They stood there, staring each other down. Derpy's eyes focused on her adversary, now only slightly off. Rainbow huffed angrily, squinting her eyes slightly.
"You shouldn't have come back, Derpy. You should have known that it would come to this." Derpy cracked one of her infamous smiles; they could turn up any negative morale in a moment, or bring her enemies to their knees in fright.
"Of course. That's the only reason I'm here: to finish what I started."
"You think that by killing me, you'll be able to finish off the brave pegasi of the Solar Empire's Winged Battalions? Give me a break. My men and women are twice as strong as yours could ever be!" Derpy's smile only grew wider, giving Rainbow the smallest of chills, despite herself.
"Hahaha, even if that were true, your ponies might as well be green when they are without your admittedly expert leadership and tenacious example. Don't attack the base of the arch, attack it's keystone; then, you let gravity do the rest of the work. Even after all these years you still have no clue about anything, do you, Dashie? Do I have to explain it?" Rainbow clenched her jaw and bore her teeth, seething at the old nickname.
"How dare you use that name after what you've done. I haven't been 'Dashie' to you for years. And I got what you're saying, and let me tell you that you have as much a chance of beating me as you do of getting a picture without looking like a retard." Derpy's smile vanish and was replaced with a vicious sneer.
"ENOUGH!" She flared her wings and attacked. She landed numerous blows against her opponent in a short amount of time. Nevertheless, she grew frustrated, knowing her hits were only on armor in places where it wouldn't hurt; Rainbow Dash was playing with her. "Come on, SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT DASHIE!" Rainbow smirked.
"You asked for it." Rainbow immediately turned on the offensive. She used her greater speed to her advantage, striking her foe repeatedly, also on the armor. After a few seconds of simply blocking, Derpy caught up, and now they were kicking, bucking, attacking at the same time as defending. They were very well matched, as Derpy's defense was incredible, while Rainbow Dash's offense was merciless. Rainbow gave an impossibly fast one-two combo with her forelegs, forcing Derpy backward. Quick as a flash, Rainbow turned around and delivered a devastating buck to Derpy. Derpy attempted to dodge, but only managed to get airborne by a few inches. It connected with full force to her blocking forelegs, sending her flying backwards, literally. Had she not been in the air, the blow might have been crippling.
Rainbow did not give Derpy a chance to recover, already on top of her, straddling Derpy. She began to mercilessly punch her foe in the face, first on one side, then the other. One, two, three, four, five, six, Derpy lost count how many times she was struck while on her back. When she had recovered from the buck, she quickly rolled Rainbow Dash off of her. She used her wings to propel herself upwards. Rainbow was right on her tail, almost literally, when Rainbow decided to crank it up a notch. She pushed herself to a level she only reaches when she flew in competition, and snatched Derpys tail in her jaws before spreading her wings and coming to a grinding halt.
The immediate tension on Derpy's tail caused her to jerk to a stop. Tail in mouth, Rainbow flung her enemy at the ground. She decided that she would end it. Using all of her energy, she gained about 400 feet in altitude before beginning her final descent. She took aim, and sped at Derpy, who was almost on the ground. She picked up speed, as she knew she would, and the air coned around her. The friction began to ignite colors in spirals around her entire body, and her senses prickled at the familiar feeling that came with cracking the sound barrier. With one final surge in speed, Rainbow broke the sound barrier, sending a gigantic rainboom across the sky. She was now moving impossibly fast towards the ground, right at her foe, intending to deliver a crippling blow.
She could still see Derpy on the ground, then closed her eyes to protect them from the shards of rock that would inevitably fly everywhere. After a moment, her entire body connected powerfully. She recoiled at the simultaneous assault on her body and her ears as the sonic boom caught up with her. After a moment, she was still. She opened her eyes, noting the makeshift arena around them was rubble, and she herself was in a rather large crater. She looked around, under her, and at herself, checking for blood. There was none; this was bad. She perked up when she heard the rumbling of rock behind her. She flew out of the crater, and watched as her enemy pushed rocks off of herself.
"That was a close one, Dashie. But even with your supersonic speeds, you're still no match for me. Allow me to prove it. MY PRINCESS! I CALL FOR THY BLADE! PLEASE ARM ME TO DEFEAT THINE ENEMIES!" She was surrounded by a dark smoke, which began to creep towards her right hoof. It slowly took shape, becoming large and thin. With a faint pop, the darkness lifted, revealing a large sword in Derpy's right hoof. Upon inspection, Rainbow saw that there was a little darkness left, surrounding the hilt and Derpy's hoof, no doubt keeping it in her possession. "Let's go." With her challenge duly accepted, Derpy launched herself at Rainbow Dash, swinging her sword expertly. She aimed for Rainbows head, but Rainbow ducked, just in time for the sword to chastise a few of the hairs in Rainbows main. She stabbed this time, another, many times in fact, and Rainbow dodged every one of them. She was studying her opponents technique, looking for-
That was it. She found an opening, and lashed out with both hind legs, catching Derpy square in the stomach. She recoiled in the air, losing altitude as she tried to recover. Rainbow wouldn't give her that luxury. She assaulted Derpy, essentially punching her in the face to disorient her. She then put a hoof behind Derpy's, the one with the sword, and repeatedly hit it until the hoof was fractured. She was almost able to get the sword away when she felt a blow to her right cheek throw her tumbling downward. She recovered quickly, looking up just in time to catch a hind hoof to the face. She tasted blood.
She blocked Derpy's assault all the way to the cold stone ground, where she tumbled and rolled away, springing to her feet a second later. Derpy landed gently, obviously not putting full weight on her right foreleg. They were both breathing heavily, their faces puffy and bruised. Rainbow smirked at Derpy's now-useless right hoof, and spat out the blood in her mouth onto the ground.
"What's the matter? Hurt your hoof?" Derpy smiled as well.
"You could say that."
She lifter her smoky hoof, the sword pointed straight at Rainbow. Her smile widened slightly as the dark cloud around her hoof and sword expanded suddenly, propelling the sword at Rainbow Dash at a speed that was unavoidable. Except for her. She rolled out of the way, and by the time she recovered her stance, Derpy was already on the offensive, dropping down on her with furious kicks. Rainbow was unable to dodge them all, and took one to the top of the head. She hit the ground with a loud crack, eyes rolling from the impact, stars dominating her vision.
Derpy get on her back, and slammed her forelegs down into Rainbow Dash's back, winding the pegasus. Derp put one hoof on the underside of Rainbow's left wing, right at the joint. With her other, she slammed down on the bone of the wing, forcing the appendage out of its socket with a loud -pop-. Rainbow screamed in pain, immediately rolling Derpy off of her and using her good wing to roll herself along the ground. She grunted in pain every time her left wing came under her, the movement causing the appendage to move. She got up once she had moved about ten feet, and expected Derpy to be in front of her, readying to strike. This was not the case; she was a good 12 feet away, an evil smile donning her lips.
Rainbow took this opportunity to her advantage; she lowered her injured wing, and stood on her haunches. She used her forelegs to pull the wing down, allowing the joint to realign with the socket, and allowed it to pop back into place. She hissed in pain, clenching her eyes shut. This proved to be a huge mistake, as when she opened them, Derpy was charging her with her wings out to her side. Derpy looked odd sprinting on three hooves, but she was quick nonetheless. Rainbow laughed and leaped into the air, allowing her wings to suspend her; Derpy ran right under her. Rainbow looked down as Derpy did this, noticing the black cloud had returned to her hoof. But, where's the swo-
-shling-
Rainbows eyes went wide as she fell to the ground. She landed on her side, and her breathing became ragged, as each breath was now very painful, causing her skin to rub against the blade, cutting her further. Derpy walked over to her now-defeated foe, a serious expression that was obvious even with her odd eyes. Rainbow smiled and shook her head slightly.
"You knew I'd jump into the air, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did." She raised her hoof, the black cloud flying to the sword, enveloping it. The cloud went into and through Rainbows body as it covered the sword, leaving her feeling cold. After a moment, the cold feeling went away, replaced by a warm wet feeling. The blade controlled the bleeding, putting slight pressure on the internal wounds, limiting the flow of blood by a degree. With it gone, Rainbow began to bleed out.
"So, let me ask you something: why did you BHHAKCH-" she spat up blood. " Why did you side with Princess Luna?" Derpy looked Rainbow in the eyes as best she could.
"Because she was the only one who saw my true potential. I needed someone who actually believed in me. With my crappy existence up to that point, I needed to achieve my best." Rainbows eyes were half closed now, and blood was coming out of her mouth.
"But, why did you need all that when you had friends? Why did you become...this? Why, Derpy? Why....?" With that, Rainbows body went limp. Derpy turned to face the now-setting sun, a single tear running down her cheek at the death of one of her friends. She shut her eyes and flared her wings, getting ready for takeoff. She spoke softly, her reply almost a whisper.
"I just don't know what went wrong."