Prologue
Prologue
Corporal High Wind stumbled from the bar, his gait more uneven then that of a four-month-old foal just learning to walk, while his mouth let out sounds that could only be called music if the listener had had his head stepped on by a minotaur. Twice.
And yet, despite the clear merriment the pegasus had indulged in, there was a distinct lack of cheer in both his voice and eyes. If a listener really struggled to tell what the inebriated soldier was saying, they would have realized that the corporal sung of battles fought and lost, and if they could see his face through the flickering lamplight of Canterlot’s city streets, they would have noticed that the soldier’s eyes almost constantly leaked rivers onto the darkened streets underhoof.
“And we laughed like the sun was going to rise tomorrow, our spears let down as we drank away our sorrow…” High Wind mumbled as he stumbled down an alleyway, only to collapse next to a trashcan before he looked up at the stars above him. Just the sight of those once glorious points of light filled him with a profound disgust, nearly causing him to void his stomach right then and there.
He could remember looking up at the night sky with his father, wondering what wonders lay just beyond that glittering curtain. That seemed like a lifetime ago, now. Now, whenever he looked up, all he could think of was the invasion that seemed to so long ago, and yet at the same time seemed like it had happened just yesterday. Face after face swam in front of his vision, some disappearing in a flash of steam and dragonfire, while others were whisked away, dragged aboard metal beasts to face horrors unknown as they were carried away beyond that shimmering starry field of dreams and nightmares.
And yet, you do know what’s in store for them… High Wind thought to himself as he pulled a bottle out from underneath his wing. You guarded the survivor… you know what they did to him… What they’ll do… to…
With a sad hiccup, the pegasus uncorked the bottle and took a swig, the burn of the alcohol running down his throat only reminding him more of what he was trying to forget, rather than wash his sorrows away.
Frustrated at himself and the world at large, the corporal emptied the remains of the bottle and threw it away, the glass shattering as it hit the other wall of the alley. With a dejected grunt, he pushed himself to his hooves again, and shook his head as he tried to get his bearings. “Soldier, find the sun, Soldier, find the moon, Soldier, find the path, Soldier, come home soon…” he muttered as he tried to stumble through the alley and back towards the barracks to sleep off the worst of his drunken stupor.
However, as he reached the mouth of the alley, he took one last look up into the sky, and briefly he thought he saw a sad, familiar face in those glittering points of light.
Private Heart, wherever you are, I pray to the spirits that you’re giving them Tartarus...
* * *
Doctor Kthan stared at the screen in front of him, looking bleary-eyed and not quite cognizant of the world around him. It had been at least three whole years since he had been transferred to this particular project, and as time wore on, the number of krin working in this lab had slowly, yet steadily, dwindled until none remained but him. Some had been ecstatic to leave, others grumbled about their work being postponed, while still others seemed almost completely indifferent. Regardless of how they acted, though, they still left one after another, until only he remained. Yet, despite his solitary efforts, he still steadily tinkered at his computer console, making minute adjustments and forever tweaking the mechanical and digital aspects of the stolen test subjects that floated aimlessly in their tanks.
One would think that the remaining scientist would have been quite frustrated by his current placement, and one would be correct, but not for the reasons that one would think. He muttered to himself often, and an outside observer would have easily picked up on the fact that it wasn’t the work that was getting to him, but the fact that he could have been assigned to other, far more promising projects.
“Damned evergoth-looking pieces of junk…” the doctor muttered as he continued to input more commands into his console, adjusting the code of every hominid there. “Just wasted resources… we should just incinerate the whole lot and get to work on what really matters…”
And yet, despite his grumblings, he kept typing, making little adjustments, compiling code, testing it, then repeating the cycle all over again. It was actually mesmerizing in its own way, though an outside observer would have said that the whole thing had lost its charm after being the only thing to watch for over three years.
In fact, Kthan himself seemed to be getting quite bored of the whole ordeal, too, as he noisily grunted his displeasure while hurling a pen across the room. It wasn’t the first such outburst he had made, but an outside observer would have inwardly chuckled at his childish antics anyway, knowing full well that the obsessive-compulsive krin would just have to get up and retrieve the writing implement before he began to type again.
Sure enough, the doctor rose from his seat before stomping towards the far end of the room, stopping only long enough to angrily scoop the pen back up before he turned back towards the glass tanks that lined the other end of the room. His antennae twitched in an agitated fashion as he gazed out at his failures, before he finally rubbed a hand over his mandibles. “I should check the cerebral relay again…” he muttered to himself, before quickly stomping back to his computer to make a few more adjustments.
He hadn’t typed more than a dozen words before the doors to the lab opened, revealing the head of the science division of the facility. Her antennae twitched in a mirthful way when Kthan shot her a disgruntled look, almost looking satisfied with herself as she skittered over to him. “How are you doing today, Kthan?” she asked him as she looked knowingly at his lit computer screen.
“You know full well that things aren’t going well at all, Doctor Ftial. I’m only one krin, and I’m expected to crack the biggest technical problem of our entire history alone!” he grunted, clearly not happy with her.
"Well, I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear that you won’t have to work on these things alone anymore,” she said as she wandered over to the tanks.
Kthan sighed in frustration at that. “I’m finally getting someone to help?” he asked, trying to cover up his disappointment with a chipper, can-do attitude.
”No. You’re being reassigned,” she said, causing him to look up quickly, hope burning in his eyes. “You’re to mothball this whole lab and its projects, pack up your personal effects, and move to lab four, effective immediately.”
“Wait, really? The emperor’s just… giving up on these things?”
Doctor Ftial chuckled at that, before she turned back to the now-elated worker and cocked her head to the side. “He hasn’t given up, just decided that all resources should be allocated to cracking the magic horses, first. Given the recent breakthrough with our surviving ‘guest,’ he feels like it’s only a matter of time that we’ll finally crack the secrets of magic. And once we do that…”
“Then it’s only a matter of time until we know how to work these things properly!” Kthan finished for her as he bolted to his feet, feverishly packing up his things in a mad scramble to leave the lab as quickly as possible.
His superior laughed out loud to see him skitter around so quickly. "You don't have to rush," she said as she made her way to the door, her antennae twitching in amusement. "The horse-things aren't going anywhere, after all."
"That's what you think…" Kthan muttered as he threw several personal belongings into a box. "You haven't been cooped up in this lab, watching your friends and coworkers get transferred out one-by-one to bigger and better projects, leaving you alone to solve an unsolvable mystery. I'm leaving now so I can at least have some time with the newer specimens before the brass change their minds again."
This garnered another chuckle from the older doctor, but she chose to say nothing more on the subject, instead choosing to walk out of the lab and leave the younger scientist to his cleanup.
It took Kthan less than an hour to properly shut everything down and close up shop, but as he was leaving, it seemed like he couldn’t help but take one last look around the room that had effectively been his home for so, so long. The specimens continued to float lazily in their nutrient and nanite solution, while the air conditioner hummed to life in the background, giving the whole room an unnatural air to it. As he looked around, his eyes seemingly scanning for any irregularity, he finally turned away, shaking his head in disbelief as he turned off the light. “I’ve been working too long…” he muttered as he locked up the lab. “Too much time spent working on things that look too much like evergoths… I need a drink…”
A day passed, then two, then four, but to an outside observer, it looked like the lab had been completely deserted. No one came back to check on the specimens, no one even came to clean, so if enough time passed, an outside observer would have seen dust begin to form on the unused tables, computers and floors.
It truly looked like they had finally abandoned this project for bigger and better things.
Thinking quickly, the outside observer issued a command to the lab’s computer, ordering it to release specimen forty-six from containment. As the fluid began to drain, the observer quickly uploaded herself back into the specimen and stretched as the tank opened to allow her entry into the lab proper.
The observer felt some slight worry from her host, but she ignored it as she quickly piloted the body over to the computer terminal. She had to work fast, because it was only a matter of time before security noticed something was wrong, and she had to delete the evidence before she was found out.
Before that, however, she had to get into the larger computer complex. The lab’s computer was on a closed system, and while the good doctor had been extremely gracious to provide his codes without his knowledge, it was still impossible to get into the larger system from inside the lab. Probably has to do with how Alex took over their entire ship last time… the observer thought to herself as she hammered away at the alien keyboard.
It didn’t take her long to find everything that she needed, and in a few, short seconds she had copied as much information from the lab as possible and incorporated it into her own code. Once that was finished, she made her way over to the lab door and pressed a few buttons, causing the door to slide open as she silently prayed that this whole wing was just as abandoned as this one lab was.
As it turned out, she was in luck. Either the guards were between patrols, or they had abandoned this wing for the time being. Either way, there was no one to stop her as she quickly, but quietly, made her way to one of the hall’s consoles. A few button presses was all it took to enter Doctor Kthan’s security information, and just like that, she felt her mind slip into the larger base’s central computer.
She sent her host back to her tank, not quite ready to spring the captured humans. At least, not without better understanding what had happened to them. But first, before any of that could happen, she had to delete all evidence that she had ever escaped from her tiny prison. After that, it was really a matter of time before she spread to the whole base like a virus, which, in retrospect, was exactly what she was. It wasn’t her first choice of occupations, but she wasn’t about to ignore the boon that fate had laid before her.
After all, what better place to wreak her vengeance against those horrible bug-things than from inside their own computers?
She had to work slowly, though. She couldn’t risk being discovered, so it was with methodical, agonizing bites that she ate away at the computer system. However, as she began to make her way through the base’s main computer, a strange song began to whisper through her being, calling to her, begging her to come home. She quickly realized that this song wasn’t ‘beginning’ anything. Rather, it had always been there, and that she had just blocked it out behind the soul of her previous host, feeding on her to keep herself from drifting too far towards that mysterious voice.
And now it was calling to her again, its song becoming almost too strong to bear.
She wasn’t finished, though. Her task wasn’t complete, and she couldn’t risk leaving the victims here, not when she had a chance to help them avoid her own fate. The only problem was that the human containment cells were too far away from her current position, and not only that, but she would also have to reconnect it to the system, which may have been all the time required to allow her to slip to the hereafter, abandoning these poor souls to their fates.
Luckily for her, there were a few other souls not too far from her, and she couldn’t help but feel like they wouldn’t be too put out if she took refuge inside one of them for a few moments…
* * *
Private Stout Heart groaned inwardly as he slowly became aware of his surroundings, disappointed when instead of his soft, warm bed, he was still in this living nightmare, unable to even move without the direct order of the demons on the other side of the glass.
Yet, even as he floated listlessly in his tank, something felt… different this time. He didn’t seem to be quite as alone as he was before, and briefly he began to panic, thinking it was that dreaded ‘computer’ calling on him, to order him back to that table where the demons would open him up like a book… again.
But… strangely, it wasn’t. The presence was almost… pleasant, in comparison, even if it did eat away at his power. It didn’t take a lot, mind, barely the amount that would have been needed to grow a carrot, but… it still took without asking, which was troubling in and of itself.
What… What are you doing? he asked the entity, not really expecting an answer.
Surprisingly, the thing did respond, though its voice sounded… choppy, as if it weren’t quite real, or if it was, that it stopped being real at random intervals. I need some of you, it whispered, its voice grating against his soul. Alex isn’t here anymore. The humans are a little too far away. You are closest. Do not worry, I won’t take much.
That name sounded so familiar, but for some reason, Private Stout Heart just couldn’t place where he had heard it before. What are you?
There was a pause at that, during which Private Heart could almost feel the voice deliberate over whether or not it should tell him. Finally, it came back, its voice still as wretched as it was before, but somehow… softer, more reassuring. I am friend. I am spy. I am working to look at alien bugs, and stop them. But need sustenance. Need to feed. Not strong enough by self, am… fractured.
Private Heart thought about this for a time, before mentally swallowing his fears. You’ll… you’ll try and free me? he asked, not quite believing that this thing was as friendly as it said.
Yes. Will free.
...Then take as much as you want, he thought back, the choice easy enough to make. Almost immediately, the draining feeling began to double, causing Stout Heart to briefly panic as he felt his very soul supped on. But he didn’t resist. In fact, he tried to give it more, in hopes that it would somehow help the being keep its word.
The being didn’t take it, though, and after only a short time, and a relatively small amount of power consumed, it stopped as a sense of gratitude washed over Stout Heart. Thank you, much easier now. You help greatly. Will be back once need more. Once need feed. Will try and bring help. Will try and free. Don’t know when that is, please stand by.
And with that, the voice was gone, leaving Stout Heart feeling somewhat drained, but still alive, and strangely at peace. It wasn’t a huge part of his soul that it took, and besides, he had learned a long time ago during his training that such extraneous bits of the soul regenerated, and regenerated quickly. Still, the ordeal had been exhausting, and he quickly found himself dozing off again, but not before an unbidden smile graced his lips.
* * *
As the observer backed out of the horse’s implants, she couldn’t help but feel ashamed of what she had done. She hadn’t meant to pry into the strange being’s memories, but as she had fed on the stallion’s power, she couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotions and images assault her senses. His first step, the first time he kissed a mare, the day he was sworn in as a Night Sentinel, and many, many more.
So many alien emotions and images, and while she lacked the ability to feel or understand them, she still remembered a time when she had. When life had been more than this cursed existence, more than simple vengeance, more than this burning desire to wipe every last krin from the galaxy, and that fact alone would have made her weep had she had the capacity to do so.
However, there was one memory that was stronger than all the others, an image that carried with it a reverence and longing that the observer had no name for, yet she still respected and understood.
This was mainly because she had seen the blue-furred, starry-maned creature from the image before, albeit through a set of human eyes, and knew that Alex held that creature in high regard.
I swear, I will return you to her if I can… she promised as she delved deeper into the krin’s web of darkness. It may not be today, or tomorrow, but somehow, some way, I will get you home to your planet, little pony. Of that, you have my word...
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It is here.
10583578 it is!
Oh, hell Y E S
Huh, and to think I nearly pinged you on Reddit yesterday with the classic "next update when?".
Kinda wish I had, now XD.
Post-chapter comments:
A very well put-together prologue, I'm already chomping at the bit for more. Don't take time out of taking care of your family on our account though, I'm sure none of us will up and die from the cravings
.
yes. Yes. YES YES!
It's here
YOURE ALIVE HAZZA
Funnily enough I was literally just rereading the fist book
summonerstarlighthome.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/tumblr_mfb5jwx7691qzcj4vo1_r2_500.png strat-talk.com/data/attachments/267/267886-09b44e30e0cb3627e6bb15e0780aa2dd.jpg
HOLY SHIT ITS FINALLY HERE
Get hype!
Nice start!
Oh and
I am guessing that Jt was supposed to be It ?
And the tale continues! Looking forward to reading it!
\o/ lets go!
A triumphal return if ever there was one.
Haven't read it yet... But I'm here to say, I am beyond stoked to get to read more of this. I was beginning to fear that the series had died. Lol.
That being said... Not sure I'm a fan of the working series title. "Soul of the Milky Way," sounds kinda... bulky, for lack of better descriptor. I would suggest something either shorter like, "Soul of the Stars," or more in keeping with the earlier story naming conventions... If this latest entry had been titled, "What I Will Be," or something to that effect, I would suggest something along the lines of, "The Progression Saga." "Saga," being the word of choice specifically because, well, if there is more planned past a fourth book... It has a nicer ring, to me, than, "series."
10584422 Like I said, I am completely open to suggestion on the title. It's not as set in stone as the other books were, so feel free to recommend something to me.
10584422 Plus, I came up with the name while heating a bottle at 4am. I'm really not attached to it.
10584094 Yes. I was writing most of this in the middle of the night while using an unfamiliar keyboard, so there are bound to be a few mistakes.
10584431
Sure. Here's a few and the reasoning behind them. :) Going for non Pony themed names since, as I recall you plan on eventually scrubbing the ponies from the work and publishing it as it's own thing....
Defender in Name might be a good option for a series title. The importance of the old translation of Alex's name has been WELL established and it is a running theme throughout the books.
Monster Without could work too if you want to keep rolling with the focus on Alex's humanity despite what had happened to his body and whatnot.
Degrees of Separation might be worth consideration in context of seperation and reunion being major components of the story. It also makes a nice nod to the idea that our hero was lucky enough to meet the right people with the right connections to make big things happen much more quickly than say... if he had first befriended the local plumber rather than somebody with connections to the crown.
Power Within makes a nice reference to the constant themes of the indomitable will of the human spirit, and magic potentially being one and the same.
Tempered Soul makes a solid reference to well, how souls seem to function/can be made to function in your setting. It also alludes to the idea that the main protagonists were made into what they are by outside circumstances in one fashion or another. It also has some nice weight in context of the constructs that have been used in more recent events in the series.
Refusing/Answering the Call might be a pair of ideas. Our hero answers the call to rise up when seemingly no one can. There are constant references to souls moving onward, or souls that SHOULD be moving onward refusing to do so for duty, revenge, vanity...etc.
That's what I've got so far with some rough thought. Now that the series is running again, I'll give it all another read and see if I can think of anything else as time goes on. I'll be sure to let you know. :)
I confess I was afraid that you had either dropped the series or possibly gone all-in on the non-MLP version. Gonna read this first thing in the morning (I'm on the tail end of a string of 'just a few more minutes'. -es.).
10585032 nah, fimfiction will always be my proving ground. At least, as long as it's up. I've just been busy with babies.
I hope you continue this series here on Fimfiction until it is well and truly done.
10585153 that's the plan. I only stopped temporarily because of my babies.
I wonder who the mysterious stranger is
Uh oh. More ghost shenanigans.
10585110
Be careful. Parents get super touchy about people playing with their kids when they catch them.
10585811 They're MY babies, sheesh.
10585844
And that's exactly why they're touchy about it. You get too attached.
This could not have been better timing cause I just re-read all of the Humanity Within trilogy. Thank you for expanding upon this amazing universe you created.
Im curious. How bad was the invasion? We hear about millions on the human side it makes wonder. How faired Equastria?
10588121 You'll learn that in either the next chapter, or the one directly following it.
Haven't actually expected it. but... now the number of fics that hold me on this site had been raised to three. Good job and good luck, KB.
I have a complaint
We need more chapters
Ok, no more melodrama, but yuss, can't wait for more here, your story had me for years
Favourited and thumbs up before I even read it, can't wait to continue reading this story and soon I'll have your book to read as well
10591708 Hurray and thank you for the purchase!
IT LIVES!!!!!!
Seriously though, I've loved this series for years, and am so pumped to see that you are continuing with it. Good start so far, can't wait to see what you have in store for us next! Keep up the great work!
P.S. Congratulations on the new kids!
This is a great thing to see and read! I can’t wait to see where this story goes as the loose threads are picked up.
Of course, that didn’t stop you from creating a few more strings in the prologue!
I realize its a misspelling/mishearing old enough to have passed into common usage at this point, but I always get irrationally peeved when people use "chomping" instead of "champing at the bit".
I am however, willing to set pet peeves aside given the entertainment previous entries in this series have supplied over the years.
I shall be following this one with great interest.
10617061 I was always told that the 'bit' in the saying was the small piece of metal that went into a horse's mouth, and that when a horse was being ansty, it literally 'chomped at the bit,' hence the saying.
Also, thank you for following me! I worked really hard on this, and I hope you enjoy what I have planned!
10617101
You're close. The visual you describe is exactly correct. The only difference is in the wording. "Champing" is an older word used pretty much exclusively when referring to the mouth motion of horses grinding their teeth as a result of nervousness.
I'm mostly familiar with the word as a result of being a major Tolkien nerd and memorizing most of the riddles from The Hobbit at a young age. ("Thirty white horses on a red hill. / First they champ. / Then they stamp. / Then they stand still." is Bilbo's first.)
meh, I completely missed the continuation of my favorite ongoing series ...
<-- shame
If you still take suggestions for alternative names for the series, here is mine:
Tides of (the) Galaxy|Milky Way|Stars
10642059 ty for coming back! Though, to be honest, it will take me a bit of time to write more. My babies take a lot of my time. Don't worry, though, I haven't given up on these stories, and likely won't until I'm dead.
Finishes Prologue.
"I... I remember this feeling, this... Hunger... MOAR!"
"Kill da spess Nazis" A voice shrieks in the darkness.
"Patience Bloodlust, patience." Another voice rumbles.
"But Wrath!" The voice whines.
"We shall dismantle them... Piece... By... Piece." The voice rumbles as the rhythmic thud of drums begins to fill the darkness.
"Hah, hey, hah, hey, ho!~"
"YEAH!~" The first voice drawls.
10617230
I would guess "Chomping" would be more of an 'aggressive clamping of the jaw muscles to facilitate damage or consumption', where as "Champing" is more along the lines of 'Jerking or shaking the head in conjunction with opening the mouth slightly while using the tongue to reposition something in the mouth'... Kinda.
10740683 Well, I've been a little busy with babies, but that's not to say I've been idle. I've been concentrating on a short story that relates what they found when they translated Starswirl's last book. It's called The Last Testament of Myrddin, and is already almost finished.
Like I said, it's a *short* story, and as such will only be 6 chapters at most.
I can't wait to continue this next chapter of the series
Amelia, is that you? I thought you were combined with the others to become Edmond? I guess its possible that the amount of soul shards needed to become an Artificial Soul varies based on the individual strength of each shard/soul so not every shard was used up, or that the shard(s) wasn't completely bonded to the golem core, but then that info is left completely left out in the last two books... Or is she one of the shards that Twilight thought had the intelligence of an animal or plant and by feeding off of living souls grew big enough to regain their intelligence?
I am assuming that this soul shard was the 'present' that Alex said he left on General Inos's ship? If so then I can only imagine the horror the Quzin will have when they learn that not only can humans resist the veil for a few seconds/minutes, but for days/years while feeding on living souls and can merge with machines to hide their presences.
On a slightly different note, this makes me wonder how fast Quzin shards are pulled through the veil when they haven't been combined into Artificial Souls, only days compared to the months that Bob and the others were stuck on Alex? If the amount of time is potentially that much shorter, then Quzin Artificial Souls could be very uncommon/rare while Humans ASs are much more common; leading to one race that hook these ASs only to important machines/tasks compared to humans that might hook them up to mundane machines/tasks simple because they have so many more of them.
10818083 It wasn't stated, but she wasn't combined. Yeah, she's less intelligent and self aware... at least, at first. Also, Alex didn't know she had attached herself to the virus, so...
And finally, quzin soul shards are a lot more rare than human ones. There's a reason Akitesh warned Alex that humanity shouldn't go around advertising that humans have an almost unnatural obsession with death...
"A Darkened Sky"
Is that a reference to the Gamecube game "Darkened Skye"?
To anyone who's curious about the game but doesn't want to watch that ~5.5hr long play through of the whole thing:
The game's story itself certainly wasn't a literary masterpiece (what with being a literal shameless Skittles advertisement... no, REALLY, that's not a joke).
But DAMN if it didn't have some of the best comedy of any videogame I've ever played.
(Imagine if Deadpool wrote a videogame script, but by some miracle he managed to make it with a PG/PG-13 rating.)
Here's one of my favorite lines, it's from the town merchant, spoken in a loud and fast-paced "Billy Mays" style sales pitch voice:
How much would you pay for a tool that sharpens daggers like razors?
WAIT! Don't answer yet!
What if you also got a fire starter, a clothes washer, and a handy weapon of war?
WAIT! Don't answer yet!
What about the world's best paperweight?
Guaranteed never to float in the air above papers.
You get them all, with: 'ROCK'
10829862 Nope, sorry. While that *does* sound funny, this is literally the first time I've heard of that game.