Chapter 17- Strength in Love

This is going to be a much shorter chapter than my other ones because if I broke this up into 3 stories this would end the second one.

So I apologize for the shorter chapter, but hopefully it's still a good way to end the second "act", so to say, and begin the third and final one, which will be mostly action until the end when I hope character development will pay off.

Anyway, I only own my OCs, and thanks for reading and reviewing.

And Ryan's depression in this Chapter was inspired by the reviews I got saying how they were shocked he wouldn't do more. I hope it addresses that issue, but don't worry he'll let out some rage in future chapters. Most likely not kill, but he will have more of a reckless abandon.

On with the story.

City- Night

Brett stood in the middle of the road as he watched the city burning. He was in the shadow of the dominant City Hall where his boss had finished his transformation, and now was enjoying his time basking in the chaos that was happening all around him. A smile slowly began to grow across his face as he watched the destruction. The Latin chants continued from every corner of the city, every floor of every building that was around Wilmont City hall chanted out the entire chant before they simply kept repeating.

"Discordia et rex"

The anarchists held their guns up high as they chanted. Many of them also were looking up at the top of Wilmont City Hall where Discord was. It was as if they were praising him like some sort of God. In fact, it could be said that Discord was somewhat of a God to them; after all he had been their main source of inspiration and morality…or lack-there-of in this case.

Brett let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes before his black aura surrounded him, changing him back into his unicorn form, into Obscure Darkness. Once the aura disappeared, only an animated unicorn pony stood in the street where Brett had been only moments before, his steel grey eyes scanned his environment as his black form stood right in front of Wilmont City Hall. He turned and looked up at the building with a big smile as Discord hovered above the roof, arms outstretched and his eyes closed as if he was having the time of his life. Which, in fact, wasn't far from the truth as he loved nothing more than to see someplace in compete disarray.

Out of the corner of his eye, Obscure thought he saw something move. He turned his head and saw what looked like a little, black colt that looked as old as the CMCs, with a silver mane looking at him with fear. Obscure's jaw dropped at the sight. He closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief before opening them again only to see that the colt was gone. The happiness and excitement in his face was now replaced by confusion and disbelief from what he saw.

"I think I need some rest." Obscure thought as he let the colt slip his mind, which was made possible by an explosion nearby that snapped him out of his confusion. He turned his attention back to the city hall and his sadistic smile returned as he saw Discord floating above the building. He closed his eyes and teleported up to the top of city hall to join Discord.

"Sir!" he shouted.

Discord looked down at him and smiled, "Ah Obscure, such a joy to see you. Do you like what I've done to the city?" Discord said before he gestured to everything that was happening around him. All around, the city burned as anarchists lit up buildings with their gasoline and Molotov cocktails. Gunshots rang out as people who tried to resist or fight back were shot. In fact, the entire city was lit up in a glow of orange.

"Just like you said," Obscure said with a grin, "From envy, arises chaos."

Discord laughed, "Indeed, Obscure."' He then landed beside Obscure and continued; "Now I know the military is coming in to try to stop us, but they cannot stop us. In fact, soon I shall bring this level of chaos to every point of this world."

"How long?" Obscure asked and Discord just gave him a grin.

"Very soon." He sneered before turning his attention back to the city. "These humans think their world was chaos before I got here, wait until I get through with it. They'll miss the pain and disarray their world used to have."

Obscure smiled until, once again, he saw the same small colt standing near him, looking at him with a sad expression. Obscure shook his head and ignored the sight, passing it off as just a figment of his imagination, but that didn't stop the colt from remaining in his line of vision, shaking his head in disappointment.

Street- Night

After picking Ryan and Rainbow Dash up from the hospital, Alex drove everyone off to the park so they could regroup and discuss what plan they had, if any, to find the others and take down Discord. They had decided to take the back roads for obvious reasons, which all involved the city not being safe at all. That didn't stop the six from seeing the illuminated downtown area in the distance as they drove parallel to the city. They all watched in shock as the fire continued to engulf the city, which was clears to them even for the distance they were from it.

After a little while, most of the group had fallen asleep except for Ryan and Alex, who was driving and, therefore, couldn't fall asleep for obvious reasons.

Ryan was very quiet, having a somewhat dark expression while Rainbow Dash just leaned against him, sleeping peacefully and even snoring a little bit. Pete was asleep in the backseat as was Pinkie Pie, both of them leaning against each other as they slept.

Alex just kept his eyes on the road. He looked to his right to see Applejack asleep as well. While Rainbow Dash did help some of his guilt, he still felt bad about everything.

He looked in his rearview mirror to address Ryan, "So, Ryan," Alex began, unsure about how to ask any question without upsetting him about his parents, "you said Lawrence was in the hospital because you…"

"Broke his back, yes." Ryan muttered, "I…I didn't think I could ever do something like that to anyone, but when he stood above Dashie with that knife, I…I snapped."

"Did you do anything to him in the hospital?" Alex asked, "I mean, if it were me, I'd want to kill the fucker. Especially if Applejack was being threatened, who-boy I would rip the bastard's throat out."

Ryan shook his head sadly, as if he was disappointed in his, what he thought was, "weakness", "No, I'm going to channel my rage onto all of the members of Milites Chaos and Discord's army that I lay my eyes on." Ryan sighed with sadness, " But I feel like I should have done more to him. It's funny, before I was upset that I wasn't there for my parents and Dashie made me feel better about that. But now I'm upset that I didn't do more to the punk who had them killed."

"You did the right thing," Alex muttered, "Like I said, I wouldn't have been able to hold back my rage, but you did, and that really is commendable."

"I don't know," Ryan said sadly, "I still feel like I was weak, and Lawrence deserved more pain for what he did."

Alex looked in the rearview mirror to see Ryan's eyes. Even though he was looking down, he could see that there was something different about them. The innocent, bright look that they had only a few days before was now gone. It looked as though Ryan's happiness had disappeared as it had with many Vietnam veterans back in the seventies. In other words, Ryan had an emotionless face that screamed out "corrupted". The difference, however, was that his eyes showed that he wasn't completely a hollow shell, as they looked miserable.

"My parents deserved more…Dashie deserves more." Ryan muttered, "and I let them down because of my cowardice. I don't think I could kill anyone, but to just leave him as he was when I could have done so much more to him pains me."

Alex didn't respond; he just turned his attention back to the road. Neither of them knew that Rainbow Dash had woken up and was listening to the conversation as she pretended to sleep. She opened one eye a little bit to look at Ryan, who was staring out of the window still with an expression that she never saw on his face, pure hatred. She suddenly felt upset and nuzzled her head against Ryan to try to make him feel better, and in turn she felt him begin to stroke her mane.

In the front, Applejack was also awake and heard the conversation. She didn't open her eyes or anything but she also became concerned for Ryan. After all, he had never appeared as angry or miserable as he was then, and his words only added more reason for concern.

Eventually they made it up to the park. Fortunately for them, the lights were still on even though no one was there. Once they parked, they all made their way over to ta large hill by the soccer field that overlooked the city. Once at the top, they all got to witness the sight of the downtown area engulfed in flames, orange light illuminating the sky. They were about two to three miles away from the city so while it was somewhat distant, they were all aware as to what was going on.

Ryan eventually walked away from the group and sat on another part of the top of the hill, staring out over the city. Applejack and Rainbow Dash saw this. Applejack walked over to Rainbow Dash and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ah think ya need ta talk with him." She whispered.

"I know, but he's…I feel so bad. It always seems like he's getting in a better mood when I talk to him, and then he just relapses." Rainbow Dash said sadly, "I don't think I can do anything to make him feel completely better."

Applejack sighed, "Ah'm not sure either. But ah do know he still needs ya, and ah'm not sure if ya heard him in the car but he feels like he let ya down."

"I know, I did hear him," Rainbow Dash muttered sadly, "and I want him to know that he's wrong, that he didn't let me down. He did his parents and me proud, but…it's like he can't accept it, or he doesn't want to."

Applejack put her hoof onto Rainbow Dash's shoulder. "Go talk ta him sugarcube." The cyan mare nodded sadly before she trotted over to Ryan to talk to him.

As this was going on, Alex, Pete and Pinkie Pie were watching from their own position on the hill. Applejack made her way back to the group.

"Well AJ, what were you talking to Rainbow Dash about?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Nothin' just some issues with Ryan." Applejack answered.

"Oh." Alex said.

"Why is he being so hard on himself?" Pete asked.

"His parents died, Pete, and it's human nature to blame yourself even when things aren't your fault." Alex replied sadly. "It shouldn't be, but that's the way it is."

"Do you think I could do anything to cheer him up?" Pinkie asked in a much less cheery way than she normally would have. Her mane wasn't flattened, but she was nowhere near being her cheery self at the time being.

"Ah don't think so Pinkie," Applejack replied as she looked back to see Ryan and Rainbow Dash sitting next to each other, talking some more about his emotions "right now ah think that only RD can help him get though this."

Meanwhile, as the other four were talking about Ryan, Rainbow Dash kept trying her hoof at making Ryan feel better. "Ryan listen to me, you did the right thing back there and I'm glad you didn't kill Lawrence."

"But he almost killed you,' Ryan said sadly, "and…first I was upset that I wasn't there for you or my parents, but now I feel as if I should have done more and just when I think my anger at myself is going away, it comes back for another reason."

"Why are you so hard on yourself?" Rainbow Dash asked sternly. Not in any way angry, but in a way that showed how desperate she was to get to the bottom of Ryan's continuous hating himself for everything that had happened, "You keep blaming yourself for things that you couldn't control."

Ryan sighed and looked up at Rainbow Dash, "Because I…I always blame myself for things like this. Even when I know that I did everything I could I worry that I could have done more. It's no mystery that I lack confidence…you know this, and you've tried to get me over that."

Rainbow Dash leaned in and quickly gave Ryan's cheek a quick peck. Ryan turned to look at her before they kissed each other again, but this time on the lips. While not a cure-all, Ryan couldn't help but feel more comfortable as Rainbow Dash kissed him. After they broke off and hugged each other tightly.

"Ryan I know I've said it before, but until you stop blaming yourself I'm going to keep saying it. I'm proud of you," Rainbow Dash whispered with encouragement as she looked directly into Ryan's eyes, "and I know if your parents were still alive, they would be as well."

Ryan looked at Rainbow Dash, "You deserve someone better than me."

She just shook her head, "No Ryan, I don't. There isn't anypony else I want to be with in place of you."

They then kissed each other again, Ryan wanting to just blurt out "thank you" to Rainbow Dash as many times as he could for everything she's done to make him feel better after his parents died, which involved a lot of comforting and conversations, and Ryan knew that he couldn't keep being the victim. If he was going to help defeat Discord and get the girls home safely, he needed to be strong and do everything in his power to stop the growing evil. And he also had to be there for Rainbow Dash if she needed him, just as she had been thee for him whenever he was upset.

As he watched from afar, Alex shook his head and thought, "I've never seen a couple as close as they are before."

Alex had always seen how most other couples from high school in in-between younger people had an overwhelming focus on the physical, sexual aspects rather than the emotional, personal parts that seemed to be the driving point between Rainbow Dash and Ryan's relationship. Not to mention, he never saw two people as supportive of each other as they were. Ryan was there for Rainbow Dash when she needed him, and she was there for him.

After thinking this, Alex let out a sigh and continued to wait with the others until Ryan finally made his way back over to the group with Rainbow Dash trotting beside him, still unable to fly due to her injury.

Ryan still seemed upset, but he definitely calmed down a bit and seemed to be fretting over his own "weaknesses" and shortcomings less. Rainbow Dash hoped that this time his improved attitude would last longer than it had every other time she had tried to calm him down, but if not, she wouldn't hesitate to continue to talk to Ryan to make him feel better. To show this, she leaned herself against Ryan once they stopped walking.

"Feeling better?" Alex asked

Ryan gave a small nod. "A little bit. Sorry for being so depressed."

"Don't worry about it man, we understand." Alex said with a smile.

"Um, guys I just thought of something," Pete muttered, "how can we rescue the others when we don't know where they are?"

"That's a good point." Alex said as he thought for a minute before he let out a sigh, "fuck we're up the creek without a paddle."

"Well think," Applejack added with urgency, "who would take 'em and where would they be taken?"

"I think I know."

Everyone turned around to see Princess Celestia standing before him or her with a worried look on her face. Everyone and everypony gawked at the sight, completely shocked by the Princess' surprise appearance.

"P-Princess Celestia?" Rainbow Dash asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah you know we could have used your help, like, yesterday." Alex said with some irritation.

"I am sorry that I could not reach you." She replied, "But like I've told Carl, Discord would know that I was here. Also there is a spell preventing my entry to this dimension."

"Then how are ya here now?" Applejack asked skeptically with a raised eyebrow.

"I am currently transmitting my image to you." The Princess replied, "but I am not physically here. It's similar to, what do you humans call it, a hologram?"

Everyone is too shocked to say anything else.

"Your friends are being held in the Wilmont Police Station." The Princess answered, "The police force has been overtaken by Discord and his unicorn army."

"Unicorn army?" Alex asked.

"Discord has a small army of unicorns at his command. It isn't large," Princess Celestia said, "but now that it's combined with the Milites Chaos, it is very powerful."

Ryan looked up at this, "The "Milites Chaos", are those the anarchists?" Princess Celestia nodded and Ryan growled before muttering under his breath, "Those fuckers."

"So what you're saying is that we need to break into the police station, defeat his army of police unicorns, and save the others?" Pete asked. "And after all of that we have to defeat Discord."

"Yes." The Princess replied.

"Um Princess," Rainbow Dash said, "not to be the pessimistic pony of the group, but how can we beat an army? I mean, there's only six of us, and my wings are broken so I can't even fly."

"Ya speak like ya were the most important member of the group?" Applejack asked with a little annoyance at Rainbow Dash's arrogance.

"Well…no but my wings were still an advantage." She muttered, "But that doesn't change my original worry, how can we beat them when there are so few of us and so many of them?"

"You six have something that none of them do." Princess Celestia muttered, "something that binds you more than friendship. In Equestria, the power of friendship is enough, but for your world there needed to be more. So while your friendship does provide you strength, it's not the only thing you have on your side."

"What do you mean?" Pinkie Pie asked, "what's more than friendship?"

Alex, who had been listening, just had a major epiphany. After what the Princess had said he realized what none of them had noticed before.

"Love." He muttered before looking up at the group, who mostly stared at him with confusion. Princess Celestia, however, gave her kind smile and nodded.

"Love?" Pete asked.

"Think about it, whenever one of us gets magic it's because our partner is in danger." Alex said, "we aren't just given are elements because they represent something we value, they also represent the girls that we fell in love with."

"What do ya mean Alex?" Applejack asked.

"At the mall, when I saved you with that spontaneous spurt of magic, it was caused by seeing you in danger." Alex muttered.

"That's right," the Princess, said, "every one of you is different, and not all of you have experienced this magic yet. But once you embrace your element in yourself, and you realize your love for your partner, that's when it will work for most of you. Ryan was able to do the same thing when I told him that he had to think about Rainbow Dash, and believe that he was loyal."

Everyone turned to Ryan, who just looked at the ground in embarrassment.

"Wait," Alex interjected, "if what your saying is true, then couldn't the others have used magic if they saw their partners in danger?"

"Most of them need to realize their love and then embrace their element in the sense that they must believe in it. Alex you were an odd case," the Princess said, "you were the only one that I didn't need to say anything to in order to get their magic out. That's because she was in danger in front of you, and you were in an environment that didn't block your magic so it worked."

She then turned to Ryan, "and Ryan, your faith in loyalty was restored when you realized that Rainbow Dash could be saved and you realized that you needed to get to her. Your love for Rainbow Dash is what powered your magic as well."

Ryan nodded before Princess Celestia continued, "And Carl only was able to teleport that police car when he thought about magic, and to him the element of magic was represented by…"

"Oh, oh! Was it Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked excitedly. The Princess nodded.

Alex said as he held his hand out, "Hold on, are you saying that Carl and Twilight are in love with each other?" Princess Celestia nodded and Alex couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head, "Damn what a hypocrite."

"So," Applejack took a step forward, "what yer saying is that they can use magic when they embrace their elements, which means thinkin' of us and fallin' in love with us?"

Princess Celestia sighed, "Boys, there's a reason you six were chosen."

"Because we're bronies, and we'd know how to beat Discord based on how you did so?" Alex asked.

"Not just that, after all there are a ton of other bronies in Wilmont." Princess Celestia said, "but because deep down, you each loved your partner, even before they were real. Alex, you've always loved Applejack because of her southern, down-to-earth self, like you and how you remember your life in Texas, before the divorce and when your life was good. You also love her honesty, which is something you lost faith in after your mother broke her promises to you."

Alex nodded and Applejack looked up at him, "Is that true Alex? Ya loved me because of mah honesty?"

"Of course, that and you're eyes always made my heart melt a little bit. I'm a sucker for green eyes and southern accents." Alex chuckled, which made Applejack blush and giggle.

"Pete, you loved Pinkie Pie because she was everything you used to be, random, happy, and full of laughter. But unlike in Equestria where that behavior is respected and seen as a positive, on Earth it is nothing but a negative and worthy of mockery." Princess Celestia continued, "which is why you lost faith in it, until you watched the show and Pinkie here made you laugh more than you had in years, and also made you remember how you used to act."

Pinkie Pie turned to Pete with a big grin, "Really?" Pete just smiled and gave her a nod, which made her jump up in joy, "Yay! I knew I could reach everypony with my happiness and joy and craaaaaazy behavior! He-he!" she extended the "a" in "crazy", as if to prove her point.

Finally, Princess Celestia turned to Ryan, "And Ryan I'm sure I don't need to tell you."

Ryan looked up at her as she continued; "You loved Rainbow Dash because you lost faith in loyalty when your friend Lawrence ditched you. Not to mention, Rainbow Dash was the girl you've always wanted to be with. Supportive, kind, and strong so that she could cheer you up as easily as you could cheer her up. Also, you loved how confident she was in herself, and wished that you had that level of confidence. She was the type of girl that you always wanted to be with."

Ryan nodded and Rainbow Dash looked over at Ryan and gave him a reassuring smile, Ryan looked down at her and finally returned it, showing his first smile in a while. He still was sad, but he knew that he couldn't keep moping around in front of Rainbow Dash. As he decided earlier after his talk with Rainbow Dash, his mourning would have to wait, and beating Discord and getting the girls' home was he top priority.

"I don't have much time," Princess Celestia added quickly, "I just want to tell you that discord is almost at full strength and if you do not defeat him soon, the entire world will become engulfed in chaos. More chaos than we had in Equestria, or than Earth has now."

"Thank you Princess." Alex answered, and everyone and everypony else did the same. Princess Celestia nodded before she disappeared just as soon as she appeared.

Once she was gone, there was a silence among the group as they began to think about what they should do, and how they could possibly take down an entire army and defeat Discord when there were only twelve of them.

"So now what?" Pete asked.

"We get ready ta break into the police station ah reckon?" Applejack asked.

"Yes." Alex answered, "and we use our magic to overwhelm them."

"Are you sure you guys know how to use it?" Rainbow Dash asked with skepticism, "I mean, I saw Ryan use it so I know he has the ability, but that was in his anger to get to me? Can all three of you use magic right now?"

Alex closed his eyes and began to think about Applejack, and everything that she meant to him. How she was honest, kind, strong, hard working, and always there for those that she cared about. How she was always there for him, even when his own stubborn nature with his mother and drunken stepfather got in the way. As he thought this, his hands began to emit the familiar orange aura that they had at the mall. His heart began to feel warm as he opened his eyes to see the orange aura surrounding him. Soon, his eyes also began to glow in the orange light, causing everyone and everypony to step back in shock as Alex was now surrounded in orange light that danced and swirled as if it were fire.

"Whoa! Alex that's amazin'!" Applejack said in amazement as her muzzle curled into a big grin. "Is this all because yer thinkin' of me?"

Alex smiled at her and gave her a small nod, which made Applejack return it with her own smile before she leapt up onto him and gave him a big hug, even though he was still engulfed in the orange light. Soon the light went away and Alex returned the hug. He then turned to Pete, "Can you do that?"

Pete nodded and closed his own eyes. He began to think about Pinkie Pie, and her adorable smile that always brought him out of a bad mood. As with Alex, Pete's hands began to glow in an aura, but his was pink like the mare he loved. Eventually, his own heart began to feel warm as his body was encased in pink light, like his eyes.

"Yay! Petey's thinking about me!" Pinkie Pie shouted in joy as she jumped around excitedly.

Pete then turned back to normal and looked at Pinkie with a huge grin, larger than he ever showed before, "That was awesome!" he said with great excitement, almost with a hint of laughter.

Now everyone turned their attention to Ryan, who wasn't even looking at them. He was busy looking at the city from a spot at the top of the hill. His eyes were no longer sad, rather they were angry. He could feel his body shaking in rage.

"Ryan?" Rainbow Dash asked uneasily as she started to walk up to Ryan with an equally uneasy smile, "aren't you going to demonstrate your magic?"

Ryan turned to Rainbow Dash and gave her a smile before he shook his head, "No, Dashie. I'm saving everything for those fuckers at the station."

After saying this, however, Ryan's hands glowed blue as he held them out towards the direction of the city, glaring out at the destruction and anarchy that was overtaking the small upstate New York town.

"And at the end of the day they'll know they fucked with the wrong person's parents and mare friend." He turned to Rainbow Dash with a smile still on his face as if to acknowledge her. She blushed and gave a smile right back to him. He then looked up at everyone else with his cocky smile; a smile that none of them had ever seen Ryan with, nor could they picture him with, "Tonight we embrace our destinies. Tonight, we end this."

And with that the glowing in his hands disappeared. "Tonight they pay."

Prison Cell

Carl lay awake in his cell as the moonlight crept into the small, concrete space that he, Louis and James now had to call their sleeping quarters; until the others came to rescue them of course. He began to think more about Twilight and how he wanted to get her out of this hellhole.

And he didn't just mean the prison.

He meant Earth.

He looked around to see Louis asleep in the corner, and James staring up at the ceiling with a look that showed how deep in thought he was. His eyes were sad, but at the same time angry, much like Ryan's had been before his last conversation with Rainbow Dash. Carl looked up, "James are you okay?"

James didn't reply for a few moments before he muttered, "They made Fluttershy cry...they're going to pay. Nobody makes Fluttershy upset and gets away with it if I can help it."

Carl was a little worried by James' emotionless tone, but he was busy thinking about other issues to let James' own emotions bog him down. HE turned away from the moping teen and looked up at the ceiling and continued to think until his eyelids began to feel heavy.

"Her innocent nature will die here." Carl thought sadly as he closed his eyes and tried to drift off to sleep. "Just like the innocence of humanity has."

Little did Carl know that in another cell, Twilight was still awake with the worry and nagging thought that they might fail at stopping Discord, and even if they did would it really benefit this world? She was pressing her hooves together, deep in thought, before she let out a deep sigh, "I can't let my doubt get the best of me."

She looked around at Rarity and Fluttershy, who were both asleep, and who both had streaks of tears that had dried over the past few hours. Twilight just shook her head, "But it's so hard not to have doubt when everyone else has it."

She looked up and out of the barred window at the darkness that's only light came from the full moon. In the distance, she could make out the chilling chant that almost was a signal of the chaos that had yet to come. Not just to Wilmont, but to the twelve elements.

Resurgere in contereret,

Cadent de vastantium.

Bellum aequalitas,

Bellum contra Class.

Nocte nos Superius,

Nocte nos pugnare.

In iuventus Valete,

Discordia est rex.

Twilight covered her ears and began to shake in fright, a fright that she never had in Equestria. If only the chant made her so scared, she thought, how would she react when she was faced with the violence that this world brought? Based on what the Princess told her, any violence in Equestria was nothing compared to what could happen in this world.

As she continued to lay on the floor, unable to sleep with the chant still filling her ears and all of the worries that she had, all she could think to herself was.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?"

There you go a very short chapter to end the second "act" to this story.

Please let me know what you think and also warn me if I ever get to repetitive on anything.

Hope you enjoyed the short chapter, and thanks for reading.

And, as usual...

Go Giants! Go Rainbow Dash!