Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro and all characters credited to Lauren Faust and the design team at DHX Studios

Far away in the Frozen North there was a flash of light half way up a glacial peak. Starswirl re-appeared and took a moment to catch his breath in the frozen air. He stood up, shivering because of the cold, and sighed as he began walking in no direction in particular. In any direction that would take him further away from the ponies he might harm with the random magic and occurrences that seemed to be plaguing him. As if on cue, from out of nowhere a song spilled from his lips accompanied the music that drifted on the wind.

“The snow glows white on the mountain tonight,
not a hoofprint to be seen.”

He looked back at the icy white landscape, so lonely and desolate, even the northern lights were nothing but a distant smudge of colour on the night sky.

“A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I'm the King.
The wind is howling like this chaos deep inside,
Couldn't keep it in; Faust knows I've tried.”

He shook his head irritably.

“Don't let them in, don't let them see,
Be the good mage, the king you aught to be.”

He repeated the mantra he’d used for most of the day.

“Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know;
well now they know…”

Starswirl’s front hooves became the lion paw and eagle claw once more but instead of forcing them to become hooves again, he threw them up above his head, letting the change happen.

“Let it go, let it go,
Feel the chaos deep inside”

Starswirl snapped his eagle claw making an ice sculpture of Celestia and one of Luna.

“Let it go, let it go,
as I feel my sanity slide…”

He let out a laugh with a slightly manic edge as he circled the cold, silent effigies of his former students.

“I don't care what the ponies might say,
Let the chaos reign…

He spun up into the air, revelling in a moment of weightlessness, yes; chaos was much more powerful…

“Harmony is over rated anyway.”

Starswirl unpinned his robe and it was caught by the wind before being carried off into the night.

“It's funny how some distance,
Makes everypony seem small.”

He mused, as the whole of the pony civilisation seemed nothing but a distant constellation from up here.

“The conventions that once suppressed my power,
Will hold me back no more.”

He stroked his beard as he wondered at his capabilities.

“It's time to see what I can do,
To test this chaos and break through.”

To his delight he turned raw chaos into solid matter and it was at that point he realised,

“No harmony is left for me, I'm free!”

Starswirl created a multi-coloured moving staircase and rushed up it.

“Let it go, let it go,
I’m at one with things weird and odd”

The air around him shimmered with ghostly images of half remembered creatures from childhood pony tales.

“Let it go, let it go,
Should I try floating carp or cod?”

Shoals of fish appeared and began swimming through the air.

“Here I stand,
And here I'll stay.”

Starswirl declared as he slammed his back hoof down and formed a giant multi-hued spiral.

“Let the Chaos reign…”

He felt the power growing within him, eager to be released.

“My chaos flurries through the air into the ground.”

In a flurry of chaos finally released, he began to rise up on a spiral of magic.

“My soul is spiralling in twisted matter all around.”

Pink and purple spotted beams broke forth, building walls, archways, and doors…

“And one thought falls in place just like a broken glass,”

There were cotton candy clouds to constantly rain chocolate and the ceiling left the sky visible.

“I'm never going back; the past is in the past.”

He declared firmly as he stood up tall in the centre of his mighty palace. Starswirl removed his hat and threw it out of the nearest window.

“Let it go, let it go.”

His white mane turned black as his form change. His body got longer and thinner, the fur on his body changing to brown, although it remained grey on his face and elongated neck, his eyes returned back to the yellow and red they had been earlier, as a large pointy tooth grew out the right side of his mouth.

“I’ll rise like a chaos god.”

His back hooves changed, one becoming a goat’s hoof, the other a crocodile’s foot, and it was so much easier to stay up on them, giving him more height. Wings sprouted from his back, one a bat wing, the other a blue Pegasus wing, now he had the magic of flight. A long red dragon tail replaced his pony one it had a white tuft on the end. An antler on the right and a blue goat horn on the left side of his head replaced his unicorn horn. The only things left of the original Starswirl were his white beard and bushy eyebrows.

“Let it go, let it go.
That goody-good mage is gone.”

Starswirl burst onto out onto a balcony, the sun was beginning to rise and he was crackling with so much power.

“Here I stand,
In the light of day,
Let the chaos reign…”

He threw his limbs wide as fireworks burst overhead and a flock of polka dot doves took to the air.

“Harmony’s over rated anyway!”

He turned and with a flick of his new serpentine tail he slammed his palace doors to the world.

Back in the almost empty throne room of Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia continued to hold onto her sister for dear life. Princess Luna was worried; Celestia hadn’t been this upset since their mother had passed away.

“Sister…what do we do?” Luna asked in a whisper.

Celestia straightened up and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

“I don’t know.” She whispered. “I simply do not know.”

Suddenly light flooded in through the windows and the two princesses looked quickly toward the balcony which was still open.

“Are you…?” Luna began.

“This is not my doing.” Celestia replied. “We must rectify it however.”

She strode out onto the balcony and glared at the sun as it dared to rise without her doing. She took a deep breath, gathering her magic and pushed it back down below the horizon. The moon still floated in place never having sunk.

“Now stay until morning.” Celestia spoke to the sun.

“What do you think this means?” Luna asked.

“That something very bad is happening and I fear our old mentor is to blame.” Celestia replied with deceptive calm.

“Surely he cannot…” Luna broke off as the sun rose once more. “It is the time of night; the sun should know its place!”

“The sun knows its place sister, but a greater magic is taking hold. If we do not act fast…”

“What’s going on?” Somepony demanded and the sisters turned to find a small contingent of the delegates were gathered behind them just inside the great hall.

“We are uncertain at present.” Celestia replied.

“Looks like Equestria crowned a monster. Always knew you ponies couldn’t be trusted.” King Garrick of the Griffon Kingdom scoffed.

“If you would forgive me Your Majesty.” Celestia said politely. “But King Starswirl is not a monster.”

“Then what happened here tonight?” The griffon demanded.

“There could be many explanations.” Luna stated. “With a unicorn as powerful as the King a bad case of the flu can lead to sporadic outbursts of magic. It is nothing that will not rectify itself.”

“I should hope so; Grandmamma Platinum is right now abseiling down the tapestries.” Prince Gold Crown said aghast.

“Where to?” Celestia asked.

“This way.” Prince Gold Crown said, before walking in the direction of the doors.

Celestia followed him and all the delegates followed her in turn. Luna fell behind when she saw Sombra standing guard by the door. She walked up to him and without a word indicated that he should follow her.

“Where are we going?” He asked when he was certain nopony would hear.

“While Celestia is engaged with the dignitaries I think we should go and investigate.” Luna replied.

“How?”

“Starswirl was always meddling in this new spell or the other, even Mother worried he may some day bite off more than he could chew.” Luna explained.

“You think that day has come?” Sombra asked.

“Unfortunately yes; and now Equestria is paying the price.” Luna said before quieting as they neared Starswirl’s rooms to find that two ponies still stood guard.

They approached the door and the ponies barred their path.

“Stand down, let the princess pass.” Sombra ordered.

“We can’t let anypony pass, by order of the king.” One of the guards said gruffly.

“Then you have not heard?” Sombra asked.

“We can not let you pass.” The guard insisted.

Luna shook her head impatiently. She gathered her magic and including Sombra in the spell, teleported inside Starswirl’s library. She turned to the door and cast a locking enchantment upon it; only Celestia would be able to open it from the outside.

“They will not be happy.” Sombra observed.

“They can remain that way; we are in a state of emergency.” Luna said. “Forget them; we have to look through the library. His latest spell book is somewhere in here…” Luna trailed off when she took in the mess of Starswirl’s study.

“It seems we’ve come to the right place.” Sombra observed, knowing as well as Luna how neat the old mage kept the things he wasn’t using.

“Indeed.” Luna agreed. “Let us begin.”

Celestia followed Prince Gold Crown out into the royal walk way where numerous tapestries lined the walls. There was indeed a filly making good progress toward the top of one of the banners. Celestia caught the filly in her magic and levitated her down to the floor.

“WHAT DOST THOU THINK THOU ART DOING TO US? WE ARE THE DOWEGER DUCHSS OF CANTERLOT!” She yelled.

“Forgive me Your Grace.” Celestia said with a bow. “I only wished to seek audience with you.”

“WELL, VERY WELL.”

Celestia had been assessing the filly and now knew how to restore her to her current state. Celestia surrounded the filly in the golden glow of her magic and with a little concentration a veil of gold surrounded the filly, enveloping her until she was completely obscured. There was a crystalline whine that increased in pitch as the feel of magic intensified, then with a whoosh the magic fell away and an old mare floated to the ground.

The Dowager Duchess of Canterlot, Princess Platinum, shook her head, her once deep purple mane, now paled to a soft lilac with age, bouncing about her face. She opened her eyes and squinted at the pale alicorn before her.

“What has happened?” She asked.

“May I seek counsel with you Your Grace?” Celestia whispered.

“Of course child.” Princess Platinum replied. “IT IS THE COMMAND OF THINE PRINCESS THAT YOU GO NOW AND AWAIT OUR SUMMONS.”

Instead of waiting for the others to leave the two princesses returned to the throne room and closed the door on anyone who would disturb them. Lightning Shield took it upon himself to ensure that nopony entered the throne room until his Sun Princess had called them forth.

“What is happening?” Princess Platinum asked as she looked out of the window. “Is it raining cats and dogs?”

“We are unsure Your Grace. Something has happened to Starswirl and we know not what.” Celestia confided.

“Well this is what comes of naming a commoner as king.” Princess Platinum said snootily. “I advised the Queen against it, but she was certain the elevated mage would make the ideal leader. Leadership is not merely who has the most power; one must also have the capability to command. It is something you and your sister have in abundance, the old mage was never meant to rule. Yet who am I to denounce the word of the Queen, she was certain Starswirl was the one to lead us, but truly, she should have handed the rule to you and Princess Luna. Then we would have avoided all…this…”

Both mares looked to the window once more as the sun rose.

Celestia sighed and trotted out onto the balcony to put it back to bed.

“What should Luna and I do?” She asked, once the sun was down once more.

“I believe you already know.” Princess Platinum replied.

“Seek out Starswirl, beg of him to return with us and embrace harmony once more. Failing that, to curtail his chaos, to rein it in so that it affects only a small amount of land he has decided to claim.” Celestia announced, before adding in less sure tones, “I hope he will return to us…”

“Princess Celestia, you are the Sun Princess, beloved of your mother and wise beyond your years. Do you really think you need a silly old stallion to instruct you? Do you not know, deep in here?” And with that the old mare placed a hoof over the Princess’ heart. “You are ready to rule, you and Luna in harmonious diarchy and not as seconds to a mage who has worked hard to separate himself from others?”

“It was Mother’s wish that he should rule until we were ready.” Celestia stated.

“Were you unready or merely acquiescing to your mother’s wishes?” Princess Platinum asked.

“I never considered it, for it was Mother’s last wish.” Celestia admitted.

“It was, but how about now?”

“It would be better if Starswirl would return. Luna and I must go to him.”

“What of Equestria?” Princess Platinum inquired.

“We must go to him regardless. If we do not go to him how can he reverse this chaos? Equestria depends on us finding Starswirl.”

“That is true.” Princess Platinum replied. “However you would leave the throne empty if you were to both go.”

“If we were to elect a trusted comity comprising of Commander Hurricane, Private Pansy, Chancellor Pudding Head, Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever and Your Grace we would be leaving the country in safe hooves while we attempt to rectify the situation.”

“I will call on the old guard immediately.” The Duchess promised.

“And I will go seek Luna and discuss the matter at hoof.” Celestia replied.

“What do you plan to do once we find Starswirl’s book?” Sombra asked as he and Luna picked their way through the books and instruments strewn on the floor.

Luna paused and frowned, she had not thought that far ahead, only to find some information for when Celestia required it.

“Find relevant information for my sister, I am certain she is already formulating a plan, but a little fact finding will not hurt.” Luna stated.

“What would you do my Princess?” He asked.

“What do you mean?”

“If you were to make a plan, what would it be?”

Princess Luna looked up to her moon and it reflected in her eyes, making them shine.

“I would find a way to save him. He is not evil, merely caught in something beyond our knowing. From what I know of Starswirl, he does not wish this chaos upon us, this is a spell gone awry. That is why we must scour his books and find what spell could cause such a change, and then track him in order to counter whatever spell has taken hold of him.”

“What if it is something that cannot be dispelled? You know as well as I how the old mage enjoyed experimenting.” Sombra said.

“If there is no cure then we will have to appeal to him to find sense once more. Everypony deserves a chance of redemption.” Luna explained.

“Some ponies are beyond such help.” Sombra stated.

“I dread to think of a day that should be true.” Luna said with a shudder. “It would truly break my heart to think there was somepony wholly evil and with no hope of seeing the light once more.”

“You truly believe everypony can be redeemed?”

“Yes.” Luna said firmly. “Now enough of this distraction, we must find out how this happened.”

Several hours had passed before Celestia managed to track Luna down in Starswirl’s library thanks to ponies stopping her at every juncture to ask what they should do about the stampedes of cats and dogs in the streets, the lime custard that was now flowing through every watercourse in the city and the groups of angry pegasi stomping around as their flight magic failed them. There were still two guards stationed outside Starswirl’s library. They stepped aside as Celestia approached the door and after a short inspection, she countered the spell Luna had used to seal it.

She found Luna inside, Knight Sombra was with her and they sat in the middle of a wall of books. A familiar boos was open in the air in front of them, caught in the blue aura of Luna’s magic. They looked up when Celestia entered.

“Sister. What do you know about this spell?” Princess Luna asked as she levitated Starswirl’s latest book toward Celestia, it was open toward the back, Celestia knew which spell it was without having to look, but she did so to be certain.

“That is a spell he was working on last night. I read it aloud to see what happened, but nothing did. It’s unfinished.” She asked.

Luna turned the book back to herself and looked down at the words, frowning slightly as she read over them again.

“Is it possible the spell affected Starswirl?” Princess Luna asked.

“How would it affect him?” Celestia asked in reply.

“It is a transformation spell.” Luna replied.

“That is true.” Celestia agreed, growing thoughtful.

“Perhaps it still had an effect but being incomplete it did not have the desired effect.” Luna theorised.

“And this has caused his transformation?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. The spell has caused this change and there is no counter-spell. What in Equestria are we meant to do?” Luna asked with great worry.

Celestia managed to pull a smile to her face.

“We save him.” She announced. “We will track down Starswirl and we appeal to him to see sense. We remind him who he is and what he means to us. He will know we still care about him and he will become our wise mentor once more.”

“Do you think it will work?” Luna asked hesitantly.

“We can only hope.” Celestia replied as a flash of lightning outside the window was accompanied by the sound of frogs croaking. “We will set off within the hour.”

“I will go and prepare.” Luna promised.

“We will meet in the throne room and depart from there.” Celestia stated before leaving the library.

“I must go and prepare.” Luna said to Sombra.

“Please my Princess, allow me to accompany you.” Sombra requested.

“I think Celestia means us to fly, it is the fastest method to track Starswirl.” Luna stated as she and Sombra left the library.

“Forgive my bluntness Highness, but nopony can fly at present.” A pegasus guard stated.

“What do you mean?” Luna asked.

“Well.” The pegasus leapt into the air and spread his wings, he flapped for a moment and gained several feet of air before his wings folded in on themselves and he crashed to the floor.

“I see.” Luna said, and she spread her own wings, inspecting them for a moment before leaping into the air and beating them. Like the pegasus guard she too managed to gain several feet before a force outside of her being caused her wings to fold. Although she fell to the floor as the guard had, she managed to land on her hooves.

“Very well.” Luna said, “Knight Sombra, would you please accompany me?”

“To the end of the world Night Princess.” He replied with a bow.

“Then go and prepare, meet with my sister and I within the hour in the throne room and we shall set out to track Starswirl.” Luna announced.

“Yes Princess.” Sombra said.

They separated to go to their own rooms to prepare while Lightning Shield left his post and made his way to the rooms of the Sun Princess.

Celestia was busy packing her saddle bags with what she thought she would need on her quest when she heard a knock upon the door. She had sent all the servants away but hadn’t appointed a guard at her door since it would indicate that she was present. She endeavoured to ignore it but the knock came again.

“Come in!” She called.

The door opened and a brown pegasus in the gold armour of the day guard stepped in and stood to attention.

“How may I help you Commander Lightning Shield?” She asked.

“I am here to volunteer Your Highness.” He said with a salute.

“For what?” Celestia inquired, feigning ignorance.

“To help you find the king.” Lightning Shield replied.

“I appreciate the gesture Commander, but I must decline, you are needed here.” Celestia said as she continued to pack her saddle bags.

“Not really.” Lightning said with a shrug.

“It might be dangerous.” Celestia warned.

“I’m expendable.” Lightning replied.

Princess Celestia looked sadly upon the pegasus that he should think this. She placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“Nopony is expendable.” She said solemnly. “But if you insist on accompanying me then thank you, I will appreciate the help.”

“It’ll be an honour Princess.” Lightning said.

Celestia smiled.

“If you are coming then please meet Luna and I in the throne room in three quarters of an hour.”

“Yes Your Highness.” Lightning Shield said with a bow before he left Celestia’s rooms.

Celestia continued with her packing before making her way to the throne room. Princess Platinum was present with the other members of the emergency council, Clover the Clever, Chancellor Pudding Head, Smart Cookie, Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy.

“Thank you all for coming at short notice.” Celestia said.

“It’s the least we could do Your Highness.” Clover the Clever replied.

“Though getting here was harder than it should have been.” Commander Hurricane said gruffly.

“It wasn’t so bad.” Private Pansy said softly.

“Bad? What’s so bad about it? Have you seen all the free chocolate milk? Smart Cookie, make sure you organise a team to collect as much milk as they can for later?” Chancellor Pudding Head ordered.

“Sure thing Chancellor.” Smart Cookie replied with a put upon sigh. “I’ll have a team on that as soon as we get back.”

“Good.” The chancellor said with a nod of her head.

“So you want us to watch over Equestria when you’re off trying to get that no good wizard back?” Commander Hurricane asked as he began to absentmindedly flap into the air only for the magic that seemed to be binding pegasus flight at the moment to send him back to the floor.

“Master Starswirl is not a ‘no good wizard’. He didn’t do this on purpose.” Clover the Clever stated.

“No.” Celestia agreed. “This is some spell placed upon Starswirl and it’s up to my sister and I to find him and counter it. That is why I asked if you would be kind enough to oversee Equestria while we tackle this threat.”

“Makes sense.” Commander Hurricane conceded.

“Rest assured that Equestria will be in safe hooves until you return.” Princess Platinum declared.

“I’m sure it will be.” Celestia replied with a smile.

The doors opened and Commander Lightning Shield trotted in.

“Commander Lightning Shield reporting for duty, Your Highness.” He said with a salute.

“Lightning Shield, hey? You’re Thunder Blast’s son?” Commander Hurricane asked.

“That’s right.” Lightning Shield confirmed.

“Flew with me in the Griffon Wars back before the forming of Equestria. Best tactical flier I ever knew. Nice to know his son got a high rank in the palace guard.”

“Commander Lightning Shield is one of our most loyal guards; he’s even volunteered to accompany us on this dangerous mission.” Princess Celestia stated.

“Definitely take after your father.” Commander Hurricane said proudly.

Lightning Shield nodded.

Luna entered the throne room along with Knight Sombra.

“Princess Luna, you’ve made it.” Celestia said with relief that they could soon depart. “Is Knight Sombra accompanying us?”

“Yes.” Luna confirmed.

“Good. I’m sure you will be of much help.”

“Your Highness.” Sombra replied with a solemn bow.

Celestia smiled before turning back to the Emergency Council.

“We will take our leave. When we see you next hopefully it will be under calmer skies.” She said.

“Please bring our mentor back.” Clover the Clever requested.

“We will.” Celestia promised. “Whatever it may take we will bring him home to Equestria.”

With that, the two alicorns and their guards set out on their journey. They stepped out of the castle into a world of chaos. There were stray animals running everywhere, things falling from the sky that shouldn’t, things falling to the sky, citizens acting in ways that could only be described as bizarre. The chaos was almost hard to bear.

“How will we track Starswirl in all of this?” Luna asked.

“Princess, look.” Lightning Shield said, pointing his hoof.

Through all the chaos there was something constant, a pathway of bright pink and purple polka dots that led out of Canterlot and to the plains below.

“We follow the polka dot path.” Celestia stated.

“That is the strangest pathway I have ever seen.” Luna said.

“Then it seems like the right way to take now.” Celestia replied.

“It does Sister.” Luna agreed.

“Then without further ado.” Celestia announced and the party set out following the path down the mountain before heading to the north.

Author's Note

This was before Let it go got annoying also it helps to quickly sort of explain why Starswirl does this.

Thanks to Gempire for rewriting.