The Affection of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 21: Big Brother, Bandaid!
“An excellent new design, Princess! Very elegant and thoughtful!” One stallion praised.
“Even more beautiful than the one before!” A mare gushed. “What are your plans now?”
Nightmare Moon was surrounded by praise and interested ponies at what could only be described as a cocktail party. As nopony had really seen the night-sky rearrange itself because of the super-storm from the crystal empire, a few days later they were all seeing it now. She tittered in delight, already a bit wine-touched in her merriment. “Well I of course will humbly await the applications for new constellations!” she told them all. “Twas I who arranged the sky, but tiz ponies like thee that will make it friendly with pictures and shapes that you see in it!” This earned scattered applause and more merriment all about her.
Bandaid appeared at her side with his medallion and cufflinks. The black tophat didn’t look bad either. “Doing okay, Nightmare?” he asked, offering her a tray of Cloudsdale wind-fish wafers.
She took one and nodded, throwing an arm about him. “Ah yes! And many thanks to my beloved, putting up with me while I toiled away at the endless calculations and angles. No two stars too close together, and no two wisps of cosmic vapor too far apart! This stallion certainly kept me sane throughout! Huzzah!” There was more applause and she drank it in like all the rest. Bandaid snickered just a bit. Party Princess indeed, the papers had said more than once before.
“Any special stars in the sky named after your beau, Princess?” somepony in the gathereing shouted, gesturing.
“Why no!” Nightmare said, lifting a hoof in shock. “We should though! We should! Come, Bandaid!” she steered him to the nearby balcony. “Come friends, let us find a perfect star to call ‘Bandaid!’”
“Y-you don’t hafta!” Bandaid tried, but ponies were already peering at him, then peering skyward. He blushed but smiled nonetheless.
“Hrm, too bright… too narrow… too much orbital wobble…” Nightmare closed one of her massive black wings about him. “What do you think?” she looked down at him.
“How about that one?” Bandaid said innocently, gesturing vaguely at the sky. He grinned at her blank look until she got his joke and she elbowed him with a snort.
Nightmare stroked her chin a few times. “Ah, there! That one!” she gestured. Everypony craned their necks to see. “See that belt of stars there? The tiny white ones? Look to their four o’clock. Then over three stars, now down two! See that lovely blue one? It twinkles now! It knows we speak of it! We shall call thee Bandaid!”
Even Luna looked at the star that was being named, for it twinkled in delight and shone all the brighter. Ponies ohhhh’d appreciatively, and Bandaid smiled despite himself. Wasn’t everyday you got a star named after you. How flattering! “Thank you, Nightie,” he whispered, leaning against her. They shared a chaste kiss, which made everypony d’awwwww in delight. Bandaid quickly broke it when he heard them, and there were loudly giggling mares in the crowd.
“Hey hey! Look at it now! Something’s changing! It’s changing color!” Somepony shouted, pointing.
“What?” Nightmare looked up sharply. The blue-ish star turned pink, then orange, then white, then over to purple. “What’s happening?!” Nightmare demanded angrily. “Who dares meddle with the heavens as I?!” The star fwicked back over to blue, as it belonged, and a curling black mist began to roll across the floor. Nightmare looked down, frowning. She turned about. The ice-carved swan on the feasting table was smoking… neigh, the wok that it sat in was boiling over with black smoke. “What is that…?” she whispered.
Ponies began to back away, like the smoke might be poisonous. Bandaid looked over at Nightmare, uncertain. “What’s happening…?” He whispered, wandering forward as though hypnotized.
A great, billowing form began to emerge, and the lights around the room sputtered and faded. A spotlight formed as the shape reared up, grew horns and appendages, and a voice. “I’m happening, I like to say, I’m happening finally!” Nightmare’s eyes widened and her pupils turned to pinpricks. Suddenly all the smoke poof’d away, revealing the most mismatched, puzzle-created creature anypony had ever seen! He spun about, then landed on the white tablecloth. “Discord! Faust-born child of Chaos! At your service!” He sat on the table, crossing his legs and seized a glass of wine. “To the new night sky! And my sweetest baby sister!” Drinking the glass and throwing the wine itself to one side, he let out a guffaw and at last slid to his feet.
Bandaid leaned back a little fearfully, for the carpet curled and blackened everywhere he stepped. A flower bloomed here. A crystal jutted from the ground there. A passing beetle-bug flipped onto its back and skree’d in agony, brains scrambled. “Big Brother?!” he looked up at Nightmare. He knew that body language, though he’d only seen it a few times. Nightmare was screwing up her courage for something. “Big Brother!” she dashed forward and threw her arms about his shoulders. The strangely shaped creature bent forward, hugging her with the arms of a lion and a griffon. “Such a delight to see you out and about again!” she kissed either of his cheeks, wings fluttering about in a joyous display.
“It’s been too long, Nightie, far too long,” he held her front hooves in his massive paws (claws?). “Celestia’s imprisonment finally wore off, so here I am to clear my good name at last.”
“Oh?” Nightmare tilted her head. Bandaid carefully said nothing. Was she… shaking?
“You remember, she imprisoned me for the death of her husband, Mountain Blood, and the deaths of all those others?” he turned, and the punch bowl emptied itself. The crimson liquid turned red as blood, floating along like a globule of death. It hardened, morphing itself into a little model. Anypony with a basic knowledge of geography saw it was Equis.
“Y-yes,” Nightmare acknowledged. “She said you were the one who reversed gravity on the planet, resulting in millions upon millions of deaths.”
Discord’s lip curled, and the model reformed itself to show only a landscape of fair Equestria. Little flailing dots that must’ve been ponies were drifting off of it, screaming in tiny voices as they drifted higher and higher to their doom. The ponies gathered in the room slowly pressed themselves back and back until they were against the walls. What horror! Only Bandaid stood among the gods. “True enough, true enough, baby sister,” Discord said, watching the little flecks of life go out, one after the other. “Celestia was all too eager to be rid of me, full of righteous anger and the fury of justice and blah blah blah,” he said, looking rather bored. “I don’t suppose anypony saw exactly who died, did they?”
“Many, from many different nations,” Nightmare took a cautious step forward. Bandaid could still see her undercarriage shaking. “Y-you’re not… you’re not going to do it again, are you, brother?” she touched his shoulder with a massive hoof, looking worriedly up at him.
Discord leaned over her with a scowl. “I love how even now, nopony bothers to wonder why I did it. Was ‘well he’s Discord’ good enough for you too?” he frowned at her. Nightmare coughed, looking guiltily to one side. “Such as a shame,” he grumbled. He snapped his fingers, and the floating red model of Equestria condensed into nothing. When it reformed, it looked like a series of hairy blobs. They nipped and fought each other, and whenever a smooth blob wandered by they would viciously tear it apart. “Do you know what this is?” Discord said flatly, staring at Nightmare. Her face said she did not, and he sighed at her.
“It’s a virus,” Bandaid said before he could stop himself.
Discord looked over at him, smiling at last, “Why look, medicine has advanced in the passing of the centuries! Very good!” he brought the model floating along. “Go on?” he offered.
Bandaid, swallowing now that he was the center of attention, walked around it a couple of times. “It’s a… simple virus, probably doesn’t exist today. I’ve not seen such big cells before. If those are supposed to be red blood cells and tissue…” he stopped, putting a hoof over his mouth in horror.
“Flesh-eating,” Discord nodded. “Very fast. Very deadly. Very messy. And let’s not forget,” he snapped his fingers, sending it all back into the punch bowl. “Very, very contagious.”
“Such a thing would’ve wiped out the planet back in your time, I don’t understand!” Bandaid said. “If a virus like that struck Equestria, with our lack of medical knowledge back in that era…!”
Nightmare looked over, for it was slowly dawning on her. “An extinction event,” she said aloud.
Discord patted Nightmare on the head like a good dog, and she growled at him with all her fangs showing. “Very good, baby sister, very good. This plague was unearthed someplace, having evolved well below the surface…” he gestured to a hanging tapestry that had a map of the world on it. Darkest Zafrica began to blacken and curl as though it were on fire. “And it spread… and it spread… and it spread further. None were immune save a very strange and lucky few.” Discord flew up and encircled the map with his long, serpentine body. “I reversed gravity on the planet for five hours. Enough time to send most of the carriers, victims, and animals that bore such a plague out into space to be freeze-dried and die. Then they fell back to Equis and burned up in the atmosphere.”
“You purged millions!” Nightmare said in horror. “Over a plague?!”
“A world-wide plague that would’ve consumed them all,” Discord said, gesturing to the ponies cowering against the walls. “Funny how I ended up portrayed as the selfish, murdering older brother. Celestia does have a way of doing that to her siblings, no?” he offered a paw to stroke Nightmare’s withers. “I saw you get banished, and I watched Chrysalis die. Cadence hides in the frozen north. Is there no low she won’t stoop to? Even accusing her brother of murder?”
“You killed Mountain Blood, though, didn’t you?” Nightmare stared, starting to feel rather ill.
Discord slowly walked up the wall, stroking his chin. “Yes, I suppose so, but not as directly as you might think. We gods are in a constant state of regeneration, you know that, that’s why we live forever and can’t be killed.” Bandaid blinked, trying to follow along. “Mountain Blood contracted the plague from Celestia, though, not I.”
“What?!” Nightmare gaped. “Impossible! We gods do not get sick!”
“Oh no?” Discord said. “You’ve gotten colds and cutie pox in your own time, baby sister.”
Nightmare blushed when Bandaid looked over at her, trying to imagine her covered with cutie marks that weren’t hers. “Well, not as often as mortals do!” she amended.
“Well imagine this plague, then,” Discord says. “It’s not powerful enough to overtake a goddess like our sweet Celestia, but she could certainly carry it in her body and spread it among others,” he sneered over his shoulder, for now he was walking on the ceiling. Selecting a crystal from the chandelier, he plucked it and ate it like a grape. “Mmh!” he commented before floating back to the ground, upright. “Celestia went to visit the sick, thinking herself immune, to raise the morale. Then came home to hubby dearest and passed the virus right along to him. Showers don’t exactly wash such things off.” He grumbled. “I killed a third of the world, yes. To save the other two-thirds.” He spread his arms wide. “You’re welcome.” He said, hunching forward to frown at Nightmare and fold his arms.
“Thank you…?” it came out like a question from Nightmare Moon. Bandaid came and stood next to her, putting his head under her wing and then walking forward a step so it would lay over his back. She looked over at him and he smiled a bit.
“P-p-princess what do we do?!” Somepony squeaked from a dark corner.
“The god of chaos is back!” somepony else whimpered, pressing into her husband’s barrel.
“He’s scary!” a foal whimpered, dashing under his mother to hide among her legs.
“Everypony pan-i-i-i-i-i-i-c!” shouted a pink mare, throwing her serving tray and losing her head entirely. Screams and shouts started going up and ponies started stampeding and shouting in all directions.
Discord’s ears splayed and he scowled angrily. “You craft a planet for them and what do they do? They panic when you purge a plague or two. Pfft,” he grumbled. Leaning and kissing his sister’s on the head, he started towards the balcony. “I’ve other, more receptive siblings to visit, thank you,” he huffed. Ponies that he passed turned into lamps, ferns, statues, box-fans, and other random objects. Nightmare watched him go, thoroughly cowed. Snapping herself out of it, she rushed to the balcony with him. The railing warped, groaned and shifted until it became a bizarre sort of ballista. Fitting a bolt the size of a tree with one paw, Discord seated himself and fastened his seatbelt. “What?” he asked innocently.
“Did you do something to Celestia?” Nightmare demanded.
“No worse than she did to me. As soon all five of us know the truth, I’ll let her go. Shouldn’t take more than a few days,” Discord conjured tea and biscuits on a tray for himself. Slathering jelly as he pleased he took a bite. “Until then, I’d stay out of the palace hedge maze if I were you.” He turned and frowned at her rather seriously. “And I’ll know if you go in, Nightie.”
“Y-yes,” Nightmare said, looking to one side. “I know you have Mother’s eyes.”
“I’ll visit again soon, I need to stretch these old limbs of mine!” Discord said, conjuring a seat and pillow onto the ballista’s bolt. “If you’d be so kind?” he gestured.
“Oh, erm…” the black alicorn fumbled, then released the catch. The ballista fired, launching Discord skyward and towards the south horizon. He must’ve been heading for Chrysalis first. When he was gone and well out of sight, Nightmare gave a shuddering sigh of relief and sank to her haunches.
Bandaid rushed to her side from inside , putting his arms around her. “Are you okay?” he asked worriedly. “You’re trembling, Nightie,” she whispered.
“Ever wonder why only one of the children of Faust is male, my love? He is not the oldest, but he is the strongest, by design.” she whispered, watching the horizon. "Those that know him, even I, know well enough to fear and respect such a power..." He looked up at her in awe of the revelation. He'd always thought Celestia, or perhaps Nightmare... she embraced him slowly. He nuzzled her, and she seemed to gather strength from this. “C-come, we must right what he’s done.” She turned quickly and strode back into the room. “Silence!” she cried. “Silence all of you!” she stilled the room with a stomp of her hoof. Lighting her horn, she turned everypony that had been transformed back to normal. “My brother Discord walks among us again, and you shall respect him as you do myself!” she shouted over the frightened crowd. “He was painted as a murderer and is trying to clear his name. Death count withstanding, he is now the main reason there is any life on this planet at all!”
“But Princess! He’s-!”
“—been encased in stone for hundreds of years, just as I was sealed on the moon for a thousand,” Nightmare interrupted. “He has served his dues. Do not speak ill of him, for he shares my Mother’s eyes.”
“What’s that mean?” Bandaid asked, looking up at her.
“He can… he can…” Nightmare made a circular motion with her hoof, as though puzzling out how to put it so everypony could understand. “He can see all things. Past. Present. Here. There. And everywhere. Whenever he wants. Be wary, for speaking his name may draw his eye upon you, and to speak ill of a god may bring torment upon you!” she gave shrill and dire warning. “My brother Discord shaped the very planet you stand upon with his strong arms! Show him respect, as is due! And perhaps he shall be merciful when you are in his presence!”
Everypony gulped, even Bandaid.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Sombra found fresh grass for the first time in several days and dove upon it ravenously. He’d long since lost his winter coat to a thorny bush, passed over the Equestrian border and even ditched his goggles and windbreaker. He’d always lived in the north, so seeing the warm sun and the deep flowing rivers was new and exotic to him.
He mooshed his nose against the dirt, not caring if anypony saw. He was not a good traveler. His food had run out a day before he’d gotten to anyplace temperate. He was lucky he hadn’t starved or frozen to death. He was panting by the time he was done stuffing himself, and he flopped onto his back in the moonlight. Brushing some of the grass from his muzzle with a sigh, he stared at the new night sky. Even as the travelling vagabond, he’d heard ponies talking about the new night sky. He’d not been outside when it had happened. Then again, the mega-storm he’d conjured… he winced, the wave of guilt hitting his stomach again. Groaning, he merely lay prone staring at the sky. His iron, eight-pointed star medallion jingled lightly on its chain.
Something was moving across the sky. He stared at it, frowning. That was no bird. He slowly sat up, pushing his black mane out of his eyes. A ballista bolt suddenly crashed from the sky before him, mounted by a creature unlike he’d ever seen. The monster turned, his eyes shrouded in black, endless images flashing across his vision like a video reel going at super-sonic speeds. “One moment, just a second!” he held up a lion’s finger. “And… there!” he bopped himself over the head to reveal yellow eyes with red irises. “All of Equestria looked over and you are the ONLY one wearing my symbol! A shame!” he gestured to the eight-pointed star around Sombra’s neck. “Well met, my little pony,” he said, drawing himself up.
“Who… what are you?” Sombra said before he could stop himself.
“Don’t judge me by race,” Discord said, floating by on a cloud. “You of all creatures on this Equis can respect such an idea.” Sombra felt his cheeks color. Even now he was hiding his changeling feelers. He let them flex forward and into view, his fangs melting out of his lips and below his jawline. “Good boy,” Discord said, turning upright. “I am Discord, son of Faust, god of Chaos, crafter of the planet.”
There was a long silence.
“You are not!” Sombra snorted. “Away to me, strange creature, I’ve enough misery without a trickster hanging onto my tail!”
“Not a bad idea, but perhaps you didn’t hear me,” Discord pulled Sombra’s tail from his backside, as though it were attached with velcro. The stallion squawked, flailing after him, but he levitated out of the way. Sombra’s red horn lit and he lanced the sky with red magic. The hole that appeared in Discord’s chest vanished like smoke, bloodless.
“Give that back!” Sombra demanded.
“You know how hard it is to be shot from a ballista going south and end up in the northern part of Equestria? It’s quite difficult, let me assure you,” the odd creature said cryptically. Sombra didn’t follow, merely snarled and lowered his head as though to gore the intruder. “That necklace, where did you get it?”
“This?” Sombra looked down for a moment. “I… I don’t know, a fair perhaps? A festival? Back when I’d met… someone important.” He tried not to think of Lemon-Lime, and crushed the wave of guilt before it reached him.
“The eight-pointed star is the ancient symbol of chaos. There were certain periods in history where wearing it could get you hung in the gallows, you must be powerful indeed to wear it so openly,” Discord chuckled, hovering about him to see the stallion from all sides. “Then again you are a strange-looking half-breed so perhaps others pay you no mind…” he trailed off, resting his chin on thumb and forefinger. “Let’s have a look at you…” Discord’s tail suddenly burst from the earth under Sombra and grabbed him up like an anaconda!
Sombra burst into smoke, reappearing nearby, horn lit. “You want to fight me?! Fine! I’ve plenty of frustration brought to bear!” Hunching in concentration, the black stallion’s outline flickered red, then bright crimson. Flecks of flame began to rise from his shoulders. Pebbles began to roll away from him. Drawing on a rather deep well of magic and love-energy, he let the two intermingle, mix and toss over one another. His mane drifted upward, and his red eyes began to glow. The very earth beneath his hooves began to groan and grumble with tremors.
“Ooooh,” said Discord, donning sunglasses to watch.
Phantom armor, intricate and outlines only, appeared all over him. A mace and shield burst into existence, forged of pure willpower. He raised the weapon high and with a righteous roar of fury, brained Discord into the earth. The puzzling creature pancake’d into the ground, feathers and fur flying in all directions. Sombra reel’d a bit in the recoil, for he’d received no resistance. He stood there, panting. “Some god you are,” he spat, armor and weapons melting away. “Though that did make me feel better…”
“Good, perhaps you’ll be more open to talk now.” Discord unsplatted before Sombra’s very eyes, standing and starting forward with authority. Sombra startled but Discord grabbed him about the neck and lifted him high. Growing and growing in stature, soon they were above the treetops of the forest clearing. “Now then,” his voice matched his new height. “Let’s have a good, long, look at you.” Discord’s pupil’s expanded horrifically wide until they took up all of his eyes in their blackness. Sombra stood paralyzed in his palm.
Hey Sombrero we need one more for hoofball, c’mon! Someday I’m gonna be the bestest science pony there ever was! Sombra! Run! Run before it caves! Daddy! Daddy help me I’m stuck! The roof is going to cave, the ice is too thick! Use the escape tunnels, I can only hold it for a few more moments! May I present the new Lord of the Dark Pelt herd, by right of birth and merit, Sombra! Erm, I am Lord Sombra. What is your name, friend? I-I’m Lemon Lime. Would you like to dance with a Lord of the Crystal Empire, Lemon-Lime? I-I would, yes, yes of course. Yonder tree branch be my gallows, be the one to end my sorrows. Must you sing something so depressing? That’s Neighzart, he was a genius I’ll have you know. Will you be mine, then, Lemon-Lime? Oh, Sombra! Ohh, Sombra’hhh! Do not let my city freeze over! The only reason, Lord Sombra, the only one, that you are not on the gallows right now is because nopony died last night. I feel like tacos…
Discord’s eyes snapped back to the present. “You have led an interesting life, very interesting!”
Sombra moaned, slowly leaning to one side and holding his temple. Reliving his whole life in a few moments had been draining. “What do you want with me?” he burbled, trying not to be sick now.
Discord put him down to lay in the grass, “Do you believe I’m a god yet?”
“If you won’t do that anymore, I’ll believe whatever you say,” Sombra groaned, holding the grass like a drunkard might to keep from falling off of the earth.
“If you’re going to wear my symbol, you’d best,” Discord said, folding his arms. “Now then!” he snapped his fingers. Sombra’s fur slicked down and cleaned itself. The grass around them cut itself, warped, then hardened into a very familiar silvery regalia. The black stallion looked over in shock as the pieces levitated about him, orbited, then fastened themselves to his body. Soon, he looked every bit Lord Sombra has he had before he’d been exiled. Discord snapped his fingers again. Sombra was shaven and brushed. Snapped fingers again. His belly felt heavy with food and his thirst vanished. “There now, all better.” He interlocked his fingers and grinned devilishly.
“Wh…why do you help me?” Sombra asked, staggered at the weight of the no doubt solid-silver regalia. He looked himself over, then up at his benefactor.
“Like I said, you’re the only one wearing my symbol in all of Equestria. Whether by fate or by my Mother’s machinations,” he glanced skyward, “Maybe you deserve a boon, huhm? That storm was really something. Hard not to call something like THAT chaos!” he laughed, drifting about.
“I-I meant well, not to bring about all that madness!’ Sombra shouted, miffed at him despite all the gifts.
“The weather can be controlled, Sombra, but not in the way you wanted to,” Discord said. “It’s like a tide, there’s no stopping it. Not even in a small area like a single city.” Sombra opened his mouth to argue about the countless calculations, so Discord stole his mouth and zipped it closed. Panicked, Sombra pawed furiously at his face. Were his teeth even still there?! “You would have killed everypony, trust me. I know. I made this planet and put out the rough drafts for the weather.” He chuckled at the panicked, frightened look the black stallion gave him. “You are just going to have to accept my cold, hard charity, and be on your way southward as you were.” He slapped Sombra’s mouth onto his face, and gave his butt a good smack to put his tail back. Sombra yelped, rubbing his flank.
“Y-you’ll be wanting something from me in the future, won’t you?” said the stallion warily, slowly backing away from Discord. “For all these gifts and food. Nothing is free. Nothing!”
“Maybe, maybe not. I’ve not decided yet,” Discord lazily floated about, smiling. “But I have some siblings to visit and no time for you at this precise moment… unless you’d like to come with me, of course?”
“I think not,” Sombra grumped, turning from him. “I’ve a heading, anyway.”
“Ah yes, the coordinates in your backpack. My sister Nightmare Moon had them put there. Do you know where they lead?”
Sombra tried not to let his face show his shock. “Where?” he barked.
“To the very same place I’m going. I’ve been watching it for some time recently, so it should be very interesting,” Discord unraveled himself into a snaggle-toothed map. “Have a look!”
Sombra leaned over the world map, pulling the scroll of his coordinances. Taking the sextant and running a few calculations in his head, he traced his hoof south… south… south… past Canterlot, past Ponyville, past Appleoosia… past the southern border. “The Badlands? Why would the Princess of the Night send me there?”
“Perhaps out of pity?” Discord rolled himself up and poof’d back to normal. “If Lord Sombra could not find his place among ponies, perhaps it is to be among the other half of his heritage?”
Sombra touched one of his fangs, his feelers flexing a bit. He tucked them back into his mane, slicking them back as best he could. “I am no love-sucking monster,” he mumbled at the ground.
“I thought we agreed not to be speciest?” Discord frowned down at him.
“I’ve no place among them, or anypony else,” Sombra grumped. “Perhaps I could find a quiet place…”
“To do what, pray tell?” Discord morphed into an elderly stallion on a rocking chair. “Fritter away your life, pine after your lost love and status, and waste what precious years you have? Please!” he snapped his fingers, returning to his normal glory. “Between you and me, I’m willing to bet my sister Queen Chrysalis would be delighted to meet you.”
“What? Why?”
“Our Mother told her you were coming,” Discord grinned cryptically.
End of Part 21
I got to say that I like this version of Discord and how he interacted with Nightmare.
Corrections offered without malice.
'Twas, 'tis
gathering
hanged. Lemon Lime (leman Lime) knows if he or Sombra is hung.
speciesist
It must be tough to be Celestia, always flying off the handle and ruining everything for everyone everywhere.
In fact, Discord seems to be the only God that actually is on the level. I mean, they'll all tell you that something can't be done and you must not try, but he's the only one that bothers to explain why.
I'm really happy that Discord had a reason for killing everyone, besides 'ooh, I'm mad!'
6474683 I tried to think of the most catastrophic decision that could POSSIBLY make you murder such a massive number of living beings. World-consuming plague was the only thing that came close for me.
6474695 That's perfectly alright in my book. It came as a pleasantly unexpected surprise, and it added more to the story.
Another bit of Celestia trying to police her siblings coming back to bite her in the ass, huh?
Oh, my God, I've just seen that new coverart, oh, my God...
:squee:
Hehe HEY BANDAID!
You look just like I imagined!! That cover art is adorable!
[HYPE INTENSIFIES]
This chapter was very good, and I loved the depiction of Discord. I wasn't sure what NMM meant when she said that he is why only one of the children of Faust is male. He didn't seem to be doing anything that was strictly "male behavior". Was she somehow referring to when he kissed Celestia in the last chapter?
6474695 Well, zombie plague apocalypse will do it...
6475263 I meant more along the lines that he's more powerful in the sense of raw strength (being that he shaped the planet, and has Faust's "god vision"). That did come across as a little rapey, though, I should prolly reword that.
6475382
yeah i got some kind of odd vibe like that too. fantastic chapter though.
...did you just make Sombra go super-saiyan? Because wow, that whole power-up sequence felt ever so familiar.
6475263
6475434
Okay, I reworded a bit. Is that better?
Gah! This is just getting more and more interesting by the minute! All the planning between the gods and poor Little Bandaid's part in this whole mess, i can't wait to see what will happen next.
6474664
I've learned quite a while ago that explaining "why" will yield the best results as well as the most interesting of insights. After all, explaining why something is impossible is good and all, but being proven wrong tends to open a lot of new doors in that case.
I can't wait for the next chapter. I can't wait to see what Chrysalis will do to Sombra.
and all the other stuff
Things are always interesting around Discord. Good, bad, or otherwise, it's always interesting. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
6475727 Yes that made it much more clear, thank you.
Quite interesting to see that Nightmare is in good relations with Discord, and that Discord doesn't seem to be willing to go on a rampage anytime soon.
One way or another,though, Armageddon seems to be around the corner.
6475727
yeah perfect. love all your work.
I like your headcanon.
Discord was made to pay for a crime of saving the planet. True he could have everyone know what he was doing... but then it might have been too late.
But what's done is done, he's back now, and has a few more eyes to open.
Let's see how will everyone see Celestia then.
Also... maybe we'll even find out how the plague came to be.
So, Sombra's off to the badlands, and Chrysalis is expecting him.
This is certainly going to be interesting.
Am I the only one who thinks Discord is lying? Because the only other option is that the author has no understanding of medical science.
Even assuming Discord is somehow correct, when you've got Discord's level of power I fail to see how murdering millions is the best course of action. Even if somehow he couldn't cure them despite his near limitless power, at least he could have put them in stasis, turned them to stone, displaced them time, or done some other form of quarantine until a cure could be made/found.
6480160 not to even mention the fact that this explanation basicly relies on that all of the infected people were outside at the time, the whole killing a metric fuck ton of people and animals whould be all for nothing if just one of these infected people were indoors when this happend.
I love this Discord, wackily chaotic, powerful and scary, but also clearly a vital part of the fabric of this world. I do hope we eventually hear Celestia's side of things, did she not know about the plague, or did she really just stone Discord out of simple grief?
6475727 I'll confess, I still don't quite get the relevance of why Discord is the only male god here. Are male gods just inherently more powerful? That's the only conclusion I can pull from Nightmare's statement.
I'm confused. Discord reversed gravity on the planet to send the infected into space, and we've been told the only survivors were indoors. How exactly did this:
a) catch all the infected, the majority of whom were probably ponies bedridden indoors or animals dying in their hutches/lairs/whatever?
b) only kill one third of the planet and not the other two?
6498689 Maybe he used his magic too put all the infected outside and all the non-infected inside.
6498689
I'm willing to bet that some of those drifting away weren't all infected. Also, if we consider our own past, most people spent their time working out doors. Doesn't explain everything, like what of those sick resting inside homes and what past for hospitals.
I really liked the prequel to this and I'm not ashamed to say that I cracked a big grin and giddily clapped my hands when I saw that the sequel was finally done. Unfortunately, by this point in the story I feel like someone has taken one of my beloved toys and stomped it to death in front of me. That's not to say this story is bad, but it doesn't hold nearly the charm that the original did for me. I will try and explain.
I'm a rather large fan of romantic comedy. That's why I liked the first installment, after all. I came to this story expecting a sequel that captured the same anime-esque romcom style I liked so much, with maybe another cool Chrysalis side plot added in just to keep the story fresh. Instead of that, though, I got very nearly the opposite. This story is far more along the lines of an adventure/exploration story, of which I am also quite a fan. I would've been ok with this abrupt transition if the romance from the previous story had just been put on the back burner and allowed to quietly intrude on occasion, as is the norm for adventure stories that include romance, but you tried to keep both the romance and adventure aspects going at the same time, and instead of making an interesting synergy they both just fell flat on their faces. Meh.
The big reason why we all love Bandaid is because he's a shy unconfident nerd who is slowly coming to terms with his attraction to the rambunctious and overeager Nightmare. Her struggle to show him how she feels and his struggle to accept and return these feelings creates the sort of nervous tension that only a romcom can provide. Add in a decent backdrop of some interesting plot elements to slow down the romance to an enjoyable pace while providing some originality, and viola, good story. In this story, though, we go from square one with Bandaid seeming surprised to find Nightmare practically proposing to him after her obligate away time to almost immediately hitting third base with the sudden carnival date and the subsequent offhand comments about their sex lives. You don't go from tentatively considering dating someone to jumping in their pants over the course of one date, especially if you're Bandaid. The romance felt like it was just brushed over and came off as awkward, forced, and horribly rushed, despite how awesome that love tunnel scene was. (Did I mention that scene was awesome? No? It was. Very. )
So I said that I'd have been ok with glossing over or postponing the romance, but what was it postponed for? I really loved the tangible and immediate effects of sucking out love and the Chrysalis\Nightmare story that came alongside it. It was something I'd never considered before and It got me thinking really hard on a novel concept. Instead of seeing another interesting idea to puzzle our brains or at least an interesting new application of the love drain effect we instead got... rage Bandaid. Again. It was funny and adorable the first time around, but like a bad remake of a great movie... it just didn't come out very well the second time. It wouldn't be so bad if the reason was as heartwarming and compelling as it was the last time, but this time it was just a stupid throw in joke to interrupt the horror that was the Bandaid abduction story. I won't even get started on how out of place and weird that story was.
Speaking of the abduction story... WTF Chrysalis? I understand that she was upset at not being the favored child, and that she has been thrown a lot of hard curve balls which she has had to tackle head on without much help, but for a thousands of years old nigh immortal goddess she really seems like a giant spoiled brat. You obviously can't magic away the Canterlot wedding without some serious retcons, but it never even seems like dear Chrissie ever tries to play nice in this story-
Faust alienates her creepy love stealing daughter even more than the very nature being her creepy love stealing daughter automatically does, which sucks, and I honestly don't get why it's necessary, but I will not question the almighty Faust. No, what I want to understand is why Celestia - the practical embodiment of love and tolerance (because let's face it, Nightmare really... doesn't fit that) - or Nightmare, or Discord, or hell, why even the stuck up princess of love herself couldn't look above their petty biases and just help their sister? Shit, if my sister was a changeling and her people were starving to death I'd help her, even if it was just by giving her a place to live. If these "gods" aren't even willing to extend that basic kindness then I really have to wonder about their morals. They all treat her like the spawn of satan because... plot. Unfortunately that's not a good enough reason to insert a giant hole in established characters moral frameworks.
Even if their treatment of her was warranted, though, you imply that Chrysalis holds her children above all else towards the end of the story. That's commendable, and honestly is the attitude I'd expect from a thousands of years old goddess-mother of millions, but her actions never seem to line up with this shining beacon of morality. No, instead of acting rationally and in the best interest of her people she... needlessly taunts and harasses her sisters, acts like a child, and generally seems to go out of her way to make sure that the world that's put her through so much crap continues to put her through as much and more crap by breaking the easiest rule in the book, the golden rule, aka treat others the way you would like to be treated. If she just acted like a mature adult for more than five seconds this entire plot would just crumple and fall to pieces... and plot is still not a good enough reason to insert a giant hole in established characters moral frameworks.
Well, with that giant rant out of the way, time for my obligatory post-review disclaimer. I think I'm going to have to be one of the downvotes on this one despite having the previous in my favorites list. Bummer. Despite that I want to make it clear that I don't think this story is bad. I honestly can't say I like it, but plenty of other people seem to have glossed over the things that've bothered me so much, and that's perfectly fine. I don't write reviews for crappy stories / authors that I don't think have any promise, after all. My intention is mostly to aid, not disparage. I wish you the best of luck with your future stories. Maybe I'll end up finding another story of yours to add to my favorites list some time, eh?
P.S. Wow, I really went all out on this one didn't I? Kudos to anyone who actually reads all of this.
I am just loving this version of Discord.
Still chaotic, but actually ahs meaning and purpose now!
Yes the god of chaos has returned
Discord is a anti hero, he getsthinfs done, no matter cost or reputation I respect that. Takes a lot of willpower to do what must be done, despite the costs of the deed.