"Something is wrong." Eclipse stated flatly. She was frowning at Twilight as she considered the events of her adventure with Rainbow and Pinkie.
Twilight took a sip of her tea before answering, "What do you mean? You keep saying you're here to fix 'everything', yet you also keep saying something is wrong..."
"It's not... It's different from what happened before. Rainbow almost died this time. That did NOT happen before. I'm worried..." Eclipse sighed.
Twilight stood up and laid down beside Eclipse, and smiled at her. "It will be fine, okay?"
Eclipse lightly chuckled, "I came here to help you... Not the other way around."
There was a brief silence in the room, with the exception of the crackling of the fireplace. The warm glow that the fire gave off seemed to fight off Twilight's worries, and while it did comfort Eclipse, it did not comfort her to the same extent. "She would have died if I wasn't there."
"But she didn't." Twilight firmly stated.
Eclipse shook her head, "You know, I didn't have the power to save her. I had to use a spell to convert some of my life into magic in order to have enough to save her."
Twilight momentarily looked shocked, "There... There's a spell for something like that?"
"Sorta... It's dark magic." Eclipse looked down with sadness.
"Who... Who would create such a terrible spell?"
Eclipse whispered in a barely audible voice, "I did."
Twilight clenched her jaw lightly, then relaxed. "Why?"
"I was..." Eclipse pondered what to say for a moment, "It's... Not something I want to talk about."
"How much of your life did you sacrifice to save them?"
"Two years." Eclipse stated.
"That seems like it was very inefficient..."
"I didn't have time to make it as efficient as I could. If I had to do it again, I would though. Even if it killed me."
Another silence filled the room, lasting for several seconds.
"You said you're about one-thousand, five hundred years old, so how much longer are you going to life for?" Twilight asked.
"Before I answer that question, understand that your lifespan is not going to be the same as mine. You will far outlive me, provided I fix certain things."
"I don't understand?"
Eclipse sighed, "Twilight. I used up most of my life energy, normal alicorns live to be thousands of years old. I won't, I might live for another two hundred to five hundred years. I am not going to let you make the same mistakes."
A few minutes passed before either one of them spoke again. Twilight broke the silence, "What happened?"
Eclipse smiled weakly towards her and pulled her into her body with a wing, "Nothing you need to worry about."
Eclipse's smile somehow managed to calm Twilight down, it had a similar effect as Princess Celestia's smile upon her. "Is that why you, despite being over a thousand years old are so weak? Magically speaking?"
"More or less." Eclipse paused for a moment, "I'm going to need more magic to fix things. I had assumed beforehoof that I wouldn't have to use as much as it seems I will need to..."
"You could use mine."
"No. I have another idea in mind. The Alicorn Amulet, Zecora should have it hidden somewhere. I tried to find it several years back to no success."
"That would corrupt you..." Twilight softly worried.
Eclipse laughed, "That's humorous, Twilight. There are two reasons you don't need to worry about that. One, it's not the first time we've dealt with dark magic. And two, I won't be wearing it. I know how to take it's magic from it."
Twilight pondered her words for a moment, "Well, it's too late to go venturing into the Everfree now. I can go with you tomorrow though."
"Very well, I would enjoy my own company."
Twilight giggled.
"Hey Zecora!" Twilight greeted as she walked inside, "I've brought Eclipse with me."
Zecora turned to greet them, "Ah, so this is Eclipse, to what do I owe this glimpse?" Zecora walked over to Eclipse. Eclipse smiled brightly at her.
"She's wanting the Alicorn Amulet." Twilight stated.
Zecora frowned, "The artifact you seek, it is not for the meek. It corrupts it's wearer, slowly destroying it's bearer."
"I'm not going to wear it, Zecora. I'm going to take the magic out of it." Eclipse stated.
"Very well, but playing with dark magic should not be taken lightly, it can end tragic." Zecora walked out of her hut, Twilight and Eclipse followed.
The Everfree Forest was a strange place, filled with strange creatures and plants. The weather even functioned on it's own, without need of pegasi to control it. It was relatively safe during the day, but not at night. Fortunately, it was after lunchtime when they set out to find the Alicorn Amulet, giving them plenty of time to find it and get out of the Everfree before nightfall.
The group eventually entered a clearing, Zecora walked up to a lone tree in the middle. She moved a rock aside with a hoof, revealing a box beneath it. She picked the box up by it's handle with her mouth, and then walked back over to Twilight and Eclipse, setting it at the latter's hooves.
Eclipse lifted the amulet in her magic, "Thank you, Zecora." Zecora nodded. "It will take me a few minutes to complete the transfer." Eclipse's horn glowed as she began charging her spell to take the magic from the amulet and add it to her own reserve.
Dark tendrils of magical energy shot out from Eclipse's horn, surrounding the Alicorn Amulet in a cocoon of dark magic. A minute passed without incident.
Then the timberwolves showed up. Zecora and Twilight both looked shocked at the sudden arrival of an entire pack of timberwolves. The wolves were paying no attention to the small alicorn and zebra, and were instead focused on Eclipse, and the dark magic she was wielding.
The wolves slowly entered the clearly, Eclipse was too preoccupied with her spell to realize anything was wrong, even as Twilight shouted at her and prodded her with a hoof.
"Oh dear, this situation is most severe." Zecora commented.
The timberwolves had finally taken notice of Twilight and Zecora, the pack had begun to circle around them.
"I don't think Eclipse is going to be able to help us..." Twilight's eyes darted between multiple timberwolves circling them. "I count six of them... We're going to have to protect Eclipse..."
"I concur, we must defend her." Zecora paused for a moment before a timberwolf locked eyes with her, "I hope you can fight, for they will bite."
The timberwolf lurched towards her only to be thrown back by a beam of magic. The timberwolf yelped as it hit a tree, but quickly rose to it's feet again. Another timberwolf lurched at Zecora again, this time Zecora jumped to the side and kicked it away before dodging another wolf's attack.
One of the wolves jumped towards Eclipse, only to get knocked out of the way by Twilight slamming into it. Pain from the impact radiated through her front left leg. She winced in discomfort, but fought through it and threw another timberwolf back with a well timed blast of magic.
The group of wolves regrouped and began circling them once more. Right when the first one started to lunge towards Twilight, there was a flash of light as Eclipse finished her spell.
Eclipse immediately took in the entire situation, with her magic restored, it would be an easy fight to win. Fighting would not be in her best interests however. If Fluttershy found out that they fought and injured them... She shook her head and grabbed Twilight and Zecora in her magic and teleported them back to Zecora's hut.
Twilight and Zecora took a moment to recover from the disorientation of the teleport. "What... Was that?" Twilight asked.
"I teleported us to safety." Eclipse sighed, "Sorry about that. I forgot that doing that would draw attention to us."
Twilight looked slightly mad, "You knew that was going to happen?"
"I forgot about that but yes."
Eclipse and Twilight had been walking back towards Ponyville for a few minutes before Eclipse realized it was a perfect time to slip away and check on the Elements of Harmony, "Twilight, you go on ahead, I'm going to check on something real quick. It shouldn't take long."
"What are you-" Twilight was cut off by the flash of purple light indicating Eclipse had teleported away. Twilight shook her head and started walking again
Eclipse reappeared just outside the cave where the Tree of Harmony was located. A shiver immediately went down her spine, 'Something's wrong...'
It did not take a genius to feel that something was wrong, the presence of dark magic was heavy in the air, almost suffocating even. Eclipse cautiously looked around for any signs of danger. She didn't see anything, so she did a quick scan with her magic. The area was devoid of any kind of life except for her. That made her shudder, something was definitely wrong. She ruffled her wings as she stepped into the cave, keeping an eye out for danger.
The Tree of Harmony was still alive, and pulsed with power. A quick scan with her magic had revealed that dark magic had attempted to tamper with the Tree of Harmony, but it had failed to harm it any. Another quick scan revealed that the tree was at maximum power, and that even if the dark magic was ten times stronger, it would still take hundreds of years for the tree to exhaust it's power. She quickly walked up to the tree with a combination of nervousness and excitement.
Eclipse sighed and began speaking to the tree, "I know we had a falling out last time..." No response, not that she had expected any from a tree. Eclipse shook her head, "Something is wrong here. I can feel it. I know that you can too. You're obviously more aware than I first realized... Whatever is going on, it's not good." She raised a hoof and gently touched it to the tree.
The tree reacted violently, the second her hoof contacted the tree there was a massive burst of magic. Eclipse was sent flying across the cave and impacted the wall in less than a second. She cried out sharply from the pain, and fell unconscious.
Eclipse woke up suddenly a few hours later. She was still in the cave, but her magical senses told her something was coming, and that she needed to be gone before then. She stood to her hooves, noting that her previous pain was gone. She stepped forwards, and something called to her.
The tree. The Elements. She couldn't just leave them, it would be too dangerous. If whatever was corrupting the area could somehow corrupt the elements... Eclipse shuttered and ran over to the tree as fast as she could. "Whatever is doing this is coming. Please, let me help you. You know I just want to fix this..." She tentatively raised a hoof and closed her eyes tightly as she slowly put her hoof on the tree.
The tree did not react. She slowly opened her eyes. "Thank you..." She used her magic and gently pulled on the six Elements of Harmony. The tree immediately let go of them, allowing Eclipse to take them. As she drew them closer, each on of the Elements shocked her, as if reminding her not to push her luck with them. She could sense whatever was coming was almost to the cave. She quickly put the Elements into a pocket dimension and disappeared in a flash of magical light as she teleported away.
A few seconds later a tall, slender, dark coated alicorn gazed into the cave with her dragon slit eyes. She held a scowl upon her face, her eyes narrowed when she saw that the Elements were missing.
Eclipse reappeared right beside Twilight in the castle library. Twilight immediately jumped from the surprise. "Eclipse! Where have you been? We were worried about you!"
"Sorry, had-wait, we?" Eclipse looked around the room to see the rest of her friends assembled. "Oh, uh." Eclipse shook her head. "How long was I gone?"
"You were gone for four hours!" Twilight said in exasperation. "What were you doing?"
"Checking on something. And I was right, something is amiss..."
"What's wrong Eclipse?" Rarity asked.
"I went to check on... The Castle of the Two Sisters... The area has been corrupted by dark magic..." Eclipse answered. Applejack raised an eyebrow. Everyone else looked shocked at the sudden revelation.
"Did... That didn't happen before, did it?" Twilight inquired.
"No, it didn't." Eclipse answered.
"I'll write to Princess Celestia about this immediately..." Twilight lit her horn and summoned a quill and scroll.
"The dark magic there was very strong..." Eclipse shook her head, "It's a good thing I have my magic back now..."