The Epic of Starswirl the Bearded

by zeroxwolfx

The Element of Chaos: Discord

The Lost Epic of Starswirl the Bearded
Chapter 5: The Element of Chaos, Discord

In the beginning, there were five great elements that presided over the realm. The eldest was Celestia; she was the spirit of the sun, life, and creation. Her younger sister was Luna, the spirit of the moon, and magic. The two sisters had three younger brothers. The eldest of the brothers’ name was Bu’run, the spirit of the earth. The next was Nu’run the spirit of cleansing and renewal. And the youngest of them all was U’run, spirit of spontaneity.

Together the great elements lived in harmony together. Bu’run would make a plane of existence. Celestia would fill it with life. Luna would bring that life purpose. U’run would bring that life meaning. And once the life had grown old and weary, Nu’run would let it pass, and wipe the plane clean, leaving it fresh and new for Celestia to create on it once more. This cycle of peace, life, death, and renewal went on for time immemorial; as such there was perfect balance in the realm.

One day, the sun Celestia made a very special creation, of ponies, in the land of her brother Bu’run. On this land, her ponies where happy, and lived at peace with each other. But on a certain day, something strange happened to a single pony. Hatred had festered into his heart, for something that one of his fellow ponies had done. This one pony’s hatred did not stay within himself. It spread like wildfire to the other ponies. Even in his death, hatred lingered on in his decedents, to the enemies of his decedents, and to their children. Through many years, the once great tribe of ponies had split themselves into two groups, each of them spawned from their hatred for one another.

Each group of ponies had sought death on the other. Many years would pass of endless war, with much bloodshed being shed on both sides, but with none being able to call themselves the victor. As their fighting prolonged, they each sought new and terrible ways to dispatch of their enemy. They had made abominable weapons, and great machinations; all of them designed to destroy.

A small group of ponies from the nation had finally come to reason, and seen the futility of their fighting. They left the land, and traveled far away to try and find peace from the fruitless bloodshed. After they had left, one of the nations had created a great weapon, of terrible power and magic, that they would use against the other nation, to destroy them once and for all.

As the ponies of the earth fought, the great spirits wrenched in agony. Their cycle of harmony had been broken. The two sisters of the sky wept, and in their sadness, they vowed that the sun and the moon would never again rise in this land. The eldest brother buried himself deep in the earth, trying to hide himself from the unrest that the ponies had created. In seeing his sisters’ weep, the younger brother Nu’run went to the cursed land of war, to unmake it, and because he was often mischievous and curious, the youngest brother U’run went with him. Nu’run was horrified as he saw such bloodshed and death among the ponies. The sight of it would drive him mad, he thought that there could surely be no peace upon such an earth, and vowed to destroy everything that had ever been created. The bitterness and the hatred of the ponies had corrupted Nu’run, twisting his spirit, and turning him into Numinex. The youngest brother too beheld the war-torn nation. He saw the great order they possessed, the horrible, systematic method of their killings, and their abominable machinations. U’run was too driven mad. He became Discord, and vowed to never let order take hold on earth.

As the spirits of the fallen brothers festered, the nations had taken it upon themselves to active their terribly powerful weapon. But when they had activated it, it not only destroyed their enemies, but it destroyed the entirety of the two nations, leaving the land desolate and bare, as it would remain for many eons to come. After the weapon had been discharged, it left only one thing in its wake; a small hole in the fabric of existence. It was through his small hole that Discord was able to escape the realm eternal, and come into the mortal plane. Here, in his most mighty form, the great element would spread chaos and disharmony upon the whole of the world.

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Above them was a very strange sight. The sky was completely covered with clouds as far as they could see, but this is not what was so strange. What was strange was that the clouds were perfectly green. Not green like the refraction of the light on some stormy day, but green like the greenest grass.

“Get back to your posts pegasai! You there, keep fortifying the keep! Tell the villagers to take shelter!” yelled out Commander Pamby. The townsfolk were awed and perplexed at the strange sight. They did not see the danger in a green cloud cover, but neither Pamby nor Starswirl wanted to take any chances. Pamby left the soldiers to their duties, and went to Starswirl’s side. He was repairing the villagers’ homes from the fire damage, alongside his pupil Clover. Pamby looked up to the sky “What new devilry is this?” he asked curiously.

Starswirl turned to him, “This is the beginning of disharmony” he said with a look of uncertainly. Just as he began to return to his duties, Starswirl flinched. Something wet had fallen onto his face. It soon began to fall everywhere in a steady downpour. The wetness had a strangely dark appearance to it, which simply confused the ponies around them even more. As the rain dripped onto Starswirl’s hoof, he slowly brought his hoof up to his mouth, and gave it a tender lick. Then he looked up to Pamby giving him a look of bewilderment, “Chocolate…” it was almost a question, for he hardly believed it. It was steadily raining down liquid chocolate onto the whole of the town. Starswirl looked at Pamby, then at Clover in a look of confusion. Then among the confusion and uncertainly of it all, they all suddenly burst out in laughter. The playfulness of such a dire approach was simply too much for them to ignore.

As they calmed down Pamby slapped his hoof, “So, is THIS what we have to look forward to in our terrible state of disarray?” he asked smiling.

Starswirl wiped his smile off, trying not to laugh anymore and take a more serious tone, “Now then we can’t let this small antic distract us. We must stay vigilant!” he said, before he gave another chuckle at the situation.

After a few hours of the deliciously confusing downpour, it stopped, although the green cloud cover would remain. Just as Starswirl and Pamby were working on repairing another house, another odd thing happened that day. A frog had fallen from the sky, however, this particular frog just so happened to be as big as a house, quite literally. It shook the ground as it took massive leaps across town. It leaped and crawled through town nonchalantly, much to the bewilderment of the townsfolk. Just as Starswirl has begun to contemplate this, a troubled farmer pony approached him, “Sir… I think you ought to take a look at this,” he held out his hooves with an ear of corn. Starswirl would find that a moment later, the kernels on it would all pop, turning into popcorn. He looked up, and off in the distant corn fields, a multitude of popping could be heard, the entire field gradually popping and turning into popcorn, “What sort of trickery is this?” asked the farmer, scratching his head in frustration.

Starswirl was by no stretch of the imagination expecting the odd occurrences that went on that day. He thought back to the past disturbances that the town had felt. The storm, and the earth quake had been violent; ponies could have died in them. The dragon was terrible; he would have laid waste to everything, and everyone in town. But these were what seemed like mere pranks. What sort of great and powerful deity would stoop to such foolishness? As he pondered, he looked to castle Mare Hall, and saw its ponies rush out with haste. Soon he would see why, all around the castle, plant growth was occurring unnaturally fast. Soon, the foreign trees and bushes nearly overtook the sight of the castle itself, twisting and curling around the stone. The plants looked particularly devious, but they had no mind of their own to be sure. They had simply been grown there by whatever entity was plaguing the town with these strange events.

Councilor Platinum ran up to him, huffing out angrily as she brushed away the exotic plant life out of her dress, “Starswirl, what in the heavens is all of this madness?!” she asked, more focused on freeing her exquisite dress from the creeping plants.

Starswirl shook his head, “I don’t know my lady. I was not expecting this sort of foolery to plague our town. Although I must admit that I am relieved that it doesn’t look like anypony is in any immediate danger,” he said looking around at the safe, albeit confused ponies.

Councilor moaned in protest, “Oh no, just my dress!” she said running off, fed up with the prickly plants sticking to her dress

Starswirl would soon regret his statement. As Commander Pamby approached him, a loud roaring was heard off in the distance. They turned their heads toward the sound, and heard the roaring again except now they heard many different roaring sounds, for many different creatures. They could see nothing, but they could hear the cries coming closer and closer with every passing moment. The whole town listening now, shaking in fear as they looked to the skies. From the green cloud cover dropped a large red creature, crashing down onto the square of the town. This thing before them was something that they recognized. This was a dragon, as they had seen before. He was much smaller than the great Numinex they had seen earlier, but he was still quite sizable, and he did not look very friendly.

The heavy bodied dragon waddled around the street on his massive legs for a moment, huffing smoke and grunting out. As he turned, he saw one of the frightened villagers, and let out a terrifying roar at him. The dragon opened its maw to bellow out red flames at him. At the last moment, Starswirl teleported to the villager and wrapped his hooves around him, and teleported away. As the dragon cried out in frustration, several more of his kin began to fall from the sky. They were in all sorts of shapes and sizes, some of them green, some of them fatter, or having short snouts. But they all looked very aggressive. Commander Pamby recoiled for a moment before he looked at them angrily, he cried out, “Soldiers! Arm yourselves! Get into position!” he commanded. Pegasus guards and soldiers began pouring out of the barracks with their spears, prepared for battle.

The ponies were running and screaming, trying to seek shelter in their homes, as the raging beasts pursued them. The dragons were still too big to fit inside of their fortified doors, so they clawed and beat at the houses out of frustration, lighting fire to some of them. The Pegasus soldiers formed up. As they approached one of the dragons, they simultaneously hurled their spears at him. The dragon screeched in pain, and began to fly off. Starswirl ran off into the town center, “Get them away from the villagers!” he yelled at the soldiers. Then he looked to the dragons, waving his hooves and his staff at them rapidly, “Hey you, you ugly brutes! Come here! Come show me what your made of you… you son of motherless beasts!” he taunted. It worked as a few of the dragons roared, and skulked towards him. As one breathed fire onto him, Starswirl absorbed it into this staff, and fired it back out at another dragon, to which he seemed to simply brush the flames off. Starswirl aimed his staff at another dragon, and grabbed the entirety of his form with his magic, and violently slammed him against the ground, knocking the dragon out. To the other dragons, Starswirl began to rapid shoot lightening out of his staff, making them squeal out in pain. Eventually the group of dragons began to turn tail and fly away.

A group of pegasai soldiers was getting dangerously close to one dragons fire, and they had lost their spears, “Show no fear soldiers! Drive this beast back!” its commander cried out. Just as the dragon poised to strike, it recoiled in pain as its side was struck by a magic bolt from Clover the Clever. She struck him with another bolt of magic, and he flew away, hissing at the unicorn angrily. Commander Pamby flew up in the air, “Soldiers! Form up, take to the skies! Keep them off the ground!” he shouted out. Immediately, all of the Pegasus solders flew up, guarding the surface of the town from the coming wave of lesser dragons. “VOLLEY!” the Pegasai aimed their spears up, and hurled them into the sky, striking the barrage of dragons that threatened to swoop down. Many of the dragons cried out in pain, turning back to the sky and flying away. This made things easier for Starswirl and Clover to take care of the dragons already on the ground.

One of the monsters had bitten off one of the houses door, and was reaching in, trying to get at the terrified pony inside. Starswirl heard the mare’s screams and galloped to her, he shot a powerful bolt of lightning at the dragon, sending him flying. Starswirl and Clover continued to rush around town, expelling the dragons with their strong magic as fast as they could. But in the skies, the Pegasus soldiers were soon being outnumbered. They had lost their spears, and had resorted to head-on attacks, using the force of their bodies to try and drive back the dragons, but their numbers where increasing by the moment. Starswirl caught one of them with his magic as he fell to the ground after being smacked by a dragon’s claw. Pamby was rushing into them with great fury, using the force of his wings to beat them away, “Stay in formation! Drive them back! Fiiightt!” He yelled out, trying to keep the morale of his outnumbered soldiers up.

All around him, the old pony could see that the town was quickly being overwhelmed and would not last much longer against the onslaught. He ran into the center of town, and pointed his horn to the sky. It began to glow a faint blue magic, before growing brighter, and brighter. Eventually, Starswirl uttered his spell under his breath, and a massive glowing force field began to emanate from him. The force of the magic expanded rapidly, with such power that it pushed against the dragons, driving them outside of it. Within moments, the force field encompassed the entirety of the town, even extending upwards into the sky, where it pieced the green cloud cover, giving them all a glimpse of blue sky. Starswirl fell to his knees for a moment, dazed after using such a powerful spell. A couple of the dragons tapped on the magical aurora, but to no avail. They flew off into the distance with angry roars, beaten by the powerful wizard.

Clover trotted up to her master, panting after exhausting her use of strong magic, “How… how long can you keep this barrier up master?” she asked.

“The force field is up on its own my pupil, it would take a quite a pounding for it to come down, and if it should, I shall reapply it. Is anyone hurt?” He asked to his student. As he did, Commander Pamby flew down.

“A couple of my pegasai soldiers are injured, but they will recover. It looks like the villagers got to safety just in time,” he said, brushing off the torn battle armor from himself. Upon this, they all heard a loud knocking sound, and saw the barrier vibrating above them. The noise came in three steady knocks, as if someone was knocking at a door. Starswirl looked around for the source of the disturbance, and what he found was a carved out section of his force field. It almost looked like it was in the shape of a door.

Outside of the field, they could hear a loud voice, coming from a not unpleasant sounding, creature, “Helloooo…. Anypony home?” he asked. His voice was not unpleasant, but it carried a great sense of eeriness in it. Every pony in the city could hear him. Slowly, the door-like carving in Starswirl’s barrier opened, and it walked in, “Oh, pardon me… it was unlocked.”

The creature that was before them was unlike any other they had ever seen. It had a draconic look to it, it was tall, to be sure, taller than anypony, but a bit small for a dragon. Its face was that of pony’s, albeit a rather disfigured looking pony. He had two horns atop of his head, one was swirled like that of a unicorn, and the other was an antler like that of a deer. His body looked snake-like and draconic, except that it was furred. It had one bat-like wing of a dragon, and one feathered wing of a bird. One of his arms was that of a lion, the other was that of an eagle talon. One of his legs was hooved, like that of a pony, and the other was scaled like a dragon. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this creature was the manic grin that it wore; its yellow eyes wide, and wild, and his single fanged mouth grinning widely at the ponies with a look that chilled them to the bone.

It swung its arms open wide, “HEEELLOOO everypony! You’re fearless leader has finally arrived!” he began to walk steadily down the main road towards Castle Mare hall, before he raised his arms to the confused on-looking ponies, “Now then, I know you’re all expecting a lot, but don’t worry the wonder… beautiful changes have only just begun!” He spun himself around in a circle, sliding around on the stone road like it was ice.

Starswirl was the first to approach the strange pony, or dragon, or whatever he was, “Who ARE you?” he asked, still confused.

The creature crossed his arms, shaking his head with a look of disappointment, “Well that’s no way to treat a guest…” he pressed his paw to his chest, looking to the sky regally, “I am Discord, the master of chaos! The king of disarray! The… well… you get the idea…” he looked onto all the other spectators as well as Starswirl, “… and I have finally arrived to free you from the horrible, disgustingly boring monotony of order! Oh please, save your applause for later, I still have much work to do!” With that, he stood on his tip-toes, sliding across the surface of the road. Starswirl soon came to realize why. It had been somehow transformed into a surface as smooth as glass.

Clover stepped forward next, following the creature that called itself Discord, “You… you are the one who’s behind all of the chaos that’s been going on in Equestria?” she asked in disbelief. Starswirl himself had hardly expected the wielder of such elemental powers to be quite so silly. Before he could answer, the creature stopped, and took a look around. He scratched his chin for a moment, and then snapped his fingers. In an instant, the straw rooftops of all of the hovels and houses were changed into very large, apple pies. The ponies in town gasped, flabbergasted, and hardly able to make heads or tails of what had just happened. Starswirl too looked shocked, but this was at least substantial evidence for the creature’s power.

Commander Pamby flew suddenly, in front of the path of the sliding Discord, blocking him, and looking at him angrily, “If you’re the one responsible for all of this… you killed Commander Hurricane!” He said, huffing in anger as he glared at the strange beast.

Discord recoiled at this slightly, more out of surprise than fear, “Now you just watch your tongue before you go accusing such things!” discord crossed his arms and turned his head away, “I had nothing to do with that, nor would I ever! After all, ponies aren’t very much fun when they’re dead…” he said, hardly comforting Pamby, and showing little remorse for Hurricane.

Starswirl trotted beside Pamby, looking quite upset himself, “But YOU released that terrible dragon, didn’t you? You released Numinex!” he barked, banging his staff into the ground.

Discord rolled his eyes, dropping his head lower, and looking peeved, “Oh right… him. He always was a little grim” he shrugged, and continued sliding down the road, “But I figured he was just what this place needed! You know, to spice things up a bit” Discord finally slid in front of the entrance to castle Mare Hall. He scratched his chin, raising an eyebrow, “Hmmm… this will never do…” he clapped his hands twice, and the roof of the great castle suddenly disappeared, leaving the green-lit light to piece into it, “Ah that’s much better! I always did want a place with a sunroof!” He said with a smile as he walked up to the door. With a snap of his fingers, the door completely disappeared. And he walked in absent mindedly. Councilor Platinum was there, trying to block his path. Before she could say a word, discord touched her head, with a slight zap of magic; Platinum went hazy-eyed for a moment. When she came to, she sat on her hind legs, and began to pant with her tongue, and wag her tail like a dog. She barked up to discord, and followed along-side him, “There’s a good dog! You’ll be plenty company for me here while I make a few changes to my new kingdom!” He said exuberantly. He walked into the grand hall, and clapped his hands twice, a large, and ghastly looking throne appeared before the room, which he sat upon, crossing his legs, and patting Platinum on the head.

Starswirl, Clover, Commander Pamby, and a troop of Pegasus soldiers burst in. Commander Pamby shouted at him, “Discord! I don’t care what manner of beast you are! I demand that you leave this land!” he said forcefully. Discord appeared to ignore him. At this, Pamby pointed at him, “Soldiers! Spear that thing!” He commanded. They all flung their spears at the usurper, but just before striking him they all turned to flowers, and harmlessly fell at his feet.

“Oh, what service! What a reception! Please, my subjects, you’re too kind!” He said, waving at them and blushing as he mocked them. Discord grinned as he looked down at Pamby, “Now, if I remember, you used to be quite the cowardly little pony Pamby… I think that would be MUCH more entertaining for me! Go on then!” Discord snapped his fingers, and Commander Pamby appeared right before him. Then he touched him slightly on the head, just as he had done with Councilor Platinum. Pamby’s eyes went wide for a moment, and a look for terrible dread came across his face. All of his former courage sank away, and the once inspired Pamby darted away from Discord, shrilling loudly. This shocked the Pegasus soldiers, they looked over at the confusing dragon-creature, not quite sure what to do next. Discord would make that decision for them. “Ah, my royal guards!” he clapped his hands, “To your posts my minions!” The regal and fearsome Pegasus soldiers were all teleported in a row along-side Discords throne. They were all also bouncing up and down uncontrollably on large bouncy balls. Discord relaxed, putting his hands behind his head, “Ahh… now this is a much better sight, wouldn’t you say so my pet?” he asked looking down at Platinum.

Starswirl approached the dragon confidently. He slammed his staff into the ground, gathering the attention of all, “Discord… you are NOT welcome in these lands. Take your chaos, and be gone!” he said in a booming, commanding tone.

Discord grinned at this, “Oh, what new game is this? I love games!” He hopped up off of his throne, and squinted at Starswirl, “Alright little wizard, I’ll play your game… I don’t want to leave this place, it’s too much fun… what are you goanna do about it?” he taunted Starswirl.

A magical aurora began to emanate from Starswirl. His eyes began to glow as they did before, and wind began to whip around him spherically, “If you do not leave here by choice, then I shall remove you by force! I destroyed Numinex, and I shall do the same to you!” he said, his voice was echoing throughout the entire town by now as the very walls of the castle began to shake.

Discord shook his head with a smile, “Oh you poor ignorant pony. That grim old dragon wasn’t exactly… all here, if you catch my drift. And besides, you didn’t really destroy him anyway.” He grinned at the wizard, “But I can assure you, I am all here, and if you want to make things more exciting for me, then go right ahead. Fire away!” he said, raising his arms, baring his chest to the pony before him, pushing the ensnared Platinum out of the way.

Starswirl aimed his staff, and his glowing horn at the draconequus, and fired a massive, deafening bolt of lightning at him. After the blast, the throne of Discord had been evaporated, nothing was there where he once stood, save for a circle of black charred stone. Starswirl lowered his staff, breaking a sigh of relief, when someone leaned down on his back, “Wow, now THAT was cool! Hey do you think you could teach me how to do that? I mean, wow what a show!” he said. Starswirl immediately withdrew from him, backing away into the wall, his eyes wide with disbelief.

The Draconequus smirked at him, “I thought I told you that I was the new ruler of Equestria? Equestria… that doesn’t sound right… I am the new ruler of DISCORDIA!” he said loudly, before looking down to Starswirl grimly, “And all your magic powers won’t change that, little pony…” he said with a diabolical look on his face. This quickly changed to a more cheerful one, “Oh but I forgot, I’m still playing your game! Now it must be my turn” he looked up, thinking for a moment, before an idea sprung into his foul mind, “Let me see what I got here, this ought to work…” Discord pointed his finger at Starswirl, and a bolt of lightning, identical to the one Starswirl shot at Discord, now shot at him. The old pony was blasted backwards, crashing right through the stone wall of the castle, and clear across the entire town, cratering into the burnt area of the farmlands.

The wizard’s body was aching and nearly broken as he had crashed into the earth. Why he was not dead from such a powerful blast was beyond him. The only reason he could think of was that Discord simply did not wish to kill him. With his limbs aching, was able to just bring himself up to his front hooves. In a flash of light, Discord appeared before him again, a mere apparition of his actual self, “Well, that was a fun game. It looks like I win” He smiled devilishly at the beaten wizard, “Perhaps it would be less painful for you to simply accept my rule little pony. Embrace the chaos! Really, it’s not so bad when you get the hang of it!” he said smiling.

Starswirl had just enough effort, and willpower left in him to lift up his staff, trying to strike him once more with all the energy he had left. As he did, Discord lifted his paw up, in a grasping motion. Starswirl’s staff began to glow, and it began to burn his hooves. Discord grasped his paw shut strongly, and the staff in Starswirl’s hands exploded in a brilliant flash of light, knocking him on his back, and leaving his hooves burnt. As he lay there in the burnt fields, a look of dismay, and terror struck the old mages face. At this moment, he knew that he could not defeat this foe before him. He knew that whatever sort of being he was, he would not fall by mortal means. Starswirl was completely, and utterly hopeless to defend the ponies of Equestria. Discord glowed with excitement as he saw the pony fall down in despair, he began to laugh manically, “Well well well, it looks like disorder will finally take hold! YOU LOSE OLD PONY! And Discord wins!!” he rolled over in laughter, before standing up to wipe a tear from his eye, “Ah I do love these games, especially when I know that I’m going to win!” a look of boredom came to him, “But… now I grow weary of this game. It’s been fun greybeard, but I have some chaos to attend to,” he snapped his fingers, and his ghostly apparition disappeared.

For the first time in his life, Starswirl the Bearded, the great and powerful wizard, the wielder of the greatest magic anypony had ever seen was in complete and utter despair. As he lay there, with his face in the burnt earth, he was without hope, with reason to continue, and without a way to save the ones he cared for. The old pony lay there for what he felt where hours. It was not often that ponies lay with their ears so close to the ground, and less often that they should ever been in such a great time of need. But in this moment, he thought he could hear the earth speak to him, “Do not look full of sorrow my little friend, for I will be here when you need me, and when the time is right, you will come to know my elder sisters. And do not forget, that there is magic, in the peacefulness of your lands below my mountain…” He was not sure if it was his own memory that spoke to him, or if it was truly the voice of the dragon, but whatever it was, it made him lift his head from the dirt, and from despair. He laid his eyes upon Mount Canterlot, and he beheld a small, but very bright pillar of light, that shone through the green clouds, and onto the entrance of the great cave. Against the protests of his aching body, Starswirl arose onto his hooves and against the forces of despair, a single mad hope made him begin to stride forward, toward the mountain. He looked up into the heavens, at the brightness of the pillar of light, “…the sun is our mother, and it brings life to all things in the world. She’s up there, always watching over us” Starswirl strode quicker, with more and more purpose in his stride. As he walked, he looked to his left, he beheld a small hole through the green clouds, it was the moon, pale and blued by the day-lit sky, “I believe that she has her own spirit that guides us during the dark times in our lives”Now, with the guidance of the two sisters in the sky, and the great spirit below him, Starswirl made his way for the final time to the top of Mount Canterlot. This would be the last great journey for Starswirl the Bearded, his final quest to bring harmony to the land of Equestria.

To be Concluded with Chapter 6: The Two Sisters and The Elements of Harmony