rebuild their states with far fewer people than existed in 2015.
Rebuilding the American society would happen in conjunction with other worthwhile projects, such as the party ponies rebuilding the United Service Organizations Inc. (USO Show) to uplift any returnees and anyone else who needs cheering up.
Imagine having the portraits of famous individual ponies and other species printed on future paper money and coins?
Last questions: If the pre-event American society - altered to suit the many changes caused to pony American citizens by the Event - was never rebuilt; then what do the people of the lands that was the pre-event United States identify as and what laws hold their society together? What types of local, regional, and national governments are America citizens loyal to in the Ponies after People world? Have the ponies of many nations rebuilt the United Nations?