Both Cap and Scootaloo hurled themselves out of the way of the steel claw that punched past them and into the deck, shaking the ship with the force of its impact. Scootaloo shot to her hooves and fired a few bolts at the machine, yet with a maniacal laugh the crab bot swatted her bolts away.
"Damn, my bolts aren't working! Cap, throw your shield!" Scootaloo yelled over to Steve while she fired up her wings and shot into the sky, avoiding the pincers as they clamped down right behind her tail.
"Wouldn't do any good. The armor's too thick and I don't see a weak point," Captain America informed her while he leapt over one of the crab's legs, tucking in and rolling while another pierced through the wall behind him. He raised his shield over his head and braced himself as the claw slammed into his shield, making Rogers grit his teeth while he strained against the weight of the machine. With a roar, he pushed the claw off long enough to leap to the side, where the claw slammed into the bulkhead.
"I must admit, it is so nice to have company after such a long time," a voice filled with delight echoed throughout the room, but Steve was quick to pick up that the voice was coming from within the machine. The moment he glanced at it, the eyes sticking out of the top of the crab slid to the side and a pony slowly rose from within, an evil smile on her face and a large jar of something behind her.
"Ah, you must be the one they call Captain America," the pink pony with the purplish mane laughed while she glared down at the Captain with a devilish look in her eyes. "I have been told about you."
Yet, Rogers did not return the glare, because he was far too focused with the massive jar that had emerged from within the crab along with the pony. It was filled with hundreds of symbols that each glowed with power, while looking similar to the ones that the ponies at the base wore. But while the symbols didn't mean much to the Captain, Scootaloo's eyes widened in horror as she glanced upon them.
"Those are all...cutie marks," she whispered with dread while the pony controlling the machine began to laugh, making Scootaloo's horror turn to rage in a blink. "So you're the one called Starlight Glimmer! The pony with the power to steal any cutie mark that she sees!"
"Indeed I am, mare! But more than that, I am one of the Five Gods of Equestria!" she whinnied with delight as she threw her head back, laughing with sheer mirth before slowly moving her head forward with a devious look in her eyes. "And I see that you have a cutie mark that I have never seen before. I am to make it mine!"
The moment the words left her mouth the clawed arm of the crab lunged forward and clamped down around Scootaloo's waist, gaining a cry of pain from her as she was slowly lifted towards Starlight. The mare's eyes glared with hunger while her horn began to glow, staring right at the mark of the struggling mare as she licked her lips.
CLANG!
Starlight howled with pain when a disc made of vibranium caught her in the side of her head, snapping her skull to the side while also breaking her magic spell. Seeing his chance, the Captain leapt up onto the crab's arm and pulled against the pincers holding Scootaloo with all of his might, pulling them apart just enough so that she could squeeze out of its grasp.
"You will pay for that, hero," the mare growled with rage as Cap leapt off the arm and picked his shield off the deck. She then glanced back at the jar with a curious expression before spying a mark that made her smile. "But seeing as you're the first hero that I've fought in so many years, I'll give you a little treat. Because I've been saving this cutie mark for quite the occasion."
She let out a cackle while she said this, opening the jar and using her magic to draw forth a cutie mark deep from within. Steve narrowed his eyes at the violet, six starred symbol that she drew out, but the gasp from Scootaloo was enough to tell him that something was seriously wrong.
"It...it can't be..." she whispered with absolute terror as Starlight took the cutie mark in hoof and turned back towards the pair with a crazed expression on her face. "That mark...that mark belongs to..."
"Correction, my dear mare. It BELONGED to Twilight, before I took it from her! Just like how I took the marks of all of her friends!" Starlight cackled maniacally before her horn glowed with a chaotic power, infusing the mark onto her flank and causing a burst of power to erupt from her. She then swung her head towards the Captain and fired a massive beam of violet energy that tore apart the air around her. Steve barely reacted in time to lift his shield, but the force of the magic slamming into his shield was still strong enough to hurl him across the room and into one of the walls. He collapsed to the floor with a groan, his shield slipping off of his arm and rolling forward on its side before falling over on the deck.
"HAHAHA! This is the power that I now possess! The power of an Alicorn, mixed with the magic of a god!" she cackled as she stuck a pipe into her neck, causing the magic of Discord to seep into her. Discord howled from within his prison while his power was sucked from him, fueling the power of Starlight Glimmer even further. Starlight then turned her multicolored eyes upon Scootaloo, who took a few steps back with hope slowly fading in her eyes.
"Now do you see, pony? You cannot hope to oppose us? All you can hope for is that we don't crush you when we feel like it! Now DIE!" Starlight bellowed with glee as she swung one of the crab's claws right at Scootaloo, who closed her eyes and braced herself...for the blow that never came. She cracked her eyes open to see the star spangled soldier pushing against the arm with all of his might, each arm holding one of the pincers as he prevented it from moving any further.
"This is no time to be afraid, Scootaloo...we have to focus on how to beat her," Captain America spat out as he was slowly pushed back by the mechanical arm. He then cast a glance at Discord, making Scootaloo turn to face the draconis. "He's...what's powering the ship and Starlight. Get him free...and we weaken both her and the Starfall...and if he's up for it, maybe he can help bring...her...DOWN!"
With one, mighty push the Captain forced the pincers back for just a moment, giving him time to kick Scootaloo back before leaping up onto the crab's arm. He raced up the metal limb and threw a kick aimed right at Starlight's head. Yet with a snicker the mare constructed a barrier of violet, chaotic magic that deflected the Captain's kick with ease. Rogers then turned and hurled himself off of the side of the crab, just as Starlight hurled blasts of magic at him that narrowly missed the Avenger.
Rogers collected his shield before rolling to his knees, leaning into his shield as blast after blast of magic bombarded the vibranium. Starlight stopped laughing when she saw the none of her spells had managed to destroy the shield, making her narrow her eyes while she glared at the man behind it.
"Quite the defense you have there. Now, let us see just how much that shield can take!" As she screamed this, she concentrated all of her magic into a single beam of light that exploded from the end of her horn, slamming into the vibranium star and sliding the Captain back. Yet with a will that could not be matched, Rogers slammed his feet into the floor and held his ground, pushing back against the magic until both he and Starlight were in a stalemate.
Cap then angled his shield slightly and caused the magic beam to bounce off his disc, sending the reflected beam into the ceiling and carving a large hole in the ceiling of the Starfall. Starlight let out a howl of frustration before she glared at the Captain and stopped her spell, giving Steve a moment to catch his breath.
"I want one of those," Scootaloo muttered after seeing what Cap's shield was capable of, before shaking her head and turning her attention back to the container that kept Discord trapped within. She examined the tubing and the machinery for a few moments, before growling and slamming the butt of her crossbow into the glass that refused to break. "What the hell is this made of?"
"Please mare, that glass was made to contain the magic of a god of chaos! Do you really think you're paltry attempts to break through it will crack that glass?!" Starlight howled with fury and delight while she sent the crab's claws slamming into the Captain's shield, forcing the Captain back as he struggled just to avoid being crushed by one of the claw strikes. Then Starlight's eyes narrowed when she remembered something that Ahuizotl had said, something that made her smile while her horn began to glow.
Rogers just managed to push one of the claws back before he felt something wrap around his throat, choking the life out of him as he was yanked off the ground and dangled in the air by his neck. "That's right, Ahuizotl said that you possessed no magic within you," Starlight smirked while the Captain held both of his hands to his neck, where her magic was strangling him. "So, while that may have given you the upper hoof against him, it means that you have no means to counter me!"
In one last, desperate, attempt to fight back, Rogers hurled his shield towards Starlight with one arm. But the mare had been expecting the move and shot the shield out of the air with a blast of magic from her eyes, causing the shield to fly into the glass that held Discord. Scootaloo yelped when the shield nearly took her head off as it bounced off the glass. Her eyes then snapped to the Captain, whose face was turning as blue as his suit while Starlight choked him to death.
'Do something, damn it! Don't just stand by while they kill another one of your friends! Do something to...' Scootaloo's eyes widened when she glanced down at the Captain's shield, which reflected the image of the mare off of its surface as she picked it up. She then glanced from it up to Starlight, remembering how it managed to deflect a beam of magic that was both Twilight's and Discord's power combined. She then glanced back at the glass holding Discord, an idea coming to her before she loaded an explosive bolt into her crossbow.
"HAHAHAHA! This is too easy! Ahuizotl will never live it down when he finds out that I was the one to kill the hero that bested him!" Starlight cackled with delight while Rogers struggles began to fade and the human's eyes started to roll back in his head. "So dies another hero, one that failed just like all the-"
"Hey Jackass!" Starlight turned around to see a crossbow bolt whip by her head, slamming into the glass that held the cutie marks behind her. Starlight glanced at the bolt for a moment before glancing down at Scootaloo with a smirk.
"Fool. You missed."
"Did I?"
Starlight howled with both surprise and anger when the bolt exploded behind her, breaking both her magical hold on the Captain and the jar that held all of the cutie marks within. Starlight shook her head with a groan before her eyes went wide at the sight of all of the cutie marks circling in the air above her, before they began to scatter out of the room and across all of the land.
"NO! My cutie marks!" she screeched with sorrow before eyes filled with vengeance glared down at the smirking pegasi with unbridled fury. "You...damned...infernal...BITCH!" Starlight screamed with wrath while she unleashed a beam of unholy magic right towards Scootaloo.
Yet all Scootaloo did was smile in reply before pulling up the Captain's shield and bracing herself, nearly being knocked over as the wrath-infused magic pounded against the shield. Yet to the surprise of the pegasi and the utter bafflement of the unicorn, the shield did not yield and instead reflected the beam of energy into the ceiling once more. Scootaloo let out a cry as she turned the shield, angling the beam of magic so that its full fury was unloaded upon the glass that held Discord.
Starlight caught onto the plan too late, so with a massive explosion the combined power of Twilight and Discord was enough to blast the glass apart that was holding him prisoner. Both Scootaloo and Starlight shielded themselves while glass flew everywhere, followed by an explosion of chaotic energy that erupted as Discord began to fly into the sky...before letting out a weak cough as he crashed to the floor.
"Discord!" Scootaloo cried out as she raced to the draconis, never seeing Starlight take aim at the pony with her horn and prepare to finish her off. A boot to the head convinced her otherwise, so with a cry her skull was kicked to the side and bounced off the metal of the cockpit around her. Rogers landed on the deck while rubbing his throat with his hand, taking in a few deep breaths before picking up his shield that Scootaloo had left on the floor, and he raced to the mare.
"That won't stun her for long. How is he?" Rogers asked Scootaloo, who was shaking the mostly gray draconis, who was barely breathing.
"I don't know. I've never seen him like this," she whispered with a shake of her head. Rogers' brow furrowed before he glanced back to see Starlight regaining her senses, bellowing at the Captain as the crab bot roared back to life.
"See if you can get him to his feet and then get him out of here," Captain America ordered before he rose to his full height to face Starlight. "I'll buy you as much time as you need." The Captain raced off and reengaged his fight with the unicorn, leaving Scootaloo alone with Discord, whose eyes were slowly beginning to open.
"Scootaloo?" he whispered in a voice that was at death's door. "What are you doing here? Where is here...anyway?"
"You're on a ship, Discord. You've been held prisoner and they've been using your magic to fuel their weapon of mass destruction," Scootaloo quickly explained before she heard a cry and glanced back in time to see Captain America be hurled across the room and driven into a wall by the crab's arm. She glanced from the Captain to Discord, making her decision as she stood up. "If you can move at all, get out of here as soon as you can. If not, then recharge your magic and teleport out. We'll buy you time."
With bleary eyes, Discord had to watch while Scootaloo took to the sky and began to fire more crossbow bolts at the mare that was piloting the giant crab, who roared at Scootaloo before one of the crab's claws shot up and snatched her out of the air. Starlight growled with fury as she used a blast of magic to knock the crossbow out of Scootaloo's grasp, moving the mare just in front of her face so that she could glare into her eyes.
"I'm going to kill you slowly. And I think I'll start by ripping those wings of yours off of your back," Starlight seethed as her horn glowed once more. But to her shock, her magic shattered against the wings, getting a smirk out of Scootaloo in the process.
"You want an up close look at my wings?" she asked before the wings pointed towards Starlight. "Here. Have a look." Starlight howled with agony as fire erupted from the tips of Scootaloo's metal wings, burning half of the mare's face. Starlight screeched in pain, yet her fury quickly overrode her pain and with agony blazing in her eyes, she started to slam Scootaloo into the metal floor repeatedly.
'She's...going to die...' Discord faintly realized as he barely managed to push himself up slightly, watching with pained eyes while Scootaloo was driven into the metal floor with such force that blood began to pour from her mouth and nose. 'But I'm...to weak...' Discord realized when he snapped his fingers and nothing happened.
He then turned his gaze towards the pipes and wires that had been attached to him, that had been sucking the very magic out of his body. A faint idea came to him as he glanced back to the battle, where a creature in a red, white and blue outfit leapt up onto the crab and kicked Starlight in the back of her head. She screamed while she grabbed the creature with her magic and tossed him into the ceiling, before punching him across the room with the other claw, where he fell down.
And then a memory flashed through his mind, a memory of the day he was captured; of the day the Ambassadors of Harmony fell. Of the day he had to watch Fluttershy, his greatest friend, be defeated before his powerless eyes. Discord gritted his teeth and forced as much life into his arms as he could, grabbing hold of the wires and tubes and dragging them all to him. And then he made his choice.
"Are you ready to die?!" Starlight roared in pain at the barely conscious form of Scootaloo, who spat out a bit of blood towards the unicorn with one last act of defiance. Starlight laughed with a smile as she pushed the control to crush the pegasi...only for nothing to happen. She blinked once before pressing the switch twice more, fury flashing in her eyes when nothing happened. "What is going on? Why does it say that the battery for this thing is...?"
The word died in her mouth as Starlight glanced over at Discord, who was standing tall, with a smirk upon his face, while he sucked the magic out of the area around him...before returning the magic at twice the speed. "W-what are you doing? If you fluctuate the absorption and the retrieval of the magic that quickly, it'll turn you into-"
"Into what? A bomb?" Discord smiled with a crazed expression as cracks began to form in his body, which pulsated with power. "Yes, I think I'd like to go out like that. With a bang. A bang the likes of which the world will never see again." Discord's eyes then looked at the Captain, who had fought back to his feet and raced over to Scootaloo. "Whoever you are human, you seem to fight with them. So I'll leave them and all this world in your care. Run!"
"NO! None of you leave here alive!" Starlight roared as she aimed her horn at Discord, but then the shield smacked her upside the head and caused her to slump over as pain filled her body. Steve caught his shield before tucking Scootaloo in tight, leaping through one of the tears in the walls that had been caused by Starlight's reflected magic. With every ounce of strength he had left, Discord poured the last of his magic into Captain Rogers, creating massive wings for him that allowed him to quickly soar away from the Starfall.
"Argh...damned...shield," Starlight muttered before she lifted her eyes in horror, horror at the glowing draconis that was pulsating with an unbelievable amount of magic. "Discord...wait...we can talk..."
"Talk? Oh I love talking. Especially to my friends. Like the ones that you killed," Discord whispered with cold eyes before a toothy smile spread across his face. "You want to talk? We'll talk in hell."
Rogers had just managed to get a good distance away from the Starfall before an explosion of cataclysmic proportions devastated the sky behind him. He glanced back to see a pillar of black, chaotic magic tear the Starfall in two, before the rest of it was ripped to shreds by the shockwave the followed. Rogers tucked himself and the unconscious Scootaloo behind his shield as best he could before the shock wave hit the both of them, hurtling them both down towards the sandy ground below. Right before impact he spread his black wings and slowed the descent as best he could, before tucking in once more and slamming into the ground shield first.
He sprawled out onto the ground and dropped Scootaloo to the side, gritting his teeth as pain flooded through his left shoulder. He forced himself back up just in time to see the Starfall plummet from the heavens, looking like a massive pile of burning metal. His wings then faded away into stardust as he heard the sound of a laugh echo across the land, the laugh of a draconis who was finally free.
"Rest in peace, Discord. And thank you," Steve said as he stood up at attention and saluted the draconis, staying like that until all that remained of the Starfall crashed into the ground in one giant ball of fire. He then closed his eyes with a sigh before opening them once more as he knelt down, picking up Scootaloo and resting her on his right shoulder. He then began to hike it to the extraction point, knowing that he had a story for the ponies back at the base.