Nightmare Moon vs Chrysalis
"Do you think that one kinda looks like a turtle?" Spike asked.
"What, like Tank?" Scootaloo responded.
"No, silly! Tank's a tortoise, not a turtle!" Sweetie Belle corrected.
"Y'all sound like Fluttershy," Apple Bloom remarked.
The four children laughed together as they all lay on their backs together on that scenic green hill. There was nothing needed of them today, like chores or any school work, so they were free to do whatever they wanted. And what they wanted, it seemed, was to just relax and stare at some clouds.
"Seriously though, is that a turtle? Or...is it maybe some kind of messed-up star?"
Spike's question caused the three fillies to squint their eyes.
"Huh...maybe it's a turtle that got smushed together with a star?" Scootaloo suggested.
"You can't smush turtles and stars together. One's way too big for the other! Sweetie pointed out.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
"I know it's not realistic, but come on, that's totally what it looks like!"
"Hey...does that one kinda look like an alicorn?" Apple Bloom interrupted.
All four sets of eyes looked to where she was pointing, and sure enough, there did indeed seem to be a cloud bearing the regal form of an alicorn above them. The children smiled at it, with Spike letting out a quick chuckle.
"Yep, that's an alicorn alright."
Then his smile faded a little.
"Although...I think the wings are a bit too sharp for it to be Celestia. Maybe...Nightmare Moon?"
The words naturally prompted some squinted eyes from his friends, and after a while, they all nodded.
"Huh...yeah, I think you're right," Scootaloo conceded.
Then Apple Bloom looked over to her.
"It could be Chrysalis. She kinda looks like an alicorn."
Spike waved her off.
"Nah! She's totally different!"
Apple Bloom frowned to that.
"Oh yeah? Big tall mare, horn, wings? Sounds like an alicorn ta me."
Spike shrugged.
"Sure, she's got the shape down, but alicorns are way above a Changeling Queen. Especially an alicorn like Nightmare Moon!"
Scootaloo smirked at him.
"You think so? What, you saying Nightmare Moon could beat her in a fight?"
Sensing a challenge, Spike finally sat upright on that grassy hill, smirking right back to the filly.
"You know it! Picture the scene. They're standing opposite one another, on a barren field..."
They stare at one another, with evil intent, ready to do battle. One, the Mare of the Moon, and the other, the Mistress of Deception. Both had terrorized ponies in their day, but now, their great might would be turned on one anther. The heavens broke, and lightning clashed, setting the tone perfectly. They lowered their horns to one another, both glowing, and readied themselves to charge.
"Wait!" Scootaloo interrupted.
Spike groaned.
"Ugh! What?"
Scootaloo frowned at him.
"I think you're forgetting one important thing here!"
A smirk crept onto Chrysalis' lips as her army arrived to back her up. Tens of thousands of Changeling drones, all hissing and growling in anticipation of the fight to come. Nightmare Moon, to her credit, did not flee at the sight of this overwhelming force, but she knew all the same that it would be her end.
"Hey! No fair!" Spike declared.
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?"
Spike pointed to her.
"This is a fight between Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis! Not a fight between Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis with Chrysalis' army backing her up!"
Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on! We all know that's part of how these two fight! Nightmare Moon goes it alone while Chrysalis sends her minions in! It's just in-character."
Spike blinked at her a couple of times, then resumed his frown.
"In-character? Sure, but this isn't a talk about accurate portrayals here, this is a fight!"
It was clear that the two weren't going to agree with one another over this, so they decided to silently look at the two fillies in-between them. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, realising that they'd been drafted into being referees for this little match-up, looked nervously to one another, then started to whisper to each other. After a few moments, they nodded, looking back to their other two friends.
"Sorry, Scoots, but fair is fair. No army."
With a huff, Scootaloo folded her forelegs.
"Fine! No army!"
Spike, now quite smug, cleared his throat before carrying on with his telling.
The two powerful foes charged, horns blazing with great magic. More lightning struck the ground, as if in anticipation of this fight. Closer and closer they charged, until finally, they collided. A great explosion of magic erupted, sending them both flying back, but they each outstretched their wings, steadying themselves in the air. Now knowing the measure of their enemy, they charged again.
"Hold up...would Chrysalis really go in all gung-ho like that?" Sweetie pondered.
Spike's shoulders slumped.
"Not you too!"
Sweetie looked to him with, if nothing else, more calm than Scootaloo had done.
"No, think about it. Chrysalis does things all sneaky like, right? So would she really fight with brute force like that?"
Apple Bloom too considered that.
"Hmmm...yep, checks out. She'd try somethin' smarter than that."
Though understandably annoyed at having his story interrupted again, Spike nevertheless begrudgingly accepted the verdict.
"Alright...re-write..."
A great deal of dust had been kicked up in the initial stages of the fight, so much so that Nightmare Moon, having recovered from that first explosion, struggled to see. When the winds blew and the dust settled, she saw, to her confusion, that her opponent was gone. Chrysalis was nowhere to be found. Had she fled the field of battle? Nightmare Moon did not know, so she scoured the immediate area. There was nothing either around her or down on the ground. Only a large boulder jutting out of the soil. Curious, the dark alicorn lowered herself down, always looking out for some surprise attack. So focused was she on this that she failed to notice the pair of green eyes that now opened on the aforementioned boulder behind her. A boulder that now transformed rapidly into Chrysalis, who blasted her full-force in the back.
"..Better?" Spike asked.
Scootaloo smiled, satisfied.
"Yep, definitely liking this now!"
Then, slowly, Spike started to look a bit mischievous.
"Alright then...let's get this over with."
The blow hit Nightmare Moon square in the back, and Chrysalis let out the expected victorious cackle. But her laugh was short-lived, as she discovered, to her horror, that her power had done absolutely nothing to her enemy. Nightmare Moon was prompted to take a step or two forward when the attack hit her, but besides that there seemed to be no visible damage. Instead, the alicorn slowly turned to look to the Changeling Queen, eyes narrowed.
"Would you care to try that again?"
Chrysalis, blinking with disbelief a few times, gulped loudly, then fell to her knees.
"Okay...you win."
"...WHAT?!?!"
Scootaloo's shock was clear, as was Spike's amusement as he folded his arms.
"Yep. Nightmare Moon would win. Just like that."
Angrily, Scootaloo looked to her fellow fillies.
"I demand referee intervention!"
Apple Bloom sighed, then looked back to Spike.
"Spike...why do y'all think Nightmare would win?"
Spike adjusted his sitting position so he was looking directly at all three fillies.
"Okay, hear me out. Chrysalis was able to defeat Princess Celestia at that Canterlot Wedding fight, right?"
"...Yeah?" Apple Bloom admitted.
"Right, but she was only powerful enough to do that because she'd stolen love from Shining Armor, and she actually wasn't expecting to win that fight, right?" Spike explained.
"...Yeah," Sweetie Belle added.
"So, that means that, by default, Celestia is stronger than Chrysalis."
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked to one another, whispering in private again, before once more looking to their draconic friend.
"Yep, that makes sense to us."
Scootaloo grumbled.
"This is a debate over Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon! Not Chrysalis and Princess Celestia!"
Spike focused on her.
"Yeah, but the point I'm making is that Chrysalis is, at the end of the day, weaker than Celestia."
He smirked again.
"And Celestia is weaker than Nightmare Moon!"
Suddenly, he had the undivided attention of all the fillies, and so he kept on explaining.
"When Twilight had her big potion-induced flashback a few years ago, she actually saw the fight between the two sisters. And Celestia wasn't able to beat Nightmare Moon without the Elements. Therefore, since Nightmare Moon is stronger than Celestia and Celestia is stronger than Chrysalis, then we have to conclude that Nightmare Moon is stronger than Chrysalis!"
There was absolute quiet between the four of them after that declaration, and Scootaloo, for the first time in all of this, felt uncertainty in her stance on the debate. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, getting back to their referee roles for this, once more whispered to each other. Then, after a full minute of that, they looked to Spike, then looked more apologetically to Scootaloo.
"Sorry, Scoots...but we're gonna have to go with Spike there."
Scootaloo, though clearly disappointed in the outcome, simply took a few deep breaths, then smiled, reaching over and offering her hoof to Spike.
"Good debate, Spike. It was fun."
Spike smiled back to her, taking the hoof and giving it a good shake, much to the delight of the other fillies. But, as they again parted, Scootaloo started to ponder some more, before giving Spike some side-eye.
"So...who would win if it was Nightmare Moon vs Tirek?"
Immediately, Spike chuckled.
"Depends...what stage of magic is Tirek at in that fight?"
Author's Note
Do you remember those days when you were a kid, talking with your friends over who could beat who in a fight? Those were fun times 
