Pain. Pain was the first thing Moon Chaser felt before she blacked out, and it's sharp embrace was what woke her up again. Nightmare Moon was standing over her, a smile of triumphant on her lips as she looked down at the Pegasus, who doubted she had the strength left to stand.
“You are a fool, young filly. With your death I will rise. With your blood spilt, I will be free. With your demise I wi—”
“Stop talking!” Moon Chaser shouted. She might not have the strength to stand, but her wings were a different story. She struck out with one at the dark mare's legs, catching her off guard, and used the other on to lift her to her hooves. It was then that she was glad for all the wing ups that Commander Flick and Spitfire made them do everyday.
Now that she was up, she took off before Nightmare Moon could recollect herself. The sudden change of events played out on the banished pony's face. First, Nightmare Moon growled with a dreadful rage of a diamond dog who just got tricked out of his gems. Then she smiled, relaxing a little, as if this was nothing more than a minor annoyance that would rectify itself.
“So you do have some fight in you.” Nightmare nodded. “I can respect that. Nightmare Moon's horn started glowing violently red as her face darkened again. “But I do not appreciate it!” She roared, firing a barrage of intense magic blasts at the flying Pegasus.
Moon Chaser might not have been the first in her class at the Academy, but she was more than ready for this kind of attack, dodging, dropping, strafing and rolling out of the way of each blast. With frustration, Nightmare Moon increased the intensity of the magic missiles, forcing Moon Chaser to preform more and more complex maneuvers that she'd only seen, but never done before.
“A little help would be nice!” Mooney called down to Discord, who was eating the popcorn he'd been juggling earlier.
“And what would you have me do, my dear?” Discord asked in his happily amused voice. Only Discord, Master of Chaos, could find this situation light and not at all serious. “I already said you have to do it without help. Shall I bend the rules for you?” Tutting, he shook his head sadly. “I am sorry, but that is cheating.”
Moon Chaser just barley managed to roll out of the way of a bolt of magic, when it turned, chasing after her. Now they were homing blasts? That was going too far!
“You said no magic!” The fleeing Pegasus squealed out in fright. Any moment now, one of those fiery magic blasts was going to hit her and—snap! The magic fire balls were gone.
“I did say that.” Discord relented. “Very well, Nightmare, you must spill the blood of the mare before you without your magic.”
Nightmare Moon, who was dumbfounded that anything could cancel out her magic, turned angrily to Discord. For an answer, she tried to summon another blast to vaporize the weird creature on the spot. She tried, sweat beading on her forehead as she commanded with all her will to summon the most violent, angry ball of energy she could, but nothing happened. Lifting her head, to see the Draconequus properly.
“Ahhh, isn't it my dear Discord.” She purred. “Surely you wouldn't come between me and my freedom, would you? Not when you of yourself could be free and conquer the Equestria with me. You, with your chaos could keep the ponies in a state of endless misery, while I rule over the endless night.” The Mare of the Moon smiled wickedly, her eyes speaking volumes of more intricate things, that should not be said. “You could be King, but what is a King without his...Queen?”
Discord, with a smile looked up at the panting Moon Chaser. “You hear this? I'm being seduced!” He laughed, twirling a claw at Nightmare Moon, causing her to rotate where she stood. “I'll admit, you've got a cute flank, and I wouldn't mind to spend all of eternity with you—our kids would be the cutest little things—but first kill the Pegasus, and then we'll talk about it.”
With a snort, Nightmare Moon launched off, catching Moon Chaser off guard, and slammed into her, knocking her to the stony wall. The sharp rocks of the wall ripped at her fur and tore at her feathers as she tumbled to the ground. It took a moment, but before she slam into the rock floor, Moon Chaser kicked off of the wall, soaring a dozen feet above Discord and the imprisoned Princess Celestia. What in Equestria what she going to do? A shadow told her that now was not the time for that question. Nightmare Moon was hunting her, like a hawk hunting a sparrow. Mooney never really like hawks to begin with, but now—Swerving to the right, she managed to flap fast enough to evade the Princess of Darkness, but she'd have to be careful, the rock wall wasn't more than ten feet away, and those sharpened chips would shred her if she hit them at this speed.
Nightmare made another dive for her, forcing her closer to the wall. If she made another—Moon Chaser was hit squarely in the back, between her wing muscles, forcing her to crash land on the rocky terrain.
“Little fool of a filly.” Nightmare Moon whispered in her ear. “Did you really think you could escape me? You barely know how to fly with these things. In fact, I'll see to it, you never fly again.”
Placing a hoof square between the wing muscles, Nightmare held the helpless Pegasus down. Moon Chaser, now realizing what was about to happen started to scream “NO, NOT TH—” The iron shod hoof of Nightmare Moon stamped down on the wing joint of Moon Chaser's right wing. With a snap, the wing joint shattered, sending rippling waves of searing hot pain thru the purple Pegasus's body.
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, NO, No, no, no.” Moon Chaser sobbed, as the Dark Princess took her place over the second wing. There was not pause, not hesitation. The Princess that Moon Chaser swore to protect, had just stamped her other wing to broken pieces.
“NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOooooo.”
“My, my, my, this does not seem fair, does it?” Discord asked Celestia, who redoubled her efforts of trying to kick her pink, bubble cage to pieces. She was screaming something at the top of her voice, but it was muted by the pink bubble. “Come again dear, what was that?” Discord asked, and with a snap Celestia's voice could be heard.
“DISCORD YOU FOOL! NIGHTMARE MOON HAS WON! YOU HAVE DOOMED US ALL! YOU HA—” Snap.
“All caps rage, hmm?” Discord looked at the broken body of the royal guard. “I think I can live without all that sobbing I hear from other there.” and with a snap the body of the purple Pegasus that Nightmare Moon was about to crush the last bit of life left, vanished, only to reappear, whole and fully energized with the horn Discord had created tied to her left hoof. Discord took a seat in the air, pulling out a game controller and tiny, near invisible, strings shot out the controller onto the wings, head and hooves of Moon Chaser.
“Pony Combat!” He sang. “I love this game!” Then pulling out a pair of sun glasses, Discord put them on, and gave a wickedly toothy smile. “Alright then, let's see if I can win.”