Getting latest message along with a list of conversations

Question

I've been able to select all conversations with a message attached to them, but I've not been able to make sure it's the latest message. Please explain why the query doesn't work. I am trying to avoid using a subquery or joining the tables against themselves.

DESC ir_chats; 
+-----------------+------------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
| Field           | Type             | Null | Key | Default           | Extra          |
+-----------------+------------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
| chat_id         | int(10) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL              | auto_increment |
| creator_user_id | int(11)          | NO   | MUL | NULL              |                |
| friend_user_id  | int(11)          | NO   | MUL | NULL              |                |
| created         | timestamp        | NO   |     | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP |                |
+-----------------+------------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Desc ir_chat_messages;
+-------------+-----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-------+
| Field       | Type                  | Null | Key | Default           | Extra |
+-------------+-----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-------+
| chat_id     | int(10) unsigned      | NO   | MUL | NULL              |       |
| user_id     | int(11)               | NO   | MUL | NULL              |       |
| created     | timestamp             | NO   |     | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP |       |
| read_status | enum('read','unread') | NO   |     | unread            |       |
| message     | text                  | NO   |     | NULL              |       |
+-------------+-----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-------+

SELECT * FROM ir_chats; 
+---------+-----------------+----------------+---------------------+
| chat_id | creator_user_id | friend_user_id | created             |
+---------+-----------------+----------------+---------------------+
|       1 |             100 |            200 | 2014-10-15 18:06:54 |
+---------+-----------------+----------------+---------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

SELECT * FROM ir_chat_messages;
+---------+---------+---------------------+-------------+--------------------------+
| chat_id | user_id | created             | read_status | message                  |
+---------+---------+---------------------+-------------+--------------------------+
|       1 |     100 | 2014-10-15 18:16:06 |             | This is a message.       |
|       1 |     200 | 2014-10-15 18:26:59 |             | This is another message. |
+---------+---------+---------------------+-------------+--------------------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

SELECT ir_chats.chat_id, ir_chat_messages.created, ir_chat_messages.message 
FROM ir_chat_messages 
JOIN ir_chats USING (chat_id) 
GROUP BY ir_chats.chat_id 
ORDER BY ir_chat_messages.created DESC;
+---------+---------------------+--------------------+
| chat_id | created             | message            |
+---------+---------------------+--------------------+
|       1 | 2014-10-15 18:16:06 | This is a message. |
+---------+---------------------+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

I asked if there was a way to do this without a subquery or joining another table. Are you saying it's not possible? The attached 'duplicate' post doesn't answer my question.