Celestia spent the night alone in her room, (except of Luna, of course, who was sitting on the windowsill with a paintbrush and a canvas smeared with shades of blue; Luna, however, was hardly company) pondering Charles's actions. Had he truly meant what he'd said? She knew no force which would cause his prevarication, but then again was there ever a just cause for dishonesty? She wondered if this was something magic could resolve; perhaps a spell could numb the emotions of a man who'd become distraught in his obsession.
In his own room, Charles knew better. He lay on his bed, watching his hot breath condense in the air and dissipate; gone, just like his dreams. He knew magic couldn't alter the fickle affections of the heart. Magic had ability only on the physical realm; that was where he made his mark in the world, and was very probably why he had such little control over his anger.
He knew he couldn't change her heart. She didn't love him…but she had the entire world against her. She had to run an entire kingdom. She already had so much on her plate—affairs of the heart couldn't be essential to her right now. The king had left her with a great debt to Gildiffon; even under the circumstances of his death, the duchy wouldn't rest without their debts repaid. She couldn't waste her time with a union to the duke of one of the poorest duchies in the kingdom…The world simply wanted them apart.
But what if he changed the world?
Celestia was torn from her thoughts by a knock at her door. Luna barely batted an eyelash; Celestia rose to her feet, crossing the room to allow in Charles.
She gasped when she saw him. He was disheveled and trembling from head to toe; his clothes were tattered and his eyes wild.
"Chaos," was all he said.
Luna looked up as he spoke; she dropped her paintbrush onto the floor and approached the door.
"Luna! That'll stain," Celestia scolded; she was terrified, but couldn't still her heart without preserving order.
"It doesn't matter," Luna said, her voice distant. "The stars have fallen."
Celestia was about to brush her off, but furrowed her brow in confusion. "What?" she asked.
"I'm doing some—ah—redecorating," Charles said, his voice strained. Celestia bolted to the window. "Chaos—that simply doesn't sound quite right. Madness, insanity…"
A scream pierced the air as Celestia saw the world outside of the castle; Charles began to hum a rueful melody.
The night was cloudless and starless. The unbroken blackness was becoming vaster and darker as the ground hundreds of miles away began to crumble and fall; mountains collapsed, trees splintered, and rivers ran dry before her eyes.
"What are you doing?" She spun around to see Charles approaching her, with each step looking darker and crazier. The shadows playing across his face seemed to jump and jut out at odd, inhuman angles. He stopped first at her desk, snatching up a stick from the surface and holding it out to her face. She stared with wide eyes as he took it in both hands and snapped it in half; it shattered like glass, and he threw the shards at her feet. She jumped backwards, catching herself on the windowsill.
"Don't fall, Celestia," Charles chided. "You don't want to miss this show. Chaos…chaos…Discord?" His lips curled back into a crooked grin. "Discord…yes, that sounds right." There was a roar of thunder and the man threw his head back, laughing. "Celestia, this is where it all begins! The ashes of this world will create our paradise, and it will be glorious! Never again will the ruffians of Gildiffon threaten you, nor will you ever be less than the most affluent princess in the universe."
The entire castle was quaking. Cracks in the floor swelled and spat stone into the air; pieces of stone began to crash down from the ceiling. Celestia grabbed Luna about the waist before throwing her hands over both of them; Luna pushed her away, rolling her eyes.
"He's not about to let you die," she said plainly.
"Charles, please—"
"DISCORD!" Celestia's eyes grew wide with terror. Charles—no; Discord, whoever he was—cracked his neck from side to side. His body seemed to convulse, bones moving and jutting out at odd angles to his body. It was as if he was growing too large for his skin; then his body became more massive, all at once. He became a flash of fur, feathers, and scales that she could only briefly glance at before he lunged through the window, vanishing in an eruption of shattered glass.
Luna took Celestia's hand in hers; together they quitted their room, bounding down the winding spiral staircase and leaping out the open window at the base of the tower. There the air was filled with smoke; Celestia watched in horror as the tree she and Charles had spent so many hours under erupted in flames. Its branches writhed and withered, smoke gushing from the trunk as blood from a wound. She saw soaring above it the monster Charles had become.
His eyes were bulging and yellow, and perhaps the only thing symmetrical of his form. Two horns rested on his equine head, one antler and one spiral. His body was covered in knotted brown fur, but for a scaled arm, leg, and tail. He had two sets of claws—one avian, the other of a lion. From his back two wings had sprung, one as a bat's and the other as a bird's. He had one long tooth, which a forked tongue lapped at every now and again.
"Discord!" he shrieked in an inhuman voice. "This is where it all begins!"
"His magic's out of control," Luna said softly.
"This can't be him," Celestia said, her voice low. "He isn't like this."
"No one is," Luna replied. "Not until you take away their life."
The ground lurched to the side; Celestia's eyes turned skyward and she saw two massive spheres falling from the sky. One was gray and speckled; the other was a fiery yellow-gold.
"Oh my God," Celestia whispered.