Facing Chaos

North of the city, far away but still within sight, the mountains seemed to have a ring of clouds surrounding them. Thunder clashed down and odd colors appeared to cover the mountains.

Starswirl stepped towards the divided main city of the kingdom. He looked up at the princesses. "I shall guard the city. Go! Vanquish this new evil, send it back to the abyss!" He yelled as the princesses took flight, away to the mountains.

Celestia sighed, charging straight ahead. "Be prepared, Luna."

Luna nodded as she looked at the mountains. "Yes, sister. We wilt be. Do not worry, We wilt be by thy side at all times, to defend thee."

Celestia smiled a little, admiring her little sister's courage, despite everything that was happening and causing them pain. She flew ahead, leading her sister to the battle of their lives.

~~~

The princesses stopped in mid-air once they finally arrived at the mountain site. They glared up at their former friend once he showed up.

A tornado sealed the area around the three. Discord descended from above, his arms folded as he stared at them with a bored expression. "Well, well, well. Look who's come to visit. The precious royal sisters! Here to stop my creations and my progress, I suppose? Oh, I should be quivering with fear..." He spoke in a sarcastic tone.

Celestia stepped forward, giving Discord a stern stare. She hesitated a bit, but spoke nonetheless. "Thou leaveth us no choice, Discord. We... were indeed thy friends..."

Discord grimaced, grinning wickedly at her as he shoved her back. "Oh, shut up, Tia. This way of speech of Luna's really doesn't suit you. It's stupid, so is Luna. Fitting."

Luna frowned, immediately annoyed at Discord's lack of manners. However, she remained collected and serious as she flew forward to stare right at him. "We cannot afford to have thee destroy our kingdom. Our duty ist to our people. If thou shalt threateneth them, then thou shalt be stopped."

At the moment, my duty is to the ponyfolk of our kingdom. Not... Not to my heart.Celestia's horn glowed as she disappeared the bizarre objects and animals surrounding Discord, returning most of them to normal. "Discord, thou hath but one more chance to stop this. As the dear friend that thou wast to us, we shalt give thee that chance. But this must all end. Thou cannot bring chaos and harm to our land and expect us to forgive thee."

"Everything wilt end if thou chooseth not our option. We wilt... We wilt have to give thee up, just as thou wilt, Discord. It means that everything we went through and experienced since thou arrived meant... nothing." Celestia, surprisingly, kept a very collected and serious face as Luna said this.

Discord frowned. He gave them a look after he glanced at his surroundings. "Hm. Well, let's see, shall we?" He counted the requisites with the fingers of his eagle claw. "My power surrendered, my purpose replaced, my freedom chained!" He closed his eagle claw into a fist. "You two should really think about what you're asking me to give up here!"

He snapped his fingers and the sisters were surrounded by small spheres of green fire with his face over each one. "You two think you know what I would be giving up? You don't. You don't have the slightest clue what this kind of power and REAL joy feels like."

Another sphere of fire spun around them once the other finished speaking. "You two think you can stop me? You can't! I am Discord, Master of Chaos and Disharmony!"

All the flames gathered in one spot before them, speaking at the same time. "Our time together made me realize that I was not accepted for who I really was, but for whom YOU wanted me to be. You did not think about that now, did you?"

Celestia seemed shocked and hurt by what Discord thought of their time together. "That isn't true... Discord... How could you think..." She snapped back to her senses, however, when she saw the joyous smirk on his face. He had purposely stomped on her feelings and the happy memories of their time together, to deliberately hurt her.

Well, she would not give him the pleasure. Neither she nor Luna would follow along his hurtful game. She shook her head and hardened her eyes once again, making Discord chuckle. "My sister and I are not going to argue about the past with you anymore. It is pointless at the moment. It is clear now that your choice is to remain by your practice."

Luna stared at Discord. "That ist not a wrong choice, but it certainly ist not right. What thou art or representest no longer matters. It ist thy threatening power that must be stopped." She stomped her hooves on the air that she flew over. "And we hath becometh determined to stop it!" Her eyes glowed a bit as she extinguished all of the flames at once.

Celestia stepped forward. "We are no longer playing games, Discord. We may be young, but we certainly are not useless. As the princesses and protectors of this land, we are much stronger than we let on. In fact, we will show you just how strong we are, right now!" She quickly shot a burst of energy at him.

Discord caught the attack in his hand and curled it into a ball. "In that case, I really hope you have a few reality-bending magic counter spells prepared, princesses." He threw the spell back, aiming at Luna. He laughed as thunder struck the area. "You fools! I can't believe it, you still think you stand a chance against me?! I. Am. UNSTOPPABLE!"

Luna vanished the blast before it hit her. She glared at Discord as her horn glowed with her magic aura. Everything around them was cloaked in darkness.

"Oh, please." Discord rolled his eyes and stretched his arms out, summoning a blast of air around him. The wind was strong enough to push anything away from him. "Thought that Night Cloak would be enough cover with me around, Luna?"

Luna grunted a bit, trying her hardest to fly through the wind. Once she steadied herself a bit, she shot another blast of magic at Discord.

"Think again!" Discord flicked his hand. He made the strong air current hold the blast of air in front of him. "Hey, I think this is yours."

Luna gasped and let herself be carried by the wind to avoid the attack that Discord had countered. "This wilt not be enough..." She started to fly at different sides to try to catch Discord with other spells.

Celestia narrowed her eyes as she thought. She quickly went over everything that she had learned from her mentors, from her parents. A spell that is powerful enough to truly be a match for Discord's special magic... There has to be something... However, no matter how hard she thought, how much she tried to put everything she had learned and read together, no such spell came to mind. She had seen nothing about a... 'draconequus' in the library. Of course she would not have seen any way to match its power.

She shook her head. "But... No, I'm not giving up that easily. There has to be something. Some power. Perhaps not one spell in specific, but some force that we can use. Think, Celestia, what brings power...?" She watched her sister battle Discord while she thought restlessly of a strategy. Emotions bring power and strength. They bring courage and the force to go against all evil. What is that which could defeat evil like this? What are these forces?

Luna grunted as her shield was broken by Discord's magic. She looked at Celestia. "Sister, We wilt not hold on much longer!"

"Try your hardest, Luna, keep fighting him!" Celestia closed her eyes and teleported away from Discord's lightning spell. She stepped back as she hid again. "This won't hold too long..."

"Sister, We cannot!" Luna flew out of Discord's way. She blasted him back when he tried to get past her to attack Celestia.

"Just trust me! I'll think of something!"

Discord chuckled. "Such a coward you turned out to be, Tia... Luna will be nothing, I'll be done with her in minutes! Just you watch." He turned around to look for Celestia. "Where are you...?"

"The battle ist against us, Discord!" Luna charged a magic spell and shot it at him. She watched him scream as the energy from the night magic hit him. Then she stepped back when he prepared to counter. Be fast, sister...

Celestia watched the battle. She swallowed a bit, then closed her eyes again. "Don't worry. I just have to hurry..." She concentrated as her horn began to glow. After a few seconds, as she continued to think, her whole body was aglow. Forces that the enemy is not even aware of... Trust, that is certain. There must be absolute trust between allies in order to stand together. Trust, which is brought by... Honesty. No lies between allies and partners. Complete confidence in one another to mislead the enemy, that's Honesty!

Luna tried to increase the power of her spells as her fight against Discord continued. He easily blocked or deflected everything that she threw at him. However, she... She narrowly missed another attack, though it left her breathing heavily.

Discord teleported behind Luna and tail-whipped her barely recovered wing. He returned her blasts of magic as she nearly fell down in pain.

Luna winced and looked up at the oncoming blasts. "Ngh..." Just in time, she appeared another magic shield that barely repelled the attacks.

Discord smirked as he watched her. "Your magic just ain't good enough, dear Luna." He brought his tail down on the shield, shattering it again.

"Ahh!" Luna fell down on the ground. She looked up and gasped as Discord prepared to attack her again.

"Let's make something that'll hold you in place for a while..."

Celestia flew in front of her little sister. She shot a slightly stronger blast of energy at Discord just as her body stopped glowing with a light orange hue. "Leave her alone!" She crouched, ready to block Discord again. Loyalty, the force that strengthens the soul and the spirit. Strength to recover, never to leave one's companions, in good or bad, in the moment of greatest need. Now, a red glow surrounded her briefly. Her wings fluttered as Luna stood up behind her while she charged up another attack.

Luna took a deep breath, ignoring the pain of her wing. Our magic IST strong enough, Discord. We wilt do whatever it takest to show thee! She frowned and stepped beside Celestia.

"Luna, are-"

"We art fine, sister. Thank thee." Luna turned to glance at Celestia and blinked when she noticed that her sister was glowing slightly.

"Alright, then, help me out here!" Celestia closed her eyes as she prepared to shoot the attack.

Luna nodded and shot magic of her own.

Discord opened his mouth and swallowed the attack. He burped it out in the form of a phoenix. "My, that was a bit tougher, I'll give you that much... Heh, heh." He aimed at Celestia and shot it. His eyes then glowed white as he prepared his next move.

Celestia and Luna shot another attack together. After Discord dodged that, Celestia flew behind him as Luna circled him. Both attacked together again.

Another force... Luna blinked as she thought. Kindness. Which repairs the soul, mends the heart, and drives away all impurity. She gasped a little as her body glowed pink for a few seconds. She quickly looked at Celestia, and frowned slightly when her older sister nodded back at her. Ist this part of that... spell that made her body glow? Just what exactly ist this?

Discord teleported above them and unleashed his new spell. He trapped Luna inside an hourglass and stood next to it. He grinned as he watched the surprised reactions and expressions from the sisters. "Know what time it is, Celestia?" He flipped the hourglass upside down, making the sand start to slide down over Luna.

Luna grunted and raised her wing to her head, trying to cover herself from the sand. "Oh, no!" She scooted back, but found that she kept sinking into the small pile of sand.

"Discord, you better let her go!" She looked at the hourglass, then frowned as she made her horn glow.

Discord chuckled and looked back at Celestia with delight. "You have exactly five minutes to surrender yourself." He snapped his fingers and made Celestia lose her concentration, cancelling the magic that was about to emit from her horn. He patted the hourglass. "And Luna, dear, if I were you, I wouldn't bother trying to use magic against this. Your spells will only deflect back at you in there." He grinned maliciously as he awaited Celestia's reply.

Celestia took a deep breath, then glared at Discord. "How dare you do this... It is very low of you, Discord!" Her wings fluttered a bit as her anger rose, though it did not stop there. She shot a blast of pink and white energy at him.

The energy apart into three and flew at him from different sides.

He sighed and appeared a shield of yellow energy. He watched Celestia's attack disappear, then glared at her. "Really? Listen, Tia. If you don't want to lose your beloved little sister, I suggest you don't waste any more time and surrender to me!"

Luna grunted a bit as more sand slipped down upon her, making the heap beneath her inch higher. She hit her hooves against the glass, trying to break it as she slammed her weight against it. "Ngh! Sister, do not do it! Do not listen to him! Remember our duty, the promise we made to Master Starswirl!" She watched Celestia continuously attack Discord, and let out a sigh of relief. Good... Do not give up no matter what...

Celestia glared at Discord as she prepared another attack. She grunted with frustration as he easily dodged it, but she did not stop. She continued to fight him with as much power as she could summon. You will not win so easily...

Discord watched Celestia as her eyes glowed with gold light, while her body unleashed the aura of sun energy. "Hm. Alright, get interesting." He grunted with effort as he blocked Celestia's attacks. Gotta admit, they're getting harder. There really is plenty to the princesses. He smirked as he shot another magic blast at Celestia, pushing her back. He blew on his claw as she fell on the ground, almost exhausted. "Clock's ticking, Tia."

She groaned and pushed herself up, trying to summon that strong surge of power again. It's no use... I used up too much energy... She glared up at Discord as he laughed at her.

Luna glared at Discord. "Do tell, Discord, what ist wrong with thee? Art thou not able to fight a fair battle?!" She kicked the side of the hourglass to no avail. "Release us, coward!"

"Ooh, quite an attitude for a princess." He smirked as he watched her.

"Release us and fight fair! Thou-"

"Oh, hah hah. Fair?" He laughed and shook his head. He looked up as he saw that Celestia was already preparing another spell against him. "Heh. No, I suppose that's really not my style, Luna."

He teleported behind Celestia and quickly lifted her up. "How about we go for a little stroll, Tia?"

Celestia glared at him. "What?! Let me go!" She tried to break free from his grasp, but he only laughed and teleported both away, out of sight.

Luna gasped once they disappeared. "No!" She looked around desperately, then quickly continued to hit the glass sides of her trap. "Sister! Sister, return! Give her back, Discord! Show thyself and fight properly!" She grunted as she was covered in sand for a brief second. "No... Sister... Whence hath he taken thee...?"

She growled and shook the sand off, though more kept falling. "Discord, thou better returneth our sister safely, or We shalt show thee the wrath of the Night!" She glared down from the glass wall of her prison, noticing that the hourglass was now set on top of a tall, thin-legged table. "That no good... We wilt get him back...!" She grumbled before she continued to hit the side of the hourglass.

More fighting between the princesses and Discord! Things seem to be going from bad to worse... Oh, dear. He really has done a 180, hasn't he. Attacking the princesses like that... And things won't end there... He didn't hesitate at all threatening Luna with a deadly spell.

(Sigh) Cheesy way of introducing the Elements of Harmony is cheesy... Overall, I felt this chapter was rather weak. Weak ending, weak... everything. I don't know. It's good, but I feel it needs something else to make it sturdier, or stronger. What do you guys think? (I'm getting tired of asking this)