Hey guys! It's me again with another shocking chapter to the story you all support so very well. So, lately, I've been talking to a fellow brony of mine who stays up-to-date with this story and he was telling me that the ferocity and seriousness seems a bit too 'rough' for My Little Pony. I want to make this as close to MLP as possible, so I don't want to seem anywhere near grim-dark. So, I really need you guys to tell me how I'm making the tone feel in these chapters; I want to give you the best work I can conjure up.

As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know if you do or don't with a good 'ole review. – FrozenAgent47.


Eris growled lowly and pulled her right arm up and prepared to rush at Pinkie Pie. She knew that she was fast enough to take her down and stop the cannon before it went off, but something prevented her from doing that.

"Hey Eris!" Discord called from his prison, a mischievous smirk planted on his face. He had something planned, and it was obvious to everypony.

Just as he wanted, she turned her head and looked high left and saw her brother sticking his tongue out and making childish faces at her. Her face grew red with annoyance as she let out a roar of anger, "That's it! I'm tired of you all –"

The Goddess of Chaos's voice was drowned out by the cannon's booming shot that deafened everypony nearby. Before she could change her gaze back to her attacker, a heavy, fast-moving ball of confetti slammed into her form and threw her off balance. As the colored paper surrounded her, she spread her wings to steady herself. It didn't take long for her to get back on both her feet, but when she did, visibility was at a minimum. Streaks of blue and red and yellow and pink and all of the colorful colors floated around her as she frantically searched for Pinkie Pie, but to no avail.

Standing dumbstruck in the middle of the cloud of confetti, Eris balled her claw and paw and shut her eyes tight, "SHOW YOURSELF COWARD!"

Pinkie Pie whispered from behind her, "I'm no coward..."

Eris instantly turned around and swung her claw with massive force. "Yah!"

With honed skills (that she was never taught), the pink earth pony ducked under her excessively sharp nails. She bounced back into place after dodging the attack and smiled brightly as she stared Eris in the eyes, her own light blue eyes sparkling with an indestructible happiness, "I'm a pony!"

The draconequus's eyes went wide with fury as her face grew blood red. Steam rushed out of her ears as she opened her mouth to scream. Before she could do so, Pinkie Pie cut her off and began speaking once more. "A pink earth pony to be specific, but I don't think that's what you meant…" From those words on, Pinkie Pie began to get more and more intricate with whom she was.

Outside of the confetti-screen, Discord stood in his cube, leaning against the wall of the dark red magical prison tiredly. Staring at the vast array of floating colors, he whispered to himself, "This is starting to get boring…" Soon, however, his eyes grew wide as the screen of colored paper scattered and revealed the two forms he'd been waiting to see. His heart sunk instantly.

Pinkie Pie was sitting on the ground, her legs stuck to the cracked concrete by magical, spider-like webs. With wide, oblivious eyes, she looked down at the rest of her body and saw that more of the magical web wrapped around her and squeezed her arms against her sides. She shuffled some and after realizing she couldn't move, she could feel tears build up in her eyes.

"Hah, finally! That'll keep you out of my hair for now…" Eris said as she stretched and popped the joints in her hands. "Now I can –"

"Waaaaaaaah!" Pinkie Pie burst into tears as she squirmed in her webbed prison. "This… This… Hurts!" The pink earth pony then went into another round of sobs. A river of tears spilled from her eyes and covered the ground around her.

With no hesitation, Eris aimed her paw at Pinkie's mouth and fired another web with a growl. "Silence, filly!" As she wanted, the pink pony went quiet, but that didn't stop her from crying her sad, muffled cries. The draconequus rolled her eyes and sighed, "At least it's better…" She changed the subject as she looked around the town square and yelled into the air, "Is there anypony else who wants to fight?!"

The wind blew soundlessly as Eris asked her question, satisfying her completely. She grinned evilly and looked to her younger brother, "Looks like you're the last one…" Eris bared her teeth as she prepared to attack Discord, but a voice cut her off.

"I think you need to learn to count again," said Rarity, who had just entered the scene. Eris gritted her teeth in annoyance as she turned to looked to where the white unicorn's voice was coming from; honestly, she was tired of being interrupted. Rarity finished her sentence as the Goddess of Chaos laid eyes on her, "Because there's more of us than that!"

Before Eris could figure out what the white unicorn's plan was, she could see a blur of orange coming from her right. With a smirk, she leaned back and let Applejack fly right past her, "Nice try!" She pointed her claw at the orange earth pony's landing point and snapped her fingers, causing a ditch to suddenly appear. With wide eyes, Applejack dropped right into the shallow hole in the ground. A painful-sounding thud echoed into the air as she landed on the ground of the ditch.

Up above, Discord angrily pointed at his sister and barked, "Hey! She copied my snapping move! Copy-cat!"

Eris rolled her eyes at her brother and turned to Rarity, who had just finished throwing something at her with her magic. The Goddess of Chaos blinked as the small rock tapped against her chest and dropped onto the ground almost soundlessly. She squinted and looked up to the white unicorn with a facial expression that matched her only word. "Really?"

Rarity's face grew red as she giggled sheepishly, "You see, I couldn't find anything to throw and – I should run now…" With no hesitation, she burst into a gallop and tried to run away from Eris, but she caught her with a magic spell that she thought was rather 'cool'. The Goddess of Chaos stopped the white unicorn by using her magic to freeze Rarity inside a block of ice.

The fashion designer's eyes were wide with fear as she stood in the ice cube stiffly. Still able to move her eyes, though, she looked directly to Eris, who was speaking of her cunning magic skills. "Hm, I enjoy this spell I put on you…" The Goddess of Chaos stepped toward the cube and ran her talons along it slowly, "It gives the situation a cold touch, don't you think?"

Discord yelled after his sister from the background of the battle, "That was the worst punch line I've ever heard!"

"Shut up, Discord!" Eris screeched as she turned and looked to her brother, utterly annoyed by his childishness. Why was he even acting that way? His friends were fighting – and losing – and he was cracking jokes?

He raised his arms in defense and shrugged, grinning playfully as he replied to her, "Whaaat?" Little did his sister know, he had her exactly where he wanted her; angry. By doing what he did best (annoying people out of their minds), he would soon get his sister on a level of anger that would make her overall battle performance fail, and from then on, the battle was going to be a win for Equestria. From what he saw so far, he was doing a fairly good job.

Eris gritted her teeth as she stared with pure fury at her brother; why was he so light-hearted about the situation at hand? Why was he not taking her seriously?! Why –

The Goddess of Chaos's thoughts were thrown off by a semi-loud 'bang' and a sudden flash of light that spread across the town square. She growled and turned to her left, where the source of her new interruption was, "Oh, what now?!"

As the light dimmed, three ponies could be seen stepping toward the draconequus, but one of them had hurried to confront her, despite the fact that he was already injured from his previous encounters with Sir Blackheart. Shining Armor gritted his teeth and stared Eris in her eyes, getting in his battle stance as he spoke lowly, "So you're Eris, huh?"

"The one and only," she replied arrogantly as she cleaned one of her nails. She flipped her hair from in front of her eyes and smirked. "And you're Shining Armor, I suppose."

"Pleased to meet 'ya." Shining Armor said, aiming his horn at her with eyes full of vigor. A magical pink aura surrounded his entire body as he prepared to attack.

From behind him, Twilight ran after him and yelled to him in attempts release him from his angered state of mind. "Shining Armor! Don't fight her head on! You won't –"

Nightfall grabbed her as gently as he could and held her back, receiving a confused, tearful look from the lavender alicorn. He sighed and shook his head, "Let him go. I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

Twilight narrowed her eyes and reluctantly agreed. "Fine… But where's everypony…" Her sentence trailed off as she looked away from the colt and to the rest of the town square, where she found Pinkie stuck to the ground by magical webs, Rarity trapped in a giant ice cube, Rainbow Dash knocked out cold, and a ditch in the ground where Applejack's voice cried for help. "Else?" She looked to the ground and shook her head; this wasn't supposed to happen! They were supposed to come and defeat Eris altogether, but instead, Luna had to stay back and encourage Fluttershy to come along, not to mention that her friends that arrived were defeated easily.

A feeling of hopelessness began conjuring in Twilight's heart as her brother went to battle with Equestria's greatest threat – and most likely soon-to-be ruler. Tears built up in her eyes as she sniffled and shook her head a little faster. "This can't be happening!" Before the first drop of sadness escaped her eyes, she felt a hoof take a gentle hold of her chin.

Slowly looking up, she saw a pair of dark blue eyes staring into hers lovingly. Nightfall's calming voice came right afterward, drowning out everything else that was happening around them. As he spoke, he used his hoof to wipe the tears from her eyes, "Twilight… Things may not be seeming very bright right now, but think of what you've accomplished before this. From what you've told me, your adventures make you one of the strongest ponies alive. If you can take down evil unicorns and an army of Changelings, I'm sure you can overcome this challenge as well…" His eyes sparkled as he said these words.

Rarity, who was still frozen in her ice block, had seen the two talking, and she couldn't help but let out a long, "Aaaawwww!" Even though nopony could hear her, it added more romance to the situation at hand.

Twilight started to blush as she stared deeply in the colt's eyes, a warm feeling filling her heart until a loud groan of pain caught her attention.

Shining Armor tumbled onto the ground as his body finally gave out from the beatings it took from both Blackheart and Eris. Standing above the unconscious, white unicorn, Eris chuckled victoriously and used her magic to pick him up and set him aside next to Rainbow Dash. "Now that that's over with…" She looked to Twilight then with an evil grin stretched across her face. "How about we finish this once and for all, Princess?"

With her quick-thinking skills, Twilight pushed Nightfall aside and spoke to him lowly, "Go to the others and use your magic to free them; I'll try to buy you some time to help them escape."

Nightfall fidgeted and answered with an unsure tone, "B-But my magic skills –"

Instantly, the purple alicorn cut off his sentence with a passionate kiss. As Twilight closed her eyes, the colt's eyes grew wide, as well as everypony who was awake around them. The town square went silent instantly as the two shared their moment.

Wondering what was happening above, Applejack yelled from her ditch, "Aye, what's goin' on up there?" Even Eris, who was the Goddess of all Chaos and had the power to bend reality (but lacked temper to control that power), stared in awe at the scene; love was something she didn't see often.

She refused to give into the heartwarming moment as she shook her head and attempted to interrupt the two, but to no avail. "Okay, enough lovie-dovie stuff, we've got a battle to finish!"

Ignoring the draconequus, Twilight pulled her lips away from his and smiled gently, a light shade of pink trailing across her cheeks. She whispered softly to him, "You can do it… I believe in you…"

Blushing as well, Nightfall nodded and turned around slowly before he took off to help Rarity, who was beginning to get uncomfortable in her ice cube. "Thank you."

Twilight nodded to him before looking back to Eris, shaking the blush from her cheeks and putting on her 'game face'. "Alright… Let's do this!"

"Oh, I've been waiting to fight you for a while, young princess," Eris said as she took a small step toward the purple alicorn, flipping her hair from in front of her eyes.

Then, another voice echoed through the town square. "Unfortunately, you won't be battling her now, Eris."

Instantly, Discord leaned against the magical wall of his prison cube with wide eyes and gasped as he watched the princess drop down onto the ground in front of Twilight. "Tia!"

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed happily, her hopes skyrocketing then and there; with the most powerful alicorn at their side, they were sure to win.

With a soft smile, the white alicorn looked back to her star pupil and spoke, "It's nice to see you again, Twilight, but I want you to help Nightfall free your friends…" She narrowed her eyebrows and got serious again as she looked back ahead of her, "I'll deal with her."

Eris bit her lip in anticipation of the fight she was about to fight. She thought to herself then, "Oh, this is going to be fun. Not only do I get to defeat a young princess, but an elder one as well?! Hah! Everyone's going to know my name by the time I'm done with this place!" The draconequus stood in her defensive stance and gestured to Celestia to attack her with her paw, a large smirk crossing her face.

Twilight nodded to her mentor and rushed to assist Nightfall with his task.

"So I finally get to meet the famed Princess Celestia!" Eris squealed in sarcastic joy, her wings spreading into the air. "I'm so excited!"

"I'm sure you haven't come all this way just to talk," Celestia said instantly, preparing her horn for her magical attacks. "So how about we just get straight to the point?"

The Goddess of Chaos smirked and spread her arms apart, a dark magic aura filling in the palms of her claw and paw as she prepared to fight the ruler of Equestria. "Ooh, you're feisty." With a soft giggle, she stomped on the ground, causing a large magical force field to surround both her and Celestia. "Let's dance."

Celestia smirked as well as she spread her wings, her horn glowing with its light gold aura. "Let's." The large, white unicorn then threw herself toward the draconequus and into the midst of battle.

Discord stared with eyes full of insecurity, biting his nails ferociously as Eris threw her magic at Celestia. His heart pounded like a drum as he watched the two fight, the magic they used flashing light across the town square repeatedly. Only seconds into the battle and it seemed like both of them were beginning to wear out; it was all happening so fast! One moment he saw the princess in the air firing a golden magic blast at Eris, and the next he could see his sister tackling Celestia onto the ground.

Seeing the princess's struggle, Discord felt his heart skip a beat. He pounded on the wall of his prison, ignoring the fact that the size of the magical cube shrunk rapidly, "Tia! You've got to beat her! You can beat her!"

With the Goddess of Chaos right above her, Celestia heard Discord's words of inspiration and inhaled deeply. She closed her magenta eyes and folded her wings into her back. Trying to find her inner power, she spoke inwardly, "He's right… I can do this. Think of when you were fighting Nightmare Moon… Stay calm and -"

Eris placed a kicked down on Celestia's chest and grinned, "Really? That was much easier than I expected. Maybe you should've stayed where you were." She took her foot from the princess and folded her arms above the injured princess. "Well, I guess I could just help you out here…"

The princess opened her eyes slightly and looked up to the female draconequus with a face of disgust. Saying nothing, she inwardly regretted taking on Eris with so much haste – so much foolishness. Celestia looked away from the Goddess of Chaos and to the border of the magical barrier that blocked the two from the rest of Equestria. Her heart sank as she saw a crying Twilight beating uselessly on the dark red force field. The young princess repeatedly called for her mentor, using all the magical attacks she knew in attempts to break the shield, but to no avail. "Celestia!"

Emotionlessly, Eris rolled her eyes and sighed, "Yes, yes, boohoo, but let's get this over with now… I've a country to destroy."

"No, you don't," Discord said simply as he snapped his fingers, his prison instantly disappearing. With those words, all eyes fell on him. He gently flapped his wings until he landed on the ground, right in front of the force field.

His sister giggled slightly and teased him, "It's nice to know you're able to escape small prisons, brother, but you'll never be able to get through this barrier." Her giggling was instantly stopped when the magical field fell to one touch of Discord's talons. She looked at her brother with wide eyes asked with awe in her voice, "How?!"

Discord shook his head and replied to her with an angered-filled tone, "Never mind that; just know you're going to get the beat down of your life." He looked back to Twilight, who had rushed to Celestia's side once the force field fell. "Twilight, get Tia to safety. I think it's time I got back in the game…" The lavender alicorn said nothing as she carefully picked up Celestia with her magic and carried her away from the battle.

"Taking your beloved princess isn't going to save you, you know that right?" Eris said as she prepared herself to win another battle.

Staying absolutely silent, her younger brother launched himself toward her with fury burning in his eyes. A dark, magical fire covered his paw as he swung it at his sister, who instantly dropped onto the ground and dodged his attack. Hopping back onto her feet, she grabbed Discord's arm and yelled at him, "What do you think you're doing?! Don't you have the decency to tell me when you're going to attack?!"

"I'm a spirit of chaos, none of that matters, now does it?" Discord replied lowly as he smirked rather evilly. Eris blinked and tilted her head; had her brother finally given in to the true ways of chaos? That mattered none, though, if he wanted to act like that; two could play at that game.

"That's the spirit!" She said quickly before she placed her paw on his chest and growled loudly. He grabbed her arm with his claw and squeezed it as tightly as he could, but, actually… He started to feel weaker. "Speaking of spirits," Eris continued, "I think someone's getting theirs drained right now."

Before he could resist her grasp in any way, Discord's color suddenly faded out, and he grew colorless. He groaned silently here and there, but other than that, he just stared his sister in her eyes as she took his power away from him. Soon enough, there was nothing left to take, and Discord's hold on his sister's arms grew weak. "Y-You…"

"What? That wasn't fair? I'm a cheater?" Eris scoffed as she let go of her brother, allowing him to drop limply on the ground. "Get with the program, bro."

As he dropped onto the ground, he looked up to the sky and thought deeply about what was just happening. He had the power to bend reality, and he hadn't done everything in his chaotic power to destroy his sister?! Right, the reforming thing, he forgot… Still, couldn't he have done something with his limitless pool of power to defeat Eris? Well, it was too late now. And it was all his fault. Staring into the red clouds above, Discord thought to himself, "I'm sorry guys… I didn't mean to fail you."

"You didn't," Celestia's voice said within his mind.

"Wait… What? Tia? How'd you get -"

"No time to explain, Discord. I just want you to know that no matter what happens; you'll still be someone I care about. To me, you're no spirit of chaos; you never were. You're more than that. You're more than a friend to me. If Eris wins this battle and gets whatever she wants, there's only one thing that matters. I've been waiting for millennia to tell you this, and I'm sure this isn't the best of times, but it matters none. I love you, Discord, and that will never change."

With a force no other than love, Discord's body began to rise from its former position. A bright light surrounded his entire body and blinded Eris, who was marveling at the power she had taken from her brother. Putting her paw over her eyes, she yelled over the strong winds that her brother had stirred up with the power he was suddenly letting off, "What?! How are you doing this?! I took your power!"

Discord had stood upright as he gently landed on the ground, a small grin on his face as he looked to his sister. Honestly, it looked like he was happier than he ever was, despite the fact that Equestria's fate was at hand. He shook his head and spoke to his sister, "No. You took my evil… My power now relies on something stronger. Something…" He paused and looked back to looked Celestia and smiled a little brighter before he looked back to his sister. "More special."

"What is it, huh?! The power of love?!" Eris angrily yelled at him, all of this friendship and happiness was starting to get on her nerves. As she barked furiously at her brother, dark purple flames emitted from her mouth and licked at him.

He simply nodded and folded his arms, "Yep. Say, do you still want to fight or are we too intimidating to challenge now?"

Eris let out one quick chuckle and got into her battle position, "You're nowhere near intimdating!"

"Well, let's cut the chatter and get this over with, shall we?" Discord smirked as he slipped on a pair of shades for the fight. There was something different about him, and everypony around knew it.

Now that Nightfall and Twilight rescued their friends from the former situations they were in, Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor were beginning to come to consciousness and Applejack and the others were finally out of their traps Eris had put them in. Everypony gathered in a group and watched the two siblings go head-to-head in the battle that balanced out life or death for all of them.

Celestia wearily whispered as she leaned against Twilight for support, "You can do it, Discord…"