Dr. Keifer looked for the appropriate train car, passing a few doors that had the words Maintainance, Cargo, Military, Restaurant, Bar, Nightcar, Hotel, Lounge and several others over it. He soon came upon the door to the appropriate car which was labeled 'Passengers' and hurried into the train with Tirek and Cozy Glow following in tow. The doors, as expected, opened automatically, and the three of them entered the train.
The inside of the train was just as luxurious as everything else. The interior was completely white, as expected, having white walls, white leather seats with cup holders, and a white light. The seats were arranged in a way that there was one singular row on the left, and a double row on the right. The odd thing was that the windows were completely black when Tirek and Cozy Glow were looking through it from the outside of the train, but were completely transparent when looking through it from the inside. The back floor was lined with a fluffy white carpet that felt extremely soft and comfortable upon Tirek and Cozy Glow's hoofs. At the back of the car was a wall with a door built that looked to be made out of a high quality wood, and crafted to perfection, being completely flat and straight and having an excellent contrast of different shades of browns. On the wall beside the door was a label which said, 'Lounge'.
Tirek and Cozy Glow sat next to each other in the double seats, with Tirek taking the window seat. The seats were soft but uncomfortable due to them being designed for bipeds rather than quadrupeds. The doctor took the singular seat next to them.
A few seconds after they entered, the doors closed automatically, followed by Alise's voice coming on, "Attention all passengers, welcome aboard Snowpiercer. You are currently on an express course to Central Cryogenics Sector 1. Wilford industries thanks you for choosing Snowpiercer and we hope you enjoy your ride."
"Doctor Keifer?" Cozy Glow asked, which got his attention.
"Yes, Miss Glow?" Keifer answered.
"What's a president?" Cozy Glow asked.
"Well, the president is the leader of the United States of Utopia, or USU for short. It is a conglomeration of many pre-flood nations, and is currently the most powerful nation in Utopia, if not the world," Keifer answered.
"So he's your king?" Cozy Glow asked.
"No, he's a democratically elected leader," Keifer answered, but continued to elaborate upon seeing the confusion on the young pony's face, "He is a chosen leader, appointed by the citizens of what used to be the United States of America. Elections are held every four years, and the president is elected by the people and for the people."
"You use democracy as a form of government?" Cozy Glow asked surprised, "I always thought of democracy as a way to choose class monitors and stuff like that."
"It is the same concept, but on a larger scale," Dr. Keifer explained, "Speaking of which, how old are you? You seem very young, but I have no way to properly gauge your age because I have never encountered your species before. And while you're at it, would you mind telling me what species you are as well? I know Lord Tirek is a centaur, but I do not know what you are. Are you a horse, or something else?"
"A horse?!" She asked, offended, "I'm a pony!"
"Ah… a pony…" Dr. Keifer said, "Still a type of horse."
"Excuse me?!" Cozy Glow said while Tirek snickered, "I'm nothing like a horse!"
"You look like a horse," Dr. Keifer stated.
"And you look like a monkey!" Cozy Glow retorted, which caused the doctor to shut up immediately while Tirek burst out laughing, "And I'm fifteen."
Once his laughter died down, Tirek asked what was on his mind, "So why does your… president need my help?"
"It is the president's daughter. She is under the effects of something we call chaos radiation, which causes the human body to undergo harmful mutations," Keifer explained, "And I believe that this chaos radiation is the same as what you call chaos magic. The radiation is still lingering in her body, doing more harm every passing second. You told Miss Glow that you could absorb this 'chaos magic', and we would like you to suck all of it out of her."
"Let me get this straight. You want me to steal her magic?" Tirek asked, confused, "And not just normal magic, but the most powerful magic there is?"
"Já, it's killing her," Dr. Keifer said, "Keeping her frozen might slow down the process, but only by a few days at most. She will be dead within minutes of exiting cryo, unless you help her."
"I will gladly assist you in helping your president's daughter," Tirek said, "You don't have to tell me twice to steal some magic."
"Excellent!" Dr. Keifer said, "It seems there are good people in your world. We might not have to go ahead with the reset operation after all."
"Reset… operation?" Tirek asked.
"Oh, nothing to worry about - " the doctor paused, "- Probably..."
It was then that the train came to a stop, and the voice of Alise came from the speakers once again. "Attention all passengers, you have arrived at Central Cryogenics Sector 1. The floor you are currently on is floor one. Wilford industries thanks you for choosing Snowpiercer. We hope to see you back here again soon," Alise said before going silent.
"Let's go," Keifer said and they got off.
The doors opened to reveal something completely unexpected to Cozy Glow and Tirek. There were hundreds of humans standing in the train station, all wearing full white. Most of their outfits were all exactly the same, featuring clean white t-shirts, white track pants, white socks, and white shoes. The ones that weren't dressed in white were dressed in full black combat gear, most of them holding rifles and glancing around menacingly, while the ones that weren't holding rifles directed people into the train. Several men in lab coats were also present, most of them paying attention to the iPads which they were holding.
The station was loud, with sounds of chatter coming from all around, much like a school canteen. All chatter stopped however, upon them noticing Tirek and Cozy Glow. Everyone turned towards them, with the scientists looking at their iPads and the soldiers all turning their piercing glares of pure justice towards them.
Dr. Keifer, however, just dismissed them, "Yes these are aliens. No, they aren't any of your business. So get back to talking, scientists please resume staring at your iPads in an attempt to appear busy and important, and soldiers continue standing there menacingly and looking around."
He turned his attention back to Tirek and Cozy Glow, "Ignore them. There are much more pressing matters at hand than the people staring at you. Let us continue forward."
They made their way out of the train station and into the hallway. Unlike the previous residential floor area, this floor was teeming with activity. Men in lab coats walked back and forth, looking down on iPads while humans in strange skin tight suits emerged from the rooms. The hallway looked pretty much the same as all the others, but instead of clear windows with the blinds closed, the windows that lined these walls were tinted blue, and with no visible curtains or blinds.
"Hello, anyone there?" Keifer spoke after tapping the side of his earpiece.
"Hello, hello? Uhh, Dr. Keifer?" The voice replied.
"Is that Keifer?" A voice was heard in the background.
"Yes, sir. It's Keifer sir," the first voice replied.
"Give it to me," the other man said, sounding closer and more distinct, and Keifer identified it as president Atticus, "Hello, Keifer?"
"Yes sir?" Keifer replied.
"What's taking you so long?!" the president raised his voice in frustration, "You get your ass over here, NOW!"
"Yes of course, sir, but I still do not know where you are," Keifer replied.
"Chamber 8, and be snappy about it!" the president shouted before the line cut off.
As they were making their way to the designated location, Tirek looked into one of the windows, and found hundreds, if not thousands of metal casings shaped like pea pods. Some of the pods looked to have a sheet of glass over it, while the ones that didn't have the glass coverings were empty.
Cozy Glow looked through the windows on the opposite wall. She saw one of the glass sheets slide into some unseen compartment. To her surprise, it revealed a human that was lying inside of it, looking to be asleep. She watched as steam began emanating from the inside of the pod, and one of the men in lab coats rushed over to check up on the man inside the pod.
"In here," Keifer said before he entered a large open door and Cozy Glow and Tirek followed him in.
Inside, laid thousands of cryogenic pods, stretching as far as the eye could see. The room was, as expected, white, with the pods arranged in a circle around and connected to pillars that delivered power to them.
Central Cryogenics Chamber 8 was bustling with activity, with doctors checking up on the newly awakened and soldiers directing people out of the chamber. In the distance, a bunch of pods were sealed off by a sheet of plastic, and people in hazmat suits were seen entering and exiting the makeshift containment that was set up. On its exterior, there was a radiation sign, and below it were the words 'DANGER RADIATION'. It would have been more impressive to Tirek and Cozy Glow, but after what they had seen so far, they expected as much.
Dr. Keifer looked around, and managed to spot the president and his wife, who's daughter was in a nearby pod. They were surrounded by four secret service agents and about a dozen doctors, one of which they were talking to. One of the secret service agents spotted Keifer, and made his way over to him.
"I'm guessing that's the president?" Cozy Glow asked upon noticing the crowd.
"Dr. Keifer?" the agent asked upon reaching them, "And… a horse and a centaur?"
"They're with me," Keifer confirmed, which did nothing to ease the agent's confusion.
"Very well, come with me sir," the agent said and began leading them to the president.
The president noticed them approaching and turned his attention towards them. "Dr. Keifer? Oh, thank God!" the president looked at the other doctors, "Give Keifer the details."
"Good day, Mr. President. I've brought someone I believe can assist your daughter," he stepped aside, revealing the centaur.
"What the fuck, Keifer?!" Atticus asked in outrage, "You brought the fucking human slaver… to help a human?!"
"He's her only chance," Keifer said, "And he said that he would gladly help her."
"If I may, president, I would be more than happy to stea- help remove the chaos magic from your daughter," Tirek said.
"No, you may not!" Atticus turned towards him with an expression of fury, "How the hell do I know I can trust you?! You said your kind partakes in slavery for God's sake! And the people you enslave are humans!"
"You can trust me because absorbing the magic of others makes me more powerful," Tirek said.
"Já, his species has apparently evolved to utilise chaotic radiation in some… unique ways," Keifer explained.
"I don't care! I'm not letting one of these savages have anything to do with my daughter!" Atticus screamed in anger.
While all that was going on, Cozy Glow had managed to get close enough to sneak a peek through the glass of the pod. What she saw came as something completely unexpected.
"Your daughter's a draconequus?!" she asked in a surprised tone and all attention turned towards her, "What? It's just that… I thought Discord was the only one. And no offense but a species that is nearly devoid of magic being related to one of the most powerful beings in existence is kinda weird."
The expressions of the doctors present, including the president, suddenly changed to one of surprise and worry, their mouths agape. The expressions of the secret service agents, on the other hand, did not shift at all. They were confused at everyone else's surprise, but they didn't show it.
"How do you know about the draconequus project?" Keifer asked, "That was supposed to be top secret. Not a single person outside of those involved should know it exists, let alone someone from an entirely different species that we had no prior contact with."
"Draconequus project?" Cozy Glow asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Once it was discovered that chaotic radiation gave people some… abilities, we held a project to expose them to more concentrated doses over a longer period of time," Atticus answered, "We were trying to create a superhuman which would have access to these abilities by putting them in a separate bunker and exposing them to chaotic radiation in higher doses. Of course, the people involved were all volunteers. But you already know all about that, don't you?! Seeing as you were SPYING ON US!"
"I have no idea what you were talking about," Cozy Glow said, "A draconequus is what Discord is. It's his species!"
"Elaborate!" the president commanded.
"A couple thousand years ago, Discord - " she was cut off by Tirek putting a finger to her lips and shushing her.
"I'll tell you all about Discord… if you give me her magic, that is," Tirek pointed at the pod that contained Eris. He smirked at Cozy Glow, and she smirked back at him.
"You do know we can have that information tortured out of you, don't you?" Atticus said dismissively, "I hear electrical waterboarding is almost guaranteed to make you talk."
"Well, if you want to save your daughter, you're going to need me," he said.
"I'm sure we can find other methods," Atticus said.
"Well, you can always take your chances with Princess Twilight Sparkle. She's very experienced with magic, though I somehow doubt she'll help a bunch of humans," Tirek paused upon seeing them listening attentively, "Well, assuming we are under Tartarus, since that's where you emerged from, you can find her in Ponyville. It's just north from here, she lives in an entire town full of the beings that enslave you."
"So, leader of the slavers, that lives in a town full of slavers… or a convicted felon," Atticus said, "I think human medicine is much more advanced than whatever you can provide."
"It's not medicine. It's magic," he said, and the president let out a chuckle.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he said, "You can teleport and move stuff with your mind."
"Mr. President, sir," Dr. Keifer said, "He was under the effects of truth serum when he made that claim."
"Wait, wha - " Cozy Glow was cut off as Keifer began to speak again.
"I highly doubt he's telling the truth, but on the off chance that he is… he's her only hope," Keifer said.
"I'm sure you can - " the president was startled by Keifer raising his voice.
"No! I'm sorry sir, but it's too bad. If this doesn't work, we can't save her," Keifer said solemnly.
"Fine, I've made my decision," he pulled a handgun from one of his agent's holsters and pointed it at Tirek's head. "If you try anything, you die," he undid the safety, "If you fail, you die."
"Sir, please - " one of the doctors tried to reason with him.
"No, no. He seems very confident, so let's give him a chance, shall we?" he said before directing his attention towards one of the doctors, "Open it."
"Yes, sir," he said and tapped a button on the screen, and the glass slid off, revealing Eris.
Her face was round, similar in shape to a regular human, but being purple in colour. Instead of having a regular one, her mouth was replaced by an orange beak. From the side of her head, two ram horns protruded, which was shaped into a spiral that went around multiple times. Her hair was now made up of multiple colours, and was curled instead of straight. The white suit concealed most of her body, but what was visible were a pair of regular human arms and a pair of two-toed bird legs.
"Get to work," Atticus said.
Tirek opened his mouth, preparing to suck Eris's magic, but before he could, he disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
Everyone turned towards Cozy Glow and she shrugged, "Wasn't me who - " before she could finish, she disappeared as well.
"Well, this is awkward," one of the doctors said.
"Magic," Atticus chuckled dryly, "Fucking magic."
"Believe me now?" Keifer asked.
"Well, what in the bloody fuck do we do now?!" Atticus asked rhetorically.
"I believe that the centaur told us about a certain pony princess?" Keifer said.
Already loving it so far.
You just had to pick that name...
10919200
Someone got the reference! My life's work has been achieved.
Snowpiercer was a really good movie. Thanks for reminding me of the best chrysalis moment. "I will defeat twilight sparkle and her friends, hmh naah"
XD
Also I swear if your going to have some sort of romance between eris and discord at some point, I hope it goes right, and not awkward or cringy.
DISCORD GOD DANGIT.
God dammit discord! you couldn't have waited a little while
10919208
I mean, now they have two secretly emerging threats to deal with... so she might defeat them...
Or piss of the Utopians
10919210
I have never written a romance, ever. So if I did, it would probably be cringy.
But don't worry, I'm not going to.
Reset operation?
I’m not seeing how that’s different from humans.
What kind of abilities are we talking about? Because, I may volunteer.
Wait, isn’t eris a female discord?
When you think about it that is a lose lose situation.
I doubt all the races on Equestria are aliens, but you could make the changelings alien hybrids, or ancient ponies who were infected by magical-infused bugs, other than that, I believe chapter focusing on the perspective of the ponies prior to meeting the humans of Utopia should happen.
No, go ahead the good ones can be relocated
Or reset can be done to some parts of the world
Okay, then how the hell does Discord name himself a Draconequus, and how do others know what his species is !?
He lived for 2 thousand years or something.
Draconequus was supposed to be a secret.
I would understand if some human on the surface when the flood happened was lucky like if he won a lottery and transformed himself into Discord, but it doesn't make sense for him to know what he is
Okay either create an army of Draconequus or detonate anti-magic EMP and kill Discord
Will we expect Snowpiercer to be one of the way humanity makes contact with Equestrians? As it could be resistant to the chaotic radiation.
10919289
Oh... I thought it would have been pretty easy to connect the dots lol.
Minor spoilers:
Basically discord was one of the people chosen for the Draconequus Project. So that's why he called himself a draconequus. You'll get to know more about it in the next chapter, or the one after.
10919294
The chaotic radiation has dissipated enough for them to survive with the immunity they developed through gradual exposure.
10917346
While that is true I would have expected them to look at that immediately as that seems like it would be the only thing that would kill people off besides engineering problems. It’s the first thing I thought of when people were reported dead. Otherwise I’ve been enjoying the story so far.
10919312
But how long ago it was done?
Also why no one noticed a missing human?
I had my suspicion about that but I didn't accept that because I think it's obvious that would be stupid to happen.
10919332
They didn't check up on the project yet. They were too busy getting utopia in order.
And as for how long ago, that's some major spoilers. I plan on having an entire chapter dedicated to discord and the project.
10919338
Kind of a stupid decision that no one would do in reality.
You literally bath a human in radiation that killed most of humanity that can give enormous power and mutate the body.
And you don't check it?
10919344
At this point, it's been less than a day since they woke up. It's a top priority, but there were more pressing matters.
And then they discovered alien (or technically locals). So gaining information became a top priority. They could have waited a day, maybe even two, before they checked up on the project.
10919318
They needed time to do the autopsy. And they had only told the president about the leak when they found out his daughter was one of the victims. Doesn't mean they didn't find out earlier.
wait what, isn't that Tirek?
Actually, it's a double row of seats to the left and a single row to the right side of the train according to the provided image. That is, unless the trains seats we facing toward the back of the train, which would seem a bit odd, no?
My theory was somewhat confirmed
Utopia is the most powerful nation in Utopia, if not the world? Did you mean the president is the most powerful person in Utopia, if not the world?
This guy is an idiot. If they're not supposed to know about this project, then stop telling them about it. He could've just asked her what she thinks a draconequus is. This goes for the reset operation all other sensitive things he's been telling them as well.
You mean tirek not discord here
I was kinda of hoping for Tirek and Cozy to stay and help, and later overcme their prejudices because they stayed so long with the humans
Yes! Do that! More content for the viewers :D
10919476
Just like the united states of america isnt america as a whole the united states of utopia isnt utopia as a whole
did you know pizza pockets can be used as highly effective projectiles
10920064
Should I make that a new superweapon? Launch a weapon into space that can lauch pizzas at high speeds, at anyone, anywhere in the world, from orbit?
Dang it, Discord!!!
You know I just thought of something else, that the 1000 years is also when Luna went nightmare so I’m almost getting the impression that she turned because of the war itself or the aftermath of the war. Like she didn’t want to enslave the humans but because of political expediency celestia overruled her on it because everyone else was getting slaves at the time.
ch2
number of dead changes from statement to statement.
"Three hundred and seventy four" then "Three hundred and twenty four" then "three hundred and seventy four" again.
It's been a million years and they think biology will still be similar enough sedatives would work and does later they give medicine and truth serum also without consideration or unexpected results
They are allowed to wake and move about on their own when in any realistic scenario someone would have been there immediately trying to talk with them.
ch6
Even if they were built on the remnants of humans language would drift so much as to be unrecognisable over a million years time.
ch7
I just want to point out how crazy it is that they all ended up using ipads which is not shorthand for tablet but specifically apple's tablets.
Her name is eris? seriously? She was just beaten to death by fate huh?
Whatever happened to the radiation leak? Has that been handled? How can they even have one if it has all degraded to being harmless over the last million years?
The asteroid could easily be said to be a ship but they don't like chaos magic either so why would they have so much of it with them? As a result it seems to make more sense to be a "evolution (2001)" scenario but with radiation causing unusual changes in the local life rather than alien life.
What seems unusual to me is this thousand years bit it keeps being inferred that they had civilization prior but no timeline is given to that like they coexisted with the humans until they decided they wanted to rule everything.
What happened in the previous 999,000 years that caused nothing interesting to happen until the last 1000?
The only scenarios that make sense with the sun and moon moving are either its an illusion or magic is overpowered bs.
On that note anything involving discord is usually overpowered bs as his main schtick is lying about not being able to help because he is super OP.
If the next chapter shows discord is responsible for the unexpected teleport how has he been around all this time without anyone knowing he used to be a human?
10920105
Yes high orbit pizza cannon it will be like Oden from cod ghosts
Will the rest of the Legion of Doom play a big role in this story? (this includes Discord)
10920854
Maybe. Well, I might make them play a big role, but maybe not main character level big.
I'll go get the tranquilizers and breaching charges
11086980
Don't forget about the Anti-materiel rifles
I've been ignoring this for a few chapters now, but truth serum, while real, doesn't exactly work like that. How it does work is by baking you extremely tired during an interrogation, nearly falling asleep in the chair, you lower your guard. Then interrogators can ask specifically worded questions in that almost asleep frame of mind, and often times, the captive will let slip some secret information.
Sure, they could have modified or improved truth serum in the half dozen years between the time I write this and the time humanity had to seal themselves away, and there are all the secret things the government is doing, but I can't help but think it would be unlikely to advance to thqt point in such a short timeframe.