//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13 - Heartless 
// Story: Old Mare Luna 
// by Leondude 
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Luna and Chrysalis have been fighting for what felt like twenty minutes. While Chrysalis could have used her changeling magic to her advantage, she wanted to take her time with Luna to enjoy the satisfaction of killing one of the two sisters. Chrysalis tried striking Luna but Luna quickly blocked the attack, pulled down the leg Chrysalis tried to strike her with and counterattacked. But Chrysalis quickly dodged the attack and delivered a strong attack to Luna's stomach. While that slightly weakened Luna, she was still quick enough to block another blow from Chrysalis. But Chrysalis was quick enough to land a few kicks into Luna's chest before delivering a stronger blow in that same area. The attacks were starting to take their toll on Luna, with her coughing up blood as she struggled to stay up. Chrysalis ducked down, charged in and stabbed Luna through the chest with her horn before kicking her to the ground.

"How disappointing" Chrysalis gloated "I was hoping you would be more of a challenge. You should have stayed in hiding, princess."

Chrysalis charged up her horn, ready to finish off Luna.

"Any last words?"

Despite bleeding out, Luna managed to give Chrysalis a confident smile.

"Yes. You have lost."

"What?"

Luna pointed to Chrysalis' throne, which was being attacked by the changelings that transported Luna and Discord to the arena, with Discord helping by smashing it up with a mallet.

"My throne!" Chrysalis roared out.

She charged at Discord to get him to cease the destruction, but she was not quick enough to stop the final breaking blow. However, as the throne collapsed into pieces, she plunged her horn into Discord's heart. Discord cried out in agony as Chrysalis dug her horn even deeper into where she had stabbed Discord. Chrysalis relished in the pain she is causing, but Discord managed to whisper an important word of advice with a weak smile.

"You...should have gone for the head."

But before he could snap his fingers, a sudden burst of a dark green bile-like substance splattered all over him, resulting in him falling over. When he got back up and wiped the substance out of his eyes, he noticed Chrysalis' head was no longer attached to her body. The body laid on the floor, its legs twitching and convulsing as the substance oozed out of where Chrysalis' head used to be. And right next to Chrysalis' lifeless headless body was Flurry Heart holding a sword while she and the sword were covered in the substance.

"Good advice" Flurry Heart quipped.

Discord then looked down and noticed the now dismembered head was still stuck in his chest. He pulled it out with no fuss and looked at the shocked expression on Chrysalis' face before dropping it to the floor in disgust. Settler ran up to the two of them before making a loud declaration to the ponies freed from Chrysalis' control.

"Attention everypony! The bug queen is dead! You are all now free!"

Flurry Heart gave a slight chuckle, which resulted in Settler and Discord looking at her.

"What's so funny?"

"I wouldn't really call them 'free', Settler."

"What do you mean?"

"It's more like 'under new management'."

Flurry Heart telekinetically lifted Settler up and threw him towards Discord, resulting in him falling onto the floor again.

"What are you doing? I thought we were here to free everypony and avenge your parents!"

"I was, but then I realized that the ponies here were nothing more than a bunch of crooks that not even Grogar would want to be associated with. They don't deserve freedom."

Flurry Heart turned towards Discord and lifted him up before electrocuting him with her magic.

"What's the matter, Discord? Afraid to use your power against little old me?"

Discord looked at Flurry Heart in shock. Since when did she have a penchant for cruelty? Fortunately, he knew what to do.

"Now look here, young mare" Discord said, trying to sound as stern as possible "You are going to sit in that corner over there and think about what you've done before I-".

But before he can finish his sentence, Flurry Heart electrocuted him again before throwing him into a wall.

"Really, Discord? Are you really going to talk to me like I'm still the baby filly you rescued from the bad guys? Maybe you would have noticed that and tried to be a better uncle instead of spending centuries whining about your 'Fluttershy'."

That last comment struck a nerve with Discord. Enough that he shot a blast of magic out of his hand and into Flurry Heart's chest. Flurry Heart gasped for air as she looked down at the burning wound Discord left in her chest before kneeling down. After a while, Discord snapped out of his anger and stared at his now trembling hand, horrified by what he just did. But what nopony was counting on was for Flurry Heart to suddenly float up and be consumed by an orb of dark magic. The magic malformed her into a dark reflection of herself, her eyes morphing into those of a serpent, her teeth sharpening into white daggers, her head becoming more rounder, with the rest of her body being encased in a magenta armour. And in the centre of Flurry Heart's chest was the glowing scar left from when Discord struck her. The monster Flurry Heart has turned into let out a sinister cackle after completing her transformation.

"F...Flurry Heart?" Both Discord and Settler asked in fright.

"Flurry Heart?" The creature said "I am Heartless Maelstrom! And I shall succeed where everypony else had failed. By destroying you, Discord!"

Maelstrom fired several attacks at Discord, which Discord either dodged or turned into ice cream. She flew swiftly into Discord and delivering a cracking strike to his ribs before sending blow after blow to his face and firing a shot directly into his chest, just like he did to her. Maelstrom chuckled maliciously at how much pain she was causing Discord.

"Flurry Heart?" Discord asked weakly "Why are you doing this?"

"Oh don't pretend to act all weak, Discord!" Maelstrom said with contempt "I know what you're capable of and I know that what I'm doing to you is merely a warm-up. But if you want to know, my reasons are the same as yours when you took over Equestria all those centuries ago. Because I want to!"

Maelstrom then charged up a very powerful attack, intending to finish Discord off once and for all, if not severely injure him.

Meanwhile, Luna was still lying in the centre of the arena, healing from the injuries Chrysalis has dealt her. She then looked up and noticed the corrupted Flurry Heart about to destroy Discord. She sighed as she tried to get up.

Curse you for dragging me into this, Discord Luna thought to herself.

As Maelstrom was about to blast Discord into oblivion, Luna flew into Maelstrom as fast as she could, catching her off-balance and making her miss Discord and Settler. When Discord and Settler noticed they were still in one piece, Discord quickly snapped his fingers to teleport Settler, Luna and himself out of the arena and into the Badlands.