//------------------------------// // Outing // Story: Revisions of Past Mistakes // by SC_Orion //------------------------------// Eclipse looked around the bookshelves of her... Twilight's castle. The shelved were well stocked with many, many books, ranging from theoretical magic to novels, and everything in between. She looked back down at the book she was reading, 'Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny'. She looked at the book blankly, completely lost in thought. While the library held a vast amount of knowledge, it lacked the information that she needed. The information which was contained in a few places. Information she would need in order to fix everything. Information kept in the Canterlot Archives. Information Celestia had. Information about the Elements of Harmony, and- "Hey Eclipse?" Twilight asked as she walked into the library. Eclipse looked up from the book she had been reading and looked at Twilight. "We're going to go have a picnic if you want to join us." Eclipse looked down slightly, pondering the choice. The choice was an easy one for her, really. Stay in a library that doesn't hold anything of actual value to you, or spend time with the ones you love, the ones who you have limited time with. Yes, the choice was easy. "Alright," Eclipse spoke as she stood up, "Lead the way." Twilight beamed at the thought of spending the day with her friends, and herself. Eclipse had been spending time with them, but not as much as Twilight thought she should be. Whenever she found Eclipse, she was generally alone, absorbed in her thoughts. Seemingly lost to herself, as if the weight of the world rested in her hooves. Twilight solemnly noted that she even acted like it did. Eclipse walked over to her and motioned her forwards with a hoof. Twilight walked out the door, followed closely by Eclipse. "I'm glad you decided to join us." Twilight commented as they walked through the castle's halls. 'Being alone isn't good for anypony, nor is it healthy. I know first hoof...' Twilight grimaced as she thought back to her time spent studying as Princess Celestia's star pupil in Canterlot, back when she thought friends weren't important. "I... It's strange. I mean, they are my friends, yes. But they're not the ones who I know." Eclipse's voice was barely audible, "They're so much younger... S-so..." Eclipse closed her mouth tightly as she tried to prevent herself from breaking down. Twilight's voice was filled with concern, "Eclipse? What's wrong?" "It's... It's not important..." Eclipse lied. Twilight wasn't the best at seeing lies, Applejack easily beat her there, but she could tell that was a lie, and something was bothering Eclipse. "You'll feel better if you talk about it. I'm here for you if you need me." Eclipse sighed, she knew she would feel better. She laughed halfheartedly, "It's funny... I thought I wouldn't have this problem before I came back... Now that I'm here, I... My emotions..." Eclipse's body jerked lightly as she silently released a sob, "I had forgotten... Before... Before I came back, I didn't have time to... To dwell on the past, like I can now..." Twilight sat down on her haunches next to Eclipse and put a wing around her body comfortingly. Although Twilight was much smaller than Eclipse, the gesture made her smile. "I remember when... When C-Celes-tia... Used to do that for me... Be... Be-fore... It..." Eclipse clenched her jaw and lowered her head. She started crying in earnest. Twilight gently pulled Eclipse closer to herself with her wing. "Before what?" Twilight asked. "I d-don't want t-to talk ab-about it..." Twilight smiled weakly, and teleported a cloth to her and began to gently remove the tears from her eyes. "It's fine..." Twilight barely held her curiosity at bay, 'What happened that left me so...' Twilight shook her head. A few minutes passed before Twilight spoke again, "We don't have to go to the picnic if you don't want, I'll stay here with you if you need me to." "N-no... I... It would help me. I always feel better when they're around." "Well of course you do!" Twilight smiled cheerfully, hoping to lift Eclipse's mood, "Let's go." Eclipse smiled back as she stood. "I find myself wondering... If my lack of magic... Is affecting my mood as well..." Eclipse muttered. As they journeyed to the meadow where they were having the picnic, Eclipse's mood seemed to improve with each step. The calm breeze, the sun high in the sky, the chirping of birds as they flew by, up so high in the sky, like pegasi. The green grass, with flowers dotting the ground, the beautiful blue sky, with not a cloud in sight... The warmth of the sun as it warmed the earth beneath it, offering ponies light and a warm embrace during daylight hours. Yes, it was a nice day, a beautiful day even. Eclipse made the mistake of comparing it to where she came from. 'Stop.' she commanded, and for once, her mind obeyed. This only served to brighten her mood as they approached the picnic spot. She could see a red and white chessboard looking blanket spread out across the grass, sitting beneath a tree. 'The spot they had chosen is lovely.' Eclipse thought. She could see Rarity sitting on her haunches on the blanket, looking at her mane as she held a mirror in her magic. Pinkie Pie was hitting a ball up and down with her nose, with an almost perfect beat, not once missing the ball as she chased it around, oblivious to her surroundings, yet not tripping. Rainbow Dash was laying on a tree branch, reclining against the trunk, while Applejack tried to get her attention for something. Fluttershy was just laying down on her belly with her eyes closed, she looked relaxed, even from the distance Eclipse was. Pinkie took note of them first, and soon after the rest of them were smiling at the duo was they approached. "What took ya so long?" Applejack asked with a smile as she looked between the two. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but looked at Eclipse. "Sorry," Eclipse apologized, "I didn't mean to keep you all waiting." "Well, now that everypony's here can we get started? I'm hungry." Every eye was on Rainbow almost instantly. "What?" Rainbow asked as she looked around her friends. "So what did you bring, Fluttershy?" Pinkie jumped onto the blanket and opened the picnic basket, she then somehow fit her entire head inside it. Pinkie's voice came out muffled slightly, "Ooh it's roomy in here!" Eclipse blinked, and then rubbed her eyes with her hooves. 'Right. Pinkie Pie. Don't question it. How di.. Right...' Eclipse wondered how she had forgotten that Pinkie seemed to defy logic, and physics. "Pinkie, darling, that's uncouth!" Rarity complained. Pinkie pulled her head back out, "Aww! But it was so much fun!" Rarity levitated the basket to herself and started pulling out the food and plates. She then levitated a plate and daffodil sandwich to everypony. Rarity levitated a sandwich to Eclipse, she closed her eyes in concentration, and after a few seconds managed to produce a soft glow from her horn as she gently took the sandwich in her magic. Eclipse smiled triumphantly. Pinkie pulled out a party cannon from somewhere, and showered everypony in confetti. "Woo! Eclipse has her magic back!" She exclaimed as she jumped into the air. The sudden surprise from Pinkie was enough to cause Eclipse to loose her weak magical grip on her sandwich, fortunately it landed on her plate. "Oops" Pinkie smiled apologetically as she landed. "It's fine..." Eclipse murmured as she picked the sandwich back up in her magic. "I didn't realize your magic had come back yet, I thought that it wasn't supposed to happen for months?" Twilight pondered this development. "My full strength won't be back for months." Eclipse corrected. "It is coming back, very slowly. As it is I can barely hold this in my magic. I tried to lift a book earlier, and couldn't do that. I was able to flip a page with my magic though." Eclipse smiled. "Shouldn't you try to conserve your magic then, darling?" Rarity asked after she swallowed a small bite of her sandwich. "The more I use it, the stronger and sooner it will come back to me." Eclipse replied. "Perks of being an alicorn, although granted, the strength increase will be negligible." Eclipse took a bite of food in her mouth and started chewing it. "When we first spoke with Princess Celestia, do you remember what she said about being surprised that the spell drained your magic so much?" Twilight asked as she rubbed a hoof on her chin in thought. "She said she was surprised the spell drained my magic so much." Eclipse deadpanned. Twilight wanted to facehoof. "That's not what I meant... I mean... She seemed surprised, right? Like she expected you to be stronger or something?" Twilight continued to ponder what Princess Celestia meant by that, and just how strong Eclipse's magic was. "Yes." Eclipse raised a hoof, silencing Twilight's next question, "And I have my suspicions about why that is, but I'm not entirely sure." "What do you think then?" Twilight asked. Eclipse switched into Twilight's lecture mode, except it was less formal, and seemed to have not been used in a while, "As you know, alicorns get more powerful the older they get, their power eventually caps out, as is the case with Celestia and Luna. She and all of you know I am several centuries older than you, I am in fact, one thousand three hundred, to one thousand five hundred years old." Eclipse paused as every mouth fell agape. "You... You don't know how old you are!?" Pinkie shouted in shock. "I sort of... Lost track of time..." Eclipse trailed off. "Anyway, being the former bearer of the Element of Magic-" "Wait, former?" Twilight asked. Eclipse skillfully ignored her, "-I should be more powerful than what I am, I know this, and Celestia seems to know this also." "Why do you keep not using Princess Celestia's title when talking about her?" Rarity asked as she sipped a cup of tea. "I had almost a hun... " Eclipse coughed, "I had a while to get to know her and Luna personally, being... As old as I am... Although I did have a... Falling out... Of sorts, with Luna..." she grimaced. "Do you want to talk about it?" Twilight prodded. Eclipse spoke more coldly than she had intended to, "No." Rarity could feel almost see the tension in the air after Eclipse answered Twilight. The silence after her reply was deafening, she tried to change the subject, "Has anypony found that filly yet?" Twilight grimaced, "No. There's been no sign of her." Twilight sighed. Eclipse pursed her lips, this had been the first time she had heard of that. 'That... Did not happen before.' She pondered with worry what else her presence might have caused. "Hey, do you know where she is?" Twilight asked Eclipse. "I don't, I'm sorry." "Will she be okay?" Fluttershy asked. "I don't know that either, it didn't happen before." Fluttershy frowned, "But you've not been here that long, could your presence really cause that much to change?" Eclipse pondered her question for a moment, "I don't know. But I will see this through. I promise you this will turn out better than..." Eclipse trailed off, unwilling to say anymore. "You should totally tell us a story, Eclipse!" Pinkie shouted as she bounced alongside the older alicorn. Twilight and Rarity lead, while the others walked slightly behind them. "Since things are already changing, it's not like it'll cause anymore problems!" "Okay fine... Just not today." Eclipse paused, "I pinkie promise." Pinkie Pie bounced with joy. "So what do you plan to do this week, Eclipse?" Twilight asked. 'Same thing I always do, worry, think about what happened.' "I need to visit Canterlot sometime in the future." Eclipse admitted. She needed to find a certain book, she wouldn't know which one until she found it, and she both wanted and needed to talk with Celestia. "You want to talk with Princess Celestia I take it?" Twilight asked. "Yes, among other things." "Well I'll be happy to accompany you." Twilight chirped. "The Wonderbolts are performing in Canterlot three days from now." Rainbow added. 'I know where this is going.' Eclipse thought, and began counting down until Rarity jumped onto the 'let's all go to Canterlot' train. "It's Canterlot." Rarity beamed. "Alright! Then it's settled! We're all going to Canterlot!" Pinkie threw confetti everywhere. Eclipse didn't know whether to smile, happy that her friends would come with her, or sigh, that they would preoccupy her time. She decided to go with the former.