Nightmare Free Equestria

The Discord of this world sat on his throne upon a checkerboard hill in the middle of what was once Ponyville. In his lap was a bag of popcorn and a soda. Floating around him were several marionette controls, each working a different puppet to make them move and dance.

A pair of scissors cut through a set of strings. The puppet -- a gangly pony figure with a yellow-orange body -- collapsed.

"Oh no," Discord said as he brought his lion's paw up to his forehead. "The major supporting male has died. How dreadfully tragic." He rolled his eyes. "Or it would be, if not for the fact that it had happened five times already."

"DISCORD!"

There was a blinding flash of lightning and a cannon-echoing boom of thunder as the name was said, causing the medley made monster to jump in his seat. Turning around, he peaked over the top of his throne to see the source.

Standing not far away was a black coated alicorn with an ethereal, night-blue, mane and tail floating around her. She wore a midnight blue helmet, and a breastplate with a glowing white crescent moon on it. Her wings were spread wide from her eyes, and draconic green eyes glared at the throne. Dark clouds collected around her, flickering with lightning and crackling with thunder.

"Oh, my," Discord said as he popped up, clapping his lion paw and eagle claw together. "Looks like a new challenger approaches." He looked at a watch on his wrist. "It's about time, too. I was getting soooo bored. I was starting to think that I was forgotten out here, all alone." His eyes teared up as he let out a small sniffle.

"This is your one chance," the black alicorn said. "Releases the princesses, and your other prisoners, and return Ponyville back to normal."

Discord fell off his throne as he tumbled backwards. The sound of his laughter echoed through the entirety of the town. He pressed his paw and claw against his stomach as he kicked his legs. After half a minute of this, the creature managed to stop long enough to stand back up.

"And who, exactly, are you supposed to be?" he asked, still chuckling slightly.

"You can call me Moon Shadow," the alicorn stated, "and your chance is about to pass." Her horn began to glow as she started to draw on her magic.

"Oh, I don't think so," Discord said as he straightened up. "You see, I believe that you, my dear butt shade, are overlooking something important."

Moon Shadow -- the Nightmare Moon form of Princess Luna -- stopped, her magic dissipating. She gave her head a tilt, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh?" she asked. "And what would that be?"

Discord grinned and snapped his fingers, causing a large toy box to appear in front of him. He hopped onto it, wearing a top hat and monocle as he set the tip of his cane down against the lid.

"Come now," he stated as he looked at his gloved paw. "Do you truly believe that you are actually the first pony to come and face me? There have been quite a few actually. For instance," he jumped down from the top of the toy chest, "did you ever wonder what happened to...."

He grinned at his adversary.

"The Wonderbolts?"

As he said the name, Discord turned to point at the large wooden container. The top popped open with an explosion of squeaking bicycle horns. From inside, three figures emerged. Each was a pegasus, wearing goggles. One still wore The Wonderbolts uniform, but grayer. The pegasus had a tinge of yellow to the portion of coat visible, and an orange tint to the mane and tail, but the color looked faded and pale, as if it had been partially drained from it. Another wore something similar, but in darker colors. It looked almost like the costume The Shadowbolts had worn. It was difficult to tell the original color of the pony as he just looked to be straight gray. The third was dressed the strangest uniform. The main body was brown, with each leg a different color, and the mask gray in color. The mane and tail were white, but the color of the body was lost with the drain of color.

"Do you like them?" Discord asked with a grin. "I figured that they could use some variety in their outfits. Designed the other two myself. I especially like the one that I made to look like me."

Externally, Moon Shadow looked at Discord and his team of discorded Wonderbolts impassively. Internally, Luna was mentally kicking herself. Of course other ponies would have come to Ponyville to see what was going on and possibly try to stop Discord. With no Elements of Harmony, it would fall on others to deal with dangers. It makes sense that The Wonderbolts would be among them. Not only were they a group of talented stunt pegasi, but they were also trained aerial combatants.

"I'm disappointed," Moon Shadow said, "I didn't think you were such a coward."

"'Coward?'" Discord repeated, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'coward?'"

"The supposedly oh so might Discord," she continued, "living embodiment of chaos, and you're going to use weak, mind controlled ponies to do your fighting for you?" She snorted. "Pathetic!"

"Why you..." Discorded started, then stopped. "Oh. I get it." He grinned. "You are trying to provoke me, aren't you? Attack my sense of ego to keep me from using my little Chaosbolts against you?"

"Chaos... bolts?" Moon Shadow repeated. "Really? That's the best you can come up with?" She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Wow. So no only are you a coward, but you are so horribly not creative." She gave a shake of her head. "I mean come on, what kind of being of chaos and disharmony are you?"

What's going on? Luna mentally shouted at herself. Who in Equestria is saying that? We would never dare say such a thing to Discord! Some mad mare must be controlling our words or something. She honestly had no idea where this indignation and bravado was suddenly coming from.

"Alright," Discord said as he snapped his paw to make the trio of pegasi and their box disappear. "You've managed to provoke me. I am going to deal with you myself."

"You can try," Moon Shadow said, "but you'll have to catch me first." With a flap of her wings, she took off into the air to fly as fast as she could. There was no need to look back. She knew Discord was after her.