Discord laughed, standing over the fallen body of Hot Shot. Card stood, finally free of the spell, but frozen as he watched his brother’s body lying in the grass. All he could think was about his brother’s promise.

Card smiled very softly, looking into his brothers eyes. He took in his entire face, his brother in his entirety. His flaming red coat, spiky yellow mane and tail… If the battle took a wrong turn… He wanted to remember his brother’s face. “You promise me, Hot… You promise me you won’t die…”

Hot grinned. “That’s it? Promise I don’t die?” Cards smile grew. “I promise, bro.”

“Finally, the pest is gone~” Discord’s voice interrupted Card’s thoughts. “The little fireball has fizzled out~” Card stood, frozen for a moment longer. Then he opened his eyes, allowing their power to release. Horror and fear laced the air, mixed with unnatural anger. Card took a step forward, the earth where he stepped cracking under his hoof, shadows curling from his body. Discord grinned at Card, unfazed by the pony’s powers. “Oh dear, the little colt is ma-ad~” Card summoned a card and threw it at Discord, eyes narrowing. Discord caught the card simply, smirking. Card waved his hoof, eyes cold as the card exploded in a blast of shadow magic, pushing Discord back from the force of the explosion. Discord took a step back, looking through the bit of smoke at the form of the shadow colt, wings unfurled and the earth trembling at his every step.

“You’ve killed my brother,” Card Trick said, his voice eerily calm. Each step he took shattered the earth further, until he wasn’t far from Discord. Discord grinned as the colts eyes darkened. “And you just made a Trick VERY unhappy.” Discord lifted his blade as the colt charged in a blind fury, snarling at the God. All 52 of his usual deck of cards spun around him in his blaze of anger, all pointed at the one foe. He reached the God.

In a single stroke of his blade, Discord sent Card sprawling on the ground, the cards falling useless around him. Card gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. Discord merely laughed. “Oh yes, I can taste your rage… Your blind anger makes you weak. You lost your touch of strategy the moment that little pest over there was swatted down.” Card tried to stand quickly as Discord calmly walked over. Waving his claw, Discord pushed Card back to the ground roughly, pinning him there with strong magic. Discord stood over Card, grinning as he raised his light blade. “And now that one pest is down… Time to kill the other~”

Card glanced over at the body of his brother, tears in his eyes. Hot had died because he couldn’t save him. Card was dying because he was too weak to save himself. All of Equestria would be lost because of his failure. And there was nothing he could do about it, he realized. All he could do was look at his brother and cry. I’m so sorry, Hot… I failed… I failed us all. Card closed his eyes, accepting his fate, knowing he was too weak to escape the God’s magic. He heard the whistle of the blade as it went down.

He also opened his eyes as blood dripped down on his face. He had been expecting more pain… but…

Valkyrie coughed, licking the blood on his lips, grinning. “F-finally did something right…” The blade intended for Card lie deeply imbedded in his chest, saving Card from a mortal blow. Valkyrie, on the other hoof, was dying.

“V-valkyrie…”

“VALKYRIE?!” Discord snarled at the pony.

Valkyrie grinned. “C-call me Card…” He glanced at the body on the field, sighing at Hot’s death. “S-so much… for that ace up your sleeve…”

“YOU FOAL!” Discord pulled his sword out of Valkyrie, snarling. “You’ve ruined yourself! You could’ve lived forever with my power!”

Valkyrie fell against Card, wincing. He looked up at his mirror image, wincing at the pain every movement caused him. “C-card… C-came to give you my gift…” He grinned, a strange look on a pony who was bleeding out. “You got a bunch of gifts, right? W-well… here’s mine.” Card gasped as Valkyrie faded into shadow, spinning around him.

“N-NO,” Discord shouted, realizing too late what Valkyrie was planning. He hadn’t been expecting Valkyrie’s sacrifice.

Card’s eyes widened as he heard Valkyrie’s voice. “W-what?”

I never belonged here, Card… There can’t be two of us… We both know I’ve been dying since the first day I set hoof here… Since I’ve finally accepted that we are one, I think we both think this will be the fight of our lives.

Card gasped as the shadows covered his entire being, forcing their way into his body. Discord took a step back, fear beginning to show in his eyes. Cards eyes turned black, a single sliver of white highlighting his pupil. T-this power… Card felt his shadows as well as Valkyrie’s surging through him, filling his bloodstream with more power than he had ever been able to control. He felt it work its way into his mind, overcoming him and taking control. “I-I can’t-“

Card keeled over, his head down as he tensed up. His wings flared out as they extended, forming more like real wings as opposed to the metal ones he had worn. Shadows swirled up them, extending them further. He stood taller, his body turning darker as the shadows in him fought for their release. The shadows he could not control draped over him like a cloak, billowing in the wind swirling around him. They solidified around him, forming a magician’s cape. A full magicians outfit formed, complete with cuff links and a pure white mask. Card laughed, his voice itself swirling with shadow. He tilted his head up and the very air trembled at the sight of his eyes, the power startling even Discord. “TIME TO END THIS!” Card landed, no longer worthy of so simple a name. This colt was no longer Card Trick. He was something more… Shadow Wing.

And in the sudden silence, after the monster who had been created had spoken, a small chuckle was heard at the side of the battlefield. Both Shadow and Discord glanced to the side, one scared by the noise, the other merely curious. Discord backed away in his fright, confused as to how things had changed so drastically. Shadow was merely curious as to why his brother’s body was floating in the air, suspended by his wings. He was also curious as to how the body was speaking.

“Nice wings… Card.”

“Hot?...”

Hot’s face was shaded by his mane as his head hung down. “I suck at keeping promises… don’t I?...” Shadow was silent. Suddenly, flames gathered around Hot, engulfing him.

Shadow’s eyes widened as he understood what had happened. His eyes sparked with the small piece of Card left in him as he grinned, the circle on his hoof complete. A three way bond, Him, Valkyrie and his re-born brother, Hot. “That’s one thing you didn’t get, Discord! The fireball didn’t fizzle out…”

Hot flicked up his head, eyes burning with a fire unknown to ponykind, blazing with a power beyond his own. “A phoenix rises from his ashes.” The fire around him turned into a cloak, forming a sort of tail, causing Hot to look like he was a moving flame with every movement. His body swirled like fire, causing him to look almost like a pony sized Phoenix. The blood splattered on him from earlier lie dried on his face, adding to the effect of the inferno.

Shadow grinned as both he and Phoenix raised their hooves. Two walls warped around Discord, one of shadowy earth, the other a blazing flame. Discord had no means of escape. Raising his other hoof, Shadow chained Discord to the earth wall with shadow vines, letting thorns dig into his fur. Discord groaned in pain, unable to heal his wounds. He attempted to break free of the vines, but was startled to find the combination of the three’s powers was too strong.

Shadow grinned, glancing at the inferno that had been Hot. “What do you think happens, Phoenix, when Shadows and Fire combine at an epicenter at high speed?~”

Phoenix grinned back at the shadowy form of his brother. “Obliteration~”

“On three?”

“One…”

“Two…”

Phoenix grinned. “… Two and a half~”

Shadow couldn’t help but laugh. “Two and three fourths~”

“Ah, what the heck!” His eyes blazing, Phoenix flared out his wings, in the air. “THREE!”

Shadow’s eyes swirled with his power as he grinned. “THREE!” Together, the Phoenix and the Shadow Wing launched forward, one leaving a trail of fire, the other leaving a trail of shadow. Discord struggled to escape his binds before the inevitable, but it was too late. Together, the two forces collided. In the center of the two, an explosion occurred, blasting both stallions into the air. Both regained their balance, watching the smoke clear after the massive blast.

Both stallions landed on either side of the smoke. As it cleared, a crater was revealed where Discord had been chained, the walls fallen. In the crater was the form of Discord, unmoving. Shadow watched the body coldly, thinking. There were two options left…

Shadow waved his hoof and a torn card appeared, swirling around him with shadows. Calmly, Shadow flew down by Discord. “Careful,” Phoenix said, seeing Discord open his eyes weakly. He still wasn’t dead. Shadow walked beside the bruised and bleeding form, nodding to his brother.

Discord glanced up at the card, his eyes tired. “… Do it, then… Kill me…” Shutting his eyes, Discord rolled his head back against the ground, laughing softly in his weakness. “You’ve surpassed even a God…”

Shadow regarded the pitiful body speaking to him. He already knew what would happen if he ended this creature as he was now. The chaos would spread into him, retaining the life force that no longer dwelt inside Discord. The God of Chaos would choose Shadow as his next host, leaving this pathetic draconequus in its place to take the blame. No, Shadow would not allow himself to be taken over. He grinned. “I haven’t surpassed a God.” Discord opened his eyes, staring at the Shadow of Card. The final words that will topple your throne… “Because Gods don’t bleed~”

Discord’s eyes widened as Shadow grinned further, levitating the card. “This card… A measly little thing such as this is the source of all of your power… All I have to do to end you is just that: End you, once and for all.”

Discord’s eyes were panicked. “N-NO! K-KILL ME!”

Shadow merely watched the pitiful soul beneath him. He lifted up the card, feeling sorrow for the creature at his hooves. “With these final words, I bind thee to this card. Farewell, being of Chaos, the Chaining Force.” With that, he sealed the card with shadow, changing the unlocked chain on the card to a locked one. In a bright burst of light, the card was made whole again.

Beneath him, the ‘God’ of Chaos screamed and writhed in agony. His shadowy skin seemed to burn away, the light of the card tearing away at his body. His entire being was being reshaped, recreated. A fate worse than death. Shadow shielded his eyes with his hoof, unable to watch the burning bright light radiating from the morphing figure.

Finally, the screamed faded along with the light. Shadow uncovered his eyes to find the creature had been utterly destroyed. In its place sat a small white alicorn, weak and knocked out from the draining of power. His body was unscathed, yet his soul was weak. Shadow regarded the alicorn as he had Discord. So this was the pony who had been so weak that he had seeked the power of something far greater than he could possibly control.

Standing there in the field, the wind blew softly. A bird or two chirped happily as the afternoon sun began to reach its peak. Peaceful was Ponyville – at least for the time being – and the battle was over.

The God of Chaos was no more.

Author's Notes:

OwO The God of Chaos is no more... But it's not the end yet.