The Elements of Chaos

by Mossbender

An Unwanted Change

Night had fallen in the land of Equestria. Everypony was sleeping soundly, tired from their daily work in their busy lives. Luna stood on her bedroom's balcony, observing the stars above. As the Princess of the Night, her duty was to watch over everypony's dreams, as well as raise and lower the moon.

Roughly one thousand years ago, her sister, Celestia, had banished her to the moon for trying to take the power of the throne for herself and shroud the land in eternal night because of how jealous she was, but it wasn't Luna that tried to take it. It was her dark side, Nightmare Moon, that tried to take the throne.

It had only been a few years since she returned to Equestria, but when the spell broke, she returned as Nightmare Moon and not herself. She once again struck fear into the hearts of Equestria's citizens. If it weren't for Twilight and her friends, she wouldn't be standing as Luna once again.

Luna stared at the night sky, looking for anything out of the ordinary, any information the sky had to offer. All of sudden, she noticed a bright flash come from behind her.

What in Equestria was that? Luna wondered.

She turned around and her eyes widened in surprise. Above the Everfree Forest, a ball of lightning and flame was descending rapidly towards it, crackling and giving off pulses of white light. As she continued to gaze at this abnormality, the sphere began to spin until it was nothing more than a glowing ball of blue fire.

Fearing for the worst, Luna prepared to take off to encounter this strange threat, but an explosion suddenly emanated from the orb which shattered the silence of the night.

The explosion's effects somehow stunned Luna and she slumped to the ground. Before she closed her eyes, she saw something inside the orb, but she couldn't quite make it out before she fell unconscious. The orb continued to make its descent until it had at last disappeared into the depths of the Everfree Forest. Another pony happened to had witnessed the event, and it was none other than Twilight Sparkle.

It worked... I can't believe the spell worked! I knew there was something different about that orb! And it brought a pony... but where did he come from? I hope I didn't accidentally rip him away from anything... I hope he is the One, Twilight thought.

---

Eldon opened his eyes, only to be immediately greeted by the murky darkness of treetops. The trees appeared to be looming over him. Watching him.

"Ohhh ow, my head…" Eldon groaned. A small grunt of pain followed shortly after. He could feel the damp ground beneath him and his head was pounding. His clothing had already been thoroughly soaked by the mist that was present.

Where... are you... stranger? a voice in his thoughts suddenly asked, causing Eldon to gasp.

"H-hello? Is somebody there?"

Stranger... The voice trailed off and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Eldon shivered.

Something knows that I'm here... but where is here? Eldon thought. As his eyes continued to adjust, he began to get a clearer view of his surroundings. It looked like a swamp or forest of sorts, but something felt… off. He felt like he was constantly being watched by someone or something hidden in the shadows. Hrm, it looks like I'm in some sort of small clearing... but again, where the heck am I? First things first... I should check myself for any injuries.

As he raised his arm to feel his head, he expected his fingers to run through his hair, but he felt nothing more than a blunt smoothness. Red flags were raised immediately.

"Wh-what! Where are my hands? Where are my fingers? Why does it feel like I'm touching my head with a…" Eldon lowered his arm and he couldn't believe what he saw. "A hoof!?" He immediately tried to jump up, but ended up just rolling around on the ground. "My l-legs! They aren't human! What's going on!? Where am I? WHAT am I!?" He tried to stand but just ended up in a tangled heap on the ground again. Okay, okay, deep breaths, in, out, in, out…

Finally, after much difficulty, he stood on all four legs. It felt extremely awkward. Eldon tried to walk, but he constantly kept tripping himself with every step he tried to take. It wasn't long before he gave up on trying to walk and decided to just drag himself instead. Eldon fortunately came across a pool of water and suddenly realized that he was quite thirsty. He tried using his hoof to scoop water, but to no avail.

Guess I'm going to have to do this the hard way... he thought and he shoved his head into the water. Many gulps later, he let the water become calm again and was finally able to get get a good look at himself. He was definitely not human anymore, not even a hybrid. He was a stallion, and a rather… familiar type of stallion to be exact, but Eldon couldn't place it. I've seen this type of equine before, but where? I guess I must have hit my head rather hard.

There were some features though he recognized immediately, such as his eye colour and hair-now-coat colour. Ocean blue and chestnut-brown, exactly as he remembered it. His mane was cobalt blue with streaks of white, and it looked oddly like fire that was blowing in the wind. A horn also poked outside of his mane. If anything could see him, they would only see him as any other regular Unicorn.

Wait... what? I have a horn? he thought. He decided to take a closer look. If I'm not wrong... then that means I'm a... a Unicorn right? Oh dear god this is just horrible! Argh! I also know that I've seen something like this before, but where? A small pain began to develop in his head again, all of this thinking was causing a headache. There were some new marks that he saw as well. What definitely looked like a lightning bolt streaked across his right eye, and he noticed something familiar on his neck as well.

"The orb!" Eldon stared at it intently, watching it shimmer ever so slightly from time to time. It caused this mess… yet I feel that it is important somehow. Can I remove it? He tried to knock it off, but the orb wasn't going anywhere, in fact, the orb was now a centerpiece of a beautifully carved necklace. I'll leave it for now then, I shall discover its purpose no matter what! He crossed where he believed his heart was with his hoof and looked at the orb again. Stupid thing...

After some time had passed, he rose from the ground and tried to walk, only to trip on his oversized clothing and crash to the ground. Ah damn it! I can't move in these at all! But... these are my favourite clothes...

After some debate with himself and many tears, Eldon ultimately decided that he would have to leave his clothing behind, since in his current state they would only serve to hinder him. He easily stepped out of them, and being curious as he was, decided to look at the rest of his new form. He noticed something on his haunch, and on it was a symbol, but he couldn't quite make it out because of how dark it was.

"I've got to find a way out of here, and fast." He noticed an overgrown path leading away from the clearing, and headed towards it. Well, it's better than nothing I guess. How old is this place? Where am I? Eldon asked this question in his mind again and again as he walked down the path, tripping and stumbling as he tried to get used to how a four-legged creature walked. It was far from being pleasant.

---

A couple of hours, or what felt like hours passed and Eldon was still on the path. He had finally gotten the hang of walking which for some reason started to feel kind of natural, but everything still felt alien to him at the same time. He was still Eldon, but then again wasn't Eldon.

Damn it all! This is getting me nowhere! Why do I feel like I've been wandering in circles? This forest, this place, wherever here is, it's driving me crazy! Eldon thought and he snorted in frustration. Did I just snort? Haha, that's great... what else can possibly happen now?He heard a faint rustling sound from somewhere in the depths of the trees and his ears pricked up. A bonus he had to being a stallion was that his senses had been heightened greatly, far exceeding human quality.

"Who goes there?" Eldone asked as he swung his head towards the direction of the sound. "I warn you, I'm a force to be reckoned with! I think!" He tried to sound intimidating towards whatever was there, but it was clear that Eldon was not the intimidating type. Eldon had never gotten into a physical fight before in his whole life. Sure he would be able to throw some punches and kicks here and there in self-defense, but he was far from being able to properly fight, especially since he was now... like this.

Fortunately there wasn't a response, so he continued onwards, more cautiously and even more determined to get out of this creepy place. He was quickly becoming exhausted, due to lack of food and not wanting to stop to take a break.

I must continue… I must... Suddenly, he heard the mysterious voice again. It wasn't the orb this time... but rather the voice he had heard when he first woke up in this dreadful place.

Stranger, you must listen to me, I've been trying to communicate with you but have been failing to do so. There is probably too much interference between you and I. Where are you right now? the voice asked. Realizing that this was probably his only hope for salvation, Eldon quickly replied with his own thoughts.

I'm in some kind of forest I think. I've been wandering for hours… I think I'm lost, but I'll keep on moving, I need to get out of this place! There was a small pause, and then the voice spoke again.

Wait! Stay right where you are. I believe you are in the Everfree Forest. It's a very dangerous place and shouldn't be travelled in on your own. I'll help you as best as I can, the voice replied.

Oh sweet relief! Thank you whoever you are! Eldon thought in response. He closed his eyes and sighed, glad that he would be able to leave this horrible place soon. Suddenly there was a sharp pain on the back of his head, Eldon saw stars, and everything went dark.

"Ah ha ha! Yesss! The shiny gem is ours!" a rough voice said as he looked at the prone form of the pony on the ground. "Come on boys! It won't be long until this Unicorn wakes up, so let's steal his gem and get out of here!"

"But what if we can't steal it from him?" A voice in the distance asked. "You know how trrricky it can be to remove necklaces!" The first voice smacked his face and sighed.

"Then we'll let the pony wake up and we'll give him one chance to give it to us! If not, we'll kill— I mean, actually... Yeah, we'll just kill him instead, but only as a last resort! We are thieves, not murrrderers after all!"

Comments

[Hyari]

I'm not entirely sure... but judging by the cover art... I had the same idea, but wanted to have a bit more canon to work with... and thus would start during S5...

Reading yours though...

[Gigatonic]

Seems interesting so far. Go on.

[Hyari]

Update, after reading, I detect that the plot is probably similar, but without the 'pony-fied' human in Equestria.

[light snow]

Twilight, stop. Just stop.
Is he actually only a unicorn or has he not seen his wings if he has any?