Chapter XV
Chapter XV
On the outside, Petros was nothing but a calm, country unicorn, idling away his life at the top of Neighagra Falls, singing songs, and practicing his woodcarving.
On the inside, he was a nervous wreck. The changeling had just received word that the Equestrians would be coming, and coming soon. He had his orders, and he could see a certain amount of sense in them, but he couldn’t help but feel as if he were being hunted.
After all, these were ponies they were dealing with. The race that, with only two members of the species, had thrown the largest changeling hive ever hatched out of Canterlot with such great velocity that Changelings had been found as far as Saddle Arabia and the Griffon Empire.
That kind of power wasn't something to take lightly.
Ever since the coup, Petros had been having the same, recurring nightmare where Shining Armor had somehow gotten inside Providence and had unleashed his spell. He had always woken up screaming right before being dashed to pieces against the stone walls of the hive. Just the thought of that horror caused him to shudder, nearly causing him to drop his knife in the process. He took a deep, cleansing breath, then set his knife back to the wood, fully intent on finishing his piece.
Before he was able to continue his work, he heard a rustle from some nearby bushes, causing him to glance up briefly.
What he saw nearly caused his heart to stop in his chest.
Standing not twenty paces from where he sat was none other than Prince Shining Armor himself, dressed in full battle armor, and wearing an expression that clearly showed that he knew exactly what Petros was.
Without even thinking about it, Petros released his form, changing back into his natural state. He then fell to his face, groveling before it had even fully registered in his head that that was what he was going to do. “We surrender!” he managed to choke out, barely remembering in time that that was what he was supposed to say.
A minute passed. Then two, then three. Finally, Petros looked up and noticed that the prince wasn’t looking at him at all. Instead, the pony’s attention was on the far side of the clearing, closer to where the river ran over the falls. Unbidden, Petros’ eyes looked to where the prince was staring, only see something that made his heart fall even further.
On the other side of the clearing was another Shining Armor, this one at the head of what looked like a decently-sized army. This one wasn’t angry looking, though. Instead, this one looked more embarrassed than anything else.
“Well, this is awkward…” the second Shining Armor said, rubbing the back of his head like a school foal caught cheating on a test.
In that instant, Petros felt like he knew what it was like to be a piece of iron struck between an anvil and a hammer.
“Kill them,” the second Shining Armor said, dropping the embarrassed air, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he stared at the first one. Petros had already guessed that the second one was the fake, but that look had only solidified that belief. He had only seen that look once before; it had been on the faces of Queen Chrysalis’ changelings that had fallen near the falls.
“Enemy changeling attack!” Petros shouted at the top of his lungs, springing to his hooves, ready to defend his hive and his people. Silently he said a prayer to the Spirits, asking for their blessing to rest on him and his hive, but it was without any real faith.
Deep down, he knew that he was already dead.
* * *
Princess Luna stepped off the carriage, her armor making a faint clanking sound as she looked to the falls. She closed her eyes briefly, allowing her senses to pick up the faint hum that Alex’s beacon was transmitting. It was still there, clear as day, though it seemed to be coming closer.
“Your Highness, maybe you should stay back and let me meet them first,” Dark Seeker cautioned. “We don’t fully know what the changeling queen is capable of, and she might-”
“I am aware of that, Captain. I also elect to respectfully ignore your advice,” she said as she briskly moved past the thestral. “I also don’t think we have to worry about that.”
“Why is that, Your Highness?”
“Because either ~Alex~ has already escaped, or they’re bringing him to meet us,” she said as her captain fell into line behind her.
Captain Dark Seeker’s face became stony and impassive as he heard that. He hadn’t been in Canterlot during the invasion; he, his stallions, and Princess Luna had been investigating a report of suspicious activity several miles south of Canterlot. The destruction they had come home to had made them realize just how thoroughly they had been duped.
None of the royal guard would forget that day, nor the ones who caused it.
“I just can't believe they’ve been living under our noses this whole time. I remember coming to these falls as a foal…” Dark Seeker said with a sigh.
“It certainly has a nostalgic feel to it, but that only serves to make this matter all the more intimidating,” Luna said, her voice sounding wistful. She straightened up as something caught her eye on the other side of the falling water, her body as tense as a bowstring. “Be ready, my little ponies; they're here.”
The guard around her formed up, their weapons held at the ready. When a faint pink aura appeared, creating a hole in the curtain of water, the tension was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.
It was rather anticlimactic, then, that the only person to step out of the waterfall before it closed again was a rather bedraggled-looking ~Alex.~ His clothes were torn in several places, and there were some rather disgusting stains on them. His face, as well as any flesh that was exposed to the open air, was covered in nasty-looking bruises, and he seemed to be favoring his left arm a bit. He was also incredibly wet, even with the magical opening of the falls, due to the water in the air and the thigh deep water he was wading through.
However, as bad as his appearance was, it completely conflicted with just how calm he was as he walked through the water towards the bank that Luna and her soldiers stood on. He acted as if he hadn't just escaped from a Changeling prison, and was approaching them with an almost indecent casualness.
“Hello, Moon. We need talk,” he said in badly broken Equestrian.
Luna narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She didn't have a translation spell cast on her, not that she had heard the overlay from such a spell anyway. The ~human~ had used the Equestrian tongue himself. She could still feel the beacon on him, but something like that could be found and removed. “It is good to see you, ~Alex.~ I hope it’s not too much trouble if we find out if it is really you?”
The ~human~ raised his eyebrows a little, then gave a noncommittal shrug. “Fine, do whatever need do, just hurry. Have things to tell.”
The Princess of the Night gathered energy into her horn, molded it into the desired spell, then fired it as one continuous stream, disrupting any and all magic that might be binding him. If he was a Changeling, or was being mind controlled (as unlikely as that was), they would know instantly.
The moment the spell touched him, however, his face suddenly took on an incredibly weird expression. It seemed to tense up on one side, while going completely lax on the other. His right arm also twitched a couple times before he seemed to shake himself out of whatever had happened to him.
He looked at Luna, said something in his own language that Luna only half caught, then shook his head again. “What that is being?” he asked, clearly furious.
“I apologize for that, ~Alex;~ we had to be sure. It was a magical disruption spell, one designed to remove any and all magic that might be affecting you. It would have revealed if you were a Changeling, or if you were being controlled by one, but its drawbacks are-”
“Pain, and re-starting planted machinery,” the ~human~ interrupted, still looking incredibly grumpy. He shook his head a few more times, apparently in an effort to clear the effects, before sighing in frustration. “It… it not matter, wasn’t control. Wasn’t changeling. Need talk.”
Luna nodded at the alien, then waved a hoof at her guards. “Stand down, it is him.”
The Night Sentinels raised their spears reluctantly, all too aware that just a hoofful of feet away was a changeling stronghold filled to the brim with creatures that they, to a stallion, thought of as some of the lowest scum of the planet.
“I take it you’re here to speak on behalf of your captors, despite your less-than-pristine condition,” Princess Luna stated, her eyes sweeping over the obviously injured ~human~ with concern. “By the way, how is it that you are speaking our tongue?”
~Alex~ reached up and gently tapped the back of his skull. “Planted machinery finally get rough word collection together. Know still not speak right, but all words there.” he stopped and thought about that before shaking his head again. “Most words there. Have all words that you spoke me when talking. Should be enough to brain together.” He thought about this for a little bit more, before shaking his head again. “Communicate. Enough to communicate.”
Princess Luna smiled, then ignited her horn, casting the translation spell on both of them again. “Until you have it completely, I suggest using this. Your grammar and word usage is atrocious.”
~Alex~ stuck his tongue out at her, but his grin was good natured. The soldiers around them seemed uncomfortable with this obvious display of disrespectful familiarity, but did not say anything about it.
If the alien noticed their discomfort, he didn’t show it, taking a momentary glance behind him, before looking back at the princess. “I can see why that would be important,” the ~human~ responded, his magically translated speech far clearer and more concise than it had been previously. In fact, it was far more clear than any time it had been before, probably due to his greater understanding of the Equestrian tongue bridging the gap. “At any rate, you have to talk with the changeling queen. She has a few things to say that I’m pretty sure you’ll want to hear.”
Luna furrowed her eyebrows, giving the ~human~ a look that said it all. “~Alex,~ those things kidnapped Shining Armor’s wife, took her place, kidnapped Twilight Sparkle, wounded my sister, attacked Canterlot, attempted a coup, and tried to destroy our entire civilization.”
Luna expected outrage, disgust, or even horror. What she wasn’t expecting was a calm, steady gaze. “Really? And here I was thinking that they stole your sandwich or something.” This caused the Lunar Princess to stop in her tracks, her stare at the ~human~ one of pure disbelief. “Look, they told me about the coup. I might not know all the details, but they’ve been surprisingly upfront about everything. They also claim that they were in no way involved with that.”
Princess Luna’s eyes scanned every inch of the human’s face, searching for any hint of falsehood. “~Alex,~ they were probably telling you half-truths to make the lie that much more believable.”
“Luna, I’m not saying that you should trust her right off the club. I’m just saying that you should talk to her. If she’s lying, then fine. Do what you have to do. But if there’s any chance that she’s telling the truth, I think it’s worth it.” ~Alex~ sighed, then half turned towards the falls, pointing at it with his uninjured arm. “Right now, inside those falls, is a whole civilization. Males, females, and children, all quivering in fear because they think that the ponies are coming to end all their lives, without mercy or remorse.”
That instantly got Luna’s attention. “We would never-”
“I know, Luna. I know,” ~Alex~ said, turning back to her, a sad smile on his face. “The thing is, though, that they don’t know. They really think that the big bad ponies are coming to get them. I’m not saying that you have to believe her, or that you even have to like it. I’m only asking you to listen to her. Hear her out, and if you don’t like what she has to say, go ahead and do what you need to. I won’t stop you. Just…”
The ~human~ trailed off, looking like he wanted to say so much more. This, of course, piqued Luna’s curiosity. “Just what, ~Alex?~”
~Alex~ looked to her, back at the falls, then back at her, and gave a hard-to-describe shrug with his less-injured arm. “I don’t know. I can’t think of anything else to say to convince you to hold your horses and just listen, so I’m going to trust you to know what you’re doing.” Without another word, the ~human~ plopped down on the grass, picked a flower from the river bank, then began examining it with apparent interest.
“What’s wrong, Your Highness?” Dark Seeker whispered to his princess, clearly confused. “We have him. Why are we staying?”
Luna rubbed a hoof over her face as she stared at the obstinate ~human.~ “You do know that they kidnapped you, and beat you, by the looks of things…”
~Alex~ didn’t say anything, choosing to pluck a petal off the flower instead.
The Princess of the Night sighed, then sat down on the bank next to the ~human.~ “This is really important, isn’t it?”
“You could say that…” the ~human~ said cryptically, pulling off another petal, then letting it fall to the ground. “It’s really her story to tell. I could never do it the justice it deserves…”
Princess Luna watched him for a little while longer as he plucked petal after petal, until he finally ran out. Instead of picking up the conversation again, he chose to pick another flower, starting the process all over again. With a resigned sigh, Luna rose to her hooves and looked down at the stubborn ~human.~ “Alright. Go retrieve the queen, I would hear what she has to say. Guards!” The soldiers that surrounded them snapped to attention. “The queen is coming out to talk. I would not have any of you start an incident over this.”
~Alex~ jumped to his feet at this, a huge, open-mouth smile gracing his face. On anyone else, this might have looked like a welcoming gesture, but the ~human’s~ too-sharp teeth marred it a bit. “Thank you, Luna. You won’t regret this.” He turned and ran off, quickly covering the short distance through the water and to the falls with his long, lanky legs. He disappeared through the curtain of water, not even waiting long enough for the changelings inside to open it for him.
“Your Highness, I thought our intent was to talk to the Changeling Queen in the first place?” Dark Seeker asked, thoroughly confused.
“It was.”
Dark Seeker looked towards the falls, then back at the Princess. “But.. why did you resist the ~human~ so much? Why didn’t you just agree with him from the start?”
Princess Luna just shook her head as Neighagara Falls opened once again, much wider this time, presumably to allow a much larger party than just ~Alex~ through. “Not now, later.”
Captain Dark Seeker gulped, then straightened, his face impassive as he watched the shadows inside the falls move, then resolve themselves into several forms.
He nearly dropped his weapon when those forms stepped into the sunlight, their pink eyes and purple shells clashing heavily with the reports that he had read about these creatures. “Your Highness, they-”
“I know. I have seen the queen in both Princess Cadance’s and Shining Armor’s nightmares, and this queen looks nothing like them.” This was true; the changelings that had invaded Canterlot had light blue eyes and dark blue shells, with tattered wings that looked like they had come from a fly, or a beetle. The changelings that stepped out from the falls, on the other hand, were as different from the ones that invaded Canterlot as Day Tribe ponies were to Night Tribe ones. These changelings had pink luminescent eyes, and a dark purple shell covering their backs, with wings that more closely resembled those of a dragonfly.
As fascinating as the smaller ones were, Luna found her eyes inevitably drawn to the queen that led the changelings. Her bearing could only be described as regal, each movement a monument in refined dignity. She did not wear clothing, though she clearly had a sense of style, since she had tied her long, dark purple hair into a neat braid that cascaded over her right shoulder, with her tail following a similar scheme.
What really caught Luna’s attention about the queen was her eyes.
While the other changeling queen’s eyes had shown contempt on the surface, while just below lurked a deep, predatory hunger, these eyes were nothing like that. Inside that pink gaze wasn’t hunger or hatred, but concern and fear. She hid it well, but Luna had been a statesmare for a very long time, second only to her sister in terms of pure experience. She had a knack for picking up tells, and while the mare in front of her looked as calm as a spring morning, her eyes told another story entirely.
At least, that was probably what she wanted Luna to see. The Princess of the Night took a deep, cleansing breath, wrinkled her nose, then closed her eyes for a second. In response to her mental command, her long, ethereal mane and tail took on slightly larger and more imposing looks. “Stay on your guard. As different as they may be, these are still changelings, and they may be attempting a completely different deception.”
“Agreed.”
Princess Luna took a couple of steps forward as the Changeling Queen and her guards flew across the water and landed gently on the bank Luna was standing on. The queen had brought ~Alex~ with her, held in her magic as lightly as one would carry a foal, though by ~Alex’s~ expression he was probably not too happy with how he was being handled. “I can walk, you know,” he said, a little grumpily.
“You’re wet enough as it is, Defender,” the queen answered, her voice rich with barely suppressed humor.
~Alex~ just grumbled some more, something about someone being ‘no fun,’ but Luna ignored it in favor of fixing the queen with her best stare. It was a really good one, one that she had learned from her sister once she had returned from her banishment. “I take it that you are the Queen of the Changelings?” she asked carefully.
“I am Titania, queen of these changelings,” the queen gently corrected. “I would never presume to be mother to anyone other than my own children.”
Princess Luna raised an eyebrow at this, her expression never wavering. “Then you choose to persist in the story you told ~Alex?~ That you are blameless for the actions taken against Canterlot.”
The Queen gave Luna a nervous smile, cleared her throat, then began to recite something. “To the rulers of the great nation of Equestria, to the Princesses of the Sun and the Moon, I proclaim to you now that your lives, and the lives of your people, are in jeopardy. Before this month is through, the skies of Canterlot shall become black, and death shall rain upon her walls and streets. You have been warned.” The Queen then fell into a deep bow, as did her guards, before the shocked-looking Equestrians. “I ask you, what kind of enemy would announce to you, a week in advance, their attempt at a secret coup?”
Princess Luna just stared at the Queen, her mouth open, the look of stern disapproval having completely vanished from her face. Luna knew the words that the queen had recited well, as they had been inside the letter that had been left on Celestia’s throne. She and her sister had taken it as a threat, and had reacted accordingly. Were we wrong, then? Was it not a threat, but a warning? Luna thought to herself, looking at Queen Titania with newfound wonder.
“We are not your enemy, Princess of the Moon. We never have been. We took Defender not to harm, but to protect. Er...” she thought about that for a second, then let out a nervous chuckle. “At least, I did not intend for him to come to harm. My children were a little… overzealous, when they first met him. They did not-”
Whatever she said then was indecipherable, for at that precise moment a sound loud enough to drown out the thunderous roar of the falls echoed throughout the valley. Everyone present looked towards the source of the noise, only to see an ominous pink dome cover the ridge at the top of the falls, as well as several black shapes being violently thrown from its craggy precipice into the unforgiving valley below.
“Shining, what-”
“What the bloody-”
“Captain…”
“My children!”
In the space of a single heartbeat, Queen Titania took to the skies with enough speed to give Rainbow Dash a run for her money. Without even thinking about it, Luna took off after her, followed closely by both her and Titania’s guards. Her mind was rushing a mile a minute, trying to figure out what sort of scenario could have pushed Shining Armor to deploy his shield like that.
Before she could come to any sort of conclusion, the Changeling Queen caught up to the closest falling changeling and deftly caught it in her magic. Princess Luna was still quite a ways away from her, but she could still see the look of terror and worry on the queen’s face turn into one of complete disgust. The pink, gentle embrace that she held the smaller changeling in suddenly turned much harsher as the changeling was quickly bound tight.
“What are you doing?” Luna shouted, completely confused by the queen’s sudden change of attitude.
If the queen heard her, she didn’t show it, choosing to instead squeeze the changeling in her grip tighter while her expression became one of cold fury. “What are you doing anywhere near my hive?”
The changeling looked confused for a second, and as Luna got closer, she finally realized why the queen was so hostile towards this creature.
The changeling in her grip had green eyes, as opposed to Titania’s bright pink. It’s shell was a deep blue, and its wings were ragged and beetle-like, matching the description of the changelings that attacked Canterlot far closer than Titania and her changelings did.
If Titania was telling the truth, then this creature and its people had a lot to answer for.
The changeling chuckled a little as its wits came back to it, its grin one of complete insanity as it gazed at the furious queen. “Should you really be shaking me instead of doing something else? I hear that eggs are really quite fragile…”
The Queen’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as she magically bound the changeling’s wings and horn. She then roughly shoved the creature towards Luna’s surprised-looking guards. “You want one of Chrysalis’s people? Here he is. These are the changelings responsible for the damages against your city. If you still seek action against us, fine, we surrender our entire territory to you. You can lock me and my people in chains, and throw away the key later. Now, I must protect my children.”
Without another word, Queen Titania sped off towards the pink dome covering the top of Neighagra Falls, a determined expression on her face. She didn’t get very far before Luna, her guards, and the Queen’s guards caught up to her. “We shall assist you in this matter, though I expect you to explain in detail later.” Though her words sounded harsh, the smile on the Moon Princess’s face was as radiant as any dawn.
The Queen’s answer was a tentative, timid smile in return.
* * *
“There’s probably a lot more in the forest, and if I were them, I’d make my way to the second entrance. Sergeant Weather, take a couple of stallions to the falls below and alert the Princess,” Shining Armor barked at his troops.
“Sir, what about them?” a voice spoke up from behind the fuming captain.
Shining Armor glanced towards the sound, easily spotting Captain Breeze standing next to a group of fifteen pink and purple changelings. Most of them bore some kind of wound, many of them quite serious. All of them were looking at Shining Armor with naked fear.
“Oh, stop that,” Shining Armor snapped at them, the pressure from the shield he was projecting already making him irritable. “How many got through?” The wounded changelings just looked at each other, clearly outside of their element. “Hey! I’m talking here! I know you were doing your best to protect the entrance, but I also saw far more go inside that hut than come out! So tell me, how many got in?”
They looked at each other again, until one finally worked up the courage to step forwards. “Um… begging your pardon, Your Lordship, but it was probably forty or fifty.”
Shining Armor swore loudly, stomping a single hoof in frustration. “Okay, do you guys have some way of telling changelings apart from ponies? I want those monsters caught before they can hurt anypony else!”
The leader of the changelings gulped loudly, his eyes darting around nervously before finally answering. “Um, well, if you use a lie detector spell on us while disguised, we’ll glow a dark red, on account of-”
“Lie detector? Great. Breeze, you oversee out here. Buggy, Shadowheart, Steel Wing, you’re with me.”
Without another word, Captain Shining Armor swept past the changelings and into the small hut, the two guards and the completely confused, newly dubbed ‘Buggy’ in tow. The other changelings all looked to Captain Breeze, disbelief clear in their eyes. “I’m sorry, My Lord, but what just happened?”
Captain Breeze didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he got to work directing his remaining troops to see to the wounded; changeling and pony alike. There were only five of them that were in any sort of shape to be accepting such orders, Captain Breeze included, and if the changelings wanted to overpower them, now would have been the time.
Instead, the changelings found themselves swept up into the pony’s care, almost overpowered by the sheer niceness that was being displayed.
“Our captain is going to rout out the monsters that attacked your hive, that’s what’s happening,” Captain Breeze said as he applied a bandage to the changeling’s flank.
“No, sir, why are you helping us? We’re changelings! Yet you didn’t raise a single hoof against us, even during the chaos of that battle! Why?”
“Well, you surrendered for one. Our doctrine says that all surrendered troops of enemy nations should be treated with respect, and are exempt from violence of any kind. More importantly, though, do you see that?” Captain Breeze pointed towards the sky, where the glittering pink bubble that Shining Armor had conjured still sat, protecting the area against further attack.
The changeling nodded, his eyes focused on it with unabashed fear. “Yes, we saw you throw Chrysalis and her hive out of Canterlot with it. Truly it is a terrible weapon.”
This made Captain Breeze laugh, tears rolling down his face. “Oh, it’s cute that you think that…” he said, wiping a tear away with his pastern. He quickly straightened up and finished applying the bandage before he chose to continue, though he couldn’t quite make the smile disappear from his face. “A forcefield like that doesn’t just sweep everything and anything away; its only purpose is defense. To be specific, it defends against malice.”
The changeling looked confused at that. “Malice?”
Captain Breeze nodded as he started working on another changeling. “If you had any malice in your heart against us when that thing went up, you would have been sent flying just as fast as your look-a-likes. That’s why our Captain is helping you.”
The changeling looked up at the shield in wonder. “You can do something like that?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
“No, most ponies can’t. The captain is special, though. His talent is to protect other ponies, which is why his spell works the way it does. It’s not a weapon, but a shield.”
The gathered changelings looked up into the sky in wonder, the pink bubble around the secondary entrance not nearly as frightening as it once was. For the first time since Queen Chrysalis had attacked Canterlot, the changelings of the Hive of Providence felt hope rise in their chests. Not just hope for themselves, but hope for the future of their people.
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Good. Good.... Question. Will Alex ever be able to talk normally?
8172828 Eventually. He's working on it.
8172832 also. Is this the story where the human girl get taken and are turned into the monster Thing or am I getting my stories mixed up?
8172838 There's a human girl that got taken, and is being turned into a monster thing, yes. However, Alex is the main character in this story, so we haven't seen too much of her yet.
8172847 thank you for clearing that up
Good luck brave author! This epic showdown is cool! Now let's see where this goes! I'm curious why Chrysalis is so hostile when the threat of extinction from an alien invasion looms literally above her head. Why is she only making things so much worse?! That idiot!
Go Shining!
I hope that Alex will eventually be able to speak to the ponies normally
Given what we've seen so far I can't say the Changelings negative perception of the ponies is entirely unfounded.
Love the final edit! Bravo! I still would have kept that plan B against writer's block, but that's me. :)
Betting your happy you don't half to write Alex's broken English as often
Sweet. Things are looking up for the Pink Hive!
Sweet. I love me some changelings.
Yay, your update rate is back!
Also, this was a good chapter and I'm looking forward to the next one. My only minor concern is that Shining's attitude change at the end seemed a bit abrupt, but I'm assuming that's mostly a result of him focusing on the mission at hand over his feelings since he seems to be behaving very professionally here in general like he should. After all, while he can obviously see the difference between the two groups of changelings here and make a logical distinction for the sake of the mission, emotions don't really care about those kinds of facts and he definitely has some deep seated issues stemming from the invasion so learning to to separate his feelings for the two groups should take time.
I don't mind at all that you left out a blow by blow telling of the fight. Fights are hard to write well and takes away from the story all to easily.
Just the Intel about the changeling detector will be invaluable to the Equestrians.
8172828
8172977
Dude, it takes a while to learn a completely new language, let alone one designed to be spoken by a race with near-completely different anatomy. He's lucky he's able to speak it AT ALL, and that's even taking into account his implants.
8173629 But magic should be able to learn and translate his language in a heartbeat
every time this story updates without fail this song comes to mind
dunno why
8173673
Um, it DOES. That's what the TRANSLATION spell is for, but it just translates the concepts from Equestrian to English. It's helping, but all it's doing is taking Equestrian and converting it to English in his head, and his words in English into Equestrian in theirs, he's still speaking and, essentially, hearing English. Meanwhile, his implants are actually processing the actual language and what words mean what to allow him to actually speak and understand it without the help filter that is the spell.
Good chapter, for a transition. Hope you don't drag the hive fight out, though.
What I'm reading here is that Titania could have given a useful warning that would have allowed the ponies to prepare for Chrysalis's attack, but instead she decided to be vague and cryptic, so her warning would only make sense after it was too late.
8173785 Call me stupid but I only understood half of what you just said
8173842
The spell is basically Google translate. His implants are actually learning the language for him.
8173856 I think his implants are trying to do the star trek universal translator thing
8173859
Yes, just a bit more realistically than in Trek, in that it actually takes a while to figure out the translation key, rather than near instantly like in almost all cases on the show.
8173906 Dude treks translator is realistic because it has so many languages to use as a reference
8173912
True, but it still should take at least a minute or two when encountering a new race to work, but 9 out of 10 it's working before the new aliens are even on screen.
In any case it shows my point about why it's taking Alex a while to learn Equestrian. He doesn't have a multi-deck supercomputer to process the language, just his own brain and whatever processing power his implants have.
8173941 Dude I'm pretty sure that earlier in the story it said that his brain is a supercomputer and also the star trek computers can hold so much information they had to invent a new larger unit of storage space called a "gigaquad" like "a gigaquad of data has been transferred to our computer" so naturally it has to have enough processing power to match the amount of storage it can hold so I think the universal translator is justified
8172852
Good point! What possible reason could horse-bug have for not joining appendages with the mammals against those disgusting space-bugs?
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
8173822 Yeah, she made a mistake there. She was trying her best to warn the Equestrians without revealing herself or her hive, and the paranoia that she'd grown up with and lived with her whole life bit her and the equestrians in the butt there.
8172852 Because Chrysalis isn't the most sane, and it shows. Both in the show, and here.
It's good to see Alex's language improving, but why did it happen so suddenly? IIRC he's been with the ponies for months, but with the changelings for just a few hours (and Titania put him under the same translation). It was a big exposition bomb, but not "sample space to learn a language" big
8174335
I
f my experience with Chekov's Gun is right, then I predict that the reactivation of the tech in Alex is a little more of a wake up call than he'd like. Specifically, I think his eyes will begin to discern who's who despite the disguises, allowing Alex to have an epic moment where he protects the children. I could be wrong, but it seems like that's what you're setting up. I do hope I'm right, though. Mostly because it would be awesome to see.
What say you?
8173386 That's exactly it. Shining isn't a happy camper here, and it shows, but he's a proffesional, and he puts his duty first and foremost, even ahead of his own feelings on the matter. Perfect example? instead of asking for the changeling's name, he nicknames the unnamed (Petros) as 'Buggy.' Very passive aggressive, but he's going to do his duty anyway, go home, and grumble about the whole situation.
8174339 Previous chapter:
Shell did not have a translation spell cast on him, and yet Alex still understood him. The fact of the matter is, is that Alex's implants have been working on this ever since he heard his first word in Equestrian, and the translation spell has only been accelerating his learning speed. During Queen Titania's whole deal, he heard a huge amount of words, usages, grammar and other such things that he had never heard before, all being directly translated for him, allowing his software to directly link words and their meanings for him.
That's not to say that he heard more words in that one sitting than the month that proceeded it, but rather that it was just enough for him to finally complete a translation matrix that was halfway usable. To be honest, I was arguing with myself for a while, trying to decide when to insert his completed translation matrix, and I just figured that this was as good a place as any. When we get back to Alex's perspective, he will be talking about it, believe me on this.
8174442 It's also worth noting that the ponies have generally been good about keeping translation spells up on everyone he interacts with, so we wouldn't have seen the implants working since the translation spell took priority.
Also, while learning words and grammar structures from context is possible, there are almost certainly going to be mistakes that won't get spotted until the translation matrix is tested. I would expect it to improve rapidly from this point so long as he makes use of it since it's already semi-intelligible and can rapidly learn from its mistakes since it will perfectly remember every correction given to it.
Also, since you brought up the timing, you are honestly very slow for what a computer can do. It should have been able to get basic translation like this going in a matter of days, refined it to fully legible in about a week, and given him full fluency by this point.
8174457 I know, I've been putting this off for a while now.
Another great chapter!
8174457
I guess his software is just buggy. (Because it was made by bug people?
... I'll just leave now.)
Brilliant as always!
did you ever say if there were any other changeling queens besides the ones you've shown here?
like, Chrysalis is all tattered and beetly, this one is not tattered and dragon fly...y..
are there ones based off other insects?
Grasshopper ones with powerful legs and slighly weaker flight?
water bug ones that can breath underwater?
Hold your horses. Heh.
Finally caught up after catching up with all the other stories in my favorites (took over a month, yikes
) really like how this is going.
8174339 Alex's borg implants are Star Trek's UT MK-I -- and it's still in prototype mode ATT.
8174794 Wait until Knight Breeze breaks out this bunch:
images.indiegogo.com/file_attachments/176612/files/20131105011139-Alien_Xeno.jpg?1383642699
Glad to see Luna meet Titania. I look forward to their interaction after they look after Shining Armor and Titania's changelings.
Things are looking up! Well, mostly.
Luna's keeping her cards close. But when relaxing time comes we think she's going to make good friends with Titania.
Shining gets it, somewhat, the results of his shield should have planted a powerful seed towards acceptance...
Keep going! ;)
8174338
I think I understand her reasoning. Chaos. If she can sow chaos, she can grab all the "food" she wants while the other races are too busy fighting each other. And when the dust clears and just the wounded winner is left standing, she can pounce at full strength, taking over completely. It's nasty and immoral but that's not something she really cares about.
8176091
Yes! Thank you
Awesome chapter! Once this hive is cleared... OBLITERATE CHRYSALIS' BROOD TO THE LAST LARVA!
8176397 YES BURN HER AT THE STAKE
Well, the fact that the shield didn't fling those friendly changelings away is certainly a proof of submission/amicability as any.
So yay, ponies to the rescue!
I am very excited right now. :D