Equestria Threadfall

by David Silver

13 - Here and Now

Luna frowned through the mirror. On the other side was blowing brown dust and battle. Some had strange weapons in their mouth that belched small cannon balls at one another. Others were garbed in great elaborate sets of armor. Some threw flames. Some just hid. It was a warzone.

Whatever disaster had befallen that world, its fallout had clearly not settled. Had the thread visited it?

She threw its blanket back over it. Celestia's hooves could be heard landing as if from a jump. "Did you find anything?" she asked Luna, approaching at a gentle rate.

"Mostly confusion." Luna turned towards her sister. "Or worlds even less prepared than our own. I found what could happen if all were to go poorly, where thread wins this battle. Creatures cling desperately to life in deep caves, spreading tales of the horrors of the surface."

"And yet--" Celestia smiled thinly. "--they live. We are a stubborn thing, life. We will not be so casually erased... I can report nothing much brighter. It would seem, of the worlds the thread has visited, we were the most prepared. One I found survived, barely, and it simply... stopped. No explanation, no great deed. It just stopped one day and they began rebuilding. Hopefully, it will never return." She walked past her sister, her tail lashing against Luna's side along the way. "Shall we continue?"

Luna turned and began to follow Celestia. "Just stopped? What manner of miracle is that? Did their Discord claim credit? They do have a Discord, I assume?"

"Funny thing about that..." Celestia glanced over her shoulder as she weaved between mirrors, moving towards the exit. "Sometimes yes, sometimes no. You can never be sure if you'll find a Discord or not. It seems fitting, on reflection. I dare not even speak of this room to him. The mischief he could cause without even trying..."

"I understand." Luna dipped her head, imagining what the chaos spirit could do there. "He may be reformed, but still he is made of chaos. It is his nature, even well-meaning."

United in thought, they emerged from the room directly into his smiling face. "Good afternoon, Ladies." He bowed towards them, standing in what should have been a secret hallway. "What's all the whispering about?"

Both went tense a moment, Celestia recovering first and gently shutting the door behind them even as she spoke, "Good afternoon, Discord. Have you found anything to report?"

"Just that this thread business has entirely ruined my plans." He snapped his fingers softly. "Twilight would have so liked it too..."

Luna peered at him skeptically. "Twilight is not a pony known for her enjoyment of surprises. What manner of tomfoolery did you have in mind for her?"

"I'm sure something fresh will come to mind..." He tapped his chin softly. "Actually, this whole thread business may be just the thing. I bet she'll come up with something and won't that help her confidence, mmm?"

Celestia moved away from the door leading back to the mirrors. "Walk with us, Discord. Let's go and see if she doesn't already have an answer. That mare is full of wonderful potential."

"When she isn't panicking," agreed Discord with a twist. "Really, if she just calmed down, she could be truly terrifying. Wouldn't that be fun!" He clapped his mismatched hands softly with a grin, his one longer tooth jutting in the process. "Don't you think?"

Luna moved ahead of the other two, advancing through the winding passages that would lead to the throne room. "What brought you our way? You don't typically come for random visits."

"Random visits are the best kind." Discord rubbed his hands together lightly. "So, find anything?" Both diarchs froze in place. "Oh, come on. You really think I didn't know about those?"

Celestia raised a hoof to her snout, coughing softly. "Whatever are you speaking of?"

Discord rolled his eyes. "I can pretend to be mystified if it makes you feel better. Also, I don't need mirrors to slip between dimensions and you really aughta know that, come on now..."

Luna wheeled around. "Have you been traipsing around between worlds?"

"When haven't I?" he casually replied with a shrug. "A fine way to while away a day. Besides, sometimes I want Fluttershy to be a little dog, sometimes a human, and there was that one time I visited her as a bee." He shrugged softly. "Interesting times, but we're not here to discuss how I spend the day."

Celestia shook her head, looking more confused than reserved for a moment. "I'm sorry?"

"What are you sorry for?" He threw an arm around her, drawing her close as he floated in the direction they were headed. "Sometimes she's Pinkie, those are fun, but my favorite Fluttershy is the original sweet Fluttershy. Say, have you ever considered her for princess? She'd make a darling one."

Luna arched a brow high. "She is uncomfortable with public speaking and prefers solitude."

"So do you, but I don't see anyone rushing to take away your princesshood." He stuck out his tongue at Luna triumphantly in smug victory. "Princess of animals, oh, I could see it." He unfolded a piece of paper from nowhere, showing a crude sketch of Fluttershy with a big horn on her forehead. "Just imagine it!"

Celestia's magic gently tugged down briefly on the paper, causing it to roll back up where it came from, popping out of existence. "We'll give it due consideration. For now, we have a bit of a situation to handle. Could you..."

"Nope." He shook his head firmly. "I will not be your mcguffin." He became a large Muffin with a top hat, a cane floating just in front of him.

Luna scowled towards him as they entered more normally traveled hallways. "There are creatures dying. This is hardly the time for lessons."

Discord tapped both pony rulers on the snoot. "When the Crystal Empire returned, I didn't see either of you hesitating much before sending Twilight off to be tested. There were pony lives on the line there too, hmm? Rather selective judgement on your parts."

"There you are." Twilight was already standing in the center of the throne room, looking tired, yet excited, a hopeful smile on her face and a little twitch in her tail. "I have news!"

Discord floated away from the princesses he was with, clasping his hands together. "Right on cue. Lay it on us, Purplesmart. What have you discovered?"

Spike unfurled a paper that Twilight grabbed from his hand and affixed to a wall. She cleared her throat as she turned to it. "I am now confident in the source of the thread!" All three of her primary audience leaned in. The guards stood at attention, but their eyes wandered towards her instead of straight forward.

With a snap, she extended a pointer and directed to the picture of equestria, then up towards what looked like its moon. "This is a meteor, at least at times. Its exact size isn't determined, but it does touch the atmosphere of our world, and some things fall from it to us."

"The thread," breathed out Celestia, her wings flaring before she looked to Luna. "I owe you an apology, sister mine. Your instinct was correct. This does fall under your domain."

Luna looked smugly satisfied a moment before it faded right away. "Is it hovering over our heads even now, sending thread down on us at its leisure?"

Spike shook his head quickly. "We can't say it's the rock doing it. I mean, can a rock think?" He shrugged softly. "You'd have to ask Maud."

Twilight gently shooed Spike with a wing. "Putting aside a matter of intent for the moment, the body is still in motion. It will complete a circuit around our world and eventually leave. If we just weather it, we will eventually be free of thread."

Celestia's face brightened with recent memory. "You have the look of a 'but' in there, my faithful student."

Twilight nodded softly. "I do... Even if we simply weather it out, the path its taking will eventually bring it back to us, many many moons later. Almost no pony alive today will have to worry about it, but it will return to haunt their descendants. We will have survived, but not fixed the problem."

Luna stomped a hoof on the ground. "Then the path is quite clear!" The others looked towards her quizzically. "I can't be the only one? We must go to this rogue moon and ensure it never visits Equestria again by any means required."

Celestia looked to Twilight. "I'm certain you've at least entertained that idea. What stands in the way of it?"

"Several things." She began tracing lines between Equestria and the rogue moon. "It is moving at terrific speeds, so we will need to aim far ahead of it, and well, or somehow match that speed. Secondly, it may be surrounded by thread, which could pose an immediate threat to anycreature brave enough to attempt this mission."

Spike raised a finger. "Then there's the whole, 'So we're here, how do we actually stop this thing.' part that everyone seems to be glossing over." His shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Maybe all of Pinkie's explosives at once?"

Twilight shook her head. "I doubt even Pinkie's considerable supply would be sufficient for a job this large. We need to look and see first. All I have here--" She ran the pointer along the outside of the rogue moon. "--is a vague mockup. We need to know the exact topology and mineral makeup of the moon before we can confidently move it."

"So..." Spike rocked on his feet a little. "We calling Maud? I was joking before, but this really sounds right up her alley."

Discord smirked at that. "I must admit I do enjoy the thought of that earth mare floating in space."

Twilight pointed at the chaos lord. "You could help. Any of the steps I've mentioned, I know you could do before I finished describing them. Are you going to be involved?"

"I'll be rooting you on," he assured, suddenly holding a little flag that he waved softly back and forth. "You don't need me, promise. The real power was inside you all along! Wait, no, that's the wrong moral." He dug through index cards that hadn't been there a moment before. "A stitch in time? No. Look both ways? No no. Ah here we are; The True Treasure Was the Friends We Made Along the Way."

Celestia advanced closer than Discord, blocking him partially from sight. "Maud is Pinkie's sister, is she not?"

Twilight nodded. "She's a Roctor, with a diploma to prove it."

"Roctor?" asked Luna with a raised brow.

"She has a doctorate in mineralogy," corrected Twilight, blushing at her slip. "That's just what Pinkie calls her, and I ended up picking it up, sorry. Still, yes, she would be trained and educated to tell me exactly what that thing is made of and possibly what attack points we could mount against it."

Celestia gestured with a wing at a guard. "Send a missive immediately to Ponyville. Maud is--"

Twilight stepped forward. "Pardon, Princess..."

Celestia stopped, a little smile on her face. "You are also a princess, Twilight. What is it?"

"It may be better for me to go there. The supplies needed to take this trip are in Ponyville, as are most of the ponies I would ask to undertake it."

Luna frowned faintly. "I am not in Ponyville."

Twilight glanced away. "No... you are not."

"You are not going to this new moon without me, Twilight Sparkle." Luna tapped her hoof impatiently. "When do we depart?"

Spike shrugged. "And she can't go without her loyal dragon mount, so guess I'm going too."

Twilight brought her hoof to her face. "You want to go?"

"No! But... I'll never forgive myself if I don't, so... sign me up." He stuffed his claws into an imaginary vest that was only in his mind. "With the dragon rider of Equestria at your side, you'll be fine."

Author's Note:

Things take a turn. Discord admits he could probably fix it all, but won't. Will this result in success or horror?

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Comments

[badninja]

Good chapter. That is always the problem with Discord he can easily snap away the problem. The question becomes why would he and what things are lost when he does interfere?

[Booster Spice]

The problem Discord has, is if he agrees tohelp all the time, he becomes D'accord.

Also, options depends on just how big this Rock is, compared to the Moon, and anything else floating around up there nearby.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"So do you, but I don't see anyone rushing to take away your princesshood." He stuck out his tongue at Luna triumphantly in smug victory. "Princess of animals, oh, I could see it." He unfolded a piece of paper from nowhere, showing a crude sketch of Fluttershy with a big horn on her forehead. "Just imagine it!"

Admittedly, he has a point.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Discord floated away from the princesses he was with, clasping his hands together. "Right on que. Lay it on us, Purplesmart. What have you discovered?"

cue

[David Silver]

10050416
Damn him, getting chaos into my typing!

[Snowkitsune]

In Pern it was Mars or Mars like. Goddess its been forever since i read them

[David Silver]

10050703
It wasn't Earth, so it couldn't have been Mars. Mars-like, perhaps.

[Fishsticks]

10050104
The thing nobody seems to think of is, sure, while Discord might not be helping this time, but how often does he make a major threat just disappear and then never tell anyone about it? I mean, we'll never know, he just does things and moves onto the next thing.

[Aurora Dimmet]

The dragon rider of Equestria. I see what you did there. Flipped the whole damn thing around!

[David Silver]

10054387
I was hoping someone would pick up what I was putting down.

[howard035]

I don't expect this to work, but I'm surprised no one suggested having Celestia or Luna grab the meteor and hurl it into the sun. Or is it that the tiny Equestrian sun might be damaged by such an action?

[David Silver]

10059488
Would they want to risk it?

[Telwyn Freecolt]

10059488
Lord the sun might produce thread not at first but then it might become twisted and do just that or even cause the sun to die. No it's better to destroy it.