This story is a sequel to Founders of Alexandria
When every human on earth either vanished or was transformed into an Equestrian pony, human civilization ended. That did not mean, however, that the survivors were content to let mankind's legacy rot and be forgotten. In every corner of the globe, ponies and other stranger creatures joined together and did what humanity has always done: survive.
With the help of their ingenuity and a little Equestrian know-how, many of these little colonies would rise to become great cities, and eventually new civilizations. But after such a dramatic transformation, could anything of their original human character survive?
There is one pony whose survival depends on making sure it does: Lonely Day. Transformed into the avatar of her near-extinct species, Archive may live to see all that newly transformed mankind might become. If, that is, she can ensure they never forget what they were.
The road to civilization will not be a smooth one. Before Equestria's universe drifted apart, terrible dangers crossed to earth, dangers earth's pony population may be unprepared to fight. Nor is humanity itself entirely extinct, thanks to careful preparation and powerful technology. Cooperation with the Human Preservation Initiative might be difficult, but it might also be the ponies' only hope.
Through many years of struggle there will be at least one witness: the eternal Lonely Day.
Now has an ePub Version, with the art included for all those with ereaders! Huge thanks to Phoen1x for making it!
I am not the artist. All the credit for that goes to the fantastic Zutcha!
Continued in: Earth Without Us!
Nice setup, and I think I see some of the conflict already. Looking forward to seeing if I'm right or not.
And so begins the final installment. It's clear that this one is going to be very expansive in scope. I look forward to it.
I'm not sure I can write what I thought when I saw Moriah's nickname for her child.
Funny, I was thinking of how this very situation (the anniversary) would be handled just yesterday while brainstorming.
"If it's still not finished when summer vacation starts"? In for the long haul, then!
Alright! School age foals and their generational disconnect from their parents. Being human is like, so last decade. The only difference is that unlike normal gen shifts, is the reemergence of ponies who just haven't been around for the interim.
You certainly get points for realism here... because when
...it's a really good thing they weren't already at what bad is going to be.
Anyway, very good setup, nicely written, even if you're not in the flow of the new perspective just yet, but that could also be due to the new update scheme of large chunks once a week. Good thing is it doesn't make myself feel quite as insufficient with a slow update schedule though.
So, looking forward to what is to come! Fasten your seatbelts and have a pleasant journey.
I'm not sure what to think about this. Not that's it's not awesome, because damn, it is. It's just how ominous the chapter ended. I'm bracing for some serious whiplash right now.
The children of Alexandria look promising though. And the naming culture is a quirk I like. Using pony names commonly, with human names being more a mark of special occasions? I wonder how sustained that tradition will be. A little something that defines the earth pony society.
All right here we go! Last installment of the epic trilogy.
So poor Lonely Day is never going to grow up or have more than one foal? Ouch... Although it is nice to see sky has broke out of her shell. Hmm no mention of Riley though.
Cody sounds cute as a button, you might need to get Zutcha on a of him so we can know what he looks like.
And dramatic cliffhanger. Sounds like this one is going to be pretty epic in scope, but here's hoping the chapter ends aren't foreshadowing something terrible.
So what happen to the changling girl?
1: Woohoo, etc.
2: That's the worst cliffhanger I've ever seen, and I mean that in the best possible way, damn you.
Nice start.
Wooh!!! It's finally come!
I like this festival of tears idea
6440103
Riley's probably off somewhere
6440092
Who knows man? Who knows
A new adventure, exploring the universe rather than the characters this time. Hopefully people won't be too put off by the time skips. I know I'll be looking forward to finding out more about the future, though. The first chapter's a great start in that regard. Love the Festival of Tears. That was definitely the most inspired section in this chapter, and was great to read when I was editing.
Darn your cliffhangers Starscribe!!!
Great to see the final part of this starting up. Hope to see some answers to a lot of the questions from the previous parts explained before the end. Hmm.. So, it seems that LD is somehow locked into her form from the day that the princesses did whatever they did to her (hopefully we finally find out what that was), I wonder why the princesses did not just age her back to her original age, or did that get discuses back in the first story? Was it something about it being dangerous to try to use another age spell on her after and unstable one was just used on her?
Batten down the hatches because here we go again! Round three, straight to the awesome.
Holy Pony! You almost made me cry with this awesome chapter.
Keep being great!
I'm really looking forward to this story. I know you said that how long it will be, and how many periods it will cover will depend heavily on how popular the story is, and how inspired you are to visit different periods of time. I hope for a lot of material to work with, since there is so much potential, if an ominous future awaits.
Oh boy, if it's less than 5 years and they are already having issues getting the concept of "We were a different species once" across to the youngsters I can only imagine how hard it will be a few generations in...
Incidentally, there is another capitalization typo in this line"
I think I spotted a typo, I think that should say "Day had her son, as she usually did". Nice, so what sort of update schedule are we looking at now? A chapter every weekend or so? Every other week? Just trying to see what of regularity you have in mind for the story.
By the seven saints and sinners I think I got whiplash.
Moriah's really pushing her ideas onto her son. Seems like the kind of thing they'll have huge fights over when he's a bit older and gets sick of being told how much he should hold onto the idea that he's really something he's never experienced being.
Is that the beginning of a currency? That must have been a headache and a half to set up, if a chit is anything more complicated than an "I owe you one favour" kind of thing.
What would you even use to back a real currency? Electricity from the city power grid, maybe? It's about the only thing I can think of both scarce enough to be valuable and useful enough to everyone to remain valuable in the immediate aftermath of the end of the world, when they're already willing to supply anyone who asks with food, water and housing.
The underlying message here? "I am probably immortal and do not wish to see child after child pass before me." Granted Sky doesn't know this is a thing.
With that being said, img13.deviantart.net/acab/i/2012/258/9/c/twilight_sparkle_yes__yes__yes__2_by_darkheromatiz-d5esgrn.png Alexandria and it's crew is back!
Oh God, not even five sentences into the story and already I can tell I'm not going to want to even try reading this one while I'm at work.
Dammit, you HAD to do that damn cliffhanger ending to the chapter dammit!
New story, and new things to see, yowcha...
Also... Moriah's education with her kids kind of... unnerves me, it's kind of like a dad asking his kid whenever black people are wrong or not, I seriously can imagine a 1950's racist ask this question, and the kid would reply back like it's nothing.
'We are people inside, not horses', this sounds like something future generations would possibly find offensive or something.
Not the holiday of tears, that's something that sounds... hmm, limited, in a way, none of the Equestrian children understand what humans are, and maybe you can teach them but when some grow up, will they really understand? It seems like a few centuries down the line, this holiday would only be useful to the newly emerged ponies of the world who are lost and confused beforehand.
Also, humans are 'scary' to ponies in scent and general effort to keep safe around them, this all seems like the beginning of problems for the future.
I really can't help seeing it all this way, it's a new start, a new town, things look great and even kids are here, which will be kind of strange to get ones head around since I didn't expect five years to be enough time to get kids, let alone ones that are old enough to walk and talk.
Yet... Moriah's view of 'we were humans once!' might become more radical to other ponies who might want to enforce as such, Sky's view of 'we are ponies now!' might become radical as well under the right circumstances, and the two groups might come into conflict.
Humans feel wrong to ponies, down the line I can't say that a fifth or sixth generation pony on Earth wouldn't feel the need to act on this inherent fear, in a position of power, they might even try to start a war, these are ponies learning off human ideas, with the power to kill humans by simply being near them, if that isn't a war asset I don't know what is...
And worst of all... what about ponies who come back and ponies who are born and grown up? I feel these are the ones with the most problems between them, due to simply the sheer difference to be expected between their views of life, someone who is thrown into becoming a pony, to them only two hours ago, vs a pony who's ancestors before them only knew about being ponies.
Hmm... it's a brilliant chapter, just, spikes my predictions of an unhealthy future.
Seeds grow into Oaks, small ripples into tidal waves, who knows what can come out of the events of today.
No conflict, everyone's pretty happy, life is progressing. Sounds like a good epilogue.
So, what's going to go horribly wrong?
6441577
Well. Perhaps there is one thing left to do.
War. As supply and demand grows, so do "Empires"
And we're back!
Intriguing societal setup, and if things are going to go down the tubes, it's nice to see they've managed at least some time of peace.
The breeding program may be the part that trips me up the most- surprised that no one else has commented on it at all- if only because I got so attached to the couples we already had. But I suppose you do what you have to with a low population.
I'm sure when the ponies get older(especially if they have access to old human tv and the like) they will understand that they used to be humans
however, much like how people nowadays deny the existence of a few things that have definitely happened in the past, future generations of ponies will be harder to convince. Eventually the Festival Of Tears will either just become some sort of second halloween where ponies dress up as humans. They will still come in contact with pre-event humans-turned-ponies for a long while though + with Alex around they won't completely forget their pasts.
I don't think Moriah is going about this the wrong way. Right now it's fine since her foal is still so young but when he gets older I suspect some sort of backlash from him.
So her survival depends entirely on her ability to make the ponies refuse to accept what they've become...
Really, I gotta bark at this.
Do you have any conception of how much changes in a thousand years? How radically different your thinking and self-perception are from someone 10 centuries ago?
Did you cease to truly be human because you no longer bow to a king or warlord, or plow a peasants' dung-caked field with an ox and plow, like your ancestors did 1,000 years in the past? Did we all "die out" because nobody remembers what it was like to live 1000 years ago, and can no longer relate to it?
Hundreds of civilizations have risen, had their hour upon the earth, and then crumbled away, either gobbled up in bits and pieces by other newer civilizations or to disappear entirely, with neither a trace left behind and none to mourn them--- and no loss to anyone. Why? Because they served their purpose: the continued survival of the people.
You make the mistake of confusing a people's cultural debris for the people themselves. No culture, no civilization, no social order has a right to exist. It either thrives, changes, or perishes, and sacrificing the wellbeing of the people to save their "culture"--- a thing as mutable as mud, and as permanent as a sand castle--- is just slow suicide.
Does Lonely Day care about humanity, or the pretty box it came in?
Humanity no longer walks on two legs in her world. Its form is different, its needs are different, and her devotion to clinging to a dead past--- most of which belonged on the ash-heap of history, and good riddance-- is sooner or later going to make her a threat to her own race's survival.
I'm so glad I waited 5 years for the next story in the trilogy to come out.
It's the only thing worth living for, and if I see any foals get hurt...
Ooo, we might have some problems.
I'm currently screaming internally from both excitement and terror, you monster.
6439986
I have a feeling you'll know pretty soon!
6440021
Yeah, I do have a pretty wide scope in mind. Not sure if I'll get to explore all of it, but I do intend to explore a great deal.
6440029
Yeah, this is probably going to be a long story. Not having daily updates is going to make it take much longer to finish, at least so far as raw weeks. If I finish writing it, I might increase the posing schedule to more than once a week, but otherwise...
6440041
And it's going to get worse and worse, as the number of new births continue to outnumber the returns. Only in the later years will that proportion begin to reverse.
6440088
Yep! It'll be a lot slower: Now that I'm in school and such full time, I just don't have the time to keep up with my previous schedule. Not to mention that the number of chapters would just get absolutely insane if I posted the really short scenes that I did in previous stories.
6440092
Well I'm not sure what's going to happen to the traditions long term, but... I'm sure we'll find out! Though it will probably take awhile...
6440101
I hope so too! Pester Zutcha enough, and he just might... Don't worry though, I haven't forgotten about Riley. She just wasn't in the first chapter.
6440103
You'll see her next chapter!
6440203
That sounds like one of the sorts of questions that we'll see answered over the course of this story, if we wait long enough. We can bet that Alex would've wanted to be returned to her proper age...
6440518
Thanks! It was pretty emotional to write, too...
6440526
Well it seems to have had a positive reaction so far. Hopefully that means I'll get to explore all the different periods I've been thinking of...
6440643
Thanks for pointing that out, it should be fixed now!
6440645
Oh, that's not an error. It's saying that Sky takes care of Alex's son when Alex is working.
6440902
You're exactly right that it's the start of a currency! We'll see more about it in the chapters ahead, so I won't spoil what it is. Suffice it to say they've found a pretty clever way to handle that, which we'll see pretty soon...
6440913
I'm glad I'm not in her shoes, that's for sure.
6440939
Some chapters might be easier than others, but... I can't promise there won't be all kinds of emotional things in the weeks ahead. Painful, awful things. But there might be some great things too. Guess we'll find out.
6441087
This early glimpse of life in Alexandria might indeed show us a wide glimpse of the many years to come. Small changes now, huge changes in the future. Moriah and Cloudy skies are indeed two separate ideas, the extremes of which I have no doubt we will see explored as the years go by.
6441577
Oh, you'll know soon, you'll know. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon.
6441839
I don't think we'll see too much more about the breeding program, since this story is from Alex's perspective and she's not in it, but we might learn a little more. But when there's so few of you in the world, you can't afford to sit idly by and let your numbers continue to drop...
6441913
The only thing that's going to stave that off from totally erasing the fact humans used to live is that humans will continue returning from the past on a fairly regular basis, wearing artifacts from their forgotten culture and knowing with confidence that humanity did once live.
6442298
Quite a bit there to respond to, though I think I'll restrict myself to answering thusly: Did you actually read the chapter? Your comment suggests you read the story summary but didn't actually look at the chapter at all. I can't speak to future events in the story for spoiler's sake. If you're responding to anything actually present in the story, then please let me know. Otherwise, I'll be happy to get back to this great evil you think Alex is going to bring about when she actually brings it about.
I'm looking forward to seeing what Riley's been getting up to.
Do I see the beginnings of a new generation of Crusaders?
But seriously, I think you are handling the transitional period between human mindset and ploy mindset most excellently. It's sad, and yet inevitable that eventually all that will remain for the foals that were born as pure ponies will be old movies of what their world used to be like. Also this could be a potential problem once the pure ponies of future generations will be the ones to have to deal with the arrival of the converted. That will be an awfully wide gap in mindsets to cross. Still, I'm sure that Alex and the other founders will put into place a 'process' for that when it occurs. I wonder how soon the next batch of converted humans will arrive? Next generation? Or will it be a semi-constant trickle over time.
It's good to see that the society that Alex worked so hard for is thriving, although I was sad to her about her personal difficulties bearing children. I wonder however, if perhaps Oliver is mistaken. I mean Alex heals quite a bit more thoroughly than other ponies. If the um... situation, accidentally came up in the future, I want to believe that she could still have another child. Even though I can't imagine what she went through emotionally, being one of the first males, now female, to be able to give birth. A good Pinkie Pie word would be Terrorcited.
I absolutely loved the 2 stories before this, and can't really wait for more of it, even if it takes a while.
It's so amazingly awesome! Can't... take... the awesome... *dies*
Squee
so excited!
The first part of the festival made me tear up, too. Well done.
Definitely a great chapter, and so meaty too! It's a little sad we didn't get to see more of Early Alexandria, but this is a good starting point to! So interesting to see Lonely Day be a Wife & Mother!! She's really taken to it well.
ALTHOUGH, I have to say: DAMN YOU AUTHOR!!! Just when I think I'll get to see what the cliffhanger from LAST chapter was, you STICK IT TO US AGAIN!!! @.@
Well that's not ominous or anything!
6442450 Can you imagine the "She talks like my grandma" moments? There will be SO many of them.
I'm slightly surprised that Day didn't tell anybody that Moriah actually de-aged her, but at the same time... I understand entirely.
I see your trilogy, and I raise you one mustache!
Also, you know, a thumbs up, a favorite, and a follow, but you wanted the mustache most, huh?
6444931
I think they know that. What she isn't saying is why she hasn't aged a day since then.
6442450
Just had a random idea about currency.
In other things where I've seen "chits", it refers to a primarily or entirely digital currency and everything is facilitated by credit/debit cards. Obviously that isn't quite practical in the early post-apocalypse.
Instead, we'll combine that with Fallout's currency of pre-apocalypse leftovers (bottlecaps), by making the currency from literal credit cards. Exchange rate is 10 Mastercards to an Amex.
Yes! It has begun!!
Wohoo! Multi-generational story of a civilisation
I love those, and it is a great closing to your trilogy (and for once I can follow it as it is being published).
The fleeting historical memory will be a problem mainly once the artifacts of humanity begin to decay and the ones that remain will be things that the current civilisation can build or which could be ascribed to a mythical golden age.
It was at this very moment that the Vegas oddsmakers who live in my head immediately put 7:5 odds on Daddy being Olive Garden. Bastards aren't paying out, though.
...that's fucking great, Moriah. You teach him to say that in front of Equestrian ponies?
I have a question... what happenned to all the nuclear power plants and such
6451838 I remember a TV show that actually dealt with that. Anyone older than 16 disappeared, and the resulting planet full of children found out that they had to stop a nuclear apocalypse.
Life was good.
Then.
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