Celestia and Discord, as teens, flee their destroyed homeworld to a new world promised by a letter from Luna. But Discord can't escape his nature, nor Celestia her memories. Being a chaos mage on a starliner is a death sentence, and yet, Discord has to keep using his mind-control powers to take Celestia's emotions away, at her request, because otherwise she wants to die. And Gray Celestia, the discorded Celestia with no emotions but the drive to protect herself and Discord, will do anything that needs to be done to save them both.
Warnings: suicidal ideation, consensual mind control that's still kind of messed up, genocide, a near-execution, mass murder, and comforting lies.
Cover art is by ponkamena/polkahorse, who now goes by ashiida (link goes to their new deviantart account). The source link goes to the derpibooru version. This was the closest I could get from all of derpibooru, though in the fic they're both much younger than the art would suggest.
That was an entertaining read.
I was so happy to see a story coming from you!
And then you ruined my good mood by making the story so sad...
...damn.
Neat! A universe where magic and science logically married, and Equestria is just a backwater pioneer colony!
I can see why you find this so appealing. There's a lot one can do with magical equine space opera. This in particular is some fantastic refugee sci-fi. Thank you for a glimpse of yet another fascinating universe, even if it is a very somber one.
Nice! I love the premise of escaping an apocalyptic world. A very interesting read, I wouldn't mind a sequel!
I like this.
I really, really, really like this. In fact, I think it is pretty dang cool.
An interesting backstory, a thrilling premise, some superb conflict, awesome Celestia and Discord...
It makes me so sad there's only so little of this.
Let me do a semi-ironic, melodramatic sigh to conclude this little tirade on how much I liked it and how much I'd love to read more of it. I'm not actually sad at all, because I'm really happy because this was a really good read.
THEY sound... awfully familiar. Could it be that I'm not the only one to whom it ever occured that the Crystal Castle in the Crystal Empire look a bit like a crystal space ship? (You gotta admit it's very rocket-shaped.)
There's like so much backstory in here I want to see. And so much afterwards. And that is a good thing; I want to know how their world fell, what could be so powerful as to obliterate the alicorn-draconequus planet, yet leave ponies overall spacefaring. What could then seemingly lead to Equestria sealing itself off, if it's meant to be a prequel to FiM (And if not, well, then all bets are off).
I mean my mind is filling in so many blanks. Tiny shards of crystal that are effectively fatal? Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated, it seems.
There's a glorious possible revenge/great epic in the making here, too. And, well, Celestia's horror...that's the part that really works, because I can see her regret and yet I think in her shoes, I would do the same thing. Maybe, maybe try to disable things first, but then again I'm not dealing with the sheer level of trauma she is. Her actions are regrettable, to put it lightly, yet...at the same time, they were in self-defense after all other options she could envision were exhausted.
And, at the same time, this is one of those stories I wish I could un-read on some level, because the horror of everything that happens to her and her world is the sort that I have horrified fascination with. I want to know more, yet I also want to forget because the knowing hurts. 'Tis strange.
Hopefully you will play in this space more, I do want to see this universe grow.
That lack of resolution. That "complete" tag. You bastard.
good read tho
god damn haha your storys are SO hard to take in xD it takes all my strength to not feel bad or sad after reading this xDD
Oh I LOVE this, I'm so hoping you plan on continuing it! It's so nice to see something so well thought out, as well as unique. Not to say there aren't others out there, of course, but I'm just in love with this.
:(
This is so good, I wanna die. :D
This was a great story! Hope to see more installments in this universe!
There's also suicide and violence tags now, if you want to use them.
Goddamn that was fucked. While a good story, I don't want to see another like it. Ever. Please.
Guh. That's one hard-knuckled punch in the guts right there. I like it!
An interesting little moment among the stars. Sadly what hate, fear, and a lack of compassion can get you. Apathy, oh this has apathy in spades. Not as much among the two that cared, are trying to anyhow.
No, among the many whom are naught but ash and mist.
Ok, this was pretty visceral. You certainly earned your RCL feature.
Also, and I'm sure somebody's pointed this out to you before, but you need to buy your kids copies of Child of Alara.
Harmonic magic attuned to fusion... an earlier reference to the other ship blowing up...
Ooooohhhh crap.
7924438
Agreed. More please.
Good story, but the sci-fi aspect... takes liberties.
Holy carp. That was amazing.
Very unique! Tis only a shame that there isn’t more!
I was surprised by how much i enjoyed the blending of scifi and mlp elements. Clever that they would use harmony based technomagic. The drama was good as well. I liked how they supported one another. Even if there is a sweet sadness to it all.
spelled flechettes, everywhere I can see (diminutive of flèche, French for arrow. Alternately, fléchettes.)
…button?(×2) should probably remove 'the' and add quotes around 'launch', or add 'button', both times.
Ow. My pit's too full.
One possible future has Discord making Luna out of the overflow from the pit.
This was difficult to read.
It was even more difficult not to.
This is super ironic, but I happened to be reading one of your fics, and upon finishing I went to look more at your gallery. I noticed this fic, and was like, wait a minute, I drew that! I saw your credit note, so I just wanted to say if you wanted to add a link to credit my new deviantart is https://www.deviantart.com/ashiida !! Also I'm really invested in The Last Draconequus so I'm really looking forward to any updates on that ❤
9016311
Thanks! I've updated the description to provide the link.
9016877
Thank you!! Also I drew some fanart for this fic. I love your work so much 😭
9276224
I don't understand the reference to Sombra here. This is a reference to Discord going wild with his magic and refusing to tone it down or control it, resulting in him being turned to stone.
9276378
No. The world they escaped didn't have Sombra in it. Whatever happened it had nothing to do with him. Sombra wouldn't be born until centuries or millennia later.
Everything was perfect. The narration. The delayed flashbacks and snippets of context. Prgamatic Celestia, and the past shrouded by the fog of war ans fear.
It was all just so... So perfect. It perfectly reflected the feelings of sadness and anguish one in depression feels, only tuned up to 11 and constant instead of occasional.
I can easily imagine her solution being one so temperary and counterproductive. What she really needs is some good hard therapy. Work out that guilt and those problems.
But who the hell if she going to cry too? "Yes, Dr. Horse. I did something terrible. I blew up a statliner using it's nuclear fusion against itself. Please make it all okay."
Discord, conversely, is subverting his own trope by effectively being support without support.
This is NOT two way. He's doing ALL the work and hiding his problems whereas Celestia simply can't.
That makes him stronger on the mental fortitude side, but morally bankrupt. Hence turning ponies into cacti, even if not forever.
There are just SO many things about this short story people can sympathize with. It's... Too perfect.
Heh... If there is such a thing.
Brava, Alara, for you truly have mastered the art of emotion.
Definitely the best I've read in a long while
Also, everything 9484553 said because oh my god
Just reread because this is one of my favorites, and as a small personal expirement. When I read this the first time, my heart was in a dark place, beseiged by feelings as black as the void, and so I could somewhat sympathize with their sadness. While I can't relate to these characters quite as much as I used too, and the emotions behind my original post have faded, this is still a very good story.
Now if only there was a sequel!
This was something special.
I greatly enjoy space opera stories, and this hit a lot of what I like about these sorts of settings. The scale, especially, and the idea of a very vast, loosely connected civilization spread across a considerable volume of space, sharing technology and culture and language but not united, each world looking after its own matters; the integration of magic and technology also, and the implication of unknown and dangerous things lurking among the stars.
But like other commenters have said, this story leaves with obsessing over all the unknowns hinted at in the story -- what was it that destroyed Discord and Celestia's homeworld? Why did Equestria('s planet) remain cut off from interstellar civilization? Why are there so many worlds settled by ponies? Are they colonies that may have lost contact with one another, or are they the fruit of parallel evolution or parallel creations? The draconequi were bound to the one world, apparently, so perhaps ponies started out in one place and spread from there. How did Celestia overcome her shame and guilt?
I certainly wouldn't mind knowing the answers to these questions, but all the same I also enjoy not knowing. It helps keep the sense of fascinating mystery this story gives me.