Celestia's heart sunk further and so did her resolve as she felt another Element being corrupted. She glanced at Luna beside her, allowing slight panic to appear in her eyes. They were both in her room, Luna digging though the shelves for Twilight's friendship reports and Celestia sending those found to Spike.
"They'll win," assured Luna as she drew a cupboard closed with her magic. "I'm certain of-"
A freezing cold washed over them and cut her off, signifying her student's descent into despair.
This time, Luna let dread slip into her voice. "Quick!"
Another scroll popped out of existence before Celestia. Then another, until they were all sent. Celestia waited anxiously for any change and, after several minutes, whispered "Twilight, I beg you, please be safe."
As if on cue, Twilight's very essence vanished from her senses.
Celestia drew in a sharp gasp, her fortitude crumbling down like a house of cards. "No," she breathed. "No. No no no no no!"
Without thinking, she spread out her wings and soared off the balcony, ignoring Luna's plea to stay with her.
Luna looked up sadly at her sister's disappearing form, spoke a short prayer for her safety, and focused her energy back on protecting Canterlot from Discord's power.
Celestia flew as fast as she could toward Twilight's last known location. She zoomed past floating houses and upside down mountains until she neared a plain near Ponyville. Her heart beat madly, even though she felt it had been ripped out of her chest when Twilight's presence evaporated.
She soon found her student.
Twilight lay curled up on the grass near a windmill, grey and lifeless. Celestia landed next to her and took a closer look. Tears had dug deep furrows beneath her eyes and her face was frozen in the most miserable frown Celestia had ever witnessed. Her crown hung dully from her head.
Celestia nudged her with her snout, heavy-lidded eyes brimming with tears. She nudged harder, but Twilight remained still.
She'd thought impossible to die of chagrin, since she'd survived the devastating grief wrought by Luna's corruption and her necessary banishment.
She'd been so wrong.
A long howl of wretched sorrow rose up her throat and echoed throughout the lands as she fell to her knees. She stroked softly Twilight's cheek with her muzzle, drawing nothing but more suffering.
Laughter resonated behind her, hanging in the air like a bad memory. "Looks like the Elements didn't choose right." The hearty laugh turned into a childish giggle. "Hope you had a warranty."
Celestia tore her eyes from Twilight's body and settled them on Discord. His own mismatched eyes sparkled with amusement and a satisfaction he didn't bother to hide. He floated lazily a foot from the patchwork ground, a grin literally splitting his face as he stifled another chuckle.
"Oh, don't give me that look," he continued, fakely serious. "I did you a favor. You're too uptight, you really need some chaos to cheer up."
Crushing pain swelled Celestia's heart, threatening to rip it apart, stirring something dark, something she'd refused to bow to from the moment she met it.
Hatred.
Discord opened his mouth to deliver more of his wisdom, but nothing came out when Celestia turned fully toward him.
Her lips were twisted into a hard scowl, revealing teeth grinding together. All her muscles seemed ready to spring into action and her great wings spread out far above her. She breathed slowly and loudly, hot air flaring from her nostrils. Light fled from her body as a thin, dark mist stemmed from her eyes.
A long, unnatural snarl broke out, closer to an earthquake than to a sound, seemingly making air and light shy away from Celestia and shaking Discord to his core.
"Fuck."
He tried to teleport away as soon as the word left his mouth but found himself unable to do so. Dark magic swirled around him, seeping into his skin like one thousand serrated talons. Eyes wide and pupils reduced to the size of pinpricks, he watched Celestia stomp toward him like an ancient goddess of retribution.
"HELP!" he shrieked as his body turned numb.
Celestia didn't react, settling for watching him suffer. There was no sign of satisfaction on her face however, just evidence of endless loathing. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, trickling down into his eyes. Searing pain burst within his body and he screeched in pain. He thought his end was near, but something threw his captor off her hooves.
Two pegasi and an earth pony had rushed to the scene and charged their princess, and Discord could spot and hear several others closing in. Celestia's magic hold over him vanished into thin air, though a chill still clung to his very bones.
Discord's terror dwindled as he watched more and more of Celestia's subjects swarm over her, bucking and biting. Breathing slowly returning, he watched with unconcealed, though fragile, amusement.
A loud crack and blood spilled high in the air as Celestia broke a pegasus' jaw with one swift kick of her hindleg. The momentum sent the pony crashing into another pegasus and a unicorn leaping at Celestia with deadly intent, and the three tumbled into the ground. The two ponies soon stood up, unperturbed, and charged the roaring alicorn, whereas the wounded pegasus wobbled to her hooves. The ground was slick with blood and littered with broken teeth and bone fragments, yet the pegasus ignored her pain and instead glowered at Celestia. A disturbing growl rose and she flew straight back into the fray.
A disgusting wet sound reached Discord's ears next, and he observed, enraptured, an earth pony claw at Celestia's face with his hooves even as he was impaled upon the alicorn's gory horn. Celestia threw her head to the side and dislodged her attacker, who collided with a pegasus flying beside her as he tried to bite her wings. Both ponies rolled in the colored grass before stopping away from the melee. They hissed as they got up, blood and gastric juice leaking from the earth pony's belly.
Discord clapped his claw and paw together, feeling like a foal in a candy store. That was the best entertainment he could ask for. He almost felt stupid and unimaginative not to have thought of it sooner. Celestia's fur was matted with blood, hers and that of her assailants, and several gashes crisscrossed her skin. He noted with mischief that she had two black eyes and numerous bruises across her body.
His mirth died in his throat when he realized Celestia was fighting her way toward him.
He swallowed and concentrated to spirit himself away, but was once more met with failure. His knees trembled and his teeth chattered when a bloody unicorn flew straight past him like a ragdoll. He'd have never imagined any magic could have robbed him of his power, and he was certain he'd never be able to learn from this setback if Celestia reached him. He considered himself lucky his cry for help pushed the ponies under his control to assist him.
His small, mismatched wings extended, and he took off.
An unholy screech burst from behind him and he almost tumbled down as a shockwave of immense power thundered through the skies. Cold dread weighted down his stomach when he saw ponies thrown above and around him before the wingless fell to their death. The ice turned to lead when he heard the heavy fluttering of large wings behind him.
Snarling pegasi flew to his rescue and he risked a look behind him. Celestia dodged the first ponies that attacked her, but her face grew more hateful as the few turned to a horde. Discord wiped the sweat from his forehead with a paw as she was slowed down.
Then all of the pegasi's wings shone darkly and a horrifying screech of pain was torn off dozens of throats when each bone within the limbs shattered. The shards splintered further and ripped through skin as the ponies fell like slain flies, suffering too strong for even their insane minds.
Discord yelped in absolute terror and flapped his own wings harder.
As a creature of chaos, there was nothing as boring as bones in his body, so it was the very matter of his being that was obliterated when Celestia reused her spell against him. His wings twisted and seized before he plummeted, a scream of pain and horror accompanying him all the way down.
He tore through the ground face first, drawing a long furrow. Discord groggily sat up and spat soil and stones. He swallowed the few still in his mouth when Celestia landed before him.
The battered alicorn stepped closer, darkness and hatred brewing in her eyes. Gone was her crown, and so were three of her shoes. The remaining one was cracked, dented and bloody, just like her peytral. Tears, slashes and bite marks had turned her body into a gory mess, and her face seemed to have suffered the worst. Some of her teeth were broken, others were gone altogether, and her chin and lips streaked with blood. One eye was half closed and her brows were cut in several places. Her mane and tail were torn.
Discord gulped before laughing nervously. "Celestia, my friend," he started, "you're not thinking straight." He crawled away from her as she closed in. "Friendship's magic, remember?" He nodded feverishly. "And so is forgiveness! You're a fan of second chances, aren't you?"
Celestia's only answer was to roar and rear.
"NO!"
Discord thrust his arms forwards in a hopeless attempt to protect himself. They broke like useless twigs before her forehooves' fury and he howled in pain. The sound was drowned as Celestia trampled his face ruthlessly, never ceasing to snarl.
She went on until the only movement from Discord was twitching from his fingers. But she wasn't finished. Mere physical destruction wouldn't end the god of chaos. She leaned forward, snout millimeters from the pulp that used to be his head. Her lips drew back from her teeth and she reared again.
Summoning all her hate, pain, grief and knowledge of dark magic, she let out one last snarl, making the very world quiver. Tendrils of pure darkness shot from her horn and plunged on the corpse. Purple flames broke out all over, and the body was slowly consumed until nothing but soot and ashes remained.
Celestia brought her forehooves back to the ground. Breathing deeply and with difficulty, she felt some serenity as she watched her handiwork. Then the ground seemed to rush to meet her, and everything vanished.
A long while later, Celestia felt something from the edges of her consciousness. Sounds streaming together into an incoherent whole, strange sensations across her body. Her eyelids felt heavy and seemed determined to remain shut.
She ran the tip of her tongue around her teeth in her closed mouth, and discovered with some confusion that some were ragged edges and others were missing. She squinted her eyes and pain erupted from all over her face, then her entire body when she tried to work her muscles.
Nausea swept over her as she struggled to stand up. She briefly registered that her aching skin felt drenched, and forced one eye open.
There was a large batch of scorched earth and burnt grass, smudged with a greasy substance. For a reason she couldn't discern, the sight brought a smile to her lips and peace to her mind.
She turned her head and both disappeared in a trice.
A pegasus sat on her haunches beside her, staring up at her with sad, bloodshot eyes. Her split jaw hung uselessly beneath her mouth.
Realization hit Celestia like waves crashed upon a cliff.
She threw up.
She sobbed all the while as she emptied her stomach on the ground, fallen to her knees and heeding not the soft words and the hooves massaging her back as nearby ponies tried to comfort her.
Hushed whispers followed, and the ponies stepped back from Celestia as her sister landed in their midst. Luna's heart, already tried by the casualties she saw flying on her way here, broke entirely when she saw her.
She folded her wings and trotted to her. She wrapped her forelegs around Celestia and brought her close in a fierce hug. "Don't cry, big sister," she said soothingly, "you saved us all." Celestia buried her face in Luna's chest, straining to breathe properly. "It's not your fault you hurt all these ponies."
Celestia knew so, even though a part of her disagreed vehemently. But it didn't make their suffering less tragic. Only one thing could make her pretend it had all been worth it.
"How's Twilight?"
Luna's silence answered her.
Celestia pushed herself away from her sister, curled up into a ball on the ground, and wept further.
