The bell rang, Nightmare and Pinkie clashed their armor together like thunder. Metal scraped against each punch they threw. It was like hearing knives sharpening. And from anyone else's perspective, that's probably all they thought Pinkie Pie was doing. Egging Nightmare to try harder to hit her back. But in a fight where both opponents were armored head to horseshoe, progress was going to be as slow as snow falling.
Nightmare grabbed both of Pinkie's hooves and threw them up, aiming to yank Pinkie's helmet off quickly, but Pinkie only took that time to kick Nightmare in the stomach. The first clean hit in the fight, but that hardly meant anything as Nightmare re-engaged.
"Having fun?" I heard Pinkie shout to Nightmare as they fought. Nightmare didn't reply. Pinkie then tried to trip her, only to trick her into a punch to the helmet, which Nightmare blocked, returning in kind by swinging a high kick over Pinkie as she leaned back, still standing after dodging it.
"Yes, actually," Nightmare answered, both missing attacks and over judging hit distances. Pinkie was holding up a lot better than we had expected her to. But I started to see what I was afraid of. Pinkie's movements were slowing down. Unlike Nightmare, she wasn't an expert in fighting with armor. The weight was slowing her down the longer they fought. Eventually, she'd lose her pace with Nightmare, resulting in one beating I didn't want to watch. And like I said, Nightmare started to race ahead of Pinkie. Forcing her to focus solely on blocking and dodging.
This isn't good, I thought. Watching helplessly as Nightmare began to knock Pinkie back and forth like a pinata. And just when I thought I couldn't watch anymore, Pinkie pulled a quick one on Nightmare, letting herself be hit to her right forcibly, Pinkie hooked onto Nightmare's right hoof and brought her down into a pin, locking her back legs around Nightmare's hoof and over her chest. Soarin was a little late to the countdown as Pinkie neared the count of four before Nightmare shook her loose. Flipping her back legs over her head in order to stand, whipping Pinke off of her hoof and into the bars. The crowd thought that to be pretty painful, but not as much as Nightmare's expression with her now missing gauntlet. Pinkie threw it to the side, standing tall again to fight.
"Still having fun?" Pinkie mocked. And Nightmare charged blindly at her. Pinkie dodged that punch, laughing as Nightmare bent the iron bars to the ring behind her. A close call, yet, Pinkie continued to giggle uncontrollably. Driving Nightmare to attack Pinkie at every chance she could get to shut her up. Whenever I trained with her, she did something similar. Annoying me with puns and bad jokes until I lost my focus and then she'd flip me onto the ground.
"Hey, Nighty," Pinkie started, "what's black, blue, and broken?"
"Your repulsive face!" Nightmare shouted, finally punching with her naked right hoof.
"No, your hoof!" Pinkie finished the punchline by gripping Nightmare's hoof, bringing her elbow down to break it. A loud snap echoed through the bar, and Pinkie used this time while Nightmare tried not to scream to kick her flank. Concentrated on her head, Pinkie had successfully forced Nightmare against the bars of the ring, smashing her head into them at the end of her assault. Nightmare lay there, eyes fixed on her hoof.
"Did Pinkie win?" I said aloud, and out of the corners of my eyes, I saw smiles forming from my friends until Nightmare spoke up.
"What's black and pink with red all over?" she asked, shooting her left hoof up like a bullet into Pinkie's right eye as she stood. I heard metal bend and snap, blood spurted onto the floor as Pinkie fell onto the floor, screaming. Nightmare stood tall over her, not caring that hoof was broken anymore, waiting for Pinkie to stand and fight again. "You..."
I rushed to the bars to see for myself. And as Pinkie lifted her head, I saw a mixture of blood and tears falling from her face as she looked at me with one eye. I wanted to tell her to stop. That she had tried hard enough. But what kind of friend would I be if I did that? Would I hurt her more if I did? I had no words for her.
"Fight!" I heard Abigail's voice shout. I saw her forcing the words out. Dash followed, then Soarin, Sombra, Rare, and then me. All of them save for Soarin came to the bars to encourage. Pinkie nodded and stood, meeting Nightmare's smiling eyes. They became locked in combat again, Pinkie punched back everything Nightmare threw at her. Sombra winced as he continued to watch, Soarin was twitching to lift the ring up before this fight got any worse, and the crowd joined us in a deflating cheer until Nightmare went for the finishing move. Uppercutting Pinkie just to grip her by the helmet, throwing her into the far wall of the ring in front of me. Pinkie grabbed the bars to help herself sit up. Nightmare readied her fighting stance again, waiting for Pinkie to stand too. But Pinkie raised her hoof, admitting to her loss.
Soarin pulled the lever that lifted the bars, bringing Pinkie to her horseshoes as they rose. And for the first time, I saw Nightmare Moon bow. Pinkie laughed in her usual high pitched giggling and snorting, bowing too, only to collapse into our hooves as she leaned forward. Sombra called the Cakes and Soarin to help bring her to the kitchen. Soarin announced for a brief intermission before the next fight, and Nightmare walked up to me.
"Three elements, crushed." She said. The Cakes lifting Pinkie away.
"You're wrong, none us have been crushed. We've only lost a fight. You'll have to break our will in order to do that." Nightmare was passive to that comment, believing that she was right in what she said. But one look at Rarity, who stood just as confident to her, and Nightmare huffed away. Annoyed at our defiance.
"She's mine, now," Abigail said, shattering a glass bottle in her hoof. I patted her shoulder and moved to the kitchen. Where my friend was.