The Origin Of Chaos
Clover The Clever visited Greybeard at his home late one evening, clearly displeased. It was written on his face, a deep frown and a furrowed brow.
Greybeard knew immediately what the meeting was about. He let the frustrated head of the Council of Magic in and invited him to sit in his living room. Clover reluctantly sat in a large red armchair placed near the middle of the room as Greybeard took a seat in a matching one beside him.
“I take it Clover that you are here on account of the constellations that I’ve released from their imprisonment in sky. I assure you that I DO have a good reason for this. You see-“
Clover raised a hoof, cutting him off.
“I do not care to hear the reason, Greybeard. First you cast that spell giving ever pony in Equestria a Cutie Mark. Now THIS.”
He rubbed his forehead as a headache started to form, clearly stressed about the whole ordeal.
A few moments of silence passed between the two then Clover said, “You are to be detained here in this house until I can figure out what to do. Do you understand? And I’m locking your magic casting abilities until I come back.”
Clover cast a spell that contained Greybeard’s magic and then glared at him, a deep frown on his face.
“It has been done. Now stay here and keep out of trouble. Do you understand?”
Greybeard nodded.
“Yes, yes, I do understand. But just so you know I used the ancient runic magic so they can’t be returned to the sky. It’s permanent like-“
“The Cutie Marks.” Clover finished, clearly unamused.
“Well I guess I’ll have to get some unique help for this problem. If the constellations can’t be returned surely they can be contained. In any case stay here and keep out of trouble until I return.”
Before Greybeard could answer, Clover left in a great huff, slamming the door behind him as he left.
Greybeard let out a heavy sigh as Clover stomped angrily down the entryway to his front door and disappeared from sight.
“Well I guess I’ll be stuck here a while. I’ll get to organizing my library then.”
With that he went to a large library at one end of his house and set to work organizing the books one by one.
Now Clover had returned to the Council Of Magic building. Shortly after he arrived, he summoned a group of powerful magic users and heroes to meet with him.
This unusual band of heroes had originally been brought together as a force for good by a unicorn named Stygian.
Stygian had gathered them from across the kingdom not too long after Clover and Star Swirl had found the two Alicorn princesses Luna and Celestia to rule over the land. The heroes were gathered to help protect the newly formed kingdom of earth ponies, pegasus ponies and unicorns
This new group was called the Pillars Of Equestria. It was made of a powerful unicorn named Mistmane, an earth pony with unusual strength named Rockhoof, a pegasus named Flash Magnus, a pegasus named Somnambula, an earth pony named Mage Meadowbrook and Clover's master Star Swirl the Bearded.
Clover sighed heavily as he looked over the group of assembled heroes then said, “I have brought you all here because Greybeard has once again cast an irreversible spell. He’s currently being detained in his house and his magic sealed until the Council Of Magic can deal with him.”
Somnambula rolled her eyes
“That old wizard cast ANOTHER irreversible spell? Didn’t he learn anything from the last time?”
Star Swirl chuckled, in spite of himself.
“Knowing my old friend I would say it is impossible for him to follow the rules. I would also say that, while eccentric, he usually has the best intentions for what he does. For example, casting the Cutie Mark spell allowed Clover and I to locate Princess Luna and Princess Celestia one year ago and begin to train them to be the future rulers of this land.”
Clover frowned.
“Be that as it may, releasing the constellations from the sky really is one of Greybeard’s most absurd exploits yet. Whatever his reason was, we can’t let them reign terror across Equestria. That’s why I have gathered you all here. We must find a way to at the very least contain them. Otherwise the kingdom could be plunged into chaos.”
Mage Meadowbrook bowed humbly then said, “Me and the other Pillars would be honored to help. I’m sure we can think of some way to contain these beasts.”
The other pillars bowed and also pledged that they would aid in helping to protect Equestria.
And so it was, the group left to solve this new threat to the kingdom and Clover was left to ponder what in the name of the sun and the moon they were to do with Greybeard when things were all sorted out.
It was now week four and the Pillars of Equestria had managed to discover a way to contain the constellations.
Mistmane and Star Swirl cast a sort of containment spell that would compel the wandering constellations to keep outside of the towns and cities and remain deep in the forests and other terrain across the land.
Meanwhile, Rockhoof, Flash Magnus, Somnambula and Mage Meadowbrook teamed up to protect Star Swirl and Mistmane from any attacks from the constellations as they worked together to cast the spell.
This required travel to many areas so the containment grids could be drawn at each location around the kingdom and the spell could be cast.
There was one of these containment rituals that went a bit awry however as an Ursa Major attacked the area in the middle of it. Rockhoof immediately jumped to the defense of his friends and swung his giant shovel, sending the Ursa Major high up into the heavens.
“Well would you look at that, I sent him right back up to Star Kingdom. Maybe this spell is not as irreversible as that old wizard Greybeard claimed!”
Rockhoof’s friends didn’t have the heart to tell him that he most likely just knocked it clear to the other side of the forest that surrounded the town, so they congratulated him for his bravery and said little else as Mistmane and Star Swirl finished the containment spell.
After months of casting these spells and warding off the rogue constellations one by one, it would appear that their efforts were a success.
The constellations seemed to retreat from the surface land and make their territory the cave systems that ran under Equestria. They were disinterested in journeying up to the surface as the darkness of the caves reminded them of their home in the night sky.
So Equestria was more or less saved from the attacks of rogue constellations and the Pillars Of Equestria returned to the capital city to tell Clover that their work had been done.
Now a few months later, the council of magic was gathered inside of Greybeard’s home. They all made sure to detail the trouble he had caused for them and the hard work that the Pillars of Equestria had to do to contain the constellations into the network of caves underneath the land.
The pegasus Astra, who was famous for conjuring and controlling great storms on her own resisted the urge to zap Greybeard with a jolt of lightning as she said, “Really Greybeard you have caused so much trouble for us all in such a short amount of time. We are really at a loss of what to do with you.”
The earth pony magic wielder known as Cestrel, who was famous for her potions, nodded in agreement.
“That’s right Greybeard. Although your Cutie Mark magic spell helped to locate Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to rule over the land, your recent antics have caused nothing but trouble for us!”
Zander, who was famous for his enchantments chimed in, “Months it took the Pillars to contain the beasts, and you look not worried in the least.”
Clover raised an eyebrow towards Greybeard.
“Well, do you have have anything to say for yourself?”
Greybeard was silent for a moment but then let out a sort of ominous laugh before he said, “While you were away I spent some time organizing my library. I came up on a very ancient scroll…one that taught me a powerful magic a containment spell won’t be effective against. However to learn this magic it came at a cost. I must become one with the chaotic magic.”
With that, Greybeard slowly transformed into a terrifying beast. He still had the head of a pony and a mane resembling that of a horse. But he had grown a deer antler on the right and a blue goat horn on the left. His mouth grew one long fang. A snake tongue appeared behind it. His eyes morphed into two yellow different-sized pupils. He grew a goat beard and white bushy eyebrows.
His right hoof morphed into that of a lion, the left hoof changed into a claw of an eagle, his right leg changed into that of of a lizard, and the left leg transformed into that of a goat. He then grew a bat’s right wing on the right and a Pegasus’ wing on the left. He grew a dragon-like snake’s tail with a white tail tuft. His body was serpentine and he now looked above the council with a mischievous grin on his face.
Clover the Clever stared up at the hideous creature in disbelief.
“Greybeard…what…what have you done??”
Greybeard grinned, causing his newly developed fang-like tooth to peek out out from his mouth.
“I have become what I’ve always meant to be. The Lord Of Chaos. And by the way, Greybeard is such a boring name. From now on I will be known as Discord. Mark my words, this will not be the last you see of ME. Once I have mastered this chaos magic I will return to Equestria and test it out. But for now, I’ll bid you all a fond adieu “
And with that Greybeard…now known as a terrifying creature named Discord...snapped his clawed appendage. A swirl of magic appeared above him and he floated up into it as the rest of the council members could only stare after him in complete and utter shock and amazement.
It would indeed be a good number of years before Discord returned to test out his Chaos magic on the land. But by that time Luna and Celestia had grown into powerful Alicorns and worked together to seal him in stone with their magic, stopping his reign of chaos over their subjects.
In this age the Pillars had long disappeared, where they went no pony knew. But the Council of Magic still remained.
Clover The Clever often visited the statue of Discord displayed in the Royal Garden and would lay flowers at the base of it. He’d shake his head sadly, mourning the loss of both his mentor Star Swirl and his companion Greybeard, who had transformed into the Lord Of Chaos, Discord, all of those years ago.
There of course was no other choice but to encase him in stone. He had chosen to become one with the chaotic magic and use the power for evil instead of good. So no other option remained.
Still, Clover hoped that maybe one day his one time ally could be reformed and be a force for good.
For now the only thing he could do was visit the statue occasionally and hope that there would be a day in the future he could be reunited with him and the two could once again discuss magic together over a hot cup of tea as friends.