A thin, bird-like hand reached out from within the one-sided hole and curled its fingers around the corner of the frame.
“You're not Stella...” The King scowled, despite barely remaining conscious.
“'Stella'?” The unknown voice had an echo to its words; its form still obscured behind the gaping archway. A second limb extended from the void, this time a paw, seemingly from an entirely different animal than the first. “I'm afraid not.”
The creature's head was next to pass through the gateway, unlike anything either of the ponies had seen before. Its face was long and vaguely horse-shaped, though not quite, with one large fang protruding from its grinning maw, and two asymmetrical horns of different shapes and colours. Now within the alicorn's range of focus and clearly not his lost love, the King deemed the unearthly form's approach aggressive, summoning magic to his horn once more, ready to expel the invader.
“Uh-uh-uh.” The creature smirked, snapping its taloned fingers and materialising what looked like a long, off-white horn above its open palm with a flash.
The King aimed at the entity, ready to blast it back into the void from whence it came, yet upon attempting to fire a fresh beam of energy... nothing happened. Cosmos Sol was perplexed, his magic had never failed him before. Even in a weakened state like this he still had energy to spare, so why wasn't it coming out? He tried again, targeting another lethal cosmic ray at the beast. Nothing.
“Tsk. All that power in such a small body, and you can't even alter reality at will.”
The monster completed its entrance through the mirror's frame, first placing one cloven hoof on the raised pedestal, then a taloned claw. Whatever this creature was, it seemed to be made from parts of familiar animals: horse, lion, bird, dragon, goat, deer, and one of its freshly emerged wings was a bat's. Starswirl never could have imagined such an eldritch horror before today, yet even as it stood before his eyes he found it hard to believe. What had the King done?
“You know, you really do rely too much on this thing.” The abomination began to pick its teeth with the tip of the horn it now held, which King Sol had yet to realise was missing from his brow. With a grin, the creature flicked the horn away. “If that's the best you've got, I can already tell I'm going to have a lot of fun here.”
There was a malicious sneer to the creature's voice. Whatever its intentions, they were not of peace, and it had already overpowered the single most powerful pony in the castle—in the land. There was nothing he could do, Starswirl had to escape somehow. Able to think clearly for the first time since entering the portal, the court wizard cast an invisibility spell over himself just as the xenomorph took its eyes off the King and looked around the room.
“Quite a place you have here, four-legs. Bold choice to not put the glass in the windows, very avant-garde, I approve.” With a flash of light, a black beret, small opaque glasses and a fake moustache appeared on the creature's face as it surveyed the area.
“What manner of monster are you?” the King asked, giving up on his magic, yet still lacking the strength to move.
“Monster?” The creature turned its attention back to the monarch. “That's rather rude, don't you think? Do you treat all your guests this way?”
It was distracted, now was Starswirl's chance to think of an escape plan. The windows? No, he didn't want to get any closer, and the glass under his hooves would give away his position. The doors? Shut, and opening them would be far too obvious, even if he was invisible. Teleport? Where to? It was dangerous to teleport without a line of sight, but he was running out of options. He had to think.
“You are no guest of mine. I demand you undo whatever you did to my magic and leave this place at once,” the King scowled.
“Leave? But I only just got here!” The tall, thin, serpent-like body of the intruder began to move forward, descending the pedestal on its mismatched hindlegs and moving towards the King as it spoke. “And I wasn't the one who opened the door between our worlds, my four-legged friend. It would be rude to ignore such a gracious invitation, and besides-” Its body flashed, suddenly appearing to wear a gaudy tropical shirt and sunglasses. “I quite like it here,” he finished, sipping juice from an open pineapple.
The King pushed back against the wall he had hit, weakly trying to distance himself from the encroaching being, who was now leaning in far too close for comfort. With a mischievous grin on his face as he watched the hornless alicorn recoil, the creature chuckled and stood up straight, dispersing his accessories back to nothingness.
“Who are you?” Genuine fear had crept into the King's eyes for the first time in his life.
“That's better. I'm Discord; master of chaos, spirit of disharmony, and draconequus-extraordinaire.” Rays of light and doves seemed to burst from behind him, accompanied by an audible chorus of disembodied voices. He posed smugly, with all the pomp of a self-important child who had no parents to control him. As the light faded and the birds evacuated through the windows, the snake-like body of the creature bent over into a bow. “It's a pleasure.” There was that sinister smile again.
With another snap of its fingers, the two actors in this twisted play teleported to a new set created between them. Discord now sat on a mahogany and red velvet chair, wearing small, circular glasses and an argyle vest, while holding a small, nibbed object in one hand, and a papered board in the other. King Sol reappeared on a similarly styled chaise longue, lacking any costume changes besides his missing horn and an expression of surprise from the sudden relocation.
“And who might you be?” the beast asked, steepling his fingers.
Barely in control of his senses, the king grit his teeth and did his best to project an air of authority.
“I am King Cosmos Hyperion Sol, justly appointed monarch of this land, and the last alicorn in Equestria. I demand that you state your purp-”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Discord interrupted. “Demand all you like, but I'm asking the questions now.” With a flash, a spotlight appeared next to Discord's seat, which he turned on the King's face, blinding him. “Now, why did you summon me? It's not often I get a free pass to another dimension, you know.”
“This- This wasn't supposed to happen.” The king squirmed in his seat, unable to escape the madness he had brought upon the world, any pretence of control failing him. “I just- I just wanted to see Stella again. I just wanted to see my wife- my love again. I would do anything- did anything...”
While this insane interrogation was occurring, the invisible Starswirl had an idea. The foyer just outside the throne room was a large area, easy to picture in his mind, and very close. If there was anywhere he could blindly teleport to, it would be there, but he had to ensure nopony was near the doors, lest they suddenly occupy the same space. He would need to cast short-range, wide-angle, mono-directional telepathy to inform the guards, without alerting this psychotic draconequus creature.
“Oh dear oh dear, you did go through a lot of trouble, didn't you?” Discord snapped his fingers again, removing the props he had summoned and placing both participants in standing positions relative to their original spots. “It was awfully rude of me to enter your home without bearing gifts. I could have brought a fine 2356 Château Picard-” As Discord waved one arm over his other, revealing a bottle of red wine cradled against his chest, Starswirl broadcast his thoughts to those on the other side of the wall.
“This is Starswirl, the court wizard. I am about to teleport outside the door, please vacate the immediate area. I repeat, move away from the door.”
The draconequus nonchalantly tossed the freshly created bottle behind him and straight out the vacant window.
“But how about I give you something you want instead?”
King Sol's legs shook, still fighting to retain consciousness, let alone battle gravity.
“You could- You can do that?” He raised his head with some effort, trying to look the tall creature in the eyes.
“Oh, I'm afraid I can't bring her here, no, but I can send you to her instead.”
“But-”
With a snap and a flash, King Cosmos Sol was gone. Starswirl clasped his hooves over his mouth to avoid alerting the inequine monster with his horrified gasp. The unicorn's blood ran cold at this sudden and unceremonious end. The kingdom's ruler, erased in the blink of an eye. For all his pain-induced wrongdoings, he did not deserve this.
Discord chuckled to himself before turning towards the thrones.
“Let's make this place a little more... hospitable.”
With its back to Starswirl, now was his best chance to escape. Closing his eyes and picturing the palace foyer, with its large double-stairways and open landing, he prayed that the guardsponies had heard his message, or this was about to get very messy. With a brief strain, the wizard disappeared from the throne room in a sparkle of white magic, for real this time. Discord turned, sensing something, though not quite sure what. With a shrug, he returned to rebuilding the stained-glass windows in his own image and warping the structure of the room into non-euclidean shapes.
Starswirl reappeared outside the throne room doors with a similar flash, startling the guardsponies surrounding him in a defensive formation, spears at the ready. Good, they must have heard his message, or he got lucky, either way.
“What on Elysium's blue hills is going on in there?” the young, bluish-grey unicorn from earlier spoke up. “Why did you-”
“Listen to me very carefully-” Starswirl interjected. He was visibly shaken and unused to using his position of authority, but there wasn't time to pussyfoot around formalities. “The palace has fallen. The King is dead. We must evacuate now if we are to escape with our lives.”
The guardponies stared at him and each other, mouths slack and aghast, unable to process this unfathomable information. It was clear that one or two didn't believe him, perhaps even suspecting he was the perpetrator, but they knew better than to openly defy the King's right-hoof pony, especially in a time of crisis.
“I need the three fastest of you to spread out and tell as many ponies as you can to evacuate. The remaining pony is to help me,” he continued. “We may only have seconds before this entire palace is destroyed. Do whatever you can, just go.”
The four guardsponies looked at each other for a moment, still stunned, before the unicorn rookie spoke up again.
“Flash, you're the fastest, and these two know the palace better than I do. You three go, I'll stay.”
The orange pegasus looked into his junior's eyes, respecting the resolve he saw in them.
“All right, rookie. Protect the court wizard with your life.” The senior internal doorkeeper looked at the two external doorkeepers and nodded, each flying or galloping off in different directions, leaving their spears behind.
Starswirl watched the other ponies leave, feeling slightly relieved by their aid, but only slightly. Even if all the servants and guards managed to evacuate safely, this was still an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions. This was not what he wanted to be remembered for.
“Fine.” The wizard turned to the younger unicorn, who was looking at him with intense purpose. “I'm going to secure the princesses. I need you to ready the lightest carriage available and bring it outside the front doors. Can you do this?” Starswirl had never been so focused on the present before, stressed to the point of sweating. Unlike his portal journey, this was not a pleasant adrenaline.
“Yes, my lord.” The blueish-grey unicorn nodded and spun around, galloping down the stairs and towards the stables.
Starswirl hesitated for a moment, wanting to correct the stallion for calling him 'my lord', but quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind for later. Turning to the hallway, he broke into a gallop towards the nursery, praying that he wouldn't be too slow to save the children.
Slamming into the nursery door with his shoulder, the court wizard entered the room to find the children safe, for now, if clearly frightened by the sudden noise.
“What's wro-” Celestia attempted to ask, before being cut off by her wheezing mentor.
“Collect your belongings, we must leave the castle immediately.”
“Leave? But-”
“NOW, CELESTIA!”
Starswirl had never shouted at the dutiful princess before, and it left her visibly shaken, though compliant. He felt bad the moment the words left his mouth, but this was no time for pleasantries, their lives were on the line. As the off-white pegasus gathered a couple of odds and ends, he levitated the restless baby Luna from her crib and into his arm, gently attempting to coo her despite his quivering body. As soon as Celestia turned back to him, he levitated the filly onto his back, then used his magic to hold the baby above his head, freeing all four hooves for running.
Minutes after leaving, Starswirl returned to the foyer. Good, it was still here, as was he, though the throne room doors had morphed into a facsimile of Discord's head. Great, vain as well as criminally insane. He continued on and down the stairs, slipping through the gap between the already open main doors and into the palace courtyard. True to his word, the blueish-grey unicorn was already there waiting for them, harnessed into a lightweight wooden carriage.
“What in Tartarus is going on in there?” he shouted to the court wizard as he descended the external stairs.
“Later!” Starswirl shouted back before jumping into the open-topped compartment. “Go!”
With a nod, the younger pony strained as he pulled against the far heavier load. It wasn't long before the group were racing at full speed down the dirt road, away from their once majestic home. Starswirl turned to view the palace, making sure to hold on tightly to the ever-temperate Luna, while keeping Celestia from seeing the madness they were fleeing. While the building maintained its outward appearance to begin with, it didn't take long for odd objects to start appearing, or sections of the architecture to flip upside down, ignoring gravity and physics completely. Now that their lives were out of immediate danger, his mind wandered to what he never would have considered a secondary concern before: his work! Starswirl silently cursed. All those years of study, notation, collection and research... Wait! Didn't he imbue his possessions with a recall spell? Secrecy was of the utmost importance to his job, so upon travelling a certain distance from his tower, all his possessions would return to to enchanted travelling chest in his bedroom. The chest itself was as protected as anything could be by his magic, so all he needed to do was-
With a flash of white magic, a large, wooden chest appeared on the seat opposite the passengers, causing the entire carriage to tip into its weight, as their driver exclaimed in strained surprise over the suddenly increased burden. A relieved smile crossed Starswirl's lips that surprised even him; it seemed that fate had not conspired to completely destroy him today. There wasn't much he could do to save their chauffeur from the extra weight, but he could at least place the chest in the centre of the cart to balance the stress. Setting the container snugly in its new resting place, he took a moment to admire the forethought that had saved his life's work: it was a heavy-duty travelling chest made of enchanted blue mistwood and iron accents, adorned with paintings of his cutie mark on either side. Within it lay all of his worldly possessions, magically compressed into a far smaller space than they would normally occupy, though their combined mass was still exceedingly heavy.
“What in Elysium's name was that?” their driver wheezed back, trying his best to maintain their speed.
“Apologies,” Starswirl shouted forward. “Just a little extra baggage. Allow me to aid you.” He turned his attention to Celestia, who was cowering under his left foreleg. “Celestia, I want you to say here and make sure Luna remains safe. Do not look back, do you understand me?”
The small filly glanced up and nodded. Starswirl handed the swaddled child over to her sister before climbing over the trunk, which was now wedged tightly between the two seats, and onto the cushions facing away from the driver. He leaned over, now not having to shout so loud over the wind in their ears.
“I am in a weakened state, but I will use what magic I can spare to bolster your stamina.”
“Just where are we going anyway, sir?”
“Away. It is imperative that you do not stop moving. This carriage holds the two most important ponies in the kingdom, so just keep going until we reach a sufficiently remote village. I will tell you when it is suitable.”
The blueish-grey unicorn's silence spoke to his doubt, if not of their cause, then of his own ability to fulfil it. The least Starswirl could do was mitigate the latter concern. Closing his eyes, the court wizard channelled what little magic he could into their steed, easing the strain on his muscles and rejuvenating his constitution. A moment of concentration passed before the elder unicorn slumped back into his seat, his horn still glowing with the link to his junior. Starswirl's weary mind pondered whether he could still consider himself a wizard of the court, given that there was no court left to advise. He looked back at what had once been their home, now a twisted and alien construct of madness, barely visible over the hill. They had entered Canterlot Town a minute or so ago, clattering over the cobblestone road like a stampede of buffalo, while their driver shouted for those in the street to get out the way. How much they had lost... But they had not lost everything, and that was all that mattered. Feeling his stamina return and charge lighten, the blueish-grey unicorn called back while there was a stretch of pedestrian-free road.
“What did you do to me?”
“Nothing permanent, my colt, simply sharing the burden we have put upon you. With this bond, you should at least be able to run through the night.”
“'Through the night?' Just how far are we going?”
“As far as we must to keep he princesses safe from anypony who may recognise them. That creature may be interrogating the palace staff as we speak, and we cannot risk it tracking us down, or all is lost.”
The old unicorn looked down at the two fillies on the other seat. It seemed that Celestia had either fallen asleep while curled up with her sister, or was balled up in fear, trying to block out what was happening. Either way, it was better than her seeing what had happened to her lifelong home. It was slow-moving, but a creeping wave of colour seemed to be emanating from the palace, turning the sky candy-pink and the grass into black and white checkers. It wouldn't be long until the corruption hit Canterlot Town and its residents... Maybe it was already too late. Maybe they were all doomed from the moment that gateway opened.
“What 'creature', my lord?” Their steed's voice brought Starswirl back from his macabre thoughts. It was good that his fellow unicorn could not see the devastation that blossomed behind them.
“Never mind that,” he muttered under his breath. The less this pony knew, the safer he would be. “What is your name, young one?”
“Uh- Ustiarius, sir. Royal guard, third class. Today was my first day.”
The carriage swerved around a large fountain marking the centre of town, scraping the side of an apple cart as they turned, while barely managing to avoid the townsponies scattering out of their way. Now was his best chance. Starswirl grit his teeth and strained, already at his magical limit from the connection to their driver, but still capable of launching one last burst of red energy into the sky. The shot flew up like a firework, exploding in a shower of sparks that left a lasting impression of the Equestrian royal seal floating high above the fountain. The townsponies had been taught about this emergency signal, although it had never been used before, given their mostly peaceful existence up until this point. With any luck, at least some of them would evacuate to safety before the wave of chaos hit the town. Unable to do much more for the innocents around them, given the importance of extracting his wards from this situation, Starswirl turned back to their panicking companion.
“What in Equestria was that?”
“Ustiarius, right now you have the most important task in the Kingdom of Equestria: for the duration of this journey, you are directly charged with the protection of the two princesses. This effectively makes you an elite royal guard, first class. Will you do whatever it takes to ensure their safety?”
“Yes, my lord!” he chirped, with a twinkle in his eye.
This title was ceremonial at best, given the recent collapse of society as they knew it, but this stallion was young, eager and loyal, which made him trustworthy. Good.
“And please, my name is Starswirl, I am lord of nopony. The moment we left that palace, we became equals.”
“Y- Yes, my lord!”
Starswirl gave a wry smile and shook his head, straightening himself on the bench and propping his hindlegs up on the obtrusive chest. It was going to be a long journey.