The Epic of Starswirl the Bearded

by zeroxwolfx

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure, Discord, Princess Celestia
Length: 26247

Follow the journey of the most magical unicorn to ever walk the land of Equestria

This is the story of Starswirl the Bearded, one of the most legendary ponies ever who preserved the harmony of Equestria and saved it from it's most diabolical villain. In this story you'll follow Starswirl the Bearded in the recently formed nation of Equestria. He is already a wise and powerful magic user, however, he's about to face his greatest challenge as he finds where the true magic in the world of equines lies. He will face some of the mightiest foes any pony has ever faced,and may even come to face enemies too great for him. This is a tale to discover the origin of magic in Equestria and a tale of the greatest wizard ever and his quest to bring harmony and happiness to ponies across the land!

Published 2012-05-13 12:24:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-24 04:37:34 UTC

The Dragon of the Earth Bones

The Lost Epic of Starswirl the Bearded

Chapter 1: The Bones of the Earth

The little colt stumbled through the rough and uneven dirt. He tripped and ran into an old earth pony. He looked up into the sky and saw how bright it was and he covered his eyes, “Mister, Why is the sun so bright?” asked the little colt.

The old earth pony squinted his eyes as he slowly looked up to the sun, “The sun is so bright because it has a big job to do,” he said gently. The little colt cocked his head. This made the old earth pony chuckle, “You see little one, the sun is our mother, and it brings life to all things in the world. She’s up there, always watching over us,” the colt looked up again into the sun, it was the first time he had noticed, not just the light that it brought to the world underneath it, but the first time he had noticed how beautiful the sun itself was.

They weren’t very high up on the great mountain, but they still had a wonderful view of the Equestria Valley. Across the land the old pony could see the various villages and small towns that his people had since erected over the years. They were lovely little hamlets where earth ponies, unicorns and pegasai lived together in peace. For many years Starswirl didn’t think it possible. He thought that the bickering and hostility between the tribes would last forever and that their hatred would freeze them eternally, giving a new rise to windigo dominance. However, he had been proven wrong, thanks in no small part to his greatest apprentice, Clover the Clever. Over the years the three tribes had built themselves peaceful villages around Mount Canterlot and had lived in harmony. Harmony… it was something that reverberated in Starswirl’s mind; almost like their serenity held power in of itself. Indeed, for quite some time, Starswirl thought that there might be actual magic within the peace that these ponies had found. But he would have to study that later, right now he was more interested in what sort of magic this great mountain held. Ever since he drew near to it, he could feel a presence there. Being as experienced as a wizard he was, he could sense when there was magically attuned power near him, this lead him to make his journey up the mountain, along with his faithful apprentice.

“Well, come now Clover, you’re falling behind yet again! We want to get up this mountain sometime before the end of days now!” he said chuckling to himself as he used his staff to help him trek up the steep incline.

The younger unicorn cringed, stumbling over a rock and tripping, before getting back up shakily and moving to catch up with him, “Can we ple-e-e-ase rest master? Studying all day in the library… I don’t get much practice climbing… impossibly tall mountains,” she complained. Starswirl climbed on a ways before he eventually reached a flat spot on the mountain.

He sat down and set his staff down, before huffing out to catch his breath, “Very well then… we’ll rest here for a moment… you really do need to get out of that library more my young student…” said Starswirl the Bearded, lifting an eyebrow as the mare came and collapsed on the flat clearing.

“Master… if I don’t study hard, how am I going to become a great wizard one day like you?” she asked curiously.

Starswirl shot her a look, “And what did I tell you about that?” he asked strictly.

Clover lowered her head, “That you didn’t become a great wizard by having your nose stuck in books all day…” she said quietly.

He looked at her again, beckoning her to continue, “Annndd?”

She sighed and finished, “And… that you learned most of your magic by getting out and observing the living world around you…” she said, as if she had recited it a thousand times before.

Starswirl nodded at her confidently, “That’s exactly right young lady. And that’s exactly what we’re doing right now! Getting out there, and observing the living earth around us!” He said as he waved his hand majestically to the mountain behind him.

Clover looked at him curiously, “What do you think is in there master?” she asked.

This made Starswirl pause for a moment, and stroke his beard as he often did when contemplating something deep. Eventually he spoke up,“Something… old…” he paused again, as if trying to find the right words, for he himself wasn’t exactly sure what they would find, “…and something great,” was all he could say.

He didn’t like not having answers to give. So many ponies of the Equestrian Valley looked to him for guidance. There were very few ponies that held such knowledge of magic, and nopony that held knowledge to the degree that he did. The true understanding of magic was something that was fairly new to unicorns and all ponies of the land. Even before Starswirl’s time, few understood it and fewer yet could apply it. The only exception to this was the ability to raise and lower the sun and moon, which however old an ability, very few could actually do and no one knew how, or why they were able to do it. Starswirl the Bearded had long had the suspicion that it wasn’t the unicorns themselves that were raising the sun and moon, but the sun and moon that gave them the ability. It was something that he had studied for most of his life, and his understanding of the sun and moon and natural world around him that accounted for his vast knowledge of magic. He had written many spells that the unicorns of the land found fascinating, and studied readily, but to him they were trivial things that didn’t answer his real questions. Despite the fact that he felt that he was lacking so many answers, it was his knowledge that made him the most powerful unicorns of his time and although he wouldn’t know it, one of the most powerful unicorns that would ever be.

“Come my pupil!” cried out Starswirl suddenly. He picked his staff and resumed his trek up the mountain. Wearily, Clover got up and began to trot after him. The two would spend the next two days hiking up the steep mountain, braving its loose boulders, steep inclines and as they neared the top, its frigid weather. Luckily, Starswirl and Clover had come prepared, with their long, thick cloaks to protect them from the cold. The landscape beneath them had begun to shrink more noticeably the higher they went up, and soon they would even pass the outline of the clouds. At this point their hike was slowed to a crawl; hampered by the strong gusts of wind that threatened to send them tumbling down the mountain. The wind was freezing, and made ice and snow cling to their faces. Soon even Starswirl began to doubt himself, his mind clouded by the constant feeling of cold that clung to his face. They summit of the mountain was in their view now, and not a moment too soon, for the icy weather was hell on both the ponies, Starswirl had wondered why Clover hadn’t done any complaining lately, but he figured it was most likely do to her trying to save her breath. Starswirl feared for the safety of his pupil, and to protect her and him both, he unveiled his horn from underneath his hat, and it shone brightly. The two were suddenly encased in a glowing orb of bright red; the edges of the bubble flickering with flames. It warmed them suddenly, giving them at least a bit of relief, as they watched the snowflakes and ice melt as it hit the orb of flame.

Just when their legs were feeling like they would give way any second, something quite unexpected happened. The tundra-like weather disappeared, and rather suddenly. There was still a wind about them, but it was much gentler, and it was strangely warm. They had gone from being into a frozen wasteland, to suddenly being in a spring meadow.

“Master… did it just,” Clover began.

“Yes… it appears it did, rather odd; I believe we are rather close,” finished Starswirl. And he spoke none too soon, for just a little ways further; they could see something near the summit of Mount Canterlot. It was the mouth of a massive cave. “Actually… I believe we’re there,” he said.

The air about them was strange as they neared the large entrance to the cave. It was warm, and had an organic, steady flow to it. It was almost as if the air was alive. The two came to the ledge that brought them to the cave, and they discovered the source of the warm air was coming from the cave itself. Now, more than ever, Starswirl the Bearded felt the powerful presence was nearly atop of them. He had a nagging suspicion that whatever power he sensed in Mount Canterlot was inside this very cave and he wouldn’t show it, but he was also a bit nervous to continue.

“M-master?” stuttered Clover, “Maybe we… shouldn’t go in there…”

“I think, I think we very much ought to my student. After all, we did come all this way,” he spoke, but it was not with much confidence, which only served to worry her more, “Come along now,” Clover trotted slowly and very close to his side, nearly touching him as they walked into the blackness of the cave. And it was there that they saw it.

He was enormous; the most colossal creature anypony had ever laid eyes on. No pony had ever seen a dragon before, not even so much as heard of one, but somehow his presence did not look unfamiliar to Starswirl; he could not explain this. His hide was the color of a dry soil, but it did not look dull, for his hide was the crust of the earth, from which all life occupied. His very breathing shook the ground like a gentle quake; this was the movement of the earth. His eyes glowed like bright embers; this was the flame of the world, life. The entire cave, which did not appear to have any apparent light source, was shone brightly, almost as if the dragon itself was illuminating it with his presence. When it spoke, it could not just be heard echoing throughout the large cave, but it could be heard, echoing through the very soul of him, as if he was speaking to every living creature in the world.

“A child of the earth has come to my lair, welcome young one. I am the Dragon of the Earth Bones,” it spoke powerfully. Starswirl was nearly at a loss with what to say, for he had never come across something so primal, so fundamental to the very earth, and so powerful.

“Great Dragon… why do you stay here in this cave?” he asked curiously, his voice sounding as meek as a mouse’s in comparison.

“Child, it is in the nature of all the great dragons to dwell in the mountains. We stay here to watch over the world, for you see it is not our world to live in; it is only our world to watch. And I have watched many things pass, and I have felt all manner of things on the earth shift below me.”

“And what of the ponies who come to live here, below your mountain, have you felt that?” he asked curiously, quite careful not to offend the great aspect.

The dragon shifted his mighty head, “Hmmm… yes, I have felt the movement of the ponies. I have felt the warmth and the peace of them move through the earth. And I think that this is good…” he spoke slowly, “…And I have felt something else too, something far in the distance…” he paused, appearing like he was going to speak, but he did not continue.

Starswirl urged him on, “What was it you felt great dragon?”

The dragon appeared to be deep in thought, “I have felt… a disturbance… a strange movement in the earth, a creaking; as if it means to complain to me. I feel this cracking of the earth far, far away,” he finished.

Starswirl looked worried for a moment, “And what does this mean for Equestria, for the pony villages that inhabit it?!” he asked, trying to push him a little more.

The dragon however did not look moved, “I do not believe it means anything for the young ponies that are in the valley beneath my mountain, as I have said, this disturbance is very, very far away….” He said with a nod of his massive head.

Starswirl looked a bit more relieved at hearting this. He was still in awe at the presence of the great dragon, he thought that he might not overstay his welcome, but his curiosity of something got the better of him, “Great Dragon of the Earth… What can you tell me of the magic of the sun?”

This was something that made the dragon turn his great head, and he appeared to be thinking about it for some time. Eventually he spoke, “Hrrm… the sun… I haven’t spoken of the sun in so long…” he paused to think some more, “The sun…” he began as if he had a firm grasp on what he was going to say, “… Is the aspect of life, and she is perhaps the oldest of my sisters. Now if you mean to ask me about her magic, it is the magic of creation, and it is indeed a very powerful magic to have,” the dragon paused, and he shifted his massive weight, turning to look better at the very, very tiny looking creature in front of him, “But you know you are quite young my child, perhaps it is best that you not yet know these things. I am the dragon of the earth, and I know much about it, but if you would know about the sun, then you should perhaps ask her,” he said ominously.

Starswirl looked a little confused, “But, great dragon… how would I possibly ask something from the sun?” he asked

The dragon took a deep, slow breath, “Oh yes I remember… she is much more difficult to talk to…” He hummed to himself for a moment, “…I believe that it is she that may come to speak to you. And, I believe she may only come to speak to you when you have most need of her,” he finished, just as ominously as before.

Starswirl looked, at the same time hopeful yet disappointed by the answer, and the great dragon seemed to take notice of this, “Do not look full of sorrow my little friend, for I will be here when you need me, and when the time is right, you will come to know my elder sisters. And do not forget, that there is magic, in the peacefulness of your lands below my mountain…” the dragon raised his claw up this time, to emphasize his point, which is something that Starswirl took great notice of, as the dragon would otherwise hardly move, “…do NOT forget this. There is magic in your peacefulness, and… I believe that you may need it someday yet… much as you have needed it in the past,” he said, speaking slowly as he pointed his claw at them.

Starswirl the bearded lifted his hoof in fair well to the great and powerful dragon, despite the fact that he didn’t quite find what he was looking for, he was quite glad that he got to be in the presence of such an old and powerful creature, “I will not forget, Great Dragon of the Earth Bone, I hope indeed that we shall meet again,” the dragon gave him a slow nod, before returning to what looked like a slumber. Then Starswirl and his apprentice walked out of the cave, taking a moment to drink in the magnificent view of the whole of Equestria. Starswirl grasped his staff, and planted it in the ground. There was a loud crackle of magic, that sounded like lightening and Starswirl and Clover were engulfed inside a ball of blue light, and then disappeared. In an instant, Starswirl and Clover found themselves at the base of the mountain, far removed from the tip of the mountain, or the cave that contained the ancient dragon. As the electricity of his magic wore off, the old wizard pony took one last look over his peaceful equestrian valley. He did not know that it would be the last look he would have of it in its serene condition.

To be continued with, Chapter 2: The Coming of Disharmony

The Coming of Disharmony

The Lost Epic of Starswirl the Bearded
Chapter 2: The Coming of Disharmony

His dreams were filled with strange and distorted images. It was a mildly disturbing dream, that was climaxed by the meeting of a strange and terrible entity but before it could reveal itself to him, Starswirl was awoken by a loud thunderclap off in the distance. He jolted up out of his bed, catching his breath as he rubbed his face, trying to shake off the odd dream. Looking outside he could see there was a monsoon taking place, and he shrugged off his dream as nothing more than the result of the thunderous noises coming from the storm. The old pony went to take a few puffs of his pipe, this always seemed to calm him down, and since it was still the middle of the night, he figured he’d want to get a few more hours of sleep. The storm kept him awake for maybe another hour, but eventually he was able shrug off the loud noises and fall asleep.

He awoke again, more pleasantly this time from his dreamless sleep sometime later in the morning. He also awoke to find that the storm was still taking place outside of his window, just as hard as it was before. After shaking the sleep out of his eyes, Starswirl lumbered out to the front door of his small hovel, and opened it up, wrapping his cloak tightly around him to protect him from the cold wind and pouring rain. Looking up he saw dozens of pegasai desperately trying to beat away the storm clouds, but it kept rolling in with more and more of the violent weather. Starswirl was a bit perplexed by this, he went inside to pack a few of his things, as well as to put his staff on his back, and then he went back into the rain, trotting to the house of his student, Clover the Clever. He was not surprised to find her already awake with her nose buried in her books.

“Master, what are you doing outside in this rain?” she asked him, setting her book aside.

“Clover my dear was there a storm scheduled for today?” he asked, a bit of urgency in his tone.

Clover stepped back and shuffled through some papers that were posted on a wall in her room, “No master, it doesn’t look like there’s a storm scheduled for today... what does this mean sir?” she asked with a perplexed look on her face.

Starswirl shook his head, “I don’t know, grab your things and get ready young mare, we have some work to do” he said, motioning her to hurry up with his hoof. Clover quickly put her books away, and went off in search of her pack and cloak, “Quickly now!” he said hurrying her along. Soon she came out with her supplies, and the two ran out into the rain.

Starswirl and Clover ran through the freezing rain to the center of their town, Mare’omer; one of the larger
settlements in the Equestrian Valley. Here they’d find the regions only castle, which was once home to the unicorn King Mercury, and his daughter Princess Platinum. However, they have since abandoned their titles, not wanting to claim superiority over anypony and have instead taken on the title of, “Councilor” Platinum. Inside castle, “Mare Hall”, Starswirl would find the delegates of Equestria; Councilor Platinum of the Unicorns, Councilor Pamby of the Pegasai, and Councilor Smart Cookie of the Earth Ponies. The previous leader of the earth ponies, Chancellor Pudding Head had since passed down his title to his secretary, stating his reason to be that he had much more important things to do (which turned out to be organizing town parades and throwing parties for the pony delegates) and that given their past history, he believed his secretary to be much more qualified for the position. The previous leader of the Pegasus ponies, Commander Hurricane passed down his title to his second in command, 1st Class Private Mamby Pamby. The Commander passed up the position of “Councilor”, for the reason that he felt that he was much better suited for combat, and would not be an effective political leader for the ponies. Aside from this, all of the delegates agreed that the Commander would make an excellent military leader to their newly formed nation, should the need ever arise, and so he took the position of Grand Commander of the First Equestrian Army.

“Pamby, are you absolutely SURE that you didn’t accidentally schedule storms today… or that some other pony did?” Councilor Cookie asked to the meek Pegasus.

Pamby nodded his head, looking a little terrified, partially because of the minor accusations, but mostly because of the occasional booming of thunder overhead, “Absolutely Smart Cookie… I checked it this morning… and then I checked it again before I got here… at least I think I did… oh nooo is it my fault? I hope it isn’t my fault…” said Pamby looking worried and slumping in his councilor’s chair.

The well-dressed unicorn, Councilor Platinum, raised a hoof to speak, “I for one don’t think you’d do such a thing Councilor Pamby, you’ve been in charge of that weather schedule for years and you’ve never once mixed up the storm dates, there’s no reason to believe that you would make such an error now” Platinum put eloquently. This gave some slight relief to the timid Mamby Pamby.

Smart Cookie looked distraught at this however, as this brought them no closer to a solution, “Well then where the hay is all of this weather coming from? Could it have been an accident from one of the mage apprentices?” he asked, desperately seeking for an angle to work at.

Starswirl and Clover had since came in, and sat down at the far end of the long table that the Councilors sat at. Starswirl spoke up, a bit to their surprise, “No, I’m afraid that is not it Sir Councilor; I would have sensed the use of magic in any of my apprentices, and once more, I do not believe any of them are quite capable of conjuring such a powerful storm.” He said before taking out his pipe again, lighting under the small magical flame of his horn. He took a puff of it slowly. Sensing the impatience of the councilors he spoke up, “Where is Commander Hurricane?” He asked

“Commander Hurricane has been up all morning trying to put out the thunder clouds… he’s been working tireless for hours… some of his squadron has even had to rest since then. I’m worried he may be pushing himself too hard, but whenever we try to get him to come down to rest he doesn’t listen… what if he hurts himself?” said the meek Pegasus Councilor, he was genuinely worried about the Commander, for even though they didn’t exactly match up in personalities, Hurricane was one of Pamby’s oldest friends.

Starswirl huffed another ring of smoke out of his pipe before he looked over to Pamby, “Hurricane is the strongest flyer these lands have ever seen Councilor, I do not believe he will fall so easily to a mere thunderstorm!” He said, trying to lift his spirits with a smile. He spoke again to him with a little more concern on his face, “Councilor Pamby… are there any Pegasus you know of that have been… disorderly, or unruly as of late?”

Pamby thought for a moment, “Hmm, no… I certainly haven’t heard of any Pegasai acting up. I haven’t heard any bad reports from Commander Hurricane either, well, except for when he sometimes complains that they don’t match up to his abilities” Pamby looked worried for a moment, “You don’t think… you don’t think a disgruntled Pegasus could be responsible for this do you?” he asked with a look of shock in his eyes. Such accusations of renegade Pegasai hadn’t been made since before the founding of Equestria.

Smart Cookie Looked a little offended at this, “That’s a might big accusation to be throwing around there Mr. Bearded…” he said throwing him a grimacing look.

Starswirl shook his head raising a hoof to show that he meant no offense, “No, no Councilors, I simply wanted to rule everything out. Although to be honest, I was hoping it was something more like that rather than… what I had originally suspected…” He said, sounding a bit dire towards the end of his sentence.

All three councilors looked at him with interest, “You KNOW what’s causing this? Well what is it?!” Spoke up Councilor Platinum.

“Come on spill it!” Councilor Cookie said afterwards impatiently.

Starswirl looked at them plainly, and a look of frustration came across his face; he still didn’t have answers for them, “I don’t know…” He said quietly. He stood up out of his chair, and flung his pipe back into his pack, “…but right now we need to take care of this storm, come along Clover, we need to find the Commander” he faced the councilors again, “Councilors, I would advise you coordinate getting your ponies to safety” And with that, he and his apprentice stormed out of the castle, with hardly a moment for the councilors to wish them good luck.

The wind had picked up since they were last outside. Starswirl was having trouble keeping his hat on his head, and Clover was having trouble moving at all against the harsh wind. All around them ponies were moving frantically, to either seek shelter in the storm, or to save their various goods from the unforgiving wind and rain. The two ponies made off slowly in the distance, moving as quickly as they could against the resistance of the weather. Just in front of him Starswirl spotted a young mare, trying to drag a basket of potatoes into her house, there was a large wooden sight that had been caught in the wind, it was on her house, and blowing tediously close to her, only held back by a small divot in her roof. The large wooden sign broke free and came crashing down towards the mare, seconds before it struck her, it was lifted up by the magic of Starswirl’s horn. The mare gasped as she saw what almost happened. Starswirl flung the sign aside, out of the way of any pony, he waved at her furiously, trying to tell her to get inside, and she caught his hint, running inside, abandoning her basket.

As they ran towards the other side of town, the wind grew stronger yet. Starswirl himself was beginning to struggle to move. He lifted his staff and parted the wind with it, a swirl of the air moving around them, making him able to finally move completely unhindered. But all around him, ponies where fumbling, and tripping, hardly able to move or see in the torrential rain and wind. As he looked above him, he could see the Pegasai coming out of the clouds; they had given up trying to fight the weather and have instead moved downward to try to help wayward ponies to safety. Off in the distance he could see one Pegasai that had not given up though, and he had a pretty good idea who it was. He turned to his pupil, and tapped her suddenly with his staff. She flinched for a moment, but then saw that she now had the same protective barrier from the wind, “Clover! Go and help the ponies to safety! I’ve got to get that damned fool Hurricane out of the sky!” he said, yelling at the top of his lungs through the piercing wind. For a moment Clover opened her mouth as if to protest, but then she simply nodded. She knew that if anyone had a chance of stopping this storm, or an equally daunting challenge, getting Commander Hurricane to back down, it would be her master.

The old pony galloped furiously down the road, towards the Pegasus that was flying and diving in and out of the rapidly swirling thunderclouds. When he was just underneath he roared up at him, “Hurricane!! Commander Hurricane!!” he yelled as loud as he could, but piercing his voice through the howling wind was difficult. He continued to cry out to the Pegasus until finally catching his attention. Although Hurricane glanced his way, clearly noticing him, he flew back up into the clouds, resuming his pursuit of the rampant storm clouds. Starswirl aimed his horn at the Pegasus and it engulfed him in a glowing aurora of light, before teleporting him back down to the ground, just in front of Starswirl. Commander Hurricane had a determined and battle-ready look on his face. His body was surging with adrenaline as every muscle in his body was tensed and ached for action. For a moment, Starswirl thought that the warrior Pegasus was almost enjoying himself, “Commander Hurricane! Get the ponies on the ground to safety! Stay out of the storm clouds!” He yelled out. This was something any warrior Pegasus, especially a Pegasus like Hurricane, loathed to hear the most.

The Commander shook his head, cringing his teeth, “I’m not going to cut and run… not when there’s finally something here worthy of challenging me!” he cried out through the wind, and attempted to take off into the sky again.

Starswirl grasped Hurricane’s tail with his magic, inhibiting him from leaving, “Blast you fool, the ponies need you down HERE!” he replied out, not releasing the foolhardy Pegasus.

Commander Hurricane struggled to get free, “Damn it all! I’m not just going to let this magnificent storm get away from me!” he said, desperate to get back into the fight. His voice was deep and hoarse, every fiber in the warrior’s being telling him to fight, and the dark weather was his adversary.

The wind was picking up, and both of them were losing their patience. Starswirl pulled Hurricane down, and looked him square in the eyes, “Commander, my old friend, the storm will not best you, it is more important that you help the ponies here on the ground… there will be more foes for you to fight yet. But right now ponies’ lives depend on you, they need your help, they need you down here!” He said, looking deep into Hurricanes eyes, trying to snap him out of his battle trance. Starswirl’s words seemed to have worked, with a curse under his breath, Commander Hurricane flew off low to the ground, leading any stray ponies to shelter, and preventing them from being hit by the debris that was tumbling through the wind.

Starswirl stood steadfast in the eye of the storm. The clouds around him began to spiral, if he didn’t act soon, a funnel would form, and the Town of Mare’omer would be decimated. He took both of his hooves on his staff and planted it in front of him with a force that shook the ground, even among the roaring wind. The mage’s horn began to glow, dimly at first, but soon the light would encompass the pony himself. He looked up into the sky, the spiral was growing, and just above him he could see clear skies; the storm was spreading around the aura of his magic dome. Starswirl lifted his staff once more, and slammed it into the ground, a shock wave rumbled across the ground again. He took a deep breath, and he shouted into the sky in a booming voice, one that every pony a mile around would here reverberate through their very souls, “Lok…. VAH KOOR!!!” A beam of clear-blue energy shot up into the sky, violently piercing the storm. Just as the magical beam struck the level of the clouds, it exploded magnificently, a huge shock wave of magical power spread out along the level of the clouds. The display could be seen for miles, as the force of magic pushed the clouds away in all directions, until they completely ceased to exist; the sky above the whole of Equestria was completely clear. The initial explosion also spread out spherically, but it was more of a rumble of air, albeit one that each and every pony in the city would feel shake them to their very core. With the sky above him blue, Starswirl fell to his hooves, and then to his knees, the great feat of magic leaving him drained, yet triumphant against the colossal storm.

With the initial storm gone, Starswirl spent the next few days recovering from his magnificent magical feat. The entirety of the strange weather was not completely done for; however, the bulk of it had been completely dispersed, leaving only a few small, stray weather clouds that the Pegasus guard could easily handle on their own. On the third day, Starswirl emerged from his hovel feeling quite refreshed, aided by the look of the beautiful sunny day. With his strength restored, he began to believe that they had conquered the disturbance that the great dragon on the mountain had predicted which brought relief to him. He would once again, be proven wrong.

He walked down the street, enjoying the view of the ponies working together, today was the first day that there was hardly a single stray weather cloud in the sky, and it was glorious. He spotted his pupil walking down towards him with a smile on her face, “Good morning master! How are you feeling today?” she asked. She had been looking out for him since he collapsed in the town square three days ago.

Starswirl gave her a smile, “Better than I’ve ever felt my young pupil! Now you can stop worrying about me, and finally get outside to learn some more about magic!” He said enthusiastically, the old wizard giving her a chuckle as he walked down the busy street.

Clover shook her head at him, returning the smile, “But master I have my studies to catch up on!”

Starswirl simply waved her off with his hoof, “Bah… you remember what I told you about keeping your head in books all day young one” He said. He wouldn’t make her repeat it this time; the old pony was far too busy enjoying the new day. They were stopped by the Councilor Smart Cookie, to which Starswirl greeted him by bowing, “Hello Sir Councilor, what a pleasant surprise it is to see you out on this fine day!” He said, moving his beard aside before he bowed.

The councilor bowed in return, “It certainly is Starswirl the Bearded. And I should say it’s an honor to greet the hero of Mare’omer on such a fine day!”

This made Starswirl chuckle, “Oh well I wouldn’t say I’m a hero, I’d say my friend Commander Hurricane was quite a hero. I heard about all those ponies he saved from the collapsed building, now there’s a hero my boy!” He said nodding confidently.

“Actually… he’s the one who’s been calling YOU a hero. In fact we’d all be quite delighted if you’d join us at the castle” Cookie raised his head regally, “To formally invite you to a grand feast in your honor…” then he grinned, “…but just between you and me, I think it’s so Hurricane can apologize for being so hot-headed that day.” He said, chuckling and giving him a wink.

Starswirl’s eyes lit up, “Ohhh… The Grand Commander Hurricane apologizing, in that case I’ll definitely be there! Come along my pupil, you’ll want to see this!” he said, laughing along with Smart Cookie, as they practically skipped down the road to Castle.

The three entered the castle, and were greeted with beautiful decorations and a lively host of ponies. Not only where the councilors and their servants there, but the long tables of the great hall were filled with ponies from all over town. As they entered many turned and raised their glasses, cheering as they saw Starswirl and his pupil entering the grand hall. Starswirl bashfully smiled, and simply raised a hoof for them to calm down; the wizard was not used to such warm receptions. As he sat down on the opposite end of the long table of the councilors, several ponies walked by him, shaking his hoof, and chanting various thank you’s and blessings to the old unicorn. Starswirl gave them all a polite smile and a nod, trying to direct some of them to his pupil, whom he felt certainly deserved her share of the gratitude. At the head of the table was Councilor Platinum, wearing an elegant dress, as always. She gently tapped on her glass, ringing to gather the attention of all the gossiping and joyous ponies, “Blessed citizens of Mare’omer, I thank you all for coming to this grand feast, to honor this exceptional unicorn, who has shown us to be not only a first rate magician, but an example for pony-kind everywhere!” She said cheering; “really dear, I didn’t know you had such magical potential in you!” finished the elegantly dressed councilor. She cleared her throat before continuing, “But I digress, for this feast that we hold is in your honor. We the ponies of Equestria owe you our lives” She raised her glass with her magic, “And so we show you our gratitude… All hail, Starswirl the Bearded!” she said exuberantly.

All of the ponies lifted their glasses and repeated her, smiling towards the now timid wizard, “ALL HAIL STARSWIRL THE BEARDED!” They all sounded off.

Starswirl cleared his throat, “Thank you my friends, all of you, but we shouldn’t forget due credit where credit is due! For without the courage and bravery of the Pegasai soldiers and their leader to lead you to safety, we also might not be here. And so I raise my glass to you…” he looked at Commander Hurricane, whom had been strangely quiet this whole time, “… all hail, Grand Commander Hurricane! The most fearsome warrior in the land!” he said, copying Platinum’s exuberance. He nodded to the Commander, giving him a wink.

The Commander was a bit taken back by all of the positivity. And after all the ponies raised their glasses to him as well, he spoke up, “Oh poppy cock you old wizard… it’s no secret we’d all be washed away if it wasn’t for you…” he sighed, “…and I’d no doubt be washed away in my own ego…” he said mocking himself, looking down at the table shamefully.

Starswirl chuckled at him and gave him a warm smile, “Oh Hurricane… you never were good at apologies, but I guess that will have to do my old friend. Now, let us drink and be merry!” he said. To which all of the ponies cheered, and the down trodden commander finally cracked a smile and joined in the festivities.

The ponies would go on to party and enjoy the celebration until long into the night. While drinking and chatting amongst themselves, a sudden rumble was felt on the ground of the castle. It was a strong rumble, which shook the tables and glass dishes. As such, it made them all quiet down for a moment to ponder the strange feeling, however, soon after Smart Cookie grinned and spoke up, “That crazy Pudding Head… he must be putting on one hay of a parade outside!” He cried out, this of course made the guests chuckle and relax again. However the rumble was felt again, this time it seemed stronger than before. As the ponies tried to enjoy their food and drink amongst the occasional rumbling of the floor and tables, they were suddenly thrown off. In an instant, dishes, bookshelves, and chairs were flung around the room, a few of the bricks from the foundation of the castle jolted off, falling from the ceiling, leaving a trail of dust and mortar. Nopony, including Starswirl had time to react as they were abruptly flung onto the floor, unable to get their balance as they shook to and fro, spending half of their time trying to stand up, and the other half trying not to be hit by falling debris. There was a thunderous noise all around them, and they felt as if the castle would collapse on them any moment. With ponies scrambling around the room in fear, Starswirl’s staff had fallen off of his back and he was fumbling desperately to get at it.

The delegates and the guests had all managed to huddle in one corner of the great hall, as far away from the falling bricks and debris as they could. Just then there was a loud crackling sound. The stone roof overhead was giving in. They all looked up in horror, most ponies still couldn’t get their balance in the violent quake, and could hardly get away in time. Just as they felt their lives flashing before their eyes, the large slab of bricks stopped, inches above their heads. Starswirl’s horn was glowing with his magic, and he had caught the large, heavy slab of bricks with his power. He set it down out of the way of the ponies. Then he aimed his staff and his magic horn at the large group of ponies and lifted them all into the air with his magic. This way he moved them all out of harms away, creating a magic shield around them, to which any bricks or hazardous objects would bounce off of harmlessly.

After a few minutes of the violent earthquake, just as suddenly as it had come, it had gone. Starswirl set the ponies down gently. He looked over to his apprentice, “Clover, my dear, do as best you can to fix up this castle, it could still be unstable…” he said to her, before he took his staff and ran outside. He breathed a somewhat sigh of relief, for the damage that he saw was far less than he had imaged, and far less than what was felt inside the castle. A few of the larger buildings had cracked, a couple even had collapsed ceilings, but the smaller straw and mortar buildings looked like they were mostly, intact. Many of the stalls, along with the town ponies’ valuables were thrown about the streets, probably knocked around by the earthquake, or thrown out to create less hazards for the ponies inside their houses to be struck by. He ran around the main streets, checking any of the buildings that looked bad, many of the ponies had, rather smartly, come outside, and where wandering about, dazed and confused. Luckily, most of them seemed to have only minor injuries, which other ponies seemed to be attending to. Most of them, as well as Starswirl had their eyes on the newest addition to their town. This was a single large, long, jagged crack in the earth. It was an ugly gash in their town that the earthquake had taken to tear right down the middle of the main street. They were lucky that the terrible gash hadn’t been through some pony’s house.

As all the ponies gasped and awed at the great and terrible scar on their town, Starswirl felt compelled to look towards Mount Canterlot. The distant mountain looked as if it was still shaking in the distance, and a few large boulders could be seen falling from its lower steps. The boulders were no threat to anypony, but they did give Starswirl a rather heavy indicator of where the violent earthquake had originated from.

He spent the next few hours making sure that everypony was alright, and doing a few minor repairs around town. Eventually he saw his pupil Clover trotting to him from the castle, “Master, the castle is nearly fully repaired, it’s in no danger of collapsing” She said with relief on her face.

Starswirl looked at her, stroking his beard in his distinct inquisitive manner as he looked towards Mount Canterlot. Without saying a word, he trotted off to find Commander Hurricane.

“Starswirl, there are no major injuries among the townsfolk, it’s a miracle no one was killed. Now please tell me master wizard, that you have SOME idea what that was” Said the Commander as he emerged from helping ponies inside a cracked shop.

“That is precisely what I need your help discovering Commander. I would ask you sir, to borrow a carriage, led by two of your swiftest soldiers” said Starswirl firmly, Clover following him at his side. Hurricane knelt to him, before he took off, just a few seconds later, he returned with a flying carriage, the Commander himself pulling it.

“I am without a doubt the swiftest Pegasus in Equestria…” he grinned for a moment, then stood at attention, putting a serious look on his face, “I am at your command Master Starswirl!” he barked out. Starswirl and Clover hopped into the elegant black and gold carriage, and without delay, Commander Hurricane bolted off into the air.

“Commander, take us to the summit of Mount Canterlot” Starswirl said confidently, as Hurricane whooshed upward into the clouds, Clover looked over to Starswirl curiously, but he could read her concern, “My young student… we are going to find some answers…” He said with a determined look on his face. As they made their way up the mountain, Starswirl suddenly felt a drop in his heart. As he looked back at his beautiful Equestria, he couldn’t help feeling scared for her.

To be continued with, Chapter 3: The Black Death in the Sky, Numinex

The Black Death in the Sky: Numinex

The Epic of Starswirl the Bearded
Chapter 3: The Back Death in the Sky: Numinex

“Do you remember what I told you about it my son?” asked the old unicorn to a young colt.

“You said it wasn’t just there to light the way at night, but It was something else too,” said the young colt.

The old unicorn nodded, “Yes my son, the moon not only lights the way for us at night, but it lights the way for us to magic.”

“To magic?” asked the colt.

“Yes my son, to magic. For you see, the moon itself is magic. Some have even said that the magic of all the world comes from the moon.”

“Do you think that’s where the magic comes from sir?” asked the curious colt.

The old unicorn smiled to him and nodded gently, “I do young one. In fact I believe that she has her own spirit that guides us during the dark times in our lives.”

He awoke with a tremor. The old wizard looked around for a moment, the clouds where flying past them as he and his pupil climbed the slope of the mountain steadily. The swift Commander Hurricane could fly to the top of the mountain in an hour by himself, but it would take him just a bit longer with the addition of his cargo. At this moment, something struck the mind of Clover the Clever, “Master Starswirl… why didn’t we just fly up by carriage the first time?” she asked suddenly, wondering why she hadn’t asked him sooner.

Starswirl looked at her blankly, his mind occupied by other thoughts, “Hmm? Oh, I suppose I was hoping we would learn a profound lesson by making the long and tedious journey up the mountain ourselves.”

Clover’s jaw went agape for a moment, “And just what was that profound lesson master?!” She asked with a look of disbelief on her face.

Starswirl turned his head for a moment, as if he was thinking about it. Then he spoke confidently, “… that it is much quicker just to fly up the mountain.” This of course simply made Clover facehoof and sigh.

Hurricane neared the entrance to the great cave at the peak of the mountain. Just as before, they felt the gust of warm air hit them in stark contrast to the coldness of the mountain air. They landed on the ledge leading to the mouth of the cave, “What’s in there old man?” asked Commander Hurricane with a rarely seen bit of curiosity. Starswirl however did not answer, as he strode with haste in his step into the cave, Hurricane catching up close behind him, along with his pupil. The cave was expectantly dark, with no source of light as they strode in. Just as Starswirl came to where the Great Dragon had laid, he stopped dead in his tracks, a look of dread coming over his face.

“Bones? You brought us up here for bones?” asked Commander Hurricane with a perplexed look on his face. Starswirl took a few steps closer, illuminating the room of the cave with his staff. His eyes were wide with fear and disbelief.

“No… this isn’t supposed to be here…” He paced around the pile of perfectly clean dragon bones, exactly the same size and shape to fit the great dragon that he had seen before. The wizard was frantic as he paced around the pile of bones, he searched his mind for an answer, but he could come up with nothing, “This has to be some sort of trick… he should still be here!” he couldn’t keep his frustration bottled up anymore, “No…” he uttered again in defeat.

The meeting of the Great Dragon of the Earth Bones had been the most divine experience Starswirl the bearded had ever had, and was more than likely the closest anypony had come to the divine since the dawn of creation. Starswirl did not understand exactly what this great beast was, but he knew he was no mere mortal. He couldn’t explain how he knew either, he could feel it. Just as he could sense the presence of magic, he sensed something far greater in the soul of the creature that once lay before him. If he had to put a word to it, the only fitting name to call such a presence would be a “God”. But his eyes did not deceive him; the former dragon of the earth was no more. The fact that this dragon was not only gone, but possibly destroyed is what disturbed him the most, for what manner of being could possibly lay waste to a god? The mage was once again at a loss of what to do. He felt helpless against the greater forces at work, and he felt helpless to offer his people the answers that they sought. And once more, he felt saddened by the loss of the great dragon. During his entire encounter with him, he had sensed only goodness in his heart, perhaps more so than any mortal pony he had encountered in his life.

Commander Hurricane sensed Starswirl’s uncertainty, “Well what now sir?” he asked plainly.

Starswirl paced some more, shaking his head, “I don’t know. I don’t know! I DON’T KNOW BLAST IT ALL!” He cried out in frustration, “I… don’t know…” he said again quietly.

The commander approached Starswirl and put a hoof on his shoulder, “Master wizard!” he said in a harsh tone for a moment, getting his attention. Then he spoke in a more understanding tone, “Starswirl, we aren’t going to get answers standing around here staring at a corpse. Let us return to Mare’omer, there are still ponies that need our help. At the very least, we can protect them much better down there than we can all the way up here.”

Starswirl was calmed down from his nervous state thanks to the help of the Commander. He looked around the cave once more before he nodded to him, “You’re right. It appears we will no longer find the answers here. Let’s be off Commander”. He took a deep breath, and trotted out of the cave the way he had come in. Just before they took off from the ledge of the mountain, Starswirl took one last sorrowful look into the cave.

Upon returning, Starswirl was met with a reception of a legion of Commander Hurricane’s soldiers, as well as Smart Cookie and some of his servants. Cookie was waiting anxiously, and galloped up to Starswirl once he departed from his carriage, “Starswirl! Please tell me you were able to get to the bottom of this wild weather,” he asked desperately.

Starswirl however could only shake his head, he looked to the ground with a disappointed look on his face, “No, I was not able to find the origin of our problems” He looked off into the distance, the memory of seeing the dead dragon still fresh in his mind, “But I did learn something about them” he asked quietly. He waited for a moment before turning to Smart Cookie with a dire look on his face, which hinted at the terror that he had faced back in the cave, “I don’t believe that our situation will be improving any time soon. In fact, I believe it will get much worse.”

Smart Cookie did not look moved by the terror in Starswirl’s eyes, but instead he looked more determined, “What can we do?” he asked bravely.

Starswirl came out of his state of fear, he took a deep breath before he trotted over to Smart Cookie, “You can help everypony in town fortify their houses, make sure they clear their houses of any objects that might fall. In fact, I think it’s best to get as many of the villagers into the castle…”

He was interrupted by Clover the Clever, “But master, that castle nearly killed us last time, what if there’s another earthquake?” She asked fearfully.

Starswirl kept pacing, “I believe for whatever disaster we are to face next, the castle will be the safest place to be, off you go then!” He said waving a hoof at Smart Cookie, and him and his servants took off. Starswirl turned to the Pegasus soldiers of Commander Hurricane, “Fly to all the villages and towns in Equestria, warn them to fortify themselves, if they don’t have a castle or bunker, tell them to build one! And tell them to… prepare themselves, as best they can. Oh yes of course, bring all of the farming communities outlying our town into the keep, they’ll be better protected within the boundaries of the city. Fly my friends, quickly!” He said with haste. The pegasai soldiers saluted him quickly before swiftly taking off to their duties.

Clover turned to him, “Do you think this will work master? Do you think… that we have a chance at preventing whatever disaster is to come?” he asked frightfully.

“I don’t think we can prevent whatever storm is to come our way my student. I think all we can do now is prepare, and hope that that is enough,” he said ominously.

A strong quake was felt as they stood there in wonder. They braced themselves, fearing another earthquake was eminent, but the earth did not shake again. The sound of shrieking ponies caught there attention. Several ponies were running in terror out of the farm fields, Pegasus soldiers flew away, some carrying farmers on their backs. Soon it became apparent what they were all fleeing from. Coming over the horizon was a great firestorm. The entirety of the farmlands was ablaze, the fire easily consuming the vast farmlands quickly. They were struck by the wave of heat from the fire. From an unknown source, a blast of fire shot out from the inferno of the fields, striking one of the houses. The burning blaze of the fire however, did not do justice to what they saw next. All of the ponies looked up, as the very sun was blotted out.

With a terrible roar, a great beast flew up high over Mare’omer, its wings spread wide, like encroaching death, reaching out to suffocate the life out of all whom it touched. The beast’s scaly hide was sharp and jagged like swords, and it was black as night, black as the shadow of fears. The creature was completely black, save for its white underbelly. This beast was in such stark contrast to the Dragon of the Earth Bones, that it seemed a perversion to call them a beast of the same breed. But he was just as massive, and thrice as terrible. The great dragon descended, extending his bat-like wings further until he dropped closer to the terrified ponies below him, stopping a few hundred feet in the air. The ponies could all see now, his eyes were red as the pits of Tartarus, the very sight of the great dragon sent chills up the spine of everyone, they were staring into the face of destruction.

He opened his garish maw and spoke, with the same power that the great dragon of the earth had spoken, except his voice was more hoarse and raspy, and commanded fear into the small forms below him, “Look at these creatures, so small. What an abomination it is to let such weakness roam the earth unchecked!” He spread his wings wide again, lifting up his massive, black horned head, “I will make you know the power of Numinex! Look upon me with terror you poor mortal souls! For this is the hour of your doom and the doom of all things!”

All of the ponies were too stricken with fear to move. With that, the terrible dragon opened his maw again, this time to expel streams of blue-hot fire, which quickly turned to red as it coated the ground, and the buildings below him. This of course snapped the ponies out of their fear trance, as they all went running and screaming in terror, trying to find some sort of escape from the dragons fire. Numinex took off high into the sky, bellowing his flames all around him in the air. The Pegasus solders that had come back looked to their leader for orders, many of them still shaking. Hurricane, whom was also quite terror-struck by the dragon looked to them commandingly, “1st Platoon Soldiers! Help Starswirl put out those fires, and get everypony you can to the castle!” He yelled out above the sound of the blazing fires, and screaming townsfolk. After he spoke this he began to fly up into the air.

In that moment Starswirl’s eyes shone with fear and he used is magic to once again grab Hurricane by the tail stopping him, “And where are you going you fool!?”

Hurricane turned around to glare at Starswirl, “I’m going to distract that thing so you can get the villagers to safety, and save the city from burning down!” he cried out.

Starswirl shook his head, “Hurricane you bloody fool you don’t stand a chance against that him! Stay here you…” he was cut off by the commander

“If I don’t go he’ll burn everyone alive! The ponies need YOU here Starswirl… and they need me up there… Now put out those damn fires old man!” He yelled out.

In his mind, he knew Commander Hurricane was right; the Pegasus wouldn’t be able to stop the flames as well as he could. With a look of great sorrow in his eyes, Starswirl reluctantly let go of Hurricane’s tail. The great dragon swooped down close to the ground again, spitting his great flaming breath onto the town; “You and your constructs burn so easily little equines!” he laughed terribly as he rose up again, “Hardly are you fitting sport for my teeth, how pathetic!” The terrified Pegasus guards looked to Starswirl now for leadership. He pointed out the burning houses to them and shouted to them. They flew off to try and gust away the great fires. Starswirl and his pupil ran to the farmlands, to put out the greater of the infernos, for all he knew, there could still be farmers trapped inside. The black dragon continued to breathe his fire in the air, but the earth ponies below had stuffed as many villagers as they could into the castle, the others were taking shelter from the flames as best they could. It took Starswirl and his pupil a while to banish the great fires in the farmlands, but they had managed to save a few wayward farmers, as their houses were surrounded by the hellfire. However, the greatest challenge would not be Starswirl to put out the dragon’s fire; it would be the challenge that lay in front of Commander Hurricane.

The Pegasus flew furiously into the sky, until the found himself at the tail of the great black dragon. The presence of such a colossal beast made his blood boil, and his warrior spirit come to its surface. He jetted forward and kicked at the upper base of the dragon’s tail. Numinex looked behind him, a bit confused, but he scoffed off the Pegasus, “What is this petty thing? It bothers me… be gone…” he roared out in his formidable, bombing voice. The dragon kept flying forward and gave a heavy swing of his large spiked tail. Commander Hurricane was able to pull backwards in time, but he still kept in hot pursuit of the dragon. The commander flew up to quickly grab a loose cloud from the sky, after swirling it together, it bucked it hard. A large bolt of lightning arched out of it, and struck the back of the black dragon. This made Numinex stop dead in his tracks, and turn around to fully face his assailant. The full glory of the dragon was now facing Hurricane; the sight even made him wince for a moment, before his warrior spirit kicked in again, making him regain his composure, “Defiant little insect! Could death not come soon enough for you?” he roared out angrily. He opened his maw and show out a torrent of fire straight to Hurricane. The Pegasus cried out, and began to beat his wings furiously, causing heavy, powerful gusts of air to fly forward, and hold back the dragons flame just short of burning him. As the dragon stopped breathing fire, Hurricane took the opportunity to fly in close to him, and give another powerful beat of his wings, the wave of air struck the dragon, making him flinch only slightly. The dragon gave what looked like a smirk through his jagged teeth, before he too gave a powerful beat of his bat-like wings. His gust of air was far more powerful than Hurricane’s, and it caused him to tumble a hundred feet through the air before he regained his stance. At this point the Pegasus was panting, and growling out with anger and adrenaline rushing through him.

The dragon began to fly away from the wind swept Pegasus, before the commander flew in close to him again, “DON’T YOU FLY AWAY FROM ME DRAGON!” the Pegasus was panting hard with anger, his where wide and bloodthirsty, like a cornered beast, “IM NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!” he cried out through the air. Hurricane flew up to the clouds again, and began to stomp on the surface of them rapidly. A few of the lightning strikes it Numinex before he lifted his wing to protect himself. The dragon bellowed out a large stream of fire into the clouds, dispersing them. Out of the ring of fire sped a furious Commander Hurricane, diving down in a streak of blue thunder, and striking the dragon square in the chest. The dragon cried out in anger, and swung his wing into the air, striking Hurricane and sending him for a tumble. But in less than a second, the proud Pegasus was up again, and circling the dragon, firing off his heavy blasts of air with his powerful wing beats. The rapid gusts of air were causing the great dragon to wobble slightly in the air. Infuriated at this, he began shooting his fire breath out in all directions, without rhyme or reason, causing the air around them to heat up immensely.

The rapid beating of Hurricane’s wings was taking its toll on him, and they were beginning to grow weak. He abandoned this technique, and instead dove around and behind the dragon, kicking him in his back, his legs, or wherever his head and claws should so happen not to be at the moment. He kept up his agile maneuvers for as long as he could, but eventually his luck ran out, and the dragon smacked him again hard with his claw. Hurricane flew through the air, more dazed, and weary this time. The dragon, who did not look so much as winded, noticed this, and bellowed out a pillar of smoke as he laughed, “Such a hope you have little mortal!” then his smile turned into a snarl, “I loathe hope… be gone weakling!” Hurricane looked at the massive dragon before him. Panting, he felt another rush of adrenaline hit him. Hurricane knew that this was the first time he was fighting for more than his own glory. This was the first time he was not concerned whether or no death met him in battle. He knew that his friends, his family and everything he loved back home was depending on him. Commander Hurricane charged towards the dragon head-on, striking him firmly in the stomach. The dragon had winced, but reacted quickly, smacking him again with his claw. Before the commander could be tossed away, Numinex caught him in his teeth-coated maw, grasping down firmly and shaking him around in the air, before he let him go. The limp body of the Pegasus dropped to the ground, into the burnt fields below him.

At long last, the buildings in town where safe from the fire. The badly damaged ones were left smoldering, smoking heaps. The farm fields had also been put out, and its residence promptly evacuated to the town center. Many ponies had burns and injures, but they were lucky, as they would all recover, and no one was injured beyond repair. As Starswirl tended to the last of the fires, he looked up into the distance of the sky, to see the battle with the dragon. If it wasn’t for Commander Hurricane, the damage would have been much worse, and somepony may have lost their lives. Starswirl took off in full gallop, storming to the field below the dragon as fast as he could. As he watched from a distance, his eyes widened with horror. Below the dragon, a blue Pegasus could be seen falling to the ground. “What a shame mortal… you would have made a good slave…” heard Starswirl from the dragon, before he saw him flying off into Mount Canterlot. Starswirl charged as fast as he could towards the fallen Pegasus, the dragon hardly even a thought in his mind. He approached the motionless body of the Pegasus and slowed down before coming to him. Starswirl dropped to his hind legs, looking down with horror and distress at what he saw. The body of Commander Hurricane was broken, and no amount of magic could cure the damage that had been done. And yet the Pegasus moved his head slightly, he was not dead just yet.

“I die… with… my eyes open…” was all he was able to utter, before his head dropped, and he drifted off into the eternal sleep.

Starswirl knelt there, looking over the body of his dead friend. Tears began to stream from his face. He had witness such a tragedy that nopony should ever have to see. Soon after he took the body of the Pegasus in his arms, and the others, Smart Cookie, and Clover the Clever approached them, silenced by what they saw. Starswirl held his friend close, looking up to the sky as his heart throbbed in agony. His throat was dry, as he felt the chokehold of his emotions strangle him. He continued to shed tears, his body feeling weak, and troubled at such a loss. This was the first time that Starswirl had ever felt truly hopeless. What pony could ever stand up to such a horror? What pony could stop such a monster that had no regards for life? Starswirl knelt there for a long while in silence with his friends, as he wept over the loss of his dear friend, and the greatest Pegasus warrior that would ever soar in the skies.

As the wizard sat there motionless, eventually the Pegasus solders came to him. They removed their helmets, and knelt before the wizard, treating the body of their Commander as gently as a newborn foal. They trembled with sadness, but fought hard to keep their faces straight, as they flew away with his body. They knew that he would expect no less of them. All of the other ponies were still too studded, too saddened to speak. Starswirl turned around, to see the burnt lands of his home. It was a good picture to match his sorrow, and despair. As he lowered his head, a strange thing happened just then. The light of the sun had pierced through the clouds and given Starswirl a feeling of warmth. It was a feeling that made him lift his head, and shed his last tear. It was as if in that one ray of light, someone had lifted up his chin, and given him a beacon of hope. Now as he looked into his city, he didn’t see the smoldering buildings, or charred fields. Now when he looked upon it, he saw every pony helping each other, friends, family, and loved ones working together. He saw hope.

The wizard turned around and looked towards Mount Canterlot with a twinkle in his eyes. Clover the Clever went to him, setting a hoof on his shoulder. Starswirl planted his staff in the ground and spoke firmly, “Clover my dear… I think Numinex has stayed here in Equestria quite long enough…”

To be continued with, Chapter 4: The Element of Destruction

The Element of Destruction

The Lost Epic of Starswirl the Bearded
Chapter 4: The Element of Destruction

“Now wait, WAIT just a minute sir… you cannot tell me you are honestly thinking of going right up to him like that. You saw what he did to Commander Hurricane! Throwing your life away like he did isn’t going to save any of us, please sir… consider your actions!” said Clover the Clever as she ran after him.

The wizard was still trotting steadily towards the mountain, “I am certainly not throwing my life away young apprentice. I am going to dispose of his.” He said with a look of determination on his face, the likes of which Clover had never seen. So much in fact that it made her stop in her hooves for a moment.

Clover tried to match his determination, “Then I’m coming with you sir!” she said defiantly at him.

Starswirl stopped at this, turning around to face her, “This is my fight,” he said looking at her sternly.

Clover matched his sternness, “How come? Commander Hurricane was my friend too! Don’t you think I was hurt by his death?! What right do you have to avenge him by yourself? Don’t you think I want to bring that… that thing down just as much as you do?” she asked with a tear beginning to form in her eye.

Starswirl’s face softened, and he looked to her now with compassion, “Clover, my dear… this is not about vengeance,” he walked towards her, and gently put his hooves on her shoulders, “I’m not going to fight him myself out of some damned fool idea of vengeance and glory. I am fighting him myself because I cannot bear the thought of him taking away any more of my friends. I could never forgive myself if I lost you in battle…” he embraced her in a tight hug, “…I promise you Clover, my favorite student that I will return. And I will return victorious.”

He looked at her with such a fire in his eyes that she had never seen before. She had never seen the wizard fight to his full potential, but with the glimmer of hope that she saw in him, she believed him. She was sad to see him go of course, she didn’t want him to get hurt, after all. But she knew her faith in him was well placed. She hugged him back, letting him go, “I will hold you to that promise master… good luck,” she said meekly, trying her best to hold back tears.

All of the ponies, whom had witness the fallen Hurricane now watched as Starswirl the Bearded strode purposefully to the mountain. They had personally witnessed him banished a colossal storm, that no Pegasus could ever disperse. They had witness him perform such feats of magic that nopony in their time had ever hoped to see. Anypony in town would have turned tail and run, cowered, a fled at even the notion that such a monster could exist. But here they saw Starswirl, their champion, their hero walking head long into the lair of the devil himself. The ponies of Equestria had long since gotten used to running at the first sign of trouble, but perhaps the sight of this wizard facing evil so readily might their methods. Perhaps when they were next faced with such a foe, they would not surrender to their fears so easily.

Starswirl approached the base of the mountain. As the sun shone brightly on him, he knew that he would not be alone in this battle; he would have the greatest power in existence fighting along-side him. She would have his back. Starswirl placed his staff on his back, and spread his hooves wide. His horn emitted a bright blue magic that would slowly envelope his whole body. Soon, Starswirl himself began to lift off the ground, and his shimmering body shot up rapidly along the side of the mountain, towards the lair of the foe that lay before him. He sped up, traveling at blinding speeds through the crisp mountain air. As he traveled through the clouds, he felt a presence around him, an ancient power that was seeping its way into his veins. Starswirl’s goal was quite clear now, and as he increased his speed, the cone of magic that encircled him grew larger, and brighter. His very eyes began to glow with white, hot magic, as evidence of his strong, willful power in magic. The wind around him subsided to gusting around his magical aurora, as if to acknowledge his presence. After only a few minutes, he would find himself at the step, leading to the great cave at the summit of the mountain. He lowered himself down, causing wind and dust to disperse, as the great wizard landed. He looked up, and prepared himself to bring justice to the great black dragon.

Numinex had his great body curled around the very peak of the mountain. It was looking over, what he had proclaimed to be “his” lands, before he noticed the glowing orb of magic that was Starswirl the Bearded. He hardly paid attention to him, “What is this? Have you come to pay tribute to the master of these lands little mortal?” he said, hardly considering the wizard, or anypony to be a real threat to him.

Starswirl spoke, with his own booming voice, amplified by his powerful magic to the dragon, “I have not come to pay tribute. I have come to tell you that you have overstayed your welcome in Equestria,” he said powerfully, taking a step closer to the dragon.

Numinex still did not seem threatened by him, “Equestria? This is not a fitting name for my land. This is Dagorath!” He said proudly, spreading his wings wide, “This shall be a land of fire and desolation! What a glorious land it shall be, after I have cleansed it with the word that is my fire! Can you see it mortal? Can you see the endless sea of fire and death as I do?” he asked mockingly of Starswirl.

Starswirl was neither impressed, nor withdrawn by the threats of Numinex. He took several more steps closer to him on the ledge of the mountain, and spoke with even more force in his voice, “If you will not leave this place on your own accord, then I shall remove you from it.”

This made the dragon avert his gaze from the view of Equestria, and turn his head to look at Starswirl, before a wicked grin came across his face. Then he bellowed out in laughter, “Ah ha! What Blasphemy! What heresy! To think that such a meek, festering spot of weakness on earth can lay waste to the greatest of aspects!” he spoke the last part proudly, showing off his huge wingspan, and his jagged, black-scaled chest. He snaked his neck out, looking closer at Starswirl, “Do you know WHO I AM?” he spoke with anger, then again with pride, “I am Numinex! I AM THE ELEMENT OF DESTRUCTION! Of all of my great siblings, I am the most powerful! I am unassailable!” Numinex jumped off of his peak, to land on the opposite end of the great porch on the mountain, staring down Starswirl, “Your arrogance amuses me mortal. Kneel before me, accept me as master, and bask in the glory that is Numinex!” He raised himself up on his hind legs, showing off his massive powerful body, and spread his wings once more.

Starswirl lifted his staff with his horn, and aimed it at the great dragon. A huge and blindingly bright lightning bolt shot out of it, going straight for the leathery hide that made up Numinex’s wing. A hole was burned right through it, the edges of it still glowing hotly. Numinex eyes widened slightly, and his maw went agape for a moment, he was not overly harmed by the blast, but he was certainly quite shocked, “Ack, what sorcery is this?” he said, his epic, booming voice slightly quieter this time. However, he had no more time for insight, as Starswirl launched another lightning bolt at him. The dragon was able to roll out of the way in time. After which he roared in anger, and took off into the air. He soared high in the air, before coming down suddenly, right atop of where Starswirl was. His dark fore claw had smashed into the ground, cracking the earth around it. But upon inspection, there were no remains underneath it. Starswirl had teleported just behind the dragon, and shot another lightning bolt at his back. His scales smoked from the white-hot lightning, and Numinex roared furiously.

The eyes of the dragon where blazing with anger, “You will suffer the same fate as your weaker friend!” he cried out, before opening his maw, and blasting the wizard with a huge torrent of flames. After the flames died, Starswirl was still there, with a shimmering clear force field protecting him. Numinex gave him no time to recover, as he pounced forward on him, fore claws attempting to crush the small pony. Starswirl was pushed firmly into the ground; however, he had managed to grab onto the dragons claws with his telekinetic magic, managing to just stop him from crushing the wizard. Blue magic enveloped Starswirl, and he rose up high above the mountain, his staff in hand as he flew in the air. The black dragon quickly caught up to him, trying to catch him in his deadly rows of teeth. To his avail, a huge sphere of swirling wind smashes into his face as he flew up, just knocking his head out of the way from devouring his foe.

Numinex snarled in frustration, “I WILL OUTLAST YOU MAGE!” he flew up above Starswirl, and blasted him again with blue-hot flames. As the flames came towards him, Starswirl lifted his staff up, and the flames were absorbed into it, disappearing as if they had never existed. The dragon dove into him, spinning around and smacking the wizard with his spiked tail. Starswirl was able to erect a barrier to protect him from direct impact, but the force of it still sent him flying to the ground, nearly crashing onto the great porch before he was able to stop himself, and gently land on his hooves. The dragon swooped down on him, using his hind claws like eagle talons to tear at the ground. Starswirl only just dived out of the way in time. The dragon landed on the ground next to him, and rose up to crush the wizard again. As he did, Starswirl aimed his staff at the chest of the dragon, and his own fires shot out of it, engulfing Numinex in a magnificent blue flame. The dragon roared and cried out as he tumbled around the ground for a while, falling onto all fours before the fire went out. He rose up again, looking angrier than ever at Starswirl. His scales were smoking, but it was difficult to tell if they were burn or damage, due to their pitch black color.

He opened up his maw, and began to bellow out his intense flames at Starswirl. Instead of ceasing his attack, he rose up, circling him, and continuously blasting his fire breath, covering him in a blanket of heat. Starswirl had quickly erected his spherical force field, but it was weakening from the constant barrage of fire. The mage let out a loud booming cry, and a shockwave of his magic erupted from him, the dragon’s fires spreading out in all directions, and the dragon himself being shaken in the air. After he expelled the onslaught of fire breath, Starswirl shot another bolt of lightning, striking Numinex squarely in his snout. He shook his great scaled head around shaking off the smoldering wound. Then he roared powerfully at the small pony before him, “YOU INSULENT PEST! I WILL SHOW YOU THE MEANING OF PAIN!” and with that the great dragon dove towards him, and crashed his shoulder into the wizard with all his weight. Starswirl cringed, and gritted his teeth in pain. The magical barrier he had erected was smashed into the ground, creating a large crater. The onslaught of Numinex didn’t stop, after bulldozing into him; he continued to bash his claws into the magical barrier over and over again in his rage. Starswirl looked up, holding the barrier as best he could, but slowly, it began to crack. Just before he was smashed below the claws of the dragon, Starswirl absorbed the energy of his barrier into his horn, and shot out a bright burst of energy to the dragon. It was more powerful than he intended, and it singed the claw of the dragon, leaving his scales smoldering and deformed, Numinex cringed in pain, pulling his claw away as he withdrew for a moment.

At the realization that he had withdrawn, the dragon roared out into the air, spitting his fire and nothing, simply expelling his fury. Just as Starswirl was crawling out of the crater, the dragon spun around, swinging his massive spiked tail, striking the little pony, and making him fly across the air, and smashing into the side of the mountain. It was only sheer luck that one of Numinex’s many spikes didn’t pierce him, but regardless, his old brittle body cracked quite hard against the rocky surface of the mountain, and he was slow to get up. The dragon smirked at his success; he dropped to all fours, crawling slowly up to the wizard like a predator ready to pounce. The wizard stood up shakily, and raised both his hooves in the air; he looked to the sky as his horn began to glow weakly. The dragon found this display amusing. So he opened his jaws rather slowly, poising to clamp them around the weakened mage. Just as he was about to close his teeth around the pony, he stopped, perplexed by a strange sound. Then the dragon peered up into the sky, and saw something he was very much not expecting.

The dragon’s maw went agape, as he was a little confused at what he was looking. Crashing down towards him at inexplicable speeds was a large, flaming rock that looked like it had come from nowhere. His wings gave a furious beat, but it was too late, the meteor had collided with him, making him crater into the earth; the flaming meteor exploding as it crashed into him, sending molten material everywhere. When the raging dragon come forth from the crater, bits of him were glowing red hot from his burning scales and hide, but he showed no sign of slowing down. The massive strike seemed only to enrage him more, as he spit out a large fireball, sending it hurling towards Starswirl. Starswirl was quick enough to use the same trick as he did before, and he absorbed the power of the fire into his staff. He teleported behind Numinex and launched the fireball at him, but to no avail, as the dragon swished his great tail, tossing the fireball aside.

The dragon snorted out a bellow of smoke, many of his black scales where even more gnarled than before, “What a myriad of tricks you have sorcerer but where is your true arsenal? What weapon do you have that you can possibly fell me?” he rose up off the ground slightly, his wings, latent with holes keeping him hovering, “I applaud your efforts to amuse me mortal, you have done well. But your frail equine body is breaking; you will fall long before I do.” And it was true; Starswirl had been battered terribly by the great dragon. And his body was aching from the strenuously use of strong magic he was using.

Starswirl the Bearded stood up tall before the dragon, and glared at him, “I will smite your ruins upon this mountain, foul dragon of the abyss!” He held his staff firmly. The dragon was a bit taken back by the wizard’s defiantness, but this only fueled his anger. The dragon opened his maw, as if to breathe fire. Instead it looked like he was taking a deep breath, his lungs expanding. Then he left his mouth open, just slightly so, and spit fourth a terribly hot, and concentrated stream of searing white-hot fire towards Starswirl. Starswirl shot a powerful beam from his horn, striking the stream of heat. The result was a tremendous explosion that shook the mountain itself. Shock waves of energy flew out in all directions, sending Starswirl flying back against the side of the mountain, and sending Numinex tumbling back through the air.

As Starswirl lay dazed on his knees, he looked up and saw the terrible dragon raging towards him, his maw agape and ready to devour the small equine creature before him. Just before he struck the poor wizard, something marvelous happened. Out of the clouds, the sun had shone itself, and a ray of light beamed right into the eyes of Numinex. He cried out in pain, averting his eyes. From this, Starswirl stood up, walking steadily towards the dazed dragon. He could feel the warmth of the sun at his back. At that moment he felt her presence upon him, she was at his back, and he knew what to do. Starswirl raised his staff one last time before the dragon. As he did, the once bright light that was shining at Numinex turned into pure energy. It was a great and terrifying beam that was coming straight from the sun. It hissed through the air, singing it, and deafening Starswirl, as he was awestruck at the power before him. The great pillar of light struck Numinex in his torso, burning it, singing away his scales and hide, digging deep into his abdomen before the light faded away, and Numinex fell to the ground with a tremendous thud.

The once great dragon’s body singled and burned with the solar power from the sun. He writhed and groaned in pain, and in anger. As he growled and moaned in agony, his wings flailed out, trying to grasp onto some sort of invisible foe to hold him back from entering the damned pits which he was about to journey fourth to. Starswirl walked up to the head of the beast, nearly taking pity on him as he roared in anger and pain, “YOU FOOL, YOU BLASPHEMER!!” he cringed his teeth, “NONE CAN SLAY THE GREAT NUMINEX! I AM THE MOST POWERFUL OF ELEMENTS!!” his claws curled and distorted themselves, as he looked down to the burning crevice in his torso; he flailed his head, his sounds switching between agony and anger constantly. He looked angrily at Starswirl, “THIS IS MY WORLD!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME MORTAL? MY WORLD!!!” the movements of his arms and legs began to lessen as he felt himself weakening.

He pointed his staff at the head of the beast, “Who is your master, foul dragon?” he asked sternly.

The dragon groaned, turning his head away, “The great Numinex… has no master…” he said, his once booming voice now weakened and hoarse.

Starswirl took another step towards him, “You did not raise yourself out of the ground, and you did bring yourself out of the flesh of the great dragon of the earth bones, who is it that brought you into this world?!” he asked firmly, stomping a hoof onto the dragons neck.

Numinex chuckled weakly at this, the life fading from him slowly, “I… Suppose the great Numinex was not fighting in his most glorious form… mortal…” he said as his arms and legs began to shake. He groaned out again in pain.

Starswirl spoke angrily, pressing his staff into the face of the dragon, “WHO is your master you beast?! WHO brought you into this world?!” he said, eyes wide with fury.

Numinex turned his head again, “But he is… in his most glorious form…” he chuckled at this before twisting his head in pain.

“Who?!” said Starswirl.

The dragon cried loudly in pain, “GRAAAHH, I SHALL TAKE THE SECRET TO MY GRAVE!” He writhed in pain, “FROM MY DEATH SHALL SPAWN A MULTITUDE OF MY CHILDREN!!!” his body twisted as he cried out, “I SHALL RETURN… ONE DAY IN FULL GLORY AND BRING FIRE TO THE LAND… GO MY CHILDREN!!!” he dragon screamed in pain, and as his body writhed violently, Starswirl moved away from him. The dragons maw opened wide, the bright light that was his life force streamed out hatefully, creating a terrible screeching that deafened Starswirl. The great blue flame of his life flowed upwards, disappearing into the sky. After his life force was wrenched out of the great dragon, his burning body fell limp to the ground. Then his corpse gradually turned to ash, and his ashes blew away into the wind, disappearing; signaling the end of Numinex, the Element of Destruction.

Clover rushed forward to hug Starswirl, “Master! Master I knew you’d make it…” she said with a small tear of joy in her eye. She released him and stepped back, Smart Cookie, and Platinum were also there to greet him at the edge of town , “We could hear the fighting from here master, we heard the very mountain shake and… we feared the worst” she said looking worried at him.

Starswirl patted her shoulder and gave her a smile, the wizard was certain beat up from his endeavor on the mountain, “My dear, I do remember telling you that I would return victorious, didn’t I?” he asked with a smile.

“You sure as sugar did!” said Smart Cookie raising his hooves joyfully, “Just when I think I’ve seen you do the most amazing, most incredible thing ever Starswirl, you go and do something like this!”

“We never doubted you for a moment sir wizard; you are an inspiration to all of us!” said Councilor Platinum, clapping her hooves together excitedly, “Oh my but dear… you’re hurt! Let’s get you to the castle healers, come now!”

Clover the Clever went to his side, helping him walk slightly as they all followed him to the castle. As they walked down the street, several of the ponies of town began to cheer for him.

“All hail Starswirl, the greatest unicorn ever!”

“Starswirl! Starswirl the dragon slayer!”

He smiled weakly at the crowed of ponies, pausing from their repairs of their houses to cheer on their hero. This helped lift his spirits, he was certainly glad to see his friends in town. His eyes had grown tired of his last adversary, and this was a comforting thing to behold. As they entered castle Mare Hall, Clover helped him up onto a bed, and two healer unicorns came to his side, preparing him food, and hot water. Starswirl slowly looked over to the Councilors, “Now where is Councilor Pamby?” he asked curiously.

The councilors and clover looked to the ground sadly, “He’s… at the Mausoleum… watching over Commander Hurricane. He hasn’t left his side since he heard the news. He’s really taking his death hard…” said Councilor Platinum.

Starswirl sighed, remembering the death of his friend, “The death of such a great Pegasus was hard on us all.” He sat up in his bed as the healers tended to his wounds, “But we must mentally prepare ourselves for such things, for although this was such a terrible loss, we must come to expect this in these dark times” he said, speaking grimly.

Clover and Smart Cookie looked to him, “But, you killed the dragon, didn’t you Starswirl? I mean… that’s what was causing all the disturbances before wasn’t it?!” Smart Cookie asked, looking a bit panicked for a moment.

Starswirl did not turn to look at her, “The dark dragon is dead…” he paused. He didn’t want to tell his friends of such dire news, “But he was not the cause of the weather disturbances that we have been experiencing. The dragon himself was brought to life by another entity. And I do not know what this entity is, but I do not believe that it will give up its assault on our nation after this defeat” he said, speaking solemnly as he averted his gaze from his friends.

The ponies around him looked to the ground, almost not wanting to believe what they had just heard. The dragon was already the biggest and most terrible thing any of them had ever seen. Trying to think of something worse was almost maddening. Clover finally lifted her head to him, “But master, what kind of entity could give life to such a creature as that dragon?” she asked, trying to mask the fear in her voice.

“I don’t have answers for that my pupil.” He sighed heavily, and then tried to change the subject, “Come friends, let us go see Commander Hurricane and Councilor Pamby,” he said standing up from his bed.

“Master, you’re still injured!” protested Clover.

“Oh don’t worry about me dear, I’m feeling much better!” He said, giving her a smile.

Inside the Mausoleum temple, the walls were lined up with Pegasus soldiers, all of them with their helmets removed, standing at attention to their great leader. In the middle of the temple, on a stone table, lay the body of the Commander. Next to the stone table stood Councilor Pamby, wearing his old military uniform. He had such a look of sadness on his face, that it would break the heart of anypony that beheld it. Starswirl and the councilors respectfully removed their hats as they entered the temple. The honor Pegasus guards entered the temple, dawning their beautifully decorated uniforms and spears. In two orderly lines, they approached the stone table, and raised their spears to him, “To our Commander, we salute you!” they all said in unison. The other Pegasus soldiers raised their hooves and repeated, “We salute you!” The Pegasus honor guards lowered their spears, and raised them again, “To our fearless leader, we welcome you to the halls of the honored dead!” the other Pegasus soldiers grunted out in their traditional fashion, raising their hooves.

The Councilor Pamby raised his hooves, wiping the tears from his eyes, his look of sadness quickly changing to a look of determination, “This Pegasus dies with his eyes open in battle! May the afterlife beware! A warrior is coming!” he cried out. The other Pegasus soldiers looked to him with aw, inspired by his brave face, and by the sacrifice of their fearless leader, “HOO!! COMMANDER HURRICANE!!” they all cried out. As their enthusiasm slowly died down, two of the Pegasus honor guards went methodically up to the body of the Commander. They lifted him off of the plank that he was laying on, and slowly lowered into a large stone Casket behind the stone table. They carried the stone casket into a socket in the wall, positioning it so it could be seen along the back wall, where the great ponies of the past rested in peace. All of the soldiers gave their final salutes, before the Pegasus Honor Guard lined up, and slowly left the Mausoleum temple.

Outside of the temple, Starswirl looked onto the horizon, just as all of the ponies did that day. They could see that there was a great storm coming, but did not know that it would be unlike any storm they had ever faced before. Clover looked to her master, “What’s coming Starswirl… what more can our fair nation take.” It was a question she knew he couldn’t answer.

Commander Pamby had stood beside Starswirl and clover, with a look on his face the likes neither of them had ever seen, “Whatever it is that comes our way, we’ll be ready for it…”

To be continued with, Chapter 5: The Element of Chaos, Discord

The Element of Chaos: Discord

The Lost Epic of Starswirl the Bearded
Chapter 5: The Element of Chaos, Discord

In the beginning, there were five great elements that presided over the realm. The eldest was Celestia; she was the spirit of the sun, life, and creation. Her younger sister was Luna, the spirit of the moon, and magic. The two sisters had three younger brothers. The eldest of the brothers’ name was Bu’run, the spirit of the earth. The next was Nu’run the spirit of cleansing and renewal. And the youngest of them all was U’run, spirit of spontaneity.

Together the great elements lived in harmony together. Bu’run would make a plane of existence. Celestia would fill it with life. Luna would bring that life purpose. U’run would bring that life meaning. And once the life had grown old and weary, Nu’run would let it pass, and wipe the plane clean, leaving it fresh and new for Celestia to create on it once more. This cycle of peace, life, death, and renewal went on for time immemorial; as such there was perfect balance in the realm.

One day, the sun Celestia made a very special creation, of ponies, in the land of her brother Bu’run. On this land, her ponies where happy, and lived at peace with each other. But on a certain day, something strange happened to a single pony. Hatred had festered into his heart, for something that one of his fellow ponies had done. This one pony’s hatred did not stay within himself. It spread like wildfire to the other ponies. Even in his death, hatred lingered on in his decedents, to the enemies of his decedents, and to their children. Through many years, the once great tribe of ponies had split themselves into two groups, each of them spawned from their hatred for one another.

Each group of ponies had sought death on the other. Many years would pass of endless war, with much bloodshed being shed on both sides, but with none being able to call themselves the victor. As their fighting prolonged, they each sought new and terrible ways to dispatch of their enemy. They had made abominable weapons, and great machinations; all of them designed to destroy.

A small group of ponies from the nation had finally come to reason, and seen the futility of their fighting. They left the land, and traveled far away to try and find peace from the fruitless bloodshed. After they had left, one of the nations had created a great weapon, of terrible power and magic, that they would use against the other nation, to destroy them once and for all.

As the ponies of the earth fought, the great spirits wrenched in agony. Their cycle of harmony had been broken. The two sisters of the sky wept, and in their sadness, they vowed that the sun and the moon would never again rise in this land. The eldest brother buried himself deep in the earth, trying to hide himself from the unrest that the ponies had created. In seeing his sisters’ weep, the younger brother Nu’run went to the cursed land of war, to unmake it, and because he was often mischievous and curious, the youngest brother U’run went with him. Nu’run was horrified as he saw such bloodshed and death among the ponies. The sight of it would drive him mad, he thought that there could surely be no peace upon such an earth, and vowed to destroy everything that had ever been created. The bitterness and the hatred of the ponies had corrupted Nu’run, twisting his spirit, and turning him into Numinex. The youngest brother too beheld the war-torn nation. He saw the great order they possessed, the horrible, systematic method of their killings, and their abominable machinations. U’run was too driven mad. He became Discord, and vowed to never let order take hold on earth.

As the spirits of the fallen brothers festered, the nations had taken it upon themselves to active their terribly powerful weapon. But when they had activated it, it not only destroyed their enemies, but it destroyed the entirety of the two nations, leaving the land desolate and bare, as it would remain for many eons to come. After the weapon had been discharged, it left only one thing in its wake; a small hole in the fabric of existence. It was through his small hole that Discord was able to escape the realm eternal, and come into the mortal plane. Here, in his most mighty form, the great element would spread chaos and disharmony upon the whole of the world.

Above them was a very strange sight. The sky was completely covered with clouds as far as they could see, but this is not what was so strange. What was strange was that the clouds were perfectly green. Not green like the refraction of the light on some stormy day, but green like the greenest grass.

“Get back to your posts pegasai! You there, keep fortifying the keep! Tell the villagers to take shelter!” yelled out Commander Pamby. The townsfolk were awed and perplexed at the strange sight. They did not see the danger in a green cloud cover, but neither Pamby nor Starswirl wanted to take any chances. Pamby left the soldiers to their duties, and went to Starswirl’s side. He was repairing the villagers’ homes from the fire damage, alongside his pupil Clover. Pamby looked up to the sky “What new devilry is this?” he asked curiously.

Starswirl turned to him, “This is the beginning of disharmony” he said with a look of uncertainly. Just as he began to return to his duties, Starswirl flinched. Something wet had fallen onto his face. It soon began to fall everywhere in a steady downpour. The wetness had a strangely dark appearance to it, which simply confused the ponies around them even more. As the rain dripped onto Starswirl’s hoof, he slowly brought his hoof up to his mouth, and gave it a tender lick. Then he looked up to Pamby giving him a look of bewilderment, “Chocolate…” it was almost a question, for he hardly believed it. It was steadily raining down liquid chocolate onto the whole of the town. Starswirl looked at Pamby, then at Clover in a look of confusion. Then among the confusion and uncertainly of it all, they all suddenly burst out in laughter. The playfulness of such a dire approach was simply too much for them to ignore.

As they calmed down Pamby slapped his hoof, “So, is THIS what we have to look forward to in our terrible state of disarray?” he asked smiling.

Starswirl wiped his smile off, trying not to laugh anymore and take a more serious tone, “Now then we can’t let this small antic distract us. We must stay vigilant!” he said, before he gave another chuckle at the situation.

After a few hours of the deliciously confusing downpour, it stopped, although the green cloud cover would remain. Just as Starswirl and Pamby were working on repairing another house, another odd thing happened that day. A frog had fallen from the sky, however, this particular frog just so happened to be as big as a house, quite literally. It shook the ground as it took massive leaps across town. It leaped and crawled through town nonchalantly, much to the bewilderment of the townsfolk. Just as Starswirl has begun to contemplate this, a troubled farmer pony approached him, “Sir… I think you ought to take a look at this,” he held out his hooves with an ear of corn. Starswirl would find that a moment later, the kernels on it would all pop, turning into popcorn. He looked up, and off in the distant corn fields, a multitude of popping could be heard, the entire field gradually popping and turning into popcorn, “What sort of trickery is this?” asked the farmer, scratching his head in frustration.

Starswirl was by no stretch of the imagination expecting the odd occurrences that went on that day. He thought back to the past disturbances that the town had felt. The storm, and the earth quake had been violent; ponies could have died in them. The dragon was terrible; he would have laid waste to everything, and everyone in town. But these were what seemed like mere pranks. What sort of great and powerful deity would stoop to such foolishness? As he pondered, he looked to castle Mare Hall, and saw its ponies rush out with haste. Soon he would see why, all around the castle, plant growth was occurring unnaturally fast. Soon, the foreign trees and bushes nearly overtook the sight of the castle itself, twisting and curling around the stone. The plants looked particularly devious, but they had no mind of their own to be sure. They had simply been grown there by whatever entity was plaguing the town with these strange events.

Councilor Platinum ran up to him, huffing out angrily as she brushed away the exotic plant life out of her dress, “Starswirl, what in the heavens is all of this madness?!” she asked, more focused on freeing her exquisite dress from the creeping plants.

Starswirl shook his head, “I don’t know my lady. I was not expecting this sort of foolery to plague our town. Although I must admit that I am relieved that it doesn’t look like anypony is in any immediate danger,” he said looking around at the safe, albeit confused ponies.

Councilor moaned in protest, “Oh no, just my dress!” she said running off, fed up with the prickly plants sticking to her dress

Starswirl would soon regret his statement. As Commander Pamby approached him, a loud roaring was heard off in the distance. They turned their heads toward the sound, and heard the roaring again except now they heard many different roaring sounds, for many different creatures. They could see nothing, but they could hear the cries coming closer and closer with every passing moment. The whole town listening now, shaking in fear as they looked to the skies. From the green cloud cover dropped a large red creature, crashing down onto the square of the town. This thing before them was something that they recognized. This was a dragon, as they had seen before. He was much smaller than the great Numinex they had seen earlier, but he was still quite sizable, and he did not look very friendly.

The heavy bodied dragon waddled around the street on his massive legs for a moment, huffing smoke and grunting out. As he turned, he saw one of the frightened villagers, and let out a terrifying roar at him. The dragon opened its maw to bellow out red flames at him. At the last moment, Starswirl teleported to the villager and wrapped his hooves around him, and teleported away. As the dragon cried out in frustration, several more of his kin began to fall from the sky. They were in all sorts of shapes and sizes, some of them green, some of them fatter, or having short snouts. But they all looked very aggressive. Commander Pamby recoiled for a moment before he looked at them angrily, he cried out, “Soldiers! Arm yourselves! Get into position!” he commanded. Pegasus guards and soldiers began pouring out of the barracks with their spears, prepared for battle.

The ponies were running and screaming, trying to seek shelter in their homes, as the raging beasts pursued them. The dragons were still too big to fit inside of their fortified doors, so they clawed and beat at the houses out of frustration, lighting fire to some of them. The Pegasus soldiers formed up. As they approached one of the dragons, they simultaneously hurled their spears at him. The dragon screeched in pain, and began to fly off. Starswirl ran off into the town center, “Get them away from the villagers!” he yelled at the soldiers. Then he looked to the dragons, waving his hooves and his staff at them rapidly, “Hey you, you ugly brutes! Come here! Come show me what your made of you… you son of motherless beasts!” he taunted. It worked as a few of the dragons roared, and skulked towards him. As one breathed fire onto him, Starswirl absorbed it into this staff, and fired it back out at another dragon, to which he seemed to simply brush the flames off. Starswirl aimed his staff at another dragon, and grabbed the entirety of his form with his magic, and violently slammed him against the ground, knocking the dragon out. To the other dragons, Starswirl began to rapid shoot lightening out of his staff, making them squeal out in pain. Eventually the group of dragons began to turn tail and fly away.

A group of pegasai soldiers was getting dangerously close to one dragons fire, and they had lost their spears, “Show no fear soldiers! Drive this beast back!” its commander cried out. Just as the dragon poised to strike, it recoiled in pain as its side was struck by a magic bolt from Clover the Clever. She struck him with another bolt of magic, and he flew away, hissing at the unicorn angrily. Commander Pamby flew up in the air, “Soldiers! Form up, take to the skies! Keep them off the ground!” he shouted out. Immediately, all of the Pegasus solders flew up, guarding the surface of the town from the coming wave of lesser dragons. “VOLLEY!” the Pegasai aimed their spears up, and hurled them into the sky, striking the barrage of dragons that threatened to swoop down. Many of the dragons cried out in pain, turning back to the sky and flying away. This made things easier for Starswirl and Clover to take care of the dragons already on the ground.

One of the monsters had bitten off one of the houses door, and was reaching in, trying to get at the terrified pony inside. Starswirl heard the mare’s screams and galloped to her, he shot a powerful bolt of lightning at the dragon, sending him flying. Starswirl and Clover continued to rush around town, expelling the dragons with their strong magic as fast as they could. But in the skies, the Pegasus soldiers were soon being outnumbered. They had lost their spears, and had resorted to head-on attacks, using the force of their bodies to try and drive back the dragons, but their numbers where increasing by the moment. Starswirl caught one of them with his magic as he fell to the ground after being smacked by a dragon’s claw. Pamby was rushing into them with great fury, using the force of his wings to beat them away, “Stay in formation! Drive them back! Fiiightt!” He yelled out, trying to keep the morale of his outnumbered soldiers up.

All around him, the old pony could see that the town was quickly being overwhelmed and would not last much longer against the onslaught. He ran into the center of town, and pointed his horn to the sky. It began to glow a faint blue magic, before growing brighter, and brighter. Eventually, Starswirl uttered his spell under his breath, and a massive glowing force field began to emanate from him. The force of the magic expanded rapidly, with such power that it pushed against the dragons, driving them outside of it. Within moments, the force field encompassed the entirety of the town, even extending upwards into the sky, where it pieced the green cloud cover, giving them all a glimpse of blue sky. Starswirl fell to his knees for a moment, dazed after using such a powerful spell. A couple of the dragons tapped on the magical aurora, but to no avail. They flew off into the distance with angry roars, beaten by the powerful wizard.

Clover trotted up to her master, panting after exhausting her use of strong magic, “How… how long can you keep this barrier up master?” she asked.

“The force field is up on its own my pupil, it would take a quite a pounding for it to come down, and if it should, I shall reapply it. Is anyone hurt?” He asked to his student. As he did, Commander Pamby flew down.

“A couple of my pegasai soldiers are injured, but they will recover. It looks like the villagers got to safety just in time,” he said, brushing off the torn battle armor from himself. Upon this, they all heard a loud knocking sound, and saw the barrier vibrating above them. The noise came in three steady knocks, as if someone was knocking at a door. Starswirl looked around for the source of the disturbance, and what he found was a carved out section of his force field. It almost looked like it was in the shape of a door.

Outside of the field, they could hear a loud voice, coming from a not unpleasant sounding, creature, “Helloooo…. Anypony home?” he asked. His voice was not unpleasant, but it carried a great sense of eeriness in it. Every pony in the city could hear him. Slowly, the door-like carving in Starswirl’s barrier opened, and it walked in, “Oh, pardon me… it was unlocked.”

The creature that was before them was unlike any other they had ever seen. It had a draconic look to it, it was tall, to be sure, taller than anypony, but a bit small for a dragon. Its face was that of pony’s, albeit a rather disfigured looking pony. He had two horns atop of his head, one was swirled like that of a unicorn, and the other was an antler like that of a deer. His body looked snake-like and draconic, except that it was furred. It had one bat-like wing of a dragon, and one feathered wing of a bird. One of his arms was that of a lion, the other was that of an eagle talon. One of his legs was hooved, like that of a pony, and the other was scaled like a dragon. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this creature was the manic grin that it wore; its yellow eyes wide, and wild, and his single fanged mouth grinning widely at the ponies with a look that chilled them to the bone.

It swung its arms open wide, “HEEELLOOO everypony! You’re fearless leader has finally arrived!” he began to walk steadily down the main road towards Castle Mare hall, before he raised his arms to the confused on-looking ponies, “Now then, I know you’re all expecting a lot, but don’t worry the wonder… beautiful changes have only just begun!” He spun himself around in a circle, sliding around on the stone road like it was ice.

Starswirl was the first to approach the strange pony, or dragon, or whatever he was, “Who ARE you?” he asked, still confused.

The creature crossed his arms, shaking his head with a look of disappointment, “Well that’s no way to treat a guest…” he pressed his paw to his chest, looking to the sky regally, “I am Discord, the master of chaos! The king of disarray! The… well… you get the idea…” he looked onto all the other spectators as well as Starswirl, “… and I have finally arrived to free you from the horrible, disgustingly boring monotony of order! Oh please, save your applause for later, I still have much work to do!” With that, he stood on his tip-toes, sliding across the surface of the road. Starswirl soon came to realize why. It had been somehow transformed into a surface as smooth as glass.

Clover stepped forward next, following the creature that called itself Discord, “You… you are the one who’s behind all of the chaos that’s been going on in Equestria?” she asked in disbelief. Starswirl himself had hardly expected the wielder of such elemental powers to be quite so silly. Before he could answer, the creature stopped, and took a look around. He scratched his chin for a moment, and then snapped his fingers. In an instant, the straw rooftops of all of the hovels and houses were changed into very large, apple pies. The ponies in town gasped, flabbergasted, and hardly able to make heads or tails of what had just happened. Starswirl too looked shocked, but this was at least substantial evidence for the creature’s power.

Commander Pamby flew suddenly, in front of the path of the sliding Discord, blocking him, and looking at him angrily, “If you’re the one responsible for all of this… you killed Commander Hurricane!” He said, huffing in anger as he glared at the strange beast.

Discord recoiled at this slightly, more out of surprise than fear, “Now you just watch your tongue before you go accusing such things!” discord crossed his arms and turned his head away, “I had nothing to do with that, nor would I ever! After all, ponies aren’t very much fun when they’re dead…” he said, hardly comforting Pamby, and showing little remorse for Hurricane.

Starswirl trotted beside Pamby, looking quite upset himself, “But YOU released that terrible dragon, didn’t you? You released Numinex!” he barked, banging his staff into the ground.

Discord rolled his eyes, dropping his head lower, and looking peeved, “Oh right… him. He always was a little grim” he shrugged, and continued sliding down the road, “But I figured he was just what this place needed! You know, to spice things up a bit” Discord finally slid in front of the entrance to castle Mare Hall. He scratched his chin, raising an eyebrow, “Hmmm… this will never do…” he clapped his hands twice, and the roof of the great castle suddenly disappeared, leaving the green-lit light to piece into it, “Ah that’s much better! I always did want a place with a sunroof!” He said with a smile as he walked up to the door. With a snap of his fingers, the door completely disappeared. And he walked in absent mindedly. Councilor Platinum was there, trying to block his path. Before she could say a word, discord touched her head, with a slight zap of magic; Platinum went hazy-eyed for a moment. When she came to, she sat on her hind legs, and began to pant with her tongue, and wag her tail like a dog. She barked up to discord, and followed along-side him, “There’s a good dog! You’ll be plenty company for me here while I make a few changes to my new kingdom!” He said exuberantly. He walked into the grand hall, and clapped his hands twice, a large, and ghastly looking throne appeared before the room, which he sat upon, crossing his legs, and patting Platinum on the head.

Starswirl, Clover, Commander Pamby, and a troop of Pegasus soldiers burst in. Commander Pamby shouted at him, “Discord! I don’t care what manner of beast you are! I demand that you leave this land!” he said forcefully. Discord appeared to ignore him. At this, Pamby pointed at him, “Soldiers! Spear that thing!” He commanded. They all flung their spears at the usurper, but just before striking him they all turned to flowers, and harmlessly fell at his feet.

“Oh, what service! What a reception! Please, my subjects, you’re too kind!” He said, waving at them and blushing as he mocked them. Discord grinned as he looked down at Pamby, “Now, if I remember, you used to be quite the cowardly little pony Pamby… I think that would be MUCH more entertaining for me! Go on then!” Discord snapped his fingers, and Commander Pamby appeared right before him. Then he touched him slightly on the head, just as he had done with Councilor Platinum. Pamby’s eyes went wide for a moment, and a look for terrible dread came across his face. All of his former courage sank away, and the once inspired Pamby darted away from Discord, shrilling loudly. This shocked the Pegasus soldiers, they looked over at the confusing dragon-creature, not quite sure what to do next. Discord would make that decision for them. “Ah, my royal guards!” he clapped his hands, “To your posts my minions!” The regal and fearsome Pegasus soldiers were all teleported in a row along-side Discords throne. They were all also bouncing up and down uncontrollably on large bouncy balls. Discord relaxed, putting his hands behind his head, “Ahh… now this is a much better sight, wouldn’t you say so my pet?” he asked looking down at Platinum.

Starswirl approached the dragon confidently. He slammed his staff into the ground, gathering the attention of all, “Discord… you are NOT welcome in these lands. Take your chaos, and be gone!” he said in a booming, commanding tone.

Discord grinned at this, “Oh, what new game is this? I love games!” He hopped up off of his throne, and squinted at Starswirl, “Alright little wizard, I’ll play your game… I don’t want to leave this place, it’s too much fun… what are you goanna do about it?” he taunted Starswirl.

A magical aurora began to emanate from Starswirl. His eyes began to glow as they did before, and wind began to whip around him spherically, “If you do not leave here by choice, then I shall remove you by force! I destroyed Numinex, and I shall do the same to you!” he said, his voice was echoing throughout the entire town by now as the very walls of the castle began to shake.

Discord shook his head with a smile, “Oh you poor ignorant pony. That grim old dragon wasn’t exactly… all here, if you catch my drift. And besides, you didn’t really destroy him anyway.” He grinned at the wizard, “But I can assure you, I am all here, and if you want to make things more exciting for me, then go right ahead. Fire away!” he said, raising his arms, baring his chest to the pony before him, pushing the ensnared Platinum out of the way.

Starswirl aimed his staff, and his glowing horn at the draconequus, and fired a massive, deafening bolt of lightning at him. After the blast, the throne of Discord had been evaporated, nothing was there where he once stood, save for a circle of black charred stone. Starswirl lowered his staff, breaking a sigh of relief, when someone leaned down on his back, “Wow, now THAT was cool! Hey do you think you could teach me how to do that? I mean, wow what a show!” he said. Starswirl immediately withdrew from him, backing away into the wall, his eyes wide with disbelief.

The Draconequus smirked at him, “I thought I told you that I was the new ruler of Equestria? Equestria… that doesn’t sound right… I am the new ruler of DISCORDIA!” he said loudly, before looking down to Starswirl grimly, “And all your magic powers won’t change that, little pony…” he said with a diabolical look on his face. This quickly changed to a more cheerful one, “Oh but I forgot, I’m still playing your game! Now it must be my turn” he looked up, thinking for a moment, before an idea sprung into his foul mind, “Let me see what I got here, this ought to work…” Discord pointed his finger at Starswirl, and a bolt of lightning, identical to the one Starswirl shot at Discord, now shot at him. The old pony was blasted backwards, crashing right through the stone wall of the castle, and clear across the entire town, cratering into the burnt area of the farmlands.

The wizard’s body was aching and nearly broken as he had crashed into the earth. Why he was not dead from such a powerful blast was beyond him. The only reason he could think of was that Discord simply did not wish to kill him. With his limbs aching, was able to just bring himself up to his front hooves. In a flash of light, Discord appeared before him again, a mere apparition of his actual self, “Well, that was a fun game. It looks like I win” He smiled devilishly at the beaten wizard, “Perhaps it would be less painful for you to simply accept my rule little pony. Embrace the chaos! Really, it’s not so bad when you get the hang of it!” he said smiling.

Starswirl had just enough effort, and willpower left in him to lift up his staff, trying to strike him once more with all the energy he had left. As he did, Discord lifted his paw up, in a grasping motion. Starswirl’s staff began to glow, and it began to burn his hooves. Discord grasped his paw shut strongly, and the staff in Starswirl’s hands exploded in a brilliant flash of light, knocking him on his back, and leaving his hooves burnt. As he lay there in the burnt fields, a look of dismay, and terror struck the old mages face. At this moment, he knew that he could not defeat this foe before him. He knew that whatever sort of being he was, he would not fall by mortal means. Starswirl was completely, and utterly hopeless to defend the ponies of Equestria. Discord glowed with excitement as he saw the pony fall down in despair, he began to laugh manically, “Well well well, it looks like disorder will finally take hold! YOU LOSE OLD PONY! And Discord wins!!” he rolled over in laughter, before standing up to wipe a tear from his eye, “Ah I do love these games, especially when I know that I’m going to win!” a look of boredom came to him, “But… now I grow weary of this game. It’s been fun greybeard, but I have some chaos to attend to,” he snapped his fingers, and his ghostly apparition disappeared.

For the first time in his life, Starswirl the Bearded, the great and powerful wizard, the wielder of the greatest magic anypony had ever seen was in complete and utter despair. As he lay there, with his face in the burnt earth, he was without hope, with reason to continue, and without a way to save the ones he cared for. The old pony lay there for what he felt where hours. It was not often that ponies lay with their ears so close to the ground, and less often that they should ever been in such a great time of need. But in this moment, he thought he could hear the earth speak to him, “Do not look full of sorrow my little friend, for I will be here when you need me, and when the time is right, you will come to know my elder sisters. And do not forget, that there is magic, in the peacefulness of your lands below my mountain…” He was not sure if it was his own memory that spoke to him, or if it was truly the voice of the dragon, but whatever it was, it made him lift his head from the dirt, and from despair. He laid his eyes upon Mount Canterlot, and he beheld a small, but very bright pillar of light, that shone through the green clouds, and onto the entrance of the great cave. Against the protests of his aching body, Starswirl arose onto his hooves and against the forces of despair, a single mad hope made him begin to stride forward, toward the mountain. He looked up into the heavens, at the brightness of the pillar of light, “…the sun is our mother, and it brings life to all things in the world. She’s up there, always watching over us” Starswirl strode quicker, with more and more purpose in his stride. As he walked, he looked to his left, he beheld a small hole through the green clouds, it was the moon, pale and blued by the day-lit sky, “I believe that she has her own spirit that guides us during the dark times in our lives”Now, with the guidance of the two sisters in the sky, and the great spirit below him, Starswirl made his way for the final time to the top of Mount Canterlot. This would be the last great journey for Starswirl the Bearded, his final quest to bring harmony to the land of Equestria.

To be Concluded with Chapter 6: The Two Sisters and The Elements of Harmony

The Two Sisters and The Elements of Harmony

The Lost Epic of Starswirl the Bearded
Chapter 6: The Two Sisters and The Elements of Harmony

Every step rattled the old pony’s bones. His muscles ached, and complained. Starswirl would not heed the protests of his worn body, he would continue steadily up the mountain, even as its freezing wind pommeled him. By some amazing feat of endurance and willpower, Starswirl did not rest once. He climbed up the mountain, with his bruised body, for three days straight. Each day felt as long as a life time to him, each step dragging on terribly. But he did not stop, not once. Not even on the verge of collapse. He kept putting one hoof in front of another, kept pulling himself up the slope of the mountain, time and time again, as each step felt like it would be his last. The pony was old, and the mountain and the cold made him feel all the older. He had found strength in his magic, strength in the energy of the earth, but this strength was sapped from him in his last battle. Now he had only to rely on the sinews of his legs to carry him upwards, to the only hope he had left in saving his friends. And he did know that every moment that he delayed was another moment that his friends had to endure the misery that Discord brought them.

On the third day, at long last, Starswirl had pulled himself up onto the great porch of the mountain, and he collapsed. The weakened body of the wizard slept for at least a few hours, utterly exhausted. Knowing that he couldn’t rest forever, he pulled himself up onto his hooves, as he strode carefully into the cave. He was hoping that he would find something different, but just as he had seen before; the dark cave was filled with emptiness, darkness, and the remains of the dragon of the earth bones. Starswirl looked around with a concerned look on his face. He was led here, but he was not sure what he was meant to do. He looked onto the bones of the dragon with sadness in his eyes. As he did, he recalled that he still felt the warm gusts of air, coming to and fro steadily throughout the cave. They almost felt like breathing. When he had first come to the mountain, and met the great dragon, he was sure that it was his breath, but now that he felt it in his death, he was not sure. His original suspicions would prove to be correct.

“And so Starswirl the Bearded returns to me again, welcome child of the earth,” he heard a soft echoing of a voice.

Starswirl was astounded at this; he looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice, “Great dragon! Is that you?” he asked, “Where are you my lord?”

The voice spoke again, “I am at your feet Starswirl, as I have always been,” he answered.

He looked down, confused. He shook his head and looked around the cave, “My lord, great dragon, I… I don’t understand,” he said looking distraught.

“I am this mountain. I am the lands you plant your crops upon, and the hills, and the rocks, and the valleys. I did tell you that I was the great dragon of the earth bones, but what I have not told you is that I am the spirit of the earth. And a spirit such as mine will not be so easily expelled, even if I have been parted from my shell. I have been watching you ever since you left me Starswirl; I have felt your power above me. I have felt the vibrations of the ponies on the land, and I have sensed their distress.”

Starswirl kept his eyes on the skull of the great dragon, even though he knew now, that his voice was all around him, “Then you can help us Great Spirit?” he asked zealously, “You can banish the demon Discord from our home and restore order?”

“No Starswirl, I cannot. I have passed into the beyond, and can no longer touch the physical world that lies before me,” said the voice, its sound rumbling deep in Starswirl’s soul.

He looked to the ground with disappointment, “Then… there is no hope for us, and pony kind will be forever ruled by chaos…” He said with despair.

“I did not say that he could not be defeated. I may be able to help you child, but the power to truly stop the aspect of chaos lies within YOU,” said the dragon of the earth bones.

Starswirl looked distraught as he shook his head with confusion, “Great dragon, I do not understand… I used all of my might against the creature, but none of it was as much as a match for him. Please my lord, what must I do?” he asked in desperation.

The sound of the voice gave a great sigh, “Before I tell you what you must do, you must know this, Starswirl the Bearded. What I am about to ask of you will require a sacrifice. To bring about the power to free your lands from chaos, you will have to give all of your magic. To save your people Starswirl, you must give me your horn!” the voice said with great conviction.

The pony looked a bit shocked at this, but he did not waiver. “I will pay any price to make safe Equestria,” he said confidently.

The voice stopped for a moment, he felt a very strong and sudden gust of air, “Come over to where I once lay, and take two of my bones. Bring them outside of this cave,” commanded the voice. Without a reply, Starswirl obeyed. He took two of the large, heavy dragon bones, and dragged them onto the surface of the great porch, “Now look to the sky Starswirl, and tell me what it is you see.”

Starswirl looked up. With the green clouds below him on the high mountain he could only see the clear blue sky, the bright, warm morning sun, and the setting moon to the east, “I see the sun, and the moon in the sky, my lord,” he said this quietly, and was again, awed at the sight of the two great orbs in the sky. He had not taken enough time in his life to appreciate them.

“You remember how the unicorns of the past would call them into the sky?” said the great dragon, “You must do this now, only you shall call them onto this mountain. Call them Starswirl; call the sun and the moon to you, your last feat of magic.”

Starswirl remembered when he was just a foal how awe inspired he was, when he saw the unicorns of old raise the sun and the moon into the sky. This was one of the most spectacular things he had ever seen in his youth, and was what inspired him to study the ways of magic. He closed his eyes, and raised his hooves into the air. Slowly, his horn began to glow, and he used the last of his energy to call upon the sun and the moon. This was a most difficult thing to do, as even the mightiest of unicorns could only call upon one or the other at a time. But Starswirl none the less managed to do this. The sun rose higher, and higher, until it was at the crown of the sky. Then he concentrated on the moon, and it too rose higher and higher, until it was over the sun, creating a beautiful eclipse for a moment. Starswirl shook, cringing for a moment as the force of his magic strained him. But his horn shone brighter than ever, as he used all of his might to bring them both down slowly, until the illumination of them drew close upon the mountain. The two spheres light appeared to shrink, making their brilliance more observable by the awe struck Starswirl. At last they would make themselves touch the surface of the great porch on the mountain. Starswirl feel to his knees, exhausted by his magical effort. He looked upon the two great lights with reverence. With his part done, he watched as the two lights approached the two dragon bones, encompassing them. A tear came to Starswirl’s eye as he heard the beautiful humming of the lights. This was the song of their spirit, the song of creation and magic. Never again in his life would Starswirl behold such majesty.

The breath of the dragon exhaled deeply, whisking warmly past Starswirl, and around the two great spheres of light. The globes before him flashed, blinding Starswirl for a moment, his ears ringing, and is body vibrating from the magnificent transformation that was taking place before him. As he regained sight, Starswirl beheld the saviors of his people. Two of the most majestic, and regal ponies he had ever laid eyes on stepped out of the glorious light. The spirit of the sun now was held within a body of a white pony, taller in stature than any, and of a coat as white and pure as had ever been seen. The spirit of the moon was held within the body of a pony, of tall stature, and of a coat of the beauty of the starry night sky. The sun’s mane held many, pale, gorgeous colors, that flowed and glittered in the wind. The moon’s mane was a deep blue mist that twinkled with the wonderment of the stars. Both of them beheld beautiful crowns atop their heads, and both of them had the wings of pegasai, and the horns of unicorns.

Amidst his awe, Starswirl fell to the ground, kneeling before the two regal mares, and they spoke to him, “My dearest pony, I am Celestia, the spirit of the sun,” she bowed her head gracefully.

“And I am Luna, the spirit of the moon,” said the dark colored mare.

“With your strength my child, you have called upon us, and we have come to the aid of the ponies of Equestria” said Celestia.

“My… my great spirits in the sky… my saviors. You have come to vanquish the evil that is Discord?” he asked, his eyes wide with awe as he stuttered.

Luna stepped forward, “We have come to aid you my pony, but we cannot do it without your help,” she said.

“We have been brought here as ponies, in physical form. Indeed we are great, but Discord is in his perfect form, and as mortals we cannot defeat him by ourselves, we require a greater magic,” she said looking to Starswirl.

Starswirl finally stood up before the spirit sisters, “But my mares, what sort of magic is there that can fell this dreaded being?” he asked in confusion.

Celestia gave him a kind smile, “My dearest pony, you’ve had the magic inside you all along! It lies within all of the ponies of this fair land of Equestria. Inside of all of you lies the Element of Harmony, the most powerful of elements,” she said kneeling down to be closer to him

“When the Pegasus, Unicorn and Earth Ponies first learned to put aside their differences, and work together for the greater good of Equestria, they reflected their ability to maintain harmony,” said Luna, stepping forward.

“And when your faithful student, your daughter, followed you to the top of the mountain, she showed her loyalty to you,” said Princess Celestia.

The dark blue mare turned her head to the side, showing that she had shed a tear, “And when Commander Hurricane fought Numinex, not for victory, but to save the ones he loved, he showed his bravery…” both of the sisters hung their heads for a moment of silence.

Celestia lifted her head from sorrow, “And when the ponies of Mare’omer were willing to fight against the forces of chaos, against the unknown, they showed their determination. And now you come here to us, Starswirl the Bearded, to make a great sacrifice of yourself, to save Equestria. We would ask this of you, that you might let us use the Elements, from your own horn.” Both of the Sisters stood regally before him.

Starswirl simply nodded to them, he slowly began to understand now what must be done. He knelt before them. The two spirits lowered their heads, and touched their horns together. They began to glow, and soon the illumination moved forward and encompassed Starswirl’s horn. The magic began to increase in intensity, shaking Starswirl to his very core. He began to cry out in agony as the magic coursed through him. He felt as if his very life was being wrenched from his body. With a loud snap, his horn was broken in two, and the old pony fell to the ground, feeling weaker than ever. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and beheld before him, two golden necklaces. The very sight of them brought a smile to his eyes, for they were the hope of his people, the song of harmony. Each illustrious necklace was set around the busts of the very special sisters. The spirit of the sun knelt down next to him, and brushed over him with her muzzle, “Come Starswirl, lift yourself up with our strength, follow us, and let us make safe the world of ponies” she said, whispering in a voice so soft and soothing, that it eased the pain on his tormented body.

Slowly, the rattled Starswirl stood up, he feel once to his knee, no longer having the strength to stand properly. Luna flew over swiftly into the cave, and she returned with one of the dragon bones. It was a smaller bone that was just about the right size for Starswirl to use as a staff. Luna set it in his hoof. “For the last gift that I give to you Starswirl the Bearded, Use my bone to help carry your body through the land. As your magic has been taken from you, you can no longer use it for your once great spells. But perhaps one day, it will have a use that you do not know of. Go no, Starswirl, elder sisters, and bring Harmony to Equestria,” where the last words of the Great Dragon of the Earth bones. Starswirl propped himself up on his white bone staff, standing up as tall as he could. The two sisters carried him with their magic, and left the mountain, down into the town of Mare’omer.

There was no grass or stone roads to be found in the city. The whole surface had been replaced with colorful stained glass that cracked underneath the hooves of Starswirl as he hobbled across it slowly. All around him, he saw that things were even more disorderly in town that when he had left. All of the houses were completely upside down, some of which even hung completely in midair, held up by some invisible force. The lakes and ponds that dotted around town had now been filled with cake batter, and would occasionally bubble out a muffin, or cupcake, or some other odd pastry. The once disciplined Pegasus soldiers now bore pink frilly outfits, and instead of throwing spears at targets, they were throwing pies at target plates, and sometimes each other. Several other ponies were dancing around town in sporadic ways, looking quite unhappy, as they were surely doing it out of force from their terrible ruler.

Out of a makeshift tree house Clover popped her head out, and her face beamed with joy as she laid eyes upon Starswirl. She ran to him, suddenly gasping as she saw his horn, and his condition, but he raised a hoof to her, “I’m alright dear… I’m alright. Where is this Discord fellow now?” he asked, his voice sounding more raspy, and weaker than before. Clover pointed to the center of town, where the castle was. It’s once beautiful stone had been completely overtaken by plant life that towered high into the air. Starswirl hobbled towards it, and looked to his student, “You’ll want to stand back my pupil,” he said to her. She still bore a look of great concern, “It’s alright my dear, I would not leave you and these ponies to their fate, I shall make everything right again,” he said giving her a warm smile.

A crude chuckling echoed throughout the town, as a stain glass figure appeared to move below Starswirl, “Well well if it isn’t my favorite old wizard! Have you come to play another game? Oh I do hope so, none of the ponies here have the same spunk as you do, and I could certainly go for another game!” he said, as the figure moved and twisted itself on the stain glass. The figure then disappeared, and the real Discord appeared before Starswirl, he looked down at the wizard, and cackled quietly, and evilly, “You don’t look so good old pony, why the long face?” he asked, grabbing his gut as he burst out in laughter at his own pathetic attempt at humor.

Behind Starswirl, the two great pony sisters flew in, landing beside him. Discord withdrew slightly, but then he simply grinned, “Oh, what’s this, you’ve brought more ponies to play with? How fun! I suppose you wouldn’t be much in the state you’re in greybeard,” he said.

Celestia stepped forward, looking scornfully at Discord, “Discord, you have brought chaos and disharmony to the ponies of this land, I’m afraid I cannot let this continue,” she said with a hint of finality.

Discord let his grin fad a way for a moment, and he began to move around dramatically, putting on an act for everypony, “Oh no! My two elder sisters have come to punish me! What EVER shall I do! I’m surely doomed!” his acting soon faded into laughter again, “But what’s this… you’re not looking like your old splendid selves dear sisters. And it looks like I AM in my full splendor that means IM the greater element here and there’s NOTHING you can do to stop me”. He narrowed his eyes at them with spite.

Luna stepped forward, “But you aren’t, my misguided little brother. There is an element here more powerful than all of us. The ponies of Equestria possess a power that you could never comprehend,” said the pony of the moon.

Discord frowned for a moment, before bursting out into laughter, “THESE poor souls? You can’t honestly think that these mortal ponies could possibly possess any kind of strength do you? You’re much more foolish than I thought dear sister, but that’s alright, it just makes it that much more entertaining for me!” he said finishing his laughter. Nopony seemed taken aback by is laughter as they all stood there staring at him. Discord rolled his eyes, “Oh well ALRIGHT, if you’re so determined to try then go ahead, strike me with the ‘magic of harmony’. But please do hurry up, there’s much chaos to attend to!” Discord struck a pose, bringing his paw up to his chest and singing up into the sky.

The two sisters approached the draconequus. The glorious necklaces around them began to glow warmly. Soon, their light would be blindingly bright, making all the other ponies turn away and close their eyes. Power and energy emanated from the two sisters, and their eyes began to glow. Then the most wonderful, most spectacular thing happened. Two beautiful and mighty rainbows came forth from the power of the spirits, and struck the corrupted Discord. Slowly, he froze into stone, his reign of chaos ending in Equestria once and for all. The rainbows turned into a sphere, that encompassed the frozen Discord, and the sphere began to grow. It grew, and grew, flashing a bright light, turning, for a very brief moment, the whole of the land into white light. When the flash had faded, and everypony could see again, their town was restored to its majesty. The houses and buildings were in their rightful places, the guards where in their rightful uniforms and splendor. And the great castle mare hall was clean, and shone its beautiful stone work. All was right again in Equestria.

The ponies came out of their homes, and looked upon the two regal sisters, and they all began to cheer. They cheered for the two glorious sisters, and the old pony that had saved them time and time again. The day was for Starswirl, the greatest unicorn that had ever lived in Equestria. The grateful town cheered and lifted him off the ground, carrying him off in a joyous parade to honor him.

Starswirl the unicorn, like all mortal unicorns would not live forever in this world. One day, he would come to face his final destiny. On his death bed, Starswirl would look into the sky, and beheld the sun, the most beautiful and most amazing sight that he would see. The day was warm, and crisp. The wind was gentle, and it kissed Starswirl’s withered face, comforting him in his final hour. Even on his last leg, Starswirl could not help feeling anything but joy, for his eyes had at last seen his people in harmony. He had seen his great nation of Equestria restored, and it was such a thing of beauty, that it would bring him to tears. The two royal sisters of Equestria, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna were at his side. Behind his most faithful student, Clover the Clever, the rest of the town attended to him, hundreds of ponies from all over Equestria where there to honor him. Starswirl looked up to the princesses, trying to bow his head in honor weakly, with what little strength he had. But they raised a hoof to him, “Starswirl, you have given so much, sacrificed so much to save others. You truly are a hero among ponies, and an example for all,” said Princess Luna, Clover smiled up to her as she stood close to her father.

Princess Celestia had tears in her eyes, she reached forward onto Starswirl’s bed, and hugged him passionately, “My child… at one time long ago, I saw disharmony among ponies. I saw such discourse and darkness, that I thought there could never come light in this world…” she smiled joyously to him, tears streaming freely from her face now, “But you proved me wrong, you proved me that there is still good in this world, and that these ponies are worth saving. Thank you, Starswirl the Bearded, for all you have done, I will never forget you.” Celestia stepped back, as did Luna, and they graciously knelt before Starswirl. All of the ponies did, they knelt before the hero of Equestria, a pony that had put others above himself in every instance of his life, a pony that had fought the greatest terrors they had ever seen. Starswirl the Bearded was a living paragon, an angel, a savior to them all. If there was ever a single injustice that he had done, it was that he would not fight against the death that now took him.

Clover the Clever cried as she approached the bed. She felt so happy for all that he had done, and so proud that she had known him, but she did not want to see him in pain, she sniffled, “S-Starswirl… I don’t know how I will get along without you. I’ve always needed you … you’ve always been there for me… I… I just don’t know how I’ll make it…” she said crying into his bed.

Starswirl looked at her, and smiled with all the strength he could muster, “Clover, my most beloved student, you have such strength in you, that I know you will carry on…” he weakly brushed the side of her face with his hoof, “…There is still much in this world for you to discover, still so much for you to learn. Know that you have made me proud my dear, and I know you will make the ponies of Equestria proud…” his voice weakened, “… my only daughter, I love you,” he uttered.

Clover’s tears welled up, as she laid her hooves on him, “And I love you too… father…” And with those last words came the final hour of Starswirl the Bearded. The greatest unicorn of his time.

Epilogue

Epilogue

All of the great dragons approached her. They were young, and restless, but they knew that they could not stand up against the new forces that presided over them.

Princess Celestia raised a hoof as she spoke firmly to them, “I know what you have come from, dear dragons. And I know you would think that you are doomed forever to live your lives of evil. But know this; every living creature in the world has the power to decide what is right and what is wrong for. That is why I will not cause harm upon you, for I know that it is not your fault that you were created in the manner that you were. However, you still harbor darkness in your hearts. There is still greed, and hatred that lingers in your souls, and I cannot allow harm to come unto my subjects. I fear that I must not allow you to ever come within the boundaries of this land. It is with great sorrow that I turn away any creature from this bountiful land, but I must think of the safety of my dear subjects.”

The dragons sneered, and grunted in anger. They were not happy with the decision, but they knew there were powerless to override the powerful pony before them.

Among them, there was a single silver dragon who looked saddened by the decision. The Princess came to him and showed him a look of comfort, “I do not wish harm on any living thing my dear. Do not despair, for one day perhaps you will learn to tame this darkness. When this day come, then I shall welcome you into my kingdom with loving hooves.” The dragon still looked saddened. And the Princess flew to his face, and nuzzled him gently, “Do no despair young one… for I believe one day our paths will yet cross again." The silver dragon looked a little happier.