CHAPTER 10: CHAOS - PART 1

Chrysalis and Celestia were continuing to fight over the chaotic streets of Canterlot. Upon each of their blows, impacts, spells; explosions set off at their points of contact in the sky.

Ellie and the others were still attempting to push through, pondering why they didn't have the assistance of their Princesses to aid them. Although it was the guard's job to protect the city, they couldn't help but wonder if the Princesses were currently protecting it from another more sinister threat? Perhaps they were doing that right now, and they were just looking at this in a linear way. Either way the hordes of the enemy side only continued to push forth, up and onto them, doing everything they could to stop the loyal guards of Canterlot from achieving their objective.

As Ellie peered up into the sky, noticing the explosions, she also noticed something else in particular. It was like a circular rim further into the sky, past Celestia and Chrysalis's mesmerizing battle. There laying in wait was what caused Ellie to fear and dread this fateful moment, surrounding Canterlot, encircling it like some sort of twisted prison were faint sparks. They looked like small cracks of thunder, similar to the portal they'd found on the outskirts of the city, except this was on a much grander scale. Ellie gritted her teeth wincing her eyes up at it "We're not going to make it, it's now or never you guys!"

Bravemane was currently fending off two psycho possessed ponies. And although it pained him to cut them down where they stood, he did so anyway. He then shot an irritated glance at Ellie and scowled somewhat, the mixture of blood from all sorts of creatures stained his features. "What do you think we're trying to do?! Have a picnic!? We're going as fast as we can Ellie, and they've got this place locked down on all sides! Even our pegasi who have the sky advantage can't push their way through, this isn't some simple attack, it's a clean cut strategy!"

Ellie gritted her teeth, infuriated by the truth of the exclamation. She then continued to battle on with her sword and spear, levitating one while wielding the other. Chrysalis; I'm so sorry, I hope you're okay.

Sombra then looked to both the celestial guards with a look of disinterest. "Perhaps you two should stop bickering and just look on the positive side of things. We've made steady progress, and although these possessed creatures are as savage as they come, they are also mindless." Sombra then manifested weapons made up of pure darkness, cutting down the multitude of foes that charged him, effortlessly. It was as if this were second nature to him, and such skill and deadly mastery came natural to the unicorn. "They charge us with no strategy and no regard for their own safety, it makes things easy on our part. We just gotta steadily keep cutting through and we'll be there in no time."

Ellie snapped at Sombra "We already have no time! You don't understand what we're dealing with here!?"

Eden couldn't help but interrupt; as like Sombra, he was casting up similar spells, but only made up of pure defense. While the enemies attempted to push through, Eden would push them back, his spells texture and appearance bore a strong resemblance to Princess Luna's mane. "Listen, we understand the situation is grim. But there's nothing we can do about it, yelling and shouting we're out of time won't give us anymore of it, and it won't make this process go any faster."

Ellie snarled somewhat. "What do you know!? You shouldn't even be here!"

Eden winced at her, obviously upset by her proclamation. "Now wait just a min-"

Bravemane snapped cutting all of them off. "Quiet! Let's just keep moving, the last thing we want is to be fighting amongst ourselves. Ellie's made it clear we've got no time, well then let's try to push even harder then!"

It took them a brief moment to cool their heads, but they all nodded to each other in agreement eventually. They then continued to fight and push through the enemy ranks, further towards the castle.

Luna however had been making rapid progress. Focused on the need to protect her precious subjects, she watched her spells carefully, watched her angles, and noticed the best strategical points to fire from. She was disposing changeling after changeling, and they stood no chance against her might. But neither did the ponies against theirs, Luna's heart sank when she noticed they'd suffered countless losses to, civilian losses. It was a bloodbath, and the changelings were not letting up, not one bit. They sounded like a bunch of radicals fighting for their god when they shouted Chrysalis's name, they were inspired and motivated to fight, more so than the frightened ponies.

Luna eventually carved out a path for majority of the Gala civilians as she shouted out to them. "Make way for the door! It's a clear cut path my subjects! Go go go!"

The ponies did not hesitate to look at their Princess with that hopeful gleam in their eyes. Some of them brightened when they'd heard such great news. Majority of the ponies then in a panic began to rush for the door, some being shot down by changelings in the process. Revenge was always so bittersweet. Luna gritted her teeth angrily as she rose up some, flapping her wings and then peering down at the attacking changelings. "You shalt not progress! You monsters shall all die here, your entire race! All of you shall be purged for this atrocity!" She spoke with intimidating grace and anger, as well as disappointment in the creatures she was about to kill.

The changelings did not falter, they did not kneel, nor did they beg for their lives, actually they were looking forward to fighting with the Princess. One even spoke out against her "We've waited long for this day! The day we could finally bring honor and peace to those that died in our kingdom. We'll never falter, and we'll stand beside our queen until the end!"

This caused Luna to wince somewhat as she gritted her teeth. Her horn lit up like a shining star, pulsing with magical energies and glowing a vibrant blue color. "Well then prepare yourselves, because the end is now!"

Suddenly one of her precious subjects screamed in dismay upon making it outside the castle. "P-Princess!"

Luna's eyes snapped wide as she immediately rushed to their aid. She flew out the doors; peering down at them in concern. "What is it, what's wrong!?" They needed not to answer, for as Luna gazed down the streets of their precious city, she saw it all for herself. A diverse horde of multiple different creatures, having pushed their way in from all the gates? They were guarding any chance of a clean escape through the city. Luna's heart sank, she shook her head. "What, what is this?" She looked up towards the sky to notice the booming sounds of Chrysalis and Celestia fighting. Luna yelled up to her sister from below, crying out to her. "Sister! Wait; stop!" Her cries could not reach her sister concentrated in the heat of battle. Luna seemed worried, for Celestia was one who'd usually kept her cool, but now she seemed lost, lost in her flurry of emotions. Sister...

Chrysalis and Celestia then came to a halt for a brief moment.

Chrysalis was pacing heavily, she seemed exhausted, and needed to catch her breath. She already had many wounds covering her body, for a fight with the Princess wasn't one to be taken lightly. She then smirked at Celestia, still more determined than ever, even though she'd obviously been losing.

Celestia looked at her with a familiar judgmental expression, but these cold calculating eyes were foreign to the changeling. Celestia sighed heavily shaking her head. "You could of been a sign of peace between your race and mine. You could of been a shining example of love and harmony. You had so much promise, so much potential, and you threw it all away." Her eyes saddened as she looked at Chrysalis tragically. "I cherished you my precious student, you've broken my heart. But I won't hold myself back anymore, I'll correct my mistake, here and now."

Chrysalis's expression worsened, as she snapped at Celestia. "You think you know everything Celestia!? You think you know the difference between right and wrong!? You took everything from me, my friends, my family, my entire world! You claim to do what's right, yet you ruined my life, you killed mother although she to strived for peace with the ponies! You could've simply punished those responsible, but instead you punish all the changelings!?" She spoke on impulse, and for a fleeting moment she showed that same vulnerability again. That same weak Chrysalis that also strived for peace like her mother, that was ashamed of what she was. She said weakly "Why, why did you have to do this to me?"

Celestia's expression sunk before she shot Chrysalis a look of fierce determination. "You were young, and I assume the situation was beyond your understanding. You see Chrysalis, we were past the point of negotiations, past the point of only punishing a few. Your kind had gone too far, they'd grown too confident. The decision pained me greatly, but it needed to be done. Not only to ensure the safety of the ponies, but the safety of the entire land of Equestria. Your race needed to be broken down, and rebuilt from scratch. You; little Chrysalis, would of been the beginning, but now you've only repeated the mistakes of the past. You've done the exact opposite of my hopes, and although I am sorry for causing you so much pain, I wish you'd have understood that it was a necessary evil." Celestia's eyes saddened once more "I'm truly sorry I've put you through so much pain and suffering. I'll make sure to correct that now my precious student. I'll put an end to your suffering, to the suffering of all the changelings."

Chrysalis looked at Celestia with a blank expression before smiling somewhat. She chuckled a bit before shrugging, smirking at her with a humored expression. "You talk as if I'm already dead Celestia, I don't plan on dying here. And I don't care what excuse you spout out, I've grown tired of listening to other's excuses and following them blindly into whatever they may be scheming. I think for myself now, I'll do what I believe is right for my kind and I'll guide them down the path I feel is best for them. You claim to mean well, and so did my mother, yet it only got her an early grave. Peace is not always the answer. Our opinions differ greatly; there's no deterring you from yours and me from mine, all there is to it, is this." Chrysalis spread her hooves out as if awaiting a loving embrace, she raised a brow and continued to smirk at Celestia. "Our kind can never stand together, not now, not after what you've done." Chrysalis chuckled sinisterly "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

Celestia peered at the changeling sadly, before giving her a simple nod. "So it seems, which is why I'll put an end to this tonight. I cannot bare to look upon what I've created anymore, to have my heart ache at the sight of you. I'll finish this Chrysalis, and all your suffering will finally come to an end, as will mine. I'm sorry, sorry that I could not have found a better solution, sorry that I did not push you enough to achieve our desired goal."

Chrysalis sighed heavily. "Your desired goal Celestia. So are we going to continue?"

Celestia then remained silent, nodding simply before her body would be covered in flames. Her horn started to glow as she then waited for Chrysalis to get ready as well.

Neon lightning crackled around Chrysalis's body and horn as she stared Celestia in her eyes, smirking.

The two of them then charged at each other once again before letting off another mighty explosion in the skies.

Ellie and the others simply continued to push through, until finally their progress finally came into fruition, they were closing in on the castle courtyard, and standing in the courtyard looking up at the sky was none other than Princess Luna. Eden's expression lit up as did the others as Ellie simply gritted her teeth soon afterwords, they weren't home free yet. They cut down enemy after enemy, unfaltering as they felt nothing could stop them from achieving their objective.

Bravemane laughed confidently as he talked while fighting. "We're nearly there!"

Even Sombra seemed a bit excited about the idea of finally making it to their destination. "Hah, yes we are."

Eden cheered as he had bounce to his step. "Just a little further now!"

Ellie smirked as she cut down another enemy. "This is it!"

As they pushed through, entering into the courtyard of the castle, Ellie called out to Princess Luna eagerly. "Princess, there's something you need to know!"

Luna's eyes widened as she immediately looked down towards the guard curiously. She opened her mouth, obviously wanting to say something but no words came, and it only took that fleeting moment of silence for absolute chaos to erupt.

As all four of them continued to stand there in the courtyard with hopeful expressions, suddenly a figure rapidly descended from the sky, crashing into the hard pavement before them a few feet away.

They all watched as the figure rose sluggishly to it's hooves. They couldn't even pertain what it even was, its body trembled as one could see it'd obviously been wounded pretty bad. Cuts and burn marks covered its entire body as Sombra, Bravemane, Eden, and Ellie just simply continued to watch it attempt to regain its senses. But as time only continued to draw on, Ellie's eyes slowly widened as her heart sank at the idea of what she was truly looking at. Although the creature was unfamiliar to her, although it was something she had never seen before, she had the faintest feeling she truly knew who this was. And at that moment the creature turned, rising up from the pile of debris and turning to face the ponies who were staring at her, she seemed tired and as she caught Ellie's glance, its eyes saddened somewhat, then a smirk creeped onto its face.

Ellie's eyes were wide with not only fear, but dread. She muttered the words softly "C-Chrysalis?"

Suddenly another entirely different voice echoed from the skies. "WHY GOOD EVENING MY LITTLE PONIES!"

Everyones eyes snapped wide as did Celestia's, who was still in the middle of the sky looking down at where she'd just blasted Chrysalis at, then turned to face the sudden speaker. Luna felt a shiver run down her spine as she simply stared up at the sky, muttering to herself "I-Impossible...."

Celestia's eyes to were as wide as they could be. Her pupils were dilated as she was at a loss for words as she stared at the all too familiar figure not too faroff in the sky with her. He simply had his arms spread as he looked down at the ruins of Canterlot, his precious tools all laid out before him as we neared the ending of his maniacal show. He couldn't help but grin at the sight of the shocked Luna, then he looked to Celestia with a cheesy smile. "Surprised to see me you all? Oh come now, I was hoping for a better welcoming party than shocked faces. Celestia, Luna, we're practically family aren't we? Come now, why don't you two say something a little more heartwarming?"

Discord had finally arrived to the battlefield.

Ellie couldn't take her eyes off Chrysalis as Chrysalis simply looked at her old friend with a flash of recognition, before turning to look up at Discord. Chrysalis; although she knew he to was responsible for the destruction of her kingdom, couldn't help but smirk, Discord was like her and not only that, it didn't take a genius to connect the pieces at this point. She was here, fighting the Princesses themselves, her subjects were here. Discord obviously had subjects as she noticed the seemingly possessed creatures strewn about the area, he'd been planning all along, how clever.

Discord smirked somewhat as he gazed down towards the castle grounds, noticing Chrysalis's glance, he chuckled somewhat. "Aha, how interesting, its a pleasure to see you again little experiment, I see you've finally decided to take a stand hm? Well, worry not for the battle has reached its end. I knew you'd see it my way in the end."

Celestia simply stared at Discord tragically, as if she had a longing for him and couldn't pertain what to think about the entire situation. In a mere instant her entire world crumbled before her, her plan with chrysalis shattered, her subjects murdered, her city practically destroyed, and now Dsicord, like a haunting memory from her past, had returned, proclaiming the end of this battle. Discord had not only survived, but he was the one responsible for all this? What was she to think, she'd been duped, they all had, and Discord was a powerful being, he wasn't any young inexperienced fighter, no, he was beyond that, and if he had accomplished this much already, Celestia could only fear for what the future would bring. She approached him slowly as her heart sank, tears swelled in her eyes. "D-Discord?.....You..You're...b-but.."

Discord was pleased to finally get such an emotional response from the Princess. He crossed his arms with a chuckle as he wiggled one claw at celestia with an amused smile. "Nope nope nope, it's still too soon Celestia, you still have much more to see before all this is over. I look forward to it, but before we get started with all that, let's get started by bringing in some more guests shall we?" Discord clapped his hands as suddenly emerging from all around, enveloping the skies were dragons, mighty large frightening beasts as their roars echoed across the skies, they'd come from practically nowhere as they emerged from around the city, soaring up into the skies as Discord let off a maniacal cackle. "Let the chaos commence!"

And there they were, the tears of a goddess, Celestia shook her head in dismay as she knew what was coming, and knew that the sudden coming of Discord's plan was far too shocking for her to do anything about it and also get all her subjects out alive. Celestia had tears stream down her cheeks as she screamed out in desperation "NOOOOOOOO!!!"

Discord did not falter, he did not submit to her pleas as he'd have done in the past, his dragons, obvious allies of the chimera creature, simply reigned fire down upon the kingdom, fire and destruction. Luna to was in shock, she watched as in mere seconds the dragons laid the city to waste, covering it in flames as their precious subjects panicked and scurried about the area, getting caught in the fire as most obviously didn't escape.

The changelings did not let this chance go by either, they then pressed forward in their attack as they continued to slaughter any pony they came across, feeding on their love like parasites if any of it remained. Luna gritted her teeth as her body trembled, she began firing off spells at the changelings once more but there were too many of them, and they'd picked up on a strategy to force her to submit to their attacks, some would turn into ponies themselves. Luna could not tell the difference, she was trapped in this horrific situation, her subjects she could not diffrentiate between ponies and changelings, she simply stared as some of them looked as if they were slaughtering each other, but still she could not fire, still she could not decide what to do in the heat of the moment. Luna for all her strengths, for all that she was when it came to such situations, a beacon of fortitude and confidence; wept, she wept for her subjects as they were killed before her very eyes. She looked up at the now crimson skies as the dragons brought hell down upon their precious city, Luna then looked up at the cackling discord, who just continued to laugh maniacally with his arms spread as his plan was coming into fruition, as his surprise attack was finally coming down upon the ponies he'd despised so much.

Chrysalis to felt a slight sense of joy, but also disappointment. Her nose wrinkled somewhat as she saw the destruction rain down upon the city as she felt a quite spiteful it was all not completely of her own doing, this was Discord's prize at the moment. Although her subjects were dwindling the pony's numbers and Discords forces were absolutely overwhelming, she wanted the satisfaction of being the sole reason for Celestia's pain. She wanted to be the one who destroyed this despicable race single hoofedly and took it over. Chrysalis simply gazed up at the cackling Discord with slight fury, but as she did so, she'd soon be interrupted by the sound of Ellie screaming at her.

"Chrysalis! Is that you!?" Ellie was still entirely focused on the changeling queen.

Bravemane however, fell to floor, as he was no different from the Princesses. He simply looked up at the skies devoid of emotion as he was soon he was overwhelmed with rage. He slammed his hooves on the ground "AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Eden and Sombra surprisingly kept their cool, but Eden was trembling somewhat as he simply shook his head. "T-This is madness, this is-"

Sombra simply stated "Defeat....Canterlot will fall this night..."

Celestia's cries pierced through the very skies, as the sun itself shined alongside the night. She erupted into passionate scorching flames of utter rage as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her once beautiful majestic mane turned to fire as she'd seemed to have lost her mind.

"DISCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD!!!!!!!"

She yelled as loud as she could as in the next mere instant she was gone, ponies looked up at the sky at their kind princess consumed by anger as she left a trail of flame in her wake.

Luna trembled as she shook her head and then fly up into the sky "SISTER WAIT! C-CELESTIA!" Luna paused to regard the remnants of the Celestial Watch and the Lunar Guard, her expression worsened tragically as Luna bit her lower lip. "D-Do whatever you can my subjects! But please be safe in doing so, I must go assist Princess Celestia!"

Sombra and Eden saluted to her as Eden nodded "Of course Princess! Stay safe!"

Luna then flew up into the sky, going to assist her sister in their darkest hour.

Ellie was still focused on Chrysalis as she called out to her once more. "Chrysalis!"

Chrysalis could ignore the familiar mare no more as she finally turned, giving her her full attention. Many changelings began to descend from the castle steps as they'd finished their task of dealing with the ponies at the Gala. Chrysalis simply smirked at Ellie as she raised a brow. "Yes Ellie, it's me, I'm glad to see you could finally make it to the Gala."

Ellie's heart sank, as she looked upon her old friend tragically. "W-Why is this happening!? What are you? W-Why're you doing this, Chrysalis please, s-stop this, this is insane! You're killing everypony!"

Chrysalis winced somewhat at those words. She chuckled with a shrug, shaking her head. "Ah, I forgot Ellie just how clueless you are about the situation, I was the same not too long ago. You know, it's a shame, I really did like you you know, perhaps if you weren't a pony things could've been different. I'll make sure to make it fast for you hm?"

Ellie couldn't believe this was her friend, it had to be somepony else, but that recognition was still there, no matter how much she wanted to deny the truth it was right there in her face. She shook her head, desperately wanting this to be some false reality as she wept silently, muttering. "C-Chrysalis...why...what...I just don't understand, p-please, I'm sorry, I don't get it, any of it. I just want things to go back to normal, I don't want to lose you, I don't want to lose everypony, please...I-"

Chrysalis simply scoffed. She couldn't help but chuckle somewhat. "Oh, how ironic, a long time ago I begged for the same thing from your kind and my pleas were ignored, perhaps this is fate hm? Perhaps now I'm finally being repaid for all my misgivings, it seems that pony society will be broken by tonight, perhaps I can enjoy the satisfaction of having one such as yourself go through the very same pain I went through for so many years."

Ellie could only look at her old friend with tears streaming down her cheeks, Chrysalis's words breaking her slowly but surely.

Chrysalis continued. "Perhaps I can finally get a grand taste of that sense of-" Suddenly a bolt of magic shot past the queen's head as she raised a brow, noticing her cheek had been slit slightly. She smirked as she regarded the one who fired off the bolt of magic, a young blue colt breathing heavily as he stared the queen right in her eyes. "Oh?"

Eden approached Ellie and then nudged her hurriedly. "H-Hey! Now's not the time to be lost in whatever this is, I have no idea what the heck you guys are talking about or what it even means but notice we're surrounded. She's obviously the leader of one of the enemy forces, so if we take her out, then there's a chance all this crazy stuff will come to an end. Or at least we'll have made amazing progress in bringing it to an end!"

Sombra cut in, "Yes, we still have much work to do before this is all over."

Bravemane took a few trots forward with a determined expression, possessing a cold fury to him unlike any other as he had his sword in hoof. "Let's hurry up and deal with this and go help the Princesses...snap out of it Ellie..."

Ellie looked to the three of them then back to her old friend tragically. She couldn't fight Chrysalis, she cared for her too much, but nonetheless she levitated her blade hesitantly. She then put on a brave expression although they both knew it was a bluff, her and Chrysalis. Ellie remained silent as she'd attempt to assist her allies the best she could but she knew that probably wouldn't get her far in the end, she wasn't dedicated enough to this task.

Chrysalis simply smirked, looking down at the four ordinary ponies who would stand against her newly acquired might. They were but lowly guards standing against a queen, it was laughable, and so she laughed. Chrysalis laughed as she raised a hoof at all of them eagerly. "This will be fun, I look forward to seeing you all broken with defeat hehe."

A cataclysmic explosion set off in the sky as Discord and Celestia continued to clash. Celestia was giving him everything she had but Discord seemed to be masterfully parrying her every blow. He was using a variety of insulting items to defend himself such as chocolate shields, jawbreaker swords, and magic more acquited to his style of fighting.

Celestia couldn't help but feel confused although she was releasing her fury upon him, he did not budge, nor did he get damaged. There was certainly not this big a difference in their levels of power, and Celestia knew Discord would not be this confident nor should he be able to stand his ground against her so easily. He was doing something, and she couldn't help but wonder what that was.

Discord chuckled, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, he answered her question. "Hmhmhm, phase fighting Celestia..."

Celestia's eyes snapped wide as she paused, simply staring at Discord, shocked.

Discord chuckled "Why yes, it's quite surprising I know."

Celestia was overwhelmed with realization. That's how he survived Luna's attack, and that's how he was holding his ground so easily, he'd trekked where nopony ever should. Celestia snapped angrily at Discord "Did you learn nothing from Starswirl Discord!? Have you not learned from the mistakes of the past!?"

Discord simply shrugged with a delighted smile. "I've learned much from that old pony Celestia, actually, I've gained knowledge so vast that it's likely beyond your comprehension. But you'll see what I mean for yourself when that time comes, for now I plan to enjoy this and have some fun."

As Luna joined Celestia in the skies, Discord could only smirk. Now was the beginning of round two it seemed.

As Celestia and Luna peered at Discord with determined expressions. Discord could only give them delighted smiles.

As Sombra, Eden, Bravemane and Ellie peered up at Chrysalis and her army of changelings. Chrysalis could only chuckle, giving them welcoming smiles as they prepared for battle.

Now was the time to fight for everything each of them stood for. The time had come to fight, or fall. Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Chaos - Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 43 Minutes