Eclipse Of The Sun

Night awoke with a start, expecting to still see the blizzard still raging around him, and his body to still be feeling nothing but intense pain or numbness, but none of those things happened. Instead, he was lying in his bed, left with the huge question of how he ended up there. No way that was some dream.

He looked down, seeing the burn scars on his foreleg, and shuddered a little as he remembered what it felt like in the places where his sense of touch hadn't been destroyed. The stab wound on his other side also had a slightly less visible scar, and some parts of him felt sore. There was also a feeling of being weak and empty, as if part of him was missing. He disregarded it and got out of bed, leaving his room.

The first thing he noticed was a fire going, and Silver sitting in front of it. The Pegasus must have heard him, as he turned around not long after Night entered the living room. "Hey, look who's finally awake!" he said, standing up from his spot at the fire.

"Yeah... Thanks for throwing me under the carriage during negotiations," Night said.

"Listen, we thought you were going to end up dead no matter what, and figured you wouldn't want us handing over everything we've done here."

He frowned. "Whatever. When did the first patrol find me, anyways?"

" 'First patrol'? There wasn't any, you walked into the center of the city and collapsed, that's how we found you."

Wait, what? Night thought, tilting his head in confusion. Something wasn't right; he lost consciousness in the middle of a blizzard, not after walking into Amalthea. The idea that he had been recaptured and that this was some kind of illusion crept into his mind. He subconsciously began to look for minor details that could tell him what was going on, but his search was fruitless.

"That can't be right, all I remember was passing out in the snow," he told Silver, beginning to look more closely at various things around the room. There had to be something wrong, no illusion was perfect.

"Night, I saw you collapse, and I helped carry you back here where the doctors started trying to heal you. I don't know what you're going off about, you were in the city when we found you. You may just have a bit of amnesia, the doctors said you were pretty messed up, mentally and physically. If I remember correctly they said it would be about a week before you had the strength to walk again, but I guess they did a better job than they thought," Silver responded, a slightly worried look on his face.

"Wait... 'one week'? How long was I out?"

"A little over three nights."

Night's jaw dropped. "Three nights?!" he exclaimed. That's more than enough time for Celestia to send a force to attack, and after her failed assassination attempt there's no doubt her guards are already in the mountains, he thought. "Have any of our patrols sighted any kind of attack force?"

"Not yet, but there should be another one arriving within an hour," Silver replied. "In the meantime, I guess you could go get your new sword and armor, the blacksmiths made them while you were being healed."

Night nodded, mentally dismissing the former idea of all of this being a facade after his detailed look around the room once again proved useless. He and Silver stepped out the door and into the city, the moon high above them. Night half-wondered if the Celestials knew he had escaped and killed Cygnus. The attacking force not knowing he was still alive could provide a slight advantage in the first battle.

They neared the blacksmith's shop. The owner greeted them both, inquired about Night's health and then produced his new gear; a full set of highly curved light blue armor, and a rather ornate shortsword.

"The armor looks like the kind Nightmare Moon wore the day Luna transformed into her," Night commented, "except just a little more protective."

"That was intentional. She scared them senseless that day, and with the two of you actually looking somewhat alike, maybe you will do the same, both in name and appearance," the smith said, fiddling with one of the hoofguards. "This sword is also much stronger than your previous one. I know you broke it using your magic, but the same could have easily been done trying to deflect a hammer blow or striking a shield."

He drew the weapon out of its scabbard, revealing an extremely sharp blade inscribed with a few small texts pertaining to either Night, Princess Luna or Amalthea and Europa. The guard was somewhat small but kept the weapon from being rear-heavy, and the pommel had what appeared to be a thick crescent-like shape on it. The scabbard was also decorated to a degree, having the phases of the moon running from where the hilt would touch all the way down to the tip. Night picked up the weapon and swung it a couple of times, ensuring it felt right in his hooves.

Night put the rest of his armor on, to which Silver said, "The resemblance is uncanny, I can already hear the Celestials shouting that Nightmare Moon has returned to avenge you."

He smirked and sheathed the sword before strapping it to his side. Night thanked the smith for his service and left while Silver remained behind for his own reasons. The Unicorn settled on walking around the city to pass time, eventually finding a point on the wall to watch the moon from, tracking its slow movement across the night sky.

Silver eventually found him and took a seat nearby, remaining silent. Night took a deep breath

"I talked to her."

Silver faced him. "Who? Luna?"

Night nodded, still gazing at the stars.

"How? She's hundreds of thousands of miles away and probably trapped by all sorts of spells," he said. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Night faced the Pegasus. "It was real, I know it. After the Celestials knocked me out, my mind got pulled into some alternate dimension. It was an empty void, but she was there, and..."

"And... What?"

"Like I said, we talked. She said that she was proud of what I'd led us to do, and that she desperately wanted to be back on this planet again, even if it meant her sister had to be killed."

"So in other words, she supports the fact we are stepping into a war against the nation she used to be co-ruler of?"

"I would not be wearing any kind of armor right now if she had been against it. Yes, she wants us to do this. Besides, we have no way of knowing how long Celestia plans to keep her trapped; Luna could be set free tomorrow or never, and she hasn't exactly been saying anything about it."

"I suppose it's a good thing to have her approval," Silver said, facing back towards the sky. "Otherwise-"

The sound of wings cut him off. Another Pegasus landed a few feet away,a frantic look on his face. "Sir, I am sorry for interrupting you but I have important news," he said.

Night stood up. "What is it?"

"A Celestial regiment has recently been spotted by the northern watchtower. They are no more than a few miles away and will likely be here within an hour or two, based off our estimates."

The Unicorn was left feeling dazed. An entire regiment... he thought, already worried. Between Amalthea and Europa the Lunar Guard numbered roughly fifteen-hundred - both cities had equal numbers - and there was no time to send for reinforcements. At least there was usually a range in the numbers of a unit size. "About how large was the regiment? Could you tell?"

"We guessed they were around a thousand strong."

"Have you informed any of the other generals?"

"Yes, sir. I told them while looking for you. They should be in the planning room, or at least on their way."

Night nodded. He gave a quick parting word to Silver and followed the other Lunar down a set of stairs before going off to the planning room. He began to think of possible ideas on how to counter the Celestials; his Lunars lacked an advantage in numbers, but they knew the terrain and were defending from a fortified position rather than attacking. If he could get the positioning right, then the Celestials would be beaten, but none would prevent quite a few Lunars from dying.

The second guard stopped at the entrance to the planning room, remaining outside as Night stepped in. Inside the room was a circular table surrounded by three other ponies, each bearing four stars on their shoulders. In the center of the table was a large map of the valley Amalthea was settled in, showing the city itself, the watchtowers and the roughly current location of the Celestial regiment.

They all stopped what they were doing and stood up straight when they noticed Night's presence. He put them at ease and took a close look at the map. "Have any of you come up with a solid plan yet?" he asked.

"No, sir. We've had a few ideas, but nothing complete," said a Pegasus that Night recognized as Swift Breeze, the general of the Pegasi Unit of the Lunar Guard. He looked uneasy.

"Well, what were the ideas? Maybe we could make something out of them," Night responded.

A burly Earth Pony spoke up. "We have a few ballistae we've kept in storage over the winter. We could put those on or behind the walls - or even among the mountains themselves, if we move fast - and use them to pick off as many Celestials as we can before they get to the gates, maybe even target their leadership."

"My spellcasters have a unit among them that excel at long range and area-effect spells. The ballistae could be kept here while those ponies are sent out to slow the regiment down to give the rest of our defenses time to prepare," said General Thunder, an experienced Unicorn.

Swift Breeze spoke up again. "My archers can hide in the clouds to rain arrows on the Celestials, and then change locations before they retaliate; and that's assuming they figure out where they are being shot from."

Night thought for a moment, adding the other general's ideas to his own. He pulled the map within his reach, and using a quick spell, highlighted an area in front of Amalthea's gates, a relatively open spot in the valley. "This is where the regiment will eventually be. I am aware of how their formations are made; their command element is at the very rear, with every other soldier in front of them. If we can hide ponies under the snow..." he said, creating several small dots behind the symbol for the regiment, "then we can ambush them and destroy their chain of command, or at least heavily disrupt it.

"After that, most Swift Breeze's Pegasi will launch either from behind the city walls or the clouds and waste the area around the ambush unit with arrows, and the ambushing force will have to light some kind of flare to mark their position to prevent being hit," Night continued. He made a series of magical lines appearing both from Amalthea and the area above the Celestials, showing their flight plan. "Next, Thunder's spellcasters will attack from the tops of the valleys while our ballistae fire from our walls. For the first few minutes you will need to focus on packing them together by picking off stragglers, but on my command you shall fire directly into them."

More lines appeared on the edges of the valleys, and some small circles popped up within Amalthea. The symbol showing the regiment changed to become more compact. "Finally, Stonehide and I will lead a charge of pikecolts, swordsponies and close-range mages into the Celestials, who at this point should be low on numbers and packed so closely together that only the outside edge can fight effectively. We will try to push them back, with our rear force withdrawing and regrouping with our main force and we will continue pushing until they enter a rout, and we can dispatch Pegasi to pick some more of them off," Night finished. A row of dots materialized at the gates, with arrows showing their path forward, along with the ambush unit's rearward advance to get around the main Celestial force as it moved backwards.

"It is a good plan, but are you sure you should be fighting? I mean, you have been in a comatose state for three days, and you've got those wounds..." Thunder said.

"I'll be fine. I lead this city in Luna's place, and I'll be damned if I don't get up and defend it when we are under threat of destruction. We don't have much time before the Celestials arrive, so this planning is over; go and brief your soldiers, and tell them to immediately go to their locations."

The generals raised a hoof in salutation before leaving. Night took one last look at the map and ended the spell that had created the symbols before leaving himself. He watched the other generals running off to their barracks, then got back up on the wall on top of the gate, staring at the future battleground.

A few minutes later, the city descended into chaos, with ballistae being pushed into positions, orders being barked, townsponies boarding up windows just in case the walls were breached. Squadrons of Pegasi took an almost completely vertical path into the night sky, disappearing inside the darkness after a few moments. The unit to be used for the ambush - all elites by any standard - ran into the snow, disappearing a minute later. Spellcasters pooled their energy for a mass teleport into the mountains, vanishing in a flash of light. The ponies that were going to be apart of the final charge - roughly three hundred or so - lined up near the gates, waiting. Night turned around.

"Fellow Lunars... Tonight, as you all know, the regiment Princes Celestia sent to conquer us has arrived. There is a chance they think I am dead, and that the Lunar Guard is in disarray, and thus believe that this will be a mindless battle ending with the capture of our fair city; now, just imagine the shock and terror they will feel when our resistance shakes the very foundation of those foalish beliefs! Imagine the fear Celestia will bear when she hears that her cowardly plot to assassinate me before the war begins has failed!"

The Lunars below him cheered, holding up their weapons. "They think that they shall destroy us on our own land! They think that we are nothing more than rebellious colts who have made ourselves slaves to the Griffons! Do you know what I think? I think that they are ignorant, blind and mindless foals! They thought these mountains will become part of Equestria? I think we shall make this place their grave!"

They cheered again, even louder this time at Night's words. Night drew his own weapon and raised it towards the stars, continuing still. "We will defeat them! We will destroy them! We will annihilate them, and leave but one to return to tell the story of how Luna's soldiers crushed them! We shall become the the demons that haunt their dreams! We will be the bringers of darkness, washing over the land until there is but black! We will become nightmares!"

The shouting of the Lunars hurt his ears this time, and he had to resist the urge to cover them. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the first sign of the Celestials arrival - the northern watchtower, engulfed in flames and beginning to collapse. The regiment began to pick up speed past their first target, oblivious to what lay in wait.

They were close enough now for Night to be able to make out individual soldiers, and soon after the regiment entered an all out charge, clearly seeing that there were no defenders outside the walls. They passed over the ambush units location, and a second later the group emerged from their cover, decimating the exposed command element in a quick exchange of swordplay and spells; so quick in fact, that barely any other Celestials heard or even noticed the attack until the elite team created a bright flare to signal their position for Breeze's archers.

About two dozen Celestials suddenly dropped to the ground as arrows pierced their armor and bodies, and others barely got off with grazing blows. The Pegasi took up a position above the elites, and the Celestial Pegasi rose to challenge them. At that very moment, the first barrage of spells and ballistae bolts were fired, impacting all around the regiment, forcing them to get closer, just as planned.

The Pegasi began to duel, with several from both sides crashing into the ground after being hit by an arrow. The mass of Celestials stumbled about in confusion, not having anypony among them willing or capable of taking over the regiment. A second barrage struck them, further pushing them together.

Night ordered his group to form up on the outside wall and prepare to charge. He watched as a third, and then a fourth volley continued to kill any Celestial trying to escape the killzone. He used telepathy to contact General Thunder.

Thunder didn't have to send a worded response; the shouts of surprise as magical bolts landed in the very center of their group was more than enough to know he had heard Night's message. The Celestials started to get frantic, with most of their numbers wounded or dying and their entirety surrounded and boxed in. Night joined his battalion on the ground, turning to face them briefly before raising his weapons at the Celestials.

"Lunars! Charge!" he shouted, breaking into a gallop. The ponies around him followed suit, filling the air with the sound of hooves and their own individual war cries. The pikecolts pulled ahead of the main force and leveled their weapons and raised their shields.

The first line of Celestials was completely unprepared, and any who escaped death by skewer were assaulted with swords and magic as the Lunars forced their way into their ranks, pushing them back and splitting them up. Night electrocuted one of the ponies with a spell, his screams drowned out by his soldiers enthusiasm. Another pony turned around at the death of his comrade and raised his weapon, a rather large ax.

Night dodged the blow and hacked the pony's forelegs as he tried to pull the weapon from the ground. He fell back and tried to call for help, only for Night to stab his sword downward into the Celestial's chest, killing him. he felt something ping off his armor and turned to see an archer fumbling with an arrow. A lightning bolt ended his life before he could draw again.

Their opponents were steadily being pushed back. The Unicorn wet his blade with another Celestial's blood, kicking the fatally wounded pony aside and continuing forward. The rear force was withdrawing into the mountains to get around the failing regiment, joining up with Night's main force. After a few more volleys claimed even more lives, a rout began and the air was filled with the shouts of 'Retreat!' and 'Run away!' as the Celestials desperately tried to escape their situation through the same route they had taken, while a few branched off, thinking they would be left alone if they were by themselves.

Night halted the advancing Lunars and called the remaining archers over to him. "Spread out and pick off as many as you can, but do not follow them out of the mountains, understand?" he said. The Pegasi nodded and took off after the fleeing mass of ponies. He sheathed his weapon and sat down a little exhausted. There were dozens of ponies around him, Lunar and Celestial alike, all dead or dying. General Stonehide - partially covered in blood, mostly Celestial - approached him. "Sir, what will you have us do now?" he asked.

"Tell those who can to help gather our casualties. As for the Celestials, prepare a funeral pyre for the dead, and imprison any who are still alive."

Stonehide nodded, turning around and barking orders at the other Lunars. Meanwhile, Night gazed up at the moon, hoping Luna had seen their first victory. Soon; soon you will be free.

"Dammit! Does somepony mind explaining to me what the buck went wrong in that valley?!" Rune screamed, bashing his hoof against the table. The other generals gathered around him flinched, unsure of what to say.

"Sir, we are only just getting in the rest of the report. They said that Lieutenant Colonel Aurora and the rest of the officers under his command were targeted during the initial charge. Without leadership, the rest of the soldiers-"

"So you mean to tell me nopony was able to take control of the situation? What the buck did we try to attack them with, rookies?"

The pony paused for a moment. "Well, actually..."

Rune threw a nearby inkpot at the pony, covering his face and chest with the black liquid. "You. Get out, now," he growled, pointing at the door. "As for the rest of you, we have to find a way to beat the Lunars. Did any of the survivors happen to see their leader that day?"

A Pegasus spoke up. "There were mixed reports. Some of the more - for lack of a better word - scarred ponies said it was Nightmare Moon herself, but the majority seemed to think it was Blackest Night."

Rune closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. Of all the things... he thought. "Nightmare Moon is still imprisoned, so there's no way she was there. Night should be dead, how in the sun was he there?"

"Nopony seems to know, sir. All they said was that they saw him leading the charge during the final stages of the battle."

The Celestial general felt a bit of fear at the idea of having to go head to head with Blackest Night. Everypony - Celestia included - had assumed he was dead after they sent Cygnus and Mercury after him, but cearly something had gone bad somehwere down the road.

"Alright... We need to think of a way to get them back. Does anypony have any ideas?" Rune asked, sighing.

One of the generals - an Earth Pony - spoke up. "Well, the blockade of Europa was successful. If we could find a way to use that against them, we would have at least a start."

"Right - if we sent an order to Admiral Stargazer to open up on the city, we could force Night to send troops into Europa to reinforce the Lunars there. At the same time, we move a sizeable force near the mountains to draw him out to atack. We could make them look weaker and smaller than they are, and he'd love the idea of claiming another victory enough to attack. The only problem is that he would have fewer numbers to work with and we would have the advantage of actually knowing the land outside the mountains," a Pegasus next to him explained.

"It's equally possible that he won't take the chance. More than likely he's waiting for us to make a fatal blunder on our next move and act when we truly are vulnerable, and that's not a risk we should be taking. What are the defenses like for the settlements nearest the hoofhills, anyways?" Rune responded.

A Unicorn found a map and placed it on the table. "Fort Hoof is the nearest, but it's hardly a fort. The next-closest is Vanhoover, with no defenses at all aside from the guards stationed there."

Well, it could still be worse... not by much, though, he thought. "Tell the leaders of both places to build up what they can, and send the order to Stargazer to attack Europa. We'll just have to wait and see what Night does this time around."

Night was joined by Silver, along with the other three generals he had spoken to before the battle had begun; all five of them were now situated around the same table with a much larger map of Equestria in front of them.

"We did a fine job of defending, everypony. The Celestials were driven back, and the ponies responsible for the pyres say they are still counting enemy corpses past the five-hundred mark, out of regiment's one-thousand, with at least a hundred captured. Compared to our own losses of less than a hundred dead and no more than twice that wounded, we're off to a good start whose repetition will put us in Canterlot by the end of the quarter.

"However, now we have to advance out of where we hold the advantage. There are two towns we could potentially capture; Fort Hoof, only a few miles from Ablution Pass, and Vanhoover, near Equestria's border in the north. I had plans to take them over long before this war began, but something - some of you may not know this, I only found out after the battle - has changed with a Celestial fleet blockading Europa," Night explained. He pointed at two parallel lines around the oceanic part of Europa, representing the hostile ships.

"What do you plan to do now, sir?" Swift Breeze asked, staring at the map.

"I plan to find help. If the Celestials attack Europa, the forces there will be decimated; hoofsoldiers can't defend against a ship armed with ballistae, we don't have any vessels prepared to launch and our land-based weaponry can't punch through the hulls of a capital ship, of which I'm sure there are many. Also, if I send reinforcements, Amalthea will be open to a second - likely successful - second attack," Night responded.

"Where will you go? There aren't that many nations capable of sending aid, and even fewer that may be willing," said Breeze.

"The Griffons have been our allies since the beginning. They backed down when Celestia threatened them, but now that she is taking over a port that both of us use, Halfbeak may be more willing to assist," Silver said, taking a closer look at the map.

"He's right - besides, it's about time those buzzards started helping us again," Night continued. "Now, if we are to launch a full attack, we need to free Europa, and cut off Equestria's own ports. They rely heavily on imports, and after that we can just use attrition tactics until they are unable to fight."

"With no ships, how are we to defeat a fleet?" Stonehide asked.

"I believe some of the ships escaped to a much smaller port further east. The Celestials have no idea it exists, so we could easily convert some of the vessels there. After that, we can send them to attack the blockade from behind, and then give them more suiting weaponry for when they have to travel up the Equestrian coastline and reduce their ports to rubble," Night explained, making a line that went up the coast and ended at a small bay.

"Night, like Silver said the Griffon army is very small, which could still leave us at a disadvantage. Are there any other nations out there who have a larger force, or can offer us a means to compensate?" Stonehide asked again.

Silver spoke up again before Night could respond. "There are the Zebras in the far south, across the Antlertic Ocean. With the amount of chemicals and mixtures they have, I'm sure there's something they could give us that would help."

Night nodded in agreement. "Well, it looks like you have the choice of going to either Gryphus or Zebrica," he said. "Think about it. For now, though, our only plan is to free Europa so that when we do start to push over the border our enemy is already weakened. I will lead a small force - enough will be left here to defend Amalthea in case the remains of the initial force manages to regroup - into Europa to help shore up the defenses there. A full attack would still crush us, but at least we would have more time to evacuate," he said.

He dismissed the other generals, leaving only him and Silver in the room. The Pegasus, after a few more words were exchanged, bid a farewell and left. Now alone, Night began to think. All the possibilities for the upcoming battles flowed through his mind, from Europa to Canterlot. The Lunar Guard was going to need all the help it could get.

Maybe Luna knows a few other groups that might help... maybe a few other ways to go about this, Night thought. He would have to remind himself to ask her the next time he saw her, whenever that may be.