Some Things Cannot be Undone

Chapter Four

       The clock struck seven as a grey alicorn slowly paced the gate. "Maybe they're just late. Yeah, that's it!" He told himself. As the clock rang, he stopped and turned back to the entrance of the castle yards. The party guests would soon be expecting him to arrive. He was the one hosting it after all. He sighed to himself as he began to walk slowly towards the looming castle. They wouldn't lie to him. They were his most trusted 'friends', and not to mention they were his family. He would probably see them soon as the party would begin.

        He had already been informed of the crown the guards had taken, and he obliged to start the festivity once he placed it on his head. He hadn't seen it yet, but the guards had came to conclusion that nothing was strange about it. He hoped his cousins would at least be there the moment he put it on. Of course, he wasn't really considering wearing it permanently, he did have his own crown to wear too. He would only wear it during the party and maybe on a few occasions. He liked his own crown too much to replace it.

       He strode through the gardens toward the main court area. Many ponies were already waiting for him, and by many I mean a lot. The whole garden was brimming with them and he had to guide his way through the crowd just to reach to center. In front of the fountain lied a large table, and surrounding it lied many circular ones. He wasn't sure how many could be seated, but he knew not everypony would be able to.

       Right away the royal guards sounded their trumpets while a few others raised the castle banners. "Presenting our beloved king, Lord Draconequus the seventh!" The crowd cheered as he walked his way behind the table and sat in the center chair. As the trumpets finally stopped, the crowd began to quite down.

       Discord noticed that the crown had been placed in front of him along with his plate, goblet and eating utensils. He looked at the crown closely. He could see his reflection in its golden body. He slowly felt everything slip away from him. The crowd seemed to disappear, and the guards fell out of sight and even the table and added accessories were gone. But that didn't matter right now. "What a curious thing" Discord thought. He rotated the crown in mid-air with his magic. "It's almost like its a small, fragile object, yet it radiates power. Perplexing..." Nothing mattered more than the crown, that he was sure of.

         He felt something tap his shoulder and reality once again appeared. He looked over to see one of the guards looking at him with worry. "Are you alright My Lord?" He asked.

     "Yes, it's just... Something had me thinking. But that's not important right now." He turned his head back to the crown and used magic once more to hold the crown. He took his off and placed it on the table while he held the other above his head. He looked around at everypony as he began to speak. "I would like to thank all of you for turning up tonight" he started. He was still scanning the court, searching more for his cousins than really looking at everyone. "It means so much to me that everypony is here to celebrate. Ponies even traveled from distant lands to see me. I can already tell that this year shall be a good one! So without further ado, let's get on with the festivities." He then placed the crown on top of his head.

       Everything went black. Everything had stopped. Discord felt a sharp pain in his head. His mind was being torn apart, almost as if someone were drilling inside of his head. He felt the crown gripping his head, almost like it was fusing with him. He could feel it slowly taking over his will. He faded out of consciousness as a new, evil presence took over. He couldn't feel what was going on around him, but as he transformed, energy was being absorbed by him.

       All around him, the castle walls were being ripped apart. The party's decorations being consumed by the massive shadow that overlay the gardens. Ponies and tables being consumed as well. He could hear the faint screams behind the wall around him. He could feel the energy building up. Soon he felt his body change. He felt his wings disappear along with his single horn and felt his body stretch. His hooves were being molded into more beastly appendages. His tail lost its hair and soon began to grow long and scaly. He soon felt new wings sprout from his back and he felt his head grow two different horns. He was no longer a pony. He was a monster.

Present Day

      Celestia walked silently down the crumbling road. Her sister not far behind. She couldn't tell what time it was. After Discord had transformed, all of the clocks in Equestria had stopped for unknown reasons and wouldn't work even after they had been "fixed". It didn't help either with the fact that the sun and moon never rose either. After chaos had spread, Discord had neglected raising the celestial bodies. It was strange too. Even without the presence of the sun and moon, they could still see, not that it mattered, the dust in the air blocked most of their vision anyways.

       After they had left Canterlot, they traveled as far as they could. They seldom saw any other ponies, and when they did, they weren't in good condition. Most of the ponies that weren't dead or dying had been enslaved by Discord. From what Celestia had heard, they were used to build monuments and and Castles for him. You couldn't imagine what would happen to her and her sister if they were caught. She didn't even know what had became of Discord. Nopony could have survived such magic that had been released. Was he a broken pony now? Was he even a pony anymore? Or was he some hollow carapace of what had once been an alicorn.

      Occasionally, she and her sister would stumble upon an encampment of ponies or even a city. The ponies that lived in these places were never friendly. They were shut out from the world, never letting any pony in. They would form groups of neighbors or families and would threaten anypony who trespassed their "homes." The ponies in the cities were less territorial but would still hide away. Only a few ponies could be seen, hiding in buildings watching Celestia and Luna like prey. There were also groups of ponies who had taken to thievery. They were know as the Zydecos. They would loot any buildings that were abandoned and if desperate, would take to slaughtering ponies and snatching all their possessions.

         Luckily for Celestia and Luna, they never had a direct encounter with any Zydecos. They had been followed for a while by an unknown group who they believed to be Zydecos. After a few days however, the group lost interest in them and disappeared into the fog. Celestia thought this was probably because their shortage of food. That seemed to be the main target for most theives. Ever since the fall of Equestria, crops couldn't be grown. The only food that was available were the plants that grew on the road or the food that was canned and packaged. Celestia and Luna were only a few cans away from being foodless. They had starting only eating once a day after they would wake up and even then would share a can of food and scavenge any plants they could find.

       Celestia snapped out of her thoughts has she heard something approaching. "Luna, stop!" She ordered. Luna froze in her tracks.

       "What is it sister?"

      "I'm not sure" she shook her head. "But it sounds like a carriage coming up the road." She turned her head to Luna. "Look for some place to hide."

     They both began to look around frantically as the sound got louder. It was definatly a carriage now. They could hear the sounds of ponies talking amongst each other.

      "Over here!" Luna whispered.

     Celestia looked for her sister and noticed her standing amongst a large rock pile. "Perfect" Celestia replied. She approached the rocks as Luna ducked behind them. Celestia made her way behind them next to Luna. They were both hidden out of view and the fog provided extra cover.

     They waited for about a minute before the carriage came into sight. It was being pulled by a couple of stallions and inside were a couple more. They were having some sort of argument amonst themselves.

      "We should've at least stopped to look around the place. It was abandoned after all."

     One of the ponies in the carriage leaned outside and yelled "Did you not see the windows? They were boarded up and you know what that means. The place had already been looted. You're so thick sometimes Greg!"

      The pony who they presumed was Greg, began to look towards their hiding spot. "Wait a second. I think I see somethin'!"

       Celestia felt Luna tense up. They didn't know whether these ponies were friendly and it was likely they weren't. They would probably have flee if they were spotted. Celestia felt herself began to ready incase she had to run. The stallion unlatched himself from the vehicle and began to approach the place they were hiding. Just as she was about to run, the stallion stopped about a meter from where they were.

       "Yeah!" He shouted. "I found another can, and it's not even open!" He turned back towards the carriage as he held up the food.

       Celestia noticed it was a can of peaches. She realized in horror, that they must have dropped it while running for cover. She looked at Luna and recognized by the look on her face, that she was thinking the same thing. "Great" Celestia thought. "We're now short another meal."

      The strangers moved on down the road as Celestia gathered herself once more. She turned to Luna and told her with all seriousness "Make sure that when you run, that nothing falls out." With a small nod, they both set out on the road again.

      A few more miles down the road, they stumbled across a broken down building. It must have been the building that the other ponies had mentioned. From the looks of it, it used to be a small diner. It had collapsed into a sinkhole on its right side and oddly enough, the sinkhole was filled with bright pink liquid. It almost appeared as if it were boiling. They approached the building, looking around cautiously in case of intruders. Once they had reached the edge of the pink pond, a strange smell filled their senses. It smelled of apples. It had to be the work of chaos. It had spread all around them. In some places it was overwhelming, there would be upside down houses, burning lakes, and there was even a field of scarecrows outside a small town. Other places were very subtle, only a few places were dotted with the dark magic. This was one of those places.

     "What is this stuff?" Asked Luna.

  Celestia only shook her head. "I don't know. But stay away from it. It doesn't look safe."

      Luna nodded as they turned away. They approached the doors of the diner and found them to be unlocked. As the ponies from earlier had stated, the windows were indeed boarded up. They were however wrong about being inhabited. Not a pony was to be seen inside. Not alive anyways. In front of a counter lied a row of stools. In one of them, a skeleton was crumpled over, head against the cheap marble. In one hoof lay a paper. A note, left for someone to read.

She was right... I should never have left. My son, Hugh will never see me again. I should have listened to them. My wife had cried for me not to leave. "It's too dangerous out there!" She said... Not that I listened. If you're reading this, there is no hope. I was told that the only way to reverse the darkness was to find the artifacts. The Elements of Harmony I think it was. I came here to look for them, to use them. But it was too late. He came to me last night. He told me to give up. I would still be alive if I had listened. I'm sure by the time somepony reads this, that I am dead. He told me so. But! There is still hope! In the legends of The Elements, it says that only the sun and moon can use them. Look past the fog. For the Moon and its Sun.

      "What do you think it means?" Luna asked. "The sun and the moon? The elements? If this pony is right, then we may have the means to stop Discord.

     *Ahem*

    They both stopped as the turned to the noise. Behind them in one of the diner's booths, sat a creature of enigma. He sat with his arms folded behind his head, only his arms weren't right. One was furred while the other resembled that of a chicken. He also had different wings, legs and horns, not to mention his body was almost serpent like in length. "Did somepony say my name?"