A small mechanical object shorts out, as such things do. Fortunes rise and fall. But all of this is in the past, albeit the recent past. Right now, uniformed flunkies are washing breakfast dishes in a peaceful, almost placid, manner.
Meanwhile, a young girl is attempting to surreptitiously alter a T-shirt with a pen cap without attracting undue attention. This young girl's name is Rose, and she has had a pleasant morning so far. This is the first day she has had a good, institutionally-prepared, breakfast in a long time, and she needed no prompting to eat it. (Home cooking was less of an appealing prospect to her and all of her chums, albeit for differing reasons in each case.)
The smile on this T-shirt, however, was an offense against nature. No one who wasn't an utter idiot would go around with such a dopey grin. So she was peeling away flecks of paint, narrowing the eyes and excising the mouth bit by bit.
Somehow, Rainbow Dash was coaxed into the wheelchair. The woman (a nurse, apparently) wouldn't let her walk on all fours, and with how hard it was to balance on two for longer than a few seconds at a time, she did need it, much as she hated to admit it. But that didn't mean she had to be happy about it. Rainbow shifted awkwardly in the seat as the nurse rolled her down the hall, trying to compensate for the lack of a tail under her rump. And the lack of wings on her back. "Ugh!" Rainbow groaned, shifting roughly and crossing her front legs (arms, whatever). "Are we almost there? You could be pushing this thing at least 20% faster
( ... )
Rose smiled sweetly back at the nurse. They couldn't exactly take her shirt away here and now, and she had lots of arguments about individual expression to throw into the works.
Besides, she'd done enough. It now smirked, with narrow eyes, rather than smiling fatuously. 'Corrie', who was as likely to be named that as she was to be named Lisa, was attempting to walk, with about as much success as a toddler, or a drunken woman in four-inch spike heels.
"Discord? Your dedication to your friends is admirable, but you won't find them here." Rose stood up, and extended a hand to the girl. "That is, it's highly unlikely."
"Oh yeah? Says who?" Rainbow grunted as she pushed herself up on her elblows and rubbed her nose with the back of her hoof hand (dang it). The muscles in her back twinged, wanting to flap wings that weren't there.
"I just saw them a second before turning into... whatever it is Discord turned me into! They gotta be around somewhere!" At least, that's what Rainbow wanted to believe. She didn't want to listen to the little nagging voice in her head that told her Discord could've spread the six of them out all over Equestria for all she knew right now.
"I take it you are another nonhuman?" Rose crossed her fingers against the next word out of the girl's mouth being troll.
Even if she was a troll, there was mocking, and then there was standing around watching an girl/troll/alien flop around on the floor. That was just cruel.
Though without her normal accumulation of inappropriately and gender-hegemonically named mangrit, she wasn't about to be able to pick her up. So she did a graceful swandive onto the carpet and wound up facing her, also propped up on her elbows. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"
Rose Lalonde, huh? Rainbow was pretty sure there was a Rose in Ponyville. But she was also pretty sure that pony was a redhead. Suddenly Rainbow realized how frustrating it was not to be able to see someponybody's cutie mark right off the bat; she could've checked to see if this Rose and that Rose were maybe related. As it was, she could only guess.
But never mind that. The other girl had said something about being "non-human"? So what, was "human" the name for what they all were right now? Guessin' so, she thought. She was going to go with that regardless. She didn't plan on being in this body for a second longer than she had to be, so she figured stopping to get the name right would be a waste of time. Though she had to admit, Rose Lalonde did a pretty decent swan dive for a non-pony. And a non-swan, even
( ... )
"I'm afraid not." Talking ponies belonged with wizards, in tales of mystery and romance and anthromorphized (but not in the furry way) animal companions to chosen children, born into peril and strife, only to rise above it all. With the help of a four-footed friend. Rose suspected certain maternal purchases to be in mockery of such fanciful notions, none of which Rose had.
That she would admit, at least. "Pony. As in hooves, mane, tail? All of which have disappearified along with your entire planet?" The planet might or might not go with the territory; Earth had been destroyed long before she'd woken up here. It was possible, after all, that the same was true of Rainbow. It wouldn't be the most ridiculous universe she could have helped create, in fact. Hmm.
"You haven't heard of anything called Sburb, have you? Wait. Perhaps you would call it Sbarn?"
She should've expected that, considering Rose was probably really a human and not a transformed pony like her. But Rainbow still couldn't help being a bit disappointed. She still had a ways to go in spreading her name outside Ponyville and Cloudsdale, it seemed.
"Uh, yeah. What else would I mean by pony?" she asked, trying not to look ruffled at the addition of "entire planet" at the end of the question (and failing pretty badly in that attempt). "And nah, never heard of that. What's that supposed to be?"
"I take it you aren't acquainted with the human emotion known as sarcasm." Rose had thought she'd heard inklings of it in Rainbow's speech; in fact, she was certain she had. Horses were such sweet animals, as long as one kept to encountering them merely in stories.
(That was unkind to Maplehoof, who had never kicked nor bitten her, but as her entire existence was proof of parental enmity, her affectionate nature had not gone as far to persuade Rose as a chance encounter might have.)
"It's a video game. A thing humans do for entertainment." Hooves. Controllers. Not really a match made in the glorious realms of the suitably apt. But this game could find a way, if it wanted to.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Course I know what sarcasm is! Duh," she answered, though even as she spoke, she couldn't think of where Rose had used it. The question about her being a pony? She had seemed kind of disbelieving while asking that, now that Rainbow thought about it, but she didn't know why that would be. Rose knew what a pony was. Why was it so weird to be talking to one? Maybe it was the Discord thing at work. It wasn't every day ponies turned into humans, after all. Did that mean Rose didn't even know Discord was out there?
She had to find out for sure, and so she breezed through the next thing Rose said. "I know lots about games, but no video games, sorry," she answered with a shrug. "Kinda not important right now, though. I got another thing to ask you: do you know anything about Discord? Or how to get outta this place?"
Wow. And not like a stupid toy with tangled hair and easily-broken plastic wings, but an intelligent person she could have a real conversation with. Even if right now she was having the usual reaction to the Institute, which didn't tell her much about Rainbow beyond the fact that she was, at least, thinking on her feet. Metaphorically.
"No. And another negative. We can get outside at night, at least for a little while, but we always wake up here." She hadn't tested that herself, but the reports were numerous enough to be believed.
"What's Discord?" The capital D was coming through loud and clear. "Or is it a who?" It didn't sound good, whatever it was.
Rose said one thing, but Rainbow Dash heard another. What she heard was not "no, there is no way out", but rather "no, I don't know a way out". Two very different things, one of which Rainbow was a lot more likely to take to than the other. Looks like I'm gonna have to ask someone else, then. Or just bust outta here by myself! Whatever works! she thought while pushing herself up onto her knees (carpet was not kind to human elbows, apparently
( ... )
A dragon? Rose's curiosity was piqued, though she showed no more than the slight widening of her eyes. Dragon of Discord. That was a name to know, if there was any connection between her universe and the Pony Universe.
"And this Princess?" A mentor? A superior? An insult, leveled at someone who only pretended to such lofty heights? "If she's here, you might want to let her know that there is no red carpet for royalty. We all have to work together." Which might be the entire goal -- she still hadn't seen anything of the other kids, and while she'd been the one that had dragged them into Sburb, she had never put herself forward as superior in anything other than knowledge.
"The main boss was General Aguilar, but he's been replaced. Re-replaced, to be exact." Or, more simply, it could be that Landel had never left. That he had always been here.
It was so. So weird to meet someone who didn't know who the Princess was. Was Rose from the Everfree Forest? Or some other faraway place like it where the natural laws of Equestria didn't apply? She would've figured everyone in the world would know who raised the sun and the moon every single day.
Before Discord started doing that every five minutes, anyway, she thought, gritting her teeth. That was another thing that surprised her now that she thought about it: the sun had been up the whole time in this place so far. No sudden day and night switches? Geez, Discord really was focusing on other things now
( ... )
Rose had heard her own voices, some slithering sussurrus and one Royal Copperplate, offering courses of action. She took them under advisement, though generally she preferred to trust no one without sufficient rationale.
"If he is, he's working incognito. That would be the man you heard on the intercom. He goes by D☺C LANDEL."
She'd made the same assumption, arriving here. That all feuds and fates rested on resuming connection to Sburb, and that this was all a sidequest or gaiden chapter in their ongoing saga. Now she wasn't so sure. Sburb had a unique, but distinctive, sarcastic mien, with a heavy fantasy basis. Whereas this seemed more stuffed with everything someone once thought was cool. John would love it, unironically. He did everything unironically, but this would be extra-unironic.
So she'd have to break this news to Rainbow. "It may not be the same man. I haven't seen a single sign of my own antagonists." The real ones, not the trolls. They were just annoying.
"Doc Landel. Got it." She could have sworn she heard a smiling face in there somewhere. Whatever, she thought. The important thing was that she had a name to go on now. "Doc" did sound kind of like a shortened and reworked version of "Discord" (if you squinted), so maybe she really was onto something here.
"Well it's worth it to see if he is or not!" Rainbow insisted. She was confident that she could lure this "Doc" out somehow. Even if she couldn't, she knew she could get away from him and his little trap somehow. She was fast enough and determined enough. Even with a freaky new body, she was still Rainbow Dash. Nothing was going to hold her back from her friends for long!
And speak of the pony devil, Doc Landel came on the intercom again shortly after all that. He didn't sound exactly like Discord, but something in that cheery tone totally sounded off to her. That had to be a fake voice of some sort. If Discord could use a fake identity and body, why not a voice too
( ... )
Meanwhile, a young girl is attempting to surreptitiously alter a T-shirt with a pen cap without attracting undue attention. This young girl's name is Rose, and she has had a pleasant morning so far. This is the first day she has had a good, institutionally-prepared, breakfast in a long time, and she needed no prompting to eat it. (Home cooking was less of an appealing prospect to her and all of her chums, albeit for differing reasons in each case.)
The smile on this T-shirt, however, was an offense against nature. No one who wasn't an utter idiot would go around with such a dopey grin. So she was peeling away flecks of paint, narrowing the eyes and excising the mouth bit by bit.
[Rainbow Dash]
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Somehow, Rainbow Dash was coaxed into the wheelchair. The woman (a nurse, apparently) wouldn't let her walk on all fours, and with how hard it was to balance on two for longer than a few seconds at a time, she did need it, much as she hated to admit it. But that didn't mean she had to be happy about it. Rainbow shifted awkwardly in the seat as the nurse rolled her down the hall, trying to compensate for the lack of a tail under her rump. And the lack of wings on her back. "Ugh!" Rainbow groaned, shifting roughly and crossing her front legs (arms, whatever). "Are we almost there? You could be pushing this thing at least 20% faster ( ... )
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Besides, she'd done enough. It now smirked, with narrow eyes, rather than smiling fatuously. 'Corrie', who was as likely to be named that as she was to be named Lisa, was attempting to walk, with about as much success as a toddler, or a drunken woman in four-inch spike heels.
"Discord? Your dedication to your friends is admirable, but you won't find them here." Rose stood up, and extended a hand to the girl. "That is, it's highly unlikely."
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"I just saw them a second before turning into... whatever it is Discord turned me into! They gotta be around somewhere!" At least, that's what Rainbow wanted to believe. She didn't want to listen to the little nagging voice in her head that told her Discord could've spread the six of them out all over Equestria for all she knew right now.
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"I take it you are another nonhuman?" Rose crossed her fingers against the next word out of the girl's mouth being troll.
Even if she was a troll, there was mocking, and then there was standing around watching an girl/troll/alien flop around on the floor. That was just cruel.
Though without her normal accumulation of inappropriately and gender-hegemonically named mangrit, she wasn't about to be able to pick her up. So she did a graceful swandive onto the carpet and wound up facing her, also propped up on her elbows. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"
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But never mind that. The other girl had said something about being "non-human"? So what, was "human" the name for what they all were right now? Guessin' so, she thought. She was going to go with that regardless. She didn't plan on being in this body for a second longer than she had to be, so she figured stopping to get the name right would be a waste of time. Though she had to admit, Rose Lalonde did a pretty decent swan dive for a non-pony. And a non-swan, even ( ... )
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That she would admit, at least. "Pony. As in hooves, mane, tail? All of which have disappearified along with your entire planet?" The planet might or might not go with the territory; Earth had been destroyed long before she'd woken up here. It was possible, after all, that the same was true of Rainbow. It wouldn't be the most ridiculous universe she could have helped create, in fact. Hmm.
"You haven't heard of anything called Sburb, have you? Wait. Perhaps you would call it Sbarn?"
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"Uh, yeah. What else would I mean by pony?" she asked, trying not to look ruffled at the addition of "entire planet" at the end of the question (and failing pretty badly in that attempt). "And nah, never heard of that. What's that supposed to be?"
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(That was unkind to Maplehoof, who had never kicked nor bitten her, but as her entire existence was proof of parental enmity, her affectionate nature had not gone as far to persuade Rose as a chance encounter might have.)
"It's a video game. A thing humans do for entertainment." Hooves. Controllers. Not really a match made in the glorious realms of the suitably apt. But this game could find a way, if it wanted to.
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She had to find out for sure, and so she breezed through the next thing Rose said. "I know lots about games, but no video games, sorry," she answered with a shrug. "Kinda not important right now, though. I got another thing to ask you: do you know anything about Discord? Or how to get outta this place?"
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Wow. And not like a stupid toy with tangled hair and easily-broken plastic wings, but an intelligent person she could have a real conversation with. Even if right now she was having the usual reaction to the Institute, which didn't tell her much about Rainbow beyond the fact that she was, at least, thinking on her feet. Metaphorically.
"No. And another negative. We can get outside at night, at least for a little while, but we always wake up here." She hadn't tested that herself, but the reports were numerous enough to be believed.
"What's Discord?" The capital D was coming through loud and clear. "Or is it a who?" It didn't sound good, whatever it was.
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"And this Princess?" A mentor? A superior? An insult, leveled at someone who only pretended to such lofty heights? "If she's here, you might want to let her know that there is no red carpet for royalty. We all have to work together." Which might be the entire goal -- she still hadn't seen anything of the other kids, and while she'd been the one that had dragged them into Sburb, she had never put herself forward as superior in anything other than knowledge.
"The main boss was General Aguilar, but he's been replaced. Re-replaced, to be exact." Or, more simply, it could be that Landel had never left. That he had always been here.
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Before Discord started doing that every five minutes, anyway, she thought, gritting her teeth. That was another thing that surprised her now that she thought about it: the sun had been up the whole time in this place so far. No sudden day and night switches? Geez, Discord really was focusing on other things now ( ... )
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"If he is, he's working incognito. That would be the man you heard on the intercom. He goes by D☺C LANDEL."
She'd made the same assumption, arriving here. That all feuds and fates rested on resuming connection to Sburb, and that this was all a sidequest or gaiden chapter in their ongoing saga. Now she wasn't so sure. Sburb had a unique, but distinctive, sarcastic mien, with a heavy fantasy basis. Whereas this seemed more stuffed with everything someone once thought was cool. John would love it, unironically. He did everything unironically, but this would be extra-unironic.
So she'd have to break this news to Rainbow. "It may not be the same man. I haven't seen a single sign of my own antagonists." The real ones, not the trolls. They were just annoying.
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"Well it's worth it to see if he is or not!" Rainbow insisted. She was confident that she could lure this "Doc" out somehow. Even if she couldn't, she knew she could get away from him and his little trap somehow. She was fast enough and determined enough. Even with a freaky new body, she was still Rainbow Dash. Nothing was going to hold her back from her friends for long!
And speak of the pony devil, Doc Landel came on the intercom again shortly after all that. He didn't sound exactly like Discord, but something in that cheery tone totally sounded off to her. That had to be a fake voice of some sort. If Discord could use a fake identity and body, why not a voice too ( ... )
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