Update on 'Thorns of Stone' · 7:58am Nov 12th, 2022
Hi everyone
As some of you might have noticed, there have not been any updates on 'Thorns of Stone,' for over a year. After many attempts to try and get it going again, only to fail, I have made the decision to cancel the story: despite all my efforts, I just couldn't get it to work, and have decided to abandon it and refocus my efforts on other stories. However, this does not mean that the work put into the story has gone to waste, as today I was brainstorming a short story to mark the beginning of winter, and realized that I could easily take everything written so far and recycle it into that story, so 'Thorns' will live on in a different form, and repurposed for something that is much more interesting to work on.
For those who are curious how the story would have gone, here is my initial, rough outline as to how the entries would have gone, starting with day two.
2. The trip out to the site. Describe the boat, how it’s old and run down, but still serviceable. There’s a threadbare crew coming along, including Scroll’s assistant, a college student named Thunder Twirl, the captain, a former Navy sailor named Sunrise Storm, and a diver, Flawless Star. They’re a motley crew, but they’ll get the job done. He has good feelings about them, but Sunrise is quite intimidating. No-nonsense, no interest in the job, just wants to get everyone there, keep them alive, and then return them. Reach the site, meet other research vessel, but it’s too stormy to descend now. They’ll head down tomorrow.
3. Flawless heads down in a specialized titanium submarine that can reach depths of 36,000 feet. Takes three hours to get down there, an hour to search around, and three hours to surface with some stones and hieroglyphs. Golden Scroll is amazed; these aren’t like anything she’s seen before. She wants to see herself; thankfully, the sea is calm enough, so she gets into the diving sphere with Flawless and heads down into the depths. Three hour journey, and when they reach the spot, Golden is awestruck at all the spikes and thorns of stone jutting up. This is definitely not made by nature, but by pony hooves, or perhaps a species long-gone. Send down a drone into one area where they find what looks like an obelisk. Pull it out and retrieve it. Head back up.
4. Golden spent all night studying the obelisk. He’s done some testing and has discovered that the thing is almost a billion years old. Yet, it shows very little sign of wear and tear; the surface is perfectly smooth; if you were to try and stand on it, you would slip and slide. But what fascinates Golden are the images on the obelisk: they show figures standing atop something, but what was down there has been chipped away and destroyed. It’s impossible to know what was once there. Thunder Twirl’s nervous; thinks that maybe it was a warning of some kind. Golden acknowledges that this might be true, but they need to get the obelisk back to shore so it can be studied and compared with other similar artifacts.
5. Something’s happened: the other ship is gone. Sunrise woke up this morning to find that the other ship had just disappeared. All that’s left is a small oil slick. No debris, no bodies, nothing. The other crew who was on watch didn’t hear or see anything. A search begins, and the submarine heads down. Finds the wreckage impaled upon the thorns. Chillingly, the boat has been raked with numerous suction cup marks. Needless to say, Captain Sunrise immediately takes off and races towards shore. Not taking any chances of ending up like the other ship. Golden and Thunder protested, but the Captain isn’t taking any chances. They’ve lost dozens of researchers.
6. Arrive on a nearby rig used for supplies, refueling, and the like for boat this far out. Head onboard and send a call to the mainland about what happened. With nothing else to do, they turn in, all tired and worn out. Awakened to feel the rig shaking. Don’t know what caused it.
7. Nobody got any sleep last night. Too tired to keep writing right now. Go back to sleep. Wake up as they reach port. Disembark and head to the main research laboratory. Drop off the obelisk for research. A storm’s moving in; big one, too. Won’t be able to travel overland for a few days.
8. Three days have passed. Sunrise and Flawless are getting stir-crazy, but Golden has been keeping busy with Thunder pouring through records while the original obelisk has been taken to Canterlot for safekeeping due to its historical value, and to see if the Princesses might know anything about it. But despite all their searches, Golden and Thunder haven’t found anything that’s even remotely similar to the marks on the obelisk, and the marks haven’t been translated, either. Golden is working on it by combining other languages to see if he can find anything similar. They’ll have plenty of time to figure it out; the storm is getting even worse.
9. Reports are coming in of destruction along the coasts. Emergency crews try to help, but then they go silent as well. Strangely, there are some inland areas that are being affected as well; the storm is going further and further inland. The research station has been reinforced and hardened, but it’s getting hammered as well. Even Flawless and Sunrise have decided that it’s a good idea to stay put. At dinner, Sunrise is especially nervous: she’s never seen a storm like this, not once. It’s stronger, harder, and even more ferocious than the once-in-a-century storm she went through in her younger days.
10. Something’s happened. During the night, there was a loud bang, and Golden got out of her bed to find that part of the building had been demolished. A few of the building’s workers were missing, and though they tried to go outside, it was just too dangerous, as Sunrise had them stay inside. When morning came, it slowed down just long enough to go out and see that the building hadn’t been struck by something; it had been torn apart. There were giant, jagged gashes on the outside of the building. They weren’t made by nature.
11. With the radio out and no way to contact nearby towns, the group is forced to head overland to the nearest town, but find it demolished as well. Deep gashes in the buildings, signs of a struggle, and the storm is getting more ferocious. It’s barely tolerable during the day, but at night it’s impossible to go outside. They all decide to head for Vanhoover at first light. In the meantime, no one goes outside.
12. They reached Vanhoover, but it’s been demolished. Almost all the structures are gone, even the great palace and temple. And there are no survivors, either. The group have taken refuge inside a basement of a destroyed house. Everyone’s scared out of their wits; what the hell are they going to do?!
13. Things were heard thundering around outside last night. No one dared go outside. When they did, they discovered numerous markings in the ground near the entrance to the basement. Whatever these things were, they seemed to sense that the group were in the basement, but couldn’t find them. Golden points out that all this seemed to start with the removal of the Obelisk. Perhaps they opened something that shouldn’t have been opened. If that’s the case, they need to return it as quickly as possible. Thus, their new goal is to reach Canterlot as quickly as they can.
14. Establish radio contact with Canterlot. Learn that monsters have been swarming all over Equestria, attacking everything in sight. They’re highly resistant to magic, weapons, everything that can be thrown at them. It takes an entire division to take one down. The only advantage they have is that the things can’t fly. Stay where they are, and they’ll send some fliers to bring the obelisk to them. Thus, the group has decided to hunker down and wait, hard as it is.
15. There have been no fliers. All contact with Canterlot is gone.
16. Wake up to see Cloudsdale falling from the sky. Earthquakes when it hits. And they all get their first glimpse of whatever is causing all this damage: a massive thing that’s larger than a mountain, with multiple legs and a body so thick that no weapon can pierce it. More things are falling off of it, massive abominations with multiple legs. They were heading towards the buildings where the group are taking shelter.
17. The group’s hiding. They hear them running about upstairs. Not sure what to-
18. Oh Celestia… Flawless is gone. One of the monsters broke into the basement last night during the storm. Golden and the others managed to hide, but Flawless was grabbed and swallowed whole and alive before their eyes.
19. Creep onwards towards Canterlot. Find one of the things lying still. Look at it through binoculars and discover that faces can be seen in the thing’s skin: pony faces and hooves, pressing against it, trying to get out, silently screaming.
20. The group can see Canterlot. It’s been torn apart. But they have to get that obelisk no matter the cost. They steel themselves and head out.
21. The things are rampaging around even more, but the group reached the city, and then the palace. They’re making their way through to the vault. Manage to reach it, but it’s still locked and shielded. No way to get inside. There has to be a way, but with no survivors, there’s no way to get in, and they dare not make any noises. Just how are these things attracted to survivors? Sound? Smell? They don’t know.
22. They figure out a way to get in. If these things can destroy solid stone and crystal, then they can get through a vault door. They’ll have to lure one into the palace and trick it into ramming the door to break it down. It’ll be unimaginably risky, but there’s no other way. Based on everything they know, it seems that these things are likely drawn by some sensory organ Golden and the others don’t know about. Therefore, they’ll hide inside a room after covering themselves with mud and other chemicals to try and shield themselves from sight, sound, and the like. With her training in the field, Sunrise says that they need to make their area as cold as possible, then use magic to make themselves as cold as possible without dying, then cover themselves with metallic blankets
23. They’re waiting for one of the things to come by. None of them have appeared so far.
24. Food’s running out. Had to make a run into town to try and snatch some up. They’ll have to risk making noise to make the things find them. They’ll rig up a device and get it ready.
25. The vault was opened by one of the things entering the palace. It ran to the noisemaker and demolished it, damaging the vault door. After it left, the group tried to slip inside, but the thing came back. Sunrise casts her magic to make them cold and invisible, but only had enough energy to do so for two of them: Thunder wasn’t cast, and she was grabbed and swallowed. And as the thing left, they saw Thunder pounding against its skin trying to get out.
26. They’ve managed to retrieve the obelisk and some other data, and are now heading back towards the coast, moving during the day and hiding at night. Golden’s trying to distract herself with her research. It helps with her grief.
27. At last, a breakthrough: The obelisk is some sort of key that was created by a long-lost civilization. Apparently it was meant to imprison these monsters, the thorns and spikes intending to be a deterrent to keep anyone from retrieving it, but the tiny drone was enough to grab it. It must be returned, or all is lost, for there’s something even bigger and more ferocious inside the prison at the bottom of the sea.
28. They reach the coast and find the boat, which is miraculously still intact, but without enough fuel to get to the spot. They set off anyway, wanting to get to the rig.
29. Reach the rig and fill up, but it’s attacked and destroyed. Thunder dies, but Golden manages to escape and take off on the boat.
30. Reach the site. Rig the submarine. Wrap up journal in watertight fabric in case something happens before she gets back. She has to do this, no matter the cost.
31. Epilogue stating that the journal was found on the boat five years later. The boat was rusting and on the verge of falling apart, and did so after the journal was retrieved. The monsters were defeated and no others appeared, but Equestria is still recovering from the unimaginable damage inflicted by the monsters. To be on the safe side, the site was completely covered with all the concrete, spells, and other barriers that could be erected, and it is guarded around the clock.
No trace of the submarine or Golden Scroll was ever found.
Certainly am sad to see this cancelled...Thank you though for providing this bit of closure.
Cannot wait to see where you go with this...
