Equestria Threadfall

by David Silver

11 - Taking a Stand

They had little, but it was theirs. The middle-aged stallion took one laborious step, huffed, then took another, drawing his plow across the field to prepare for the next set of seeds to grow in it.

"Lunch's on," came a call from a farmhouse not far away, and it made him smile. He didn't have a lot, but what he had, he cherished. Like his lovely wife and family. It made every day of work worth the effort.

"Let me just finish, almost there." And he returned to the task, renewed in purpose and vigor with thoughts of tasty vittles waiting for him.

Unbeknownst to them, deadly silvery clouds were fast approaching. Not that they hadn't seen them. But clouds were a reason to get inside and little more. Living so far out in the boonies, there were no pegasi to chase away inclement weather and plan when the rains would come. They had to take it.

By his reckoning, he'd be inside by the time they came, and that was good enough to consider them handled. He wouldn't spread the seeds until afterwards, lest they drown if it was a real torrent.

Above them, a dragon soared. Not one of their younger members, but a full-sized beast, fire in its eyes, and wafting from its mouth. It was ready for some revenge. The death of their largest and oldest would not go unpunished, and it would receive payment from the ponies for doing it. Entirely a plus as far as it was concerned. "Ready?"

Like fleas, about half a dozen much smaller dragons jumped off the back of their elder, flying under their own power. "Ready," came the chorus, shoots of flames signalling their preparedness.

The cloud passed from the wilderness into protected lands, and they swept in. Unlike normal Equestrian clouds, these clouds were far too high for them to incinerate directly, nice as that would have been. No, they were as high as the sky itself, raining the cursed thread down onto the world beneath them. They were also fast, too fast. Flying all the way up there just wasn't the way they decided to go.

One pony had already shown how poor an idea that could be.

With a great roar that made the ponies inside their little wooden house quiver, the lead dragon belched out a great cone of flame that caused black ash to catch the wind, the thread there not given the chance to burn like wicks, simply eradicated, but there was more, so much more. The smaller dragons lit other threads on fire, not sweeping the area per se, instead patrolling the skies above their 'commander', keeping any from touching their largest, or each other.

One lone thread avoided the dragnet, sailing on the wind towards its large target. Precious few feet away from the scaled guardian, something gave the big beast a sharp kick. It wasn't enough to move him. It was barely enough for him to feel, but he coiled around with an angry grunt, and that motion was enough to carry him away from the thread that sailed past him. Others dived to catch the thread before it reached the ground.

"That was close," sighed out the pegasus, saluting the great dragon. "Thank you."

The dragon considered the little pony that had saved him a moment before snorting smoke and fire. "The fight continues." It was as close to a thank you that would be coming, and he resumed the task of clearing great swathes of the sky of thread with every huge exhalation, though the next carried a shout with it, "Don't let a single bit through. You're going to let a pony spot them better than you?"

The pegasus returned to the farm, where her husband was gaping out a window, watching them, watching her. She fled inside but didn't close the door. "They're fighting, for us... I'm going to stay outside, help where I can."

"They're dragons!" Her husband threw his hooves wide. "They have fire and claws and big sharp teeth. What do you have?"

"Two eyes and four hooves." She nodded softly. "And a farm and a family worth protecting." She leaned in and planted a kiss right on the end of his nose. "Now you stay here. Even if you saw something, they wouldn't hear you way up there." And though he grumbled, she left, taking flight back into the sky to help protect their little home. They didn't have much, but they wouldn't give it up without a fight.

---

Limestone seethed. There was plenty to seethe about. The steady pat-a-pat on the roof was not rain, not the normal kind. Thread was pelting their stone home, not that it had a chance of getting through it. But... that wasn't their usual home. Their actual farmhouse was lost almost instantly. "I told you having a backup bunker was a good idea."

"Mmhmm." Marble was rubbing one leg with the opposing hoof, looking around fitfully. "Will..." Whatever the rest of her question was, it died in her throat, a tear streaking down her face.

"Hey! Hey... It'll be alright." She threw a leg over her sister and drew her close. "We're here. No thread'll chase us off."

"As fate gives, so does fate take." Igneous nodded sagely, chewing on the wheat stalk in his mouth.

"Lamentable times," sighed out Cloudy, seated besides him in largely stoic acceptance. "'Least the stone of the house will stand."

"Our mistake for not trusting the stone for the whole thing." Igneous looked to Limestone. "When we rebuild, we should address this lack of foresight. To err once is pony, a second time, blasphemy."

"Yeah yeah." She stood up, leaving Marble to pace around the cave. "We'll build it tough and strong. Nothing's gonna chase me off the farm ever again!"

---

Fire. It was all fire. When the first strands had claimed one of their own, fury and sadness had rippled through the community, and there was only fire. The Niriks burned and raged, torching any thread that dared to fall towards them, set to fire long before they could again touch the ground, but that did not mean their village was safe, for nothing protected it from their own rage and fear.

It was all fire. No further thread would touch the ground or claim a life, but their home was burning down around them as they howled with building fury, unable to even process what was going on in those precious moments of utter terror. Their anger was destroying everything, but protecting them. They hated it, but feared the alternative.

It was all fire.

---

Celestia nodded softly to the saluting guard in her throne room. "Thank you for your news." He fled even as she turned her head towards Luna. "It seems our defenses are holding. Hiring the dragons is turning out well. I'll have to go over the budgets, but better a lean year than no year at all."

Luna nodded in soft agreement. "Verily. How have other creatures responded?"

"Word is slow to go and come outside of Equestria's borders." Celestia sighed softly. "Twilight informs me that Kludgetown is informed."

Luna inclined her head towards the train station. "The hippogriffs are a ride away. A long one, I am told, but still."

"Yes, and they have been told." Celestia's wings ruffled on her back. "They have sequestered themselves, again... I can't blame them for this. Underwater they are safe. Would that we had the same option."

Luna snorted softly at that. "You would have us all become seaponies? I say not, dear sister. Really, swimming in one's own filth like that... I would rather fight for the land that is ours. This reminds, what news does Twilight bring? She is usually quite apt with plotting some method of correcting these problems."

"She has made her school and castle into a temporary home for everycreature in Ponyville." Celestia smiled gently. "It's logical. She's not there to use either, and they are made of crystal, immune from the thread's touch."

Luna squinted softly. "That must be a mess, but it is not news. Has she discerned anything about our enemy?"

"Not that she has reported to me." Celestia stood and began marching for the door, Luna following shortly after. "Canterlot is safe. Build on an artificial terrace of stone, there is nowhere for the threat to find purchase. We are in the safest place in Equestria."

"And you hate it at least half as much as I do," grunted Luna, catching up with Celestia and marching right at her side. "Where are we going?"

"To a room I swore I would never enter again."

"I am both frightened and excited. Lead on." A little smile spread on Luna's face. "It is time we moved. Our ponies are depending on us."

Celestia led the way through the hallways, past several false walls. Soon there were no guards, as even they were not told of the room they were soon approaching. "This is a secret I have held close. Twilight knows of it, but she has had little reason to think of it. The one shard of it that has left it, she now controls."

"She now... What is it, Celly? You're teasing me most mercilessly." She directed her magic at a door they had approached, but it rattled without opening. "Locked?" It was so rare for any door to be locked in that castle, especially such an ordinary looking door.

"I did not want anypony wandering in here by accident." A large golden key floated free of her and approached the door under her magic. With a great click, she unlocked it. "Beyond lies something too dangerous to leave in plain sight." With a throwing of a hoof, the door opened.

Inside was dark. Cloth-covered lumps filled the room. Luna proceeded inside with a raised brow. "Sister... this is not very impressive looking." Her glowing horn shed light across the room in moody shadows. "Old furniture? I scarcely imagine the thread will retreat at the sight of that."

"Furnishings, yes, but not as you imagine." With a golden glow, she gently lifted one of the cloths, revealing a large gilded mirror that somehow shone even in the gloom. "Each of these is a portal to another world, another place. Each a fragment of what could have been, or what might be. In one, we are brothers, not sisters. In one we are bitter enemies, tied by no relation at all. In some, we simply do not exist at all."

Luna turned to the exposed mirror and approached it with a skeptical expression. "Your flair for the dramatics has not eased, Sis--" Her words died as an image appeared in the mirror, showing a throne room. It was like theirs, but different, so different. The thrones had great arm rests and spikey appearances. Two stallions sat in them, one the color of sunrise, the other the pale silver of the moon, but their features. Their features... "As... brothers, I see..." She looked away from the image towards Celestia. "How does this help us?"

"Perhaps some of these shards have met the thread before. Some may have fallen to it, but others may have already conquered it... I am loathe to even be considering it, but as Twilight searches desperately for a true and proper answer..."

Luna threw a hoof wide, "Which one? Do we just stick our snoots in each and ask the closest pony if they know of the thread and have any tips on the matter?"

"Not all of them have ponies," warned Celestia. "Twilight is intimately aware of one that is dominated by primates instead."

"That was one of these?!" Luna took a step back, then shook her head. "That's obvious, now that I think of it. How did I not put those pieces together myself...? Were we in there? Were we... simians? I shudder to imagine. Has that shard fallen to the thread, conquered it, or simply been spared?"

Celestia pointed at the mirror she had unveiled. "There is only one way to learn."

Author's Note:

Oh snap, Celestia's considering using the mirror portals. Can this even possibly end well? The Kirins survive, but at what cost? The Pies hunker down, and another farming family joins the fight. The world is at war.

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

I really hope Twilight doesnt try experiments in Changing Thread. The stone eating Parasprites were bad enough.

How much water kills Thread, how big a recirculating fountain, or even Cloudbank can wash it out? A Waek shield, just enough to deflect thread to the side, even a strong breeze from Unicorn magic, Pegasus wings, Earth pony treadmills driving fans. Canterlot has the Anti changeling fans, how are they blowing Thread away? Into the lakes and rivers to feed the fish below?

Given Metal Foam or Pumice air filters, how many Guard can be encased in extended metal armor thats thick enough to withstand Thread impact, given gold is extremely good at draining the heat that allows Thread to otherwise burn through millimeters of materials?

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Our mistake for not trusting the stone for the whole thing." Igneous looked to Limestone. "When we rebuild, we should address this lack of foresight. To err once is pony, a second time, blasphemy."

That's somewhere between "to err is human; to forgive, divine" amd "Fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me".

[Venerable Ro]

Does Celestia still have access to whoever/whatever had the means to create Mirrors, or will they have to rely on whatever they have? I wonder what the odds are that one of these mirrors happens to connect to a Pern? Or perhaps the EQG world has those books in the school library...

[David Silver]

9955527
It is my personal canon that the mirror portals attach to other possibilities _of that world_. EQG is another version of Equestria. The comic adventures through it were also versions of Equestria. If you wanted to visit, say, RL Earth, or Pern, you'd need to go to where those places are, even if they are different places in Equestria's reality, then hop across. Make sense? They change your probability standing, but not the other factors, so you're on the same planet, in different possibilities.

[Venerable Ro]

9955599

Oh yes, I've plotted hops like that before. A simple trip from "Canterlot" to "RL Earth" passed through something like a dozen worlds, and that only worked because I abused at least two flagrant shortcuts.

[Cross Lament]

9955364
IIRC thread isn't thermally hot, but instead corrosive. If it were hot enough to melt metals (though it can 'burn' through thin metal wires), fire wouldn't be much of a weapon against it! Then again, thread is a cryogenic organism from the Oort cloud and yet somehow dies in cold weather, so...I dunno.

Also, modified thread-eating parasprites is an amazing idea and absolutely nothing could ever go wrong with it.

[David Silver]

9955868
When they're in space they are covered in a shell. Thread is basically just the digestive tract of this creature.

[Cross Lament]

9956123
I never thought of it like that. How delightfully horrifying.

[Snowkitsune]

Pern awesome have a like

[howard035]

Brilliant idea from Celestia.

I don't like Kludgetown's odds.