- Outside the particle barrier, in the region that will become the Badlands, the mighty nation of Kentaur, immediately after landing.
The Centaur civilization had thrived for a millennia or more, its great cities and grand culture were considered one of the great wonders of the world. When the skies had lit up a few hours before, many of their greatest artists had captured the moment. Celebrations had begun, and messages sent by magic to those living abroad in the colonies and other nations described the event to others as akin to the glory of gods. The Centaur nation of Kentaur was the center of their civilization, set upon the borders of The Grand Wilds and the Caldera of the Moon; its history was represented in every structure within its borders.
It had withstood wars, famine, battles of gods, and the fall of the third moon. It was the location of vaults filled with knowledge that were considered treasures of their own, great works of art, and some of the most brilliant minds and scholars on all of Equis. It was a nation that in its own way was the glue that held the world together, and kept war to a minimum. Its loss was considered impossible, after all it had survived the fall of moons and the fury of gods. No power from this world stood a chance of destroying Kentaur.
So as the great falling tornado of that glorious neon aurora that split the sky came closer, the Centaurs did not worry about it impacting their nation. As it grew larger and larger, a few select groups began preparations to save the nation from losing its valuable knowledge and culture. Activating teleportation arrays, the great treasures of the centaurs were sent to vaults far beyond their borders for safe keeping. Some families used their private teleportation devices or shields to move to a better location to see the back side of the neon aurora anomaly, or to shield their eyes from the intense light.
Overall though, few actually realized the danger that was coming until it was almost upon them. When the first mountain was crushed beneath the magnificent aurora, the sound reverberated across the nation like the wail of a banshee crying for the nation's fate. Like a switch had been turned on, the centaurs realized the impending doom moving towards them in the form of those brilliant colors; a massive tornado of light, beauty, and death,
Evacuations were begun, but few made it out before the hull of the ship within the aurora sliced through the outlying towns like a knife through yak butter. Chaos erupted as the centaurs tried to escape the stunningly beautiful death that was quickly making its way towards them. As plumes of destruction rose up like tidal waves caused by an enraged leviathan from the Aurora of Death as it would later be known, the populace desperately attempted to escape it. The Royal family sent its youngest son through a teleportation array right before the central core crystal was annihilated by the colorful force from beyond and its plume of destruction. As the core crystal that powered the array shattered, that youngest son would be the last centaur to successfully escape the doom of the nation by teleportation array unscathed. His older brother who followed immedietly after him would not be so fortunate.
Within milliseconds of the activation of the array for the elder son, the core crystal's magic broke free, and the chaotic magic storms began.
Appearing in the far flung castle of Night Gleam, The young centaur watched in horror as his older brother who had been right behind him screamed. Scorpan's body was rent in half by the teleportation array failing mid transport, his wound cauterized by the intense magical field that rippled from the array in waves. It did not lessen his pain, nor the trauma endured by his brother Tirek. But he did not die, the poor young centaur instead was forced to watch as his older brother was forcibly and horrifically mutated by the wild magic fields from the sparking array.
His missing lower section was rebuilt in a macabre manner as magic created living sinews from the energy loosed from the shattered core crystal. Bending and twisting, tendons formed into two deformed limbs and a long prehensile tail coated in scaly fur and ending in hooves split into talons. His back stretched and bent outwards, the skin extending then tearing free as wings bones formed from shoulder bones. Skin growing and shifting around the poor former centaur, as leathery wings replaced his strong equine lower body. His face stretched and deformed, becoming akin to a gargoyle's as his forehead formed two protrusions that burst free of the skin; growing into twisted horns. Tears filled his eyes as his mane grew wild and free, rendering his body unrecognizable.
Through it all Scorpan screamed, agony writhing through his form as the alterations settled and he became a creature so unlike what he was. His nerves on fire, his blood twisting in the air as the wild magic of the core refused to let any material go to waste. In a way the core crystal's essence was trying to save the poor centaur, however without directive and shattered into shards and fragments that were strewn across the landscape it had little hope of truly succeeding. The grotesque mockery of what he had been was the result, and the poor young former centaur's mind fell into a state of shock as it ended. Overwhelmed by the unfathomable pain of his transformation so soon after the agony of losing over two thirds of his body, he passed out, still screaming and wailing in his unconscious state for a few very long minutes.
Tirek stood, frozen to the spot as his brother was transformed in a torturous manner. Unaware of alterations to his own body, as his once almond skin turned a deep red and his fur shifted from a beautiful slate blue to a deep almost black grey. He did not notice, shock overwhelming him, as his face too deformed and horns ripped outwards from his skull. As fangs grew from his jaw, and he grew taller and more muscular than any centaur his age should be. Finally, he reached out a hand towards his brother Scorpan, and seeing his deep red orange hand with talon like claws where his manicured fingernails had been; the young centaur let loose a traumatized scream that resounds through the castle and beyond in a voice akin to a demon.
Far away in the now smoldering remains of Kentaur, as the last of the ship and the aurora effect it caused moved away and entered the Caldera of the moon; millions of cries echo across the nation. The survivors would be fewer still in the coming hours, as the chaotic magic of the shattered core will mutate many of them into monstrosities. Those who remain unaffected by the magical mutation will be forced to flee Kentaur, many will not survive the journey; hunted down or massacred by the fiends that were once their family and friends.
Of the population of fifty million inhabitants of Kentaur, only twenty thousand escape the ruined and devastated nation alive and unaffected by the chaotic mutagenic affects of the crystal core. Of those, none are aware of the locations that the treasures and knowledge of Kentaur were sent to; the ones who knew were among the first to mutate after the core shattered or have gone missing.
The Kentaur refugees have no way to rebuild, no resources to call upon; and few options. In this time of great need an old Ally agreed to assist them, the king of the Gargoyles allows the refugees to settle upon a territory by the sea on the edge of the Gargool kingdom. The whereabouts of young Tirek and Scorpan unknown, the leadership of this shattered now nationless kingdom falls to their elder sister Elpisa. She becomes a beacon of hope in this dark time, and though the nation of Kentaur never becomes the power it once was; Elpisa manages to rebuild it and hold the nation together in the time of its greatest peril and tragedy. She is remembered as a hero by the new nation of Centari for all time, as well as its founder.
This event will be known as "The Day of the Dread Aurora of Death", and sagas of the heroic and horrible acts of that day will be told throughout history. Artwork capturing the event will become legendary, and the barrier that blocks all that appeared shortly afterwards will be considered an act of divine intervention.
Myths and lore will obscure the truth of that day, or at least what those who lived in Kentaur believed to be truth. Millenia later, Tirek and Scorpan shall reemerge and attempt to conquer the world. The time between his disappearance and return are shrouded in mystery; though legends from the time describe beings similar to the two travel and doing great things before succumbing to a force of darkness.
Other nations suffered as well from the after shocks of The Legacy's landing. The Fey kingdom of Avalon suffers a disease of corruption that ends in the banishment of an unusual type of Fey shifter mutated by the core crystal's unleashed energies. They change their name to Changeling, though initially fair in appearance time will turn them into rotten, hole ridden, black chitin covered emotional vampires.
The Yaks deal with the awakening of the Coyote and Raven, whose battles and games throw the nation into chaos. The Sea Empire of Oceanica suffers from the "feral sickness" that causes almost an eighth of its population to mutate into monsters and go utterly mad. Forced to exile them to the trenches and seal them away, the Empire splinters into three factions as a result.
The Dragons watch as the eldest of their kind turn to stone, swallowed by impenetrable magic that covers their scales and bodies forcing them into a deep stasis slumber as "living dragon mountains.". The loss strikes them to their core, though they seem not to notice the changes occurred after an elder dragon disappeared after journeying to the Kentaur Void Barrier never to return.
The ponies suffer less than the rest, still bring rather primitive; though the wild magic speeds up their evolution by a few millennia. It is indeed tragic that those who were so aided by this event and were wholly innocent shall suffer under Tirek in the future. The rest of the world suffers greatly in their own ways, too many indeed to describe in detail. However one common myth shall arise in each nation, one core memory of this horrible event fueled by the hopes of beings from beyond.
The legend of the Deadly Aurora shall be told in every nation, in many ways, for all time. Though it shall fall into folklore, the eventual disappearances and "flying gem lights" shall be attributed to the entity behind the Deadly Aurora. For generations uncountable all shall steer as clear as possible of the Kentaur Void, or as it will later be called when one day a gargantuan mountain appears where the Void once was; The Mountain of Demons.
In time what remains of Kentaur, the once indomitable nation, becomes known merely as The Badlands. A place where great mystery exists, and terrors from that time and beyond still roam. Where a mountain that is impossibly large stands where the Dread Aurora of Death disappeared so long ago.