Thistle is an earth pony character in the radioplay series Terminal Secrets. He is one of the main characters in the third episode of the series, HUNGER. He also appears in a scene in the fourth episode of the series, Tinned Mint.
Biography[]
Milliamp, sometimes referred to as "Mill" for short, was born in Stable 73 to a pair of normal parents in a very non-normal time in the Stable's history.
Emotions were running high among certain segments of the population as active measures were taking place to enforce the Single Foal Policy. Because of this, the concept of siblings was almost extinct by the time Milliamp reached adulthood.
Nonetheless, he would happen to fall in love with a sister in one such family. He loved Kali very much and very soon grew to understand the horrors of their day to day reality upon learning the story of her parents Cardus and Cirsium.
While he was initially happy when food rations went up for his career class (programmers usually received less than manual laborers), he was sickened by the cost.
This would soon turn into genuine horror when Kali came to him with an admission that she was pregnant with her second child.
She swore that she hadn't cheated on him (and a later blood test would prove the child was his), but he was completely caught off guard as he had gotten a vasectomy after the birth of their son Rusty.
They went to Kali's brother Thistle for help, whom knew that if anyone else found out, they would order a termination... which they might even make Thistle himself perform.
Reaching a breaking point, Thistle convinced them both that they had to flee the Stable. While the door hadn't been opened before, the surface world should be at least somewhat livable nearly two centuries after the war.
Agreeing, and wanting to save his unborn daughter, Milliamp programmed a special memory disk that would copy all of the data on the Overmare terminal so they could hopefully get the password for the door controls.
Once looking through the files, the three of them discovered the truth of the Stable 73 experiment. Thistle left in a rage to confront the Overmare, but the group found her dead. After overdosing on sleeping pills, the Overmare had effectively passed on the position to Kali.
As the new Overmare, Kali officially sanctioned Thistle and others to explore the surface, proving that it was indeed habitable.
In fact, the Stable was built into a hillside with many acres of wild razor wheat and other crops growing in the area.
They slowly began building up a surface settlement which many Stable dwellers transferred to, themselves wishing to escape the Stable's horrible past.
After searching through the rest of the Overmare's files, Kali and Milliamp discovered all of the listening devices lined throughout the Stable.
Once the surface food supplies were functional enough, Kali decided to reveal the truth of the microphones to the Stable populace. Following their own shock and horror, the Stable agreed on a vote to have them removed, while knowing the potential consequences.
Milliamp began cutting the camera lines and as expected the food processor shut itself down, becoming permanently disabled.
He and Kali moved out of the Stable permanently with the other residents. The horrible history of the Stable 73 was a specter that they would rather leave behind them.
Quotes[]
- "That’s the other reason we’re coming to you... We think we have a plan. We leave. We just open the Stable door and take our chances on the surface. In the worst case scenario, we all die... and put end to everything once and for all."
- "The Overmare has access to the Food Processor’s firmware? I thought that was locked down... We were told it was hardwired that way... You couldn’t change it without breaking it."
- "It’s everywhere... miles and miles of wiring hidden in the structural beams running all throughout the Stable. I’d say almost every room has a hidden microphone. How has no one found all this?"
Behind The Scenes[]
- Milliamp was voiced by long time EAST Corp actor Kirby Krackle.
- Being a programmer pony, he is named after the Metric unit for electrical current, "Milliampere" (mA).