The battlefield went quiet as the laughing continued to thunder through the valley, even the changelings had stopped their advance and looked to the sky.
Chrysalis formed out of nowhere, although her appearance had changed greatly. Her eyes were now pure jet black and her form seemed as if it was fading in and out of existence.
“Not here, not now,” Cadance muttered under her breath in disbelief.
Celestia put a hoof on Cadance’s shoulder to reassure the younger Alicorn. “Chrysalis!” Celestia called out. “Whatever foul game you wish to play on us it will not work, we stand as one and our unity is stronger than ever,” she continued as she placed her over hoof on Discord’s shoulder. “Our will and friendship shall never be broken by the likes of you again!” She yelled adamantly at the Changeling Queen.
Chrysalis simply laughed at this as the changelings began to back the Equestrian army into a tight circle. “Are you done yet, Celestia? Do you think I care about your love anymore, I have a new source of power for my people now, the power of the lord Chaos!” She yelled triumphantly.
“What, but Chaos hasn’t been unleashed yet, there’s still another artifact,” Cadance yelled at Chrysalis.
“There’s a reason they call us changeling’s you know. ‘We’ planted the information of there being a Chaos artifact in Yak Yakistan,” Chrysalis replied with a wide smile. “Now I get to revel in my victory as well as my ‘second’ deception of the princesses of Equestria… It’s good to be me,” she added with a loud laugh
Realization dawned on Celesta as Chrysalis’s horn lit up with a black hue and sent a spell spiraling towards her.
Celestia attempted to react but she wouldn’t have been fast enough… Had it not been for Cadance.
Cadance stepped out in front of Celestia and blocked the uncoming spell with a shield. “You talk a lot, Chrysalis, let’s see if you can fight as well as you run and hide,” Cadance said and raised her head in defiance.
“Oh you asked for it, I already have a score to settle with you as it is, bitch!” Chrysalis yelled and cast another more powerful spell.
Cadance held onto Celestia’s hoof.
Celestia in turn grabbed hold of Discords bear hand.
Cadance and Discord grabbed hold of the honor guards hoofs who in turn held onto the other until the entire army was connected.
The army concentrated and a giant shield formed around them just before the spell hit home.
“So long as we stand together, no one shall break our circle!” Cadance yelled in defiance as the changelings flung themselves on the shield.
Luna stumbled to her hooves and looked around at her friends attempt to thwart the changelings and smiled. She then stumbled over to Celestia and grabbed hold of her sister's shoulder adding her own magic to the armies.
Celestia looked back at Luna and smiled at her sister’s defiance. “We stand as one, Chrysalis! And we shall never be broken!” Celestia cried out as she looked back to the Changeling Queen.
The shield suddenly pulsed and the shield knocked off the changelings.
Chrysalis seemed oddly unfazed by this development, in fact she seemed amused.
“You know, I’ve drawn this out long enough… Why don’t ‘I’ show you the true power of chaos!” Chrysalis yelled and her eyes began to burn and her horn started to build a massive amount of power.
“Get ready!” Cadance called out and braced herself.
Chrysalis unleashed a giant burst of energy that blew through the shield like it was paper. The sheer force of the spell sent the army spiraling to the ground.
“Hmm, I expected better out of you, Cadance… Oh well, finish them,” Chrysalis stated with a wave of dismissal.
The changelings piled on the now helpless and scattered army.
As Cadance was quickly overwhelmed her thoughts lay on the power of Chrysalis. So this is the power of Chaos, if it’s this strong, then what hope do we have? Then the changelings had all but covered her as they amassed around her... No, I can't give up!
Chrysalis simply laid back laughing at how easy this was, Now the rest of Equestria will be mine as Lord Chaos promised. Chrysalis thought while laughing to herself. Then she saw a giant beam of light emerge from the Changelings.
Luna broke free of them sending the Changelings flying in all directions. “Is that all?” Luna asked trying to catch her breath. “I can go all day!” She yelled as she spat at the ground.
Celestia broke out soon after and joined her sister. “We do this together,” Celestia said to her sister.
“Yes we do,” Discord said as he rode in on a bicycle and ran the little bell on the bicycle. The sisters looked at him strangely. “What if we’re going to go out in a blaze of glory, might as well go out in style,” he added with a laugh.
“Room for one more?” Cadance asked as she bucked a Changeling away from her.
“What hope could you possibly have against me!” Chrysalis yelled with a ferocious smile. “Your army lays destroyed before your eyes, what hope do you have?” She asked.
“So long as we have eachother…” Cadance started as she charged up her horn.
“So long as we trust eachother…” Luna continued as she charged her horn too and connected the tip with Cadance’s.
“There will always be hope…” Celestia continued and mirrored Luna’s and Cadance’s actions and connected the tip of her horn to theirs.
“And we will always win the day!” Discord finished and charged up a spell and placed his hand on the horns.
“Your time is over!” They all yelled at once and then unleashed the spell.
The spell produced a giant blinding light that blinded everyone for several seconds. When the spell ended there was a giant swath through the center of the valley and so much smoke that Cadance, Celestia, Luna and Discord couldn’t tell if it had worked.
“Do you think it worked?” Luna asked barely able to stand after the overexertion of her magic.
“It had to have worked, we hit her with everything we had,” Cadance said struggling to stand just as much as Luna.
Then a voice came from the smoke that shattered their hopes. “You know that almost tickled,” Chrysalis stated as the smoke cleared. Chrysalis was virtually unscathed by the attack and simply smiled at the bewildered group in front of her. “Let me show what true power is!” Chrysalis said and immediately charged a spell and blasted the group.
None of them had any power to stop the attack and were consumed in a sea of darkness as they were knocked across the valley.
Chrysalis looked at the struggling forms of her enemies now fighting just to stand. Chrysalis sighed at the display. “Now you can kill them,” she said nonchalantly. Then Chrysalis was hit by a huge sudden headache.
I require them alive fool, do not forget that I give the orders around here little girl. Bring the princesses and the imposter to me, Chaos spoke furiously into Chrysalis’s mind.
What about the rest? Chrysalis asked.
You can kill them, they are of no use to me, Chaos replied with no sympathies.
Thank you, Lord Chaos. Chrysalis said and turned to her army. “The Princesses and Discord are to be taken alive, kill the rest,” Chrysalis said with a wave of her hoof.
The changelings bound the princesses but only found a stuffed animal version of Discord with a note in it’s mouth that read IOU 1 Discord.
“Mistress, Discord has escaped,” one of the changelings said.
“Damn it… Oh well, we have the princesses at least,” Chrysalis replied looking over to the three princesses. “I’m glad Chaos wanted us to spare them… I’m going to have so much fun torturing them for what they did to me!” She announced happily as she held up Cadance’s chin with her hoof.
Discord watched with regret as he witnessed his friends being dragged off and then slumped down in exhaustion, I’m so sorry I just didn’t have the power to get you girls out of there. “It took all the magic I had left to just slip away,” Discord whispered with regret while trying to catch his breath. I have to warn Twilight, she’ll know what to do. He thought and looked around before beginning his long trek back to Ponyville... The end of days is upon us, and my only hope now is Twilight and her friends.
XXX
Applejack and her friends arrived at Canterlot after abandoning the train to approach more quietly. Canterlot was all but destroyed when they reached it, there was not a structure above two stories still left standing and the streets were barren besides the occasional piece of debris that littered it when they passed through the gates. Not even the enemy was present.
“Maybe they left?” Fluttershy managed trying to not melt down.
“Or they’re laying a trap for us,” Applejack replied keeping an eye on every corner and back alley as well as open doors. “Pinkie anything on the Pinkie sense radar?” She asked turning to Pinkie.
“Nope, everything’s clear, it’s odd I feel like there’s something wrong, but my Pinkie sense doesn’t feel anything,” Pinkie said clearly bewildered by this turn of events.
“You know what the best answer to that is,” Rainbow said with a wide smile.
“What’s that?” Rarity asked with uncertainty.
“Spring the trap!” rainbow yelled as she charged forward using her wings to propel her.
“Rainbow wait!” Pinkie yelled as her Pinkie sense went off.
Pinkie’s warning came too late, Rainbow was punched into a wall and was taken out of the equation completely.
“You ponies are just as foolish as ever!” Tirek said as he stepped around the corner, his eyes now had no pupils and were just pure black and his hair had become a flame of dark energy and he seemed to phase in and out of reality.
Changelings piled into the streets and surrounded the group of ponies.
“Hopefully you four will prove more of a challenge than this whelp,” Tirek said and kicked Rainbow into a building.
“Careful Tirek, Chaos wants them unharmed… Mostly,” A dark Alicorn said as she landed on Tirek’s shoulder.
“That voice…” Applejack started.
“Those wings...” Rarity said in disbelief.
“It can’t be,” Pinkie said mirroring Rarity’s disbelief.
“Twilight,” Fluttershy said confirming everyone's dread.
The Alicorn simply laughed. “You dare to compare me to that weakling, I am everything that she could never be, I am better in every way. Because I don’t have you pests holding me down,” The dark Twilight announced with an evil laugh.
“You can’t mean that,” Pinkie said with tears stinging her eyes.
“That ain’t Twilight, Pinkie,” Applejack said with certainty not even taking her eyes off of Dark Twilight for a second.
"How right you are, Applejack," The Dark Twilight said as she simply looked at Applejack with an unwavering evil smile. “Take care of them, Tirek,” Dark Twilight said nonchalantly and leaped down from Tirek’s shoulder.
“I don’t take orders from you, little pest!” Tirek yelled at Dark Twilight.
“You will if you want your reward from the master,” Dark Twilight shot back.
Tirek simply grunted angrily and turned to charge the four ponies.
Applejack ran underneath Tirek and after the now retreating Twilight.
“Applejack!” Pinkie yelled.
“You deal with them, leave her to me!” Applejack yelled back as she left her friends to fend for themselves. Whoever that is, she’s responsible for what happened to Twilight, I won’t let her get away! Applejack thought to herself with a fury in her heart.
Little did Applejack know that this was just another trap set up by Chaos and his lackeys, and she was running headlong into it...