And that was all she wrote.
The Army of the Night, part 3/3
Two armies stood on either end of the long, gray, rocky landscape. One waved a flag with a full moon insignia. The other waved a flag with the symbol of the Two Sisters.
The bulk of the army of the night was bat-ponies. They hadn't wanted to fight, but Nightmare Moon's spell made them all loyal to her will. The army of the night also had an aerial team shadow bolts, created out of the shadows by Nightmare. There were small groups of unicorns and earth ponies who had willingly joined the army of the night near the center of the army.
The army of the Two Sisters was made up of all races of pony. They were set up in groups of around ten earth ponies and unicorns with about five crystal ponies in the center. The crystal ponies were there to project dome-like shields around the group. Crystal ponies couldn't use their magic for combat, as it came from love, but it worked wonders for defense.
The pegasi were on the ground, near the back and around the sides of the army, so that they could fly up quickly when the battle commenced.
But ponies weren't the only ones in the army of the Two Sisters. The buffalo waited on the hills, ready to stampede down when the time came. The gryphons waited in the clouds, waiting to act as a form of cavalry when called.
Shining Armor and a few other elitist of the royal guard had formed a council to decide the placement of the soldiers. "When is the dragon getting here?" asked an armor clad earth pony by the name of Heavy Infantry.
"Spike should be here within the hour." Shining Armor said. "The battle will be starting in minutes." Ray Gerner, a pegasis from the scouts unit, said. "We'll be able to hold out until Spike gets here." Shining Armor assured them. The others nodded, hoping he was right.
Five minutes later, the army of the night charged. The sound of a horn rang out among the army of the Two Sisters, and they charged as well. The two armies collided near the middle of the battlefield. The army of the Two Sisters had several advantages, the first of which was overwhelming numbers.
The second was the presence of earth ponies, unicorns, and crystal ponies. These advantages made the fight fairly one sided in the first ten minutes. Then a hissing sound was heard, bouncing off the stone and echoing. Soldiers from the army of the Two Sisters began turning on their fellow soldiers.
Changelings. Hundreds of changelings, all previously disguised now revealed their true form and began fighting. The buffalo came thundering down the hills, shaking the ground with their strength. The presence of the buffalo evened up the odds, but the changelings hadn't been the only trick.
The diamond dogs had been waiting underground, and now burst up and out. Some remained above and fought, others just grabbed soldiers from the army of the Two Sisters and pulled them into holes underground. This new threat was responded to by calling down the gryphons.
All the advantages the army of the Two Sisters had had before were now made obsolete. They were made even more so when the animals came out. It started with timber wolves, then big cats and bears, then chimeras and manticores.
No pony knew how Nightmare had been able to bend these creatures to her will, but even with them, the army of the Two Sisters held out. They were strong willed and powerful fighters when they needed to be. Then they were faced with something they hadn't been expecting.
It shouldn't have been that surprising, considering all the other beasts Nightmare had on her side. But in the end, when you see an ursa-major lumbering at you, shock is the only appropriate response. The same could be said for the hydra or the tatzlwurm.
The army of the Two Sisters continued to fight valiantly, despite it being a loosing battle. "We have to call a retreat." Heavy said, seeing the damage the monsters were doing. Shining hung his head, "Your right. Forgive me princess Celestia..." "Wait!"
The council turned around in surprise to see Spike running toward them. "Spike! What took you so long?" Shining asked. Spike shrugged. "It isn't easy convincing dragons to go to a battle."
As Spike spoke, the horde of dragons he'd led flew overhead onto the battlefield. There were only around thirty total, but thirty full sized dragons against one ursa-major, one hydra, and one tatzlwurm is are fairly decent odds.
Nightmare looked over the battle in disgust. It didn't really matter she supposed; if worst came to worst, she could fight herself, having reabsorbed her power from the star spiders.
Nightmare was contemplating a strategic sneak attack when she sudden got a sense that somepony was watching her. "Who dares to spy on the princess of the night!?" Nightmare demanded. To Nightmare's surprise, her words were meant with laughter.
"Oh sister, have you forgotten me already?" Nightmare froze in horror as bright sunlight filled her vision. "C-Celestia?!"
The princess of the day descended before nightmare. "H-How?" Nightmare stammered. "There are many more who do not kneel to darkness than you believe." Celestia said, stepping forward. "You have done terrible things this night, it's time you were sent back from whence you came."
Nightmare hissed, "No! I will not return to the moon! I will never go back!" Nightmare lashed out, releasing several waves of darkness. Each wave hit Celestia directly, but none had any effect. Celestia stepped closer and Nightmare stepped back, firing a blast of magic.
The blast hit directly, but again did nothing. "How is this possible?" Nightmare questioned. "Tis simple sister, I'm the distraction." Celestia said. The moment she said the words, Discord dropped the illusion and shot forward, catching Nightmare by surprise.
Discord knocked Nightmare back, where Fluttershy was waiting. Fluttershy, still using her anger to fight, knocked Nightmare into the sky. What followed was a sort of game of hot potato. Rainbow Dash caught Nightmare in a twister, which through her to the ground. Applejack was waiting on the ground to buck Nightmare towards Pinkie. Pinkie fired her party cannon.
Nightmare was able to catch her balance and fire a bolt of magic at Pinkie. Before the blast hit, a column crystal rose, wrapped in Rarity's magic. Before Nightmare could fire another attack, Twilight fired at her.
The attack did little other than annoy Nightmare, but in the instance that she was focused on Twilight, Discord trapped her. It took all of Discord's energy, but he managed to hold her. Discord looked Nightmare in the eyes, enjoying that he'd gotten the best of her.
"Now who's second rate?" He mocked, raising his hand to attack. "Discord." The draconiquis stopped at the trickster's voice. Discord briefly considered going for it anyway, but decided it wouldn't be a good idea. Fluttershy's new anger was out and about, and he couldn't well expected her to control it if he couldn't control his own.
Discord stepped back and Tom Foolery stepped forward. "What are you going to do?" Twilight asked him. "I'm going to let her talk to herself. If in the end, she disagrees with herself, then my hooves are tied." Tom said.
Twilight didn't quite understand, but that was to be expected with Tom. Tom stretched out his forelegs. "Let's see if I still know how to do this." He said, touching his hoof to Nightmare's horn. There was a flash, and Nightmare was unconscious.
She wasn't quite Nightmare Moon, but she wasn't quite Luna either. She lay on a floor she couldn't see in the darkness, her legs and wings bound by chains attacked to the moon, which bore the mare in the moon, above her.
"I can't move. I can't feel my body. I don't remember, anything. What place is this? How did I get here? I don't understand, what's happening? Am I alone?"
There was a second voice in the darkness, it seemed to come from the moon above, "You've been deserted, everypony has left you. You know it's always been, that way. Those frantic times, the ponies you neglected, and now the time has come to pay. You are alone. Nopony's dancing to your tune."
She hung her head in despair. Suddenly, she felt somepony grab onto her, and pull her way from the moon. The chains snapped, and she fell to the ground. She looked up to see three figures. Luna stood in front of her, smiling. Nightmare Moon stood to the left, sneering. And the trickster stood to the right, just watching.
"Is this a dream, or is it real?" She asked."Some times a dream becomes reality." Luna answered. "But I don't know what to feel." "Then I shall guide you through this haze." "But who are you? Why are you here?" "I am you, and you are all of us." "I can't think, my mind isn't clear!" "Then I shall free you from this maze!"
The trickster spoke loudly, like he was calling to her from far away. "Can't you feel the light, deep down inside? Won't you ever learn, that you cannot hide? Can't you feel it shining, deep in your soul? A wounded mare's desire, gone out of control!"
Nightmare spoke harshly, as though angered that she was listening to the other two. "I can't believe that you'd give up! That's not your way! I can't believe that you'd pass up a chance to make them pay! You were in complete control! Why bother with wrong and right? You were calling the shots with a heart as black as night!"
The three all confused her, and she tried to ignore them. "You are delusions of my mind!" Luna faced her again, "And so we are, we're all apart of you." "Am I part of some design?" "The one design is in your head." "How can it be? You look so real?" "We are as real as you imagine us."
She reached out, and to her surprise, she could feel Luna. "I can touch you! I can feel!" Luna smiled, "Then take my hoof and follow me."
She began to follow Luna, the trickster's words urged her on. "Can't you feel the light, deep down inside? Won't you ever learn, that you cannot hide? Can't you feel it shining, deep in your soul? A wounded mare's desire, gone out of control!" Nightmare hissed, and scolded her for following,"I can't believe that you'd give up! That's not your way! I can't believe that you'd pass up a chance to make them pay! You were in complete control! Why bother with wrong and right? You were calling the shots with a heart as black as night!"
All at once, all three of them vanished into the darkness; leaving her alone again. Except, she wasn't alone. "Close your eyes, listen to your heart beat; hear its soothing pulse. Silence the cries, be gentle and carefree. Good or bad, true or false... your not alone."
She looked up, and saw her sister, smiling at her. The council of friendship was there to. Even Discord and Tom were there.
"You'll find us here, whenever they oppose you. We are the strongest together of all. No need to fear, the nightmares that enclose you; we'll be hear to catch you when you fall."
They all started to fade, leaving her to choose for herself. Their voices echoed in the darkness, "We are here, dancing to your tune..."
Luna opened her eyes. Her sister stood above her, smiling down. Luna's eyes filled with tears and she jumped up to hug her sister, shrugging off the silver armor as she did so.
Luna stammered, trying to find the words to at least begin to apologize, but the words failed her. "It's okay Luna, we know."
Luna sniffled, "How-how did you escape the sun?" Celestia chuckled, "Befriending a trickster has it's perks."
"For example," Tom said, "if I recall, you were unable to destroy that infernal book of yours. I believe I could fix that."
"Really?" Twilight asked. "As you already know, tricksters can muster more power than ponies." The dark book flew from the compartment in Nightmare's armor and landed in Tom's hooves.
Tom looked at Luna, reconciling with her sister and the council. "Do the world a favor and throw out that reform spell, and be sure to warn Cadence that I'll be giving her a visit soon." With that, Tom vanished.
The battle of the Eclipse, as it would come to be known, had ended. The moment Nightmare had vanished, the shadow bolts disappeared and the spell she had on the bat-ponies and monsters wore off. Seeing this, the diamond dogs had scattered and left the few changelings and rebel ponies to be captured and tried.
Twilight still wasn't certain about the trickster's lessons. Had it really been wrong for them use the elements to reform Luna? Was Cadence's love spell wrong? Was the trickster really trying to teach them anything at all? Or was it just another trick? Twilight couldn't tell for sure, and had a feeling that Tom liked it that way.
Tom Foolery had waited for this night for far to long. He took out the three books he'd collected in the past generations and put them on the ground. Inspiration Manifestation, The book of Dark Crystals, and now, finally, the book of Nightmares.
Tom smiled sadly; he'd always dreamed of this night, and he'd always imagined he'd get to see the painted picture that appeared when he put the four books together, but Starswirl's last book had been neutralized by Twilight, and there was no reason to take it.
With the three books assembled on the ground, Tom held up his hoof and a small flame appeared. "It took me longer than I expected old friend, but I kept my promise." Tom said soft, wondering if, somehow, the old sorcerer could have heard him.
Tom dropped his hoof and the flame landed between the three books. The books caught and were engulfed in the trickster's magic fire. Tom looked over the embers of the wicked books, vile mistakes, finally destroyed after so long. With his mission finished, Tom, for the first time in his life, was left wondering, 'What now?'
AN: Well, it seems this is my final update. I think I should start by acknowledging that the song is called 'Isolation'. It's an Adventure Time fan-project that I felt worked here nicely.
I'd like to give thanks to Dr. Wolf, who I stole no less than seven episode ideas from. I also borrowed ideas from the Rift Master himself, Voice of Reason. I want to thank anyone and everyone who left a review, they were some of the only things that kept me writing. A special thanks to Hi for leaving the first one, and inadvertently convincing me not to quit writing. Still to come: A prequel story about Prince Blueblood and his meeting the pony of shadows, a story about the new Mare Do Well (maybe a Justice League/Avengers thing with Daring Do and Time Turner?), and a story about Tom Foolery and his misadventures in playing tricks. All told, I guess there's nothing left to say. Thanks for reading, I hope I've made the off season just a little easier. So long. Role credits and fade to black!