//------------------------------//
// The Last Stand 
// Story: Patriarchal/Divine Intervention 
// by Teh dr3am3r 
//------------------------------//

	Nine mares stood atop a grassy knoll overlooking what used to be Canterlot, gazing on the preposterous layout of the backwards city. Streets of soap  filled with gross suds as bright pink rainclouds drenched the city in a deluge of brown precipitation. Over the onlooking ponies, the sun fell out of the sky and was immediately replaced by a backwards crescent moon which followed its predecessor and was replaced thereafter just as quickly, the blink of an eye. Everywhere the ponies looked, Chaos abounded, throwing things out of whack; entire buildings levitated high above the ground, flipped on their heads as ponies went about their day in them as if nothing was out of the ordinary. 
Celestia stomped her hoof in anger at the havoc wreaked on the city and cringed as a lance of pain shot up her leg. Her mane was pulled into a streaming ponytail over bandages wrapped about her head, hindering, yet at the same time enhancing her regal look. Next to her stood a bouncy pink earth pony, excited by the cotton candy clouds and chocolate rain that was Discords mark. An orange hoof pressed down on her shoulder, its owner telling her to settle down, "We got a job ta do Sugarcube." Pinkie settled down momentarily, but still looked about with giddy delight. 
"Don't worry Applejack, we may need her enthusiasm when we confront Discord. Pinkie, do you have your party cannon?" asked Celestia.
"Sure do!" she piped, pulling the device from behind her flank. Cadence eyed her incredulously, having little experience with the impossible randomness of Pinkie Pie. 
"How-"
"Don't ask Cadence," interjected Twilight. "That's just Pinkie Pie. In all my years with her I've never figured her out."
"I'm not sure anypony can figure her out." added Rainbow Dash. 
Pinkie remained oblivious to the conversation about her as she perched on the cannon like a strange bird, or at least she gave no indication as to noticing them. Celestia continued gazing at her city with growing frustration as Luna stepped to her side, nudging her with a wing. "Let us go Tia, it does us no good watching Discord at play. We had best be off and confront him."
"You mentioned Chrysalis and the changelings, what about them?"
"Defeat Discord and they will flee I am sure. They are vicious, but cowardly. Chrysalis is smart enough to know when the tables are turned against her."
Celestia sighed, and proceeded forward, the remainder of the group following in her hoofsteps. The troupe entered the ridiculous city, eying every shadow that moved, fully expecting a sudden onslaught of changelings. However, the deeper they delved into the city, their fears were disappointed by the complete absence of the amorphous insectoids. Their apprehension remained however, and they remained permanently cautious with the exception of Pinkie who could barely contain herself in sheer excitement. 
Upon drawing near the gates, Fluttershy squeaked in terror as they caught sight of gashes in the stones of the gatehouse. Here, before the palace walls, the rotting corpses of dozens of guards and soldiers lay stinking in the sun, filling the air with a foul stench. The gates were shattered, one door torn completely off its hinges and the other marred with a hole torn through the thick wood from the onslaught of hundreds of monstrous creatures. They entered the fallen gate tentatively, Pinkie finally sober as she pushed her cannon from behind.
Discord popped into existence next to Celestia and wrapped a lion paw around her shoulders, smiling joyously. "I left the cleanup for you Little Princess. I thought you might enjoy it." He vanished before anypony could react and reappeared at Twilight's side, toying with her tiara, "The Elements of Magic, I did not foresee the power of these little trinkets the first time, they just looked like lame jewelry to me. But this time, I know better." He vanished as a bolt of energy from Luna sliced through the space his chest used to be. His voice called down at them from above and they spotted him atop the walls, walking along the parapets. Luna shot at him again, only to miss as his form teleported in front of the group. Again charging her horn, the furious alicorn was just about the attack again when a shiny black changeling rammed her and darted off as the princess fell to the ground, hard. 
A rope lashed out and wrapped around the fleeing creature, tightening about its torso and yanking it to the ground. Applejack stood over it imperiously, placing a hoof on its gleaming covered head. She began pressing down as Pinkie Pie leaped up and punched AJ in the face. The cowpony fell onto the ground as a ball of confetti blasted the pink pony in the chest, throwing her across the courtyard into a wall. Every eye turned to the cannon and found Pinkie (apparently the real one) reloading  it with an angry expression on her face.
A squeal rang out as several Rainbow Dash's ganged up on Fluttershy, closing in about her. "Not again," the real Rainbow Dash groaned as she flew into their midst, kicking and punching the several copies of herself. Chaos broke out as dozens of the creatures assaulted the ponies. The three princesses stood together with several failed doppelgangers of themselves encircling them, lashing out and striking them where they could. 
As the nine battled the army, Chrysalis walked up calmly beside Discord, watching her children fight with a sadistic pleasure. "Well Dad, how you doing?"
"Chryssy! Pull up a chair and join me!" He conjured his trademark chair, and pushed a recliner at his daughter, who sat in it alongside him. "Popcorn?" he offered, producing a bucket of the stuff and holding it out to Chrysalis.
"No, these ponies love each other, so I am getting my fill. Especially those two," she said indicating Twilight and Luna as they fought side by side. "Every time one gets in trouble, I get a little bit of those delicious emotions. Did you know they were together?" 
"Well their situation is one of my creations, so yes, the signs were obvious to me." 
Chrysalis laughed cruelly as they watched the fight, taking sips of both emotion and soda between them. She glanced at Cadence with worry, scared of the alicorn's power when Discord caught her nervous eye. "Don't worry about her. Ever since Cosmos left, I have control of most things here. She can't hurt you."
His words calmed her just so, but she had once underestimated that mare and she had paid the price. She did not want to make that mistake again. 

Havoc ensued for several minutes, before the loud "ENOUGH!!" of a stallion rang through the courtyard. A wave of energy slammed into the changeling horde and scattered them, giving the tired mares some rest. Cadence's squeal of delight indicated Shining Armor's entrance as she rushed into his legs in an strong embrace. Shining kissed her cheek lightly and broke the contact, walking up to Twilight. "Room for one more Twily?"
"Yes please," the unicorn gasped between breaths.
Celestia turned to Discord and Chrysalis, now standing with their chairs nowhere to be found. "Now you will face us Discord,and you will be destroyed."
The draconequus chuckled knowingly, "Your little sister knows that I am indestructible. Daddy tried to, once upon a time, and even he couldn't do it. What makes you think you can?"
"I can't. But they can." she replied calmly, indicating the Elements of Harmony.
"Go ahead and try." Discord smiled haughtily, drawing a target over his chest like he had before, still with the same arrogant expression.
The six mares stood together and closed their eyes as Twilight cast the spell she had become intimately familiar with. Their forms rose into the air, Elements glowing as power filled their bodies. They opened their eyes of one mind and poured their magical energies together firing a rainbow-beam from their midst. The ray slammed into Discord, but the draconequus remained standing ,unaffected by the powerful beam of power with a smug expression scrawled across his face. Twilight and her friends dropped to the ground, landing squarely on their hooves as Twilight asked, "Princess, is he-" her question was cut short as she opened her eyes and her expression mimicked those of all the others around her.
Discord sighed, looking at his nails as he hummed a discordant tune aloud. The courtyard remained silent except for his awful lullaby as all looked at him in astonishment. Glancing up, he feigned a look of surprise and exclaimed, "Well I knew I was good looking, but this is kinda awkward. Especially with you looking at me like that Shining." Shining's mouth clamped shut and he glared at the joker with distaste. Discord rose on his mismatched wings and lightning flashed behind him through the pink clouds.
"And now all of you will feel my wrath. Time for you all to die you helpless wretches!" He laughed maniacally as the group below him braced themselves. 
Discord's laugh was cut short as a black bolt of lightning exploded from the sky and struck the ground between him and the group of ponies. A single massive figure erupted from the void and slammed into the ground with a starry flash that shattered the stones beneath his gargantuan hooves. "Not if I have anything to do with this." His voice boomed with the power of a supernova and the sheer volume made the cracked cobblestones shudder. The enraged look on his starry face terrified everypony. However Discord remained impassive, smirking at the titanic being that threatened him. Chrysalis however, recoiled at the sight of the god and fled, her army of changelings in tow.
Discord paid his fleeing daughter no mind, "You couldn't destroy me before." he said to the dour Cosmos. "You couldn't stop me from raping and murdering your beloved wife. You were unable to do anything as I stole my daughters from you. Why should I believe that you can do anything to me?"
"Silence, abomination! I will hear no words from thine mouth, Chaos. Thine life is forfeit before all of my worlds!"
"You can't destroy me you idiot." Discord stated angrily, his passive facade cracking under the pressure of the thunderous voice.
Cosmos had known this moment had come, he had dwelt upon it amongst his stars, contemplating his creation and everything that he was. If Discord could not be destroyed as his destroyer lived, then his unnatural law of opposite being would make the reverse face of the coin take on its contrary form. This was the only way to destroy the abomination.
"Then I will create thee." He whispered. Accepting the fatal truth of his actions, Cosmos' huge horn glowed as he unfurled his voluminous wings. The king focused on long forgotten magics, the magics of creation, the magics of his being and funneled them into his horn. Immediately around him the stones repaired themselves, the gates and walls healed, and all around the corpses of the long dead reversed their decay and returned to life. Pure creation in everything that it was emanated from king, pushing new breeds of flowers from the ground, and spawning unheard of creatures in the gardens. His eyes grew brighter, turning into miniature suns as the courtyard filled with his magic. A flash of fear appeared on Discord's face, marring his carefree countenance as he realized what his creator intended to do. A quiet "No" slipped from his mouth in an ominous whisper. A single flap of Cosmos' colossal wings lifted him into the sky and battered all below like a hurricane. In the air his wings fanned out in a magnificent display of feathers that blocked out the sun, throwing his gigantic shadow over the ground like an eclipse.
A small (for Cosmos) orb of energy materialized at the very tip of his horn that shone brighter than the sun, forcing everypony to shield their eyes, all except Discord who could only gaze on with a look of horror on his distorted face. The giant king drew his head back and took a deep breath, setting all the magic in his grasp. With a grunt he thrust his horn at Discord and fired a massive ray of creation magic at Chaos. The beam hit him hard, throwing him to the ground with the force of an asteroid hitting a planet, and drilled into him relentlessly. The victim struggled to his feet under the sheer power that gorged into him, and held up a hand to shield himself from the shaft of tangible creation. At first nothing happened, and a thin smile cracked his lips. But as he watched, his skin slowly turned black like frostbite and crumbled to ash in the wind above him.
The coy smile was replaced with a look of horror as he shook his hand violently, trying in vain to shake off the blight. the afflicted hand slowly crumbled away into nothing and the black shading drifted up the length of his arm. Cosmos drew in another swath of energy, but added his special ingredient to the mixture, the one thing he could give his daughter's to repay them for all of his mistakes. He set down lightly, horn throbbing visibly with magic, and bent down over Discord's flailing body. He rested the tip of his horn against Discords head, making the draconequus stop dead in his tracks.
With a grunt, Cosmos jettisoned all the energy of his being into his fell creation. He could feel his eternal soul rend and tear from the bounds of his body as it tore into the "creating" Chaos. Discords eyes slid closed and with a slow sigh, the light from Cosmos slid into Discord's chest, illuminating his body like a light bulb. He gasped and his eyes shot open,yet nothing happened. Before everypony's eyes, his body imploded with the force of a thousand suns, blasting eveypony off their hooves. Everything after that happened in slow motion. With a groan, Cosmos collapsed to the ground as everypony rose to their feet, issuing a small earthquake that shook the stones beneath him into pieces. The princesses rushed to his massive head as his head struck the earth in a booming thud.
"Are you all right Father?" Celestia questioned.
His voice rasped, slow and pained like an extremely old pony. "Helia, mine beloved Helia. To thee I give the world and its workings. Ye will ensure that the seasons move as they should, preserve mine laws as I have done since The Dawn."
"What are you saying?!" Celestia gasped in panic.
Cosmos, didn't respond to her question, instead he spoke to Luna, "Selene, sweet, tender Selene. Since the stars art seen by night, it is only right that thou art their master. Keep them, and watch over them as I have done."
Luna did not respond as her bewildered sister did, understanding what he was saying, "I will Father."
He slowly wheezed and coughed, making the palace walls tremble. "Forgive me, for I hath failed thee."
The truth and realization finally hit home in Celestia, and for the first time in a thousand years, tears erupted in her eyes, dripping down her muzzle in waterfalls as she spluttered in protest. "No! You can't die on us! You can't just leave us like this, damn you!" she sobbed through rivers of tears. She pressed her head against his massive cheek, begging for him to stay through shuddering sobs.
"I will ne'er leave thee,Helia, for I am in thine heart, forever and always."
"NO. No, no, no, no, no! Please, don't leave me." Celestia begged.
"Be strong Selene," he said around another racking cough that made the castle shake in its foundations. "Be strong for thine sister."
"I will." Luna stated simply. Cosmos nodded and called for Twilight. She drew near tentatively, unsure of how to act before the dying giant.
The king's eyes slowly closed and his breath shuddered as he spoke directly to her. "Twilight Sparkle, forgive me. I give thee my Selene, she is thine if thou shalt have her." Twilight said nothing, her mind reeling as she absorbed his gift. He chuckled like a volcano, reading her mind.
"I go now, to my stars. To rest."
His torso swelled in his final breath and the sigh thereafter was one of complete peace as he passed into death. His body slowly grew translucent and the stars on his coat and mane ceased their eternal undulating as they rose from his body into the sky. Even in the day, the stars shone brilliantly in the heavens, a constellation of the star-king for all time to hold remembrance of. Celestia rushed to Luna who pulled her into a gentle embrace, gazing up at the stars, her stars, as Tia cried into her shoulder. Luna stroked the white alicorn's mane soothingly like a mother, as Celestia had to her countless times before. A single tear fell from the moon princess' eye as she gazed at the picture of her father painted across the sky for all to see.