The Failing Light Prequel

And then the moment passed.

Without warning the master stood tall and blasted out a monstrously powerful shielding spell, creating an impenetrable golden barrier between the outside world and the arena in our little tree. Turner and I were caught completely off guard; at that time I had never experienced such a powerful casting before and had certainly not expected one to come from our aged mentor.

Standing near the doorway was a creature neither of us recognized, seeming for all the world to be a jumbled collection of parts from perhaps a dozen different animals. The general shape was that of a large legged snake or perhaps one of the thin lengthy dragons spoken of in several scrolls from the far east, but the eyes were somehow wrong, somehow far to intelligent.

Realizing that it had been discovered, it turned from the barrier and into the growing silence said something to the effect of 'surely you wouldn't mind showing me the door as it seems I've happened by without an invitation?' Despite the polite comment there was malice in it's voice and the master demanded to know who the creature was and from whence it came in a deep threatening voice, to which it laughed and said that it was lost but well on it's way to being found. And with that, it vanished from our sight with a pop and a bit of confetti, never to be seen again.

I am sure by now you have guessed who the creature was, although I am told that until just a few years ago he lay all but forgotten in the gardens of Canterlot. Discord is the name he is know by in modern times, but how he came to be in Equestria, let alone in our arena, I do not know. I fear our experiments may have had something to do with it, although I dearly hope that's not the case given what was to follow.

Though his mind was closed to those who did not know him, it was clear to me that Starswirl was more worried that he chose to share with the creature lingering unseen.  I had the distinct impression that he would have spent the rest of his life holding that shield in place had he been able to, and apparently Discord came to the same conclusion; seeing that we intended to hold him and that the master was strong enough to do so even without my help, he set about freeing himself the only way he could: through chaos.

As we three stood there trying to unravel his identity and decide how to proceed, Discord cast upon our newly completed machine and realigned the crystalline cage so that it's fragments pointed outwards rather than inwards. Seeing what he was about to do I lunged towards the device to repair the damage or disable the device, but it was already too late: the lever dropped and time consumed me.

At first there was no color or light, no sound or sensation of up or down and yet every moment was filled with jarring impacts. The darkness was slowly replaced with a mire of muted colors and sensations, thoughts came in fits and bursts as if my mind was flickering on and off; parts of me seemed to stretch out forever while others seemed to shrink into nothingness as I sought them. My horn hummed and rattled my skull and I felt the spark of my life extend through the ages and into the gap between the day and the night. The place in my mind where I could touch the ember of magic within seemed to flare into a raging flame, burning what few thoughts I had out of my mind before I could even begin to understand what was happening.

It was a tumbling, crushing, searing fall, and then it ended.

Epilogue

I felt something crunch beneath me and opened my eyes to an impossibly brilliant light; blinded and scrambling to my hooves, sure I was being attacked, I frantically tried to remember where I was and how I'd gotten there as I fought to clear my vision and defend myself... Only to discover to my relief that it was naught but the morning sun that assaulted me.

That, and rich scent of the forest that had appeared around me.