This story is a sequel to Administrative Angel
Discord is having a gloriously unlucky day. First he accidentally got sucked into a human high-school version of Equestria. Then he got stuck there after blowing up the portal home. His life hasn't been this chaotic in ages!
But a burst of reverse future memory is about to convince him to destroy this new world — and the power of Harmony seems to be on his side. Against those odds, it will take the full wit, courage, and magic of Celestia and Luna to save the day.
No, not the Princesses. That would have been simple.
Rated 'Why Haven't You Read This Yet?' by PaulAsaran! "I can’t stress enough how good this was in all aspects, from the narrative voice to the characterizations to the creativity underlining it all, to say nothing for how much fun it is. ... I greatly enjoyed this and think most people will too, be you a casual reader just wanting to enjoy Discord, a more technically minded one looking to see Discord done right, or someone who just wants a worthy follow up of Administrative Angel."
Recommended by Present Perfect! "The same strong writing and the same authorly voice as the original ... it's thrilling watching a world-ending threat through the villain's eyes."
Silver medalist in the January 2019 "Reversal of Fortune" Writeoff! Significantly expanded and edited for FIMFiction!
Praise for the Writeoff version:
"There are clever stories that make you feel smart, and clever stories that make you feel dumb, and I'm finding this very much in the first category." –Chris
"Things just don't stop moving." –Xepher
First comment reserved for spoiler-free author's notes!
Here we go!
This started life as a book exclusive for Songs of the Sisters, but it's now time to unveil it to the rest of the world.
This is a direct sequel to Administrative Angel, but very different in focus. For the most part, the stories work independently, but there are one or two major plot beats which require the context of Angel.
It also contains flagrant use of future tense, occasional deliberately reversed words, and gratuitous future Twicord shipping. Readers allergic to those ingredients are advised to carry an Epi-Pen.
"And forget about her brother. I only found out about him last week."
I would have gone with "premember" for the verb, but I do love the idea of Discord having such a causally confused existence. And boy did it get even more confused.
Also, it seems like human Twilight is missing if the girls have their pendants. Though there could well be a reason for that...
I can't tell if Adagio was elaborating or biting back a "shoo be doo."
I would have expected that line from Aria, but I do love reminders that the sirens are literal man-eaters.
A fascinating idea, though I'm not sure how well it hold up under wider scrutiny. Particularly with the Bearer-analgoues who aren't Twilight. I suspect this is what the sirens concluded for themselves after some time in this world.
Brilliant bit with Flurry Heart, especially Discord trolling her through old-fashioned physical interfaces.
And there's the counterpoint. After all, it's not like the sirens know the princessipals that well.
And a noble effort by VP Luna, but changing Discord's mind better than he can is always an uphill struggle.
I should probably stop commenting on each chapter. All of the reveals and revelations are making me look pretty foolish.
On the other hand, you know they're working.
Magnificent stuff from start to finish... though I do still find human Twilight's relative lack of involvement a bit odd. In any case, a gripping read throughout, with some fantastic moment for the human Celestia and Luna both. Thank you for it.
A worthy successor to Administrative Angel, a very different story and yet still with much in common. The mixture of surreality with the groundedness of real human emotion was top-notch, and it was wonderful seeing Principal Celestia achieve her moment of apotheosis and fulfill the journey of understanding she began in Angel. The glimpses of the future also added some delightful flavour to the whole story.
Can't wait to get my copy of your book and reread this in the wood-flesh.
Why, horizon, are you the literal best?
Honestly given that Discord created the lips and it’d been established that he was unable to directly affect anything but himself, I’d assumed that the lip-tree wasn’t Harmony, but himself, or some aspect thereof.
Anyway, this was existential as all get-out, but fun. I could probably philosophize for awhile on it, but I don’t want to end up a meal for sirens. Plus I only have so long on my break at work.
Although I’ve never really come around to the idea of a reformed Discord, even if he’s been reformed for far longer than he’s been villainous. And I don’t think I ever will.
Huh. So that’s what division by zero sounds like.
Does anyone else hear bells ringing? Because I think an angel just got her wings.
Already given it a read in my copy of Songs of rhe Sisters and loved every second. Surreal where it needs to be, puzzling, hillarious and tangled up before being wonderfully unraveled bit by bit.
I do still need to give it a second read to see if anything sticks out more, particularly in those future sections.
STARLIGHT GLIMMER SAID THAT.
Got a strong Q-squared feeling from this.
Huh, I don't think I've encountered this idea before. But now that you mention it, Twilight being close friends with Discord in the far future makes a surprising amount of sense - assuming Celestia and Luna (the princesses) leave by that time, as they're about to do in the show.
Let's see where this leads and if this is going to be explained the story!
There's an image.
There is a firm rule that one should never attempt to pass one spatial distortion through another, the portable hole in a bag of holding being the classical example. Discord shall now demonstrate why this rule exists.
This reminds me of the duel between Konrad Curze and Corvus Corax, two prescient masters of stealth tactics that spent hours locked in a battle of foresight.
And that, right there, is why you never, ever, act on a single source of cryptic prophecy. It always ends badly.
I did not read it, but I can guess that the title is not a parody from 'Devil May Cry' videogames, right?
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"Devil-may-care" is a phrase describing someone who is happy-go-lucky or carefree. In this case, Discord deciding to care about Equestria is also at the root of the conflict (along with some other questions about caring that he's trying his hardest to deny).
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Glimmer was a kid playing with granddad's dynamite.
Discord is more on the level of Kaczynski here.
In so many ways this wasn't what I was expecting in a sequel to Administrative Angel. It feels like a downright atypical use of the word 'sequel' even; it's a yang to Angel's yin instead of the usual here's-some-more-of-what-you-just-read. That couldn't be more fitting, considering who the main characters are in each story. This is a magnificent read on its own, and doubly so for the contrast between it and its predecessor
.
Maybe, sometimes, even a devil may care when she loses a loved one.
9860014
Thanks for answer :)
So, was Discord planning to bring Sunset back too, or...?
Human Twilight is mentioned, but isn't one of Sunset's best friends? Luna said 'five' not six.
Have you ever subconsciously realized that you just had your mind absolutely blown away, but consciously you still go "Huh?" and need to have it told a second time around before it sinks in?
I have. And it feels great.
*Clicks back to Chapter 1*
Not sure if this is a reference to Library of Babel or Library of Discord, so just pointing out that the latter exists and is actually a significant improvement on the former.
Oh my god, this paragraph was so much more impactful than the showy manifestation of wings in the previous chapter. Knowing all the symbolism assigned to those wings, how central it is to the character and how it has evolved in the previous story, this is really powerful. That's like otherkin given their other form after decades of pining.
Waaaait a minute... I've realized an obvious thing about "Administrative Angel" just now
9859695 Discord being the other spatial distortion?
Exactly. She is more that a mere copy of Princess Celestia. Principal Celestia is a being with her own signature.
How could Discord miss the obvious conclusion?
I think this is the best discord id ever read i loved your take on a conflict for a god, a idea i myself have been puzzling over latley
Now this is a mind-bender. And certainly one of the most original stories I've read in a while. You've still got the Horizon touch.
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Please, do tell.
Once again, quite a trip!
Somehow, from the summary, I didn't expect it to be so light on Principals and heavy on Discord. But as has already been said, it's no bad thing to have such a complementary follow-up rather than more of the same. And a little screwing with causality is always fun (as is the occasional dash of Twicord).
Points for knowing about and referencing Vantablack!
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I was actually surprised how obscure the reference is! Several prereaders told me they assumed I was making it up, and I had to massage the section a bunch to keep the reference in.
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My advice? Take a cue from the "stealth education" aspect of the show and turn the word into a Wikipedia link. I've done this myself. If you dislike the rewriting you had to do to make it clearer, this might even allow you to move back towards your original wording (although I recall no problems with how it reads to me now).
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Great idea, thank you!
In general I'm not going to edit the text unless something crucial needs to be fixed, since the story is also in print as part of Songs of the Sisters, but for the web version of this story it makes all the sense to offer that.
10097824
You are welcome!
Not what I expected from a sequel to Angel, but I enjoyed it all the same. I liked the screwy chronology especially; it made the story feel just like its main character.
Woah, talk about sequel escalation, love it! A lot!
Reading about the calm human-mirror-world-is-destroyed future and the discord in the present filled me with dread!
Can't wait for the slice of life Darrell side story, the getting a new pc arc will be amazing! I'm sure of it.
no but seriously, side stories would be cool, the lore you got here is pretty gud
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I was pretty chuffed that I managed to make future tense work in a story, and Discord was a fun vehicle to deliver that through.
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Thank you for reading and enjoying!
I don’t know if it’s quite the side story you were hoping for — it doesn’t reuse any of these characters except for a brief Sunset cameo — but Fang and Flame is definitely another spiritual sequel in the same continuity, about a very different ruler meeting her other-world self. It kind of vanished into obscurity after winning a contest, so it’s probably worth mentioning!
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You know, I never forgot about administrative angel but never was aware of the side story and sequel, you should put at the very top of administrative angel's fic description "has a sequel and side story"
Like, i re-read administrative angel and wasn't aware of these stories, when finishing a story my brain goes "Okey close tab and don't pay attention to anything else lmao"
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I had that on my read later already, but I had no idea it was in continuity with these stories. That's neat.
Well, this has many things that I didn't expect. Sudden Sirens! Cool, having things be from mainly the antagonist's POV!
Twicord, after Fluttercord. I can see that. Interesting that there's no way to make Fluttershy immortal and stuff. Ah well.
reverse memory, or possibly acausal memory. Coool! And it's possibly acasual, so the future could be possibly very different! Oooh!
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Thank you for reading, and glad you enjoyed!
Me too Discord