To anyone who finds this message, know that my time is short as I write.
They are coming, their fleet is massive, and their weapons are frightening.
In Embryous' name please warn Equestria.
War is coming, and I fear for my country.
The ship's captain glared at the ominous message, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"And you're sure there are no more spies hiding onboard?" his voice was like gravel being ground against... more gravel.
"Positive, Captain," his first officer's voice sounded more like gravel against bananas, "we checked everywhere we could think of, and there was no sign."
"Idiot!" the Captain rounded on his squishy-voiced subordinate in anger, striking him heavily across the face, "The spy must have been aboard the ship from the time we left Crete three weeks ago, if he could avoid detection so long then there's no way of knowing if another is onboard!"
"O-of course, I'm sorry sir!"
"Go and search again, we can't allow word of this operation to reach the Equestrians, don't forget that the weather is their plaything!"
"Understood, sir!" the first officer turned and fled from his superior's cabin as though he were fleeing death.
It's not like he was wrong to do so however, as he'd seen five first officers before him 'lose their station' so far on the voyage.
As the door slammed shut, the captain grew pensive.
King Minos had intrusted the Helios, greatest of the Minotaur warships, to him and he had no intention of disappointing his King.
Meanwhile in Equestria, the citizens lived in ignorance of the aproaching theat, unaware that their relatively peaceful lives were going to be thrown into chaos.
For what, like the fifth time now? Sheesh, they'd better be used to it by now.
"Let's end this, Wilhelm!"
" You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that?"
"You were never meant to be in this world to begin with!"
"I got the Crystal Heart!"
"Quick, one at a time, cross!"
What is this? What are all these voices?
"Humans, mere humans are rejecting me? Impossible. It is unthinkable."
"You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!"
"You think you can decide who lives and who dies?"
"That is mine!"
"Raaargh!"
I don't understand, what's going on?
"You must destroy Zarathustra!"
"It creates the sixth element: the Element of... Magic!"
"You should never have existed in the first place!"
"The Crystal Heart has returned, use the light and love within you to ensure that King Sombra does not."
"I'll never make it!"
That voice... It's familiar. But how?
"That does sound like you, Yeshua."
"No! NOOOOOOO!"
"Kill me if you like, I... WILL NEVER CEASE TO EXIST!"
"What? No... No! Stop!"
"Pbbbbth!"
Why does nothing make sense anymore?
Master...
<CANTERLOT CASTLE SECRET CHAMBER>
<ONE WEEK AFTER GHIRAHIM'S WELCOMING PARTY>
Once again had Twilight Sparkle, Queen Embryous, and Starswirl the Bearded Royal Alicorn Legendary Mage Guy, gathered together in an emergency meeting, and were surprisingly joined by both Princess Luna and Queen Chrysalis.
"I apologize for calling you all here on such short notice," Starswirl intoned ominously, "but it seems as though the situation with the latent insanity energy was not resolved as completely as we had hoped."
"What latent insanity energy?" Luna asked angrily, rounding on Embryous, "Mother, why was I not informed of this?"
"Why were you not informed?" This time it was Chrysalis whose anger boiled over into words, "I'm the eldest, why was I not trusted with this information?"
"Did the invasion of Canterlot somehow slip your mind?" Twilight Sparkle snapped, "You haven't exactly shown much loyalty to your mother!"
Chrysalis was about to open her mouth when a voice of authority pealed out "Stop it, all of you!"
All eyes turned to Embryous as she continued gravely, "Luna, we did not summon you as to not distract you from your studies of the time since you were sealed, and Chrysalis, you have your own subjects to look after, there was no reason to call you knowing that."
An awkward silence filled the air for a moment, but it departed gleefully when Twilight Sparkle next spoke.
"Then what has changed since the last time we met?" the anxiety in her voice was mirrored in the others' expressions, save Embryous, "You said the latent insanity energy was gone."
"It is, but the problem of today lies in yesterday's solution," Starswirl's face was pained as he spoke, "I can only blame myself for this, I should have anticipated this outcome."
"No Starswirl," Embryous' voice was soothing as she sought to placate her son-in-law, "none of us could have predicted this, Chaos isn't something we can plan for."
"Chaos?" the three who were still in the dark spoke at once, but only Luna continued, "But I thought you had defeated Sunset Shimmer for good."
"Even though she was defeated, the power of Chaos is eternal," Starswirl responded gravely, "and without a master, that power was set free by our rashness."
"That still doesn't explain the problem," Chrysalis cut in pointedly, "Mother, how did Sunset Shimmer become Discord in the first place?"
Enbryous sighed, as pain flashed across her features, "I suppose you all deserve to know the truth.
"It was after Chrysalis left to found a new Changeling nation, I was proud of my daughter, but also very lonely once she left, so I decided to go and live in a pony settlement not far from the old Changeling capitol, and the site of modern-day Canterlot.
"I disguised myself as a unicorn, and slowly gained acceptance into their community, but even surrounded by those wonderful ponies, I was still lonely."
Embryous smiled as she continued, "It was then that I created Luna, in the form of a young pegasus, I claimed to have found her on the road and taken her in, which ended up drawing some more attention than I'd planned for."
At a nod from Embryous, Starswirl continued the story, "I was no longer a court mage at the time, and so I was wandering from place to place, not truly caring for where I ended up, it just so happened that I was passing through when Embryous had 'adopted' her daughter."
"To say they hit it off would be and understatement," Embryous continued, ignoring Luna's growing blush, "somehow or another, it ended up that Starswirl was living with us, and that's where Sunset Shimmer came into the picture."
Starswirl's expression hardened as he picked up the tale, "I had long since stopped taking apprentices, but every so often a burgeoning mage would take it upon themselves to try and convince me otherwise, Sunset Shimmer however, was particularly dogged in her pursuit of my expertise.
"Eventually, I found that I couldn't stand her propositioning any longer, and so I begged Embryous to take her on in apprenticeship."
Starswirl chuckled, his features finally softening, "Even though I had no idea of her true potential, I had seen enough to know she was exemplary."
"At the time I didn't think much of it, but all it took to convince Sunset Shimmer to be trained under me was a show of magical force, all power, no technique, I had thought it was because of her inexperience, but in truth she desired nothing but power."
"Eventually, I grew curious of Luna," Starswirl changed his expression to pensive at this statement, "Despite watching her for years, she never changed from the young mare I'd first met, and when I chose to investigate her, I found out the truth.
"Luna was not a pony, but a being of pure magic, created from the very essence of life, in short, she was immortal.
"I was already an old stallion then, and I knew that my time was limited, but with the prospect of an eternity with Luna in front of me, I knew I had to act to attain her status, so using Luna as a template, I crafted a temporary vessel to store my body and consciousness until I could ascend to become as she is."
"So you chose the form of a tortoise?" Twilight inquired incredulously, "It doesn't exactly sound like the best form for doing research."
Starswirl laughed openly at that, "You have a point there, Twilight Sparkle, but I must ask you to forgive me my sentimentality, I knew I was taking the slow path, so I chose my vessel to reflect my dedication to reaching my eventual goal."
"That doesn't answer my question," Chrysalis was fuming as she spoke, "you still haven't told us how Sunset Shimmer became Discord."
"Uh Chrysalis," Twilight interrupted sheepishly, "there seem to be fumes coming out of you."
"It's a Changeling thing!" the still-fuming Queen snapped.
Embryous spoke up once more, to avoid further conflict, "After Starswirl disappeared, Sunset Shimmed was gone not long afterwards, Starswirl had always been her goal in the end, and it was three months after she left that Discord rose."
"From what we were able to piece together after Sunset Shimmer's destruction," Starswirl explained, "It seems as though she found a sort of nexus point of Chaos energy, and absorbed it into herself."
"But then what happened to the Chaos energy when she was destroyed?" Twilight Sparkle seemed afraid as she spoke, "There's no way it was just sealed up again, right?"
Embryous breathed deeply and sighed before speaking, "Unfortunately, the Chaos Nexus was left unconnected and practically unnotice-able until the latent insanity energy event.
"And also, when we opened the portal to diffuse the energy, it was more than just a Demon Lord that entered our world."
Starswirl eyed the rest darkly, "A new Spirit of Chaos has been born and is running free in Equestria."