-Chapter 3-
Nights in the Everfree were a hair's breadth away from freezing, whatever force allowing the unnatural ecosystem to survive also sapped away the forest’s heat at night. For intruders, staying within of the confines of the forest was akin to signing a death warrant.
“We’re nearly--there,” Backup punctuated his sentence with a swipe of his claws, slicing through the thick green foliage that blocked their path. It was dark enough that his night vision had activated, painting the forest in various shades of blue. “Once we get to the base of the mountain--it’s gonna be a hard climb to the cave so you might--have to get on my back again.”
“I think I can manage a climb,” Eclipse proclaimed, following Backup closely.
The canopy was thick, blocking out most of the silvery moonlight. Eclipse’s senses were severely hampered; the activity of forest making navigation for him impossible. Coupled with the darkness of the Everfree, the murderous vibe that the forest was exuding, and the fact that the guard’s only lifeline during the hike was the changeling in front of him; it created the perfect recipe for a possible freakout.
With a final swipe of his claws, the last of the foliage in their path was vanquished, revealing a brightly lit clearing at the base of a dark grey mountain.
“Let’s hurry.” Backup swept their surroundings with his eyes “I don’t want to be exposed right now.” Especially not right now. the stallion turned his gaze away from the forest and focused on the mountain. Tapping his chin, he began plotting the safest route he and Eclipse could take to his home.
The forest’s mountains weren’t known for their height. What they lacked in elevation, they made up in deadliness. The rock face presented to them was a battered, weathered mess. Loose shale made up a majority of the mountain base before them; it was a rock slide waiting to happen. The equally treacherous angles were almost sheer drops, while those that weren’t deadly drops held far too many obstacles to be climbable. Even the stones at ground level could impale a pony should they fall.
“Right, we’re vulnerable out here.” Eclipse mulled over their current position. “We should hurry up and get where we’re going.”
Using his experience with the obstacle in front of them, Backup completed his mental path finding and nodded his head. “Okay, get on my back and I’ll take us up. You aren’t going to be able to climb this mountain with hooves.”
Eclipse ignored him and tested the ground at the base of the mountain. With his hooves pressed down, the stallion caused a few chunks of stone from the rocks near him to slide under his weight. He didn’t like how unstable everything looked. The stallion’s horn glowed as he prepared a simple spell. Darkness writhed around his hooves like agitated worms, and once sure of the spell’s integrity, he tested his footing again. Tendrils of darkness dug into the rock, reaching for something solid to find purchase on. Each little tentacle of shadow found its place in the earth, easily supporting the unicorn’s weight. Confident in his spell, he pointed up at the mountain with one of his enchanted hooves. “Lead the way.”
Backup was still for a moment; his rear legs erupted in black flame, morphing into a dragon’s clawed feet. Making his way to Eclipse’s side, he sunk his claws into the shifting stone. The rock held firm under his weight; not a single stone fell from its place.
“Okay, this should be good. Just to be safe, I want you to be somewhat to my right so you don’t get hit in the face with any rocks that fall loose. The path I have should be safe for about one and a half meters from each side I’m on, but the right side seems a bit more stable.”
“No more than one and half meters from your right,” Eclipse repeated. “Got it.” He nodded at Backup and rolled his shoulders, preparing himself to follow the “pegasus’s” lead.
“Hmmm… I feel like we should still have another safety measure. If only we had some rope…” He scrunched up his face in thought.
Eclipse progressed along the path, albeit much slower than Backup. The stallion had two of his hooves pressed against the shifting rock, while a third provided a pull up point from above. Unicorns aren’t meant to be in the air, pfft! His face was scrunched up in determination. I’ve go--
“What’s with your face?” Backup asked, managing to suppress a chuckle and snapping Eclipse out of his thoughts.
“What do you mean?” The unicorn’s determined look was now gone, replaced by one of confusion.
“You looked like you were in pain or something.”
Eclipse cocked his head at the stallion above him. “No, no. Just determined I guess.”
...Really? “Uhhh….determined?”
“Yeah, unicorns aren’t exactly a high altitude species.”
Backup sighed, exasperated. “Eclipse, how high do you think we are?”
“About fifteen… twenty meters up...” Eclipse closed his eyes, shivering as he thought about what a drop from that height could mean for him. Brief flashes of his twisted, mangled body flattened on the ground shot through his mind. “Why do you ask?”
Backup abruptly dropped off the cliff face, looking up at Eclipse. “Come on, get down here. It’s going to take us days to get there with you climbing.”
“What!? No, just go! I’ll keep up,” Eclipse pleaded. The unicorn pulled up carefully, as to not loosen the already unstable terrain. He had prepared a witty retort by the time he reached the level Backup had been on, but, before he managed to open his mouth, his eyes traced a path from where the other stallion jumped from to where he should have landed.
Eclipse’s left eye twitched. The strange changeling landed exactly where Eclipse predicted he would. Backup appeared much larger than he should have, considering their height, or perhaps it was the fact that the estimated landing point turned out to be the ground and they hadn’t even made it three meters up the mountain.
“Wha- what?” The unicorn asked, confused. “How long have we been climbing?”
“Less than a minute,” He said quickly. “Like I said, if you don’t get on my back, we’re never going to get to my home.”
“I just have to get my head in this and focus! If I can’t do this, how can I be expected to do anything further down the line? Just continue as we planned. I’ll either keep up or I won’t.” Eclipse planted himself on the spot and glared at Backup before quickly averting his gaze.
Backup flew up behind the stubborn unicorn and wrapped his arms around him, attempting to pry him from the mountainside. “Eclipse, we really don’t have time for this. Eventually, something is going to come along and either eat us, or the guards will have expand their search radius and find us.” My wings are sore, and I don’t want to deal with this.
Eclipse’s tendrils dug into the rock beneath his weak footing. “Stop! Let me do this!”
Backup scowled. “You’re being obnoxiously stupid about this. Either let me carry you or leave. I don’t have time for this!” he growled.
“You haven’t even let me try before declaring that I can’t do it!” The unicorn’s magic faltered while he focused more on the pony trying to remove him, and less on the spell. Slowly, his hooves disconnected from the stone underneath them.
“Would you stop it!? You’re acting like a damned foal! Aren’t you in the guard? Bucking act like it!” He hissed into Eclipse’s ear before dislodging him.
A brick-sized chunk of stone broke free from the mountain free along with the unicorn. Eclipse redoubled his efforts to hold on, despite how futile it was. The strength of the spell pulverized the rock that was once his foothold on the mountain. Dust floated lazily in front of him, lifted by a light breeze.
Luna’s favored foal… the cloud whispered to him.
Dropping to the ground, Backup shot the stallion a venomous look. “Now stop acting foalish and get on my back so we can get in my home.” He crouched down low.
Eclipse stood behind Backup. The stallion’s shoulders were slumped and his gaze never left the loose rocks at his hooves. His purple eyes hid behind his silver mane, blocking Backup from seeing the look of absolute defeat plastered on his face. “Guess I really do need to be coddled...” He muttered climbing on to the stallion’s back.
Backup brought a claw to his forehead and rubbed at his temple. Please don’t tell me he’s having an emotional breakdown. We’re never going to get anywhere at this rate. “Can you tie yourself to my back with some of your shadow….things? I’m going to need a good range of motion, and you can’t be holding onto me by the neck.”
Wordlessly, Eclipse summoned several dark tendrils, wrapping them around Backup’s midriff to form a simple harness. Sadly, the process of creating said harness pinned the changeling’s wings to his body. The magical appendages shifted in place, their chill attempting to invade his body.
Backup hopped on to the base of the mountain, his claws once again digging deeply into the rock. He rapidly ascended towards the peak, trying to put distance between them and the ground as quickly possible. Five minutes later they were a dozen meters off the ground.
“See how much faster that was?”
“Yeah,” Eclipse said sadly. “Backup, I apologize for my conduct, it was immature and unprofessional.” He sighed. “It’s just… Never mind.” Eclipse went silent, letting Backup climb in peace. If I’m going to be carried, I might as well take in the sights.
Eclipse gazed out at the thick wood they emerged from, taking note of its intricacy. Being several meters in the air without a chariot was many things to Eclipse. Traumatizing was the premier effect, followed closely by a freeing sensation. Seeing the tree limbs weave together, forming a delicate tapestry of natural progress, was invigorating to the unicorn. The moon lingered far above their heads, following an invisible path until its time to meet with the horizon. I wonder if she’s watching.
“Thank you. I had to get you moving though. They’re going to be looking around Fillydelphia for at least two weeks in search of us. They don’t take too kindly to their guards being killed.”
“I understand.” Backup was right; they didn’t have time to fool around. “So, how high up is this place?”
“About four hundred meters,” He said with a grunt, jumping over some rock that would have come out underneath him.
Eclipse dry heaved when he heard this. “W-what?”
“Problem?”
“A few hundred meters of free climbing… just… ugh.”
Must be afraid of heights. He better not throw up on me.
“At this rate, it’s gonna take us about three and a half hours to get there so get comfy.”
“I-I’m going to be s-sick...”
“Not on me you’re not. If you’re going to throw up, you’re aiming away from me.”
“J-just climb,” Eclipse choked out.
“Alright.” He reached forward to pull himself up farther, but he accidentally pulled the rock loose, cause him to fall a short distance and his heart rate to jump.
Eclipse whimpered and tightened his hold on Backup when the stallion loosened his grip on the stone. His eye’s slammed shut and remained that way for a few seconds; eventually, the lack gravity reasserting itself caused the stallion to open his eyes. Above them a set of jagged furrows in the stone illustrated where they had fallen from. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before replying, “R-right. C-can I ask you a question?” Eclipse pleaded.
After a few minutes of letting his heart rate stabilize, he started climbing again but being more careful of his footing this time.
“Sure. You’ve been honest enough with me so far, so I guess I can answer a few.”
“Where are you f-from? N-never seen anypony like you before.”
The only sounds for the next couple minutes were Backup’s breathing and the sound of his claws digging into the rock face. “Backup, did you hear me?”
“Yeah I heard you. I’m thinking,” he said with a sigh.
“So?” Eclipse asked, wondering if Backup had changed his mind about answering him.
“I’m from the Emerald kingdom. Or, as you ponies like to call it, the Hive.”
“You’re a changeling or something similar right?” Eclipse thought back to when he knocked the changeling out in the city. The only thing about him that reverted was his claws. He looks a lot like a pony, but he claims to be from the changeling’s homeland. Doesn’t add up. I’ve got an idea, but now’s not the time to focus on that. Maybe later.
Backup chuckled silently, shaking Eclipse who was tied tightly to his back. “Yeah. I’m a changeling.”
“I see.” Those two simple words oozed malice, despite Eclipse’s attempt hold it in.
“One more question: How can you perform dragon mimicry?” He shifted anxiously as he awaited the answer to that mystery.
Backup stopped climbing for a moment; his mind wandered, searching for a satisfactory response.
Eclipse tapped Backup’s shoulder. “Dragon mimicry… not something changelings are known for. Has their magic advanced that much in recent years?”
“Can’t tell you that,” he responded immediately, his voice flat, before beginning their ascent again.
“I won’t pry further.” While Backup’s response was off-putting, it didn’t discourage him. He understood that there were some things that a pony just didn’t want to talk about.
An hour later, they reached a plateau of sort, which to Backup indicated meant they were a third of the way up the mountain."
“I gotta take a break. This isn’t easy you know.” He panted, kicking the rock face hard, digging his feet in deeply and gripping the stone tightly with his claws.
Backup looked out across the forest; taking in the moon’s reflected rays.
Over the past hour, the moon moved directly above the pair, its subtle light making the forest far beneath them glitter. This far up, there was almost no sound, save for the wind and their breathing.
Forgot how beautiful and tranquil the forest is at night. I’ve been away from home for too long. Thank you, moon mother.
“I can ease the burden,” Eclipse suddenly blurted out, shattering the silence and interrupting Backup’s rumination.
“How so?”
“I should be able to augment your claws like I did your wings back in the city. That way you can get a sturdier grip much more easily. Or maybe I can form my own set of claws and help support our weight.”
“And you know this will work how?” the changeling asked skeptically.
“I’ve never done it before honestly, but it’s worth a shot if it makes the climb safer.”
Backup considered it for a moment before responding. “Just be careful. I won’t be able to catch us if we fall.”
Eclipse closed his eyes and focused on his magic. The shadows responded to him hastily, happily answering his call. To Eclipse, the darkness he commanded felt natural, like the umbra was his own limbs. He pulled from their umbrae until he had four shapeless masses of tangible shadow situated at the end of each hoof. The familiar chill of dark magic pierced his mind, sending a shiver down his spine. It granted him clarity and peace, something he desperately needed right now. With a simple mental command, he began to mold the shadows into black claws similar to the ones Backup was using to climb. The spell sputtered, failing right as they took form. A growl slipped past his lips at his shortcomings and put more effort into his casting, focusing on every important aspect of the claws. Slowly, they took shape, solidifying around his hooves. A quick flex of his new claws verified the integrity.
Backup’s nose twitched, his senses flaring from some faint stimulation. What is this feeling of familiarity? It’s just like at the clock tower.
“What are you doing back there?” He questioned, being unable to move his head far enough to see what Eclipse was doing.
The unicorn held his front hooves out in front of Backup’s face and flexed his claws. The inky constructs pulsed to the rhythm of Eclipse’s heart as wisps of black mist drifted away from the appendages. “Creating these,” the unicorn replied smugly.
Backup let go with one claws and inspected one of Eclipse’s shadow claws with a hand, turning it over and squinting at it.
“Hrmmmm… So, how does this work exactly?”
Eclipse scratched his chin. “Well, first off we have to build up a good rhythm, so we should probably start off slow, until we can get a feel for each other. Once we’re comfortable, we can increase our pace.”
“And just how do we do that?”
“We need to move in sync; I’m going to bind our legs together so that we both step in time with each other, sound good?” Eclipse asked.
He reached towards the rock, commanding the pliable shadows forming his new appendages to extend and dig into the rock right alongside Backup’s. Darkness slithered from Eclipse’s legs to Backup’s, locking them together.
Yeah this is gonna be weird, Backup thought.
“So just...walk?” he asked, not entirely confident in Eclipse’s plan.
“Yeah. That’s it. ” Eclipse took a deep breath. “Ready when you are.”
Backup started their ascent again and his eyes widened when he only had to exert half the effort he did before to move.
Huh. This is working surprisingly well so far.
“Backup?” Eclipse asked as they continued up the mountain. “Something’s been bugging me for a while. Can I ask you about it?”
“Depends on what it is.”
“It’s about when we escaped from the city.”
"What do you want to know?"
"You took a big risk when you helped me get away from the guards. You could’ve left me to them; instead you decided to drag another pony with you even though you knew that it would slow you down in the end. Why?”
“I’m not entirely--certain.” He punctuated his sentence with a jump to the side, avoiding a loose patch of stone. Eclipse barely managed to keep up with his sudden movement.
“So, you don’t really know?” He said disbelievingly. After the sudden jump, Eclipse hastily summoned two tendrils to anchor them to the mountain and distribute their weight. Once their footing was good, he dispelled the tendrils and released the breath he was holding, fighting back his building panic attack.
“It kind of felt like something was urging me to do it. So let’s say it was a gut feeling.”
“Soldiers have to follow their guts quite a bit on the field, so I guess I can understand that reasoning.” But I’ll keep my ears open; he could have an ulterior motive.
“Okay, just another meter and we’ll be safe.” Backup was panting and barely clinging to the mountain after their three hour climb. It got far easier once Eclipse started helping him climb but he was still dead tired.
“And you wanted--” Eclipse huffed. “--to do this alone, with a grown stallion--” he clipped his own phrase sucking down huge breaths of air. After catching his breath, he continued. “--on your back.”
“I’ve done it before when I've… injured a wing. It’s much harder to… carry the weight of another… and climb.” They were a couple meters away from an indentation in the cliff side. “Just a bit further.”
“Finally, this awkward day can end! Then we can actually get some real rest and figure out what to do.”
“Yeah. Having you here… complicates things,” Backup said pulling the two of them over the ledge and collapsed on the sloped ground, greedily gulping down air.
Eclipse released all of his spells and rolled off of the stallions back. He felt like his muscles had been tenderized with a spiked mallet. Sweat matted his coat in several places and his mane had become disheveled during the climb. “Gah.” He stayed there, panting heavily for what felt like eons.
“Come on...we can’t stop moving or we’re gonna cramp up and we’ll be stuck on the ledge,” Backup panted while he weakly pushing himself up. Both his front and rear legs were once more coated in the black flames, the transformation dropping.
“I know... I know,” he choked out, dragging himself back to his hooves. Once he was standing again, Eclipse shook vigorously, dislodging dozens of loose pebbles from his coat. He took a few shaky steps forward before stopping to wait for Backup.
“Just gimme a minute.” Backup stood there for several minutes, stretching his muscles to keep them from cramping while he caught his breath. “Okay. Let’s go,” He said as he took the lead.
Eclipse popped his neck. Sighing contently, he fell in behind Backup. Gonna be stiff for a while once I stop moving.
The mouth of Backup’s mountaintop cave funneled deep into the stone. A dry chill pervaded cavern, biting at the skin. Light became increasingly sparse with each step until the moon’s kiss was all but forsaken. Eventually, Backup shattered the eerie silence. “Here we are.”
“I can’t see anything…” Eclipse deadpanned. He could feel objects littered around the chamber. Furniture perhaps. All he knew for certain was that this section of the cave was huge. The beginnings of other paths and sections away from the main area lingered near the edges of his perception, teasing him with the promise of adventure. The air was slightly stuffy, but that was to be expected inside of a cave. What he didn’t expect was the smell. While not unpleasant, the odor was still quite odd.
“Let me get the lights.” For the next several minutes, all Eclipse could hear was the tink of metal on stone reverberating throughout the chamber. “You should cover your eyes unless you want to get blinded. Just tell me when you’re ready.”
Eclipse closed his eyes and, just to be safe, covered them with his foreleg as well. “Ready!” He yelled.
Backup’s ears flattened against his head. He didn’t need to yell.
After a brief explosion of light in the cavern, Backup spoke up. “You can open your eyes now.”
Eclipse slowly opened his eyes. The stallion was curious to check out the dank, drab, emp- “What the hay? H-how?” If his jaw wasn’t firmly attached to his, face he’d have been picking it up off the floor. “How’d you get all of this stuff up here?”
“I flew some of it in and built the rest,” he replied casually. Changelings are known for their ability to build things.
The ceiling was a dark gray and about fifteen feet high and there were several walls made of a strange black substance that led off to different sections of the cave. In the center of the room was a collection of three soft looking couches made of wood, a large ottoman made of the same substance the walls were, a wooden table, and a loveseat.
Scattered around the room were a few smaller tables with various knick-knack’s on them and shelves on the walls that had what appeared to be various weapons and pieces of armor on them. There were silver candle and lantern holders on the walls spaced evenly around the room.
“So what do you think?”
“Cozy. I’m impressed that you managed to get all this up his,” he said as he eyed the chamber. Eclipse let his gaze wander over the various curiosities in the room.
“What, did you expect me to have lived in a cold cave for the past two years?”
“Well when you said ‘lived in’ I kind of thought you meant you hid out here, as a temporary base of sorts.” He started to walk around the room, even taking time out to poke at the ottoman and the couch. “Speaking of cold, why isn’t it freezing in here?”
“Heating crystal,” Backup said as he followed Eclipse around the room.
The guard rubbed his temple with a hoof. “Most obvious answer...”
“Mhm. Let me show you around so you don’t get lost.”
“Yeah, that would be nice. I might be here awhile, so I should probably know my way around.”
“Well you’ve already seen the living room so let’s start with the kitchen.” Backup led Eclipse past one of the walls. “It’s nothing ridiculously high class. Just a standard kitchen.”
As Eclipse looked over at the kitchen, he realized Backup was right and that the kitchen was fairly simple. There were pots and pans hanging over a large square black counter that was made of the same strange material that seemed to be everywhere. There was an oven and a sink, though how he got water up this high he only had a few ideas for, and a large door at the end of the room that he assumed led to a freezer or fridge.
“Seems like you’ve got mountain life down. I’m curious about a lot of this, but it can wait. Anything in particular that I need to know about?” Eclipse asked, using his dark tendrils to sift through Backup’s cookware.
Backup tapped a hoof to his chin in thought. “Well, there’s the combat range and armory.”
“Hmm...” Eclipse raised an eyebrow at that.
Everything was nice so far, better than nice even. He had expected a barely livable hidey-hole, but what he got was a nicely furnished middle class abode. The stallion ran his hoof down one of the walls. Its texture was unlike any stone he’d ever felt. “What is this made of?”
“Kreust, which is a mixture of changeling spit, powdered rock, and dirt. It’s what most of the buildings in the Hive are made.”
Eclipse immediately stopped rubbing the wall. “I see. So it’s the material the changeling’s trade with us. This is my first time seeing it up close.”
“It's a rare material. Changelings won’t make it outside of the Ark or the Hive.”
“The Ark?” Eclipse asked. “That’s the joint settlement started by the Emerald Kingdom and Equestria. Some sort of “olive vine of peace” project between changelings and ponies, right?”
“That’s the one,” Backup thought as he led Eclipse out of the kitchen and back into the living room.
“As for other rooms, yes, I’d like to see them. I don’t use weapons, but I know your stock is important, same is true when it comes to proper training areas.” He followed closely behind Backup.
Backup silently led hem down one of the tunnels that was lit with the same candles that were in the living room. “Then the armory would be a good first stop, however, the only weaponry I have are my wing blades, making the space into something more akin to a workroom.”
“Well I’m not a fan of weapons or armor anyway. In case you couldn’t tell.”
I’ve noticed. As they exited the tunnel, a room with a high ceiling and lockers scattered around the area greeted them. There was a solitary grindstone and workbench in the center of the room, standing side by side.
“Well unless my magic absolutely fails me, I don’t really need either.” He walked in and trotted from station to station. “Yes, yes… very nice.”
“Seems like an unnecessary risk,” Backup continued. “I hope you’re at least trained in other forms of fighting.”
“Of course. I can fight with a lance and a sword as well, both are my most used magical constructs; however, I prefer to stick with magic or hoof-to-hoof combat. Carrying weapons just seems like extra weight to me.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned to leave.
“Still seems needlessly risky to me.” He called the unicorn’s attention to another of the cave’s pathways. “That leads to the combat range. We don’t need to visit that today. Instead, I should show you the spare room.” Moving through the tunnel, he ushered Eclipse along. “It’s this way.”
“Right behind you,” he called back. “If you don’t mind my asking, how large is this cave system?” Even in the confines of the tunnels, Backup kept a brisk pace.
“I’m not entirely sure. They run extremely deep in some sections, and are too expansive for me to bother exploring.” The rest of the walk was done in silence as they reached the living area again. “Here’s where you’ll be staying,” Backup said as he walked over to an open doorway. “Before I go though, I’d like to know if you can teleport yourself up here from the ground, like you did in the city.”
“How high up is this place?” He asked.
“Like I said earlier, four hundred meters.”
“That’s reassuring. Assuming there’s a decent sized shadow to exit from, I can shadowport close to twice that difference.”
“Alright. Just making sure.”
Backup left Eclipse’s new quarters and walked across the room to his bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him. There were no lighting fixtures inside since he could see in the dark. There was a plush looking bed inside with a nightstand next to it. On the nightstand was a silver bracelet and necklace. It’s good to finally be home after two months. He tiredly crawled his way over to the bed and underneath the covers, instantly falling asleep.
Canterlot was burning. At the center of the raging inferno was a young colt. The little grey coated unicorn lie in the middle of the road, shivering underneath a shroud of turbid shadows. The child curled up into a ball in an attempt to block out the horrid scene around him. The screams of ponies being attacked and hauled off echoed within the colt’s shield, amplifying the piercing sounds. He hid behind his grey and silver mane, shut his eyes, and covered his ears with his hooves. He didn’t want to hear the buzzing anymore. Everypony was suffering and soon the buzzing would come for him.
The constant buzz soon escalated to a deafening roar. His shield shattered, flying away in a wave of black mist. Some invisible force tore the burned, stained cobblestone up from the streets, replacing it with patches of garden decorated by blossomed nightingales. The scent of singed fur and bile was quickly replaced by the pleasant fragrance of outdoors as the scenery shifted to that of a well-kept garden.
“Never going to let that dream play through are you, Luna?” The now adult Eclipse asked the camouflaged moon princess.
A sound not unlike the deepest bass line of a cello filled the garden as the Princess of the Night stepped out from a darkened corner.
“The number of times you bring this up shall not sway my feelings on the matter, my loyal apprentice,” Luna said, trotting to his side.
Eclipse glared at her for a moment before decided to relent.
She met his gazed with the same steel-eyed yet caring look that he had grown to find comfort in. The two stood side by side for several minutes, staring into the nothingness that surrounded the gardens.
“We need to talk. Word of your exploits have reached my ears...”
Eclipse tossed and turned in his bed. Despite how inviting the soft pillows and warm blanket were, something had broken him out of his dreamscape. The stallion’s ears twitched, both picking up the source of the disturbance. The noise was barely a whisper on the wind, but the feelings behind it chilled the stallion to the bone. He knew that checking in on Backup would be the right thing to do, but that didn’t make sliding out of bed any easier. With his choice made, he popped his back and quickly made his way out of his room.
Backup’s room was right across from his, giving him no time to actually think about what he was about to do. Eclipse could still hear the silent yelling through the Kreust door, but he wouldn’t just barge into another’s room. In the end, he settled on placing his ear against the door.
“No…..stay away from her! ...Stop!” Eclipse heard Backup shout. The words penetrated the material easily, entering Eclipse’s ears as though nothing separated the two stallions.
Eclipse vigorously pounded on the door. “Backup! What’s going on in there?! Backup!”
“No stop! You’re hurting her!” Backup was screaming now.
Does Backup have someone in there with him? Are we under attack?! The thoughts raced through his head at a mile-a-minute. Instinct and training took over where rational thought failed Eclipse, causing him rear up on his hind legs and slam his front hooves against the door. Kreust was a lot less durable than he expected. Instead of dislodging the entire thing from the wall like he expected, his hooves sailed clean through the Kreust.
“Horseapples,” he cursed, withdrawing his legs from the door. Backup was still screaming his lungs out and here he was… failing to help.
Eclipse took a deep breath and peeked through one of the holes he created. He couldn’t see much, but he could see that there was enough empty space directly in front of him to teleport into Backup’s room safely. A single thought later, Eclipse found himself sinking into the darkness under him. He reemerged safely inside of the pitch black room. Though the guard couldn’t see anything, he could hear and feel Backup thrashing about. There’s nopony else here.
“P-please stop!” His screaming was now intermixed with sobbing.
The plea broke Eclipse from his ruminations. In an instant, he was at Backup’s bedside, watching stupidly as the stallion’s silhouette cried and flailed about. “W-what do I...” Eclipse sputtered.
I need to bring him to his senses before he hurts himself. “Backup!” He shouted, shoving his hooves roughly against the stallion’s side.
“Huh?!” Backup’s eyes snapped open and he fell off the bed.
Backup clambered onto the bed after recovering from his fall, his wings spread wide and his teeth bared, but relaxed when he saw who had woken him up. “O-oh. It’s just you Eclipse.”
“What the hay was that all about?!” Eclipse asked, concerned. “You were freaking out and it looking like you were struggling against something.”
Backup reached over to the nightstand and picked up the silver necklace, holding it close to his chest for a moment before putting it on around his neck. Once it was on, he hopped off of the bed and onto the floor next to Eclipse. “It was nothing.” He took several deep breaths to try and calm his racing heart. “Just a nightmare. Sorry for waking you up.” He walked out of his room and towards the kitchen.
Backup’s sudden departure caught Eclipse by surprise. It wasn’t long before the unicorn had turned on his hooves and caught up with the fleeing pony. “That’s horseapples and you know it! Ponies don’t act like that during nightmares!”
Backup entered the kitchen and pulled a cup and a jar of coffee grinds out of a cupboard. He placed the grinds in a teakettle before turning on the stove, turning to Eclipse and sitting down as the coffee boiled. “In case you’ve forgotten, let me remind you that I’m not a pony.”
“C’mon, don’t give me that weak excuse.” Eclipse gave the jewelry that Backup had taken solace in a questioning glance. To him, it was nothing more than a bauble, but for the changeling it obviously meant something more. “Does it have something to do with that?” He probed.
“Does it matter?” He said with a small amount of venom in his voice.
“Of course it matters! The same way it mattered that I couldn’t climb fast enough. It matters because now I’m not even sure that you’re stable! How do I know that something like what I just saw won’t happen in the future? How do I know that you won’t lose your hold on reality and attack me in place of whatever you were yelling at?” He replied, matching Backup’s tone.
Backup slowly stood up, his expression twisting into a grimace. “Be careful what you say next, pony,” He spat out the last word and growled.
Eclipse rose to Backup’s challenge. “Or what? You going to hit me? Remember how well that worked out earlier. It’ll end the same here. With you confused and on the ground.” He narrowed his eyes at Backup and snorted.
Backup spread his wings wide, knocking a couple pots off of the overhead racks, and was about to launch himself at Eclipse when the teakettle started whistling. He folded his wings shut with a snap and turned around. The changeling started pouring the coffee into the cup he had set out earlier, before storming past Eclipse and into the living room. The couch he chose to lie down on was facing away from the kitchen a little more than a meter away.
Eclipse followed Backup with his eyes until the other stallion was out of sight. He sighed, releasing the breath he was holding. I was way out of line. Still, with what I saw there was no way I could just let that go. Whatever it was it must have really hurt him.
He decided to walk after Backup, but he couldn’t bring himself to pass through the threshold dividing the two rooms while he collected his thoughts. “Backup,” he said calmly.
Backup didn’t respond, instead choosing to ignore the stallion lest he attack him.
“Listen, I know you can hear me. I want to talk. First thing’s first, I’m not apologizing. Now that I got that out of the way, I just want to let you know that he reason I pried in the first place was because I wanted to help. If what you experienced was painful or personal and you didn’t want to talk about it, you should have just said so. I would’ve dropped the subject.” Eclipse took a few breaths before continuing. “I know how hypocritical this may sound coming from me Backup, so say what you will. Don’t slap away hooves that try to help you. I have no idea what’s going on with you. In the guard, we couldn’t let compromised soldiers fight alongside us. They endanger everypony. You understand?”
After a few moments, Backup broke the silence. “I’m fine. I’m not compromised, and no you can’t help with it. You can’t change the past.” Eclipse couldn’t see it, and even though Backup had a neutral expression on his face, tears were escaping his closed eyes as he tightly grasped his necklace.
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Eclipse prepared to turn and leave Backup to deal with his problems, but he remembered something important. Had Backup’s night terror not awoken him this would’ve had to wait until they got up naturally. “And one more thing. I have good news.”
“What.” He said curtly.
“I’ve spoken with Luna...”