Discord's Tales of Equestria

by The Patriotic Pony

From Humble Beginnings

"In order to understand how things fell apart, you must first know how things came together," said Discord. "After all, chaos is much more beautiful when you see all the hard work that went into it!

"Before Equestria came to be, ponies lived as nomads. They traveled in herds, and would roam the continent looking for food, warmth, and shelter. These were the three necessities that drove their lives, food, warmth, and shelter. Unfortunately for many of them, this was easier said than done. The continent was bountiful with food, but it was hard to gather due to its location. Much of it was either too high or too low to reach, and the plants would only feed them for a short time. Eventually, produce would run out, and any shelter, whether it was a cave or a tent, would have to be abandoned.

"They had no idea when it grew colder where, and would often wind up traveling in the wrong direction." As Discord spoke, the rug moved north to show a herd of a few dozen unicorns struggling through a blizzard, trying desperately trying to keep warm with a few weak spells. None of them had blankets, and many were so starved that their ribs showed. "Entire herds traveled north as the winter approached, hoping to find somewhere warm and safe, only to disappear into the snow... and never return." The wind picked up, and several of them fell to the ground. The snow soon obscured them from view. When it cleared, all they could see was a frozen tundra.

The rug moved back south, near Smokey Mountain. "For those who stayed, it wasn't much easier. Winter could take days, weeks, even months to clear in some places. In the meantime, food would not grow in most places. In the few that it did, competition was fierce. More and more herds started to harvest the same areas. Several of them wanted all of the food for themselves, and were consumed by greed. This was understandable, of course, but they took it a bit too far when they used force and aggression to keep other herds away." The rug showed a herd of earth ponies driving another of unicorns from a forest, cheering triumphantly. "Interestingly enough, these barbarians would create the first villages out of tents, near the crops that they claimed.

"Despite this, they were still unorganized, and their greed would have exhausted the supplies quicker than if they had shared them, had they not fought the other aggressive herds." As the herd returned, they were greeted by another. After what appeared to be an argument, they charged each other. A group of pegasi dove in from the trees. "The fighting was fierce, and when the dust settled, most of the barbarians were no more." A cloud of dirt, like the snow, obscured them from view before clearing to show the remains of a village. The tents had been ruined, their fabric torn to shreds and their supports reduced to splinters. The sad remains of several harvests could be seen, and a few ponies from the fight quickly gathered them as they scavenged the ruined camp. Many of their eyes were so wide that their colors showed clearly. Some of them trembled or muttered incoherently as they worked, beads of sweat running down their faces. Some were even limping.

"The survivors wandered off, either joining other herds, or striking off on their own. This was not a wise decision. While most of the herds were friendly, they were not the ones to worry about." The rug showed several of the scavengers being welcomed into a herd, before twisting into an image of a lone unicorn wandering nervously through a dark forest, with the only light being a faint glow from his horn. He looked behind him suddenly before leaving in a panic. "The continent was home to all sorts of horrific creatures." A shadow flashed across the rug.

"What kind of creatures?" asked Spike, starting to shake a little. "You mean like dragons and timberwolves?"

"Yes, like dragons and timberwolves, but much, much worse." Lightning flashed in the window behind him.

Spike trembled, and his eyes widened as he looked behind the chair nervously, then up at Owliscious, who shook his head. Twilight held him close, and he started to calm down. "Were they really that bad?" she asked.

"Early ponies were unorganized and unskilled, and as such were unable to use their numbers to their advantage. They also hadn't created any decent tools, as they were all focused on their three concerns. Unicorns used their magic mostly for gathering food, and most of the pegasi chose to remain earthbound. Whenever a predator attacked, the herd would often fall apart and run. When one was cornered, it was usually no match for a timberwolf. They were the least of their concerns. Hydras, manticores, cockatrices, and many other creatures roamed the land by day, and Ursas by night, hunting earth ponies and unicorns. Dragons made many pegasi fear the sky, and would terrorize the herds below. Fortunately, they could only live in these parts until a certain point. After that, they would have to move south to the warmer Badlands. This allowed the mountains they once slept in to become home to another being, one that only came out at night."

"Ursas?" asked Twilight.

"No," said Discord. "Ursas can only live in caves on the ground. You have seen only a few of the mountain-dwellers, but they are very important today."

"What are they? Where have I seen them?"

"Oh, come now!” said Discord, his voice reverting. “That would ruin one of the many surprises I have! Be patient, young princess!"

"Oh, alright... wait a minute! If there were so many predators, and so many other problems, how did they even survive? And where were you in all this?"

"Fair enough, Twilight, fair enough! I learned this much the same way you are right now, through retellings. Up until the first city appeared, that's how our history survived. I hadn't even been born yet, if you can believe that! I missed chaos at its finest: anarchy! Pure anarchy, and I missed it!"

"I can't imagine what it must have been like back then," Twilight said sadly, looking at her hooves. "Everything was horrible." Spike wrapped his arms around her. She smiled, and leaned close to him. Although he was smiling calmly, deep down, he was horrified. The knowledge that dragons, his own species…

He took a clawful of popcorn and handed it to her. He was regretting ever getting a refill.

Discord seemed oblivious, as he took a clawful himself, un-popped them into kernels, and chewed them loudly with a big smile. When he saw his listeners, he suddenly felt a strange sensation deep within, one that was unfamiliar to him.

He reached out and gently laid his talon on Twilight's shoulder. "Now, don’t give me that," he said, in the first genuinely sympathetic tone she had ever heard from him, "chin up! These were the Dark Ages, and it wasn't that way for long. After all, the Darkest Hour is always before the dawn!" He pointed down at the rug, which swirled a light blue, slowly revealing something. "Did you notice something unusual about all of the ponies from earlier? Think, egghead!" he said playfully as he knocked on her head, getting a small chuckle out of her and Spike. "Use that big brain of yours!"

Twilight thought hard, trying to remember something besides the way they acted. Then it hit her like the Friendship Express. "None of them had cutie marks!"

"EXACTLY!" He said, jumping into the air with excitement. "That's where it starts to get interesting. Everypony has a special talent, but they have to find it for themselves. When you live in a herd focused on food and shelter, you never really have time to do anything that doesn't involve those things. Yet none of them had a cutie mark in gathering food or constructing shelter, because none of them knew if they were good at it. Without proper tools or tactics, they couldn't farm or defend themselves. They just waited for the food to fall from the trees. Unicorns never experimented with their magic, and pegasi had no idea that they could control the weather."

"So how did they find out about them?" Spike asked.

"Out of the three things they looked for, warmth was the hardest to come by. No one had recorded the lengths of the seasons yet, so no one knew the difference between a cold breeze and the start of winter. To make matters even worse, the Sun and the Moon didn't rise normally. They would come and go at random times, without any warning. The winter was bad enough, but the summer had no guarantee of warmth from the sun. All of that changed early one spring." The image became clearer. Twilight and Spike could make out the faint figures of ponies gathered around a bright yellow and orange pony.

Discord suddenly snapped his fingers. A bright light blinded Twilight, and she shut her eyes immediately. A moment later, she felt her hooves hit natural ground. Opening her eyes, she found herself in a village on the edge of a forest, yet no one seemed to notice that a unicorn with a mark on her flank had just materialized from nowhere. She stood upon light brown dirt, with bumps and rocks all about the village. The tents were worn and dirty, and their fabrics were torn in some places. The ponies were dirty as well, and looked with dread to the dark clouds in the skies overhead. Spike and Owlicious stood before her, glowing bright blue. She reached out a hoof a touched their heads. Nothing felt different.

"Ah yes, I remember my first flashback," said Discord, also blue. "I did the exact same thing to my companion; just have to be sure, right? Your colors will fade in while we're here."

She looked at her hoof. It was already turning purple. "Wait, flashback? You mean we've gone back in time?"

"Not exactly. It's a little trick a magnificent conjurer made during my time. We are viewing events from the past, south of what will become Ponyville. They can't see or hear us, and we can't change anything. I thought you would like to witness this yourself."

"Witness what?"

"This is the spring that changed everything. A herd of earth ponies came to a forest that would soon bear much fruit. They set up their tents, and prepared for whatever would come their way. When the fruit appeared, they harvested only what they needed, so as to conserve supplies. Now then, to the forest! Come along!" he shouted, flying into the woods. Spike hopped onto Twilight's back, and the two followed Owlicious after him. They soon caught up to Discord, who was following a lone pony, and slowed to a trot.

"What's she doing?" asked Spike. There was little light already, but the trees made it impossible to see much of the figure, even her color. Twilight tried in vain to cast an illumination spell.

"After a few weeks, this one went into the forest to see how much longer the herd had before they migrated. This storm had been brewing all day. As it happened, it hit while she was alone in a clearing, unaware of what hid in the shadows around her."

The pony suddenly spoke. "No, which way was it? And… ugh, what is that smell?"

Indeed, a horrid odor had filled the air, and it was enough to make some ponies lose their lunch. Spike trembled as he glanced around nervously. "I know that smell. There are-" he gulped "-TIMBERWOLVES HERE!"

"Don't worry, you're perfectly safe!" Discord chuckled. "If this was dangerous, I would have left you here when I wanted to take over! After all, your magic doesn't even work." Twilight, embarrassed, stopped trying her spell.

They followed in the darkness as the thunder grew louder. The wanderer jumped as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. "I just want to go home," she whimpered. "Where is it?" She wandered in the darkness, looking everywhere as she tried desperately to find the way back. After awhile, she came to a clearing. There was more light here, revealing a dead black tree in the center, with several large branches going out in various directions. The sound of thunder seemed to shake the ground beneath them, and the rain soon followed. She shivered, and took shelter under the only branch large enough to partially shelter her. "At least we won't run out of food anytime soon," she said to herself. "There's enough apples alone to last us a few months." The rain landed on some fallen leaves in the distance, making it sound like something was moving nearby. She trembled, before realizing what it was and sighing. "'Stay strong, be brave,' they said. Easy for them to say, being as strong and brave as they are. Here I am, afraid of the dark, hiding from the rain underneath a stupid branch."

Part of the branch suddenly broke and crashed right in front of her. She let out a startled squeak, right before the rain fell on her unopposed. "Well, so much for that. I guess you and I are pretty much the same," she said to it as she rested her head on her hooves. "We're both weak against the rain, we can't get anypony food, and we're both alone and soaking wet, completely useless amongst our friends and family. Heh, don't take this the wrong way, but I kinda wish you could do something different from them, you know? Like lead me somewhere warm, somewhere dry, somewhere safe... somewhere where I don't need to talk to branches."

The howl of the timberwolves shattered the tranquil scene. "No! This can't be happening!" she whispered as she backed against the tree, tears streaming down her face with the rain. "They always said your color would attract them! But you just couldn't stand the idea of getting muddy, you foal!" Another howl came, this time much closer, and all around the edge of the clearing. Spike and Owliscious looked around, trying to find some sort of weapon or an escape. Discord leaned on a tree at the edge of the clearing, casually watching as the wolves entered around him.

"Discord!" shouted Twilight desperately. "Do something! We can't just watch!"

"I already told you, we can't change anything. This happened millennia ago."

"Then get us out of here! Spike can't handle this! I can't handle this!" Owliscious hooted in agreement.

"But then you'll miss the best part!" he laughed maniacally, as the wolves passed them. Spike reached up and covered Twilight's eyes, shutting his own tight and looking away with clenched teeth. Owliscious did the same for him and turned his own head as far away as he could.

The filly met the gaze of the pack leader, his bright yellow eyes standing out against the blackness. Their growls sent chills down her spine as they closed in, ready to finish her off. She covered her head with her hooves and awaited her fate. "Help me!" she sobbed. "Somepony, anypony, help me... I just want..." Her words became inaudible amongst her sobs.

Suddenly, as she started to feel his hot breath, lightning struck the branch before her. Twilight and Spike opened their eyes, and saw a magnificent sight. The pony looked up, and stared in awe at what lay before her. At the end of the branch, burning slowly but strongly, was a light that they now saw matched her own color. The timberwolves stepped back in shock. Some of them were even whimpering. Even the pack leader had fear in his eyes.

Twilight watched as the filly's tears stopped. The small fire had melted her fear and ignited her spirit. She picked up the branch in her mouth, and struck the pack leader in the jaw. He let out an earsplitting howl of agony as his muzzle burst into flames. The light quickly consumed him, and within seconds, all that remained was a burning pile of wood. The rest of the pack dared not approach, and retreated into the night.

"TAKE THAT, YOU SAVAGE BEASTS!" Spike cheered. Twilight couldn't help herself; she sat down and laughed with him, while Owliscious half-fainted. Discord, oddly enough, was the one who quieted them. Once they had, the trio moved closer to the fire.

She set the branch down, and sat in front of it to catch her breath and calm down. "What... what is this stuff?" she asked herself as she approached the pile. "It's bright, and warm, and it looks like-" she looked at herself all over- "me!" In the firelight, they could finally see her clearly. She was a bright yellow filly, with orange running from the tip of her mane, down her back, and on to the tip of her tail. Her eyes and hooves were also orange, and orange stripes ran along the front and back of her legs. They joined together to create an orange patch on her chest, which went up her neck until it reached her chin. From there, a stripe went to her mane's edge. All of the stripes faded into her main yellow coat. Indeed, she looked like a living fire.

She reached a hoof closer the the flames, shivering a little as the warmth spread through her. "I can't believe it! It's perfect! It's everything I ever wished for! It's- D'AAHHH!" she screamed as her hoof touched the flame. After she put it in her mouth for a while, the pain ebbed and she calmed down. "Okay, maybe not perfect. But close enough!" She picked up her branch by the other end and ran back towards the village, the fire lighting the way.

Twilight looked after her until the light faded into the distance. "Discord, did we just-"

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle. We just witnessed the discovery of fire."

Spike was confused. "But she still didn't have her cutie mark. Isn't that why you brought us here?"

Twilight turned to him with a smile, but Discord put his paw over her mouth. "Excellent observation, Spike!" he said in her voice. "You're so predictable sometimes!" he chuckled in his own. "But yes, you're right; she still didn't have her cutie mark. You see, she didn't start the fire, she just discovered it. She returned to her village to show her herd what she had found. By the time she had arrived, the sun and moon had decided to switch. Now, unless you three would rather wait, we can go on to the next morning."

"Wait!" said Twilight. "What was her name?"

Discord smiled, and held up his claws. "Fire Flame of Everfree."

Comments

[The Patriotic Pony]

3269619 Thanks! Chapter four will be out sometime next month!

[The Patriotic Pony]

3277851 HAHA! At last, someone caught that!