After the moon eclipsed the sun -- leaving just a corona of sunlight -- a dark purple aura of energy engulfed Nightmare Moon's body. The power swelled and pulsed as it shifted around her, lifting her from the ground. It continued to swirl and twist, sliding across the pony form.

The bubble of magic then imploded, the energy sucking into the horn as it revealed the mare, dropping her onto her hooves.

Standing, Nightmare Moon straightened up. Once again, she was as tall as Princess Celestia. Her mane and tail still had not turned ethereal -- keeping the dark blue with deep indigo streaks of her pegasus form -- but it had grown much longer and thicker. She stretched out her body, her larger, more powerful wings spreading wide before tucking in against her side.

An aura of dark, shimmering, blue magic engulfed her horn as she walked back the way she had been thrown. The unicorn and donkey both stared at her as she approached mouths hanging open and eyes wide. Gripping them in her magic, she lifted them up and pulled them toward her. Her gaze narrowed as she bared her teeth at them.

"Begone," she growled out, "lest I decide to turn my wrath upon you as well." She then tossed the two aside, watching them hit the ground and roll before trying to get up and flee.

Turning her attention back to the tent, her horn began to glow brighter. Opening her wings, she flapped them toward the tent. A massive gust of wind picked up, blowing hard from behind her. The fabric shook and waved before the tent was torn from the ground and went flying.

"GROGAR!" Nightmare Moon bellowed. "I will not allow you to kill entire towns of ponies for your scheme. FACE ME!"

The goat stood where he was still, staring down at Nightmare Moon with glowing red eyes.

"Well," he said calmly, "it seems that you have somehow regained the power you once had. I must say I am quite impressed." He started to walk toward her.

Nightmare Moon shifted, bracing herself. Her eyes narrowed as her lips pulled back further, a snarl bubbling in her throat. Watching him, she shifted the focus of her energy, creating a nearly invisible shield in front of her in case he tried to blast her again.

"You know," he said as he continued forward (and Nightmare had to resist the urge to step back: she would not show weakness), "we aren't so different, you and I. We are both beings of great power beyond these mere mortal ponies. Both of us should be rulers of this world. Both of us have suf-"

"Shut! Up!" Nightmare snapped. "I'm familiar with the 'not so different' shit, and you can shove it back up your ass. Because no matter how much alike we are, there is one major difference between us: I didn't try to kill ponies when I tried to take over. Now I will give you one chance. End this and surrender, and you will face a trial in the proper courts."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I will tear your throat out."

"Well since you put it that way." Grogar's horns lit up as he let off a blast of pure magic at Nightmare.

The shield held, absorbing the blow, but barely. Even with it, the impact got a grunt from Nightmare Moon, causing her to take a step back. Before Nightmare could recover, her shield was hit by another, and another. Each impact caused her to give ground as she tried to keep her defense up, a throb of pain shooting through her head..

"Insolent whelp!" Grogar bellowed, still firing blasts of energy as he stepped forward. "Do you really presume that you can stand against me? I have been around since before this kingdom was even thought up. I was banished before the grandparents of the grandparents of your first host were even born. You are nothing compared to me. Nothing but a bad dream."

Nightmare was panting, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Her legs were wobbling as she tried to hold on, but was failing. The shield was not going to hold out much longer. She had to do something. Otherwise, he would simply blast the shield away, and then her. She would have to do something he would not expect.

...Like Twilight Sparkle did when they first battled.

It was crazy, but it might be enough to throw him off. At least long enough to try and come up with a better idea.

As another blast of magic was fired at her, Nightmare Moon let out a roar as she smacked it aside with her own power. Lowering her head, she let out a snort as she pawed the ground.

"What?" Grogar asked, tilting his head. "What is this? Are you seriously trying to threaten me -- me -- with a headbutt." Lowering his own head, he pawed the ground as well. "Perhaps I will just have to teach you the hard way."

The two stared at each other, eyes narrow and heads low. As if reacting to some signal, they began to charge each other at the same time. Hooves slammed against frozen ground as they ran. The gap between the pair of them grew smaller and smaller as they approached each other as fast as they could.

Nightmare Moon gave a flap of her wings as she leaped, jumping up above Grogar. Turning around in mid-air, she slammed her front hooves down on him, trying to hit him in the neck. There was a thump as Nightmare struck, and a loud bleat from the goat.

Before Nightmare could move, Grogar jerked his head to one side, somehow hooking her leg with one of his massive curling horns. There was a burst of pain and an audible crack as he yanked hard. Nightmare's wings fluttered as she was pulled off balance, trying to keep herself from hitting the ground.

Her hoof slipped free of the horn as her back slammed into the ground. Rolling to her hooves, she lunged forward, aiming for Grogar's eye. The attack went high, slicing a gash across his forehead. Blood flowed down from the wound and down his face, partially blinding him.

Lunging forward, Grogar slammed his own head into Nightmare. There was an explosion of energy and pain as the impact cracked her horn. Sparks of blue magic spurted from the fractures as she stumbled back.

If she kept fighting, there was a chance that her horn would break completely.

If she fled, Grogar would continue to freeze Ponyville.

None of the princesses were here. There was no way of knowing when Celestia or Luna would show up, if at all, and even if Twilight Sparkle and her friends were on their way -- which seemed unlikely -- they still wouldn't be here for another day or so.

The fate of Ponyville was all on her.

Once again taking off to fly. She made a quick feint to the right before shooting left toward the side with Grogar's good eye. Moving past him, she watched as he turned his head, trying to keep track of her. After nearly going past him, Nightmare turned hard to wind up on the opposite side of Grogar.

As hoped, the old goat tried to turn his head back the other direction to keep track of her instead of turning his whole body in the direction she was going. The blindness in his left eye would force him to turn anyway, and she was out of sight until he could.

She slammed her front hooves into Grogar's head, causing an explosion of pain to pulse through the injured leg. Still, there was also a satisfactory popping sound as most of the force managed to land on the goat's jaw, and the attempt to keep watch of Nightmare had left Grogar unbalanced, causing the attack to knock him off his hooves.

Before he could recover, Nightmare Moon grabbed Grogar, wrapping all four legs tight around his body. With a grunt, she took off, starting to lift the two of them up into the air.

"What are you doing?" Grogar bellowed, kicking and squirming as hard as he could.

"I'm betting that you can't fly," Nightmare replied. "Let's see what happens when I drop you from as high as I can get."

Turning hard, Grogar sank his teeth into Nightmare's face. The sharp upper teeth just missed her eye as it sank into her cheek while the lower teeth scraped across the bone of her jaw. With a yank, he tore the flesh from Nightmare, leaving a bleeding hole that her own teeth could be seen through.

The pain broke Nightmare's concentration, causing the two of them to fall to the ground. The air was knocked from her body as she landed on top of Grogar, a mist of blood spraying out from her mouth and the hole in her face. Stunned, she was unable to resist as Grogar shoved her off him. His horns then lit up as he unleashed a blast of raw energy at her.

Nightmare Moon roared in agony as the blast struck her side, a long line burned into her flesh from shoulder to flank. Worse, it also struck the base of one wing, severing it.

"Looks like neither of us can fly now," Grogar stated with a smirk. "You may as well give up and retreat now, whelp. You can't possibly hope to defeat me. Keep trying, and you'll just end up dead."

With a bellow, Nightmare Moon ran at Grogar, slamming into him. Pain burst through her body, feeling like she was being torn apart (which in a way was accurate). Wrapping her legs around him again, she bit into his neck. The fur was too thick to let her get a good grip on his flesh, but that was not the main purpose anyways.

Magic tried to flow through Nightmare's cracked horn. Energy flickered, crackling and popping as sparks shot out from the fractures. There was an audible explosion as the power came out, engulfing the pair in a dome.

The dome vanished, taking Nightmare Moon and Grogar with it. The snow where they had been was gone, the grass and dirt turned black and smoking.

Bits of horn dropped to the ground, none any larger than a jellybean.

Far above Equestria, there was a pop as the two came back into reality. Nightmare Moon now felt incredibly horrible. Her head throbbed, her vision, swirled, her entire body hurt. It felt like everything had been torn apart and put back together in the wrong place.

She kept her grip on Grogar, trying to fight off the urge to black out.

A hoof struck the side of her head, causing stars to form in her eyes. It was soon followed by another blow, and another. She wanted to get away from the pain.

No. She had to keep going. Resist the urge to escape. She tightened her grip, digging in to the flesh of Grogar's body like her life depended on it. Although it was more every pony's that did really.

"What are you doing?" Grogar shouted over the wind whistling past them. "Let me go you mad mare, or we're both going to die."

Nightmare tried to come up with some sort of witty retort, but at this point was having trouble thinking. It was probably just as well that she said nothing. Between the hole in her face and the way her tongue felt heavy, it was doubtful anything she said would have been understandable anyways.

So she said nothing, holding onto Grogar with all her might. Her remaining wing flapped back and forth, trying to put on more speed.

As the two of them continued to plummet, a sense of curiosity overcame Nightmare Moon. Turning her head, she watched as the ground rapidly grew larger and larger, moving toward them.

She wondered what it was going to feel like.

There was an explosion of ice and snow as the two hit the ground.

Up in the sky, the moon moved out of way of the sun.