The next thing Chris knew was that he was falling. One second he was standing on solid ground and the next he was falling through open air. He instinctively grabbed hold of the closest thing to him. Unfortunately that just happened to be the hips of Midnight Haze. The Pegasus mare already had her wings opened but the additional weight of a full grown man in armor forced her to beat her wings frantically if she wanted to stay aloft. She looked back and gasped at the stubborn man holding onto her haunches. She bucked violently and struck Chris in the chest, flinging him backward and leaving him falling through the dark night sky. Instead of staying to watch Chris fall to his death, she took off, flying away as quickly as she could.

Chris grit his teeth as Midnight Haze soared away, 'No... NO! You are NOT getting away bitch!' He closed his eyes and accepted the fact that in order to successfully capture her, he would have to use one of the spells that he and Luna affectionately referred to as 'game breakers'. His screfula was already opened and ready. He grit his teeth harder and forced his will through his body. As he finished the spell, he stopped falling.

He took a deep slow breath in then gradually let it out. It was a spell that he had figured out after Luna had teleported into the air to get away from him once. She had helped him figure out how to use his main Noun and Verb to Control the Space immediately around his body. He clenched his fists, but maintained his spell. Luna had taught him that once the spell was cast, he only had to concentrate to maintain it.

Chris opened his eyes and spotted Midnight Haze flying away, barely discernible in the darkness, 'I could just capture her using the Infinity Prism, but right now... I think she needs to have her spirit broken.' Chris Controlled the Space around his body and sped off toward Midnight Haze like a bullet out of a gun. He saw how quickly he was coming up on her and pulled back his left fist.

With his speed combined with the strength of his well-toned arm, he punched Midnight Haze in the back of the head. The mare yelped loudly and spun out of control for a moment before righting herself and turning toward Chris. Her eyes bulged as she saw him, "What... what ARE you? What are you, some kind of Human Alicorn?"

Chris' face betrayed nothing as he spoke, "No. But I'm as close to one as you're ever likely to see." Carefully maintaining his spell, he took a fighting stance in mid air, both fists held up like a boxer, "Come on then. You think you're better than anybody who can use magic? Time to see if that's true."

Midnight Haze was not a weak mare, nor was she a fair fighter. She believed that the victors were the ones who wrote history. To her, victory was everything and she had every intention of writing history herself, "Fine then," she crowed, "Let's see if you really are superior to a Bloodmage." In a flash of motion almost too fast for Chris to see, Midnight Haze sped forward and spun in midair, lashing her hind legs out and aiming for Chris' head.

Chris ducked her hooves and floated backward while Midnight Haze taunted him, "Not so cocky now are you? You think you're so much better than everybody else in the world just because you have magic! You're just like the Unicorns from that school who laughed at me! Well I found the only magic I needed and now you and the Unicorns have come to murder us all again, just like the Unicorn royalty did!" she lowered her eyebrows, "Well guess what..." she took a deep breath and yelled, "I'M NOT SO WEAK ANYMORE!" She panted as she manifested her bitterness, "The so-called 'harmony' in Equestria is a LIE! It's the same lie that's been told time and time again over generations! The Unicorns are still in power, they never gave it up! The 'princesses'," she spat angrily, "They just help to ensure that other Unicorns, their own kind, stay in power! I didn't have any problem cutting that tribalist Arch Magister, and I'll have no problem cutting you and bleeding you dry!" Midnight Haze panted as her anger intensified, "They deserve to be bled dry for what they did... and so do you."

Chris had spent the time calculating what the monologing Pegasus would likely do after she finished speaking. When she moved, he was ready. She zipped toward him in a blur and began lashing out with her forelegs and hind legs, trying to beat him into submission. Chris dodged and ducked and blocked. Every time the irate Pegasus struck out at him, his arms and legs and agility kept her from landing even a single hit.

The fight was a familiar dance to him. Some months prior, Luna had admitted that she could only teach him so much, so she had asked Peach Pit, Steady Plod, Swift Wind, and Bold Move to train Chris when they had the time. After being pummeled countless times by bare hooves, Chris had learned how to counter almost any unarmed melee maneuvers as well as many armed ones too; which was why he refused to carry or use a weapon.

Midnight Haze' eyes, which had been narrowed in concentration, widened and bulged when Chris stopped dodging. His left arm blocked a strike from her right forehoof and his left knee came up into her stomach. Being a Pegasus and thereby resistant to blunt force impacts, the knee to her gut merely winded her, 'The fool thinks he can beat me unarmed.'

The smug smile which was half formed on her face, withered and died as Chris took advantage of the opening he had made and began his counter attack. His left foot came up between Midnight Haze' hind legs in a jarring kick to her pelvic bone and lifted her up, face to face with Chris just a fraction of a second before his right hand impacted the tip of her muzzle. The hit was delivered with surgical precision. Her head snapped back in a whip like motion as pain exploded in her sensitive muzzle tip. Midnight Haze felt her eyes water and figured the sudden moisture in her nose was likely blood.

She back-winged trying to gain some measure of space, but it was not to be. As soon as she began to retreat, Chris began pursuing her. Riding on his increasing momentum, his fists and feet flew in landing hits on Midnight Haze like raindrops during a cloud burst. He didn't care where he hit her, he didn't care how many times he hit her.

Midnight Haze grunted as his right foot connected with her left wing. She almost faltered in the air and it took all of her concentration to stay in the air. She grunted as the kick was quickly followed up with Chris throwing a left hook to the right side of her neck. The muscles and tendons in her neck bunched and tensed involuntarily. She choked and coughed on the dripping blood from her muzzle, but then a right leg connected with the ribs on her left side, which was immediately followed by a fist pounding down on the top of her head like a hammer.

She tried to put up a defense, but her adversary was relentless. A pair of hands came up on either side of her head and the palm of each one slammed over top her sensitive ears. She cried out for the first time as her right eardrum ruptured. Her sense of equilibrium instantly skewed and her head swam; her vision spiraling around wildly as if she were tumbling in a free fall. The blows which had at first been an annoyance, suddenly felt much more painful. Doubts quickly flooded into her mind, 'How is he this fast or strong? I'm at least twice as strong as he is, how can he actually be... winning?'

Midnight Haze' mental distraction cost her dearly. She had been able to keep up a token defense before, but suddenly it was like somebody had flipped a switch with her adversary's attacks. The minor ache of the blows suddenly began to light up her body like hot coals as each hit forced her back and her attacker advanced.

Chris left fist pounded the corner of her right eye and stars flashed across her vision. A right hook caught her in the jaw and knocked a few of her teeth loose. She tried to block his fists but a sharp knee caught her in the ribs on her right side leaving behind a horrible throbbing pain. A spinning elbow squarely caught her right eye again, effectively blinding her on that side. The strikes then began coming in hard and fast, as unrelenting as a tsunami.

Midnight Haze realized she had lost. She hated to admit it even to herself, but she could not match the one Human. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but a quartet of knuckles caught her upper lip, just at the bottom of the black part of her nose. She shrieked as the sensitive flesh was brutally punished by physical force it was not meant to withstand. She tried to draw a breath but the hits just kept coming, she could barely breathe.

A right hand suddenly descended onto the top of her left wing in a downward chopping motion. The edge of Chris' hand struck just on the outside of her wing joint. He followed through with the hit and the strength of his arm combined with the downward motion dislocated her wing with an audible crunch. Midnight Haze' wing went limp and she screamed as she began to fall from the sky. A strong right hand streaked out like a striking snake and caught her by the throat, "I didn't say you could leave." Chris hissed, "I'm just getting warmed up."

With the brief halt in the punches and kicks, the tenderized Pegasus mare managed to catch enough breath to speak, "I surrender!" she panted, "Stop!" she spoke as loudly as she could, but it all sounded like was a muffled sound from beneath her swollen eyes, lips, and muzzle. Chris paused briefly and seemed to consider what she said.

A moment later he began pulling back his left fist, "Surrendering? After you murdered us in cold blood? After you sliced into the Arch Magister when she was trying to TALK to you? I don't think so. " Midnight Haze felt her blood run cold. She was helpless, beaten into submission by a Human. Not only had he won, but it looked like he planned to continue beating her.

She tried to block his next punch by holding up her hooves, "Please!" she cried, "Stop!" she cringed away from the following punch to the front of her muzzle again, "Stop it! I surrender! I give up! Stop *pant* please!" His fist mercilessly hit her swollen muzzle tip again. Pain shocked through her face as her nostrils began bleeding more profusely. She coughed on her own blood as she tried to draw a breath.

"How many begged!?" Chris yelled, "How many pleaded!? Did you show them mercy!?" He reared back and punched her left eye again.

She was dizzy from the impact and fear began multiplying in her mind, 'I can't do anything to stop him! ' she began to cry from fear and physical trauma. She drew in a ragged breath through her bloodied mouth and nose. Her breath made difficult by her aching, burning chest, "Stop!" she cried. He ignored her plea and hit her again. Her head snapped back as Chris' left fist opened a cut in her right cheek, "Please! Please stop, please stop!" He hit her again, "Mercy! MERCY! HAVE MERCY!"

Chris did not stop. If anything his fist came faster and harder than ever before. His eyes burned with wrath as he rained down blow after blow onto her bleeding countenance, "How does it feel!?" Chris hissed, punctuating every word with another punch to her bloodied face, "How does it feel to be rendered helpless at the mercy of somebody who isn't going to give it to you? How does justice feel BITCH!?" His fist ached from over use, but he just kept hitting her. With every punch a bit of the skin on her face split open from the repeated impacts. Blood oozed out of her nostrils and mouth, some even came from her eyes. Chris just kept hitting her, "How do you think the others felt huh!? The ones you kidnapped *punch*, injured *punch*, MURDERED!?" He drove his fist into her eye three times in rapid succession, punctuating his point.

Midnight Haze came to the realization that not only had she been beaten in a fight; it also occurred to her why the Human holding her by the throat was still hitting her, 'He's going to kill me!'

A tiny bit of renewed vigor swept through her body at the recognition of her quickly approaching death. Her nostrils were far too swollen to breathe through. She opened her mouth and tried to draw a breath, but it was no use. Every single time she tried to breathe, another punch rocked her cheeks, muzzle, or eyes. The pain was unbearable, 'I have to do something! He's going to kill me!'. Her hooves wrapped around her face did little to ease the pain of the cutting fists, but she knew she was in a fight for her life.

In her terrified state, she gripped onto the arm that was holding her and kicked her hind legs, trying to push Chris away and escape. She could barely draw even one breath. Her eyes were swollen shut and she could feel the raw pain of her muzzle which she knew must have been split and pulped. Desperation flared within her heart. She kicked and struggled to no avail, "YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" her words were slurred through her swollen and bloody mouth, "NO! NO PLEASE!" she cried, "Stop it! STOP IT!" It was no use, the punches just kept coming. There was no mercy to be had from Chris.

Terror gripped her heart. In desperation she tried calling out to anybody who could hear. Surely one of the other Humans would stop him, "HELP!" she screamed as loudly as she could as her sobs broke through her words, "HELP! HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME-HE-HE-HE-HE!" Chris punched her again, right in the mouth.

Her tears burned her eyes like liquid flame as she frantically struggled to get away. She was utterly helpless to stop him. She panted raggedly, chocking on sobs that were as broken as her body, "Somebody-he-he-he-he-he!" she drew in a wet raspy breath, coughing on the blood and swollen tissue on her mouth, "No-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!" Chris punished her for the noise by angling a knuckle into her eye. "AAAAARRRRRIIIIIAAAAA!" She screamed at the top of her lungs at the agony of her ruined eye, "NO-ho-ho-ho-ho!" she cried and pleaded to no avail. She tried to turn her head. Left or right it didn't matter, she couldn't get away from the pain of every punch, "WWAAHHAAHA-HA-HA-HA- *punch* -HA-HAAAAAA!" He wouldn't even let her cry, interrupting her cry with his fist. Her torment and pain were unrelenting. Her voice squeaked as she gasped for air, choking on blood and loose-hanging teeth. The next punch landed right between her eyes, snapping her head back.

The strength in her legs finally gave out and her forehooves and hind legs dangled lifelessly. She had no strength left. No anger, no bitterness, not even the will to defend herself. She had nothing left, she was utterly spent. She coughed and choked, trying to draw a breath as her voice became more and more weak with every hit, "plea-he-he-he-se..." she sobbed, "do-ho-ho-n't..." she tried to draw another breath. Her throat and mouth were almost completely swollen closed. She felt she was on the verge of death, but somehow she could only think about the man who was killing her, 'This is what he became... because of me...' a hint of remorse and pity twinkled in the black depths of her heart, 'I made him into this...' She only barely managed a tiny wisp of air, "don't... beco-ho-ho-me... me..." She opened her mouth as far as she could, ignoring the pain as her swollen flesh split from the strain. She drew in the strongest breath she could. She had one thing to say to her killer before she died. She somehow found a tiny spark of will left hidden in her body. She filled her lungs with air and screamed at the top of her lungs, "DON'T BECOME LI-HI-HI-HI-HI-KE ME-HE-HE-HE-HE!"

Does she deserve it? That is the question. Beat all typos into submission! Credit goes to Amethyst Blade for the epic music score.