Chapter 15: M.A.F
Horizon Hangar Bay, October 15th, 3:47
The condor’s door opened and the interior was flooded with the sounds of soldiers and other men alike applauding and cheering. William along with rest of his squad stepped off the ship and onto the floor of Hangar B. Immediately the crowd of men and women swarmed in to congratulate them.
“Central this is, Al Capone,” DeSilva said through his headset, “The bird has landed and the squad has returned safely.”
“Roger that, Al Capone, how about you Lil-John?”
“I’m just touching down now,” The raspy old man on the other end chuckled, “Delta team and the VIPs are unloading.”
William looked around the crowded hangar while pressing a hand gently to the side of his head. A small ache had formed near the base of his skull during the ride back. Nothing serious, yet it bothered him greatly. He couldn’t tell if it had something to do with what he was told happened back at the meeting. Michael had told him the short story on the way back, all the way from him collapsing to the floor screaming and how he claimed to been coming close to popping a round in the blue bitch’s head. But was forced stand down after Central threatened to have all of them by their goddamn throats if they fired a single round. William found it hard to believe that he’d go down so easily; it’s embarrassing to think that he dropped and cried like a baby bitch in front of everyone. He snorted and smiled uneasily.
“Commander Keshiner!” A familiar voice shouted from his left. William turned and looked over a dozen heads and saw Admiral Watson along with Dr. Hassel standing at the top of the staircase that led to the ship’s interior. Watson didn’t look too pleased, whereas Hassel was smiling like a young boy on Christmas Eve. “Come vith us please!” He called over the partying soldiers.
:[-]:
“Is something wrong, sir?” William asked the second the door to the hangar bay closed behind them, silencing the cheers almost instantly.
The three of them began walking along the corridor, Dr. Hassel lagging behind while Will and Watson took the lead. Watson swatted off some dust that had gathered on his pristine white uniform. When he was done he placed both hands behind his back and gave William a slightly concerned look. “I received intel from Central that you disobeyed a direct order, is this true?”
William gulped. For a brief moment he wanted to deny it, but why lie? All the footage had been recorded on their helmet cams, not only that, why would he tarnish his reputation even more? “I will not deny the truth, sir,” he said.
Watson sighed. “I knew you were going to say that, Commander. I also recall that the reason you gave Central for breaking the order to not take things into your hand was because, ‘It was the only way.’. Am I saying that correctly, Commander?”
Well for starters, that wasn’t the exact way Will had said it. He assumed Watson must’ve watched some of the footage himself before coming to him with these questions. The three of them rounded a corner, at the end of the hall William saw a large door. Immediately his heart dropped when he realized where they were heading. The Council room.
“Yes sir, that is the reason why I broke protocol.”
“And why was it ’the only way’, Commander Keshiner?” Watson stopped. William continued on a little further before noticing that they had stopped, he turned to Watson.
“<Because I speak their language.>” William smiled widely at the utterly confused expression Watson gave him. The look he had on his face was indescribable, almost hysterical at that.
Hassel raised an eyebrow addled by what he’d heard. “Vat did you just say?”
William’s smile was almost ear to ear, he opened his arms out wide. “I can speak their language,” he said.
“Since when?” Watson asked.
William looked at the admiral. “To be honest, Admiral, I don’t know. All I can assume is that you saw the footage, so you’d have to tell me.”
Watson stared at William. “Commander, I have always trusted you. You better not be making an ass out of me, now are you telling the truth or not?”
“<Of course I’m telling the truth.>”
“English dammit!”
“Y-yes, sir.” William cleared his throat. “I’m being completely honest with you, sir. My apologies.”
Watson pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. “Alright, Commander, through those doors–” He pointed at the council room doors “–is a whole new hell. Now believe me, you’re going to tell us everything that happened down there. All to the finest detail. Now those men in there have already watched the tapes, however, they didn’t understand a single fucking thing that was being said. All they know is that it had a happy fucking ending. You got that?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good, not only that. Prepare yourself because there’s going to be a lot of questions. Primarily from this guy–” Watson jutted a thumb back at Hassel who waved happily at him. “–so be ready.”
:[-]:
Horizon Management, October 15th, 4:20
Watson flicked the lights back on and picked up the white T.V. remote and switched off the live footage that was recorded over the helmet cams. Watson looked across the large room they were standing in. He was in the center of it all aside from William and Hassel who sat at the desk right behind him. On the opposite end of the room sitting behind desks arranged in rows in bleachers were Horizon’s twenty council members. Or Horizon’s twenty useless piles of flesh, as Watson would so aptly put it.
“Alright, gentlemen.” Watson clapped his hands together. “Any questions?” Instantly all twenty hands shot into the air and a wave of clamoring voices was fired in William’s direction. Watson stepped in front of him and raised his hands up. “Jesus Christ! One at a time please! What is this, elementary school? God damn!”
Watson went on to point out individuals for questions, whereas William sat back in his chair, eyes wide with shock. Shock which he received after watching that brief thirty second moment of him collapsing. He couldn’t recall a single second of that moment, not even his own screams. The small headache from earlier began to make its return, William raised a hand and gently touched the side of his head. He winced at the light touch, something didn’t feel right. This wasn’t an ordinary headache.
“Commander!” The ache spiked at the sound of Watson’s voice and William cringed. He looked at Watson with a rather disturbed expression. “I can understand if you’re exhausted, but now isn’t the time for daydreaming, Mr. Takanao! Could you please repeat what you just said?”
“Certainly, Admiral. Commander Keshiner, is it true that you have no memory of ever going in the field?”
William repositioned himself in his seat, trying his best to ignore the headache. He leaned towards the small microphone on the table. “N... no I don’t recall anything. One moment I was walking and next thing I knew I was getting off the ground.”
Takanao nodded and sat back down. Beside him a woman in a lab coat raised her hand. “Yes, Dr. Lugavic!”
The scientist stood up and quickly examined her notes. “Is it possible that what could have happened to the Commander had to do with some form of... telepathic attack?” She asked.
Dr. Hassel straightened himself out and leaned forward. “Zough vee have confirmed zat zee equines are capable of some form of psionic abilities. Vee do not know how far zay are able to go vith zem as of yet.”
“What the doctor is saying, ladies and gentlemen, is that we don’t know if it was a direct attack or a normally peaceful act,” Watson clarified.
Dr. Lugavic sat down, Takanao immediately shot back up from his spot his hand firing above everyone else's. “Admiral!”
Watson sighed. “Yes, Mr. Takanao?”
Takanao straightened out his back and fixed his tie. “If the equines do have psionic powers and were able to rework the Commander’s brain in order for him to speak their language, could they have done more than that, like control him for instance?”
Watson raised an eyebrow. “Care to elaborate, Takanao?”
“What I’m trying to say is mind control! If these things can implant an entire language into someone’s head, why not thoughts, messages! Or Orders! Orders that could potentially harm us!” He shot an arm out towards the Commander. “For all we know he could be a ticking time bomb !”
William rose up from his chair. “Now what the fuck are you trying to say?! That I’m a traitor or something?!” His headache had started to scream.
Watson stuck a hand out to William. “Commander, calm yourself.” He looked back at the council member. “Takanao, now is not the time for accusations!”
“This man!” Takanao jammed a thin index finger at William. “Should be under quarantine and twenty four hour surveillance!”
“Takanao, as of now we do not have enough information–”
“Which is all the more reason to put him under lock down!” Takanao snapped at Watson, “For fuck’s sake, Admiral! You’re the goddamn military, fucking think for once!” A loud cheer from all the council's members erupted out from behind Takanao.
Dr. Hassel spoke up, “Mr. Takanao, I do see your point and I can assure zee Commander vill be treated and checked for any issues. Zough I do not believe going around pointing fingers and screaming vitchcraft at people vill speed sings along.”
“What, are you saying I’m spewing bullcrap?!”
“No,” Hassel said, “I vill not deny zee possibly of mind control. Vat I’m saying is zat I’m skeptical zat zee equines vould do such a sing.”
“And how would you know that these things wouldn’t, Doctor?”
“I never said zay vould never do it, I’m just skeptical on zee matter.”
Takanao shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to ask the man of the hour himself, Commander Keshiner...” He received no response. “Commander?”
William sat the table, head hunched over his hand just barely covering his mouth. The headache had grown worse, it felt like his skull was about to split in two. He felt like he was going to choke. He lifted his head up at the sound of his name, everyone was looking at him. “M-my a-a-apologies...” He got up from his seat. “But I need to step out for a–” He turned and gagged into the side of his uniform, before he lowered his arm he felt a second wave rush up into his chest and he leaned forward and heaved into his arm. With each gag, he felt an increasing pounding in his head along with a sharp jagged pain in his chest pushing deeper and deeper into his gut. William turned away and stumbled out of the room, Hassel got up and followed him out.
Watson turned towards the confused council members, raising both of his hands. “Ladies and gentlemen, just please remain seated for the time being.” Watson turned and directed his gaze toward a couple marines by the exit doors. “Go make sure the lad isn’t choking to death.” The marines nodded and stepped outside. Watson took a deep breath and looked back out at the crowd of heretics just in time for his blood to boil as Takanao leaned back in his chair, a smug look on his face.
:[-]:
“Villiam! Villiam stop! Vat is wrong?!” Hassel followed behind the choking Commander. William stopped and flung his head over his knees as he violently coughed into his hands. Hassel ran up to him and grabbed a hold of his shirt in case he were to suddenly fall over. “Villiam, vat is wrong?”
Will’s coughing continued for a bit, receding from a dry heave to shuddering breathing, but his headache continued to rage on. His hand felt warm and wet, disoriented he slowly straightened himself out and raised his hand out to the ceiling light. His hands were soaked in blood. William’s heart nearly stopped and his eyes widened with fear. “What the fuck did that bitch do to me?!”
“Villiam vat are you...” Hassel looked at his hand. “Mein Gott.”
“Is everything alright?”
Hassel turned around and saw two armed marines approaching them. “Eversing is fine!” He lied, he didn’t want to worry the men. “Go back to zee room and let Vatson know zat Villiam and I have vork to do.”
“Yes Doctor.” The two men turned and went back to the board room.
“Doc?” William said his voice strained and raspy. “I need you to help me.” He winced at the intense pain in his head. “I need you to figure out what that blue bitch did to me.”
“Don’t vorry, Villiam.” Hassel took hold of the Commander and started guiding him towards the elevator. “I’ll inform my men and the doctors down in zee infirmary. Vere does it hurt?”
“My head.” William winced.
“Exactly vere? Can you tell?”
“My entire head fucking hurts–gah fuck!”
Hassel punched the call button and helped william shuffle in front of the door while they waited. A buzzer sounded and the doors opened and the two stepped in.. “Alright Villiam, ve’ll be down zere vithin–Villiam!” Will’s eyes rolled in the back of his head and he slumped to the floor unconscious, his head just coming inches away from slamming against the wall. “HELP!” Hassel yelled out, from around the corner two engineers stepped out. “You two! Radio for zee medic now!”
:[-]:
Horizon R&D Labs, October 15th, 5:10
“What the hell happened to him, Doc?” Jonathan Conway asked he leaned forward and looked through the viewing glass, on the other side was a large MRI scanner along with other various equipment he had no idea on what they were.
“Vee haf no clue, John.” Hassel leaned forward and examined the images that the scanner had produced from the EEG they collected earlier. John leaned back and glanced over at Arin, who was keeping guard from atop a small stool in a back corner. “Vait a second,” Hassel mumbled, “Zat isn’t right.” John looked over and saw the old man peering intently at something, his nose just inches from one of the screens.
“What is it doc?”
“Zees neurons, zere vorking zree times faster zen usual.”
“Excuse me what?” John walked over to the doctor.
“Villiam’s neurons: zee cells zat transfer information. For some reason zere not vorking zee vay zay should. And not only zat... come here look at zis.” Hassel motioned for John to approach the computer. Hassel stepped out of his way as he approached, and pointed at the screen showing William’s brain, John squinted and inspected the gif displayed on the screen. The image showed the brain pulsing sporadically in a patchwork of reds and blues, other than that he had no idea what he was looking at.
“I don’t get it, Doc, what I am I supposed to get from this?” He looked at Hassel.
Hassel sighed. “Zee brain’s functioning far faster zen anysing I’ve seen before.”
John frowned. “Wouldn’t that be a good thing? Like... faster reflects, better memory?” He had no idea where the German scientist was going with this.
“At first sought maybe,” Hassel said, “However, vith zee vay Villiam was acting earlier I believe his body cannot keep up vith vat is going on.”
“So he’s constantly thinking too far ahead? Doc, you’re speaking gibberish to me.”
Hassel rolled his eyes. “Alright fine, lemme explain it like zis. If vat happened down zere in zee field is true. If zis equine really did import all zis information into Villiam’s head... hold on lemme rephrase zat. Picture Villiam as a computer and say zee equine information vas a new software update. Zat piece of software vill not vork until she updates her PC, vich in terms is Villiam, okay?” John nodded his head. “So before she vent and downloaded zee information she had to do a bit of reviring.”
“What?”
“You don’t understand?”
“No that last bit you said.”
“She had to do a bit of reviring?”
“That right there. The last word, what?”
Hassel sighed and shook his head. “She had to do a bit of re-wiring.”
John pursed his lips and nodded his head. “Okay, good.”
“No. Not good.” Hassel corrected. “Vat I was pointing out earlier, not only are zee neurons, zee bits zat transfer information, controls zee motor skills, our nerves, etcetera. Not only are zay vorking in overdrive; zee amino acids, zee neurotransmitters–nosing is vorking zee vay zay should!”
“Doc,” John looked away from the computer, “if his brain isn’t working the way it should be, how the fuck is he not a vegetable... or even dead for that matter!”
“I don’t know, John!” Hassel practically shouted out of frustration. “Zat’s vat’s driving me nuts! His brain isn’t functioning like a normal human brain, it’s reacting faster and his body isn’t able to handle... it...” Hassel began to trail off, his eyes widening, “it’s almost reacting to it like how our bodies would react to a donor’s... zat’s it!” Hassel gently pushed past John and looked back at the computer.
“Wait what?”
“Villiam’s body is treating zee brain as if it is a foreign organ!”
“Why? What are you talking about?!”
Hassel turned and grasped John by the shoulders, Arin in his corner raised an eyebrow and got up from his stool. “Ven zee equine entered Villiam’s head, she must’ve changed sings in a vay zat she see’s it!”
John put a hand on Hassel’s chest and shoved him away. “So you’re saying that the Commander has a brain of an intelligent horse?”
Hassel frowned. “No... no zat is not vat I’m saying. His brain is still very much human, however, it functions more similarly to zee equines, and from what we've learned from the captives–” Hassel looked back at Arin “–you’re brother here brought to us. Is zat zee horned equine’s brains function at a rate far beyond human capabilities!”
“So... they’re smarter than us?” John was utterly confused.
“Again, no. Zee horned equine’s brain is far more efficient zan our own, yes. Vich possibly leads into how zey’re able to manipulate objects around zem.” Hassel took a deep breath and turned away from John. “I need a drink,” He mumbled as he walked towards the water cooler on the opposite end of the room.
John’s eyes followed Hassel as he grabbed a plastic cup and began to fill it. His eyebrow still arched upwards. “So the equine gave the Commander an upgrade?”
“In layman’s terms you could say so, however, it’s an upgrade his body is having trouble adapting to. Vich explains zee intense pain he suffered in zee video.” Hassel raised the cup to his lips and took a swig.
John turned back towards the monitor and rested both of his hands on the desk and leaned forward. “Holy shit,” He whispered to himself.
Hassel sighed and dumped the cup into the recycling chute next to the cooler. “Scheisse indeed, John. Vat zese equines posses is a power unlike anysing vee could ever imagine. A similar power in vich zee Archangel possessed.” He walked up beside John, both of them gazed into the MRI room. “Zese creatures are not to be trifled vith, John.” Hassel turned his head to look at him. “You’re lucky your men didn’t open fire down zere.”
John locked eyes with Hassel. “What are you saying?”
“If zese sings can upload information into our heads and manipulate the chemical makeup of our brains. Zese equines could kill us–” Hassel raised his hand and snapped his finger in front of John’s face. “–like zat. All zay need to do is switch one or two sings off and ve’d be nothing but a vegetable. Or like you said, dead.”
John gave Hassel an uneasy chuckle and looked over at Arin with a frightened expression. “Well that’s a scary thought.”
Hassel smirked and returned his gaze to the MRI room. “Not as scary as vat Takanao said during zee debriefing.”
John frowned and looked back at Hassel. “What did he say?”
“He mentioned mind control, a very touchy subject. Personally I do not agree vith him, but he did provide a few good points.”
John’s mouth fell open. “W-wait you’re talking like assuming direct control of somebody? Possession?”
Hassel chuckled and shook his head. “Zat’s why I did not fully agree vith him. He said mind control but really vat he vas talking about vas zee possibility of having certain soughts and orders implanted into zee mind, like hypnosis. Not mentally taking control of zeir entire body.”
The door on the other end of the room opened. “Dr. Hassel?” A woman’s voice came through, Arin stepped out of the way of a woman and two armed marines. “Commander William has been transported to the infirmary, he’s ready for your examination.”
Hassel smiled. “Brilliant, I’ll be up zere in a few minutes.” Hassel looked at John. “It’s been nice talking vith you again, John.” His smile widened even more. “One last sing, no hurt feelings about zee interrogation incident right?”
John glared at him for a few seconds, gradually losing the battle against the smirk that now covered his face. “Get the fuck out of my sight.” The two of them laughed. John gently shoved the old man towards the woman as she began to walk towards the door.. Hassel gave John one last wave right before the door closed, leaving him alone with his brother.
“Thank God that’s over with!” Arin broke the silence. Standing up from his undersized stool and and cracking his neck.
John walked up and wrapped an arm around his brother. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“You’ve never been a guard before, trust me, it’s fucking boring.” The two of them walked through the same door Hassel left through a moment earlier and stepped out into the hallway. At the end of the metallic corridor he saw Hassel and the one lady disappear around the corner and out of his field of view.
“Well Arin," John said as the two continued onwards down the hall, "I prefer the career path in which I don’t get shot at.”
Arin snorted. “Yeah because you’re a fucking pussy.”
“And you’re just a dumb brute who only knows how to pull a trigger.”
“Big talk for a such a little man.”
“I won’t look so little after I’m done with you.” John mumbled as the two stopped at the elevator.
Arin let off a loud laugh. “Ha! That’s a good one.” He patted John on the back and the elevator door opened. The two stepped in. “So what now?”
John scratched the back of his neck and ran his hand through his hair. “As of now we go back to mission control.”
Arin groaned. “Goddammit, is that like your bedroom or something?”
“Well…” Arin gave him a glare “What? Throw down a mat in the corner and It gets damn cozy in there."
Arin laughed. “You’re nuts dude.” The door slid closed and the two ascended further into the ship.
:[-]:
Canterlot throne room, October 15th, 7:32
“Princess Celestia!” The elder princess’s ear perked at the sound of Twilight’s voice as the young alicorn burst into the throne room. The mare's mane was frazzled, large bags loomed below her eyes, and sweat drenched the entirety of her face. Twilight skidded to a stop just a few feet from the throne, completely out of breath. “I’ve... finished checking... phew... oh my...”
Celestia smirked. “Are you okay, Twilight?”
“Yeah... my apologies... Princess... just…” Twilight breathed heavily for a moment. “Just give me a few seconds...” Once Twilight finally caught her breath she straightened herself out and cleared her throat with a few coughs. “I’ve finished checking every library in Canterlot and even the museum.”
“Have you found anything relating to the humans?”
Twilight shook her head in disappointment. “Not a thing, Princess.”
Celestia pursed her lips and sat back in her throne. “Strange,” She mumbled. Celestia thought that the libraries would at least hold some form of information relating to the humans, especially after Luna had told her that they are most likely their forerunners. But how? How could these things have come before them? There were no ruins, no ancient scrolls, no legends or myths of mystical beasts that relied on their suits and technology to survive. The only hints of their existence were their similarity to the minotaurs, and the metal meteors that had come crashing down all those years ago bearing the same crest as the piece that landed in the royal garden three days prior. Celestia had seen it all, throughout her life she had watched the rise and fall of many kingdoms along with the birth of Equestria. Before then she and Luna had traversed this very planet back when they were looking for a new place to call home. If these beings were truly their forerunners, she would have seen some sign, some… thing, to announce their previous existence. With a supposed four point two million survivors of the apocalypse still buried under their hooves, there was no way that not a single trace of such a huge civilization couldn’t remain. It's as if the surface of the planet was wiped off like a chalkboard, left a completely clean slate while the humans... Celestia’s thoughts trailed off. Could that really be what happened?
Over her lifetime, the accumulated knowledge of geography had grown steadily, until there was enough recorded dig sites, ancient features, and sediment analysis to suggest a massive meteor shower had struck the planet well before the beginning of celestia’s existence. Thousands of large craters pockmarked the nearest continents, mainly in the upper halves of the Crystal Empire and Zebrica, while the truly apocalyptic ones, with impact zones over ten miles wide, surrounded the domain of the supervolcano that kept the lands of Echo roiling with molten lava. Could it have been the storm that wiped them out and the few now just so happened to see it coming? Or could it have been a mass volcanic eruption? While the meteor event was a probability, now that she knew more about the possible circumstances, there was something else that didn’t quite add up.. Within the many craters traces of unknown substances existed within the rocks that were found nowhere else on the planet, and when compared with more frequent meteor impacts from other eras they would always come out negative.
Though even if some worldwide cataclysmic event were to happen there were just too many variables. Celestia sighed, could it be that the humans posses some fantastic power, dark magic perhaps, that could be used to wipe a planet completely clean? And who is to say that it was them that wiped out their own civilization. There’s no way everything would’ve been completely obliterated, unless it was done intentionally as a way to hide their very existence.
She and Luna were considered to be the oldest ponies in Equestria, however that wasn't quite true, as Discord had been around far longer than any of them. Celestia could recall the times her parents had mentioned the draconequus in old tales they’d use to tell her. Far back then Discord was nothing but a legend; a silly creature to keep young foals entertained for the night. However, soon after her parents transcendences, the chaotic god revealed himself and subsequently took over the region with chocolate rain and dancing polkadots. Celestia’s face then took on a contemplative look. If the humans were truly their forerunners, then he was the one to ask.
“Twilight?” Celestia leaned forward in her throne. “Have you seen Discord arou–”
“You called?” Celestia flinched at the unexpected voice, whirling around in her chair she was met with a large toothy smile.
“Discord?!” Celestia stood up from her throne and stepped down from it in order free up some of her personal space.
The mismatched creature smiled and slithered out from behind the throne, taking up residence in Celestia’s rightful spot. “I’m sorry,” He purred, “Did I startle you?” He snapped his talons and in his right paw appeared a bouquet of poison joke, he held it out to her. “Please forgive me, I picked these just for you.” He chuckled.
Celestia rolled her eyes and took the flowers in her magic, Discord smiled. But that smile quickly vanished when Celestia disintegrated the joke flowers with her magic. “Well that just isn’t nice.” Discord crossed his arms and pouted.
“Now isn’t the time for games, Discord.” Celestia said, “We need to ask you a few questions.
Discord sat back in the throne and frowned. He sighed. “I’ve never been a fan of twenty questions... I always end up losing.” He snapped his talons again and summoned a cup of cold tea. Of course, he began to drink the cup itself.
“Do you know anything about humans?” Celestia asked.
Discord immediately spat the cup onto the floor, which came out as a fiery gush of molten glass. “Bl-bleh-bl–what?!” He waved his hand to the side and the cooling remains transformed themselves into mice which scurried off in every direction. Celestia’s eyes narrowed as she sidestepped past the wave of rodents Discord had created.
Twilight shook her head and with a flash of her horn the swarm of mice vanished. She looked at Discord with an irritated glare. “Don’t play games with us, Discord, we know you saw the ship come crashing down.”
“Of course I saw the ship come–wait, did you say ship? Is that what that was?” Discord pursed his lips and leaned back. “Huh... so that’s what he was referring to.”
“Enough, Discord!” Celestia almost growled. “Answer our question, do you know them?”
Discord buzzed his lips like a horse and rolled his eyes. “No. I don’t know them personally, however, I do know what humans are,” He said making quotation marks. Discord sat back in the chair and crossed his arms, his previous joyfilled mood having vanished completely. Quite frankly, neither Celestia or Twilight had seen him this serious before. Not even during the Gala, had they seen him this... angry before.
“Discord.” Celestia took a step towards her throne. “Do you know anything about the humans? Their abilities, technology, maybe even their past?”
Discord took hold of both arm rests and leaned forward. “Well I can tell you that I do know that they’re a bunch of selfish backstabbing idiots who only care for themselves,” he said leaning back and crossing his arms, “I swear they’re so greedy they’d make a dragon look generous.”
Celestia and Twilight shared a confused look with one another. “What makes you say that?” Twilight asked.
Discord glared at Twilight a glare that soon turned into a freakish smile. “Oh Twilight, my little Princess, if you had seen the things I’d seen or even experienced. You’d know why I think of them like this.”
Celestia pursed her lips in thought. Could he be referring to something similar to when her guards were captured? Were they really as untrustworthy as Discord is saying they were? Celestia shook her head, she had to remember this was Discord she was talking to here. Anything he said could be nothing but a twisted lie, but then again there were those occasions when he spoke the truth. Celestia blinked and sighed, “That still doesn’t answer her question.”
“Trust me my darling Celestia,” As if she would ever do that. “Once you get a taste of human politics you’ll fully understand. Especially after you deny them something they want, and believe me when the time comes where you do deny them something, You better get your armies ready.” Discord laughed. “I’ve seen them do it to each other hundreds of times and they never learn, it’s ridiculous!” He slapped his knees.
Twilight and Celestia shared another look with each other. The younger princess looked Celestia in the eye and mouthed “What?” Celestia bit her tongue, she was having a hard time buying what he was saying. There’s no way a nation could be that brutal. Then her thoughts drifted back towards Yakyakistan, yes they were warmongers. However, Twilight had been able to make peace, could the humans be the same way?
Celestia needed more details. “Discord,” She looked at him and said slowly, “what do you mean you’ve seen them do it a hundred times?”
Discord smiled, his serious mood seeming to have dissipated into thin air. “Well what does it sound like?” He rolled over in the throne with his stomach lying on the cushion. “I’ve seen the humans’ boring, petty arguments degenerate into bloodshed and war. What...? Do you not believe that I’m that old?” Discord flung his head back and laughed. “Believe me Celestia I’m flattered, but it’ll take a lot more than that to make me blush.”
Celestia’s eyes widened briefly, her thoughts returning to the book they had given her. Unlike Twilight, Celestia and Luna only had time to skim through the few sections they’d uncovered. Each one, save for a couple, had been littered with dark tragedies in human history; most either being some sort of war or genocide. She quickly regained her composure and nodded her head in understanding. “So you were around when they ruled over this world?” Celestia asked, hardly believing her own words. If so, not only did Discord exceed her parent’s age, but he exceeded them by countless lifetimes.
Discord scoffed, pulled the feathers back on his right arm to check the impossibly hidden watch beneath. He clicked his tongue and stood up. “Well look at the time,” He said with fake disappointment. “I do believe I’m late for a meeting with Fluttershy in Central Park. She and I have lots of plans for her vacation in Manehatten, so if you’ll excuse me. It’s been nice chatting with you.”
Celestia held out a hoof to stop him. “Discord, wait–” Before Celestia or Twilight could say anything Discord snapped his fingers and vanished into midair.
Celestia clenched her eyes shoot and lowered her hoof to the floor. “Tartarus!” Celestia cursed quietly, pausing a few seconds before speaking up again. “Uhh… Pardon my language, Twilight.” Her cheeks flushed.
Twilight bowed her head and walked over to Celestia. “It’s alright, Princess, I think I know how you feel.” Twilight raised her head, a contemplative frown on her face as she gazed off into the unknown distance. She then took a deep breath and looked at Celestia. “Luna should be waiting for us down in the library, would you like to accompany me?” Celestia nodded her head, followed Twilight out of the throne room, their questions left unanswered. As the two of them walked, Celestion continued to ponder their situation as the two of them exited the throne room.
Her mind rattled on in thought, the feeling of butterflies growing in her chest. If Discord really did live alongside the humans, and if they were really as bad as he said they were. That would mean he also saw their downfall. And consequently survived their apocalypse. Was it the human’s arrogance that caused their near extinction? Their brutality? Celestia didn’t know what to think. Her guards were detained and experimented on, but not irreparably harmed or killed outright. And yet, that was the only instance of possible hostility she had observed from these humans. When she met them they did not seem arrogant or mean, quite the opposite really, and they were organised upfront and cooperative, if tense. Yes they did draw their weapons when Luna half mindedly performed her probing spell, (which she needed to chew luna out on later.) However, they only did that out of fear for one of their comrades, who appeared to be in a state of suffering. If she had been in their place, she most likely would’ve done the same.
Then again everypony has a mask, a mask to cover up their true selves. If that were the case, could the humans just be playing them; making her out to be a fool? Or what if Discord was the one playing her? Maybe he manipulated or even created the humans for some unbegotten prank. Celestia stopped just before the throne room door, her mind wandering back to the malice Discord had shown during his reign over Old Equestria. If Discord had been around since the end of man, could he be the reason for their downfall in the first place?
:[-]:
Horizon’s Infirmary, October 15th, 8:52
William laid back in the medical cot that had been assigned to him, the pain in his head finally having subsided after he had woken up a few hours ago, even if he had a gut feeling that it’d be back. The doctors as of now had him jacked up on some sort of pain medication that made him feel a bit numb and tingly. It also had the additional side-effect of making him taste the color purple, which he found to be utterly fascinating. Whatever this shit was, it made him high as a kite, and he was absolutely loving it. In a way he knew where he was and he knew why he was there, he just couldn’t seem to grasp the whole of it, his head floating above him, his wants and worries gone, just existing in the moment.
The Commander laid back in his cot. It was silent in the infirmary, ever since his last visit nothing had really changed. It was a tad darker and the white walls seemed a lot duller without the light, it almost gave the room an eerie feeling. Like in those old horror movies he used to watch, any moment now he expected some sort of mad doctor to step out from around the corner with a bloody syringe. That was probably just the drugs talking, though. Then again... it could happen, now that he thought about it.
The sound of a metal door sliding open caught William’s attention and he turned his head just in time to see Admiral Watson stepping in. The admiral was still in his white navy getup, though it seemed to have gained a little more wrinkles than before, nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a good iron. Though in comparison to the expression on Watson’s… worn face, it’d take more than a bit of ironing to fix that.
William couldn’t help but chuckle giddily, these drugs were fantastic!
Watson cleared his throat. “Commander,” He said getting his attention.
William looked to Watson, sat up in his bed, and gave him a brisk salute with a hand that may or may not have gone right over his head on the first,... and second, try. “Yes, sir?” He finally asked.
Watson returned the gesture and moved to the other end of the room by the doctor’s desk to grab a swivel chair. He then rolled it over to William’s cot and sat down next to him, taking a deep breath and letting it escape in an exhausted sigh as he did so. The expression William could see on the old sailor’s face practically shot every drug out of his system. This didn’t look too good. Watson looked like a doctor who was about to give bad news.
“I’ve come to check on how things are doing,” He said quietly.
“Yeah...?” William began to feel uneasy. “Thanks for the thought, but with all due respect, sir, why are you really here?”
Watson took another deep breath, a prolonged one that made all the hairs on William’s arm stand straight up. “I had a feeling you’d catch on,” He muttered, the commander wanted to say it was obvious, but that might have just been the drugs. “Might as well go all out, the Council wishes to have you court martialed.”
William’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he leant forward. “What?! Why?”
Watson reared back and actually pushed his seat away from the cot. “Commander, you know full well as to why. You disobeyed a direct order from Central and took matters into your own hands.”
William broke eye contact with Watson and gazed down at the pristine white sheets that were laid over his legs. “Admiral, you have to understand–”
William was silenced by Watson raising a hand to him. “And I fully do, Commander. Believe me I’m using all of my power to either delay them or prevent this entirely. Remember, they’re just scared. As much as I hate the political bastards for it, these men and women haven’t even set foot outside since our landing.”
William was in a state of shock and anger. “What’s the point in delaying, sir, why not just let them take me to court?”
Watson looked at William as if he was an idiot. He leaned towards him. “First off, Commander, they have visual footage, there’s no way you can fight them. Secondly, were you dropped on your head as a child?”
“What?”
“Commander, you can speak to the equine hierarchy. Like you said visual gestures can only get us so far and the council is trying to take you away from our cause. They’re too fucking stupid to realize that you’re a gift; that you could be the one that leads the charge.” Watson said the final two statements with a finger pointing directly at him.
William gulped and bit his bottom lip. “I’m sorry for saying this, sir, but that was very cheesy.”
Watson grinned and brought his hand back and scratched his neck. “Yeah it sounded a lot better in my head.”
The two fell silent for a brief moment. Finally William shook his head and asked, “So what’s your plan, sir?”
Watson rested his elbows on William’s cot and laced his fingers together. “My plan?” He said, “My plan is to keep these retards off your back until this over. William, I wasn’t kidding when I said you’ll be leading this charge, you're the tip of my spear and I plan to point you directly at the equine hierarchy.”
“Admiral, I’m not really much of the conversational type.” William doubted himself. “I know nothing in terms of diplomacy.”
Watson gave William a cold stare. “Well you better start soon. Ms. Greene won’t always be there to back you up and yell to you what you need to say..”
“What if they don’t listen to us–”
“Then make them listen dammit!” Watson pounded his fist on the soft bed just centimeters from William’s leg. “So far you’ve been doing well and I want you to keep it that way. I’ll keep the suits off of you for as long as I can, while you keep the equines in check.”
William didn’t say a word, he just simply nodded his head and gave him a salute. Watson returned the gesture and stood up, pushing the chair back over to the doctor’s desk. He then went over to the exit door and and paused right before the door, looking back at he said, “Oh and one last thing, Commander, the doctors believe you’ll be up for duty within the next day.”
“Thank you, sir. Could you please tell the receptionist that I’m ready to see Hassel on your way out?”
Watson sat there and smirked. “I’ll think about it.” He swiped his access card on the control panel and stepped out, the door hissed as it closed behind him.
:[-]:
Horizon’s Central Command, October 15th, 9:10
“Systems check... all clear.”
“Central, we’re receiving data from U.A.V fifty... nothing special.”
“We still haven’t reached contact with any of the vaults, sir.”
“Still no contact with forty eight.”
“–W-wait! I got something here!”
The second Jonathan and Arin stepped into the Central Command, they were bombarded with information. Around the spherical room desk jockeys, moderators, and even a few engineers were running back and forth as if a fire had broken out. Others gathered around computers eyeing the monitors as if they had found an ancient jewel. Whereas a few seemingly oblivious bodies continued to sit and work at their computers as if it was just another day in the office.
John, followed by Arin, walked over to the crowd of people huddled around a single monitor. “What’s going on here?” He asked pushing himself past the crowd so he could see the what everyone had their britches tied in a knot about. Once he reached the front he spotted a man in a green and brown jumpsuit (the typical desk jockey attire) with a set of headphones over his ears. Beside him was another boy in a jumpsuit with a notepad and pen. The man with the headphones was calling out random sets of numbers while the boy with the pen and paper wrote said numbers down.
“5. 9. 10. 12. 9. 9. 7. 6...”
“What the hell?” John whispered.
“It’s a code I’m telling you, some form of communication. Like what the Germans used during the world war.” John overheard two engineers talking.
“Are you sure?”
“What else could it be? Fucking lotto numbers? I doubt that.”
“Ha! I wish, maybe they’re coordinates.”
“Nah, too small of numbers... well maybe. You’ll have to take that up with Gary, he would probably know.”
“Alright–hey GARY!”
John tuned the men out after that and looked over at a few others.
“What’s going on?” He asked a couple of men to his left.
The two desk jockeys stood up straight and saluted him. “Roger here stumbled upon a once secured channel, sir!”
John rolled his eyes and held his hands up to signal for them to go at ease. “What do you mean it was once secured? How did you even get through to it?”
“You mean how did I get through the bloody thing?”
John glanced over his shoulder, out from behind Arin came a small scrawny man. “Nelson? Jesus where have you been?”
The small English man rolled his neck, cracking it a few times in the process. The stubble on his face had started to grow out even though his once long hair had been cut short. “I’ve been reprogramming a lot of the ship’s computers. Ninety percent of them were made to only calculate flight paths and oxygen levels, along with some other boring and now useless shit seeing that we aren’t flying and all. Well, I wouldn’t say the oxygen bit is useless but you know what I mean.” He walked over to John and extended his hand out to him. “Nice to see you again, sir.”
John took his hand and shook it. “So you're the one who discovered this?”
Nelson shook his head. “Not entirely, this bloke there,” He pointed at the man shouting out numbers, “stumbled upon it. I merely just acted as the key to opening it. That frequency was tighter than a virgin’s–”
“You can stop right there, Grimes.” John silenced him. “How did he find it?”
The hacker smiled and crossed his arms. “The way in was difficult, yes, but whoever programmed it left some minor gaps that allowed some of the transmissions to seep through and bleed into the other channels. Though most that made it out were disrupted and hardly cohesive, but it was pretty obvious what they were.”
John brought a hand to his chin and scratched it, he looked back at the boy with the headphones. “11. 16. 1. 1. 9. 10. 20...”
“Any ideas on what those numbers mean?” He asked looking back at Nelson.
He shook his head. “Nope. Not a damn thing, some say it’s coordinates to a vault, others say it’s a secret code: each number stands for a letter or something. Hell, someone even brought up the idea that it’s pre-war encryptions that are still broadcasting.”
John snorted. “I highly doubt that.”
“5. 9. 10. 12. 9. 9. 7. 6... That’s it! It’s just repeating itself now,” The man with the headphones said. He took the hearing piece off his head and placed it onto the table. The man holding the pen and paper nodded and began to look over the code.
“Make sure you get that down to intelligence ASAP!” John ordered.
The man nodded and quickly left the room. “The rest of you!” John looked out at everyone else. “Keep tracking the frequency and watch out for any changes. If something happens contact me and document anything you hear–”
“Central! We’re picking up strange readings from U.A.V sixity!”
John quickly pushed his way out of the crowd and made his way over to the center of the room where the hologlobe sat, Arin following right behind him. “Throw it up on the big screen!”
“Wait a second,” Arin said, “drone sixity is over the Pacific right?”
John placed both hands on the hologlobe and watched the large screen on the wall behind it flicker to life, revealing a mass of blue ocean. “You’re not wrong,” He mumbled the reply. Everyone in the room fell silent as they watched the screen anxiously.
“I swear if another one of them lizard things pop ba–” A man in the back started but was quickly silenced by a glare coming from John.
He turned his gaze back to the screen, so far he couldn’t see a thing aside from blue waves bobbing up and down along the surface, and the occasionally bird fly by. Then he noticed something, something very subtle. A large area of water darkened slightly. And not just one area, three areas. All just a couple miles apart from each other. He leaned forward and squinted his eyes.
“There’s nothing here,” Arin whispered.
John shook his head. “No, there is. Look closely–” Before he could even point it out the three darkened areas began to fill with white bubbling water. The room around him was immediately filled with gasps.
“Holy crap!” One man shouted.
“They’re massive!”
“What the hell is it? Another type of monster?” Arin asked leaning forward.
The middle and the largest of the three unknown objects was the first to breach the surface. “No. This ain’t no monster. You there contact the head Engineer!” John ordered a nearby man.
“Then what the hell is it?” Arin asked
John watched the screen with wide eyed, his heart ramming against his chest. “It’s a goddamn submarine that’s what it is.”
:[-]:
Central Command, October 15th, 9:42
“The first submarine that pierced the surface of the water here.” Head Engineer, Ronald Davis, pointed to the frozen image on the wall. “Appears to be an original design for something we called the Leviathan; also known as M.A.F or a Mobile Aquatic Fortress,” He explained to the crew. “The bill that triggered the construction was passed by U.S. President John Michaelson. He saw the vessel as our only hope of survival, my crew and I started the construction two years after Archangel’s arrival at the base of Mt. Kenway in 2020.” Davis sat down in a nearby chair beside the hologlobe. “The base design of ship was meant to carry as many human beings as possible, so the ship was designed to be three kilometers long and half kilometer wide, as this would house three hundred and fifty thousand souls but still allow the submarine to maneuver and use little enough material to build several as the humanity’s last hope.”
“How the hell could you fit that many people inside?” Arin asked.
“During the voyage seventy percent of the population would be in cryosleep while the rest maintained the ship and tried to live a normal life in the housing quarters,” Davis said before leaning forward in his seat.
“However, after the U.N. proposed that the Japanese were building some sort of Starship.” He motioned towards Horizon’s walls. “Congress saw the light and realized that the Leviathan would cost nearly ten times more than that of Project Icarus. So they canceled the order and we were ordered to ship it off to the Hawaiian scrap yard before we could even finish the frame.” He looked back at the frozen image of the three colossal subs, an eerie silence fell over them. “Nowadays,” He started up again, “I don’t even know how anyone would have gotten the resources to finish the first, let alone three.”
“Not too mention the technology needed to build it.” John got up from the chair he had been sitting in and walked past the globe and towards the screen displaying the ships. “Whoever they are they must have some valuable shit.”
Davis took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “There’s only one person I know who can replicate that design.”
“And who would that be?” John glanced over his shoulder.
“See that marker on the side of the ship?” He gestured to a blue cog with a bold K in the center of it. “That’s the logo for Kane Technologies, none other than the CEO Marcus Kane himself knows how to replicate the ship’s design. Hell, he’s the one who designed most of the ship's parameters anyways while I was the one who was figuring out how to even build the damn thing.”
Admiral Watson, who had shown up as soon as he received word, sat forward in his chair. "I also have a bad feeling that they aren’t coming with good intentions either. Just Look at all those weapons.” Watson pointed out as he watched dozens of hatches along the subs surface open up, revealing large decks guns being elevated to the top of the ship. “Why do they need so many?”
Davis cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t recall the original design ever having weapons.”
“Well look at it,” Watson said, “ whatever they’re for I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Well remember the Yellowstone footage, sir?” Arin said, “America is covered with those flying lizard freaks. Maybe they’re paranoid.”
“And look at how the first World War turned out,” Watson mumbled.
“Central, we’ve picked up a new broadcast!”
“New live footage coming from drone sixity. Something’s happening down there!”
“What in the world... throw it up top!” He ordered the desk jockey behind the live footage.The frozen image changed to real time. Back by the rear end of the Leviathan a large hatch opened up and two, long cylindrical shaped objects rose out from it and aimed themselves at about an eighty degree angle towards the west. Each barrel had an odd coil shape around it, and along the coils shined a blue ominous light.
Just by the shape and appearance of these objects alone, John already knew that it was a gun of some sorts. A gun that was getting ready to fire, but at what? And why so high? “Hey Ryan!” John ordered a nearby jockey. “Get ready to track whatever that thing is going to–” John wasn’t even close to finishing when the Leviathan fired both odd deck guns, bizarrely enough from the footage the gun’s didn’t even suffer from any recoil.
“TRACK IT, TRACK IT!" John ordered as he ran over to the desk jockey’s computer.
“The objects are moving too quickly, sir, I can’t get a good read!” Ryan shouted his fingers moving like lightning across the board.
“They’re heading higher than the drone, sir!” A woman shouted, “There’s no way we can get a read on it!”
Ronald Davis stood beside John with wide eyes. “There’s no way it could’ve reached fifty thousand feet in just a couple seconds.” He glanced over at John and the others. “If that’s the case it’s going to reach orbit in less than a few minutes.”
“Calculating estimated landing!” Ryan said right as he hit enter on his keyboard. The hologlobe then whirled to life and along its side appeared a ballistic arc that extended out from the center of the Pacific Ocean all the way to the middle north half of Japan.
Watson’s eyes widened and he took a step towards the globe. “My God...” He ran a hand over his eyes making sure that what he was seeing was real. “They're heading right for us.”
Editors Note:
Teslaponie: The fan is spooling up and the cannon of brown goo is loaded. Only someone may have replaced the fan with a jet turbine. [Cackles maniacally] Get ready for one hell of a ride.
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Discord really need to be killed....
Better tell good ol' Celly 'bout the fukin' ICBM headed her way
I originally thought Discord would be sorry for killing the humans, but now I see he is the villain of this story so far.
Oh great, more and more degrading towards a TCB. Joy.
6274056 Yes you're correct with the lightspeed lag. Though I don't think that's the exact terminology, could be wrong though. The drones are using regular radio waves and even though they're like the second/third fastest thing we know (again I could be massively wrong) it still takes time to travel. And it's never really explained where the Horizon ship was camping out at, but if it takes that long for a signal to be reached, they must be pretty far out.
6274084 Really? Your name is Lazarus, that's pretty fucking rad.
6274051 - It sounds like the railgun shots are heading towards the human ship, not Canterlot. If there were indeed humans, alive and well under the water for thousands of years, it makes little sense that they would start attacking the equestrians just as another human craft arrives.
6274284 but if so, why attack the only other human presence in the planet
unless it's for resentment for leaven 'em all behind.
6274001 No shit...
Damn politicians.
6274694 Indeed.
And discord played the misanthropy card... All hail the sprite of chaos and irony blindness.
If this is going where I think it's going, I say just glass the planet now and move on.
Takenkinghype
6275236
demonsresume.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/john-goodman.jpg
Get out of here with your Destiny crap
Yeah, that's real classy Discord. Claim that humans are the monsters but don't admit that you're the one that wiped out their entire civilization.
Damn you! End the last chapter on a cliffhanger then only mention it once in the next chapter months later! Damn you to hell!
This directly contradicts how I thought that played out. From what I remember the three princesses huddled together, then Luna looked sad or uneasy before she messed with William's mind. I had thought she was reluctant to do it and was coerced into it by the others.
William suffers a condition that is very severe, and with a high possibility of death... will be duty ready in a day,
WTF!
And oh great has if the story wasn't already a jumbled cluster fuck plot lines, and numerous possibilities for horrible death. Really I'm more ... can't think of the right word tired maybe, by the arrival of the M.A.Fs then I am interested.
6275286
I'm wondering if humans didn't start it tho. Discord mentioned how they act when you don't give them what they want. I wonder if they didn't make demands of him some how and in response he attacked them.
6275382 If that is the case Discord's response was way out of proportion. The humans couldn't do anything to resist him, they where driven to the point of sterilizing there one and only planet in an effort to get rid of him. Even if the humans did throw a tantrum because they didn't get what they wanted, Discord was not justified.
If we assume Discord was being somewhat serious there, which I don't, he may also mean that the humans where unwilling to share their planet with him, and remember how he acted before his "reform".
Discord is covering up his actions. Interesting.
William isn't dead. Aw, that means less chance of going to war...
Also, I don't know if this has been covered already, but can we please stop with this "brain efficiency" stuff?
6275260 never!
Do I or do I not detect a Borderlands reference in the name of Marcus Kane...?
Yes, that's the goyim's name! Also, yes, I forgot to Editor's Note...
I'm thinking it might be that the occupants of the subs are discorded, which would explain them firing at the ship, considering discord's irrational hatred for humanity.
Also I see that this old conflict will come to a head at some point, and there are only two possible outcomes. Either discord wins and the humans are wiped out, or discord loses and is either destroyed or imprisoned again. There is no room for reconciliation when it comes to genocide, especially on such a ruthless scale.
6275488
I honestly see nothing wrong with it. If it's because people are getting annoyed by the fact that I'm saying their race is potentially better than ours then I say get it over. Personally I don't see us humans as anything special, the idea of another alien race being better than us intrigues me.
For instance look at chimpanzees, on the genetical scale we're only different by 1%. That's mind boggling, just a 1% difference and look how far we are from each other. It's amazing. So no, the brain efficiency is already in the story therefore it will play a part.
6275308 What other plot lines are you talking about? So far everything has been blending together aside from a few back stories, but again those are back stories which only contribute to said character and not the actual plot. And there have only been 2 of those. So I don't know where you're going with this multiple jumbled up plots.
Also:
Well he has gone through testing, and there is actual medicine for transplant rejection. Not too mention they said Hassel is coming down for another examination.
Also re-read the line about William coming back into duty:
When using a word like that you might as well slap "Maybe" on there. Also the M.A.Fs showing up along with Discord is the turning point for the entire story. So it's time to take the training wheels off and descend this vastly steep hill because we're going in deep!
img.memecdn.com/that-joke-i-gotta-go-deep_o_2926489.jpg
6275664
You do not, cause I don't even think there's a character named that. Not only that I utterly despise the Borderland series.
6275688 Yeah boi! High five!
api.ning.com/files/NEC3sUsJox4rZUe696FCM0pTmFxfRTEJEDOIWyb9hVR2SrLloo6k0bHxf6Bjz*pqhM67OqflIq0*iG2AuR5aGjRNYUrQQOsU/highfiveHDWallpapers.jpg
6275742 It's not blended together not even remotely. We take a few steps down this way, then are suddenly yanked this way, and it happens over and over again. Because of that the story is getting rather irritating. We are fifteen chapters in and you have done nothing put pile more problems and more questions onto this already massive pile.
The best stories balances questions, with answers, problems with accomplishments. This story is so far lacking in either answers or accomplishments. There is no balance, it is chaotic, and is only getting worse.
6275743 Aww yiss!
i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/04/28/article-1174259-04B0353F000005DC-352_634x398.jpg
6275835 Care to elaborate? So far the story has been going fine; we introduced the humans, said humans learn that earth is fertile, they return, learn there are ponies on it, they then investigate said ponies, while the ponies investigated the humans, both parties then make first contact, pressed discussions even further (going to Canterlot), and presto here we are now.
Then we have two side plots for the main characters (humans not the ponies):
William's fucked up past.
And John's family.
I don't see where the plot is getting tangled here. Unless you can provide me with specific details I cannot see what you're saying. Unless you're tying lore into the actual plot then there's your problem. Lore has nothing to do with the main story here, it's just extra details to expand the universe.
Discord I think has a point of view, and it changes. To him, humans ruined his fun. He didn't care he was killing them. He only cared they were there to play with.
Maybe it's just me, but it feels like the humans have been handed the idiot ball this chapter. Given that Discord has just become aware of them, that could be a good explaination for that given that he has been implied to mindwarp humans until they're monsters in the past. And that gives all the reason you need to lock William away until they know without a shadow of a doubt he's not a risk. Seeing as they are responsible for the continued existance of the human race, they can't afford to write off the threat of a being capable of altering another being's mind on a whim. For all they know, he could very well have been "Archangel'd" to destroy them from within.
At first I thought that M.A.F. stood for Mad As Fuck.
...
I'm gonna keep thinking that.
6276043 That is why the Horizon council wants him locked away forever, but Admiral Watson (who has the power to veto them) wants to hold William long enough to finish the mission. He practically says that after this is over I'm just going to throw you into the pit (meaning he'll hand him over to the council). So not all the humans are being idiots (and yes that was the intention).
6276161
Ya know what, you might not be wrong ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
HOLY CRAP, WHAT A CHAPTER!
6276266 Good, I'd hate to be wrong.
Also, nice avatar.
6276271 Do not say Crap's name in vain please. He doesn't like that. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
6275742
If you don't see the problem with this, then maybe you should retake some of your math classes.
What you're saying here is that the Ponies' (unicorns anyway) brains operate at a capacity that they are physically unable to support! The problem isn't that you're making them better, it's that you don't even make sense when you're doing it. Your "brain efficiency" idea seems like a ripoff of the "10% of your brain" myth. In fact I think you should read this TvTropes article to get a better sense of what I mean.
6276326 Quite honestly I don't care seeing that we're dealing with science fiction, how do we know that a magical horse doesn't have the brain capacity that's able to function better than our own? Answer, we don't. That's why it's called science fiction, it's "fantasy". That's almost trying to call out the movie Interstellar for trying to show the inside of a Black Hole, you can't do that because we don't even know what's inside one. You can try and argue that there's nothing but a large ball of mass that it sucked up throughout its lifetime, but I digress.
When saying that an alien being cannot support something such as a better brain when comparing it to our own makes your argument illogical. Again why? Because we know nothing about said being, let alone it's entirely made up creature generated out of Lauren Faust's head which I just happened to take and project my own ideas onto.
That is my counter argument to what you have to say: Projecting the "perfect" human image onto aliens is no different than a religious man trying to shove his beliefs down an atheist's throat.
6276356 in reality, it's concept, very common in the fiction
humans are not the smartest, strongest, fastest or resistant
but they tend to make creative, unpredictable, adaptable and stubborn
as anecdotal data
our brain is already in the known biological limits
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The biggest question I faced when writing that scene (when Hassel tells everyone that unicorn's in specific are different than us) was: Should I make them like us? Or different?
I chose different, then came the next part. Are they different in a way that makes them better, or worse?
Like I stated before I don't see us humans as being anything special. Where just a species of intelligent beings floating on a speck among others specks amongst even more specks that could probably be inhabited by something that makes our quantum mathematics look like grade school work for their kids.
So obviously I chose to go with the better route. Now what makes them better than us? Clearly this new brain makes them have the ability to perform psionics, well what else? That's a question to be answered, can they do math better, what if it gives them photographic memory? *shrugs* We don't know because the humans haven't had enough time to run all the experiments save for a brain scan and a few minor things.
Just because I said they have a better brain doesn't mean they're smarter than us. Maybe they're just quick thinkers, or maybe it just makes them be able to do psionics. We don't know. Or should I say, I know, but I'm not going to tell you... yet.
For Earth based lifeforms that maybe true when it comes down to our genetic makeup.
But in this universe things are a tad different than what we in the realm of reality are use to, remember that mlp has magic *can hear the sounds of many groans in the distance*... I know deal with it. It's there might as well use it. And with the power of fantasy abilities creative people can... create a lot of interesting and hopefully exciting things.
well the nature always surprises us, who knows maybe beyond our world any life exceeded our biological limitations with some biological trick
in our world there are creatures that have managed to really surprise the scientific community
immortal jellyfish
Mantis Shrimp
a fish that change its metabolism to survive without oxygen
and the magical creatures have magic that should add a lot of tricks to their biology
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Jellyfish are possibly the most mind boggling ocean creature I've ever witnessed.... and possibly the easiest dissection I've ever did.
I've found this story to be interesting thus far.
It definitely sounds like Discord knows more then he's letting on too and possibly might be the Archangel. But it's interesting to note what he says about humans. Not very pleasant things. And of course when it comes to Discord, you have to wonder not only if he's telling you the truth, but the meaning of what he's talking about.
I suppose some might see it as a warning or possibly Discord just not liking humans. But I have to wonder if it might be a clue of why their race was ended. Surely Discord could have ended them all if their complete destruction was really his goal.
6276356 do you even understand how percentages work? 100% would be the maximum that their brain could operate at, because 100% is the maximum of anything plain and simple. 100% of 25 is 25, and 100% of 50 is 50, the percentage isn't a rating of how powerful something is, it's a rating of how much of its potential it is using. I'm not calling you out for showing the inside of a black hole, I'm calling you out for showing a black hole suddenly sucking up the planets orbiting it because it "turned on". Put another way, think of it like the infinite universe theory, if you have a measurement that is considered 100% and then something surpasses it, that becomes the new 100% and the previous number is a proportionally lower percentage.
6276804 Too be honest with you, and I'm not trying to sound like a dick or anything... but I really don't care anymore. With the amount of time that has surpassed since that chapter only a select number of people are still bothered by it. So what about it. If it bothers you that much to the point you can't even read the story... *shrugs* I'm not stopping you or anyone else from leaving.
I know what you're saying, in terms of efficiency you can't go over a hundred, and that mistake can literally be fixed with a few strokes of a keyboard. But really don't let minor things such as this bother you, I don't think that's healthy. Quite frankly this will be pointed at anyone who got really bothered by that.
Other than that all I have to say is:
I think I just lost the last of my brain cells after sharing that video
6276867 it wasn't stopping me from reading it, and really my only gripe is that it was a fucking scientist that was saying it. Being dismissive of your mistakes is not a way to endear yourself to critics, and the way you immediately jumped to the conclusion of "you must be mad because I made Ponies smarter than Humans." instead of actually thinking about why people might have had problems with what you wrote or even asking them about what they didn't like was very disheartening. I'm just hoping you don't start deleting comments.
There is no context here. I can assume you mean "120% of a human brain's speed" but that is only 20% faster, not 200% faster like he said earlier. Do you mean 120% faster? Because that is only about two times faster, not three.
I hope the ponies are smart enough to know that culture is just as important as your species, so the fact that humanity had thousands of cultures and billions of people all as different as the different species on their planet should tell them something. If not, then I will be disappointed.
6272674 Thanks!
and I did once upon a time XD
But I forgot after a couple years.
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Oh no I would never stoop that low, and the reason why I don't care is because this is nothing more than fan fiction. Therefore I am getting nothing from this aside from mild entertainment. Now saw this was a original story on wattpad or dare I say it deviant art, something that I made myself and could some day be published on Amazon or even some corporate company then I would show a little more thought into it.
But really like I said this is nothing more than a simple a typo that appears about twice. Just to remind you people I don't devote my time to this story (clearly if you look at the upload dates), it's just something I write for fun on the side lines. Hell even my editors seem to be the same way at times (seeing how long it takes for them to get to it). Now excuse me while I take my whip and beat the shit out of Nuclear Grenade for starting this whole fiasco in the first place. (He's the one who edits Hassel's dialogue)
6276910 Wait did I say 200... what? In the story or the comment section? Besides we've already disregarded this as a typo and will fixed shortly.