352 BC (Before Chaos), Pre-Classical Era

The Wilds (later known as Equestria)

Spring

He always went up on the ridge to watch the sunrise. Starswirl, a colt no older than eight years and whose withers barely reached his father's knees, always found the glowing orb of light fascinating. What magic made it? What magic bore it skyward? And as the sun rose across the Wilds, the moon fell into the west, dancing in harmony with its celestial sibling.

Starswirl lay in the grass, breathing in the dew of morning as the sun flared across the fields and between the mountain flanks. His horn glistened and wind whistled around its spiraling form. He was a blue-gray pony, with an indigo mane and tail he kept cut short to better travel through the Wilds with his family. His haunches were blank, a fact he chafed at so often that it distracted him from chores and earned him his mother's reprimand.

The sun finished breaking from the horizon, and Starswirl rose and shook his legs. Below the ridge was a wild meadow, and behind him the ancient forest that presided over at least half the valley. He, his parents, and his sister had moved here that summer so his sire could study more plants for his potion lore. Normally nopony ever visited the Wilds; few knew about it, and most of those that knew about it considered it either a sacred place or a cursed wild not fit for any sentient creature.

He chuckled as he eyed some of the flowers in the meadow. His father saw the Wilds as an opportunity to study and learn things for ponykind, and not something to be feared.

Starswirl blinked his pale eyes as he looked up from the meadow. Something was coming from the east, something as bright as a noon-day sun. He heard two sets of large wings and the powerful breaths of their owners. He scrambled back as the approaching orb of light flared into streamers of energy. Some roved across his pelt, and as soon as they touched him, a marvelous calm flowed through him.

He watched the remaining light dissipate, and left in its place were two creatures of legend: alicorns, hovering above the ridge as they gazed down upon him. One had the purest white coat, and her mane and tail flowed in a rainbow of colors through the air. Her companion was the color of midnight, her mane and tail a canvas of stars that seemed to dance of their own accord. The white alicorn bore a sun upon her haunches, and the blue alicorn a black night and a crescent moon upon hers. Both had strong, stream-lined bodies and small snouts, beauties among ponykind. Their eyes glowed with powerful magic.

Starswirl found his jaw hanging, and he quickly jammed his hoof against it to close his mouth. They continued watching him for some time, and his blank thoughts began to piece themselves back together as he examined them. Despite the obvious glory and power they held, he found they looked only a little older than he, not even adults. At the same time, he could not even mentally call them fillies. They had to be as old as the oldest mares, perhaps beyond old.

Immortal was the word that finally filled the description for the two alicorns.

He finally found the sense to bow to them. All ponies knew of alicorns. They called themselves Princes and Princesses. Powerful beings who brought harmony to everything and everyone they met, who threw down tyrants, destroyed evil, sought out truth, and ruled their respective kingdoms with wisdom and love.

Starswirl waited for them to do something, and secretly hoped they would offer him a few words.

The two alicorns finally thumped their hooves onto the ridge, but kept their wings flared, their glowing eyes returning to their normal states. The white alicorn had pink eyes, and the other eyes like stream-water.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" the dark blue alicorn demanded. Starswirl flinched at the strength and reproof in that voice. She may have looked like a filly, but her voice was as a mare's.

"I-I-I am Starswirl," he gulped. "I am here with-with my family, see, and we're––"

"You are in danger," the white alicorn said much more softly than her companion. Again came that immortal tone that sent a shiver down his spine. "Perhaps we must explain, Starswirl."

"We do not need to explain anything, sister," said the younger of the two. It was not unkindly towards him, but she seemed to be in a hurry, her stiff body screaming concern.

"I am Celestia, and this is Luna, Princesses of the Sun and Moon," the white alicorn explained without even a glance at Luna. Luna let out a low growl and lowered her head slightly. Celestia approached Starswirl and touched her horn to his. A magical shock passed through him, and he leaped to his hooves with a snort. "Don't be afraid of us."

"Sun and moon?" he wheezed. Dizziness washed across him. The bringers of light in both day and night, gods of legend and life. All his life he had been told the unicorns brought day and night, as no one else knew if these alicorns even existed. A lie had been turned to truth; such was the way of the alicorns.

The dizziness fled as he met Celestia's eyes.

"We are on search for a corrupt alicorn who could bring destruction to this land," she explained. "We have just arrived in this valley, but if you can help us, please answer this: have you seen such a being pass through these lands, or through the three tribes of the north ponies? He is blacker than the new moon, and lightning and death follow his every step."

Starswirl's thoughts ran wild, and he tried to gather them back in. When Celestia's words truly began to register, he felt dread seep into his entire being. A corrupt alicorn? How was that even possible? All alicorns were goodly beings, and wouldn't harm anypony if they could help it. He finally shook his head.

"I...I've never evenheardof something like that," he muttered. "What is happening?"

"He kills and kills, and never holds back," Luna hissed. "He kills alicorns and ponies alike. He must be stopped."

All Starswirl could do was shake his head.

"We will watch over this land for a time, and then we will leave," Celestia decided, speaking now to Luna. "We must stand guard until we are sure he knows not of this valley." She turned her elegant head towards Starswirl, and he automatically bowed. "Tell your people of us this day, Starswirl, but forbid them from the Wilds. There will be a time when they will find it, when this danger has passed, and love and harmony fill the hearts of the ponies. You will know what to say to them."

"Y-y-yes, Princess Celestia," he said.

"Go to your family, and return all to the land of the unicorns," Luna commanded. "Go with haste, and quiet now, Starswirl."

"Your wisdom and guidance will be a boon to your people," Celestia said, once more tapping her horn against his. He didn't move away this time. He closed his eyes instead, and saw a sky of stars, swirling and dancing like those in Luna's mane. Each seemed to whisper to him. Each had a story and a truth to share. Starswirl tried to drink in everything he saw and heard, but only understood one star:

"Beware of chaos."

The vision blackened, and he lifted his head and opened his eyes. Celestia and Luna rose from the ridge as one. Their auras, one of gold and the other of blue, shimmered, and they vanished in a muted explosion.

Starswirl fell onto his bottom, blinking rapidly. Was everything that just happened real? His limbs trembled, his nostrils quivered. He tried to stand, shaking his entire body rapidly. He gazed at the sky and remembered the stars, and the one truth he had actually understood sickened him.

Beware of chaos.

Starswirl was reluctant to leave the ridge, abruptly weakened as he was, but turned down to the treeline anyway. Was this what it felt like to be touched by alicorn magic? Weak, feverish, sight swimming as he tried to navigate the underbrush of the woods, Starswirl found he didn't like it too much.

He stumbled to a stop before a narrow stream. The thought of crossing it made him sway back and forth. Starswirl squinted at the stream, trying to find the crossing area, and located the part that had a pool caught into a dip of the shore. He lowered his head for a drink, wondering if alicorn magic caused one to become extremely thirsty as well, and stopped. His lips hung but a few inches above the cool liquid, and once more he was taken aback by what he saw.

Sprouting upon his chin were pure white hairs. He tilted his head up and to the side with a nicker. He swung his head against the water with a splash and waited for it to still once more. The white hair was still there.

…...

When Starswirl led his family home to the unicorn kingdom, none could fathom what this new appearance could mean. The Princesses, the vision, Celestia's mark upon a unicorn that happened to be there the same time she did...Starswirl could not understand it all then. However, as he grew into a stallion, he found himself taking part in councils and studies, found his magic growing with the visions of the stars. As he grew to understand those stars, then did his mark of adulthood come into being upon his haunches. The stars whispered and whispered truth after truth. But always that first warning came back to him, and always did he recall it with foreboding:

Beware of chaos.