//------------------------------// // 1 - Prologue // Story: Stargate: Transformed // by Flashera //------------------------------// Discord was… bored. No. Bored is too broad. It was more along the lines of him being absolutely, positively, annoyingly, definitively BORED! After all, there’s only so much time he could stand doing his little pranks, and as amusing as planting Poison Joke at Zecora’s front porch or getting Diamond Tiara all muddied up was, he needed some thrill- some excitement. He took a seat upon his magnificent, illustrious, highly decorated, invisible chair as he brought a talon from his eagle arm up to his horse chin as he pondered his new dilemma. This process would persist for what just might have been 5 million eons. (It felt that way, anyways. It was actually just five seconds. But they were some very long five seconds, I assure you!) Just then, a lightbulb went off above Discord! He then promptly grabbed that light bulb, pulled the power chain, and tossed it aside- much to the chagrin of Rarity’s cat, Opalescence. “I’ve got it!” Discord obnoxiously exclaimed, “Got what, you say? Why, the world viewer of course!” Upon this announcement to noone-in-particular (you,) he placed his lion’s paw within his left pocket that he suddenly had. He then pulled out a red rubber ball, promptly tossing it off the cotton candy cloud he was standing on, followed by a brown furred and white haired unicorn plush, an easy button, and a sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who. (Don’t ask me how he even fit those things into his pocket, let alone how he got them. I really don’t know, myself.) After a few minutes of scrambling, he eventually found what he was looking for, a clear blue crystal ball. Placing his eagle claw up on its top, while balancing it upon his lion’s paw, he demanded it quite nicely, “Magical crystal ball upon my paw, what are the most interesting worlds of them all. (That you can think of as of right now.)” Upon his request, the ball in question glowed, first showing images of various planets, some of which were frozen wastelands, others desert worlds, and others still worlds of lush green and bright blues. He then viewed images of strange, hairless apes, and of bright flashes of light, a city getting blown to smithereens, armies of ugly creatures and beasts duking it out with those apes. Eventually, all of those worlds that he saw before would rapidly decay, going from wonderous garden worlds to dead rocks. Discord frowned and shook his head, “No no, this will not do at all. Too much, too grim, far too, too dull. (Plus, I liked the look of that city! Shame what’s gonna happen to it.) Let’s turn back the clock, oh I should surely find a way!” Upon this declaration, those destroyed worlds reverted within the ball, one world in particular being especially lush. (In his opinion, anyways.) Discord scratched his chin, contemplating this, “Hm… but what to do, what to do? I could always just interfere, but no. Too easy, no fun. I need something… unexpected. But what? Hm… I need a second opinion.” Upon this, another carbon copy of himself poofed into existence, staring back at him with the same contemplative look. The copy then raised a finger of his paw, before suggesting, “Perhaps we should send Grape Soda the Alicorn and her friends?” Discord shook his head, “Nah, Princess Bubble Butt would turn us to stone. We could send copies?” “Nah, it’s not the same. Plus, they’d probably be too late anyways.” Discord snapped his fingers with a wide grin upon his mug, “I’ve just got a most amazing idea! I’m glad we had this conversation!” Discord then proceeded to snap his fingers, summoning a wheel with billions of ridiculously small names. He then sauntered over, grabbing the wheel and giving it a big spin. After a few minutes, it landed on a name with a ‘ding.’ Discord grinned, and as many other Discords cheered, he announced, “We have a winner! And his name is... ” Within the white center of the wheel was a name in big black letters reading, “Daniel Jackson.” “And noooow to see what we’ve won...” Discord span another, smaller wheel with six different options. With the option prominently displayed, he snapped his finger, sending the ‘prize’ to its recipient. 50 Years Later: 15 February, 2005- Cheyenne Mountain Air Base, Colorado 12:00 Hours Doctor Daniel Jackson, stood before the massive circular stone that his people called a ‘Stargate,’ discovered by Doctor Paul Langford during 1928, the device in question was not used until 1945 by Doctor Ernest Littlefield, who was unable to return. It wasn’t until decades later that it would be used actively by some members of what would later become the exploration team, SG-1- which included Doctor Jackson himself. The Doctor in question, a PHD in Linguistics and Archaeology, stood before it donned in a green uniform, including a Patch with a symbol that resembled a pyramid with a sun. Above the symbol, the patch read “SGC,” with “SG-1” beneath it. (The abbreviations in question stood for ‘Stargate Command’ and ‘Stargate-1,’ respectively.) in his hands, the glasses-donning, short brown-haired Doctor Jackson, held a machine gun known as a P-90, along with a bag of the day’s supplies upon his back. Holstered to his side was his preferred weapon, a pistol sidearm. To his left stood the current leader of SG-1, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter- also a PHD in astrophysics. The short, blonde haired woman stood outfitted similarly to Doctor Jackson. The final member of the team, standing well above both other members of SG-1 was a bald man who appeared to be of African descent. In reality, this man, who was named Teal’c, was actually an alien known as a Jaffa. A race that, until recently, served the parasitic Goa’uld, which he no-so-affectionately referred to as the ‘False Gods.’ Teal’c’s heritage could be identified by the golden eye tattoo branded on his forehead, which symbolized his former role as the First Prime- a Goa’uld commander, of the late Goa’uld, Apophis. Rather than a P90 and a pistol, he donned an ornate, traditional staff-like weapon known as a Ma’tok. To his side was a curved, purple, gun-like object known as a Zat’nik’tel. Today, their mission was simple: recon and return in 6 hours. After which, they would receive some well deserved Leave for a couple weeks. The curly, gray-haired Brigadier General Jack O'neill, the former leader of SG-1 prior to his promotion and another member of that first mission inspected the team briefly before nodding to a man sitting beside him, the buzz cutted, brown haired, glasses donning Chief Master Sergeant Norman Harriman. “Dial it, Sergeant.” Harriman nodded, as he and the rest of the SGC’s Stargate operators began typing away at their computers. The gate began rotating rather loudly and, after a few moments, stopped, the triangular ‘chevron’ hissing and clicking, lighting up. At the same time, Harriman’s screen displayed the first symbol of the six-symbol address being dragged up to a box simply labeled ‘1.’ Once the gate clicked, he announced, as he read on screen, “Chevron One Encoded!” The process would repeat a second time, “Chevron Two Encoded!” Hiss, click, “Chevron Three Encoded!” “Chevron Four Encoded!” “Chevron Five Encoded!” “Chevron Six Encoded!” Upon the input of the six symbol coordinates of the planet simply designated ‘PFR-582,’ another seventh symbol needed to be inputted, the point of origin for the gate to lock onto. In Earth’s case, this is the SGC logo. Upon the input of the last symbol of the ‘address,’ followed by a, “Chevron Seven… Engaged!” (He liked pausing for dramatic effect.) Upon the locking of the seventh Chevron, the gate let out a warning noise that it was about to be activated, before a “whoosh” of a substance that looked like water went out of the Stargate, rushing forth. As it did, it disintegrated every molecule in its path. This process would repeat towards the back of the gate before the unstable vortex of a wormhole settled in the center in what looked like stationary water that was, in fact, an active wormhole. Everyone in the room, of course, was rather jaded to the whole thing and simply observed it happening. After confirming that the wormhole was indeed stable, General O’neill nodded to the 3-man team, “SG-1, you are go for departure.” SG-1 simply nodded in response (with the exception of Teal’c, who simply stood there with his familiar stoic expression) before walking up to it and entering, after which they would feel the familiar sensation of every piece of matter in their body was demolecularize and converted to energy, before being converted back into matter on the other side. PFR-582, Thousands of Light Years from Earth After a few milliseconds, SG-1 would reform on the other side on a planet in a deciduous forest. They proceeded down the ramp and past a pedestal, the wormhole disengaging with a whoosh behind them. It didn’t take long for Daniel to speak up, “Hey guys, is it just me, or does this planet feel really weird?” Teal’c raised an eyebrow at the remark, “I do not, Daniel Jackson.” Sam shook her head as well, “Nope, MALP didn’t detect anything off on the planet, either. You feeling OK?” The MALP, or Mobile Automatic Laboratory Probe, was a device used to determine the viability of a planet before missions, which also included a radio and camera. The device in question stood about a meter from the gate. Daniel shrugged, “Well I got a clean bill of health before the mission, so I doubt it’s an illness. It’s more of a feeling rather than anything else.” Sam shrugged in response. If he felt fine and could proceed, there wasn’t an issue. In any case, she gestured forward, indicating the team to follow. SG-1 would trudge through the forest for an hour or so before coming upon something interesting. (Hopefully ‘interesting’ won’t mean getting shot at like it normally does.) The structure in question was rather odd. The construction resembled that of a historical English cottage. However, the architecture wasn’t what was odd. Daniel was the first to notice, “Let’s see here, obviously European, definitively pre-Tudor… Odd.” “What is it, Daniel Jackson?” “Well, for one, there aren’t any roads. Not even footpaths.” “Perhaps it is abandoned?” Daniel shook his head, ”I’d be inclined to agree with you, but the house is too freshly built. Even if it was resettled recently, the wood should have some rot at the very least.” “Think it’s a trap?” Sam questioned. Teal’c shook his head, “I doubt this. There are no footprints in the ground and no strategist would make a trap as obvious such as this.” Daniel started forward, “Let’s go inside.” Sam nodded, following Daniel and Teal’c all while taking glances at a detector for any energy signatures or radiation. She found none. The door of the presumed home slid open with no issue. No creaking. Definitely freshly fitted, Daniel mused. The one room interior was rather unassuming. Stone chimney, wooden chairs and tables, some chests, a bed, a counter. The essentials. However, that did not mean the home had nothing of interest. Upon the simple table sat a single book- the only thing that stood out. The book in question seemed to have a purple cover with golden lettering and borders, clearly well made. Daniel walked over to the tome as he mused allowed,“Hm… someone living in a cottage wouldn’t be able to afford something like this. Must have spent a fortune.” He fancied a glance at the book. The title read, simply, “An Equestrian Guide to Magic.”