Thistral
It was just any other day for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They were having a little stroll around the castle, recalling events from previous times.
Then, they heard it.
At first, it was quiet. A whirring in the distance. Then it grew closer, and closer, to the point where the sisters and everypony in the area stopped to see what was making the noise.
Then, they saw it.
From behind a cloud, a golden object streaked through the sky. It was moving at around 130 miles per hour and began circling the castle.
Celestia squinted her eyes to get a better look at the object. It had a golden body, two metal platforms attached to either side, with a second platform above. A blade was spinning wildly at the front, its purpose she assumed was to pull the object through the sky. Like how a helicopter blade was used to keep a helicopter in the air.
But a helicopter did not make whatever sound this... aircraft was making.
She eyed the aircraft as it pulled around, noticing a set of wheels on the bottom. She also noticed that it was indeed made out of gold, but it had a dark and aged tint to it.
"Judging by your reaction, sister, I take it this is not simply a modern machine I have not yet heard of?"
Celestia didn't avert her gaze but still replied to Luna. "No, I've never seen such a machine."
The aircraft seemed to be aiming for a wide concrete path that stretched a thousand feet from the castle. It slowly decreased its altitude.
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The aircraft came in for a smooth buttery landing, a loud but quick squeal of tires striking the air as the wheels were pressed into the concrete. Another whirring sound occurred as the aircraft slowed down to a stop, over a dozen feet from the spectating sisters.
Immediately, Celestia began walking towards the aircraft, getting a better look at it. She suddenly gasped, stopping.
Upon further inspection, she found that the aircraft was in an advanced state of disrepair. It was undoubtedly made of pure 24 Karat Gold, but the gold looked like it had aged thousands upon thousands of years. Though it still glimmered in the sunlight, it was slightly shriveled, scratched, and even corroded. She did not think 24K Gold could ever corrode.
What in Equestria? She wondered.
Her eyes darted to the dark pony moving out of the body of the aircraft. The whirring of the aircraft stopped and the blade slowed to a stop, revealing itself to actually be two blades integrated with one another.
The dark pony climbed out of the aircraft, landing on the ground and looking at her.
Examining its features, she saw that It was a Unicorn Stallion of average height. He had a very dark silver coat with black hair, a pair of Cornflower eyes, and, oddly enough, no cutie mark. He wore royal regalia made of diamond, though the regalia seemed rusted almost to the point of unrecognizability.
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria." The stallion spoke. He had quite the angelic voice. One of a kind, caring ruler. Though his neutral, somewhat grim expression did not seem to reflect that.
"Yes," Luna replied, now standing next to Celestia. "That is who we are."
The stallion took a few steps forward before stopping. He cleared his throat. "I am Prince Thistral. Ruler of the land known as Thistral. Pay no mind to the harsh similarities."
Celestia gave a polite nod. "And to what do we owe the presence of you, Prince Thistral? And if I may, what is this Aircraft you have arrived in?"
"This-" Thistral pointed at the aircraft. "-is my personal aircraft, your highness. It is called a plane. More specifically, it is a Waco UPF-7 Biplane. As to why I am here, I am here because I would like to speak with one of your... residents."
Celestia nodded. "And which resident do you request?"
"A Draconequus named Discord, your highness."
The sisters sensed anger from Thistral.
"And for what reason do you need to talk with him?" Luna asked.
"That is none of your concern. I will only tell when he is in my presence."
The sisters looked at each other skeptically.
"He is a Thestral," Luna noted.
Celestia looked back, seeing the leathery wings at Thistral's sides, ones with black accents. "Interesting... wait... Thistral?"
"Yes, your highness?"
How formal. She thought. "May I ask why you have both the wings of a Thestral and the horn of a Unicorn?"
"That is because I am an Alicorn." Was the simple reply.
The sisters were surprised.
"Really?" Luna asked.
Thistral spread out his leathery wings and lit up his horn, showing that he was indeed an Alicorn, but a Thestral at the same time.
"Woah... um-" Celestia regained her composure and cleared her throat. "You said you requested Discord?"
Thistral nodded, furling his wings and ceasing use of his horn.
"Well, we will have to send somepony down to Ponyville to message him-"
"You buzzed?" An annoyingly familiar voice asked.
"-Or he could show up now," Celestia grumbled, seeing Discord and Fluttershy having appeared a few feet away. She sighed. "Discord, Fluttershy, this is Thistral."
Discord turned to face the mysterious Alicorn Thestral. "Why hello, Thistral." He greeted with a friendly wave.
"Oh. Um, hello." Fluttershy slowly said.
"Hello, Fluttershy." Thistral greeted back. He turned to look at Discord, brow furrowing, and horn glowing.
Without warning, Discord screamed as invisible magic grabbed onto his form, rising him several feet in the air. The magic pressed on every part of him, causing severe pain.
"Hello Discord." Thistral greeted with a harsh growl.
Celestia and Luna went into defensive stances, readying spells. They were surprised to see that Thistral had changed.
His hair now emitted black fiery mist. His wings did the same, burning with charred fire. His fangs grew more prominent, putting the sharpest changeling fangs to shame, while his eyes had turned a burning, fiery crimson, with the same color fire emitting from them. Everypony in the area could taste the burning hatred seeping out of his pores. His very blood was filled with hatred.
Quickly regaining composure, Celestia yelled. "Thistral! What are you doing?!"
Discord scoffed despite the pain. "If you let me go now I won't reduce you to atoms."
Thistral did not flinch. "Try teleporting out. In fact, try doing anything. Right now."
"Hmph." Discord snapped his fingers, ready to teleport out and punish this moron.
He opened his eyes, expecting to be right behind the Thestral, but was surprised to find that he was still being held, magic continuing to press in on him.
"Wait, what?"
He tried every spell he ever knew, even one that would have destroyed the sun. Nothing went out. His magic seemed to go into the magical barrier and be repelled into him, further adding to the pain.
"Thistral, what are you doing?" Celestia asked again.
"Now." Thistral began. "Ponies of Equestria and Canterlot, please gather round as I regale the tale of the great land of Thistral and what this monster." He growled. "This... thing. This waste of breath and atoms. Did to it. I do not have anything against anybeing in Equestria. My quarrels are with Discord and Discord only." He spoke with pure hatred and rancor.
Celestia and Luna looked at each other, skeptically, before dissipating their magic.
"Wait!" A small voice squeaked.
Thistral was slightly annoyed that he couldn't start talking as Fluttershy ran over.
"Thistral, why are you doing this to Discord?"
"I am going to explain that. Now please, sit down and let me speak."
Fluttershy slowly backed away and sat down near Discord.
"Two Hundred and Thirty-Seven years ago," Thistral began. "I founded a country known as Thistral. I was just seventeen at this point, hence why I very snobbishly named it after myself. Looking back, I should have picked something else. Anyways, throughout the years, Thistral grew and grew and grew till it was about two-thirds as big as Equestria by the time it was a hundred years old. It stayed that way for many years."
The entire time, Thistral did not smile. He only paced around Discord, glancing at the Draconequus with looks of sheer hatred and murder.
"Thistral was originally meant for Thestrals. Or 'Bat Ponies' if you prefer the childish term. But over the years, as we grew, we accumulated more than just that. Earth Ponies, Pegasides, Unicorns, a couple of dragons here and there, Kirins, and Changelings."
"Changelings? Really?" Celestia asked.
Thistral nodded. "In terms of Equine Related-Races, we had every single one. We were as good as Equestria is with species. Better in fact, since we had Changelings and Kirin's. Equestria does not seem to have either."
"You are aware of the incident we had with changelings three years ago, aren't you?" Celestia asked.
"Vividly. Though an individual hive attacked and tried to take over Equestria, that does not give you a reason to shudder their entire race. But we digress."
Celestia sighed. "Continue."
"Yes, please continue." Discord scoffed. "I would love to get out of here post-haste please and thank you."
Thistral scowled more and tightened his grip on Discord for a split second, forcing him to yelp with the sudden pain.
"Now. Our technology. We were very technologically advanced. We had machines such as planes, trains, and automobiles, all of which were designed to help with getting ponies across long distances in a short amount of time with minimal effort. We had something called the Internet. A service that allowed ponies to connect from all around the nation, instantly, without having to leave their homes. Personally, I did not like it because ponies had become rather distant from each other, but it helped. Especially with getting information around."
Celestia and Luna were rather intrigued, as were the other ponies in the area.
"Three years ago, I was ready to make contact with Equestria. I was ready to show you our technologies and perhaps combine nations. I was ready to make Equestria the best nation ever, with technology so vast that nopony would ever bring it down."
He stopped and scowled at Discord. "And then this thing showed up." He growled. "This waste of breath. This so-called master of chaos. This demonic hellspawn."
"Well, I wouldn't go with demonic hell-AHHH!"
Thistral tightened his magical grip again. "He came and destroyed it all."
Fluttershy ran up to Thistral. "Wait! Please! Thistral, stop hurting him! I don't know what he did, but if it was three years ago, it was probably because he wasn't reformed! He's reformed now! He's no longer a monster!" She looked at Discord. "Right Discord?"
DIscord put on puppy eyes and nodded.
"See?"
She looked back and saw Thistral shaking his head, giving Discord a death stare ten times worse than Fluttershy's.
"You think a reformation is good enough?" He asked. "You think him just, being good is going to change what he did? Nothing. NOTHING. Could repay what this thing has done."
"W-What did he do?" Fluttershy asked.
Thistral paused for a moment to slightly loosen his grip on Discord. "Have any of you heard of The Time Machine?"
"Yes, we have heard of such a machine," Celestia answered. "Though it is only fictional."
"No, I mean the movie."
Celestia racked her brain with the movies she had heard about. She had never heard of a movie called 'The Time Machine'. "I have not heard of such a movie."
"Hm. I should have expected this. So. In The Time Machine, an Earth Pony jams his Time Machine's gears and creates a time distortion. He and a mare run through a series of caves to escape beings called ponishes. They escape just as the gears lock up, causing an explosion that ripples through the cave system, rapidly aging everything inside it, just as the mare and stallion escape."
"Interesting," Luna remarked.
"The distortion was so powerful that the ponishes are reduced to dust within seconds, and the structure above the cave system corrodes and decays rapidly, lasting around twenty seconds before rotting to nothing."
He paused.
"Now imagine that happening, but to an entire nation. Slowly."
Everypony in the area gasped.
"Wait... you don't mean..." Celestia trailed.
"Discord here wanted to see what would happen to a building if it were left abandoned for a long time. So he decided to rapidly age a building located in Thistral."
He closed his eyes, recalling the events. "It was April. I now call it Accelerated April. I was about to be sent off in this very plane. To Equestria. To make connections. When it happened. I could feel the air changing around me as I stepped into the plane. It grew stale. I noticed that I was not the only one. Everypony around me noticed it too."
"April three years ago..." Celestia murmured. "That was the month Discord came back..." She noticed the change in Thistral's demeanor. His breathing was heavier, and his body was slightly stiffer.
"That is when the screaming started."
Fluttershy flinched as she put a hoof to her heart.
"I immediately jumped out to find everypony around me rapidly aging. Though they did not grow up. Their bodies aged. Decayed." He paused as he remembered the horrific sight. "Their skins stretched and cracked, fur and chitin withered, hair grew out exponentially, some of their eyes deflated, shriveled, blackened, and rolled back into their heads, they broke down over the course of dozens of seconds..."
Everypony grimaced as they pictured what he was saying. Even Discord became slightly disgusted.
"And they were alive during the whole thing."
"Oh shoot..." Luna unexpectedly said.
"This happened to everypony. Stallions, Mares, Fillies, Colts, Foals, everypony. Everypony was feeling the torture that was rapid decay. After mere moments, they were nothing. I watched everypony I loved, decay. Die. My lover, my cousins, my subjects..."
A pony stopped next to Celestia, making her look over to find an earth pony with a disgusted look on her face. Celestia looked back at Thistral.
"I watched all of them scream in pain and agony... cursing, begging, pleading for their very lives. They all looked at me, hoping beyond hope that I would do something. But I could not. I tried every spell in the book to reverse it. Nothing. I could not do anything. All of them died because YOU KILLED THEM ALL!!!"
Discord screamed in agony as the magic tightened on him more, twisting his body. Celestia and Luna's jaws opened as they realized that Thistral was even more powerful than them. Even they were never able to trap Discord like this.
"..."
"..."
"I saw that it was not just my subjects." Thistral continued, loosening his grip. "I felt vines quickly growing around me, so I flew into the sky. That is when I saw that it was not just my subject's aging. It was the entire nation... My castle. It was designed with endurance in mind. To go long periods without maintenance... the same could not be said for anything else."
"Everything around me. The entire city... decayed. Roads cracked and cars rusted. I managed to bring my personal car into my Elysium before damage was done. As for the rest of the cars... trucks... Their frames rusted. They withered away. Paint chipped off, further exposing the metal to the aging land. Within minutes, they were turned into unrecognizable heaps of metal."
"The buildings soon met the same fate. Paint chipped away. Glass shattered. Ropes frayed. Bridges fell... nothing I did could save the city of Lyra. I watched trains, ones going over sixty miles an hour, break down and rust and wither away as they moved along the rails. The metal became so brittle that the coupling snapped. Everything just... aged... I..."
The sisters felt their hearts begin to ache as they realized the gravity of what this pony had been through.
"Buildings fell... explosions ricocheted through the air... everything I built up... every single thing... reduced to nothing. By the time an hour and a half passed... everything was reduced to barely recognizable wrecks... I took back to my castle to try and save it, but found that it was quickly rusting, crumbling, withering, becoming heavily overgrown... within the next two hours of me frantically trying to save it, do anything, it met the same fate as everything else."
"By the time everything stopped... several hours later... I would give a safe bet that the land and everything in it aged well over several million years. How my Royal Attire survived that I do not know."
It dawned on the sisters what Thistral had just confirmed. But just to be safe...
"Why are you still here then?" Celestia asked. "You look no older than thirty."
Thistral shook his head. "I will give another safe bet that that just confirms Alicorns will never die to age and stay forever young."
His saying that hit the sisters harder than a freight train. They had always wondered how long they would truly live, though had usually brushed it off. All they would have had to do was wait. But Thistral here was living proof that Alicorns were effectively immortal. Or at least, forever young.
"It hit me hard too," Thistral said.
"So." He continued. "After everything was gone... I knew I had to give Discord what he deserved. So for these past three years, I studied Thestral Magic."
"And that is?" Discord asked. "Wait..." His pupils shrunk. "NO. NO-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
He screamed as Thistral squeezed hard on him, breaking dozens of bones.
"Thistral! Please stop!" Fluttershy pleaded.
"No." Thistral coldly replied. "Did you forget what I just said? He forced ponies to rapidly age and decay. While still living. He killed. Millions. The deepest darkest pits of Hell would be heaven compared to the punishment this thing deserves."
"Am I a thing or a he?" Discord asked. "Pick one-AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!"
"And be honest." Thistral looked around to watch the Princesses, looks of horror on their faces. He also saw a tall black changeling with blue hair next to Celestia bearing the same look. "Would you really care if Discord was gone?"
Discord looked around, hoping somepony would be on his side. "Come on everypony. I did not even do anything. You mean to tell me you believe Thistral here?"
Thistral looked at Fluttershy. "Tell me. Do you really consider Discord a friend after what he did?"
"Um... uh..." Fluttershy stammered, looking at Discord with a hurt look. "Discord... did you really do that?"
"Do you really think I would do that?"
"B-Before your reformation... maybe..."
Discord began to feel betrayed. "You... you don't believe me? You don't consider me a friend anymore?"
"I..." Tears formed in Fluttershy's face as she shook her head. "I can't..."
"Now." Thistral began, his hatred surging through Discord's very soul. "Fluttershy, please stand back. I am going to make sure his magic does not go to waste."
"Wait, what? Are you-"
Discord's entire body stiffened as yellow-green magic poured from his mouth, flowing through the air. He could barely scream as the magic flowed into Thistral's horn and even his mouth, the Alicorn Thestral jittering a tiny bit from the amount of magic burrowing inside him. Ponies watched in horror as DIscord's very soul and life force were ripped from him mercilessly.
Finally, after twenty long agonizing seconds, the magic stopped trickling out. Thistral stopped and continued to grip Discord. He looked at his body, seeing no sense of change to his physical form. He shuddered in silence, breathing in and out.
Fluttershy looked at Discord, who sat clinging to life. "D-D-D... Discord?"
"I've been drained..." Discord shuddered. "Of all my magic... I never thought that would be physically possible..."
"Discord... you killed... so many..."
"I don't believe this," Celestia said. "I never thought you could graduate to murder, especially of so many ponies..."
"I did not do it... That was before I met Fluttershy..."
"Nopony cares.' Thistral suddenly snapped, having grown slightly more used to the near-boundless amounts of magic inside of him. "I do not care if you did it under the influence of another being. Now. Everyone in the area. Unless you have a strong stomach, I would suggest looking away and plugging your ears."
"What?" Fluttershy turned around. "Why?"
"And get the little ones away. What is about to happen will scar them for life if they see it."
He looked around, seeing a few ponies shield their children and look away.
Discord stared with worried eyes. "You're... going to kill me?" He coughed.
"Not even the deepest, darkest pits of hell would want anything to do with you," Thistral growled.
Discord stared for a few more seconds before gasping. He could feel his body begin to change.
"Discord?" Fluttershy asked.
He put up his claws, seeing that they had begun to seemingly age. "Wha... what is, happening, to me?" He said under his breath, reaching out to grab Fluttershy.
Fluttershy's eyes widened. "D-Di- Di- Ah. AH. AH! AHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHH!"
She let out an ear-piercing scream as DIscord's fur grew out exponentially. His skin darkened in color, withering and stretching so it seemed like he was grinning psychotically. Celestia and Luna's eyes went wide and their jaws gaped as his entire form began to shrivel.
Thistral watched as his eyelids withered to nothing, eyes being forced wide. Discord tried to scream, but only gurgled as his insides melted onto his larynx. His jaw slacked as a dent appeared on the left of his forehead. He looked up slightly, causing his eyes to lose shape and fall back into his skull.
Thistral had focused so much on the demise of his enemy that he only just now saw Fluttershy being held by Discord, the Draconequus seeming to force her to go with him.
He suddenly sprinted over, grabbing the screaming pegasus and ripping her out of Discord's decaying arms.
He held Fluttershy away as Discord's skins started melting off. The skin fell only a few inches before instantaneously melting to nothing, further creepifying the scene. Despite all this, Discord was still gurgling. Thistral, feeling that the time was right, compressed magic onto Discord's form, crushing it. Everypony let out a scream as Discord was compacted further and further, still trying to writhe and escape and scream.
Finally, Thistral let out a small grunt, and Discord was crushed to atoms instantaneously. The Draconequus's atoms were crushed and exploded, but even the explosion was crushed into nothing.
Discord was no more.
Everypony stared at where he used to be. Multiple ponies ran off and cried. Celestia put a hoof to her mouth, feeling herself retch a few times before turning and letting out her breakfast and lunch into a bush. Luna resisted her own urge to retch and vomit.
The tall black changeling stared with a disgusted look, shaking her head in disbelief before putting a hoof to her mouth, cheeks puffing out. She immediately took off and flew out of sight.
Fluttershy whimpered and cried as Thistral held her tightly. The Alicorn put his leathery wings around her, cocooning her with how much she had curled up. Only her head was visible.
"There there..." He cooed. "He will never hurt you ever again..."
He would never admit it, but he could feel his heart aching and his stomach REALLY hating him. He refused to let either show.
After a moment, he let Fluttershy out of his wings. He backed away and... smiled.
"Hehe..." He quietly chuckled before taking in a deep breath and continuing to grin. He sat down and looked at his hooves. "Ohhh that felt good..." He quietly growled. "Finally killing that abomination is something I will forever cherish... I just wish I could experience it again and again..." He winced. "Though... ow... this does... this does not feel natural." He watched his hooves jitter a little. "This power I have... it feels as if I could destroy the entire universe if I wanted to..."
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the royal sisters getting in defensive poses, though Celestia seemed woozy.
"Of course, I would never do that." He reassured, getting up. "Not in a billion years. I wanted Discord's powers so that I could attempt to use them properly. He was wasting them on very trivial things. Perhaps I may be able to resurrect Thistral with them."
The sisters sighed with intense relief as Thistral returned to his normal form. The fiery mist and crimson eyes were all gone.
"This time, I will name it to be something less... egotistic." He added.
He watched as ponies stared at him with varying amounts of disgust, disbelief, and fear. Nopony could say anything. Thistral sighed as he stood up and walked over to Fluttershy, who was still whimpering and crying.
"That was something that should never have been seen with mortal eyes." He began as he gently caressed Fluttershy's hair. "But sadly, it had to be done. You are all lucky, in fact. You did not have to see an entire nation be subjected to the same fate."
"By all of Tartarus..." Luna slowly said. "To see an entire nation be subjected to that..."
Thistral took a deep breath in. "I am still shaken by that... So." He looked at Luna and Celestia. "I do believe that everypony in the area is going to be out of it for a few weeks, so would somepony kindly escort me to a chamber? I have been awake for the few days it took for me to travel here."
Luna looked at Celestia, who still seemed heavily shaken by the sight she had just seen. She sighed.
"I may be working a little overtime tonight..." She mumbled before looking at Thistral. "I will escort you and Fluttershy." She said, stepping forward. "I must admit, I have been wanting him gone for a millennia, My sister too, even after his reformation."
"Hm." Thistral smiled. "You are welcome, Princess Luna." He bent down to look at Fluttershy. "Hey... I know you are scared." He whispered. "But he is gone now."
"B-B-B... Buh..." Fluttershy stammered.
"It is alright. Do you want to come with me to wherever Princess Luna leads us?"
Fluttershy looked at him. "W-Why?"
"Why, so I can comfort you of course. I can help you get over this.."
Fluttershy looked down for a few seconds.
"Please?" He asked. "I could show you my car if you would like. Oh, that reminds me."
He turned to face the Biplane he had arrived in. His horn lit up as he focused on it, and within seconds, he restored it to a beautiful piece of golden machinery. He looked down at his diamond attire, using his newfound magic to perfectly restore it too.
"Much better." He looked back at Fluttershy. "Would you like me to take you in my plane?"
"N-No..." She quietly replied, her voice barely a whisper. "I want to... to..."
Thistral sighed. "Ok. Maybe I should just leave you alone for a bit. This is quite the... traumatic experience for most."
"Thistral?" Luna asked.
The Thestral looked at her. "Yes, Princess Luna?"
"Is what you said Discord did to your nation... true?"
"Of course it is," Thistral replied.
"But, he said he did not do anything to it."
Thistral paused for a moment as if to consider what Luna had told him. "... Even if it was not true, do you really care?"
Luna stared, thinking about it. After a moment, she sighed.
"No. I guess I do not."