//------------------------------// // The Palace Of Doors // Story: Regenerator 228 // by Hopefullygoodgrammar //------------------------------// Regenerator 228 Chapter 14 Discord floated weightlessly in the Void for a few seconds before the ground came into existence and he dropped like a stone. After dusting himself off he closed his eyes and envisioned a path that would lead him to what he desired. When he opened his eyes he saw a stain-glass bridge that led off into nothingness. Discord had only ever done this once, when he, Celestia, Luna and Starswirl the Bearded went into the Mirror in order to capture a light-stealing monster named Tirek, who had escaped the garden during Luna’s first eclipse. It may have been 10,000 years ago, but Discord remembered the rules that came with travelling through the Void. He kept his mismatched eyes straight ahead, if he looked down the bridge would vanish and it would take him Faust-knows how long to claw his way back into Equestria. He also knew that he had to repress as much of his chaotic energy as he could, because there were things lurking within the Void, parasites that would be attracted to his power like moths to a flame. He also knew that he should refrain from thinking about certain beings, lest they appeared and possessed him. And he also knew that he had to keep his destination in the forefront of his mind, though that was easy, considering that The Palace of Doors was not a forgettable place by any means. There was a noise off to his side: it sounded like something very big moving through the space, the sheer size of it making the air itself ripple. Just keep walking, Discord. he thought as he continued on his way, though he picked up his pace. Ten parsecs later he arrived at the door to the Palace of Doors. The door was massive, made from a type of phosphorescent stone that wasn’t native to Equestria, and it was emblazoned with the figures of the Two Makers: Faust and Mad Maudlin. Faust had been the one responsible for the creation of every single race of pony, as well as the minotaurs and diamond dogs.  Mad Maudlin had created the changelings, the dragons, the griffons and the creatures that lurked at the End of the World. The two beings had been constantly at war, with Mad Maudlin trying to convince Faust to let him have dominion over the natural balance of things, and Faust denying him at every turn. After a while Mad Maudlin decided to corrupt Faust through clever tricks, but they all failed and the first draconequus left the universe in a huff, but not before telling the pony goddess that his children would appear from time to time to “Keep the fun going.” Discord felt a sadness well up within his heart as he gazed upon his father’s bas-relief form: the long scorpion tail, the ram horn and deer antler adorning the head of a cackling hyena, the body of a Minotaur, the crab claw that made up the left arm, the bladed tentacle that served as the right and the spider thorax that made up the entirety of his lower half. He was the perfect picture of a draconequus. “I miss you, Dad.” said Discord, letting true sincerity carry his words. The statue’s eyes flashed blue, the door creaked open and Discord entered the Palace. The first thing that he saw upon entering was the sheer number of doors. The Palace of Doors was less of a palace and more of a titanic, circular room that had more floors than were possible to count. Each floor possessed millions of different doors, each one leading to a different world. The types of worlds ranged from parallel universes to entirely alien ones that weren’t even close to Equestria. A normal person might spend an eternity and a day trying to find the world that they were looking for, but Discord wasn’t “normal” by any means AND he knew the secret to finding the right world. He simply closed his eyes and thought of the creature that he had met. There was a sound not unlike a vacuum cleaner sucking up a sock and Discord found himself standing in front of a metal door with a handle that was stained with something that didn’t bear thinking about; there was an odd symbol painted onto the metal. Smiling smugly to himself, Discord reached for the handle, then stopped; there were odd scratching noises coming from behind the door. Discord popped an ear off and placed it to the door: besides the scratching sounds there was low, mournful moaning, it actually gave him goosebumps and, for the first time in forever, he hesitated. Maybe I’m making a mistake… maybe this is a bad idea, I mean, am I really so cruel as to sick a bunch of alien monsters on my enemies. Am I really that petty? NO! I can’t think like that! I’ll just change the door’s location, find some monsters, kill-proof them and have the Element’s fight them so I can rule the world. Discord steeled himself, puffed out his chest, then opened the door.  Fluttershy returned to her home to find 228 fast asleep on her couch with Ace curled up at his side and both Bruce and Terry cradled under one arm. The sight warmed her heart and it made her feel guilty for needing to wake him up, but she did have important things to discuss; namely the fact that the Mayor wanted to meet him for herself. Trotting over to the slumbering creature Fluttershy laid a hoof on his arm and began to gently shake.  “Come on, 228. Time to get up.” she said sweetly. 228 let out a low hiss and opened his eyes, “Jusssst…. another minute…. madre…” The instant the words left his mouth he awoke fully and stared at Fluttershy. For a split second his red and orange eyes flashed with pain, then he gave her a shaky approximation of a smile before slowly sitting up. He’s trying to hide his sadness, the poor thing. thought Fluttershy. She came closer and hopped up next to him, he opened his fanged maw to ask her what she was doing, but, when she began to rub his back, he knew what she was doing. She heard me call her madre. he thought, feeling shame wash over him, I called someone else madre.   It was then that a horrible realization struck. “Don’t….*hhhnnn*... remember her face…”  he said, feeling acidic horror well up in him like bile. Fluttershy gasped, all thoughts of talking with him about meeting the Mayor vanishing “Oh dear. 228 I-I’m so, so sorry, I-is there any thing that I can do?” 228 stood up, “Can I…. hhhunt?” he asked, turning to her and flexing his claws. Fluttershy nodded, “Y-yes, but try not to… to kill-” the word still left a bitter taste in her mouth “-try to stick to fish, okay?” 228 nodded and walked out of the cottage. Fluttershy watched him exit and followed his progress by looking out the window. As she watched him disappear into the darkness of the Everfree, she noticed that his posture had changed: he was crouched down and his muscles were tensing underneath his scaly skin; it was obvious that he was “In the Zone” as it were. Fluttershy sighed and turned her attention to Ace, who was whimpering. The yellow pegasus smiled at him and held out her hoof. As Ace licked it and allowed himself to be petted Fluttershy wondered how she could help her new friend. Maybe Twilight can do something, I’m sure she could find some spell that could… I don’t know, maybe tap into his memories and bring back the memory of his mother’s face…. I’m just glad that my Ponyera isn’t as rusty as some of my other languages. Fluttershy finished petting Ace, then she got off the couch, “Well… I have chores to do and I’m sure that Twilight will still be there in a few hours.” she said, trying to force a chipper tone and failing. She cast one last look at the Everfree, Oh I hope that he doesn’t get into any trouble. she thought, saying a silent prayer to Faust before starting her chores. 228 ran through the darkened Everfree forest, feeling predatory elation at his silence and speed. He hadn’t alerted a single predator to his presence, though, to be fair, there weren’t many predators out today. The slits that served as his nostrils flared open as he sniffed the air, trying to scent out some water. When that didn’t work he tried to listen, but all he heard was birds singing and breeze blowing. Growling, 228 returned to his pace, his stomach rumbled and a jolt of hunger ran up to his throat. “Need...meat…” he hissed, angry at himself for being a slave to his ravenous hunger. Except that isn’t true. he thought, stopping and letting his shoulders slump, That isn’t the reason that I’m angry. 228 felt his claws begin to tremble as he tried to hold back the tide of truth, but the thought had slipped past and burrowed into his mind. I’m angry because I’ve disrespected my mother, I’m angry because I can’t remember her face and I’m angry because, even though I have all this power, I . Still . Can’t. Help!!!! With a roar of “USELESSSSSS!!!” 228 slammed a fist into the nearest tree, toppling it and evicting the squirrels and birds that lived there. 228 stood next to the ruined tree and tried to calm down, but it was very difficult when all he heard was the sound of animals snapping twigs as they ran… which was odd, since he had scared off most of the animals in the area. Wait…. 228, whirled around just as the snapping sound came again, his nostrils, which had been closed to prevent tree bits from getting in his nose, snapped open and the familiar scent of pony wafted up from somewhere to his immediate left. 228 turned and stared into the dense undergrowth, letting his eyes scan the various gaps in the foliage. In a second he spotted a flash of off-white fur moving through the scrub. 228 narrowed his eyes and looked away, pretending that he didn’t see anything, I’m going to scare that pony furless for stalking me. he thought with a grin. The regenerator walked around a nearby tree, stopped, and walked in place for a few seconds, slowly decreasing the weight on his feet to mimic the sound of receding footsteps; then he waited. It didn’t take very long for the pony to come into his line of sight. 228 had expected a full-grown pony, but this one was very small, with a rather large head, skinny legs and buck teeth. There was also something strapped to his back and neck, something that was very familiar, but the name that went with it was, at the moment, lost to him. The little pony trotted past him and held a hoof to his brow to get a better look, 228 considered leaping out and roaring, but that seemed a bit too harsh, so 228 went with making a low hissing noise. Featherweight practically peed himself when he saw the monster emerge from the darkness. He had been spying on him from afar for a while, but he had hoped that he’d never have to get close enough to feel its foul breath on his face. The scrawny colt backed away, fear blocking his throat, making his tongue as dry as all of Saddle Arabia and filling his large eyes with tears. He had never been physically strong and his IQ of 123 didn’t stand up against the bigger foals… or the really mean ones like Diamond Tiara. Now he was in a spot where his IQ didn’t matter and the speed that he had developed to run away from bullies probably wouldn’t save him. “I’m going to die.” he whimpered aloud, feeling the tears of fear trickle down his face.  He expected the monster to laugh evilly and lunge, but instead its face sank and it heaved a massive sigh before shaking its head. "Nnnnot…..*hhhnn*...hurt you.” it said in a masculine voice. Featherweight gasped, his fear being replaced by astonishment “Y-you can talk?!” he stammered. The creature nodded his head and started to turn away to leave. When he saw that the creature was leaving Featherweight did something so stupid that, when all was said and done, he would facehoof every time he thought about it. “Wait!” he shouted, covering his mouth a second later in the hopes that he could somehow preemptively silence the word, but the damage was done and the creature turned back and looked right at him. Aw, horseapples. Now he’s gonna come back and eat my brain! Why would I be so foalish as to say that? I’m I really so unbelievably, incomprehensibly vacuous that I’d call the hulking brute back to me when I was going to spare my life?  Though this is probably my only chance and I bet I’d become really popular if I did an expose on him for the Foal Free Press. “What…. do you want?” he called, shaking Featherweight out of his stupor. “Uhhh… Can I ask you some questions?” he asked, deciding that, since the monster hadn’t eaten him by now, he might be full enough to not attack him. The creature cocked his head and asked, “Why?” “BecaseIthinkthatyoulookkindacooleventhoughtyou’reanalienmonsterandI’dlikeitveryuchifyoudidn’teatme.” Featherweight said, letting the words pour from his mouth at a velocity that would amaze Pinkie Pie. “What?” asked the creature, examining him, “Weren’t you… afraid of me a sssecond ago? Isss your….*hhnnn*...brain wrong?” Featherweight blushed, but also made the mental note that he had been scolded by a monster; which was pretty cool. “Uhm… no, I just think that a talking alien is pretty cool and maybe you could answer some questions? I mean-if it’s alright with you…” The creature smiled slightly, “You sssound like Fluttershy.” Featherweight gasped again, “You mean the stories are true? You really know Fluttershy? Then does that mean that you’re her guest?” The alien nodded and Featherweight let out a triumphant “Yes!” before pulling out a pen and a piece of paper from his backpack. “Will you answer a few questions for the Foal Free Press” he asked, trying to affect a serious, more adult tone. The alien raised a brow ridge and then said, “Yesss…. but can I asssk you a quesstion? What’sss you’re name?” The colt blinked before replying, “My name’s Featherweight, what’s yours” “228. It’sss nice to…*hhnn* meet you.” said the al-228, extending his clawed hand. Featherweight hesitated for a second, then he took the hand and shook it with a smile. Discord stood at the epicenter of pure chaos. All around him there were buildings on fire, wrecked machines which he thought might have been called “Otto-Mobeels” and flickering, electric lights. In the distance he could hear the sounds of feet running, screams low moans and roars. “Well this is….neat.” said Discord, smiling slightly as he began to walk forwards. Had he looked at the “Otto-Mobeel” to his right, he might had noticed the bloody corpse in the driver’s seat open the one eye that wasn’t dangling from a thread. The draconequus sauntered down a darkened alleyway, not seeing the skinless, eyeless creature climb down the sheer side of one of the buildings, flicking its long, red tongue out to taste the air. He rounded the corner and passed a section that was cordoned off by chainlink, completely oblivious to the swift movements of three reptilian creatures who had their predatory, yellow eyes fixed squarely on him. Discord began to hum a tuneless song as he switched to floating out of the Alleyway and back into the street. He was still totally unaware of the signs of monstrous life that were popping up wherever he went. Once he got to an intersection he looked around again, sighing when he saw nothing, though, to be fair to the monsters, he was wearing shades and it WAS dark out. “Welp, I guess this place it a no-go.” he said, disappointment written on his face, raising his fingers to snap. That’s when he heard it: the cacophony of scraping claws, low growls, heavy, dragging footsteps and low moans. Discord turned around and saw a whole, diverse group of the most twisted and horrific monsters that he had ever seen in his life: They. Were. Beautiful. Discord smiled as they closed in, “Well, I guess I was wrong about this place.”, he snapped his fingers and formed an impenetrable bubble around himself, making sure to reinforce it in case one or more of the beasts could drain his magic like 228. “That being said I still need a few more recruits.” said the draconequus, turning away from the slavering beasts after conjuring up bubbles for them as well. He raised a paw and snapped again, causing a tear to open in the fabric of the world’s reality. Through the tear he saw an expanse of grass, with a looming castle in the background framed by a rainy sky. “Perfect.” he said, smiling. He turned back to the other monsters and said, “How’s about a little trip, guys?” His answer came in the form of more hissing and moaning. “I’ll take that as a “Yes”.” he said flippantly, before turning and stepping through the rift. The rain was cold against Discord’s fur and he sighed in pleasure: he hadn’t felt rain in a thousand years, he would have been content to stay and bask, but he had more important things to do.   Discord set his sights on the castle, closed his eyes, concentrated, and teleported right into its very depths, leaving a group of monsters in bubbles behind. He appeared in a set of dank, gray-colored sewer tunnels with steep walls and a high ceiling. He conjured a pair of galoshes to avoid the foul water and began to snoop around, confidant that his chaotic energy would attract some more beasties. He didn’t have to wait long before his theory was proven right. There was a loud splash straight ahead of him and he stared into the dim light, seeing the ripples in the water, but not seeing what made them. “Huh, that’s...odd.” he said. Then he heard two more splashes come from behind him, he whirled around and saw the water ripple and slosh, followed by something leaping up onto the wall. Oh I get it, they’re invisible. thought Discord, rubbing his hands and cackling as he thought of all the uses he’d have for an invisible creature.  No, THREE invisible creatures, oh, Celestia’s gonna be in for a real mess when I get back! Discord ducked just as the creature at the front sprang at him, he trapped it in a bubble just before it hit the water and he repeated the process when the other two tried to gang up on him. After that it was just a simple matter of cancelling out their invisibility so that he could get a good look at them: the creatures looked like very big insects, with long legs, wings and glowing, yellow eyes that held nothing but simple hunger and basic instinct. In other words: the perfect allies. “Aww… you guys are so cute!” he cooed, sticking a paw into a bubble and rubbing the creature’s hard, chitinous head. He immediately regretted doing so when the ugly thing bit his finger! He yelped and drew back, glaring at the creature as he conjured up a band-aid and placed it over his boo-boo. Discord turned away from the trio and refocused on his task. “I think three more should be enough. What do you think, guys? He got no response save for some clicking noises. Discord stuck his tongue out at them, “Fine, be that way.” He turned and snapped his fingers. He ended up in a throne room of some kind, where a pale-faced boy clad in the most ridiculous getup that he had ever seen sat on a golden throne, flanked by two tall creatures in black and red robes. The instant that he appeared the boy leaped to his feet and pointed, opening his mouth to demand something, but Discord snapped his fingers and glued his lips together. He smirked and turned back to see that one of the robed creatures had vanished. What the…? There was a snarl and Discord felt a starburst of pain in his temple. The blow was powerful enough to destabilize him and, when the super-fast monster attacked again, he was thrown to the floor with a grunt. The draconequus sat up with a growl and the creature appeared before him.   His hood didn't even come off… he thought, wondering what kind of creature could be that fast. Then the creature lunged towards him and he snapped just as its three, massive talons came down. The newly-created bubble shuddered from the impact, but held. Sighing in relief and wiping some sweat off of his forehead, Discord teleported away from the throne room and appeared in a garden, where he picked up two very…. tentacle-y wolves, followed by him snatching up a slumbering guy in heavy-looking iron armor who bore a set of ginormous claws on his wrists. The King of Chaos finished his little “shopping trip” by catching a titanic, troll-like creature that was about the size of a two-story building. When he was finished he returned to the fiery city and examined his collection: Three big lizards, two octopus-wolf-things, three invisible bugs, one armored dude with claws, two corpse-like thingies, two skinless things with really long tongues, one fast monster with cool-looking robes and a giant monster that Discord suspected would be very fun to ride into Canterlot when his evil takeover commenced. Discord smiled and puffed out his chest, Truly there can be no one as profoundly awesome and deeply handsome as Discord. Then he snapped his fingers and disappeared, along with his new playmates.