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Prologue 3,006 words
Chapter 13,485 words
Chapter 23,862 words
Chapter 35,243 words

Chapter 1

Luna was walking briskly beside her sister Celestia, ruler of the day and fellow diarch of equestria. much had happened since Luna’s discovery last night and with the help of her sister, letters had been sent out to princess twilight and her friends. As both sisters entered the war room they were met with the confused faces of the former elements of harmony, alongside them sat a more bored looking discord who perked up at seeing the sisters enter the room.

“A pleasure to see you princess” Discord purred as his eyes shifted from Celestia too Luna. “and you to little lulu” Discord chided as he waited for a snarky comeback.

“The feelings mutual Discord, im glad you could come” luna remarked, her smile flipping Discord's face into a dumbfounded stare.

“Really?” Discord questioned as his talon raised to his chin.

“Really, we were going to invite you but we had no way of getting a letter to you on such short notice” Luna said as she walked past the still dumbfounded Discord. Both Celestia and Luna sat at the large table, the former element bearers on the opposite side. When Discord collected himself from his stupor and joined them Luna began to explain what she found, and the being that was coming towards them at an alarming rate.

“So what you're sayin princess” Applejack started,”is that this here being is the largest thing a ‘life force’ you ev’r seen,” Applejack rubbed her chin in thought, “and that it's headed straight for Equestria.”

“Manehatten to be precise darling, she said it would land somewhere near the city” Rarity piped in,” what a horrible place to land, some of the best designers live there” Rarity finished. Everyone noticed the disdain for the monsters choice of impact and sadness from the possible loss leaking from her voice.

“Is no one questioning the fact that sentient comets exist?” Twilight argued.

“I say we take the whole city” Pinkie’s forelegs moved above her head, “and push it somewhere else” Pinkie said as she brought her forelegs down to a different side of the table.

“No need, i doubt this things a giant worm looking to eat a city” Discord rolled his eyes, “besides I doubt a worm from space would be hungry for ponies, everyone knows they eat spaceships” he finished.

Pinkie placed a hoof on her chin, “I thought they ate spice” she questioned.

“Are we seriously ignoring sentient space objects” Twilight growled.

“I say we go up there and destroy the thing before it even gets here, whose with me!” dash exclaimed as she shot into the air.

“A bad course of action Rainbow Dash” Celestia chided, “without knowing what it is and what its intentions are we could make matters worse.”

Rainbow deflated at her words while Twilight simply grunted at a lack of response for her question.

“What if we just maybe i don’t know,put up a barrier” Fluttershy squeaked, her mane suddenly transforming into glass as Discord snaked around her.

“Oh don’t try to hide dear Fluttershy” Discord said,”go on and tell them your idea.”

The room darkened as Fluttershy soon found herself in the middle of the table, spotlights shown from the ceiling as she stammered her response from earlier “w-we could form a barrier, around the city” Fluttershys confidence swelled as she continued “im sure with three princesses you could easily cover the whole city and then some, I mean Twilight’s brother was able to hold a shield over canterlot” she finished as the lights faded.

“While that may be true Shining Armor used a unique spell that only he can use, not even we know how he does it” Celestia said, her head drooping slightly at her own words.

“What if we fed my brother the magic as he used it?” Twilight asked, “I remember how you transferred your magic to me when Tirek emerged, if we used a simplified version of the spell so that only the magic was transferred and not our actual mana pools I think it could work nicely” Twilight stated.

Discord grabbed Twilight’s muzzle with his paw “excellent idea Twilight, just one tiny problem” Discord’s paw reappeared in his talons, Twilight continued to rub her sore cheeks “what do we do with the still hurtling monster from space that is destined to impact our little side of the planet” he asked.

“That Discord, is where you come in” Luna said, a smile escaping her lips.

Discord looked at Princess Luna with a confused stare “me?”

“Yes you, you are the only one powerful enough to not only slow it down but redirect the creature into landing in the ocean” Luna said.

Discord stared in amusement “i'll go along with your plan, but what's in it for m-” he was interrupted as a pair of forelegs wrapped around his midsection, looking down he saw two massive teal eyes staring at him. Before Fluttershy could say anything however discord quickly covered her mouth.

“Fine ill do it, just please put away those eyes” he said before slowly picking Fluttershy up from her barrel, “it's simply in bad taste to use such underhoofeded methods” discord chided before turning to Princess Celestia, “and what would you ask of me, i don't exactly know where it's coming from or how i should exactly stop it.”

“That is a simple manner i will correct now” Luna walked slowly towards Discord “now hold still” she said as her horn was surrounded by a deep blue aura.

Discord's eyes shown with a bright light, his vision changed like the scenery around him, as he looked around all he saw were stars and the planet below. “Where am i?” he asked to no one in particular.

“You are still in the castle, however your spirit is far above Equis” Luna appeared beside him “and it is here that i wish to show you what it is that is coming towards our planet.

“I can’t see anything” Discord deadpanned.

“Of course you cant it is still too far away, what i wish to show you is the creature's life force” Luna said, her horn flashing again before an ethereal image appeared before them. “As you can see here we have the life of an average pony” a small orange flame flickered before them, “here we have an average representation of the souls of the bearers” Luna said, another flame bloomed into existence, this one burning extremely bright with a flurry of colors that mimicked a rainbow.

“Whys that one a different size and color?”Discord asked

“It is because they live lives much richer and their spirit burns with the force of the heroes of old” Luna stated in a matter of fact tone, “it is also the reason why they will live to much riper ages, and why they can pull feats of great heroism.”

“I understand” Discord crossed his hands “but i still don't see how this explains the creature.

“Im getting to that” Luna started “here we have the lifeforce of an alicorn” she said as a flame the size of those used in the equestrian games came into existence before him, the flame had an unnatural brightness to it. As Discord stared he noticed what seemed like a small mote of light within but ignored it. “As you can tell it is quite the sight, much like your own” Luna teased, however before Discord could say anything a large orb of energy appeared before him, the orb cleared to reveal what looked like a tiny sun, the fire however seemed to burn in random spouts that shoot out in different places while the whole thing gave off colors that should never exist. As Discord peared at the miniature chaotic sun he could do nothing but smile at the small mote of light residing within, suddenly realization hit him. turning back to Princess Luna and ignoring the flaming orb behind him Discord stared into Princess Luna’s eyes.

“I still don't see how this is supposed to help me understand, my dear” Discord said, his voice still uncertain of the night princess’ motives-

“Look up” Luna said, her face revealing a pained smile.

At her words Discord moved his sight in accordance with Luna's words “oh my” Discord said his voice wavering as he stared at what rested above him. All Discord saw was an inferno, a silver inferno that dwarfed every fire that Princess Luna had shown him. Discord stood stock still as he looked on, the fire captivated him with its beautiful rainbow sparks that circled the fire as if trying to capture the silver light, their dance spinning around like bugs to a lantern. Discord blinked and he was back in the war room, the girls all looking at him with worried expressions. Before Discord could say anything however his legs began to wobble before he promptly sat down on the floor. “So when does it get here?” Discord asked as he looked at the princesses with a tired look.

“1 year” Luna stated, her expression stiff “right now it drifts at the edge of our system, however it draws closer at a slow pace” she said while looking at Discord.

“Plenty of time, I can think of something by tomorrow although that's just for slowing it down” Discord said as he turned to the bearers, his smile failing as he noticed their stares “I’m not exactly sure how I'm supposed to change its course” he said softly, Discord looked down in sadness only to find the same yellow pegasus from earlier hugging his midsection.

“You’ll think of something” Fluttershy said softly, her hug tightening as discord placed a paw on her head.

“Of course I will dear Fluttershy” Discord said his smile expanding across his face “i'll have to say good bye for now, got things to do, creatures to stop and whatnot, ta ta” he said before blinking away.

“He never changes” Princess Celestia said with a small smile going across her face.

“Indeed however we have other matters to address” Luna said as she turned to the former element bearers “what will you do now” she asked.

“Well I believe were all going to rest up and prepare, after all you can never be too ready princess” Twilight said, her friends nodding in agreement behind her.

“Of course, you’ll have an express Chariot to ponyville waiting for you in the courtyard” Celestia said.

As the elements filed out of the room both princesses waited a few minutes before leaving themselves. As both Celestia and Luna walked the halls of their castle they made a swift turn into an uninhabited hallway.

“You can come out now Discord” Celestia said.

“Clever as always I see” Discord said.

“Indeed, however that is not why you are here correct?” Celestia asked

“Very true my dear” Discord replied “I’m simply here to give you my opinion on what I saw” discord stopped floating and came to a swift stop on his feet “as you may already know my magical senses far surpass both of yours, and what I found of the creature may surprise you.”

“Well what did you find?” Celestia asked.

“For starters the creature has… odd magic” Discord sighed “from what I gathered the magic surrounding the creature and the magic in the creature are two different things” both Celestia and Luna gasped “whats even more surprising is that the magic surrounding the creature while powerful isn't something to be all too worried about” Discord said, a smile forming on his face.

“And why is that?” Luna asked.

“Well for starters its the type of magic seen on high level defence wards, the ones used to completely nullify something instead of just protect against it” Discords grin faltered, “although what its meant to nullify I can't determine, the magic isnt technically a ward either because the creature is emitting the magic naturally.”

Raising a hoof to her chin the princess spoke “and what of the other magic? the stuff residing inside the creature” Celestia asked.

“That my dear is stranger still” Discord turned to Princess Luna” im guessing you've shown Celestia here the life force of the creature,” before she could speak Discord abruptly struck his face with his own paw “of course you have what am I saying, the creature itself is possibly older than me however the magic residing inside is older still.”

“How old exactly?” Luna asked.

“Older than our very solar system” Discord said grimly.

I drifted slowly, wondering where it was I had drifted too. Looking forward I noticed that I had indeed gotten closer to a star, what this small system held in store I had no idea. As I silently floated amongst the stars I thought back to everything that had happened to me in the past few years, I had been sent out of my master's domain including the events that led up to such a forced vacation.

I had been sleeping of that i'm sure, it was to help me recover my strength from the battle with the titans that I had partaken in so long ago. It had been a few centuries, millennia ‘bah’ it did not matter, what did matter was one of my masters opening up my shelter beneath the planet's crust and releasing me to the world above with one goal; to destroy the city that would dare insult one of my masters. It had started well I admit, though I wasn't nearly as intelligent as I was now yet I still feel my plan was a good one. I went in through the front gate of the port, to the dismay of those who were manning such outpost, never stood a chance the fools. Next I emerged after destroying most of the boats in the harbor, my Tentacles smashing all those running in the streets. finally my attempt to eat the son of Zeus had failed, that pesky pegasus was the cause but they are a stubborn bunch, strong fliers too. then there's the stone… not quite proud of that I must say, if only i’d been smarter as I am now I may have picked up on the scent of a gorgon roaming around. Seeing the head of Medusa was a shock i'll admit, her eyes weren’t the only reason I was petrified at the time, never had I thought that she would be slain by a mortal, demigod though my killer was it was still a small shock. Maybe if I hadn't recoiled in that moment and kept my lunge moving forward I could have taken him with me. thoughts for another time perhaps, after all it was my death that has sent me off on my permanent vacation… something I still had mixed feelings about.

On one claw I would be free to do whatever I wished, something I had entertained multiple times in the past. On the other claw I will never see my masters again, while some would say they were rather trying and demanding I did enjoy my work, afterall I used to be nothing more than a raging beast half the time and my job was to simply let loose with my bloodlust. On another claw I had been given the chance to view the worlds beyond my master's domain and could thoroughly enjoy what this universe had to offer. On yet another claw I would no longer get to enjoy the works of mortals, they may have been vain beyond measure, I would even say some were so corrupt they could give the demons in tartarus a scare… ‘that was four claws’, looking down I saw that I indeed had four limbs attached to my torso ‘I need to remember I have a different body now’ I thought to myself, while I had grown mostly accustomed to my gifts I still forgot them from time to time.

Returning to my musings I recalled the celestial sights that I had passed on my way to this system, a binary star filled to the brim with rings upon rings of asteroids, a lone white dwarf surrounded by diamonds the size of planets, all beautiful to be sure but I wondered what I would see upon reaching this system. ‘I wonder if i'll land in this system or just continue past it” I questioned to myself, my line of thought was shattered however when a polite cough came from beside me. Turning my head I saw a rather large comet, roughly the size of my torso, that was keeping pace with my slow float through the cosmos. Wondering if Athena had bestowed madness alongside wisdom I decided it best if i entertain this sudden voice in my head, “Hello” I said to the comet.

“Hello” the comet said back, his icy shell glowing in time with his voice which i noted to be that of a rather old being, his tone was filled with wisdom but I could tell he was more than what he appeared, deciding that I was, in fact, not going mad during my drift I chose to continue on with the conversation.

“How are you doing this evening” I said, just because I used to be a rage filled beast doesn't exactly mean i should stay that way in polite company.

“Good, good I saw you floating there and thought I might be able to strike up a conversation” the comet moved closer, “you aren't busy are you” the comets said, his voice rang out as both playful and accusatory at the same time.

“Not at all, what would you like to talk about?” I asked.

“Oh, id just like to tell you about the lovely system your about to enter is all” the comet said.

“Really, what can I expect?” I asked, intrigued by this sudden development.

“What can’t you expect” he said jovially “the whole place is ruled by magic, why when I first entered this system to my surprise I saw that everything rotated around a singular planet” he blared, his laugh taking over most of what he tried to say. “And then- and then, I come by a few eons later and they already have civilization” he stated with a laugh “why the only reason you're seeing me here now is that i've grown tired in my old age” he sighed. “as you can see i'm not a spry comet like I used to be, I've got craters in my craters, and fissures in my hill’s” he said in a somber tone. “As old as I may be however i feel like out of everything i've seen in my life this system has by far the most beautiful and colorful inhabitants, the sights are just as good” he finished, his tone picking up as his explanation came to a close.

“Even more reason to hope I land on that planet” I said a claw stroking my chin.

“Why hope when you can be sure, grab hold of me and ill fling you right to it” he chuckled, his icy form bumping right under my gut.

“Why thank you great comet” I said as I grabbed on with all my arms and my frontal legs.

“No need, you entertained this old rock its the least I could do” he said as his tail began to spark.

“The pleasure was mine, great comet” I said, his sudden acceleration beginning to test my grip.

“Call me Starswirl, its the name I took when I first ventured on that planet to begin with” he said with a laugh, his icy form blinking in time with his merriment.

“As you wish Starswirl, will you be descending with me?” I asked, failing to hide my excitement of a new found traveling companion.

“Im afraid not, the form I take has a bit of a reputation” he said a bit sadly, “besides I much prefer to watch from afar and get the bigger picture.”

“I understand” I sighed, my mood had dropped considerably with his statement however. The great comet must have sensed my declining mood however because his next words managed to perk me up considerably.

“So any reason you're traveling?” He asked.

“Well it's a fairly long story, you sure you wish to hear it?” I said to the comet.

“We've got plenty of time before we get there” he dismissively answered.

When I spoke again I regaled him with tales of my home world, it would take awhile to explain everything, but as he said we had plenty of time.

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