Rainbow Dash was lying on the ground, scorch marks visible on her wings and barrel, alongside an orange mare I didn't recognize. Standing nearby and cackling was a cloaked pony, cackling loudly and blasting chunks out of nearby architecture with a staff he clutched in his right hoof.
Oh gosh. An actual super villain. Could this be... COZY GLOW?! I have to stop her!
I swept down and slammed into the ground, and then posed heroically. "Freeze! Stop right there, Cozy Glow! Your reign of terror ends now!"
The pony, whom I now realized was a grey stallion with a black mane, looked at me in confusion. "Cozy Glow? What are you talking about?"
"Nevermind! I'm stopping you anyway!"
Idiot! Obviously this isn't Cozy! They said she was a foal! Whatever, this guy's going down!
I fired off a hornblast at the interloper, but he simply smacked it aside with that staff of his.
"Dangit! If I was at 100% there's no way you'd be able to do that!"
The stallion quirked an eyebrow. "And why should I care about that?"
"Well... it's not fair for a supervillain to beat a super hero just because the hero's tired! Don't you want to prove you're tougher than—" I posed dramatically "—the Dashing Savior?"
"Not really."
He fired a wall of energy at me the size of a house, and I barely managed to teleport past it, firing a blast of my own that hit square. He skidded backward, digging a trough in the dirt with his rear hooves, and then planted back on the ground. He casually dusted himself off with the staff.
"Was that the best you can muster, foal?"
Oh buck.
I barely had time to register how unimpressed he was before I was suddenly hit from behind; somehow, he'd yanked that energy-wall back to him after I had dodged it, and I fell right into his trap. I was sent flying past him, and barely managed to spread my wings and direct my trajectory into the stream rather than the bridge or dirt nearby.
When I pulled myself back to shore I heard him laughing.
"You call yourself a super hero? Honestly? These two put up a better fight!"
He gestured to the two fallen mares. Everything about what he said made me violently angry.
Forget magic blasts! I'm taking him down old-school!
I concentrated all of my magic into my body, using the earth-pony component of my alicorn nature to my advantage. He saw my horn glow, and fired off a preemptive blast, but I dodged it easily with simple hoofwork.
He blinked in surprise, and then fired a half-dozen more blasts, all of which I likewise evaded.
"What's the matter, old man? Can't keep up?"
He sneered and fired another wall of energy, but this time I charged at it, ramming through it with sheer force. He barely had time to widen his eyes in surprise before I charged straight up to him.
"FLYING HYDRA PUNCH!"
I was really starting to like that move.
We flew together a solid ten feet into the air, and I felt his jaw give under my hoof in the process. He'd feel that in the morning, for sure! We both landed, him on his back and me on my hooves, but I almost collapsed immediately.
Dang. Ramming through that energy blast took a lot out of me... but at least I won!
Then he stood up. And popped his jaw back into place without even a whimper. I stared at him and stammered.
"Uh...y-you aren't, uh..."
"Lost for words, hero?"
Well, at least he kinda-sorta acknowledged me. Then he fired another energy blast, which I only dodged by swaying to the side and collapsing.
New plan, now! I need to make a show of strength that can at least scare him off! He doesn't care about injury, so... I know!
He leveled the staff at me, but just as he did so I yanked on it with all of the telekinetic force I could muster, which dragged him much closer to me. It surprised him so much he missed me with his next blast, and I took the chance to leap up and bite him on his right leg as hard as I could.
This time, he howled with pain and surprise, and wagged his leg desperately to get me off of him. I was tenacious, and stayed latched on even as he swung me through the air, until he finally teleported away. I went sailing through the air and bounced on my rump a few times.
From where he had teleported, close to the treeline, he fired another blast, as he turned to flee. This one caught me square, and knocked the sense out of me. I felt something snap, screamed, and tumbled tail over teakettle into the side of the hoofbridge, bouncing my head against it.
Owwww... when I get my hooves on that loser, I'm going to make him so sorry! He not only beat up Dash, he kicked me around, too!
I huffed and shakily got to my hooves, and examined my wings. Nothing seemed broken, but they were... orange?
I suddenly realized what had snapped was my disguise. And my wings were showing. I glanced around in case anyone saw.
And I saw a purple alicorn staring at me.
We just stared at each other for a second.
Then her eyes narrowed, her mouth set a snarl, and her horn lit up.
Yeah, I teleported out of there as fast as I could. I landed directly in my bed and passed out.