Discord Saves the Day: Now What?

Chapters

Early Awakening
Alicown Rodeo
Straight To, and From, The Moon

Early Awakening

Discord was confused.

He was not used to being confused.

He didn't dislike it entirely, if he was honest, but it was still a curious feeling.

Despite it being against his nature, he decided to think about what he knew 'logically' for a moment, if only to understand these ponies:

First, his statue crumbles like someone took a sledgehammer to it.
Second, he discovers that all the guards and nobles are running around in a panic.
Third, he had nothing to do with the second thing.
Fourth, the sun wasn't up yet.
Five, the sun SHOULD be up, unless he misremembered how ponies timed the hours in a day and night.
Six, Celestia was missing.
Seven, showing up in a dramatic fashion to empty rooms gets awkward fast.
Eight, Celestia had a thing for stuffed animals.
Nine, She also had porn for straight and bisexual mares, both ponies and interspecies.
Ten, he didn't know that Pet Play was such a big thing now.
Eleven, for the record, he had nothing to do with the issues regarding the sun or Celestia.
Twelve, he had no idea what to do now.

No, seriously, he had nothing. Sure, he could go out and spread his chaos and everything, but that would be stealing someone else's show. And while he didn't have issue with that in itself, he wanted to at least know whose show he was stealing- after all, he'd have to thank them appropriately for freeing him. Plus, it kind of ruined the purpose of making them confused and scared if someone else already had them confused and scared.

So, that was why he was currently floating over the desk in Celestia's personal study, looking for some clue as to what was going on, while eating a picture of milk- literally, he had a picture of a glass of white milk and he was licking it away like it was ice cream. He kept an ear out for the guards in case they figured out what was going on before he did, and he had the other ear listening for the unmistakable sound of Celestia's voice.

Discord decided that being confused was an interesting thing: He didn't feel the subtle desire to cause massive pandemonium every instant while his brain was working on a puzzle. He could just teleport her to him, or try to at the least, but there wasn't much fun in that. Besides, they'd probably just blame everything on him and he took pride in the fact that he didn't take credit for other people's accomplishments. And kidnapping Her Sunny Flankness was fairly impressive. Unless she was playing hooky, which Discord oh so wished was true.

He blinked, tossing the picture away, somehow spilling the milk out of the frame and onto the floor, as he found a letter to the princess in question and noted two curious words: Nightmare Moon, formerly known as Luna, tauntingly referred to as Lulu, and sometimes nicknamed any variation of Selena. And, now that Discord bothered to listen, he could hear the name Nightmare Moon being said a lot in a little town near the Everfree that, unless he was wrong, was very unoriginally and uncreatively called Ponyvile.

This brought him to the lucky number on his list:
Thirteen, after reading this letter from a "Twilight Sparkle," he deduced that Luna had gotten free and gone Eternal Prom Night Queen on everyone again. And, knowing Celestia, she was probably either too shocked or too unwillingly to fight her sister and got captured... if Moony had Luna's sense of ironic justice, she'd probably trapped Celestia in the sun.

"Hmm, Celestia with a tan? Tanestia?" Discord mused to himself curiously before shrugging and snapping his tail as he vanished in a reverse pop, leaving a large, Draconequus shaped bubble of chocolate fudge, sitting at the desk with its "head" in its "paw."

Mayor Mare had just barely gotten everyone to calm down and stop panicking over the missing princess and the mysterious Nightmare Moon alicorn promising to bring eternal night upon them. Internally, she couldn't blame them- Eternal night didn't bode well, especially so close to the Everfree, where some creatures grew bolder in the extended darkness. The idea that this individual could somehow capture Princess Celestia wasn't something she wanted to think too deeply on either.

"Aww, looks like I missed the fun," A voice complained from behind her. She sighed, taking the comment to be sarcastic or simply uniformed, turned to address what she was expecting to be someone that hadn't managed to stay awake for the Summer Sun Celebration. She squealed and jumped back in alarm, landing on her flanks with a gapping mouth as she found herself staring up at a slender serpentine creature that would tower over Celestia herself and had different body parts from more creatures than any hybrid she had ever heard of. He was currently leaning down at an almost(or completely) impossible angle for his spine, looking at her in amusement, "And who might you be?" He asked, not impolitely.

"I-I am Mayor Mare," She answered automatically, trying to process who or what was talking to her.

Discord smiled, as if entertained by her name, as his neck returned to its full height and he used his lion paw to shake her limp hoof, "Well hello, Mare Mayor, I am Discord "This Cord" and I see I'm late to the party!" He said, looking up at the town hall filled with ponies, all staring at him in curiosity and caution. "Good evening, Mares and Gentlecolts! I am Discord "This Cord": Draconequus Supremus Rex, Ruler of Chaos and Bringer of Chooooocolate Raaaaaain!" he declared in a booming voice with his arms outstretched. Normally, rumbling clouds appearing from nowhere would be a very ominous sight for these ponies. However, given that the small clouds hovering over several of them were fluffy, pink, and indeed raining chocolate milk, they were more confused than scared, "And I couldn't help hearing whispers that a certain Nocturnal Drama Queen crashed your shindig and did some alicornnaping!" Discord added on, recapturing their attention effortlessly. Now they were all wondering where the microphone had come from, "SO, ANYPONY HAVE ANYTHING IMPORTANT TO TELL LITTLE OLD ME?!" He asked, his voice booming from nowhere and everywhere. It was loud enough to make them cringe, but not loud enough to make them go deaf.

"Um..." A small voice called out in the silence, making the entire room turn to stare at a Pegasus filly with orange fur and a purple mane.
All at once, a long eagle hand appeared out of her left side as the smirk goat-like head popped out of her right. The crowd gasped while the young pony screamed in surprise and jumped back, the rest of the chimeric body seeming to flow out of her as she did. Everyone looked from where Discord was to where he had been several times in confusion, having not seen him move.

"And who might you be?" Discord asked as he held the microphone to her, his body hovering low to the floor. The filly gulped and shook lightly under his mismatched gaze. Discord rose an eyebrow but lost none of his smirk as a reddish purple earth pony with a pink mane walked protectively up behind the filly, a stern and warning scowl on her face, 'Hmm, with that grimness, all she needs is a bit of coat dye and she'll practically be a dead ringer for Celly before her hair went rainbow on everyone,' He mused to himself.

"Sir...Discord, was it? I'd appreciate you not terrorizing my students- the fillies here are barely awake now as it is and we've all had enough surprises," She requested patiently.

"Ohh, we can never have enough surprises, My Dear," Discord said in his charming voice, making her blink in surprise, before he glanced back at the orange Pegasus and notice the slight sway in her stance, "But I suppose I see your point, Miss...?" He asked curiously, spinning the Microphone up to her.

She pulled her head back at being put on the spot, but awkwardly answered, "Umm, I'm Cheerilee."

Discord blinked, "Cheerilee? Sounds like someone tried to name you "Cheer Leader" and stopped too late." With that, he snapped his free eagle claw. Before Cheerilee could retort, she found ten tiny versions of herself, dressed in green and white cheerleader uniforms and pompoms climbing over her hair before they started doing a cheer routine, finishing by forming a pyramid while all on thier hind legs, showing off the letters(and exclamation point) on their shirts: "C he eri lee!"

"Coooooool," Scootaloo said in amazement as she watched the spectacle, as did the rest of the crowd.

Cheerilee looked stupefied as the mini-Cheerilees all turned into snow, prompting her to shake the cold substance off her nose, "...For the record, I wanted to be a cheerleader," Cheerilee pointed out in light annoyance to the smirking Discord, rubbing his claw and paw together.

"Ohh, how delightfully coincidental! What kept you? Couldn't do flips?" Discord asked teasingly.

"No!...I was too tall, it kept making the pyramids fall apart," Cheerilee countered, grumbling to herself at the end.

Discord feigned a look of sympathy as he patted her on the head, "Ahh, the curse of beauty strikes again," He consoled, making her blush in surprise once more. Taking the opening, he turned back to the blank Pegasus, "Now, as you were saying little..." He said asked, putting the microphone to her.

The filly took offense to this as she put her front legs on top of the microphone and glared at the Draconequus, "My name is Scootaloo! And I'm not little!" She protested loudly. Too loudly, as even Discord found himself curling his ears to block out the sharp screech that came after that, the rest of the crowd covering their ears with their hooves.

"Of course you're not!" Discord called over the ringing in everyone's ears, twisting his blue horn counter clockwise with a clicking noise, everyone moving their hooves away curiously as they slowly regain their hearing with every turn, "Now, let's try that again?" He asked with a bit of annoyance in his tone.

"S-sorry..." Scootaloo apologized, looking sheepishly at everyone else before turning to the reality warper, blushing nervously as she spoke into the microphone, all eyes on her, "I, ah, I...I followed Rainbow Dash, thinking she was going after the Nightmare-mare...but since she disappeared, Rainbow followed the one pony who knew Nightmare Moon's name. I...I don't know what happened or why, but I saw them, my friend's sisters, Pinkie Pie, and someone else head to the Everfree. I came here to tell my friends, but theirs sister must have sent them home," Scootaloo answered, a bit rambling.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Discord said waving his hand as he threw the microphone over his shoulder before she could continue. Said item landing on a pony's head and turning into a unicorn horn. Discord rolled his joints as he landed his hind legs on the ground and stood at his full height over the mass of ponies, several of them more than a bit intimidated. Scootaloo instinctively moved a bit closer to Cheerilee, who craned her neck to look at him with a thoughtful look, "Well, that's about all I need to know. Thanks for the help, My Little Ponies, but it's about time for this nightmare to get a wakeup call! Enjoy the cotton candy and the chocolate milk, on the house!" He announced as he headed toward the door with a little strut in his step, mentally grinning at what he'd do when he found Nightmare Moon. He was about to snap his way out of the building when...

"Mr. Discord, Sir?!" Scootaloo called loudly. This time, she didn't notice being the center of attention, focusing entirely as the Draconequus in the doorway tilted his head up, until it had done a full one-eighty, letting him stare at her upside down, "Are...are you going to bring the Princess back?"

Discord blinked, turning around and bringing his head back, never taking his eyes off the little orange Pegasus. He blinked again as he stared into those soft purple eyes, staring at him with something that had never been directed at him: Hope. Those young and naive eyes held a pleading bit of hope in them, asking him for his help. And as Discord glanced around, he saw similar expressions, curious and expecting looks on the faces of the other ponies. Not as innocent or strong as the filly's, but it was there. They were almost...depending on him? Wanting to trust him?

He wasn't sure what exactly, but it wasn't the looks he was familiar with receiving.

Discord allowed a small, practically smug smile adore his face as snapped his fingers, the filly appearing a few feet above where she had been, on a cloud of extra fluffy cotton candy, "Take a nap, Kiddo. By the time you wake up, the sun will be up," He promised, making tiny Timberwolves of chocolate rain form on the cloud and start jumping in front of the confused yet sleepy Pegasus's eyes. Cheerilee, a bit alarmed at first, smiled a bit as Scootaloo drifted off to sleep, "Good night, and good morning, everypony!" Discord announced, flashing a grin as he reached up to the top of the doorway while he grabbed...what appeared to be his own tail before he was pulled up at near sonic speeds.

Cheerilee, the mayor, and several other ponies raced over to the door way and looked around for the mysterious stranger, "...He's gone," The Mayor stated in light amazement, seeing not a trace of him.

"Really think we can trust him?" Red Delicious asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't think we have any better options. Besides, while he was a little...odd, he seemed like he knows what's going on," Cheerilee opined, 'Still...why does he seem familiar, like I've seen him somewhere?' She wondered to herself, something itching at the back of her mind.

"Hey, umm, Mayor?" Apple Fritter called as she approached the group, "Ya'll know if that Discord fellow is comin' back?" She asked, her eyes shifting awkwardly.

"I couldn't say, I'm afraid," Mayor Mare answered with a sigh, before blinking at the tone, "Why?"

"Well...um...you see...," Apple Fritter glanced over her shoulder to see her cousin, one of the Apple family members actually local to Ponyvile, looking between his eyes curiously, "The microphone turned Big Mac into a unicorn."

No one had a proper response to that.

Unless you count the sleeping Scootaloo's mutter of "awesome" to whatever dream she was having.

Discord popped out of a pond with an elevator ding, still holding the tail that was somehow both above his head and in it proper place, sticking into the liquid. He released it as it pulled itself fully out of the water, now in just one place.

"Hmm, seemed to have missed my mark a bit," He mused as held up his eagle arm, pulling a string to reveal a roll up map of the Everfree. On it was a serious of dots: a red one labeled "Manticry" by a cliff, a half purple/half orange one labeled "Sea Sissy" in a river, and a blinking grey one labeled as "This is you" just southeast of that. After that were seven moving dots of yellow, sky blue, white purple, orange, pink, and dark blue. They were respectively labeled as Muttershy, Rainbow Pride, Snootity, Sparklus Nerdious, Jack the Bucker, Pinkie Pie, and Prommare Moon. There was also a big X labeling where the castle and elements were, which the ponies were getting very near too. "Huh, didn't even realize all the different Prom jokes I could use on Lulu's new name," He commented in interest, noting that Nightmare Moon was bouncing a bit all over the general area of the other six. He shrugged before tugging the map and letting it spring back into his arm with a few flaps, "Hmm, should be just west of me...,"

With a shrug, he started floating along through the forest of the Everfree on his back, as if he was completely at home in it, which he could very well be, "Well, Sparky Dusk is obbbbviously heading to the old castle to get the Elements of Harmony." As he mused and floated, his tail dragging against the ground and leaving a trail of freshly grown poison joke. A baby hydra walked out of a push, looking from the strange new creature to the plants in curiosity. Slowly, it walked up to the blue flowers, having never seen these things in its young life and sniffed with one of its heads. This head sneezed, now sporting an elephant trunk and tusks. One of the heads laughed while the other two looked curious and shocked as the hyrdaphant head started crying for its mother.

"Miss Eclipse is probably keeping an eye on the Little Pony Squad, trying to scare them off. Crazy or not, Old Lulu isn't an outright murderess when she doesn't need to be. She probably feels content trying to scare them off or crushing their hope of defeating her entirely," He deduced before glancing at the readers. "What can I say? I knew how Sunbutt and Moonflanks thought even before I was stoned," He explained with a shrug before bumping his head into a tree, "Who put that here?" He muttered in annoyance as he looked around the tree, "Ahh, here's the path!" He noted with a grin, snapping his fingers as it all turned to soap with him on it in a flash, "Lovely little bits of chaos. Its things like this that make a Draconequus feel young again!" he declared, skating down the path.

He hummed a little tune to himself as he speed through the forest, absently ducking under trees and performing a spinning jump over a stumbling Timberwolf on the slippery path, "Now this is the way to get around on your feet- skating as fast or as slow as you want, the wind in you mane, dodging everything in your path, traveling headlong to a ravine with only a rickety old bridge to get me across-" Discord mused, coming to a screeching fault at the start of the bridge, "Which works like an escalator." he finished cheekily, stepping onto it as some mall music start playing and the bridge starter to move, or revolve rather, as he looked at the castle and the surroundings, "Celestia, buck yourself, you really let this place go to waste. I'm sure there was a stone bridge here when they moved me to the new castle. He was honestly a bit surprised by the sheer level of decay on the ruins. "Guess she doesn't handle bittersweet memories too well..."

With that bit of observation done, he came to the end of the bridge, holding up a pamphlet he got from nowhere, "Castle of the Two Sisters? Again, veeeery creative. Well, at least they have a decent show tonight:" He opined, before another microphone floated down from nothing and he grabbed it with his free hand, "LADIES AND GENTLESTALLIONS! INTRODUCING, FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY!!!" He shouted, though none heard it besides Discord and the readers, "The Rumble in the Castle in the Jungle! Nightmare Moon vs Discord! The Corrupted Princess Vs The Mad King! The Alicorn Vs The Draconequus! Night Vs Chaos! Both Immortals that just got out of (at least) a thousand years of imprisonment and have just as much steam to vent!" he declared, withholding the urge to make a wrestling arena appear, before shrugging to the fourth wall, "I could go on, but I might be late to my own sh-," the Chaos God paused as his eyes narrowed with a smirk.

Oh so casually, he turned the pamphlet into a paper air plane and threw it off to his left, into the starry night, "Got you now, Luna."

With that, he sunk into the ground, into his own shadow who so generously gave him a concealed ride along the grass and up the broken walls of the castle. He reemerged right above a mist made of the midnight sky, he himself as an upside-down body of shimmering invisibility- completely unnoticeable thanks to the night she so adored, coincidentally. Still, this position put him on top of Moony, literally, while giving him a peek inside.

'So, this is her? Celestia's grand student?' He mused as he saw the young mare with five others, who left as the royal protégé stood over a group of five stone orbs...The Elements of Harmony. He couldn't help the scowl on his face as he saw those accursed things, but smirked as he saw their petrified state, 'What goes around comes around, Harmony,' he thought, a bit vengefully as he watched her try to make a 'spark' to magic the sixth element appear. He held back the urge to grind those orbs into dust and scatter them to the four winds before burying the five at sea and sending the sixth, if he could get it, into space.

But no, that would be too easy. And as Nightmare Moon zipped forward in her mist form, Discord knew exactly what he would do next. After all, if Lulu wanted to play the role of arch villain, she needed to be...educated in the finer arts of it. And as Twilight Sparkle jumped head first into blue twister, she never saw the now-visible Draconequus do a swan dive into the head of the heart of it...

Twilight stared up at Nightmare Moon with an initial wave of shock and fear before she steeled herself- let her never be called a coward- and readied herself to charge the alicorn, "You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" the dark princess asked evenly, clearly not believing this mare was serious about taking her on, one on one. Just as they were both about to charge, the most random thing happened: A paper airplane flew in through a window and sliced the alicorn's right cheek, spilling royal blood and making her hiss in surprise as the aerial paper construct impaled itself into the stone floor.

"What foalplay is this!?" Nightmare Moon snarled as she used her magic to wrench the offending object out of the ground and open it. Twilight, too confused by the sudden event, paused as she looked at the piece of paper. On the side she could see, there was an image of Nightmare Moon in the middle of trading blows with some odd, chimeric creature...which than proceeded to look directly at her and wave.

"What the hay?" Twilight whispered as Nightmare read two words on the back of the pamphlet.

"Ruer moi?" She read out loud...and screamed as the message exploded into fire.

The smoke from said fire quickly formed into the long, serpentine body of Discord, the fire forming his yellow orbed eyes of crimson- his tail end near the ceiling as his front leaned down to look directly at the ruler of the night with a mocking smirk on his face.

And as the soot covered Nightmare Moon coughed, banishing the smoke and fire, her vision cleared to be quickly greeted by that very sight.

The wide, numb, slack jawed reaction was just too perfect for the Lord of Chaos. She was literally incapable of comprehending the fact that he was right here.

"This...This is impossible." She whispered slowly, terror creeping into her voice, "Y-you can't be here. This has to be a-"

"Nightmare?" Discord offered teasingly, reaching up to stroke her cut cheek, the red liquid dripping down his eagle claws.

Author's Note

AN Okay, first time posting here and apparently on this site, the title, listing your beta, and/or a disclaimer somehow all count as author notes. You know, I probably wouldn't have a problem with that if you could have author notes at the bottom and top.

For the record, I don't own MLP and my beta is Dragon Wizard 91

I honestly do not know what came first: This idea or me reading part of "A Dream of Dawn" by Starsong. Either way, there's a shout out/bit of credit. Also, first time publishing here so sorry if this doesn't turn out completely right.

And there we have, my first publish MLP fic- a Christmas Miracle, I suppose. Never thought I'd end up here, but.....if Celestia and Luna didn't get me interested, Discord would have dragged me full steam one I saw a scene of him.

And additional thanks to my beta, Dragon Wizard, for this and future works. He advises and suggests some of the physical humor of Disocrd. I got the dialouge down, but the physical apart does give me trouble at time- or maybe that was just me getting use to writing Discord, cause 99% of Discord's antic here's is all me.(shrugs) Guess I'll figure that out as I go with these stories.

Hope you all enjoyed this. As you can all tell, this is gonig to have Discord be very influential in stopping Nightmare Moon and is painted in a somewhat hopeful light by the ponies. This of course, is going to change a lot of things down the lane, and immediately change the relationship between Discord and the Ponies in general. He's also taken an interest in Cheerilee and turned Big Mac into a Unicorn.

And yes, Discord is about to royally wreck Nightmare Moon. I'd ask you all to take bets, but that would be a fairly one sided betting pool.

Also, I didn't forget about Twilight at the end- her reaction to Discord's appearance is probably going to be the opener next chapter.

PS Regular Discord is Boredom-Killing Discord. Detective Discord is Focused Discord. That is all.

PSS MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Alicown Rodeo

There are very, very few things that could make Twilight Sparkle's brain completely stall, come to a screeching halt. Sure, the locals of Ponyville seemed crazy, but she had seen her fill of strange things while studying under the Princess. In fact, the most common time this happened was when the unicorn found a particular kind of petition that nearly made her brain fry at trying to understand the logic of nobles. Another, one she thankfully had no clear mental image of, was walking in on her parents and possibly ruining a chance at having a L(B/S)OBFF.

Now she was currently staring at the strangest looking creature she had ever seen, who was staring down the scariest pony she had ever seen, who in turn was staring back at the aforementioned strangest creature like she thought he was the scariest creature she herself had ever seen. The fact that Nightmare Moon, an Alicorn that had to be able to rival Celestia, looked as terrified as a filly before a hydra was what truly stalled Twilight's mind for a moment.

Discord idly wondered if either of the ponies realized that overlapping their respective cutie marks were the words "7w1l16h7_5p4rkl3.exe has stopped working" and "Lun4.exe has been corrupt by program: N16h7m4r3."

Twilight took a moment to breathe, nice and slow, quickly rebooting her brain as the stare-down continued and did something she did very well: Mental multitasking, 'The elements are right at Nightmare Moon's hooves. If this turns into a fight, I can easily get to them or teleport them to me, and hopefully give them the spark they need. But I have to be careful with him. The head of a pony, body made of many creatures. Only one creature in all of Equestrian history matches that description and could terrify an Alicorn,' Twilight mentally paused as she took a quick restock of her information.

"A Draconequus. An immortal class of creature with magical power and knowledge treading into the realms of omnipotence and one of the only creatures known to possess and master Chaos Magic, as coined by Starswirl the Bearded. Judging by Nightmare Moon's reaction and coupled by the lack of any other known Draconequus, I have to assume that this is the Draconequus of Discord from the old legends, said to have been defeated by Princess Celestia herself and the Elements of Harmony for unleashing endless chaos on the lands," Twilight continued to herself.

"My, what a flatterer you are, Twilight Sparkle," Discord noted with a smirk, not looking away from Nightmare, who finally blinked and turned into a cloud of starlight blue mist.

"Oh buck me, I said that aloud," Twilight cursed to herself with wide eyes.

"Oh no you don't!" Discord declared, snapping himself up a large vacuum cleaner, using the hose to suck in all of the mist before it could escape. Once finished, Discord smirked as he turned it off and blew the end of the hose like it was a smoking gun.

Twilight blinked as the vacuum cleaner bounced and rattled with smothered screams of indignation while Discord proudly twirled the hose in his claw, "...Was that it?" Twilight asked in surprise.

"Oh no, we have less than a minute before she breaks out of there, Sparky," Discord answered with a dismissive wave.

"...Shouldn't you be getting ready then?" Twilight asked, eyeing the container as it started to gain cracks with a blue glow behind them.

"I am, I am. Oh, and by the way? It's Discord the Draconequus, not the other way around," Discord corrected offhandedly before stroking his goatee, "Though, it sounds good no matter what way you slice it, I suppose."

*BOOM*

"Hey, I just cleaned that up! And to think I was tidying up this dusty old castle for you," Discord scowled with a forced frown as dust spewed everywhere, making Twilight cough for a few seconds.

"DISCORD!" Nightmare screamed, her essence bursting forth and fleeing into the shadows of the room, "How did you get free?! We sealed you away for an eternity!" Nightmare snapped from the shadows.

'We? Is she speaking in the royal or normal plural?' Twilight wondered curiously, 'Princess Celestia was never alone in those tales, even if it's rarely consistent who or what it was that aided her. Could Nightmare Moon have allied with the Princess against the Dra...against Discord?,' Twilight hypothesized with a frown, watching Discord smirk with his arms crossed, obviously enjoying the Alicorn's displeasure and dismay, 'That would mean...not even two Alicorns working together can beat him.'

'7w1l16h7_5p4rkl3.exe has stopped working- Never mind, false alert!'

"That's funny, coming from you, Mare in the Moon!" Discord taunted as he kicked himself off the ground and started floating about in a circle, like a snake sniffing out its prey, "Really, if YOU could escape, what made you think I couldn't as well?" Discord pointed out smugly.

"Am I to believe that it is mere coincidence that you are freed at this exact moment?!" Nightmare Moon accused, just a bit frantically, "Was it her, this little minion?! Did SHE order her to release you, just to oppose me!?" Nightmare Moon accused, the shadows becoming heavier on the stone above and around Twilight, making her shiver as she readied her magic.

"Right, right- a young yet talented unicorn managed to undo a spell done by the Elements of Harmony all by herself," Discord mocked with an unamused expression, slowly clapping his hands, "Bravo, Luna. I mean, it was a horrible joke, but it's a start. Though, you always struck me as the riddling sort. That or a puzzler," Discord mused, now holding a highly unsolved rubix with red, orange, purple, blue, pink, and magenta sides. Absently, he fiddled with some of the sides of said cube. "Never been able to solve these things."

"Don't call me that. That isn't my name," Nightmare Moon ordered darkly.

"Oh, like it's a big difference. You just changed Luna to Moon, its literal meaning, and needlessly added the title of being a Mare of the Night into it," Discord said with an eye roll. His eyes fell out of his skull as he did so and he threw the rubix cube aside to catch them before they fell to the floor, "Really, you just made your name even more redundant and boring. At least Celestia-"

"Don't speak of her to me!" Nightmare Moon screeched, sending a horn beam to the back of Discord's head.

Without a word, Discord used his tail to deflect the attack with a hand held mirror, "Touchy," Discord commented before throwing the eye balls at her, both stopping right in front of her face, "Did you REALLY think you could hide from Chaos?" He mocked as he rejoined with his eyeballs, his body wrapped around the trunk of her form and the end of his tail around her own. This, if anything, made Nightmare angrier as she tried to buck him in the face with her front hooves, only for Discord to hold them back with his talon and paw, grinning as she struggled against him.

Twilight, meanwhile, made a mad dash for the elements, her horn glowing as she skidded to a halt and tried to 'spark' the stones. The result made them glow and fizzle with magical sparks for a moment. Discord frowned for an instant when he saw that Nightmare Moon was actually worried. He quickly hid this with his own grin when the orbs fizzled out with no results.

"What? But I don't understand! Where's the sixth element!?" Twilight questioned in disbelief.

"Wa, Wa, Waaaaa!" Discord sang off before unfurling his body and sending Nightmare Moon rolling onto the floor, just as lightning started to erupt from her body.

As the Alicorn got back on her hooves, she glared and growled at Discord, barring her fangs at him, "You shouldn't take me so lightly, Foal. I'm far stronger than I was the last time we faced each other."

"Oh? Are you under the impression I threw you aside because of your little lightning show?" Discord asked in mock surprise, a talon against his lips.

Nightmare Moon blinked and that was exactly as far as she got before four different ponies made direct contact with her right side. Rarity made a kick for the hind leg, Pinkie Pie body slammed into the mid-section, Applejack head-butted right into the shoulder just behind the armor, and Rainbow Dash's hooves rammed right into the muzzle and helmet. Even for an immortal Alicorn, the four-way sneak attack was enough to send her tumbling across the room in surprise and more than a little pain.

"Bravo, ladies, bravo!" Discord praised as a large set of miniature theater seats appeared behind him, all with tiny Discords giving a mighty applause- complete with adoration, catcalls, overdramatic tears of joy, and demands for an encore. The real Discord looked to the door way and spied Fluttershy peeking in, "Except you, but we'll give you points for showing up," He commented. The pale yellow Pegasus shrunk under his gaze a bit as she quickly rejoined her friends, her head dipped a bit in shame at not helping.

The other mares blinked, except Pinkie Pie who started making stage bows, "Thank you, thank you! You're all too kind!" Pinkie Pie announced with a grin.

"Any idea what's going with the freakazoid?" Rainbow asked blankly to Applejack, 'What the buck is up with those little wings?'

"Ain't got one bit of a clue," Applejack admitted in confusion, 'What the hay is that blue horn supposed to be from?'

"Girls!" Twilight called as she rejoined them, the elements in tow.

"Glad to see you're unharmed, dear," Rarity greeted with a smile.

"So, who's this weirdo?" Rainbow Dash asked with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight looked at her blankly, "This 'weirdo' is the reason I'm unharmed," She scolded lightly.

"Oh...my bad," Rainbow apologized sheepishly.

Discord blinked as he bit back the comment he was going to make before Twilight said anything, 'Huh, that's another first: a pony, or anyone really, standing up for me?' He mused curiously as he stroked his goatee, 'Actually, that's also the first time ponies have ever helped me in a fight, against an Alicorn no less. The world has gone mad,' He continued in his head before going wide eyed, 'The world has gone mad! Finally! I always knew this day would come! Hallelujah and huzzah! Ring bells, bang the dru-!' He had begun to think, only to blink and throw away the drum he'd just materialized into being. 'Okay, hold yourself together Discord old boy. Kick Alicorn flank now, celebrate all of Ponykind going around the bend later!' He reminded himself, his tail buzzing with potential chaotic energy for a moment.

Groaning from Nightmare Moon seemed to reinstall a bit of urgency into their mood or Twilight's at least, "Not to cut this short, but I think we have a problem," She pointed out as the Alicorn slowly got back to her feet.

"Umm, Twilight? Not to sound lazy or anything, but unless we were watching different rodeos, I don't think we have a problem with Mr. Puzzle Snake over here on our side," Applejack commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Over where?" Pinkie Pie asked curiously.

"Pinkie, he's standing righ-" Applejack trailed off with wide eyes, seeing Discord had vanished.

"And what happened to your hat?" Pinkie Pie asked, tilting her head, causing the farmer to touch her head, blinking as she found a note in place of her Stetson hat.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack muttered in surprise as she read the note which simply read as: "I'm borrowing this. P.S. Thanks for the idea!"

"Umm, girls?" Fluttershy whispered with a gulp of fear as Nightmare Moon marched menacingly to them.

She walked with a slight limp in her still-healing legs as blood dripped down from under her helmet, covering her right eye and dripping off her muzzle. With a snarl, she spat out a wad of blood from her mouth, "You are very brave foals, I grant. After I tan your hides, I'll be sure your names live on long after your executions, my traitorous subjects," Nightmare Moon ranted as she charged her horn, the blue glow cackling with excessive energy.

Twilight glared, reading her magical appendage as well...

At this point, Twilight wasn't too surprised that Discord tossed a lasso over Nightmare's muzzle, "That's enough of that, ya inky varmint!" Discord called, pulling back hard on the rope as she fired her attack, hitting the ceiling and carving a large arc into it, causing the ancient stonework to crumble. Twilight, prepared, teleported the girls and the elements to a safe corner. The ponies all looked around in surprise before realizing their new position and blinking as they saw...

Well, to be blunt, it was a Stetson-hat wearing Discord in a cow-colt outfit, riding on Nightmare Moon's back, pulling on the rope hard as she tried to buck him off her back.

"...Ya'll seeing this?" Applejack asked in surprise.

"I see your hat," Rarity pointed out with a slightly disturbed look.

"What the-...Oh, I am getting him for that," Applejack grumbled. No one touched the hat, not even some whacky chimera-god that happened to be saving Ponykind from some Night-loving Alicorn- and maybe she would cut him some slack, actually, assuming he returned the hat.

"Oh, oh, me next, me next! I want a turn!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she watched Nightmare Moon try to slam Discord against a pillar, only for him to slid under her the moment she did so and slid back up effortlessly.

"Sorry, Little Lady, but Alicorn rastling ain't for first timers!" Discord called back in a fairly convincing if overly thick southern accent as he slapped said Alicorn's rear with the tip of his tail, creating a whip like sound, making Nightmare Moon go wide eyed and blush before unleashing a muffled scream of indignation.

"Oh dear...," Fluttershy muttered with wide eyes, blushing a bit.

"That image isn't going away any time soon," Rarity commented to herself.

"This...is starting to get weird," Twilight noted awkwardly.

"I don't know what you're all talking about," Rainbow said with a grin as she hovered above them, "Yo, Goat-face! Keep it up, maybe we can turn her into a pony ride!" She cheered on with a smirk.

Discord looked Rainbow for a moment before cackling with laughter as he pulled back on the reigns, Nightmare rolling to attempt to get him off. Discord, still laughing, just went paper flat before reflating with every laugh.

"...You realize how crass and vulgar that sounds out loud, don't you?" Rarity asked in just a bit of disgust.

Rainbow eyed her oddly, "What gutter is your prissy mind crawling into, and can I get directions?" Rainbow joked, holding back a smirk as Rarity rolled her eyes with a humph.

"Hey, Sugarcube? Any idea on how to get these elements a workin while Nightmare Moon is busy with..." Applejack trailed off hopefully.

"Discord. His name is Discord. And I have no idea what to do. I tried to give the elements a spark, but nothing happened," Twilight answered, biting her lips.

"Do we really need them?" Fluttershy asked softly, looking over to see Nightmare Moon trying to tilt her head back and shot a beam at Discord. The Draconequus responded by grasping the horn and bending it in a ninety-degree angle, making the Alicorn shoot what was directly in front of her.

"Maybe not, but its better safe than sorry," Twilight reasoned, leaving out that there was a chance that they might need to use them on Discord. She hoped not, really.

"Look out!" Discord yelled as Nightmare Moon apparently tried to ram the smaller ponies, having wrestled away a good deal of slack on the rope.

"Don't make me use this!" Pinkie Pie warned with a too-serious glare, standing on two legs while aiming a party cannon right at the charging Alicorn, who just narrowed her eyes and formed a shield over her cranium, "I warned ya!"

What happened next was epically random. Pinkie Pie spun the cannon around in a snap and bucked it right at Nightmare Moon. The corrupted princess smirked as she jumped over it. Just as she did, the cannon's wheel hit a pebble, causing it to bounce off its wheel and land with its muzzle flat against the ground, its rear pointed upwards. And as Nightmare Moon dived over it, she became vastly aware of what it was like to have a cannon, a party cannon at that, blow backwards into her stomach and leave her gasping in pain for a moment.

Discord blinked as he reeled in the rope again before giving Pinkie Pie a thumbs up, who saluted in return. As Discord rode a once more struggling Nightmare Moon back away from them, Pinkie turned to her stunned and gaping friends, "Party Cannon: Never leave home without one," Pinkie Pie answered sagely with her hooves crossed before tilting her head as something caught her eye, "Ohhhhh! What's this?" Pinkie Pie said excitedly, picking up the discarded rubix cube.

Before anyone could comment or answer, Discord let out a great "Yeeha!" as he was thrown off of Nightmare's back, landing in front of her effortlessly. His draconic foot now held the rope, slamming it into the floor as it embedded itself there...and proceeded to turn into chains of chocolate licorice, which spread over the rest of the immortal pony's body, muzzling her while encasing her horn and wings.

"Oh, come now Prommare, don't tell me those mares knocked your sweet tooth out," Discord cooed mockingly as she glared and struggled to get free from the deceptively strong sweets. He just chuckled before flashing over to the girls, floating above them while leaning his head down to their level, "Miss me, ladies?" He asked with a grin, now devoid of his cow-colt outfit.

"I missed my hat," Applejack said blandly, looking up and just now noticing his horns were sticking throw the headwear, "Did you-!?" Applejack started, only for Discord to casually take the hat off, his horns phasing through it.

"Oh please, like I'd ruin a perfectly good hat," Discord said with a chuckle, tossing it up and rolling it down his spine.

"Can I have it back?" Applejack all but demanded, half of her friends rolling their eyes at the earth pony's fixation on her headwear.

"Of course, of course. Just one last thing," Discord assured, before using his tail to throw the Stetson hat like a Frisbee. The mares all stared in curious amazement as it shot around the four pillars closest to Nightmare Moon several times before zipping back to Applejack's head.

Rainbow rose an eyebrow at the display after an awkward second, "...Okay, that was cool and all, but-" She stopped as the columns each started to fall into several different pieces, Nightmare staring in horror as the ceiling above her started to fall down around her, burying her beneath it, "...Wow."

"Wow indeed," Discord agreed with a smirk as the smoke.

"Is she...dead?" Twilight asked in worry. Ponies were normally very averse to taking lives. Being herbivores, the killer instinct wasn't in them, making it harder to rationalize at times.

"If she was, I'd be very surprised and sorely disappointed," Discord commented, eyeing the debris suspiciously for a moment before pulling out a pair of X-ray glasses and staring into the debris, "Hmm, she's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Rainbow asked with a scowl.

"Gone as in not here? As in alakazam?" Discord offered, waving a hand at Rainbow absently, who blinked as she appeared on the opposite side of Discord, "Getting it yet?"

While Rainbow stewed a bit, Rarity took this chance to step in, "I believe Rainbow means as to how Nightmare Moon escaped and to where if possible," She clarified, even if she was sure he knew what Rainbow meant.

"She moved into the shadows when the rubble broke some of the licorice," Discord answered offhandedly, taking off the glasses as his eyes turned every which way, even in the back of his head.

"She ran away?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at him oddly, "Okay, what exactly sends an Alicorn running with her starry tail between her legs?" She inquired curiously.

"Discord, obviously," Discord answered smugly, before poofing up a brown hunter's outfit, complete with an brown-red hat and an old style hunting rifle, "So be vewy, vewy quite. I'm hunting Alicowns…hahahaha." he said, walking forward and descending into the shadows like they were stairs.

"Ali-CORN, as in one, as in not two," Twilight reminded quickly, getting an unseen eye roll.

"Ya want any help?" Applejack offered curiously.

Discord froze half way into the shadow realm with a surprised expression before remembering the world's apparent state of insanity. Still, he looked curiously at the farm mare before shaking his head a few times, "No, you six stay here in case she doubles back before I find her. If she does, feel free to scream at the top of your lungs," Discord offered with a smirk as he descended the rest of the way down, nearly losing his hat in the process.

"Well, that was perhaps the strangest individual I have ever met in my entire life," Rarity noted idly.

"Funny, I've had that same exact thought several times today," Twilight commented dryly before blinking, "Where's Pinkie?" She asked, realizing the party pony had been unusually quiet for some time now.

"Over here!" Pinkie announced, holding up the now-partially solved rubix cube.

"Pinkie Pie! This isn't time for games!" Rainbow Dash scolded with an annoyed look, blinking as the puzzle was caught in an aura of purple magic. The mares looked to Twilight curiously as she stared with wide eyes at the cube, solving it at admittedly impressive speeds, "Twilight? You okay?" Rainbow asked in concern.

Twilight looked from the cube to each of her friends before looking back at the toy one last time, a brief spark in her eyes.

Meanwhile

Discord, admittedly, was not surprised by where he found Nightmare Moon. If he was honest, it was exactly where he wanted her to be. It was cliché, it was predictable and it should be boring. Both where she was and what he was about to do. But really, there was something all too pleasing about it to him. Almost satisfying in a way; in the end, he dubbed it a guilty pleasure.

He chuckled oh so ominously as he walked out of the shadows she claimed to covet, his hoof and claws echoing into the cavern as a soft light bathed over him. And before him stood a shaken and injured Nightmare Moon. One of her wings looked like it was broken or had a dislocated bone, her armor was covered in cracks and missing chunks and her ethereal mane and tail were losing their mobility- reduced to being just a flowing mane, like her sister's. To his infinite amusement, parts of her were still covered in licorice and Discord swore he saw a red mark on her flank from one of his...assaults on her posterior.

She was crouched, as if to attack him like a wild animal rather than a royal Alicorn. And looming over her was the crystalized entity known to Ponykind as the Tree of Harmony.

Discord was sure that Nightmare didn't know who he was smirking at: Her, or Harmony. In truth, Discord wasn't sure himself.

"Of course you would come here," he mocked with a dark chuckle, glancing up at the tree briefly, "Just like you ponies to fall back on Harmony when you're unhappy with the lot you've been drawn. At least this new generation shows some promise, if that little thrashing they gave you was any indication," Discord mused as he walked closer and closer to her.

"Stay back...," Nightmare Moon grunted, trying and failing to snap at him, "This tree is your weakness, your antithesis," She warned with a glare.

Discord raised an eyebrow at that, looking a bit surprised, "Is that what you two really thought? Did you think the Tree could stop me?" He asked curiously.

"You are the Spirit of Disharmony," She reminded plainly, confidently that she had some level of protection here.

"Disharmony by profession, Chaos by nature," Discord countered vaguely as he appeared right before her, leaning against the Tree of Harmony without so much as flinching. Nightmare Moon just stared, her mind broken for a moment as she saw Discord unaffected by the tree that had once housed the elements that had petrified him for a millennium, just as the same elements had sealed her, "I don't know what's more interesting though. That you thought the Tree and me are natural enemies or that you thought it would help you. After all, you and your sister broke the Harmony a thousand years ago. It no longer has the strength or desire to aid you," He noted with a smirk as he tapped a talon on the tree trunk.

Nightmare wasn't sure, but she swore that the light of the tree shimmered for a moment, almost...sadly.

"Funny, really, Harmony. You and these Alicorns did what very few can lay claim to, truly putting a dam upon my flood of chaos. Yet, when peace came, your champions ripped each other apart oh so viciously. I suppose it's karma, really. You spent so much time sealing your enemies away, it was only fair you all got a taste as well: Luna into the Moon, Harmony into stone for the sake of poetic irony and Celestia into having to run this little perfect nation, all alone, for a thousand years. And I got a front row seat to it all," He mocked as he leaned down and cupped Nightmare's chin with his tail, staring right into her eyes, "Truly, Luna, I couldn't have done better myself. In fact, I might just give up the Disharmony title with how self-destructive Harmony seems to be. Not really a point in a job that does itself," He mused idly, feigning pride and praise.

There was another shimmer, brighter and...curious?

Nightmare went wide eyed as the tail wrapped around her neck, "Still, you aren't getting off quite that easy," He forewarned as he tossed the Alicorn into the Tree of Harmony, horn first. To Nightmare Moon's great shock, the crystal shattered like glass as she fell through it. Discord chuckled as he looked back up at the tree, "You had to know it would come to this, Harmony. Nothing can truly hold out against Chaos forever," He commented before stepping into the hole, pausing as the tree shimmered again. He blinked as he looked back curiously, "Oh? Is that right? Well, we'll see, I suppose," He answered, stepping the rest of the way through. The hole instantly closed itself up, leaving the Tree of Harmony alone once more....

Author's Note

And there's chapter two, and the first half, or round rather, of the Nightmare-Discord brawl. However, I couldn't leave the mane six out of the fight and gave (most of them) a sneak-attack and Pinkie Pie's party cannon claims a victim. I imagine Discord has some questions about that thing later.

And to round it all off, Discord gives Nightmare Moon/Luna, and Harmony itself a verbal beat down. Speaking of that, I find it interesting that Discord, in canon, can touch the Tree without issue. And I imagine in the past, Luna and Celestia wrongfully assumed that he actually couldn't get too close to it, or at the very least be weakened by it. So, yeah, bit of a mindbuck.

Also, I don't think this warrants a gore warning, but I might up the rating to teen.

Next chapter should be the end of the fight. And than or the chapter after, we get Celestia's reaction to Discord being back....and saving her subjects.....and herself....by thrashing her little sister.

Straight To, and From, The Moon

Nightmare Moon groaned as she skidded across the ground, noting that she went very far despite not feeling too much of an impact. She didn't even want to think about where Discord had taken her to. Beyond the Gates of Tartarus, into the fabled realm of Erebus? To some ancient boneyard? No, something less cliché. Something that would truly confuse her, something that just might break whatever sanity she had left.

That's when she noticed something truly bizarre.

Her wounds were healing. Her magic was returning and even growing stronger. But that should be impossible. The only thing that could do that was...

Nightmare Moon's eyes shot open in horrified realization, taking in the barren and grey wasteland with the clear, black sky of stars above her. Slowly, shakily, she turned her gaze to one side and saw it: A small, blue and green orb in the distance.

She was on the moon, again.

Discord, the Spirit of Disharmony and Chaos, had thrown her through the Tree of Harmony to send her back to the moon.

"You know, I considered being funny about this," Discord said as he floated out of a shatter-shaped portal in a rock formation, which "repaired" itself as he exited it. Nightmare Moon just sat there, staring up in disbelief at the distant planet, "I could have sent you to another moon- I could have sent you to a world that doubled as a moon- but I am on a schedule, Moony," Discord explained casually, tapping an oversized sun-dial that was secured to his wrist like a watch. He raised an eyebrow and held it sideways, using it as a shield to block a blast from Nightmare Moon, "Did I hit a nerve?" He asked uncaringly.

"What schedule?" The Alicorn asked coldly, suppressing a tremble in her voice, "What reason could you have to bring me here, where I am strongest?! Are you that arrogant or do you just intend to repeat the punishment the Elements imposed upon me?!" She demanded, her armor healing as her body crackled with bits of blue lightning, the dust and rocks trembling around her.

"My, quite the ego," Discord commented casually, making her snarl, "I already told you: You're not getting off that easy. My finale for you won't mean as much if you pass out before your curtain call." He answered simply as he pulled the gnomon from the sun-dial, spinning it in the air before catching it to hold as if it were a weapon, "As for my schedule, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," Discord said with a chuckle.

"Tell me, Worm! Tell me now!" Nightmare yelled, her eyes unsteady with rage and madness.

"Very well. There's a little filly sleeping in Ponyville. I told her the sun would be up when she awoke," Discord answered with a small smirk.

"...What?" The Lunar royal asked with a narrowed gaze, "You mean to tell me that this is all for a young mare? Am I to believe this hogwash?" Nightmare Moon asked in disdain.

Discord hummed thoughtfully at that, "Hogwash. I like it," He said with a grin, swinging the pointer at her, "Engarde!"

Meanwhile

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

At this point, Twilight wondered why she even bothered being confused by why Pinkie Pie was hitting herself with her own tail, "Is she...alright?" She asked to the others.

"I don't know, I've never heard of her Pinkie Sense doing this before," Rainbow Dash commented curiously while floating by Twilight, watching as Pinkie actually started to wrestle with her tail.

"Don't you get tired hovering there?" The unicorn asked with a raised eyebrow, "And what is a Pinkie Sense?"

"She, um, hovers a lot when she's on edge," Fluttershy supplied, almost too quiet to be heard. She privately wondered if she should feel sorry for the beating Pinkie and her tail were giving each other.

"It's a pegasus thing, dear," Rarity assured, "As for Pinkamena's other sense? It's a bit of a sixth sense that, so far, has never been wrong before."

Twilight stared for a moment "...How often-"

"About once a week at the least," Applejack answered, knowing where she was going.

"Then I'm filing that away for later," Twilight decided, noting that Pinkie Pie was panting with her tail waving a white flag, "So...what does your...Pinkie Sense, tell you, exactly?" She asked, obviously skeptical, but willing to believe most things for the moment.

"It's telling me everything!" Pinkie Pie answered loudly in frustration, "First it tells me to run away, then it tells me nothing is wrong, next it's telling me to take cover, then to save someone from falling things and now it's just cursing me for getting us into this mess..." She said in exasperation before putting on a grin, "Then we wrestled, I won, we made up, and I might have dislocated something! Unfortunately, we destroyed all my secret stashes of sweets, but my secret-secret stashes are safe...once I find them again," She explained with a sigh.

"...That makes no sense, but I think the weirdness of the day actually made that sound coherent in comparison," Twilight muttered blankly, frowning as she looked around, "Discord is taking a while...," She mused.

"Well, it IS a castle, Dear," Rarity pointed out offhandedly, "I imagine there must be a lot of hiding places."

"I don't know, something doesn't feel right," Twilight commented idly.

"That fella didn't look right," Applejack commented, "Seriously, Twilight, I'm not one to judge, but...what was he?"

"A draconequus," Twilight answered bluntly.

"...Wait, so that's a dragon-pony hybrid?" Rainbow asked in surprise.

"Nopony really knows. He's one of the great mystery of the ancient world, a creature that defies all known laws of magic and logic," Twilight answered with a shrug, "Up until now, I thought he might have been a myth..."

"...Dang, seems like all the legends are coming out to brawl," Rainbow commented with wide eyes.

"Thankfully, he seems to be on our side," Twilight mused with a frown.

"...Okay, now I know what's wrong," Applejack commented in realization and suspicion, "I don't hear nothing."

Pinkie Pie let out a gasp at that, "Jackie! You're deaf? But who will sing apple songs with me!" Pinkie declared in despair.

"Not like that, Pink," Applejack said with an eye roll, looking to Twilight, "Funny looking or not, that fella didn't seem like the quiet type."

Twilight furrowed her brow at that, "You're right. I would have expected some ominous call out echoing through the entire castle by now or something to that effect. And if he found her, we would definitely hear it," She mused, stroking her chin.

"Ummm, g-g-girls?" Fluttershy called nervously from a window, "Y-you might want to see this," She suggested as they raced over to her.

Their jaws hit the floor.

Nearly half of the moon was covered in a rather disgusting shade of brown that just seemed to ooze across its surface.

"...Please, please tell me that isn't what I think it is," Rarity said, looking like she wanted to vomit.

"Nah, nah, that's...mud, maybe?" Rainbow suggested.

"Huh...almost looks like Pig swill," Applejack commented with a head tilt, blinking as she saw a little flash of something on the moon, "Y'all see that?"

"Well, I guess we know where they went," Twilight said numbly as they saw several more sparks flashing across the moon's surface, trying to wrap her brain around this.

Meanwhile

Discord grinned as his draconic foot caught the charging Nightmare Moon, the tip of her energy covered horn trying to cut his scales, but the force of their clashing magics kept the lance-like appendage from reaching its mark. The meeting of the two powers sent waves of hogwash scattering away from them as Nightmare desperately tried to overtake the wickedly grinning Discord.

The thunderclap of their clash finally came to an end as Discord sliced at her with his gnomon-sword. Nightmare growled as she was forced to jump back, only to be promptly hit with the dial-shield. She gritted her sharp teeth, the blow having such force that she had to dig hooves into the grey soil beneath her, cracking it upwards around her as stopped her momentum.

"Getting serious?!" Nightmare called to the now-distant Discord, twirling his odd weapon merrily.

"Never!" He answered in mock-indignation as he threw the dial like a disk, hurtling towards her head.

Nightmare looked horridly unimpressed, ducking under the object with ease. She smirked, only to sigh as she saw Discord was gone, "I...really should have seen that coming," She realized just before finding herself grasped by the head, Discord slamming her face-first to the ground and putting more than his full weight on her as the lunar soil cracked beneath them. With a growl of defiance, she strained her head back, seeing that he was mockingly holding her in place with just his draconic foot. In fact, he looked like he was balancing on her with one limb.

A blast from her horn as she struggled to get loose impacted with his sun-dial-turned-shield, obliterating the top third off, "Well, there goes your share! And look, you took out 4:30 to 9:10, some of my favorite times!" He scolded with an indignant scowl as he slammed her head against the wet and brown-strained ground again. In the same motion, he slammed the sun-pointer down, embedding the end at either side of the Alicorn's neck and pinning her under it.

He chuckled in wicked amusement as she tried and failed to teleport out or turn into mist. His foot still grasping her head and his cloven hoof standing on her rump, he casually held his damaged shield sideways...and pulled it open down the sides, revealing a pizza inside, or two-thirds of one at least, "Shame, I was saving this for our reunion with Celly," He mused casually as he pulled out a pink cheese slice with strawberry glass and broccoli shaped like monkey brains, not at all bothered by her struggling beneath him, "Mmm, a bit tough on the crust, but still good. Suppose I could give the rest to those mares back at the castle."

"You fool, what do you think this will accomplish?" Nightmare asked with an almost desperate smirk, "Even if you beat me, even if you win, so what?! What do you think will happen? Celestia has probably crafted twenty different spells to seal you away over the centuries and she would see you in stone again before she'd consider letting you stay out to use ponies as your playthings once more!" Nightmare Moon roared.

"My, what a mouth you have. I guess some things never change," Discord mused absently, munching loudly on his pizza slice, "Tell me, Prommare? What is the point of this, really?" He asked in idle curiosity.

"What?" She asked in annoyance.

"The point of it, my dear. I know I normally don't have one, but you ponies love to have them. I mean, really, I never got that about you," Discord said, taking the Thinker position. He would have floated up, but he didn't want to get off her just yet, "Sure, you weren't everypony's favorite princess, but you still had command over the kingdom. Celestia might not approve of everything, but she truly wouldn't have opposed her little sister's wishes as long as they didn't harm any of your subjects."

"I don't expect you to understand, Monster," Nightmare said coldly.

"Ahh, the reply of those that have none," Discord said with a self-satisfied chuckle, "Here's a riddle for you, Lulu: Does the Nightmare wear the Moon or the Moon the Nightmare?"

"What?" Nightmare asked with a seething tone.

"Oh, nothing important," Discord answered dismissively as he closed the stone pizza box before tossing it out into space like a Frisbee. They stayed like that for a moment, Nightmare Moon glaring up at him while he just floated smugly, "Anital atcid is aroitrof atcid ainmo," He commented offclawedly, smirking at her.

Nightmare Moon blinked in confusion. A foalish mistake.

"Have you even bothered to look at yourself?" Discord asked with a smirk, the hairs of his tails extending and tangling around her, "Your wounds are healed, your armor restored, your magic surging and your power restoring as fast as you use it," He informed, smirking as she turned into a mist to escape him, his tail hairs shrinking back with the sound of a kazoo orchestra.

She reformed behind him, firing a high powered beam at him. The beam hit straight through him, making a small, fifty foot deep hole in the ground, "What's your point?" She asked with a glare, not at all bothered that the top and bottom halves of Discord were floating with a good chunk missing between them.

Discord spit into his paw and claw, rubbing them together before rubbing over the missing section of his body, which reappeared as his hands moved over the vacant air, "My point? Weren't you listening? I'm Discord, I don't need a point that isn't my tooth. But my point regardless is that your break is over," Discord explained casually as he snapped his claws, the noise echoing in the vastness surrounding them.

Nightmare tensed, waiting for something to happen or appear...and waited...and waited. Eventually, she raised an eyebrow as Discord looked at the nonexistent clock on his arm, "Well?" Nightmare asked with an edge to her voice.

"Could you take about three steps to your left?" Discord requested politely with a head tilt.

Nightmare, giving him a blank stare, took three steps to her right and two back to be safe...

BOOOOOOOM!

Discord, now wearing sunglasses, licked a lollipop in his mouth as he watched the wave of purple-grey magic expand in all directions from the point the Night Alicorn had been standing. He chuckled as he approached the epicenter, the swill dissolving everywhere he walked, and found exactly what he was expecting: A giant safe with a bottom back corner embedded in the ground. He whistled around the lollipop as he turned the lock dial, his wrist turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees.

With a pop, the lock opened and revealed the contents; crammed inside was an upside down and very disoriented Nightmare Moon, groaning with unfocused and comically spinning eyeballs, "Next stop, Ponyville," Discord commented as he jammed the lollipop in her muzzle and slammed the door shut. He raised his fist up and brought it down towards the safe...stopping just short of hitting it before knocking ever so gently.

The impact made the ground groan as it gave out, the safe falling into an empty blackness beneath the surface, the hole quickly piecing itself back together as an Alicorn's scream rang through the void.

The God of Chaos laughed to himself as he stood on the now Black Moon, looking up towards his handiwork: The night sky was now pure green with stars of pink and purple. The Pig Swill, meanwhile, had evaporated into a near solid mist around the moon, giving it a pink halo that reflected a faint orange light. The clouds back on the planet were now sky-blue, just for a bit of reversal fun.

"Hmm, not bad for only half-trying," Discord mused proudly.

Author's Note

Beta: DragWiz91

Sorry for the long wait on this thing, but I honestly couldn't get this fight scene right for a good long while, rewriting it over and over. I was originally going to put in the ending to the fight in this, but I thought you all deserved a little proof this is still around- and that might take a while with how things went. So, smaller chapter, but I hope the content makes up for it.

Hopefully writers block isn't as much an issue for this last bit(to the fight I mean) and we can get onto Celestia coming back. Because, lets face it, her reaction to seeing and hearing about Discord saving the Day, literally, is thereation we're all looking forward to.

Until next time