The Everfree Forest was a mysterious place, timing with many unknown, magical species, both animal and plant. The weather could function on it's own, without need for pegasi to control it. The Forest teemed with danger, ranging from manticores, hydras, parasprites, and various other unspeakable horrors. The forest contained an unnatural amount of magic, along with remnants of magic leftover from the battle between Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia, some one thousand years ago.
The forest, with all it's danger and hostile mystery, also contained the Tree of Harmony, from which the most powerful artifacts in existence were acquired. The crystal tree was in the end of a shallow cave, hidden from sight under most circumstances. The ruined Castle of the Two Sisters sat atop a plateau nearby.
The Castle of the Two Sisters, former home to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, before the latter was consumed with anger, was in a ruined state ever since that fateful night. The broken castle walls, dark hallways, and countless traps served to unnerve anypony who thought of venturing out here. It was even said that the ghost of Nightmare Moon haunted the castle. There had never been any proof of such a claim, but it still caused fear to anypony who dared to venture to the castle.
The cool night air surrounding the castle was teeming with magic, filling the air with a energized quality. The magic was almost palpable, bathing everything in an eerie dark violet glow. Anypony who would have been at the castle would have ran from the tingling feeling they would have received as the magic in the air reached an apex, causing a massive purple flash of light, lasting less than a second, to appear.
In the throne room, where the flash of light had appeared stood a dark alicorn. The alicorn's tall, slender build set her apart from average ponies, and the sharply muzzle would almost confuse anypony into believing this alicorn was male, despite the distinctly feminine features. The alicorn's mane rippled violently in the wake of the magical dischage, before settling down around her neck.
The alicorn seemed to radiate pure hatred. Hatred for everything, hatred for life, hatred for death, hatred for light, and darkness. The alicorn's eyes were blood red, with her pupils slits like dragon eyes. The alicorn was far from young, having lived over a thousand years, yet it did not show.
The alicorn immediately collapsed from the magical expenditure. The alicorn quickly fell unconscious, even in rest, the alicorn seemed pained with her existence, as if her very nature rejected her.
A full day had passed before the alicorn woke up to the dark night air. She surveyed the surroundings, taking in the damage her magic had done when it dissipated. Even more of the castle had been damaged and fallen apart from the sudden burst of magic left in the wake of her arrival. She lit her horn, taking note that although she had very little magic, she still had more than a enough to get started. She would have to just pace herself.
She heard the sound of hoofsteps falling on the stone floor off in the disatance. 'Or find another source of magic I can use.' She smiled maliciously, and took off methodically walking towards the source of the noise. She soon turned a corner into a hallway and spotted a grey unicorn filly. She ducked back behind the corner to stay out of sight, her hoof hit a rock. She didn't care that the filly would have heard it.
When she heard the noise, the filly called out, "H-hello? Any... Anypony there?" She approached the source of the sound with caution, oblivious to the danger she was in. She slowed to a crawl when she reached the corner, her heart was racing as she looked behind the wall to see...
Nothing.
"Anypony there?" She called out again. She waited for a few seconds before taking a step back. And then another, and then she started to turn around.
Right into the alicorn that had made the noise in the first place. The alicorn smiled at her, the smile sent shivers down the small unicorn's spine. The alicorn spoke in a voice which sounded halfway between insane and uncaring, and completely cold and heartless, "Hello... My little pony..."
The small unicorn filly took a step back in utter terror as the alicorn lumbered over her. "St-stay back!"
"Aww, what's wrong, little filly?" The alicorn stretched out her wings and leaned down towards her, "Afraid of little 'ol me?" She pulled her head back, the filly gulped as she backed herself against a wall. "Good." she hissed.
The filly lit her horn in her defense, she was however, no match for the dark alicorn, who smiled wickedly and lit her own horn. The filly cast a light spell, one which the alicorn immediately countered, consuming the magic. The filly squeaked as the light was extinguished before it lit the area up any. The alicorn levitated the filly up in her magic and cast a spell, draining her magic. The filly possessed next to no magic, but she would take what she could get, every last drop of magic the filly had was soon hers. She threw the filly against the floor, discarding her like a useless item.
The filly yelped when she hit the floor, and started crying in pain.
"Aww... The poor little filly's crying..." The alicorn mocked her. "Well, I guess I'll just have to fix that." With one fell swoop, the alicorn brought her earth pony strength to bear down upon the little filly, killing her instantly. The filly's crying instantly went silent, the alicorn smiled. She chirped in a malicious voice, "Much better."
She looked down at her work, the filly lying dead at her hooves was an unsightly waste of material. She frowned, 'That won't do at all... I will find some use for you...' She lit her horn, casting a spell opening a pocket dimension, she threw the dead filly into the dimension and sealed it. Time was not an issue with her pocket dimension, she could store anything she wanted within it without fear of it losing viability.
"Now let's see... Castle of the Two Sisters... Yes, that should work quite nicely... Oh, YES! The Elements of Harmony should be nearby... That will make this much easier... Ah haha... AH HAHAHAHA!" She paused mid laugh, "I still need to work on that."
The alicorn's stomach growled, she frowned. Although she could sustain herself with her magic, it would be a waste of what precious little magic she had to do so, disguising herself as a unicorn with a simple illusion and finding someplace to eat would be preferable. She looked up, noting position of the moon. It was the middle of the night, despite the fact that the Everfree would be crawling with danger, she could handle it.
And if she happened to run into a magical creature or two, even better. She lit her horn, pausing for a moment before casting her illusion spell, and then took off trotting towards the nearest town, Ponyville. By her calculation she should arrive just before dawn, giving her ample time to decide where to eat.
Several hours of walking and a handful of encounters with hostile critters later, a slightly worn out white unicorn with a long, flowing, light-pink mane, and black sun for a cutie mark with a yellow corona walked out of the Everfree Forest, and into Ponyville. Seeing the small country town, with it's genuine friendliness, and desire to help each other out made her sick to her stomach. The lack of food wasn't helping that any either. 'Don't they REALIZE the FUTILE NATURE OF THIS?' She shouted in her mind. She scowled as she passed several ponies who greeted her with a smile and friendly wave.
'Focus, no need to draw undue attention on yourself... You're not strong enough... Yet.' She forced herself to put on a mask of complete neutrality, had she tried for anything more it would have failed miserably, and she knew it. She stopped at the first place she could remember that served breakfast from her short time spent in the town. Short being a relative term.
She approached the cashier, a tan earth pony with brown mane, and stubble beard, "Welcome to The Hayburger, what can I get ya for this fine mornin'?"
"I will-" She paused and cleared her throat to mask her casting a spell to alter her voice, "I will take two.. No, three hayburgers and a large hayfry."
"Alrighty, miss, that'll be twelve bits." He smiled at her. She wanted to punch it off his face.
She opened her pocket dimension and retrieved her saddle bags, and withdrew twelve bits. She levitated them over to the cashier, and found a secluded spot away from the door to sit. A few minutes of silence later a unicorn brought out her plate of food.
"Enjoy your meal!" she chirped as she walked away.
'If I didn't want to conserve magic I would choke you with it.' the disguised alicorn happily thought as she bit into her first hayburger. She ate slowly and methodically, forcing herself to chew the hayburger so that it would digest quicker. After finishing the second hayburger and fries, she took the third hayburger and stored it in the pocket dimension for later. She despised the thought of keeping it, but it was easier to eat than sustaining herself with magic.
After she left The Hayburger, she momentarily thought about burning the place down, but decided against it, 'It would be a waste of magic, and no need to warn anypony until I'm at my full power...' She smiled at the thought of burning the world with the sun, once she took control of it.
"I can't believe that she actually won that bet..." Eclipse mused as she and Twilight walked down the street. The ponies they passed greeted them with happy smiles and waves, they returned them for the most part, not wanting to seem rude. Eclipse found the friendliness slightly unnerving, but not unwelcome. Twilight started laughing.
"Well, I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking." Twilight chuckled, "Some things never change..."
"I never really indulged in that before, you should know that, and understand why." Eclipse paused, "It was fun though... Even if my head still hurts."
"Rainbow probably feels worse." Twilight mused. "I can't imagine how hard it would be to beat Princess Celestia or Princess Luna in a drinking game." Twilight switched into analytical mode, "With alicorns growing more powerful over time, and giving an age estimation of around four thousand years for the princesses... I don't think anypony alive could beat them in a drinking game and live."
"Discord." Eclipse countered, "He's easily far older than either of them. I doubt alcohol would even affect him... Unless he let it..."
"We should make sure that never happens." Twilight rapidly replied.
"Agreed."
They walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached Sugarcube Corner, when they walked inside the building Pinkie Pie was immediately pulling Eclipse into a hug. "Ohmygosh you both came today! I'm surprised Eclipse is here though because the amount of cider she drank. It was a lot, even for Rainbow's standards, I'm pretty sure she's regretting it right now." Pinkie lit up, "Guys! We should totally throw her a party to congratulate her on beating you both in a drinking game! Even if it really only was Eclipse doing the-"
Twilight finally pulled the pink menace away from Eclipse with her magic. Eclipse mouthed a silent thank you to her, "Pinkie Pie, please tell me you have something for a headache. Twilight refused to fix it with a spell, saying that I brought it on myself... And seeing as though I don't exactly have my magic..."
Pinkie seemed to teleport, one moment she was standing beside Eclipse, the next she was gone, and then she was back, holding a milkshake in her hooves, "Here you go! This always cheers Rainbow up!" Eclipse took the chocolate milkshake in one of her hooves and took a sip through the straw.
"Mmm..." she moaned, "That is good... It's been..." she took another sip, "Centuries since I've had a decent milkshake..." She took another sip and let the chocolate flavor caress her tongue, allowing the chilled, smooth liquid to sooth her headache. "Is that cherry I taste?" Eclipse didn't have to contemplate the hint of flavor for long until she received her answer.
Pinkie bounced with joy as she answered, "Yepperoni!"
"I thought so..." Eclipse trailed off. The trio walked over to a table and took a seat, Eclipse set the milkshake down on the table to give her hoof a break. Eclipse starred out the window, allowing her mind to slow down to a crawl.
Eclipse watched several ponies as they walked passed Sugarcube Corner, one in particular caught her interest. She frowned, the white unicorn with a pink mane looked familiar... 'White unicorn... Pink mane... Why does that sound familiar?'
The unicorn seamed to wear a scowl as she walked passed the building, something seemed off about her to Eclipse. She didn't look right either, she decided. "Hey, Twilight?"
Twilight turned from her conversation with Pinkie, "Yes?"
"Do you know any white unicorns with pink manes?"
"No, I'm sorry. I don't think I do. Do you?" Twilight inquired.
"I... I don't know, that unicorn looked familiar somehow... And not from my memories around this time..." Eclipse furrowed her brow.
"Well, did you see her cutie mark?"
"I didn't get a good look..."
"It's probably nothing, Eclipse. You're probably just still not feeling well from last night!" Pinkie chirped.
"You're... Probably right... I did drink a lot... More than I ever had in my entire life, in fact." Eclipse mused on her rather limited drinking experience, "Well, that and I'm still... Adjusting... It's probably just stress." Eclipse mused.
"Are you still having nightmares..?"Twilight gently prodded.
Eclipse clenched her jaw slightly before relaxing, "Yes..."
"I don't understand why you won't let Luna help you with the nightmares. She can keep them away and help you."
Eclipse carefully contemplated her words before answering, "They involve future events that... I would rather not discuss... Yet."
Twilight knew her past was not something she really wanted to discuss... Ever. It seemed like she had ulterior motives to her. Twilight lost herself in thought about what it might be.
Rainbow Dash suddenly half walk-half fell into Sugarcube Corner. It was obvious to everyone the poor pegasus was still suffering the aftereffects of beating an alicorn in a drinking game. Rainbow tried to return to her hooves, but only managed to avoid falling back down when she propped herself up with her wings. The trio immediately rushed over to assist her, Twilight readied a spell to heal her ailment, Pinkie provided moral support, and Eclipse physically helped her stand up.
"Ow... My head..." Rainbow's voice sounded pitiful.
"Don't move, the spell might take a few minutes to kick in... And you did out drink Eclipse..." Twilight's weak condemnation was met with a brash smile from Rainbow Dash.
Right before shell fell down again.
"I might have overdid the spell..." Twilight noted as she examined the sleeping pegasus lying on the floor.
Eclipse snickered, "You think?"
"Oh shush, you're the one who accepted her bet."
"She's the one who refused to lose."
"You two are like, totally sisters!" Pinkie exclaimed.