Moon Chaser shook her head, trying to clear the hazy fog that settled over her brain. The last think she remember was Nightmare Moon stamping her wing joints to pieces. Nervously, she flexed her wings. She winced with pain. They hurt, but were still intact. That was a good sign, but before she had a chance to register anything else, she was moving.
“Waaah!” She yelped in surprise as she found herself galloping full speed at Nightmare Moon, who was ready for what ever the purple Pegasus had in store. Before Moon Chaser even had a chance to do anything, Nightmare head butted her in snout, quickly adding a horn whip to her neck and swung her hind quarters around to give the poor mare a taste of iron clad hoofs to the face.
“Aww, I thought that would work.” Discord sympathized gleefully.
Moon Chaser felt her mouth fill with blood as the Nightmare's hooves knocked out a few teeth.
“Stop playing around!” Moon Chaser demanded. “I'm the one getting beat up here!”
Discord, nodded. “Time to turn up the heat!” He agreed. Quickly, he hit down and rotated the analog stick a quarter turn to the right, pressing both A and B with his lion paw. Moon Chaser found herself forced to the ground, only to quickly rise up. Her mouth forced open, but nothing happened.
“Hmmm, that was suppose to work. Let's try that again.” Discord decided, and tried the maneuver again and again and again. Nightmare Moon watched in dull amusement as her opponent was forced to the ground and rose up to belch out air over and over again. She grew board of the this amusement. And a quick charge, she impaled the Pegasus in the right leg with her horn.
“Perfect!” Discord shouted triumphantly. “Now stab her in the heart and this all will be over. Moon Chaser did as she was instructed, stabbing the black mare over and over again in the chest with the horn tied to her left hoof, crying the whole time.
“Make it stop!” She sobbed, the pain of the horn in her leg filling her with the fiery heat of agony. “Please, just make it stop!” And so she stabbed faster and faster, aiming for the dark Alicorn's heart, but no matter how she stabbed, the horn just seemed to go right thru the mare, like she wasn't really there.
“Huh....” Discord cupped his chin with his eagle claw hand. “That should have work...what gives?” He tossed his controller. “I never liked this game to begin with.”
Still in caged, the Princess Celestia watched. She watched how her sister's evilness returned, how the Draconequus fooled around like it was all one big joke, but mostly she watched the faithful guard of her sister was reduced to a broken pony that would do anything to make the pain stop. It was too much for her, and she had to do something about it.
“Discord...” She said, her quite voice penetrating her prison. The weird creature turned to watcher her for a moment, seeing the great Princess standing, her head down, eyes closed, as if she was giving into defeat. Then the white Alicorn stood tall, her eyes snapping open, revealing blinding white irises with now pupils, her voice shattering the bubble that held her. “DISCORD!!!!”
Discord, who was not expecting anything like this, was toppled back and landed flat on his tail as he watched the once calm collective Celestia become...become....
The white mare was now a tall proud Alicorn, with glowing white eyes, hooves bathed in white fire and a mane that seemed to burn like the very sun itself. On her head sat a wreath of golden flames. The powerful creature looked from Discord, who was now scared out of his wits, to Nightmare Moon.
“Nightmare Moon, I will destroy you for what you've done!”
The dark pony sneered. “And what will you do? Shine me to death?”
The white Princess snorted, stamping a hoof, causing the rocky alcove to shudder. “I am Celestial Aubade, Queen of the sky and daylight! Equestia is my home and her ponies my children, and like any mother, I will rip you limb from limb for touching them!”
And with that the Queen Aubade and Queen Moon charged at each other, both blasting each other with the pure essence of light and darkness. The ultimate battle of good and evil, the battle that never should be, the war that never had an end was being fought for the final time, and as the fight raged, the alcove was being torn apart. Every time Nightmare Moon was thrown into one of the rocky walls, shattering countless boulders, or Celestial Aubade was blasted out of the air, driven to the ground, causing mini earthquakes, more and more cracks appeared, not only on the side of the walls, floor and celinge, but in the very air itself. The fabric of nature was being torn apart at the pureness of the hatred the two queens had for each other.
Discord, who now lost all of his audacity, crawled over to where the sobbing guard was, still stabbing the air, crying, “Make it stop...”
“I'm sorry!” He cried out, grabbing the broken mare by the shoulders. “I'm so sorry, I didn't think that any of this would happen.”
“How?” Moon Chaser cried, her tears streaming down her face. “How could you have thought letting Nightmare Moon loose was a good idea?”
“My plan had holes.” Discord admitted. “I knew it did, but I wanted to do something chaotic for fun. I never intended to actually cause harm or bring out this side of Celestia.”
Mooney forced herself back together. “How are we going to fix this?”
“We have to get to Nightmare's heart and stab it. Only then will Nightmare Moon be subdued!” Discord screamed to be heard over the clashing and smashing of the two hyper Alicorns.
“But I tried!” Moon Chaser yelled back. “I stabbed her plenty of times, but nothing happened. It just went through her.”
“Then we have to ask her herself!” Discord decided. “We have to go now!” And with that, Discord picked up the purple Pegasus with his lion paw and –snap— They were gone, leaving the raging fighters of good an evil to tear at each other.
Moon Chaser blinked. “Where are we?” She asked in confusion, looking out at the lush fied of moon flowers under the full moon of the night sky.
“Welcome.” A warm, familiar voice said from behind them.
Moon Chaser and Discord turned to see Luna, sitting at a little white tea table, smiling at the two of them.
“Luna!” Moon Chaser sobbed, galloping towards her Princess. She embraced her, and for a moment, everything was right.
“Princess.” Discord bowed, and for the first time in her life, Mooney saw the strange creature known as Discord be completely serious. “I made a tragic mistake.” He went on to say. “I awoken Nightmare Moon again. I wanted to give you her power, but I was too hasty in my attempts to subdue her to make sure she was properly in check.”
Luna's face fell. “It is as I feared.” She sighed. “And you intended to stab her in the heart with my horn?” Discord nodded. “And did you?”
“I stabbed her in the chest over and over.” Moon Chaser answered, still lost in her Princess’s hooves. “But it didn't do anything.”
Luna closed her eyes. “The heart you seek is not my own, but that which my heart belongs to.”
Moon Chaser looked up as Discord started to tremble. He understood what the little mare did not, and it was something that stilled his beating heart. For the first time, he wished he'd never been let out of his stone prison in the first place.
“What do you mean?” Moon Chaser asked.
“I, as Luna, Princess of the Night and Protector of Ponies Dreams, am forever loyal to Celestia, my sister.” Luna shed a single tear. “To subdue Nightmare Moon and restore my power, you must stab my sister in the heart with my horn.”
Numb. No pain, not feeling, just numbness fill both mind and body of the Pegasus as she stared at her Princess.
“To free you...To bring you back...I must kill Princess Celestia...” She repeated. There was one feeling she felt now that she'd said what needed to be said...dread...