//------------------------------//
// Dream Chapter 1: Mafia Intentions 
// Story: The Sons of Discord 
// by Gapeagle 
//------------------------------//

"Hard drinks have never tasted better. I guess outlawing alcohol was the best move for the businesses."

"Certainly. Never thought illegal activity could be anymore simple."

Two stylish women sat at a bar in downtown Canterlot. The bar was a small one, cozy and welcoming. The bartender was cleaning his glasses and talking with another patron. Unlike many bars in the capital, this one refused to obey the newly established laws against the serving of alcohol. Because of this, the bar was always full. However, there was another reason so many fine men and women were present.

The signs could be seen if one was observant. The bartender was flashing a fancy golden ring. Some patrons dressed identically with another and their coat pockets sagged with pistols. Some of the tables had elaborate carvings of broad crosses. The women's restroom was always unused and empty, leaving it to be a private location. This was more than a simple bar, this was a Templar hideout.

"My, my, Sister, drinking that fast and you'll be out like a light," one of the stylish women said to the other.

"You know that it is hard for me to become drunk. I've practiced the art of drinking for many years."

"Yes you have."

One of the women was a bit taller than the other. Being attuned with the fashion of the time, they were glossy black high heels, long one-piece dresses, nude-colored panty hoes, long black evening gloves, and their hair was pinned up. To finish it off, they each wore a small hat, but these were placed on the bar counter. Their bright red lips were turned up in smiles as they talked.

"Do you girls need anything?" the bartender asked them. 

"Not at the moment, but thank you," the taller one said. "Maybe you could help us in a way?"

He leaned on the bar and listened. "What ya need?"

"Well, we love gossip," the smaller one explained. "We love it. Usually the bartenders know a thing or two. You know, little snips of information."

"I would love to, but sorry sweethearts, in this place, gossip's only reserved to a select few," he shrugged casually.

"May the Father of Understanding guide you," the taller sister whispered.

"Ah, so you are Templar," he nodded. "Well, what ya need to know?"

"It's about Grandmaster Hopkins," the taller sister said. "He seems to have some wild plans. I've only heard things, but never had any confirmation. It seems he wants to start a business, no?"

"You are right, girl," he said. "The Grandmaster thinks we should start a major business to earn some respectable money. I don't think he's decided what kind of business. I would go into banking, but that's just me."

"The Templar should go with the gangsters and sell booze," the smaller one chuckled. "There's money in that."

"Aye, but I think the Sons of Discord have already jumped on that bandwagon," the bartender explained. "Why are ya gals so out of the loop? 

"Failure to communicate, that's all," the smaller chuckled. "And my sister and I have been dealing with issues."

"Hm, your missions been going poor?" he asked.

"Not really. However, it seems things are getting rougher out there," the taller one remarked. "Canterlot is getting more dangerous with each passing day."

The bartender chuckled and said something, but neither sister heard him. They both felt a disturbance outside, in front of the bar's entrance. A running engine rattled outside, car doors slammed shut, and several clicks of expensive shoes echoed on the sidewalk. The sisters weren't the only patrons on edge. Some of the men pushed their women back and slowly drew their pistols out of their coat pockets. 

After the initial noise, there was a brief moment of silence. The two sister glanced knowingly at each other. The taller sister reached under the skirt of her dress, where a pistol was strapped to her thigh. The bartender gave them confused looks, as he still was oblivious to what was about to happen. 

"Why you gals on edge all of-"

Both front windows shattered as bullets screamed in. Bottles, tables and signs were all shattered by the flying lead. The two sisters threw themselves over the bar and to cover. The bartender was one of the first to fall and his body fell limp on the floor, riddled with bullet holes. The Templar in the bar returned fire, but it was nothing compared to the machine gun fire that rained upon them. 

Not even the screams of the unfortunate women could be heard over the deafening gunfire. Tables were broken in pieces, the pool table crumbled as one of its legs was sawed in half. Hundreds upon hundreds of bullets filled the once cozy bar. The two sisters could only hunker down as sharp glass from the bottles fell on them. However, they would rather have simple glass cut them than the alternative bullets that ripped through the patrons.

The taller sister poked her head a little to see that they were the only ones left. The men and women were sprawled on the floor, letting their oozing crimson blood slide along the wooden boards. Some had tried to turn the tables for cover, but the old wood was no protection against the enemy. She did not have her head up for long as the bullets still screamed in with terrifying speed.

After this attack, the guns ceased firing. All the noise was suddenly gone, leaving the two sisters' ears ringing. There were no sounds until some hard clangs against the pavement could be heard. It was no doubt the intruders reloading their weapons and letting their drum magazines simply hit the ground. 

The door was forcefully kicked open and some enemies cautiously entered. Their shoes stepped on the bits of glass, making crackling sounds. Even their breathing could be heard by the two living sisters. The enemies stopped moving and stood in their positions as another came walking in.

"Oh my! Such poor, poor Templar!" a man with an accent cackled. "Thought they were safe here, didn't they? Such is always their mistake."

"I think the bar's clean, my Lord," a gruff woman's voice said.

"Don't worry, it's not in the slightest, my dear. There's two behind the bar," the leader laughed.

This caused the the two sisters to spring up and point their pistols at the goons. They pointed at five people, two of which were women. The goons raised their Tommy guns back at the sisters, but neither side fired. The lead man, who was wearing a mismatching suit and carrying a bent cane, chuckled deviously. His yellow and red eyes displayed immense amusement.

"Celestia! Lulu!" he called to them. "After all this time? I should have known I would have found you in a bar, drinking your ancient lives away, hehe."

"Leave us be, Discord!" Celestia threatened. "You know bullets don't exactly scare us."

"Don't lie to me, Tia. With me here, you are no more invulnerable than the dead Templar on the floor." He gestured at one gaping woman.

"What do you want?" Luna demanded.

"Why the hostility? I just saved you some work," he chuckled. "Is this how you treat an old friend? In your years, I see you two have become crabby. What finally pushed you over? Was it the Griffon War? Was it the Gas Era? Please, I would love, simply love to know."

"We weren't going to kill these Templar, Discord!" Celestia said. "We were about to retrieve some important information from the bartender. But you just come in here and shot him dead!"

"Me?" Discord gestured at himself with a mangled hand. "I didn't shoot a single bullet. Vinyl must have shot him."

The woman next to him who was wearing a black wooden mask and had bright blue hair shrugged. "Sorry, I guess? These guns aren't too accurate."

"Enough foolery!" Luna slammed the bar with her fist. "Discord, your Sons and Daughters do nothing but drive everyone back! We both have a common enemy, but you don't see it that way. Why is it that you believe you and your Chaotic family are against the world? Do you Fear having allies?"

"I'm sorry, Lulu, but what's that ring on your finger indicate?" he pointed a gold ring that both sisters wore. "Yes, those rings are Templar rings. You two are proud Templar. You even say so yourself. Here we have Celestia, the Bearer of Wisdom, the grand Father of Understanding. The very deity the Templar Order worship. Then we have Luna, the Bearer of Fear, the second-in-command. You see, we are no allies and never will be. You represent Order, we represent Chaos. Just like the good ol' days when the Assassins represented Harmony and the Templar represented Absolute Order. To ally ourselves would break the boundaries of nature. Even though I love change, there are some things better left the same."

"Our Order is a beneficial one, not the filth the modern Templar have turned it into," Luna replied. 

"And simply because I am the Father of Understanding, doesn't mean the Order listens to me," Celestia also said.

"Sounds like tough luck for you two," Vinyl chuckled. "Now I'm gettin' bored with all this 'higher cause' talk. Time to do what we actually wanted to do."

The four Sons of Discord pulled the triggers of their machine guns and fired at the sisters. The sisters ducked back under cover. Luna, using the powers of the Element of Fear, vanished into a shadow. Celestia, using her Element, caused the room to become severely bright, making the attackers close their eyes in pain.

"Welp, time for a show," Discord whispered.

Luna formed back next to a Son. She grabbed him and placed him in between her and the other attackers. His body was soon riddled with bullets from his allies. A magical blast from her hand sent the Tommy guns flying out the attackers' hands. 

Vinyl growled and lunged at the Bearer of Fear. Two hidden blades appeared from under her suit's sleeves. Luna dodged the first vicious swipes. Seeing an opening in the attacks, she grabbed the former Assassin and expertly threw her into a table. Vinyl grunted and cursed as she fell over.

The other Daughter of Discord rolled her black sleeves up, showing that she had no hidden blades. Her skin started to darken into an inorganic material. Almost all of her forearms were metallic.  Luna was not surprised at all by the magic of the Daughter. She simply stood back and prepared for the Daughter to make a move.

"A shard user?" she mocked. "I thought better of you, Discord."

"No you didn't, Lulu," he said.

"You're right."

The shard user swung her small, but heavy fist, chipping off a piece of the wall. Luna was having trouble finding fighting room in the small bar, but she dared not go on the streets. This fight was not meant for public eye. 

The user swung once more and missed again. Celestia aimed her pistol and fired three times at the Daughter. All three hit, but ricocheted off the metal skin.  The shard user reacted by throwing an insult at the older sister, giving the younger a window of opportunity.

Luna sent the user flying with a magic push. The young woman tumbled over, but got up almost instantly. Even though she was metallic, she was still as flexible and mobile as ever. She raised her metal hand up. Luna was unsure of the reason for the odd action, but she took no chances and dissipated into shadow. A metal spike sprung from the floor where she was standing. It was long and thin and was sharp enough to pierce the ceiling above. If she did not act so quick, Luna would have undoubtedly been in for a terrible fate.

Celestia fired a beam of light at the user. The power sent the metal woman into the wall, where she made a large dent and cracked the brick. Her bright red eyes flashed with hatred as she got up. Almost all her clothes were burned away by the intense light, showing even more of her shiny metallic skin. 

"That's the last you'll get of me!" she growled.

Luna appeared again from the shadows. She watched the Daughter with patience. Whoever was to move first was going to lose. Celestia crept up beside her sister and they faced off against the metal woman. Discord relaxed on a riddled chair, watching the show. The only other Son was on the ground, groaning from a wound Celestia had given him.

"Yehay!" 

The metal woman pounced forward. Her shiny fist was leading the way with dominating force. The sisters simply sidestepped out of the deadly path. Before the shard user could recover from her own mistake, Celestia blinded her with a flash of light, making her scream in pain. Luna then grabbed her from behind and placed a glowing hand on the woman's face.

The woman's body began to shake violently as if electricity was flowing through her. Luna kept the hand on her face, sending all sorts of horrors into her mind. The woman's screeching came to a violent halt when the back of head exploded, sending out blood and brains over Luna's shoulder. Celestia grimaced at the violence and watched her younger sister let the body fall on the floor with an intense clang.

"Bravo, bravo!" Discord clapped. 

The sisters gracefully walked towards Discord. However, the violent shout of Vinyl stopped them. The masked woman came at them again. One of her swipes with the wrist blades was successful, cutting into Celestia's arm. The Bearer of Wisdom winced, but was unfazed. Both sisters pushed her back into the wall with their magic. Vinyl tried to recover, but the pain was too much and she collapsed unconscious. 

"Ah, good ol' Vinyl," Discord chuckled. "Doesn't know when to quit."

"We have defeated your insane minions," Celestia said. "I think it's time for you to go with them."

Both sisters raised their pistols at the Lord of Chaos. He leaned back in his chair and waited for them to fire. The sisters did not hesitate and pulled the triggers. Confetti burst harmlessly from the barrels and lightly sprinkled on the Bearer of Chaos. No reaction came from the three of them.

"Should have known..." Celestia sighed. 

"What's the matter? Go ahead, shoot me!" he laughed. 

Like he asked, they fired again, only to have small flags come out that said the word "BANG" on them. Celestia was about to giggle, but composed herself in time. It would have been inappropriate to laugh at such a time. Instead, she took a deep breath and kept her false emotions.

"Your mission of gunning us down has failed," she said dramatically. "Try harder next time."

"Of course, of course," he smiled. "I'll bring bigger guns, more men, and a truckload of hookers. If that doesn't do the trick, well then I'm stumped. Have fun hunting down whatever scumbag opposes your viewpoints. Tell Grandmaster Hopkins I said hello."

"You know he wants to start a business, don't you?" Celestia asked.

"Tia!" Luna whispered. "That's our informa-"

"That's rather interesting. He's finally going the ol' capitalistic route. I'm quite proud. I hope it goes well. More business equals more money which means more of a challenge. I love challenges. It's a good way to keep the war going and to keep Chaos in this world. As long as there are Templar, the Sons of Discord will be here."

"And we'll continue to hunt down your Survivors of Chaos," Luna growled. "Those men and women are but animals under your Chaos. They are not salvageable. Once you give them red eyes, they are no longer human."

"Sounds like you're generalizing. How rude," Discord chuckled. 

Luna huffed and started to leave. Celestia was a bit confused by her sister's sudden departure. She gave one last glance at the Lord of Chaos before following her sister out. However, before she left for good, she took one of the only unharmed bottles of booze. 

As the sirens of the police rung through the streets, the two sisters quietly walked side-by-side on the sidewalk. Their dresses were ripped, their hair undone, and their shoes missing, but they kept a regal composure. Blood trickled down Celestia's arm and pieces of flesh were on Luna's dress, but neither seemed to care.

"So, what 'scumbag that opposes our views' is next on the list?" Luna asked quietly.

"The list is quite long, Sister."

"It always is..."


~.~.~.~