Planet Hell
Solocitizen
7.
Dwellers on the Threshold
13th of Planting Season, 10,056 AC
Present Day
“Dad, is that really you?” Thunder Gale pushed open the door and the light of the sun cascaded in.
Basking in the heat stood a pegasus. His coat was the same blue his father had and his mane was just as purple, but his eyes were wrong. They were wild and yellow and red and—while his posture was very cool and collected—they were thrashed against the composure.
Thunder Gale lowered his ears and he shook his head and gaped at the pony in front of him. He looked so much like his father but he wasn’t.
“No, I’m not.” The pegasus in the doorway spoke in a voice just as wrong as his eyes. “How many times does it have to hit you over the head before you learn: just because something appears one way, doesn’t mean it is. Now, come with me.”
Thunder Gale dropped into a combat stance—hooves spread apart for balance and wings raised, ready to strike. The muscles woven into his suit flexed and tensed.
“I don’t know who you are.” Thunder Gale ran his eyes up and down him but stopped at his face; his features were just like his father’s but the brooding fixed in them wasn’t. “But you’ve got a lot of nerve coming here masquerading as my father. Give me one good reason why I’d go anywhere with you.”
The pegasus dug his head in his wing and started preening. He took his head out and yawned.
Thunder Gale snorted.
“Listen, don’t pretend that you don’t want to be here,” the pegasus said. “You abandoned your mission the second I came strolling by, and I suspect that you would’ve abandoned much more than that just to get what you came for. Fortunately for you, I can help. There are things you want and I’m in a unique position to provide them, if you’ll assist me with the things I want. Right now that involves coming with me.”
“And just how would you know what I want?” Thunder Gale asked.
“Would it surprise you if I said that I could read your mind?”
Thunder Gale broke into a cackling laughter that strained the insides of his suit, but he never took his eyes away from the pegasus in the doorway. Sweat dripped off his mane and coat despite the coolant flowing between him and his armor.
The pegasus was so completely unmoved by Thunder Gale’s laughter that he didn’t even flinch as the slightest drop of spit splattered on his cheek. Instead, he fastened his eyes on Thunder Gale until his laughing stopped.
“You almost had me convinced.” Thunder Gale tried not to look him in the eye. “If you really could read my mind, then you’d know that what I want you can never give me.”
“Au contraire, you want your father back just as you remember him when you were a foal,” the pegasus in the doorway said. “And let me assure you, I can make that happen.”
“It wouldn’t take more than a glance at an encyclopedia to know that my father and I had a falling out.” Thunder Gale flicked his tail. “Of course I’d like things to go back to the way they were, but I’m here in response to a distress signal.”
“Let’s stop beating around the bush. This foalhood friend you’re scouring this planet for is as dead as everything else, but he was never who you were truly searching for. I’m offering you a chance to end your quest and that longing in your soul, but my price is your help. Now, what’s it going to be? Are you coming with me, or not?”
Thunder Gale closed his mouth, and swallowed. How did he know about Hill Born? he thought to himself.
The pegasus in the doorway grinned.
That got Thunder Gale to shuffle on his hooves and straighten up.
“You’re not like Chain Gleaming, are you?” he asked.
“How observant,” he said. “I’m glad to see you know how to think. Now, are you going to keep standing there or are you going to come outside so we can get on with it? We have a lot of ground to cover and time is short.”
The controls on Thunder Gale’s forehoof showed no new communications or activity from the Spitfire. He was sure of they were trying to reach him, but there was still too much EM interference. He was virtually alone, save for the pegasus who looked like his father.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” Thunder Gale said. “Let’s go take a walk.”
Outside the sun had reached its zenith and the city rippled under it. The towers broke the wind, and so the constant wailing that haunted the desert above didn’t reach them. But they didn’t spare Thunder Gale and his companion from the sun. The towers boxed them in from both sides in a concrete canyon and there was no shade. The pegasus wearing his father’s face also wore his golden cuirass, and it shined in spite of the dust.
They trotted along down the middle of the street until Thunder Gale spotted a flash of green in the window of an abandoned storefront. He stopped and touched a button on his console to switch the rifle on his shoulder to analogue targeting. He grabbed the firing bit tucked in the collar of his armor, and guided his rifle up to the window.
“Chain Gleaming and his entourage are back,” Thunder Gale said. “We’re out here in the open, and those buildings make great places for sharpshooters to set up shop. Why aren’t they attacking? I thought they wanted us dead.”
“Isn’t it obvious? They’re scared, and rightfully so. This isn’t an ambush; this is reconnaissance. The changelings are cunning and overconfident, but they are not suicidal. They know where attacking me would get them.”
The other day Chain Gleaming overpowered Thunder Gale and Breeze Heart and nearly killed them both all on his own, and not even an hour ago he surrounded his team with an army that outnumbered the whole of his ship’s crew. But just the mere presence of the pegasus guised as his father kept them all at bay.
“You’re the thing that the changelings—or whatever they’re called—are trying to get away from, aren’t you?” Thunder Gale was now taking him very seriously. “You’re the reason they broke out and why they’re after my ship?”
“You’re just figuring that out?”
Thunder Gale let the firing bit slip out of his mouth, and he put a foot or two between himself and the pegasus in gold.
“What are you?” Thunder Gale asked.
“I’m not a what, I’m a person.” He patted himself on his chest-plate as he spoke. “I may not be a pony but I’m very much alive. I have needs and desires, just as you do. I’ve experienced loss, just as you have. I’m stuck on this sand trap, just the same as you are. I have loved ones whom I miss dearly, just as you do. I have a home I want nothing more to return to, just as you do. But unlike you, I’ve had the last eleven thousand years to contemplate their loss. One way or another, I’m going home, so I suggest you stay close to me.”
At the mention of “loved ones,” the space between Thunder Gale’s heart and his stomach twisted. A light gust rolled down the street and swirled dust up against his armor. He could picture Breeze Heart clear in his head, sitting in her sickbay alone, save for the injured marine he sent back. Everypony returned to the ship except for him. She was a kind soul, and she didn’t deserve to get left in the dark.
As Thunder Gale stood in the street and in the heat, as he glanced between the windows and the pegasus, his tongue fiddled with the beacon in his tooth. He wanted to go back to her.
“Speaking of loved ones, there’s an entire ship full of ponies wondering where I am,” Thunder Gale said. “I really need to get back there before they send out another search team. I don’t want them risking their lives on another search and rescue operation.”
“If you’re so concerned about their well-being, why didn’t you lit out with the rest of your troops? No, you’re thinking of somepony in particular. Give me a hint, what’s she like?”
“What’s it matter to you?” Thunder Gale took a step back.
“I’m curious.” The pegasus in golden leaned closer. “If we’re going to be working together, I want to get to know you better. She cares for you enough to follow you to this dust-ball from hell, but is the feeling mutual?”
"Okay, that’s it, I’m done.” Thunder Gale shook any thought of Breeze Heart out of his head as best he could and leaned away on his back hoof ready to gallop off.
"Do you want your daddy back, or not?” The pegasus flung out his wings and leaned forward. “If you don’t, then by all means scurry back to your ship and crawl under your bed.”
Thunder Gale huffed, and ran his eyes over the buildings ahead of them. After a moment of deliberation and fiddling at the notches in his back molar, he answered him. “Okay, I’ll come with you, but I ask the questions from now on, alright?”
The pegasus flashed his teeth and continued down the street at a brisk trot, and Thunder Gale cantered after him.
Soldiers avoid open areas such as wide city streets when travelling through enemy territory, and when they did they travelled in overwatch. There wasn’t even enough cover to provide shade from the sun and every window around them was an opening for them to exploit. Thunder Gale didn’t know what disturbed him more: the fact that the pegasus ahead of him strolled right down the main roads without concern, or the fact that he was aware of Breeze Heart.
Thunder Gale shook the thought of her from his head; he couldn’t swallow what the pegasus said about being able to read his mind, but he didn’t exactly doubt him either. He needed to keep his mind away from Breeze Heart, so as he stepped over a chunk of façade he asked a question.
“So why did you pick my father?”
“What you’re seeing now is simply an emanation of what I truly am.” The pegasus wearing his father’s face unfolded a wing and dusted a patch of dust off his cuirass. “The only reason you can see me now is because you don’t see with your eyes, you perceive with your mind. My whole self isn’t something your organs of perception can relate to you in all their lies. I needed to pick a shape so I picked this one.”
“But why that one?” Thunder Gale caught up to him in a single bound. “What’s so special about my father?”
“Nothing.” The pegasus kicked aside a rock, and Thunder Gale stepped over it. “I’m not the least bit interested in him except for what he means to you. It may shock you to hear, but I’m actually quite curious about you. I wanted to make sure I got your attention, so I picked the dad you remember dearly.”
“Well, you got my attention, so change into something else, please.”
“I can’t. At least, not yet.”
Seven blocks later the streets opened to a gravel expanse. It reminded him of a clearing in a forest, the way that the trees suddenly parted and revealed a field and the sun. But there was no grass or other green things, just more of the brown dust that got in his coat and clung to the roof of his mouth, and gravel.
In the center of the clearing stood a slab of concrete. Thunder remembered seeing it on the map; they were now in the middle of the city and only several hundred yards away from where all his troops compass needles pointed.
“Okay, we’re here,” Thunder Gale said. “So what did you need me for?”
“The changelings and myself are no more native to this hellhole than yourself.” The pegasus who looked like Thunder Gale’s father stepped toward onto the gravel and trotted toward the slab. “In fact, we all share the same homeworld: Equus. I was brought here because this planet’s orbit just so happens to lie at the intersection of several important galactic energy centers, and this city is where it all converges.”
“Energy?” Thunder Gale cantered after him. His armored hooves crunched on the gravel beneath them.
“Magic, chi, some even call it electromagnetic fields and non-baryonic particles—try to keep up, Thunder Gale. It doesn’t matter what name you give it. All that matters is that it’s there, and it’s curbing my abilities. This place is a prison, remember? There’s a machine under there that’s painting the energy a toxic color. I need your help to shut it down. Once you do, I’ll have the power to uphold my end of the deal.”
“And change into something that doesn’t look like my dad?”
“Why, of course. Now be quiet. I need to concentrate.” The pegasus stopped a short distance before the slab and spread his hooves far apart, as if he were shouldering a heavy load, and groaned against it.
A tingling like pins and needles rolled through Thunder Gale’s spine and out his skin. The last time he got those prickling sensations a coffee table blew up, so he took a few steps back and shielded his face behind his armor-plated wing.
White light flashed from the pegasus and a quick snap followed. Inside a blink the concrete slab burst into a cloud of pink vapor. A metal seal sat in the gravel where the slab stood.
“How in the name of Celestia did you do that?” Thunder Gale flung his wings and eyes wide open.
“I’m magic, that’s how. Come along, we have work to do.”
A spiral staircase curved around the edge of the seal, burrowing into the ground. The pegasus led Thunder Gale down and around its coiling path until the light of the sun disappeared, and along with it the desert heat.
Ponies have long bodies and walk on four legs, and so they need some space to turn around. Just like those in Lt. Cloud Twist’s holdout, the stairs cork-screwing their way beneath the plate wasn’t designed with ponies in mind. The walls were too narrow for Thunder Gale to turn, and he couldn’t walk backwards up stairs, so he was trapped, with nowhere else to go except forward at whatever pace the pegasus guised as his father dictated.
A low vibration hummed up his spine. His armor plated hooves clattered on stairs. He took a moment to switch on his suit-mounted lights, and all around him long shadows stretched out over carvings in the walls.
Winged creatures soared through clouds turned green by rust, but to his shock, none of them were pegasi or ponies of any kind. They were two-legged ape creatures of the same variety that the statue in the desert depicted. There was something so equine about them. Not in their shapes, but in the way they pointed to one another and the expressions on their faces. The strangest parts of all, at least to Thunder Gale, were their wings and what he thought was a third eye carved in their foreheads. It was right on the spot where the horn sprouts from a unicorn.
To his left, the sculpture showed a warrior tumbling from the sky on burning wings. He ran his hoof over the tarnished metal, and a shiver ran down his spine. He felt as if he had just stepped over his own grave.
“They called it the story of Icarus.” The pegasus slowed to a stop. His hoof pointed and guide Thunder Gale’s LEDs to a sculpture of the falling warrior. “It was about an inventor and his son, and a set of wax wings they put together. They took them for a flight, and when his father turned back, Icarus kept flying in some vain attempt to out-do his old man and ascend to the heavens. As he got closer, his wings melted and he fell from the sky.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Thunder Gale said. “Sons do crazy things trying to live up to their fathers.”
Another sculpture was embedded in the wall to his right, and it depicted a battle between the winged-apes and a legion of beasts.
“So what do these guys have to do with all this?”
“The humans came here seeking enlightenment.” The pegasus craned his head at Thunder Gale and, in doing so, brought a pair of horns that had sprouted from his forehead into the light of the LEDs; they weren’t like a unicorn’s, but like a beast’s. “They believed that this world is a border between this realm and the next, and they weren’t the first to believe such lies. Many species have come here since this planet’s birth seeking power, your own included, and they all paid for their ambition with their lives.”
At that point, Thunder Gale wanted nothing more than to get out of there and away from the thing parading as his father, but he wasn’t about to tell him that. When the pegasus continued down, he followed and kept him in the light. If he can give me my father back, then it will be worth it, he told himself. Again.
“I know what you think of me.” The pegasus boomed and his voice carried off the walls so far that his words returned as echoes. “But there’s no reason why we can’t be friends. Give me a break and cheer up a little! Doesn’t this remind you of old times? You, me, and a labyrinth. I know it’s not a hedge maze, but there are plenty of twists and turns along our path.”
"I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Thunder Gale flinched and reached for his mouth. The low vibration humming up the stairs ramped up in frequency, and right then Thunder Gale’s transponder ached in his jaw. “I just want to do what we came here to do, and then I want my father back. We don’t need to talk.”
“Come on! You can at least show a little bit of gratitude. My only concern is for the well-being of my friends, and I count you as one of them. Be thankful! I do hope that you and The Good Doctor Heart will at least consider giving me a chance after I prove myself to you.”
Thunder Gale stopped. The pegasus took a few steps more before stopping as well. All was silent, except for the low humming travelling up the walls.
“What do you want with Breeze Heart?” Thunder Gale asked.
“Nothing. I’m simply making chit-chat.”
“Then how come you keep bringing her up?”
“If you must know, I’ve been acquainted with her almost as long as you have.” The pegasus turned his head at him sidelong, but the shadow of his brow and his horns concealed his expression. “I have big plans for all of us.”
“Are you going to tell me what those are?”
"I haven’t been happy in a long time, and now that I’m free, I want to reunite with my loved ones and rebuild that life we once had. To that end, I want to put an end to the suffering that’s been inflicted upon ponykind and create an Order that will last the next eleven thousand years. You still don’t remember who I am, do you?”
“Why do you keep acting like I should?” Thunder Gale tried to back up but the stairs behind him kept him right where he stood. “I’ve never met you before in my life.”
“Not in this one, no, but you have every reason to remember your old friend’s name,” the pegasus in his father’s clothes and likeness said to him. “As a show of good faith, allow me to enlighten you: my name is Discord, The Spirit of Order, and I suggest you remember that in the future. It’s rude to forget about your old pals.”
“I’m starting to think this was a mistake.” Thunder Gale put his jaw down off center and pried the cap off the beacon in his tooth. “I knew I should’ve transmatted back with the others.”
A strong electromagnetic field can prevent a transmat from keeping a lock on a pony long enough to teleport him out, but a powerful enough beacon could cut through it. The implant in Thunder Gale’s tooth was a single-use one-time-only non-refundable deal, but he’d give anything to be back on his ship and to see Breeze Heart safe again, instead of down there in the dark and stale with a monster disguised as his father.
“What happened to all your enthusiasm?” The pegasus’s teeth glistened in the light of the LEDs. “Put all those second guesses aside like you did when you abandoned your crew and come with me. You’re so close to getting your father back. What does anything else matter now?”
“My crew matters, and so does Breeze! My father wouldn’t have left them like I did—and I’ll admit that was a mistake, and I can’t change what I that, but I can still do right by them now. I don’t know what you want with her, but you’re not getting near her!”
“My, my, aren’t you protective.” The pegasus named Discord looked straight ahead into the darkness in front of him, and in doing so withdrew his face from the light. “Yet so eager to leave her and everypony else to fend for themselves when it suits you. You’re no better than me, so quit trying to delude yourself by taking the moral high ground. I want to pick up exactly where we left off—all three of us.”
Thunder Gale didn’t say anything more. He brought his teeth down on the transponder and the beacon activated.
“I can see I’m not going to make any more progress with you.” Discord sighed and peeked over his shoulder at Thunder Gale. “I thought there was hope for you, but I guess I was wrong. I’ll let that chip in your mouth do its thing so you can get out of here, but only for old time’s sake. I’m not going to give up and I have no problem taking what I want either. I’ve waited too long to let this opportunity pass me by. Let that be a warning to you: next time we meet, don’t get in my way.”
The transmitter in Thunder Gale’s tooth buzzed twice; the Spitfire’s crew had locked on to him and had initiated transmaterialization. While he waited for the transmat beam to whisk him away, he glared Discord ahead of him down as if to say: ‘I’ll see you in hell!’
It was a front for his fear and Discord knew it. He only stared back and laughed. And laughed.
Yellow light washed over Thunder Gale and flooded the stairwell. The hairs of his coat stood on edge and his armor soaked up a searing heat and his fur and mane stood up, and his ears rang. Then transmat light flashed and it was all over.
He was standing in the well-lit, utilitarian, steel walls of the Spitfire’s transmat chamber. Vents near the ceiling pumped in cool air that smelled nothing but fresh and clean into the wide and open room. A mare in a black and red officer’s cuirass stood propped up on a control panel flipping switches.
"Lightning Fire, ma’am, we’ve got him,” she said into a microphone on her control panel and then turned to Thunder Gale. “Are you okay, Major? Do you need anything?”
He desperately wanted to say, “No, no I’m not,” but the officer in him wouldn't let that out. Instead, he told her: “I’m fine, as you were.” Then, he trotted out the door and bolted the second she looked away.
Tenser, said the Tensor - wrong tense, sir!
Discord? The Spirit of Order? He obviously recognizes the Element in Thunder Gale, otherwise I doubt he'd care so much for pleasantries, but Discord generally doesn't outright lie. What kind of game are you playing there....
I do hope this story goes to a conlusion! I want to see everything! You've made me wish I could climb into your story and live there so I can see what happens in person!!
Just discovered this continuation of your last story, and am very much enjoying it so far.
Knowing he was on planet, it was easy enough to guess Discord well before he revealed his name.
Spirit of Order? Either he's lying, or an awful lot has changed over the last 11,000 years
I'm also guessing breeze heart is kindness.
I did notice a few things that bugged me, though.
For one, he's just dealt with a known shapeshifter, but the instant he sees something that looks like your father, he just drops everything and runs out there?
Another bit that bugs me; he replies "Give me one good reason why I'd go anywhere with you" before he's asked to go anywhere.
Finally, as pointed out earlier, "I’ve experienced lose, just as you have" should be "I've experienced loss, just as you have"
I love this. This more or less sums up everything I think is wrong about the way humans handle the Q and ponies handle Discord, forgetting this.
That being said, it's "loss", not "lose", and you have "I'm may not" when you mean "I may not." But the typos don't detract from the awesomeness of this passage.
" I’ve experienced lose, just as you have"
"and every window around them was an opening for the to exploit."
"and only several hundred years away from where all his troops compass needles pointed."
Are these typos?
God damn I hate pointing these things out on my phone. (it takes two tabs and a messed up copy paste process.) but your story is too good to let these go unnoticed.
Can't wait for the next one!
4643901
You got a point. I swapped a few things around last minute. Let me address a few of these issues and make a few quick changes when I'm back from the con.
4642700
Demolished Man reference for the win! I salute you.
I noticed a number of typos, biggest one calling Discord the "Spirit of Order" instead of Disorder or Disharmony. That said I'm enjoying this story. You really need somepony to proofread your chapters before you post, I noticed little typos and grammatical hiccups in the prior chapters as well.
I just wanted to say, having just re-read the whole thing... I love the contrast between the setup implying Discord as some kind of terrifying eldritch abomination, an avatar of horror, and then when he finally appears... he gets along as well with Thunder as he did with Thunder's predecessor :-), but his agenda has emotional resonance. He might well be on "our" side (where "our" is the side of Harmony and Magic returning), or he might have some horrifying agenda of his own that he thinks is a good idea, but it's plain that he's being driven by his feelings for his lost home and his old friendships. Which doesn't actually make him any less of an eldritch abomination! But as he says, he's a person with thoughts and feelings of his own.
4644230
That one's almost certainly not a typo. Either Discord is lying, or Discord's true role is Balance and with the balance tipped so far in favor of disharmony, he has to lean his weight on the other side of the scale, or something has happened to make Discord shift his priorities.
4644230
Let me just confirm what's already been said so there's no confusion: Discord did actually say he was the Spirit of Order. That is not a typo. I can't say why yet without massively spoiling the rest of the book, but he did. That said, I haven't had contact with a number of the people who usually help me with grammar and proof reading recently as many have dropped out of contact the last week or two so it's harder for me to catch things even if I put in much more time on a chapter than I normally do. I don't like to think that I need an editor, because in theory I have many.
4643934
4643901
I've gone back in and fixed a lot of the little errors that needed fixing, and also added quick sentence at the beginning where Discord asks TG to come along with him.
As for what Caliaponia said earlier about TG dropping everything at first sight of his dad, while it might be kind of a slip up, I felt it was very much in character and that TG was just so desperate to see his father again that he wasn't exactly thinking too clearly when he saw him. He, uh, actually tends to make a few really bad, un-wise decisions on reflex (He's not that self-aware, at least at the start of the fic). What you had to say, though, was a major point I debated with myself while I was writing this. Not saying I did it perfect, though, just that at some point I had to make an executive decision.
4644541
It reads much better now, thanks. And don't worry about his reaction. My comment was grumbling about him pulling a boneheaded stunt, not being out of character.
Loyalty is about doing the right thing not necesserily the smart thing. Don't get me wrong, I think is great, but measured decisions are not exactly her strong suit. In that respect, the horseshoes fit, plus Discord calls him on it, so it's all good
4642700
Agreed. Discord may
cheatah, utilize creative approaches to winning, but he's never struck me as a liar. Too boring, too easy. Plus the pose his statue reinforces my feeling that his current attitude is legitimate. I'll be looking forward to the reveal of just what's happened in 11,000 years that would lead to such a reversal.4644271
4644591
I got a question for you two, though. I know the answer, but mainly I wanted to point you in another direction I deemed relevant (and because it strokes my ego a little), but what do you make of the title of the chapter?
"Dwellers on the Threshold"?
Spirit of Order
Spirit of Order?!
But seriously, Thunder Gale a dick.
"I've come to terms with my father's death, and there is nothing to gain from throwing away the future, even if he cannot be in it with me. I never want to go back to the way things were, because there is so much more to gain from going forward to the way things will be."
"I sympathize with your situation, but you just told me that you can singlehandedly destroy an army of super soldiers without turning off that machine. It's nothing personal, but I cannot in good conscience place the kind of power you claim in anyone's hands."
"If you are our good friend, and not merely reading my mind to deceive me, then we will be happy to catch up with each other and make things right, but I need some time to think about all you've taught me, and to consult with my crew and my people."
"I am sorry but I am neither a judge, nor an engineer; as such it would not be right for me to relieve you of your sentence nor tamper with alien machinery without the input from qualified professionals."
"U NO TOUCH MAI WAIFU ILL WREK U M8" - obviously the best response
Somewhere around the point where he turned a concrete wall into pink vapor I guessed that his actual name is Discord.
You bastard. You concocted this entire story just for that Picard joke, didn't you?
Also, if he keeps referring to Thunder Gale and Breeze Heart as being Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, I'm wondering what that means for... reincarnation, apparently?
BLATANT LIES.
Also, I'm pretty sure the winged apes, one of whom is falling, and a legion of beasts? That's the fall of Lucifer and the War in Heaven. This whole thing is a lot like Doctor Who's episodes The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.
4644708 Bleh, making me read a wikipedia article on astrology
I've been interpreting the whole thing as more of an inheritance than a rebirth, but the fact that the title is plural makes it much more interesting.
Discord, what are you up to...? He seems to be aware of who Thunder Gale and Breeze Heart are, and may even be trying to help him remember Rainbow's life. However, I don't think he's even beginning to tell him much of the truth of what's really going on, as well as the fact to why he was imprisoned in the first place, and as far as show-canon goes, the only thing that has been shown as being able to stop him and turn him into stone is the Elements, which would have meant he'd done something to cause the bearers to use them on him. Then there's the whole 'spirit of Order' thing... as others have said, it doesn't seem like him to just strait up lie. Definitely looking forward to seeing where this goes!
Looks like you're up on EqD
So, Discord as the spirit of Order. Things have really gone off the deep end now.
Although the Picard joke... not my cup of Earl Gray. I've never cottoned to the 'Discord is Q' bit of fanon. Just my thing is all. Other than that, great chapter!
4656704
None taken. That's kind of the point.
4656454
The author had me review his story in exchange for him reviewing one of mine. When I first started reading, my confusion to the flashbacks was due to the ease of overlooking the date provided in the beginning of each chapter. I found that out in chapter four or five, and if my confusion was anything to go by I subsequently suggested that the author make it more clear to the dates and whether or not the chapter was a flashback to avoid any confusion anyone else might have.
4644708
To be honest, I hadn't really given it a huge amount of thought. I guess the natural question would be 'what dwellers' and 'what threshold'. The most obvious would be the inhabitants of the planet, which is admittedly interesting for being some sort of interstellar magic nexus. It makes me wonder if it will come to play a larger role.
4660891
The Guardian, or "The Dweller", on the threshold.
4652456 Actually, Discord was modeled after Q. Lauren Faust even admitted that she was bingeing on Star Trek:TNG when she made him.
TAKEN FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH JAYSON THIESSIAN FROM STUDIO B AT BRONYCON.
So you see, this is where the fanon originated. After all, Discord is a Spirit of Chaos and can break the 4th wall from time to time. I believe he even does it in the show somewhere.
4661784 I know he's 'modeled' after him, but that doesn't make Discord Q. It makes him a character very similar, but he's not Q.
4661839 If you actually read into that, you would have realised that I never said that he was Q, just that he can break the fourth wall. Who knows, maybe they hung out or something. Anything is possible with Chaos.
Okay sorry for the wait. Let's get into this, and find out just what is going on. Or at least hopefully a bit more about it.
Unlikely... and... great, now I've got that scene from Spaceballs in my head. "Fooled you!"
But, either another changeling the others are scared of, or.. given the statue, Discord screwing with him.
That... is a really really oddly phrased sentence and, huh? I get the gist of what it was going for but, not much more then that. But, yellow and red eyes... He's BA-ACK!
Well you would know.. oh wait, no you wouldn't.
Way way to often. So, Discord know about his father being replaced then? And, go with him? He was stoned.. but, in a different pose then Return of Harmony, which means he was released, and then resealed for some reason, which means he did have his redemption... but then got sealed again for something... so... yeah I have no idea if he's evil or not right now. This is going to be good.
Okay, well, he could have just used his powers and messed with his head a whole lot more. He wants Thunder's help willingly. Or, is it that his power is also reduced somehow and he can't warp reality how he sees fit anymore? Yeah, I am LOVING the mystery about what is going on with him, so many possibilities, just, it's amazing.
So, Discord... to trust or not. When he says stuff lie this, he rarely actually lies about it. but also not quite telling the full truth either. So, warp reality and create a copy of his father? Or, is he still alive and held captive by the changelings and Discord will help free him? Or at least tell Thunder where to go to do so?
Wha? And, an encyclopedia? Why.. how? it's a pretty recent event and.. and.. that's not.. I mean minor enough that.... WHAT!? Why and encyclopedia? I mean, if t is a brand new version, and just looking up that one article about the royal family or something.. but, seriously? that is.. the weirdest place to suggest looking.
...... Hill Born.... NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well.. fuck. Though, lying or not? Possible he is just to get Thunder to leave with him, but, I think he might be legit.
So they do have manual targeting too. Smart. But, really 'analogue'? I mean i get how that works but really, wouldn't it have been better, easier, and simpler just to call it 'manual'?
Well yeah, he's kind of been short on information till now. Sure the readers know at once, but only because we know who and what you are. Granted them running just before he appeared should have clued Thunder in a bit earlier. So, if he's powerful enough to terrify an army of changelings, what does he need Thunder's help for?
Foot... took a second to realize you meant the measurement but, really, something that always confounds me with pony stories. Just what sort of measurement would they use for that? 'Foot' is right out given where it come from. But, 'meter'? might work but rather odd for people not from Europe to think in terms of that type of system. So will sound even weirder then 'foot' to us. 'Hoof'? maybe. Just, one of those oddities of writing/reading pony that's really hard to get a real clue about.
.... so, given the onyl thing he's cared about enough to say that about it... ...unless he meant losing to the Sisters/Mane 6. Post reform Discord, and.. so why back in stone though? Or did he mess up and lose their friendship. Curiouser and curiouser.
So, does he really mean it? Why does he need Thunder's help? We know.. some.. essence.. version.. echo.. something of the mane 6 is still around, is that who he's talking about? How else could he rejoin them? But, how?
Again with the really really odd word choices that, just really don't make sense to me. I get what he means, but only from context.
Yeah, that's going to work. But, so id he really could read his mind, he's know all about Breeze Heart already, so, either he can't, it's limited in some way, or he can, and is just fucking with Thunder. Any of those options is possible. Even if he is on the level. And, yeah I could see them keeping his dad alive. Would need him to answer any questions, tell them about secrets they need to know, keep him around just in case.
that is really really convoluted way of saying things. So, does it mean, even his Draconequs from is just, an attempt at the ponies sense to perceive him, since his 'true form' is so chaotic and Lovecraftian, it can't really be perceived by mortal minds? Or is that his real form, and it's just so weird that he figured ponies who had lost touch with magic would have an even harder time dealing with it?
Short version. Just to fuck with you. So, I'm betting he knows Thunder is an incipient Bearer. But, does he know about Breeze?
Why? Is his power actually limited in some way now? Who? Why?
Okay, figured by now this wasn't where they came from, but good to know for sure.
Well, okay so his power is being suppressed. But, how? I mean I get that idea but, who could have built something that suppresses magic like that? Why? Was it made just to do that? Or is that just a side effect of something else? Who brought him here? Sigil-Tec? Or was he found here by them? Did they know about the magic? What is the machine doing exactly? So many questions. cna't wait to find the answeres.
Also..non-baryonic particles... Schlock Mercenary reference?
So he can detect magic? is that, something unique to him because of his future role? Some latent ability in ponies left over from them having magic? A result of this world twisting the magic somehow and making it have that effect on him?
Awww, should have gone with "It's magic, I don't have the explain how it works."
Why not? I mean yeah it wouldn't be easy, but if he goes slow, should be possible. And, okay so it was built by the humans. But, why again? Was it to deal with magic, them trying to harness it? Suppress it? Or is it's effect on magic just a side effect?
What the...... okay so... humans were dealing with magic. Or, was this planet an attempt at doing that? Did they know about the ponies? How long ago was this? Was this them trying to emulate ponies? gain wings and magic? Was it real? or just stories, images of what they wanted? Every time we learn one thing, three more questions get asked.
SYMBOLISM!
Okay, so just what is so special about this planet? Or is it just that nexus thing? but, what does that do? What happened, and more species then just human? how many? Why have ponies not encountered more signs of them? How does Discord know this? Did... did ponies come here before as well?
Also, form changing, hmmmmm,
Okay then.. well we know who he's talking to but, how can he sense them? Are they watching? near? And what happened to make him need to convince them to give him a chance?
Or is he talking to Thunder and just, like a reincarnation thing. Some part of RD in him? Her presence?
Okay, so, he does know about her, and about them being bearers, but, is this good or bad? Actually trying to be nice and be their friend, or just wanting to use them and make sure they don't turn the elements against him if they get them?
I... I think he just MIGHT be legit in that.. of course in his own way.
Okay, called Discord but, Spirit of Order? Changed over time? Or, just lying? And, so they are supposed to be literal reincarnations of the mane 6?
So, not fully helpful, still... Discord.. but.. damn.. NOOO stay, find out.. stop making us wait for answers!
Yeah I get why but, really preferred Commander. It's not the 'real' service, so you could come up with any reason for him to have that rank. Serving on a ship etc.... And Major just, doesn't have the same weight as 'commander' doesn't sound as good. Plus the other meaning of commander beyond rank. Just.. yeah get why but, really think in this case it would have been better to leave his rank as was. Just doesn't feel right this way.
Okay, so another chapter with a ton of new questions, some answered, more asked, and, just so much epic mystery. And, next week, back to the past to see how he escaped jail, still good but, really want to find out what the bucking hell is going on. Just, amazing chapter, and so much epically well done tension.
4644708 I have no idea about that title, and can mean so damn much.. but this planet.. it's some kind of threshold? Or is it about the ponies on the threshold of rediscovering their magic? just, so man options. Oh read the link and.. ooookay, that just raises even MORE questions. Is, Discord their dweller before reaching the Elements? Something keeping him from passing into whatever realm the Mane 6 are in and joining them? Just, that raises even more 's
4645113 But, Discord my trick, ma deceive, never tells the full truth, but he rarely ever makes blatant lies that big. it's more fun to tell the truth, in ways he knows will be misinterpreted, then blame the other pony for their own goof.
4657527 But it WAS clear, The dates are right there, plain to see, if you overlooked them, that's on you, especially after you noticed just how different everything was. there was plenty of proof this was a flashback.
4666725
I'd like to address all these points, but I can't without spoiling the fun. But I can talk about this one:
I don't know what Schlock Mercenary is, but I can say that a baryon is, from what I understand, matter that is composed of three quarks (i.e. protons and neutrons). A non-baryonic particle would therefore be anything that isn't, such as Leptons (electrons and their kin) and Dark Matter. If tachyons exist, then they'd probably also qualify. I'm not a physicist, though, so I don't have a great grasp on what I'm talking about at least when it comes to non-baryonic particles and the like.
4670201 Yeah I know what it means, just the only other place I've ever actually heard it used in a story is Schlock Mercenary. Which you should be reading if you like Sci-Fi. It is an amazing webcomic, and extremely hard SF, everything is completely plausible, and the author usually goes quite in depth in the science behind things in the foot notes. Plus it is just freaking awesome and hilarious. Always remember Maxim 1 : Pillage then burn.
Plus, holy fuck is the author dedicated. Since he started, he has only missed a single update time by more then an hour or two. And that was because the server farm that hosted the comic literally blew up. And he still had a new site created and the new strip up before the next one was due to be released, and next one was right on time.
But yeah would love the details but, having so much fun just trying to figure out what might be going on. And the story goes at a good pace with that, keeping new information flowing, never fully answering, but always feeling like we WILL get an answer eventually.
Discord wanting order....that's interesting. I suppose 11,000 years can change a spirit.
And based off his dialogue, I'm guessing Lightning Fire is a descendant of Rainbow Dash (and possibly Shining Armor, since a necklace in the shape of his cutie mark was a family treasure), and Breeze Heart is another descendant of the cast of the show, probably Fluttershy.