A grey unicorn sat at a table in a cluttered room, reading to himself. His blue eyes scanned over the words like a dance, keeping him in a trance. He levitated a quill and dipped it in some ink. He scribbled down on some paper, not peeling his eyes away from his book. It was quiet, just how he liked it. No distractions, no noises, just silence.
The door slammed open, making the unicorn jump in surprise. He turned around to see a white alicorn in her early teens. She had a distressed look on her face and her light pink mane was a mess.
"Starswirl, Luna put a spider in my mane again!" The alicorn said in a frightened tone. Starswirl let out a sigh and stood up from the pillow he was sitting on. He levitated a large hairy spider from her mane. The alicorn scrambled backward at the sight of it.
"Luna, stop putting spiders in Celestia's mane," Starswirl stated firmly. A smaller blue alicorn walked into the room with a grumpy frown on her face. She was much younger than Celestia.
"But Staaaaaarswirl, what am I supposed to do? The castle is so boooooring." Luna whined out, lightly stomping her hooves. Starswirl rolled his eyes and levitated the spider into Luna's hooves.
"This place isn't boring at all. You can read, learn new spells, take a nap. Anything that's not too loud." Starswirl instructed. Luna grumbled and rolled her eyes.
"Fine," Luna muttered in annoyance, turning around and walking down the long hallway. Celestia turned to face Starswirl with a mildly annoyed look on her face. Her annoyance wasn't directed to Starswirl.
"Thank you Starswirl, Luna has been bothering me all day," Celestia said in a soft grunt. Starswirl gave a small smile. Celestia always wanted her peace and quiet while Luna wanted to have adventures. Starswirl was waiting for Luna to grow out of her hyper-activeness and settle down in life like her sister. He shouldn't expect much from Luna yet, she was still young.
"Keep an eye on your sister, I want to study in silence," Starswirl ordered. Celestia nodded her head and walked away from the door. Starswirl closed the door, letting out a sigh of relief. Finally, peace and quiet. Starswirl walked over to his desk and sat back down on his pillow. He fixed his posture and found where he left off in the book. Now it was time to get back to work.
Starswirl sat at his desk, tapping his head with his hoof. He had spent hours trying to figure out a solution to a spell but couldn't figure it out. He usually was able to figure out a spell in less than two hours but this spell stumped him.
It was supposed to be a spell to help find ponies' destinies without the whole cutie mark hassle. If ponies got the spell cast on them at a young age, they would never have to find their special talent and could get to work right away.
"From one to another, another to one. A mark of one destiny singled out alone, fulfilled." Starswirl repeated for the thousandth time that day. It didn't make any sense. The words were there but the spell just wasn't working. Starswirl let out a frustrated shout and picked up his journal. He threw it against the wall, making it let out a loud smack.
Starswirl let out a sigh and ran his hoof through his mane. He stood up from his desk and turned around. He could work on the spell again tomorrow. Starswirl walked through the cluttered room, stepping over books, scrolls, and quills. He exited the room to see that it was night. The large glass windows no longer shined sunlight and Starswirl could see hundreds of stars.
He gave a small smile. He had recently taught Celestia how to raise and lower the sun. Since Luna was so young, he didn't teach her to raise the moon, but he taught her how to make stars. She had done a great job that night. Starswirl closed his office door and walked down the hallway.
He hadn't checked on Celestia or Luna in hours but he trusted them to make good decisions. He left Celestia in charge so he had no need to check on them. Starswirl knew that Celestia had fed Luna and put her to bed at this point. He was training them for their futures. He knew he wasn't going to live to see both of them grow up so they needed to be independent.
Starswirl walked down the hallway, making his way out of the castle. He lived a few minutes away from the castle. As much as he loved Celestia and Luna, he couldn't spend a whole day with them. Today was one of his days off and he still had to stay in the castle with them to watch after them.
Starswirl walked out of the castle and inhaled the crisp night air. The air smelt like leaves and grass. The castle was in the middle of a forest. It wasn't too dangerous due to creatures being repelled by a protection spell he had cast. No wild animal could come within a fifty-mile radius of the castle or his house.
His hooves crunched under the grass as he walked towards the back of the castle. He saw a multicolored blur from the side of his eye, making him freeze in place. Was that a wild animal? Starswirl shook his head at his dumb thought. That wasn't possible. He continued to walk, ignoring the movement he saw. His mind must have been playing tricks on him. He hadn't eaten or slept in a few days.
The stallion made it to the back of the castle to see his house several yards away. It was nowhere as big as the castle but it was rather large. Starswirl's ears twitched when he heard a childish giggle. That was definitely odd. He had visual hallucinations before but never auditory hallucinations. Starswirl's head snapped to face the direction of the giggle and he started to look around.
When he didn't see anything, he inhaled and walked faster. All of this was just his mind playing tricks on him and he just needed to go to bed. Another giggle came from behind him, sounding a lot closer. Starswirl moved even faster, starting to run. He was utterly terrified.
Relief washed over Starswirl as he saw his house just mere feet away. There was a small flash of light inches from him, making him stop in place. Starswirl rubbed his eyes and blinked rapidly, not expecting the light. Once he regained his vision, his heart raced at what he saw.
There was an odd creature in front of him. It looked as if it were a mix of different creatures. It was small and looked relatively young. Starswirl had never seen anything like it.
"BOO!" The creature shouted. Starswirl let out a high-pitched scream, scooting backward. The creature let out a loud laugh, clutching onto its sides. Starswirl hyperventilated, catching his breath. What was that thing? It couldn't be a wild animal, it wouldn't be able to be this close to the castle. Realization hit Starswirl. He had discovered a new type of creature! Starswirl had always dreamt of discovering a new creature but never left Equestria to do it.
The creature's laughter died down and he looked up at Starswirl with an amused look on his face. Starswirl looked around to see if he could find any other creatures like the one he had just found. When he found nothing, he looked back at the creature.
"Where is your kind?" Starswirl asked. The creature stared up at him with large eyes and shrugged his shoulders. Starswirl puffed out his cheeks. This might be a slight problem. He had no adults to study. He just had to work with what he had.
"Well since you're alone and presumably have nowhere to go, do you want to stay with me for a few days?" Starswirl asked. The creature smiled happily and nodded his head. Starswirl smiled and levitated the creature. He opened the door to his house and walked inside. He placed the creature on the floor and closed the door behind him.
"First things first, what can you do?" Starswirl asked. The creature looked down at his paw and claw and rubbed them together. He pointed above Starswirl's head and a pink cloud appeared. Starswirl stared in awe. The creature conjured up a spell with no effort at all. He seemed to be a little older than Luna so it was impressive that someone that young could even use magic.
The pink cloud started to rumble and flashes of colorful lights came from the inside. A colorful lightning bolt hit Starswirl, making electricity surge across his body. Starswirl let out a yelp of pain and stumbled, falling face-first on the ground. The creature let out a loud laugh at that display. Starswirl let out a soft grunt. This might be slightly harder than he thought.
The creature sat on a table, watching Starswirl walking around his house. He was collecting multiple items for a few experiments. Starswirl walked towards the table with multiple items in his magic grasp. He placed all of the items next to him on the floor and looked at the creature. He looked the creature in his eyes.
"Where are you from?" Starswirl asked. The creature blinked at him with a blank expression. Could this thing not understand Ponish?
"Do you understand me?" He asked slowly. The creature nodded his head. He was surely old enough to speak, he seemed older than Luna. Maybe the creature was just too uncivilized to speak. Starswirl flipped open his journal and dipped a quill in some ink. He levitated the creature into the air and inspected his body closely.
"Hmm, head of a pony, wing of a bat, and pegasus." Starswirl said in astonishment. He continued to look at the creature and write down every animal part he could find. The creature tried to squirm out of Starswirl's magic grasp, wanting to move around and be free. "Stay still, this will only take a moment." He instructed. The creature scrunched up his nose in frustration. A bright light flashed and then the creature was gone. Starswirl took a step back in surprise.
"Where did he go!?" Starswirl asked himself, looking around his house. His eyes landed on the creature that was sitting on a high bookshelf. It was too high for Starswirl to reach, even if he stood on his hind legs. The creature had a smug look on his face as his lion paw was pressed up against a glass jar. The jar had a very powerful potion that could put someone to sleep for days. Starswirl's eyes widened in realization.
"Don't you dare!" Starswirl said in a serious tone. The creature gave a large smile before slowly sliding the jar off the shelf. The jar started to fall off the high shelf, plummeting towards the ground at a rapid speed. Before the jar could hit the ground, he caught it with his magic. Starswirl placed the jar on the ground and let out a sigh of relief. He angrily looked up at the creature.
"Get down from here this instant!" Starswirl ordered while stomping his hoof on the ground. The creature let out a giggle and started to walk across the shelf. As he walked across the shelf, he knocked off books and potions. Starswirl followed along the shelf, catching each book and potion bottle before they hit the ground. The creature let out loud laughs as he hopped from shelf to shelf.
"Stop it!" Starswirl shouted, running after the creature. Books and potions started to fall too fast for Starswirl to catch. Books fell to the ground with loud thuds. He caught the potion bottles to make sure they didn't shatter. Any loose potion could lead to a major disaster.
The creature hopped off of the shelf and opened his wings, gliding down to the ground. The creature safely landed on the ground and clutched onto his sides, laughing to himself loudly. Starswirl approached the creature with an angry look on his face. His face was red from anger.
"Get out!" Starswirl exclaimed, pointing towards the door. The creature's ears flattened and his eyes got big. He pouted and let out a whimper.
"No, don't make me go!" The creature exclaimed fearfully. Starswirl's eyes widened in surprise.
"You can talk?!" Starswirl asked in disbelief. The creature nodded his head, looking down at the ground. He looked very guilty.
"Please don't make me leave, I don't make me leave, I promise I won't do anything bad again." He apologized. Starswirl's face softened. He was only a child, Starswirl couldn't stay mad at him. He looked the creature up and down. He let out a sigh.
"Do you have anywhere to go?" Starswirl asked. The creature shook his head. Starswirl frowned. He would feel guilty if he kicked out a homeless child. "Do you even have parents?" He asked. The creature sulked lower and shook his head. Starswirl's ears flattened and he let out a low groan.
"You can stay with me," Starswirl said reluctantly. Either this kid was going to kill him, or his conscious would. The creature's face lit up happily, making Starswirl lift his hoof. "You can stay with me if you're well-behaved. You also need to clean up this mess you caused." He said sternly. The creature nodded his head and snapped his fingers.
The potion bottles and spellbooks shakily floated off of the ground. They all neatly landed in their respective spaces, in the exact same order Starswirl had left them in. This took Starswirl by surprise. It took him years to learn that level of magic and it seemed that this small child could do it perfectly. Once the creature was finished cleaning up the house, he turned around to face Starswirl and gave him a big smile.
"Where did you learn that level of magic?" Starswirl asked in disbelief. The creature shrugged his shoulders.
"I dunno, I just know it." He stated. How powerful was this child? He needed to find out.
Starswirl scribbled down words in his notebook, learning more and more about the creature he had found. He had officially named this new species 'Draconequus'. The creature had told him how he grew up alone without any friends or family. It was rather sad but Starswirl was just happy that he had finally discovered something big.
"Can you breathe fire?" Starswirl asked. He assumed that the dragon part of the creature could breathe fire. He nodded his head and slowly inhaled. He blew out a small red flame that could only be used to light a tiny candle. Starswirl wrote down that fact. He could write a whole book on this creature! Everything about him was amazing to Starswirl.
The creature let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes. Starswirl gave a disappointed look. Was he tired already? They had only been experimenting for 3 hours straight. They haven't scratched the surface of their experiment! He looked back down at his journal to see a blank spot on the top of it. He had never written the creature's name down. He had never been bothered to learn it.
"What's your name?" Starswirl asked. The creature let out another yawn and started to lay down on Starswirl's desk.
"I don't have one." He stated. Starswirl couldn't just keep calling him 'The Creature', it would get annoying. He thought to himself for a good name. What name suited this creature?
"Your new name is Discord. It's very fitting for you." Starswirl said with a smile. Discord gave a small smile and leaned his head onto a book.
"I like that name," Discord said with a smile before drifting off to sleep. Starswirl levitated a blanket and placed it over Discord. Maybe this wasn't going to be that bad.
Starswirl walked through the castle with an annoyed look on his face. Discord ran in circles around Starswirl on all fours, scattering around him. Discord had been hyperactive since he had woken up it was driving Starswirl crazy. He wasn't a morning person by any means so dealing with a child as soon as he woke up wasn't ideal.
"STAAAAAARRRSWIIIIRL!" Luna's voice rang out from down the hallway. Starswirl let out a groan. He was going to have to look after three powerful, whining children that day. Discord stopped running and watched Luna as she approached them. He scrambled behind Starswirls leg and peeked out from behind him. Luna approached Starswirl, only to stop when she saw an odd creature in front of her. Her face scrunched up in confusion and slight disgust.
"What's that?" Luna asked. Discord stood up on his hind legs and cautiously walked over to Luna.
"Luna, this is Discord. He'll be staying with me for a little while." Starswirl explained. Luna looked at Starswirl and then back at Discord. "So what were you calling me for?" He asked. Luna snapped out of her daze.
"Oh right. I accidentally lit the kitchen on fire. I messed up breakfast." Luna said nonchalantly. Starswirls eyes widened in fear. He started to gallop in the direction of the kitchen, leaving Discord and Luna alone. Luna looked Discord up and down.
"Why do you look like that?" Luna asked, looking Discord up and down. Discord shrugged his shoulders.
"I dunno, why do you look so ugly?" He asked. Luna let out an offended gasp. No one had ever insulted her like that. Well, except for Celestia; she insulted Luna all the time. Luna stomped her hoof on the ground and turned around, marching off. Discord let out a soft snicker to himself. He enjoyed messing with people. Luna turned the corner, now completely out of sight.
Discord looked around the hallway he was in, only to realize he didn't know his way around the castle. He shrugged his shoulders and started to walk down the hallway. He'd find his way around.
Starswirl walked out of the kitchen, letting out a cough. It took him several minutes to successfully put the fire out. The kitchen now had a burnt wall and the tiled floors were now black with smoke. Starswirl inhaled a breath of fresh air before exhaling. He turned around to enter the kitchen, going to clean off the wall and the floor.
A high pitched scream rang from down the hallway, making Starswirl quickly turned around. That sounded like Celestia. Starswirl ran down the hallway, rushing to Celestia. She was a brave kid, so if anything scared her, it had to be dangerous. Starswirl approached the library, slamming the doors open. He stood in a defensive stance, making his horn spark.
To his surprise, Celestia was perfectly fine. Celestia sat in the middle of a table, looking rather frightened. Discord prowled around the table on all fours, gnashing his teeth and swishing his tail back and forth. He had an amused smile on his face.
"Stop it Discord," Starswirl stated. Discord looked back at Starswirl and sat on the floor. He crossed his arms and pouted. Starswirl looked over to Celestia.
"You can get off of the table Celestia, that's just Discord," Starswirl explained. Celestia walked to the opposite end of the table, which was away from Discord, and hopped off of the table. She opened her wings and flew towards Starswirl. She hid behind Starswirl's leg, far from Discord.
"Celestia it's fine, he won't hurt you," Starswirl reassured. Celestia walked from behind Starswirl and looked Discord up and down.
"What type of creature is that?" Celestia asked. Starswirl seemed rather happy that she asked.
"I'm not sure but I found him last night and studied him. I've decided to name is species the 'Draconequus'," Starswirl said, his eyes starting to light up with excitement. Celestia knew that if his eyes lit up like that, he would go on rants that lasted hours. "So far I discovered that he can use a new type of magic. I need to study him more so I can officially name it." He said excitedly. He turned to look at Celestia, only to see that she was gone.
"She walked away." Discord explained. Starswirl's ears flattened and he let out a soft groan. Celestia and Luna made a habit of walking out of the room whenever he was talking about his studies. Discord stood up from where he was and walked over to Starswirl.
"Can we do something, I'm bored." Discord asked. Starswirl shook his head.
"No, I need to teach Celestia and Luna," Starswirl stated. He looked at Discord. "Have you ever been to school?" He asked. Discord shook his head. The thought of Discord not going to school appalled Starswirl. He should have been in school years ago.
"Well, today you're going to start school. Grab a chair and sit down at the table because you're going to learn!" Starswirl said excitedly. Discord titled his head. This 'school' thing was going to be interesting.
Discord, Luna, and Celestia all sat at a table, watching Starswirl write on a chalkboard.
"Today we'll be learning about different types of magic," Starswirl said, underlining the word magic on the chalkboard. "There are very few types of magic, unicorn magic, earth pony magic, pegasus magic, and alicorn magic." He started to say.
As Starswirl spoke, Discord got more and more bored. Who knew learning could be so boring? Discord slumped over onto the table and laid his head on it. He leaned his head onto Luna's paper, making her push him away.
"Move your fat head," Luna said in a hushed whisper. Discord let out a huff.
"But this is so booooring." Discord whispered back.
"I know, but we have to listen," Luna whispered. Celestia turned around to look at the younger children with an angry look on her face.
"Shush, Starswirl is trying to teach." Celestia scolded in a whisper. Luna stuck her tongue out and Discord rolled his eyes. They all looked forward to look back at Starswirl. Discord glanced at Celestia, who was intensely taking notes. She looked like a nerd.
Discord really wanted to throw stuff around but Starswirl told him to be good. If Starswirl didn't know it was him being bad, then he couldn't get kicked out. He couldn't kick out all three children. Discord looked at a bookshelf across from Starswirl. Starswirl was several feet from the shelf and wasn't paying attention to anything around him. Since he was so close to the chalkboard, he would have to take a few steps back to see the shelves. Discord smirked and snapped his fingers from under the table.
Books started to slowly and shakily float out from the shelf. They moved in a sort of dancing motion. They swirled into the air like birds. Luna looked away from Starswirl and looked up at the books. She stared at them in awe.
"Celestia, do you see that?" Luna whispered, pointing to the books. Celestia glanced upwards and gave a confused look. The books continued to dance in the air. One of the books forcefully bumped into the chandelier on the ceiling, making it swing. The chandelier swung and tapped a shelf above the children's head. The fire from the chandelier spread onto the books above them. Celestia, Luna, and Discord looked at the fire with wide eyes.
Discord instinctively dropped the books onto the ground, making the books drop to the ground. They made a series of loud thumping noises, making Starswirl look up from the chalkboard.
"What was that?" Starswirl asked, turning around. His eyes widened when he saw the bookshelves igniting in flames. "How do you manage this?!" He asked angrily, running towards the fire. The kids scattered away from the table, moving far away from the fire. Starswirl hopped on the table and shot cold magic shoot from his horn. With each shot, a flame diminished. Within seconds, the flames were gone.
Starswirl turned around with an angry look on his face. Books behind him fell, burnt to a crisp and beyond repair.
"Which one of you did this?" He asked. Celestia and Luna sat together, huddled in a corner. They both pointed across the room to Discord. Discord sat with his back up against the wall. His ears were flat against his head. Starswirl levitated Discord and stomped out of the room, dragging the kid with him. He walked out of the library and closed the door behind him. Starswirl placed Discord on the floor and glared down at him.
"What were you thinking?" Starswirl asked angrily. Discord stared up at Starswirl with large fearful eyes.
"I didn't mean to start a fire, I just wanted to make the books dance!" Discord explained. Starswirl looked at Discord's terrified look and instantly knew he wasn't lying. Discord was just a wild kid. He let out a groan and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hoof.
"Your magic is unstable, from now on we'll have one on one training," Starswirl said. Discord let out a breath of relief, happy that he wasn't going to be severely punished. "Any mess you make, you have to clean up, understand?" Starswirl asked. Discord nodded his head. "Good, now go clean up the library." He said. Discord nodded his head and walked into the library.
Discord walked over to the burnt remains of the books and started to pick them up, one by one. Starswirl walked into the library and looked at Celestia and Luna. They still cowered in fear, holding on to each other.
"Sit back down you two, class isn't over," Starswirl instructed. Celestia and Luna shakily stood up and walked over to the table. They both sat down in their seats and looked back at the chalkboard. Starswirl started to write something else on the board.
