The Elements Of Chaos

:derpytongue2: It's been a while. Enjoy.

-Start-

The moon shone high in the sky, illuminating the world with its luminescent white light. Celestia stood at the entrance to the Eternity mines, carefully peering into its dark depths. The white alicorn slowly slid into the darkness as her horn began radiating a pure-white light, revealing the dark gems embedded in the coarse rock. She was careful to avoid touching them; the touch of unrefined Chaos was deadly to an alicorn's body.

These mines had not been touched by hooves since Discord's reign eons ago however, Celestia remembered the mines well.

Eons earlier, Starswirl declared that Pure Chaos was to be the driving force of his new experimental weapons, 'The Elements of Chaos'. As a result of this declaration, Celestia created the Eternity mines to facilitate his request. Despite the thousands of gems of Chaos that had been delivered to Starswirl, he did not make an attempt to use a single one.

Starswirl only said one thing in response to the miners' confused looks, "Everything, both harmony and chaos, is purest at the heart."

The miners spent many weeks digging deep into the Eternity Mountains, creating an elaborate labyrinth as they dug aimlessly until they found the Heart of the Mountain; a giant cavern filled with precious metals and more importantly, gems of Pure Chaos.

Celestia continued walking through the mineshafts, shivering slightly as a cold gust of stale air rushed through her.

"Here it is."

She stopped abruptly, her golden hoof barely touching a tripwire cleverly set up to be invisible to the untrained eye. She set it off and weaved between the volleys of arrows that followed; the door to the Heart of the Mountain would only open if the first trap was set off regardless of the means. She maintained her calm composure as she flew, galloped and teleported through the obstacles.

Celestia's lungs struggled to keep up with her body, unfamiliar with such a strenuous activity; her many servants usually acted for her. She recovered at the end of the mineshaft; a grand golden door ornately decorated with rubies, sapphires and emeralds bordered by stone snakes. This door was enchanted similarly to the vault in Canterlot Tower but instead needed an incantation to unlock.

Celestia breathed deeply as she focused on her muzzle. She was to speak the language of the gods; the language only herself and Luna knew. Any regular being who heard the language being spoken by either of them would be laid with the curse of Petrificus Totalus and forever be kept as an ornament in the Royal Canterlot Gardens.

Her muzzle moved in waves that no muzzle ever should, creating a hissing sound akin to that of a snake. The eyes of the stone snakes that lined the border lit up as they slithered away into each other. When movement ceased, the door swung open in a wide arc revealing a gigantic cavern.

The cave had the same basic layout as any regular cave; stalactites, stalagmites, a high ceiling and a large, seemingly never-ending lake. As the heart of all that was chaotic in the world, this cave was different; the stalactites and stalagmites were made of pure platinum; the walls, floor and ceiling were lined with gold and the lake was liquid silver. In the middle of the lake was an island of gold bars that held a chest of Pure Chaos.

These precious metals were the product of greed; the most notable element of chaos.

Celestia was the physical embodiment of all that was harmonic in the world and did not allow herself to slip into chaos. Her tiara, pendant and hoof armour vibrated slightly as she put one hoof after the other on her approach to the chest of Pure Chaos.

Some memories resurfaced as she walked across the lake of silver, getting ever closer to the gold island. "Ah yes," she thought, "My armour is getting closer to their old home, the one they unwillingly parted from all those years ago..."

The gold bars were purer than any gold a blacksmith or whitesmith could refine. As a result, they were used in the crafting of Celestia's accessories; she was the purest pony in the entire world. As for the purple gem that sat in her tiara and pendant, they were more than just ornamental; they were gems of Pure Chaos.

During the crafting of Celestia's accessories, she had requested for gems of Pure Chaos to be embedded in her tiara and pendant. These gems of Pure Chaos were enchanted by Celestia herself; they would not transform like Starswirl's gems and also amplified her power without the need for chaos although it would be amplified to a lesser extent. A powdered form of the enchanted gem was used in the making of her hoof armour. Celestia had done the same for her sister, Luna. As a safe-guard, these accessories can only be worn by them; the power of the incantations contained within them would overwhelm any unicorn, even Starswirl.

The purpose of the Pure Chaos in the tiara was to amplify the magic passing through Celestia's horn. The pendant was used to strengthen the power of her breath and in turn, her magical potential. The hoof armour allowed Celestia to draw energy from the Earth itself and her own abilities as the sun goddess allowed for her to soak up energy from the sun.

Celestia climbed up the island of gold to the chest that sat on top. It creaked open as a golden hoof eased the chest open. Many gems of Pure Chaos sat within, untouched for millennia. She carefully picked six ones that were the right size and stuffed them into a make-shift saddlebag.

She made her way to the surface, resetting the door and traps as if she was never there.

A cool breeze blew through Celestia's constantly waving mane. The moon was still high in the sky; it couldn't have been later than one o'clock. She had to return to the mainland of Equestria in order to raise the sun in the morning before beginning work on her Pure Chaos.

"I told you Twilight! I put the Elements RIGHT HERE!"

"THEN WHAT ARE THEY DOING ALL OVER THE PLACE?!" Twilight had a hint of Celestia insanity in her eyes as her mane started bending in unforgiveable ways.

"I don't know!" Spike whined. He had been rudely interrupted from what he thought would have been a good night of sleeping and ice-cream.

Rarity held Spike defensively, "Don't yell at my little Spikey-wikey. It's not his fault the Elements are all over the place."

Twilight straightened her mane, "You're right, you're right...Just stay calm Twilight, you'll figure this out."

Pinkie hopped out of the fridge, "Someone ate all the ice-cream! Oh wait, IT WAS ME!"

She stuck her tongue out and licked off the beard of ice-cream that impossibly hung from her chin.

"Why do we even need the Elements?!" Rainbow complained, "I can't believe I woke up for THIS!"

Applejack stopped Rainbow from flying away with her teeth. "Clearly, it's 'cause we need 'em," she said through her gritted teeth.

"...But what for?" Fluttershy said, letting some of new Fluttershy's assertive nature through. "It's not like Nightmare Moon or Discord could have gotten out again...Right?"

Twilight sighed as she dropped her head to the ground. Her magic pulled the Elements from the shelves and placed them neatly on the necks of the ponies ahead.

Rainbow, Applejack and Fluttershy began accepting the reality of the situation that was happening. Pinkie Pie showed no reaction and continued to rummage around the library, "Hey guess what?! I found Spike's stash of ICE-CREAM! OMNOMNOMNOM!"

Spike blushed lightly.

Twilight rolled her eyes at the purple dragon. "I'm sorry I had to hide the truth from you but, the Princess sent me terrible news. Discord...He's escaped again."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Pfft! We could beat him a hundred times if we had to!"

Applejack's eyes darted around the room, "What if he's already gotten to us?!"

Fluttershy put both hooves to her face, "Oh no! Not new Fluttershy! Not again! I don't want to go back!" She broke down crying.

Pinkie's face smiled with glee, "CHOCOLATE MILK RAIN! YAY!" She ran outside and shortly returned soaked in water; the storm may have lost its punch but it was still fierce as ever. "Hey! Who turned off the rain?!"

Twilight sighed at the pink pony's irrational behaviour. "It's no use trying to find Discord when it's night and we haven't had sleep yet. Let's just get to sleep and figure things out tomorrow morning."

She guided them to the furnished spare room. "A new day, a new adventure."

Twilight woke up early, eager to start searching for Discord and serve Equestria. The sun took unusually long to rise.

"I wonder what the Princess is up to."

She walked into the spare room, greeted by five rejuvenated ponies. "I'm assuming you had a better sleep than I did?"

Rarity answered first, "Did you notice the sun go up a little late today?"

"Yes, I did actually. Really just an odd occurrence; it's not like the Princess to be slow or late."

Pinkie Pie hopped excitedly upon her bed. "OOH!OOH! ME NEXT! We had marshmallows! Spike LOVES hiding food in the bookshelves!"

Twilight ignored her for a little bit until she realised the meaning of those words. She glared at her number one assistant holding a salad for Rarity. "IS THAT WHY I SEE MICE EATING MY BOOKS?!"

He swallowed loudly. "Uh..."

"IS THAT WHY MY COPY OF 'MYTHS AND MYSTERIES OF CANTERLOT WENT MISSING?!"

Spike panicked and burped out a scroll with the insignia of Princess Luna. Hurrying to find an excuse to end the interrogation, he read it out aloud, sweat dripping from his forehead.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

It would appear that my elder sister, Princess Celestia, has gone missing.

If you find her, be warned that she is sensitive whenever 'The Elements of Harmony' is brought into conversation. Judging by the brief glimpses of her flight path, I have come to the conclusion that we will not see her for a while. I fear the worst for the situation that is going to fall upon our peaceful land.

Good luck, Twilight Sparkle and Friends. Discord is the toughest enemy my sister and I have ever faced.

I and the Inner Circle are in as much of a crazed panic as you are so we can only say this much;

"Good luck."

Luna

Twilight gulped at the prospect of having to defeat Discord once more. They had only overcome Discord last time because he let his guard down. This time, Discord would be prepared.

Twilight spoke shakily, "Looks like we have to find Discord."

Pinkie Pie seemed as enthusiastic as ever, "That's easy! Just follow the pink clouds of cotton candy!" Her mouth began watering, "That soft, fluffy, slightly tingly with a hint of chocolate... cotton candy cloud..."

Rainbow Dash scanned the sky from within the room. "Not a single pink cloud. Not even a stray regular cloud. I could even say that...It looks like it's going to be a nice day..."

Fluttershy picked up her bunny Angel hiding behind a bookshelf chewing on a carrot, "And the animals look fine too."

Applejack took a bite out of an apple she found stashed in a shelf, "Food's alright too."

Rarity brought the sapphire Spike had given the previous day, "Is this a cheap rock?"

The five ponies shook their heads.

"Gems are fine as well."

Twilight shook her head in confusion, "That makes no sense! Discord escaped almost TWENTY-FOUR hours ago and NOTHING chaotic or chaos-related has happened!"

"Well I guess Discord is just a nice pony now." Fluttershy pat her pet lightly on the head.

"You know what would make him even nicer? If he made it rain chocolate milk again!" Pinkie was met with blank stares. "What? You know it's true."

Twilight pushed out their ideas from her head. "Discord must be planning something. I just know it. The only chance we have is to search for him by hoof. Keep the Elements on, we can't afford losing them again."

The five ponies set out to begin their long and winding search for their fears.

Discord lied on the ceiling in a cloud house high above Ponyville; too high to be noticed by even the pegasi. From the outside, it appeared to be a regular cloud however, on the inside it was everything he wanted Equestria to look like.

The ground was chequered in hot pink and red, the houses were actually cardboard cut-outs, reverse gravity for excessively delicious pies and an upside-down chicken that occasionally turned into a quince, quail, quilt, quesadilla and a quiche.

"Chaos is a wonderful, WONDERFUL thing!" he declared from his beach chair. He cringed at the next words that came into his wondrous head, 'Not as wonderful as FRIENDSHIP!'

He loudly slurped the glass of a Strawberry Milkshake before discarding it as a fragrant bar of steel.

A clipboard appeared. With a flick of his tail, a black checkmark appeared.

[X] Phase 3 – Eat Lunch

"When the clock strikes twelve, phase 4 shall begin."

-End-

THE CHAMBER OF CHAOS AWAITS!

Sorry for the wait, had my education.