12,000 years ago...
Queen Snapdragon of the Alicorns looked across the green, grassy meadow towards the enemy army. Their dark banners snapped and crackled, seeming to leer at her in defiance.
She turned towards her adviser, a white male alicorn named Frost.
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes, my queen. The army corps are in position, and our allies stand prepared to fight."
She looked at him, her orange mane flowing in the wind. "And where is my daughter?"
Frost grimaced. "She is in the front ranks, m'lady." As the queen looked at him, he quickly added, "She has her entire guard around her. Removing her forcefully without alerting the enemy would be near impossible."
Queen Snapdragon sighed. Her daughter Rose was very warlike - more than she was comfortable with.
"How did she evade the guards this time?"
"I'm not certain, Your Highness. Probably some high-level cloaking spell."
Snapdragon sighed. "Well, if everything goes according to plan, after the battle, I'll ground her for a MONTH."
Frost smiled. "Just remember to not go too hard on her, okay? It isn't easy to lose a father."
An aching sorrow flashed through her as she remembered her husband. His soft, sweet smile, his athletic body, the aura of confidence he seemed to exude effortlessly.
He had fallen in battle a year ago. An enemy ambush had surprised him and his scouting party as they flew over the Iron Mountains. He had been the first casuality, an arrow straight through his heart.
She shook her head, clearing it of her mourning thoughts. Just one more thing needed doing today, and then her husband could rest in peace.
"Fetch my armor."
As Frost summoned her servants, Snapdragon looked back out across the field, staring at the enemy army. She silently repeated her vow - the vow that she had made when first she heard of her husband's demise.
I will kill you, brother. You have gone too far, and you shall pay the price.
The carnage was incredible. Pegasi flew in pairs, with one from each pair engaging in dogfights, leaving their partner free to dive-bomb themselves onto ground forces. Other pegasi joined massive formations, which whipped up massive thunderstorms that bristled with lightning, caused hail to fall, and unleashed tornadoes that went howling across the battlefield. Unicorn mages engaged in duels, magic crackling around them. Heavy infantry earth ponies clashed, lances jutting out from their armor, while earth pony archers sent hails of arrows at enemy formations. Some of the zebras loaded catapults with magic brews, sending them hurling towards the enemy positions. Others engaged in hoof-to-hoof combat, their manes dyed in a terrifying red and black pattern. Dragons rampaged, their scaly skin nearly impenetrable. They breathed massive jets of flame, flew away from anything that could hurt them, and ripped to shreds any non-dragon opponent that got too close. Griffons were everywhere, doing everything from intercepting incoming catapult fire to engaging pegasi to making what were essentially suicide runs on enemies. Minotaurs, wielding giant axes and wearing iron armor, crashed forward, shattering enemy positions and engaging opposing dragons, their massive steel axes being one of the few things that could damage a dragon's hide. Chimeras stalked and pounced, their triple heads snarling in hatred. Bison stampeded, trampling opposing infantry into the dust.
And, at the heart of the conflict, were the Alicorns. They cast spells of vast power, releasing massive magic disturbances that rippled the fabric of reality itself.
In particular, two Alicorns took center stage. The first one had a mane of orange and a cutie mark of a snapdragon flower. The second was a stallion with a mane of flaming red, and a cutie mark that had a flame consuming a crown. They resembled each other, which was very unsurprising, since they were fraternal twins.
One never would have known that just by looking at them, however - the hatred on their faces was practically palpable. They cast spells while simultaneously fighting in the ancient martial art of seven hoofs.
The fighting swung back and forth for hours, breakthroughs countered by last-minute rallies. Eventually, however, one side was forced back - and this time, there was no rebound.
"Give it up, brother," Queen Snapdragon snarled at her twin. "Your armies have fallen, and your Corrupters are ineffective against us now."
Blazing Brow laughed, his voice strained by the fatigue of constant physical and magical combat. "I may be defeated, but the spell I weave now cannot be halted." His horn suddenly glowed, and the bodies of all his still-living allies crumbled into dust. A wave of darkness swept forward, engulfing the entirety of Snapdragon's army. The green field, already torn up, muddy, and stained with innumerable bloodstains, suddenly transformed into a desert.
Blazing Brow then collapsed, his body dissolving into dust.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???!!!!" Snapdragon bellowed, her voice echoing through the air.
Somehow, she heard an answer from her brother. I have ensured that you are the last of the Alicorns.
As Snapdragon looked out across the battlefield, her breath caught in her throat. "No", she gasped, shocked beyond words.
Where her Alicorns had stood, now there were these insecoid ponies, with bug eyes, coal-black skin, and holes in their legs. As she watched in horror, she saw panic break out among her remaining troops - and she then saw a tall insectoid pony that she instinctively knew was her daughter Rose, who boomed, "I, as Queen Chrysalis of the Changlings, command that all shall ADORE ME!!!"
"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Snapdragon cried out in horror. She snapped open her wings and flew away from the wreckage of her kingdom, her sole aim to get away from the things that used to be her subjects - and the thing that, until this afternoon, had been her sole pride and joy, her only daughter: Rose.
Weeks later...
The land was in turmoil. The races had divided, engaging in civil war. The ponies had been rent asunder, hatred and distrust sowed by the Changelings causing them to view each other with anger. The land was disrupted, its Alicorn guardians gone.
Everything was in chaos.
And that was the moment when the Lord of Chaos came into existence.
His body assembled itself from the remains of fallen warriors that had died in the final battle of the war of light and dark. He took a deep breath, then another. He laughed, his voice rolling across the newly-formed desert.
Discord had come.
Time passed. The race's civil war eventually petered out - but the distrust and hatred remained. The changelings withdrew, vanishing from all knowledge. They were eventually forgotten - as were the Alicorns that had once guided and protected the land.
What little knowledge of the Alicorns that remained agreed on one thing - they were gone forever.
But one yet remained, although forgotten by the world at large.
Snapdragon, she who had once been Queen of the Alicorns, walked the land in sorrow. She assisted where she could, but only from the shadows. She wandered the land, hoping that one day, a new Alicorn would arise.
