Draconequus, plural form: Draconequui. Defined as: "...a chimera creature made up of multiple parts of different creatures with an appearance similar to that of a dragon and pony."
If one looked closer in the hastily written fieldscript, see Discord's Statue could be seen synonymous with the term as a reference, and then under that note a guide to the nearest opening time of the Canterlot Royal Gardens display could be seen not far below it. (With added advice from the local reporter that anypony found sneaking into the gardens when it was closed from public would be dunked repeatedly in a fountain by the nearest Unicorn guard before being thrown out for trespassing on royal property).
The name 'draconequus', according to Discord himself, by the mouth of Princess Luna herself, was said to have been what he asked to be called when the common question: what are you? came up (usually screamed in either terror, shock, rage, surprise, or a mixture slash combination of all or more) so frequently during his reign. It was the only form of identification he would accept outside of his various titles associating him to all things chaotic, with "monster" earning a rather alarming sort of smile and "demon" earning a laugh and waggle of the brows right before he snapped his talon claw once the merry tear had been swiped away.
Upon the end of the Discourse Era, a lot of things changed. Some good, some bad.
For one thing, the best thing of all, new rulers stepped up. The Royal Sisters took over for Platinum's bloodline whom had granted the throne to the Sisters without a fight (if you believe that), and following the era of the Sisters many things would follow with that change, especially upon Star Swirl's return (something Equestria eventually came to get used to of the Unicorn and his sudden disappearances).
The question that boggled the mind and one nopony seemed to ask as communication grew from across Equestria to other nations was a simple one. One that should have followed immediately after Discord's defeat but didn't because there were bigger things to worry about at the time-- as well as a question no one dared to explore so early (or even the decades later that followed during the very vivid and repeated reminder of celebration on the Summer Solstice and Lunar Solstice-- And of all the ponies to ask that question, it was one and only one pony who approached the Sisters and asked them as he was the one who knew them the best, the longest, and held their (what he now knew) friendship, the most.
"Where were all the other Draconequui?" and more importantly: why hadn't any of them appeared during Discord's questionably long reign of power? Or why hadn't they appeared after?
The Court of Royals was silent.
He lifted his head up high, allowed time to walk by for an answer that would not follow, looked at them all through narrowed eyes then...he frowned. Shook his head, and looked at the two he knew the most out of the latest generation before him.
And so the oldest wizard, the greatest mage of his generation and beyond, continued his inquires.
One did not simply come across a specie with magic beyond their own and not notice others like it in various parts of the world, he had said, bluntly and simply.
The Centaur species (a dwindling specie of rapidly dropping numbers due to the effects of the Drought), were well known as the most famous and talented mages across the world, Discord coming only to match them. So that made this simple question rather important when looked through the observarory lense of danger.
What happened to the rest of Discord's race? He had asked to a room held by silence. And if they were all this powerful, why had the Ancient Centaurs and Ancient Alicorns never written about them?
If it had been unicorns or a single nobility of any of the Tribes that had taken over a piece of land and easily fended it off from all attackers or attempted usurper by themself for decades to centuries alone, other ponies would flock in that direction aiming to support this house or group of ponies strong enough to defend themselves from any and all attackers while still managing to sustain themselves on the land they held alone. It was the instinct of a herd to flock towards the ones that could provide the protection sought after, and Star Swirl had merely pointed at Celestia and Luna to make his point obvious.
They, most ponies, worshipped them.
It was a topic for another time. One that would not be discussed in this court.
So Star Swirl moved on, asking the Sisters a very important question that day, one week in his return with the Pillars and several decades from the day they'd last seen him and them in the Everfree during the moments Discord's rule threatened to truly tear apart the world itself.
He repeated his question: "Where were all the draconequui?"
And more importantly, with all the adventures, all the travelling, all the exploring they had had both alone and together-- why hadn't he ever heard of them till Discord came to be?
Had there been any rumors?
And where were they now?
There was no answer to these questions. So, he left, looking for one.
It began with a simple skim through records. And by simple, he spent hours upon hours of research.
Star Swirl often found himself playing catch up along with the Pillars whenever they returned from a particularly 'short' adventure and so when he first asked the question, there had been no easy way of finding the answer he desired. Doing the only sensible thing, he returned to his roots, the norm back then and nose divided into the tombs of every book he had ever found, every note he had ever written upon coming across new land, few notes ever exchanged with the contemporary wizard or mage and every new tomb ever published relating to Equestria's diplomatic records with those of other nations.
The name 'Draconequus' was not one he found anywhere. Then again, after spending Moons researching the somewhat-young-but-actually-really-old-stallion realized the answers he was searching for couldn't be found because ponies in general lacked knowledge or writings on any species outside their own. His search was a fruitless effort defined by the newly imported and bitter liquid called 'coffee' from Llamia, traded with the Saddle Arabians, and was ultimately the drink that sustained his drive to answer this important question.
One night, drinking deep of his bitter beverage, Star Swirl glanced through his findings as he was joined in the Archives by the youngest of the Diarchy and through discussion, exchange of notes, and contemplation they found his research to this answer was going nowhere.
And so Star Swirl decided if he could not find the answer in Equestria, then he would go out to find his prize.
It began with a ship. Royally granted to him by the Sisters (of course). A journey to the East as it was in this period exploration was more prudent.
He was not alone as they refused to leave him be (and for that he was somewhat thankful if slightly annoyed and still getting used to the willing company that didn't demand they all come together).
The answer to the question was obvious, said the pegasus soldier: the Draconequus were either in hiding--
--Or the darker alternative, Discord was the last of his own, came the quiet and soft voice of a gentle mare healer.
Star Swirl, knowing this despite Stygian telling him in gentle tones these words, the unicorn would not be satisified with such a bleak answer. Like the Alicorns and Centaurs, there was a history behind everything. There was a reason, a cause and an effect. He desired to know why such a powerful specie, a species as powerful as the Centaurs, had never been heard of till one lone draconequus had decided to turn the whole world into his literal play thing.
Where were they?
What started Discord's madness?
It was not just a matter of the 'why' but it was also a matter of the 'how', he had told them. How something this important had been overlooked during their absence in the passing 70 years. "Look at the Centaurs", he had said with hasting aggravation, there were rarely any to challenge them in battle-- save a new Dragon Lord of some other region or another, as far as history relating to their distant Eastern allies had been willing to provide: any fight the Centuria kingdoms went into, they won.
And yes, the stallion had stated upon being questioned by the shovel wielding Earther, he believed that!
When your kind were the overwhelming dominant power of magic and had skill that was said and believed to exceed anyone else's by millennia, others accepted that going into a fight with you would be one sided--
Or, the pegasus stallion offered, they could deny the truth and challenge you anyway.
--There was historic proof, the beardless unicorn had went on. Things he had seen with his own eyes before meeting any of them, the moments when he was looking for the Sisters, when the dreams first began making sense, when at the darkest hours of night he would hear voices, see things in his dreams that--
The sloshing sound of hull on sea filled the void that was a pause.
There were things, Star Swirl had informed his allies after the pause, and the ache just below his horn began to fade with the memory, one needed to see for themself to believe he had told them in cryptic words as his bells jingled in dramatic swing on the sea breeze.
And then he'd changed the topic as the distant stare of the past left his eyes and he moved on.
Take himself for example, which raised many brows. Brows he frowned at and then continued as he bitterly waved a lightly smiling Stygian off.
"Magic", the somehow older unicorn stallion had said, was his Mark. To which eyes followed the cloak that hid said Mark and his response was a roll of the eyes. His talent was loosely speaking to observe: to analyze magic, understand it, and then explore it. What he knew could be expanded through combining different algorithms of different works. A light spell by horn could become a fire ball spell by increasing the heat of his atmosphere; manipulating hydrogen atoms in a condensed bubble and using the same light spell as a spark to create a wisp of fire once those atoms accelerated and mixed with oxygen. The resulting reaction could then be focused, directed and sent in one direction with the propulsion following it. It was why he (Star Swirl had proudly pointed out) was respected. He made leaps in magic, more than any unicorn before him ever had and most unicorns of his bygone generation ever would, it was the cause of his respect, the reason so many nobles threw their foals at him and occasionally still did so (which he reminded them was infiltrating) and the reason his name spread and continued to spread even in his sporadic and sudden abscenses, just like the Pillars and their efforts had been spreading over the decades in their absences and would continue to spread as they moved on.
So the question was important. His tone had grown almost hard which causes many ears to perk.
A species so gifted with magic, magic the likes they had never seen, was not to be ignored. Because in the wrong claws, hooves, hands, talons, it would mean disaster.
A disaster that could be worse than the dream of darkness spreading over the Crystal Empire.
A disaster that could be worse than a temporal rift spilling monsters into a unprepared kingdom during the time of a being they did not understand.
A disaster that could be worse than a pack of camouflaged demons chasing after two alicorns.
A disaster greater than cultists tracking the Pillars down, aiming for each of them, their magic, the very thing that brought them together. Hunting them for what they could be and most certainly eventually would be. For their power. Their destiny--
Six friends stared with worry but he was lost already
--a disaster that had been told to him by powerful entities in gentle tones and soothing words that had called out to him in his dreams of foalhood, asking him for his support, then when he was older, demanding he aid in the return of what was theirs. To take the mantle as the Great Scholar and Provider. To give back what was taken from them by their own children, what had been stolen from them, torn away from them and then given away by a traitor to the rest of mortal kind, powers that was not her right or their offsprings to give away, that they had helped mortals since the beginning a-and --
There were disasters, Star Swirl had said, returning from his thoughts-- his eyes gaining that familiar distant gaze into the past, his horn dimming, staring northeast towards Canterlot, eyes going to the distant woods that was the Everfree, eyes of the life of a mortal who had lived longer than most ever had without the use of some dark magic or unique item of ancient power and not the only mortal that ever would again; a mortal that had seen things, done things, explored other whens and wheres that would and should have broken the mind of anypony from the generations of his time with two young beautiful mares from a species thought long extinct-- two young mares he had been technically older than in those times even if not by much at all; recalled brief dreams that did not make sense in youth but in those moments of meeting the most powerful Carriers in history or even existence, now did--
--there were disasters... He had repeated, slowly as the haze left his eyes, the old but young mind calming, and he closed his eyes ever so slowly recalling the time he had hastily went on a gamble of a journey to find them.
"There were disasters that simply needed to be prevented." The ominous warning had been allowed to slip.
And so this question was important.
It was something...something his Mark demanded he look into, and Star Swirl could not ignore the call of curiosity.
Not once it had been piqued.
It was always about the time.
An ancient saying carried by Minotaurs says: "Time waits for no one."
Tragedy struck during the journey, and things had to be cut short. An adventure ended before it truly began. The world did not pause for one possibly insane stallion's quest, and so there were hiccups along the time the journey was conducted.
Increasing bickering between equinobility and the rights to which House or Houses deserved the Princesses attention more continued whenever a Prince Consort was demanded, the rising tensions with the Griffith Kingdoms and the Crystal Empire a few years after, Moons later the distant reports of a flock of Monster's appearing in Anugypt (the home of one Pillar) and the immediate haste to sort out that problem before others like it emerged. Problem after problem appeared here and there, delaying the search frequently. With the last rift causing a issue that took a total of three centuries before it could truly be settled.
Three centuries that had to be earned back upon their return from absence, time that had to be deducted from the question that sprung in his mind weeks later only to be ignored the next few Moons to heal and recover, as they all should.
Then when it finally became unbearable a letter was sent. Sent by dragonfire, an experiment he had been learning from the eldest of the monarchy, and was pleased to find it successful. Weeks went by and letters were returned.
The quest was back on. And so an answer was to be found.
They continued in Centuria-- or rather what little remained of its population that hadn't moved elsewhere with a Spawn of Scorpan the Kind.
Memories trickled by and he recalled meeting Scorpan. The sadness hidden behind the smile, the pain masked behind the laughter.
Centuria was no more, a false shadow of its once greatness, but the wizard put that aside as his cause was one of greater importance. For there were rumors, legends that said the Drought had been strengthened by Discord's interference with the land-- which made the question even more important than before.
Where were all the draconequui?
And what happened to them at all?
Could they all perform what had been dubbed 'chaos magic' or was it like a Mark that did not show itself? Did they too have special magic like every Harmonic pony?
The questions were many, but they had to be limited. First: where, why, how? Then deeper answers could be hunted.
He had sought answers to the how, the meaning of their name, and found one note that the Centurions had held during their prime. Etilnok showing him through with the Pillars in tow.
The note held valuable information and it was the name 'draconequus' and how it was gifted. A name for a species whose true identity had long been forgotten, the note had said.
A letter was sent, an answer returned within days by dragon fire.
The answer, "The Schwein". The Pigs, the pegasus mare of their number had informed, played and continued to play a role in the dialect used in magic. It started in the Ancient Period, the beautifully cursed female unicorn of their group had said. The Pigs carried old text of Pig Latin that they used in rituals that later transitioned into their magic. It was more than just their influence in the Eastern Equinal Territories, like Prance or the Germaneic States that had them playing a role in Pig Latin's influence on the West. It was the magic of word having influence on reality, Star Swirl had commented.
And it was them who had first coined the term 'draconequus'.
A name gifted to a species that had no history.
A name gifted to a species that according to the late Prometheus' notes, had lost their way.
And so they thanked the Spawn of Scorpan, Etilnok, the distant nephew of Tirek The Tyrant (which thankfully their soldier friend had the sense not to say), and headed south.
Where new answers awaited.
The Schwein, was the royal manner of referring to the Swine species and the only manner they would accept as not insulting.
It was a manner of purging themselves of the Ancient association they had once been for a long time to Dragons, Diamond Dogs, and other predatory species of Terrae, which was nothing more than 'food' or in other cases to other species: slaves.
Star Swirl bowed low his head- and the Pillars followed his motion in suit.
"Emperor Julius of His Royal Highness' lineage, Former Princess, The Uniter, The Imperial Queen Porcina", the wise wizard said, "tis mine pleasure to have been granted presence in thine's grace."
The enormous Schwein was silent. He said nothing, but looked over with eyes of bronze and a coat of grey, marked in a place above the shoulder where no fur grew from a scar that had been burned shut down to the back.
The boar, king, Schwein, snorted and then stomped a hoof that echoed in the dimly lit throne room where the stars of night barely illuminated the room.
Guards; many of them boar, few of them pigs, only a pair of pegasus that stood on either side below the white dirty stairwell to the throne, relaxed.
"Thou art the one to seek mine presence, Star Swirl the Great, Lord Regent of Equestria, Former Lord of House Blaze, Scholar of Time. Pray tell", and the boar rose to his full height, a shadow stretching down and just touching the hooves of its audience, "to what dost mine palace deserve to receive the one and of few visits from Mainland nobility on mine soil?"
"A request." Came the reply.
A black brow rose.
"A request?" The boar repeated, feeling the word and wondering what it could mean. "Tis mine hope, the sole ruler, Empress of Sun shan't believe a simple visit of the greatest pony mage shall stay mine actions against the Mutts of past."
"Nay, Emperor--"
"Pray tell then as is mine query", came the hard cutting reply. "What request enduees thee so far from home?"
There was silence. Or to be precise a thoughtful pause.
"An answer. For there is only one known to us with the most sensible of records of the past, maintained even during Discourse. Though in the recent times since mine absence-- our absence-- there has been a question we ignore. The Discourse granted thee freedom, a chance that Princess Porcina took to raise the stakes of yours" he stated dropping the Old dialect, "as thou will recall. It was we who aided thee in those times where sky, Sun, Moon, and land were cast into disarray. He ruined so much...changed so many...hardened soft souls brave enough to try, exposed the filth hiding among us" and he paused, "but also gave us all change..." the silence humble, the stallion rising as those behind him stood beside him. "Emperor", Star Swirl said with a well known puff framing his barrel, "mine request dear Julius, is knowledge--"
The boar for the first time, cracked a smile.
"--of the Draconequus."
And then it fell into a look of stun.
"It is a question that must be answered." His eyes defiant as boars grunted and stomped in signs of aggression, Schwein squeed in signals of alarm, and pegasi expanded wings in the ancient symbol of winged beings everywhere- the sign of war.
"SILENCE!" The tusks glowed and the stomp echoed with a hoof of glowing white energy slamming then shaking the ground.
"I WILL HAVE ORDER IN MINE HOUSE OF POWER!"
Quietness fell with the rumble and shift of the stone palace and its echoing creaks. Tension chose to settle and stay.
Echoes of steps sounded and the Pillars moved into action. Magnus hovered, scowling. Rockhoof held steady a foreleg against the handle of his enchanted shovel, Mistmane and Somnabula stood in front of Meadowbrook, Stygian's horn ignited with energy, but Star Swirl did nothing.
He stood tall. Calm. Confident. And watched in silence as everyone also watched the injured king limp steadily towards the throne's central stage where all seeking audience stood below and before the throne. Two sides waiting for the other to react and the most important figures being eyed on both sides.
"A dangerous gamble you play", he said to the somewhat young stallion who now looked a little less beardless, more than he did minutes prior. "A dangerous and foolish game thou doth play indeed. That kind's name is forbidden--"
"Yet" the wizard stated with a voice so soft it cut through the anger approaching him, head and eyes tilting upwards to meet the boar a head and a hoof above his height witj twice the muscle and size. Never once did the wizard flinch as he continued, "Yet it is one of their kind that granted fate's chance we meet. That granted us the means to offer what little support we could in Discourse. That gave yours the freedom by Porcina from the chains of Minos, escape from fear of caves and tunnels by the Dogs and Wolves, and pride in no longer being hunted.
" He was the Prince of Chaos...but whether he meant it or not, even chaos granted yours chance. If there are more of them. More like him, some that are worse than he in ways we cannot begin to imagine....then We must know so we can prepare--"
The boar king turned. Looked to the throne, said nothing for seconds. Closed his eyes and then stomped twicd. It echoed. And the guards receeded, leaving the throne room.
"Follow." Came Julius' reply as he moved towards a wall that had slid back. "Your answer awaits."
Draconequus.
Plural form: 'Draconequui', better known as chimera of mixed and matched various parts but not referred to as such since the name was already claimed by the true Chimera species. If you looked for a synonym you would find: monster, cretin, demon.
A god.
There was only one Sapient in the whole world (which still had parts to explore) that claimed that specie title but never the last synonymous term, and he was encased in invincible stone, a statue that no one knew and no one would ever know had once been alive.
It was a fate he had not expected the Elements to perform. Then again he knew little of their true workings outside of the shell they had crafted for the magic to hold. Workings that seemed to avoid letting him understand them.
If whatever started the Great Battle had done what the Elements did, a lot of things in the Great Battle would begin to make sense. How so many of the Centaurs had just seemed to vanish, adding to their falling numbers. How the homeland of the Alicorns was charred and broken: no remains, no bodies, no signs of war as far as the Sisters had been willing to say. How the Satyrs that had guided Wolf, sheep and earth pony in those oral legends of old no longer flocked the mountains as guardians of day and night, and the vanishing of the three Alicorns that led the three tribes to their first home before the Everfrost.
It was a fate he wondered often, that plagued his nightmares of a chaos lord somehow returning, fueled by rage for reasons he would not entirely understand, bent on bringing an end to the world in a similar way--
Draconequus, were not new. They were an old species. Not like the hippogriffs slowly making their presence in the world or hybrids forming among the Tribes since the Unification first started. They were old, old as the oldest dragons that still drew breathe, a species that had played a role in the Great Battle. A role long forgotten and one he could never get his two oldest friends to discuss in detail.
A species that had no history prior to that fight.
A species that fought with the ancient Dragon Elders before the concept of Dragon Lord usurped that position.
A species that were pushed away by the Kirin who disappeared in Discord's reign.
A species...that looked nothing like Discord did in some paintings when compared to the ancient art that displayed the few of them in the Grounds of Ancient Records underneath Swilly kingdom. Yet in others, matched the description.
A species that according to Julius, hated being called 'dragons' or 'chimeras'.
A species whose name had been granted to them...because they had no name to call themselves to begin with.
They huddled around Meadowbrook and Somnabula, as the more they learned the more the tears flowed from those two precious sets of eyes.
Ponies, Star Swirl had come to realize in these moments, did not document much in way of other species. Did not seem to care too outside of history. Did not fathom the importance of doing so.
It was a mistake. A foolish mistake as he could see it even before the dream would come to him in the dead of night during throes of exhaustion. He could it in the distant future, see ponies threating over zebras because the herd knew so little outside of the politics mark. He could see them questioning or being skeptical of Minotaurs because the nation as a whole did not get as much exposure as it could when one ruler was dealing with so much stress and keeping enemies at bay with a sister gone to no longer provide the support the older had taken for granted. He could see them barely holding much in dragons, seeing them as mindless savage creatures of greed as they did even now, because of the bleak history between the species and their past.
It was a mistake. And there had been many mistakes both in his absence and during his presence. This was one that he would talk to the Princess about upon his return.
One that he would save for later.
For the Draconequus, Star Swirl learned changed, as the paintings seemed to say was their nature. The paintings spun a tale of rage for when the Draconequus had used the pigs as their allies of war.
There were those that looked different from Discord, those that looked similar, darker versions of the others.
Draconequus, not the species, not entirely, but what they had been, what they could have been, died in the Great Battle.
"And that darkness chased them", Emperor Julius stated as the cloth came off the last painting and a silence took hold of every one there.
Dragons, Minotaurs, Alicorns, Centaurs, Earthers, Pegasi, Unicorns, many creatures were displayed in this painting. They all focused on the focal point, a group of creatures fleeing towards the ocean, serpentine with mixed and varying limbs, some of which did not appear to be like the others and seemed less disorganized than the ones looking like Discord. But if there was one direction they all headed it was where the background turned dim and grey and there was nothing there in the distance. No land, no water, the painting seeming unfinished where the Draconequui of light and dark fled towards and various creatures chased after, all trading blows, with membrane winged Pegasi descending from the sky.
It was in one word, chaos. Colors clashing to display explosions, bodies seeming to be splattered hazardously on the contour, it was massive, it drew the eyes everywhere, but allowed for the focus to go towards where the painting seemed most unfinished with its greying hues, fleeing and chasing creatures, large silhouettes in the sky. And it summarized everything that needed to be said.
"That darkness chased them", Emperor Julius said, watching with silence and a hint of awe at the oldest art of the Great Battle ever seen, "chased all in the Great Battle to the edges of Terrae itself."
