Before the Beginningby HighPriestOfEntropyChaptersOut of DarknessWhat a Beautiful SightInto LightHeavens and EarthOut of DarknessLong ago, there was darkness. Eternal. Unchanging. Unbroken. And then, there was fire. Leaping forth from the bosom of Eru, chasing the darkness before it, bringing light and life to nothingness itself. To this day, none can tell whether Eru Iluvatar brought forth the Flame, or if the Flame gave him life, or whether both came from some higher realm we can but dream of. Even so, we know that he saw the nothingness, and desired to fill it. And so, he opened his mouth. Many are divided here. Some say that Iluvatar spoke, bringing forth words beyond language. Others believe that his commands were images, thoughts that no mind other than his could comprehend. But most prevalent is the idea that he sang. The world was brought into being as a thing of beauty, and as the music continued, it became more and more so. Eventually, those we know as the gods sprang forth. They were confused, newly existent and unsure of their purpose. As time went on, and the song continued, each began to see a place that they could fill in the choir of creation, and found a note to sing, different than and yet in tune with the rest. Thus was Harmony born. One, however, did not join in the song with his brethren. This was Melkor, prince of the gods. His power and beauty was unmatched, and yet he lusted for more. He sought the Flame Imperishable, that he, too, might create worlds. He did his utmost to overthrow the song of Eru, and many gods followed him. Of this war, much has already been chronicled. In the end, Melkor, now known as Morgoth, was chained, and thrown into a world of Void, where nothing but darkness can exist. From this war came a new order. Eru left the governing of this realm to the younger gods, chief of whom was now Manwe. These gods created many realms, isolated, for the most part, from each other. In these worlds, the gods that followed Morgoth were working as quickly as Manwe's to destroy and pervert the beauty found in each. Finally, there was but one pure world left: Equestria. What a Beautiful Sight"Tis done, Tia. We have conquered." The two alicorns looked at their former enemy, now their most dangerous lawn gnome. "I understand this, Luna. Yet, one thing escapes my grasp. The Tree said that she created Discord. So how was he so terrible?" Luna smiled. "Is it possible that I have knowledge which thou dost not possess?' "Please, Luna, not tonight. We have much work to do, and thou knowest that I do not do well with riddles." "Very well. Dost thou not remember the Tree's exact words? She created Discord, yes, but she did so with the intruder's magic. Discord has within him the same corrupting influence that nearly destroyed Equestria." "Yet because of his mother, he could only create, so he did so as destructively as possible. Is that it, Luna?" Luna nodded. "I believe you have read it aright. I wonder if he could be taught to work for the good of others?" "No," Celestia said. "There can be no redemption for one as far gone as he. Now come. We must begin to rebuild." As they turned away, a sparrow came and perched on Discord's lower jaw. Within the statue, he growled, waiting for the day of his release. Under the earth, a dark force twisted and turned. He was not conscious as Discord was, but he sensed in his troubled dreams that his work had again been interrupted. And far away, in another world entirely, screams of rage echoed throughout the nothingness of Void, as the dark prisoner wrestled against his chains. One day, the ponies would have to face him, and not a servant of a servant. They would not be rejoicing so greatly then. And on the lower jaw of that statue, the sparrow opened its mouth, and began to sing. Into LightThe light had been drawing him for some time. There was something...alluring about destroying pure worlds. Not that there had been one for a long time. After all, he was very good at his job. He chuckled to himself as he thought about the shock when the gods discovered where he'd gone. It was going to be bad very bad dont do it stop no bad fun to destroy this world. The demon sighed. His host had been quite persistent in his rebellion, such as it was. It seemed that this particular species was far more resilient than he'd given them credit for. No matter. It was time. Sneaking in was actually very simple. The guards were under strict orders to never enter the realm, and thus could not watch from the inside. With that problem taken care of before he even got there, it was mind-numbingly easy to sneak past them and into the world. Ungulantia? Equestrion? It didn't matter. He just had to find the source of Harmony, and help save dont hurt destroy it. He growled. This was rapidly becoming intolerable. He'd have to see about getting himself a new host. He hadn't been searching long before he found it. Not that it was hard to feel something like that in the first place. As he crested the hill, he saw it. A great crystalline tree, radiating energy of the most beautiful pretty shiny disgustingly sweet kind. The demon smiled and reached out with his own black mind, sure that this would be simple. And at first, it was. The tree gave the same sort of resistance he'd seen a thousand times before, and for the thousand-and-first time, he countered everything before it ever had a chance to stop him. But then something happened that he hadn't seen before. The tree called, not to those winged unicorns he'd slain, not to the dragons he'd wrestled to submission, not to the minotaurs and griffons and dogs and gods knew what else he'd ripped limb from limb. The tree called to him, and, for the briefest of moments, he replied. I hear you. I can help you. The demon felt the magic begin to flow from him. Quickly, that avenue was shut down, but it was enough. In the space before him, something was taking shape, pulsing with light and darkness, order and entropy, Harmony and Hatred. He smiled, and that was the last he knew. Heavens and EarthThe thing was confused. The pretty lights had told him what to do, but he didn't know what to do now. Bad thing was gone. Pretty lights were here. Why did he need anything else? Deep within himself, he felt a stirring. Something foreign. Something bad. Something fun. The tree had given up much to create him. For that, he was grateful, and never went near. It had nothing to do with the fact that she could unmake him with a thought. Did trees think? That might be an interesting avenue of study later. But for now, he had his toys. He had been captured in his first wanderings, captured by those prissy ponies, those puling, pasty-faced, pathetic little ungulates, and taken to their leaders. Some kind of winged unicorn, he didn't know. He remembered very little at the time, but he did remember the escape. Someone caused a disturbance, he broke out of his chains, and he slaughtered every. Last. One. Except for Sunbutt and Moonbutt. And here they were now! What a nice surprise. Not that it was a surprise, they had been attacking pretty regularly over the past few months. Or years. Or decades. Whatever. The point was that they were boring him, and Oooh! What are those shiny things? Heh, they thought they could...wait a second. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. He couldn't even snap his fingers like any self-respecting villain. Oh, the horror! The equinity! The irony! He'd spent all his life throwing stars with his magic, demonstrating his control over even the sun and moon. Now, he was a rock. He was an iiiiiiiisland! Oh boy. This was going to be a loooooooooooooooooooong petrification.
Out of DarknessLong ago, there was darkness. Eternal. Unchanging. Unbroken. And then, there was fire. Leaping forth from the bosom of Eru, chasing the darkness before it, bringing light and life to nothingness itself. To this day, none can tell whether Eru Iluvatar brought forth the Flame, or if the Flame gave him life, or whether both came from some higher realm we can but dream of. Even so, we know that he saw the nothingness, and desired to fill it. And so, he opened his mouth. Many are divided here. Some say that Iluvatar spoke, bringing forth words beyond language. Others believe that his commands were images, thoughts that no mind other than his could comprehend. But most prevalent is the idea that he sang. The world was brought into being as a thing of beauty, and as the music continued, it became more and more so. Eventually, those we know as the gods sprang forth. They were confused, newly existent and unsure of their purpose. As time went on, and the song continued, each began to see a place that they could fill in the choir of creation, and found a note to sing, different than and yet in tune with the rest. Thus was Harmony born. One, however, did not join in the song with his brethren. This was Melkor, prince of the gods. His power and beauty was unmatched, and yet he lusted for more. He sought the Flame Imperishable, that he, too, might create worlds. He did his utmost to overthrow the song of Eru, and many gods followed him. Of this war, much has already been chronicled. In the end, Melkor, now known as Morgoth, was chained, and thrown into a world of Void, where nothing but darkness can exist. From this war came a new order. Eru left the governing of this realm to the younger gods, chief of whom was now Manwe. These gods created many realms, isolated, for the most part, from each other. In these worlds, the gods that followed Morgoth were working as quickly as Manwe's to destroy and pervert the beauty found in each. Finally, there was but one pure world left: Equestria.
What a Beautiful Sight"Tis done, Tia. We have conquered." The two alicorns looked at their former enemy, now their most dangerous lawn gnome. "I understand this, Luna. Yet, one thing escapes my grasp. The Tree said that she created Discord. So how was he so terrible?" Luna smiled. "Is it possible that I have knowledge which thou dost not possess?' "Please, Luna, not tonight. We have much work to do, and thou knowest that I do not do well with riddles." "Very well. Dost thou not remember the Tree's exact words? She created Discord, yes, but she did so with the intruder's magic. Discord has within him the same corrupting influence that nearly destroyed Equestria." "Yet because of his mother, he could only create, so he did so as destructively as possible. Is that it, Luna?" Luna nodded. "I believe you have read it aright. I wonder if he could be taught to work for the good of others?" "No," Celestia said. "There can be no redemption for one as far gone as he. Now come. We must begin to rebuild." As they turned away, a sparrow came and perched on Discord's lower jaw. Within the statue, he growled, waiting for the day of his release. Under the earth, a dark force twisted and turned. He was not conscious as Discord was, but he sensed in his troubled dreams that his work had again been interrupted. And far away, in another world entirely, screams of rage echoed throughout the nothingness of Void, as the dark prisoner wrestled against his chains. One day, the ponies would have to face him, and not a servant of a servant. They would not be rejoicing so greatly then. And on the lower jaw of that statue, the sparrow opened its mouth, and began to sing.
Into LightThe light had been drawing him for some time. There was something...alluring about destroying pure worlds. Not that there had been one for a long time. After all, he was very good at his job. He chuckled to himself as he thought about the shock when the gods discovered where he'd gone. It was going to be bad very bad dont do it stop no bad fun to destroy this world. The demon sighed. His host had been quite persistent in his rebellion, such as it was. It seemed that this particular species was far more resilient than he'd given them credit for. No matter. It was time. Sneaking in was actually very simple. The guards were under strict orders to never enter the realm, and thus could not watch from the inside. With that problem taken care of before he even got there, it was mind-numbingly easy to sneak past them and into the world. Ungulantia? Equestrion? It didn't matter. He just had to find the source of Harmony, and help save dont hurt destroy it. He growled. This was rapidly becoming intolerable. He'd have to see about getting himself a new host. He hadn't been searching long before he found it. Not that it was hard to feel something like that in the first place. As he crested the hill, he saw it. A great crystalline tree, radiating energy of the most beautiful pretty shiny disgustingly sweet kind. The demon smiled and reached out with his own black mind, sure that this would be simple. And at first, it was. The tree gave the same sort of resistance he'd seen a thousand times before, and for the thousand-and-first time, he countered everything before it ever had a chance to stop him. But then something happened that he hadn't seen before. The tree called, not to those winged unicorns he'd slain, not to the dragons he'd wrestled to submission, not to the minotaurs and griffons and dogs and gods knew what else he'd ripped limb from limb. The tree called to him, and, for the briefest of moments, he replied. I hear you. I can help you. The demon felt the magic begin to flow from him. Quickly, that avenue was shut down, but it was enough. In the space before him, something was taking shape, pulsing with light and darkness, order and entropy, Harmony and Hatred. He smiled, and that was the last he knew.
Heavens and EarthThe thing was confused. The pretty lights had told him what to do, but he didn't know what to do now. Bad thing was gone. Pretty lights were here. Why did he need anything else? Deep within himself, he felt a stirring. Something foreign. Something bad. Something fun. The tree had given up much to create him. For that, he was grateful, and never went near. It had nothing to do with the fact that she could unmake him with a thought. Did trees think? That might be an interesting avenue of study later. But for now, he had his toys. He had been captured in his first wanderings, captured by those prissy ponies, those puling, pasty-faced, pathetic little ungulates, and taken to their leaders. Some kind of winged unicorn, he didn't know. He remembered very little at the time, but he did remember the escape. Someone caused a disturbance, he broke out of his chains, and he slaughtered every. Last. One. Except for Sunbutt and Moonbutt. And here they were now! What a nice surprise. Not that it was a surprise, they had been attacking pretty regularly over the past few months. Or years. Or decades. Whatever. The point was that they were boring him, and Oooh! What are those shiny things? Heh, they thought they could...wait a second. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. He couldn't even snap his fingers like any self-respecting villain. Oh, the horror! The equinity! The irony! He'd spent all his life throwing stars with his magic, demonstrating his control over even the sun and moon. Now, he was a rock. He was an iiiiiiiisland! Oh boy. This was going to be a loooooooooooooooooooong petrification.
