The eight heroes all looked on as the fearsome alicorn, the malicious embodiment of the night that the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony had defeated what seemed like so long ago. The very foe that had brought the six together as lifelong friends.
Twilight simply stood there, mind boggling at how this was possible.
“But… how?!” Twilight said. “We… and then you… and Luna… This doesn’t make any sense!”
“Uh, Twi, sugar cube,” Applejack said, walking up next to the lavender unicorn. “I think you just answered yer own question.”
“What do you mea-“ Twilight started, then she came to the conclusion that everyone else had. “Discord…”
Nightmare Moon simply stood there, laughing. “Yes, it’s true. Discord granted Nightmare Moon her freedom, with the condition that she would remove you foals from the picture. Oh, and before you go and try to warn Nightmare Moon about working with Discord, she has no intention of actually leaving him in one piece when this is all over.” The alicorn’s horn began to glow, and a book levitated to her side, encompassed in an azure glow. A brief glimpse of the spine informed Twilight that the title was “The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide”. The book opened up, and there, in its interior, were the six pieces of jewellery that brought the eight heroes to Ponyville in the first place.
“The Elements!” The six ponies exclaimed.
Nightmare Moon laughed. “That’s right, foals! Once Nightmare Moon has dealt with you, she will use the Elements of Harmony to destroy Discord, and then claim the world for herself!” The fearsome alicorn laughed again in triumph. As she did so, Applejack sidled up to Twilight.
“Uh… Twi, does anythin’ seem… off… with Nightmare Moon t’ya?” Applejack asked.
“I don’t know…” Twilight said. “But whatever’s going on, we can’t let her take the Elements of Harmony!” She turned to Mario. “Mario, I have to warn you, Nightmare Moon is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Do not underestimate her, okay? And remember that we’re all here to help you.” Mario gave a reassuring nod, and then leapt forward to challenge the night terror.
“Good luck, Mario and Luigi!” Twilight said, but she stopped. “Uh… Luigi?” Everyone stopped for a moment to look for the green-clad brother, and noticed a bush outside the library shaking violently. By this point, it had lost most of its foliage, revealing a very scared Luigi within its branches.
Twilight rolled her eyes, and levitated Luigi out of the bush, dropping him down next to Mario. “Quit goofing off!” She said. “We can’t let her get away with the Elements of Harmony!”
Luigi managed to scrape together a bit of courage, and turned to face Nightmare Moon, determined but slightly shaky.
Nightmare Moon laughed again. “You two believe you have a chance against I, the great and powerful Nightmare Moon? Very well then, you two have just sealed your fate!” Suddenly, a dark cloud burst behind her, and a few blasts of dark energy flew out from it. One, slightly tinted red, flew towards Mario, and the other, tinted green, came at Luigi. The two brothers nimbly leapt over them, but they looped upward and came at them again. Still, they managed to avoid the attack, and the blasts disappeared in clouds of dark smoke.
Mario though for a moment, and suddenly, inspiration struck. He turned and whistled Applejack over. The orange Earth pony trotted over. “What can I do ya for, Mario?” Mario quickly explained his idea, and Applejack wore a nervous expression. “Really? I mean, buckin’ apples is one thing, but that?” Mario gave a reassuring thumbs up, and she nodded. “Alright, if you know what yer doin’…” The pony took her postion behind Mario, and he turned around and began charging up a fireball. Once he had charged his fire sufficiently, he began flinging a steady rhythm of fireballs towards the orange pony. Applejack spun around and bucked each one towards Nightmare Moon, the fireballs safely bouncing off of her hooves and sailing toward the alicorn.
As the assault let up, Nightmare Moon seemed relatively unharmed… aside from the fact that her coat was smoking. She didn’t seem to notice… at least, part of her didn’t. Her face showed no signs of pain, but her front hooves were stamping wildly and her wings were flapping urgently. One could almost hear a gruff voice cry out in pain. Eventually, the rest of Nightmare Moon noticed the cause for alarm, and her horn began to glow azure, putting out the blaze.
“Settle down! You’re going to give us away!” The alicorn hissed to… herself? Her legs and wings seemed to calm down, and she returned her attention to the brothers.
Luigi seemed to be cooking up his own scheme, and he waved Rarity over.
“Yes, darling?” The fashionista asked. Luigi quickly explained what he wanted, and Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Gems, dear? Well, I could see, but I can’t imagine why any would be here…” The alabaster unicorn’s horn began to glow, and several spots around Nightmare Moon began to glow. Several gemstones were uprooted, and Rarity levitated them to the brother. “Well, that’s a surprise! But whatever do you need them for?”
Luigi rattled off his idea, and Rarity gave a slight gasp. “Ingenious!” Rarity said. “Very well, I shall assist as much as I can!”
Rarity levitated the stones in a sort of path, leading from Luigi’s feet to above Nightmare Moon, as Luigi‘s hands began to spark with electricity. Once they were both ready, Luigi leapt forward onto the lower of the stones, and leapt up each one until he was high above Nightmare Moon. Once he reached peak position, he leapt up, and, while lined directly over her, he clapped his hands together, sending a bolt of lightning down onto the alicorn. As her body shook from the temporary stun, he landed down, planting both feet on her hindquarters, before leaping back to his starting position.
Nightmare Moon’s rear legs buckled, and her rump landed on the ground. She whipped her head around, and saw what had occurred. “Get up! Get up this instant!” She hissed. And then, strangely, one of the Night Mare’s wings folded backward at an unusual angle, and struck her own flank. The rear legs immediately sprung back upward, and a faint, muffled, nasally moan sounded out.
Nightmare Moon was done with sitting by and letting herself get hit, and she disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. As Mario and Luigi raised their hammers to defend themselves, a faint azure glow appeared before Luigi. Suddenly, Nightmare Moon reappeared, and she sharply turned, swiping at Luigi with one of her wings. Luigi didn’t see the blow coming, and he was sent dizzy by the surprisingly forceful blow. Nightmare Moon vanished again, and reappeared in front of Mario. He was ready, however, and swung his hammer with all his might.
The blow sent Nightmare Moon reeling backward, her body twisting in three different directions. Her forelegs and back seemed to twist around completely, and suddenly, there was a loud ripping sound as she tore clean in two.
Everyone gasped in surprise. Not because of the fact that they had just torn a goddess of night in two with a hammer. In fact, they hadn’t even done that.
In fact, they had just torn a costume of Nightmare Moon in two. And poking out of the rear end was a pointed, pink nose and a wiry moustache. As the heroes were trying to figure out what was happening, two figures crawled out of the front half. A fat, muscly-armed man wearing an ensemble resembling Mario and Luigi’s, and an azure unicorn that was all too familiar to the group. As the obese Mario doppelganger walked over to the rear end and pulled his lankly, purple-clad partner in crime out of the costume, Trixie berated the two of them.
“You two are imbeciles!” Trixie shouted. “You can’t even handle a small burn or a tiny bump on the head! Trixie regrets ever agreeing to work with you two!”
“What’s going on here?” Twilight said, as everyone looked on in confusion. “You three put on that costume? But why?”
Trixie turned and glared at Twilight. “Well, after Trixie humbly let you all by in Canterlot,” she began, prompting Rainbow Dash to roll her eyes. “Trixie made her way here, to learn how she might defeat Discord. On her way here, she ran into these to imbeciles,” Trixie jerked her horn toward the two she had been in costume with, who were arguing between themselves, “Wario and Waluigi, as they call themselves, in the Everfree Forest. They informed Trixie that they had suddenly appeared in the woods, and had no idea where they were. Trixie brought them into town, and after explaining how phenomenally powerful Trixie was and what she was doing, they wanted to assist, especially when Trixie brought up the prospect of fame and fortune.
“As we neared Ponyville, Trixie realised she would need a disguise, as the residents here are completely ungrateful for Trixie’s assistance in vanquishing the Ursa Major, and honestly believe that she was to blame for it!” Trixie paused for effect, as if the pervious statement was completely unbelievable and ridiculous. “So, Trixie came up with the Nightmare Moon costume, so that we could travel to the library without any foals trying to get in our way. It worked well enough: the instant one of them saw us, they sent the town into a panic, and eventually everyone shut themselves inside. So, we got to the library, and after a bit of searching, found a reference guide on the Elements of Harmony. Trixie heard that these were used to put Discord away in the past, so she figured she could use them to enhance her already astounding abilities.
“Imagine my surprise when Trixie found the Elements themselves stashed away inside the book! Happy with this bit of luck, we donned the costume to take our leave, and that’s when YOU showed up.”
Trixie scowled at Twilight and the others, before sighing. “Well, Trixie supposes you’ll be wanting the Elements now. Trixie shall surrender them to you, she is nothing if not honourable.” Ignoring a snort from Rainbow Dash, she trotted over to the costume, and rummaged around inside it for a moment. She eventually pulled her head out, looking confused. “That’s odd… Trixie could have sworn…”
Suddenly, the group heard a commotion going on just behind them, and they all turned to see Wario and Waluigi trying to beat a hasty retreat, with the book containing the Elements tucked under Wario’s arm. However, blocking their path were three little fillies.
“Hold it right there!” Applebloom shouted up at the two. “Jus’ where do y’all think your goin’ with Twilight’s book?”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo shouted. “You better drop it right now, if you know what’s good for you!” The Cutie Mark Crusaders all took aggressive stances, and Wario and Waluigi simply stared at the fillies before cracking up.
“What’s so funny?! We mean it! Give us that book now you big stinky meanie!” Sweetie Belle said, before charging at Wario and attempting to knock him down. However, with his generous girth and Sweetie’s small stature, she merely bounced off his gut. Wario gave a hearty guffaw, before roughly picking Sweetie up by the scruff of her neck and leering at her. Sweetie struggled against his grip, legs flailing wildly, while Applebloom and Scootaloo backed up nervously. “Hey! Let me go you big jerk!”
Wario simply laughed again, though Waluigi seemed to be looking behind him, looking as frightened as the school fillies. Noticing his partner in crime, Wario turned as well, to see what was up. He didn’t turn around soon enough, however, to see the mass of white and purple slam into him, knocking Sweetie and the Elements clean from his grip. Sweetie landed on something soft, and looked up to see that she had landed on Rarity’s back, who was looking furious with Wario and Waluigi.
“How DARE you touch my sister with your grubby hands!” Rarity shouted. Her horn began to glow, and all manner of nearby objects began bouncing off of Wario and Waluigi, from apples to rocks to even a couple trash cans. As Wario and Waluigi shielded themselves from the assault, Rainbow Dash and Applejack came racing toward the scuffle, each carrying the ends of a rope. Applejack skidded to a halt, while Rainbow quickly circled around the two, trapping the two crooks together within the rope. As she stopped, Applejack spun on her hooves, and promptly bucked the two, sending Wario and Waluigi sailing away into the Everfree Forest.
“An’ don’ you ever let me catch y’all hasslin’ my little sister again!” Applejack shouted after them. The three fillies raced forward to embrace their saviours.
“Thanks for rescuing me, Rarity!” Sweetie said, hugging Rarity tightly.
“Don’ get too sore ‘bout me gettin’ in trouble, sis,” Applebloom said. “We just saw those two runnin’ with Twilight’s book, an’ we wanted to stop ‘em from stealin’ it!”
“That was so cool, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo gushed. “The way you tied those two guys up before they even knew what was going on!”
As the Crusaders thanked the three for rescuing them, the others turned to Trixie… only to discover that she wasn’t there. Twilight frantically looked around for the azure unicorn, and eventually spotted her running down the street to the town exit.
“So long, Sparkle!” Trixie shouted as she galloped away. “You may have the Elements, but Trixie won’t need those trinkets to stop Discord!” She laughed as she disappeared from view.
Twilight merely sighed. “Well, we won’t be dissuading her anytime soon. Let’s just hope she doesn’t get into too much trouble.”
“Speak for yourself,” Rainbow Dash said, as she, Rarity, and Applejack returned to the group, the Crusaders running off, saying something about being “Cutie Mark Crusader Item Sellers”.
The group idly looked around for a moment, and noticed that some of the ponies (and Spike) were starting to come out, seeing if “Nightmare Moon” had left yet.
“Well,” Twilight said, “I suppose we should go tell everypony there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“We should head over t’ Sweet Apple Acres after all that,” Applejack said. “’Tween Discord, Bowser, Trixie, and those goons of hers, I wanna make sure nothin’ bad’s happened t’ Big Macintosh ‘r Granny Smith.”
Mario and Luigi both nodded, and the group began to explore Ponyville.