//------------------------------//
// A trip to Canterlot 
// Story: The Forgotten King 
// by Ghost Writer 
//------------------------------//

	He woke up to a hoof shaking his side gently.
"Uuugghh. I don't wanna wake up." he moaned.
"You’re going to have to unless you wanna miss our ride to Canterlot." said Twilight.
The mention of Canterlot got Eclipse awake and he managed to drag himself out of bed. For some reason he felt more tired than he had before he took his nap. Even though the bed Twilight had let him sleep in was softer than his, and he slept worry free.
He rubbed his eyes with his arm and asked "So we're going now?"
"We're going in ten minutes." Twilight replied.
"Then you could have waited ten more minutes before you woke me!" Eclipse exclaimed.
"We'll be going soon so be ready." Twilight said.
Eclipse spent the next ten minutes waiting for Twilight. When she finally appeared she was carrying some saddlebags.
"Saddlebags? What are those for?" he asked.
"I use them to carry my stuff." she replied.
"Of course, but what are you bringing to Canterlot?" he asked.
"Well it's mostly books to read on the ride there but I also brought some money with me, in case we need something while we're there." she said.
Eclipse took out his money pouch and asked "If you have bags can you carry my money too? It's kind of inconvenient to carry around alone." he told her.
"No problem." replied Twilight.
"So now we head out?" asked Eclipse as he put his coin pouch in one of Twilight’s saddlebags.
"Yep. Hey Spike! Make sure you keep everything in order! We'll be back in a few days!" she called out.
"Got it!" came Spike's voice from another room.
Within an hour the two made it to the train station. They walked up the wooden steps to the station and were greeted by a loud, and not to mention unexpected "Surprise!" from Pinkie.
Eclipse flinched from the noise. They had spent the time getting to the train station on a quiet dirt path. And their conversations weren't loud either.
"Pinkie?" he asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Well when you told me you were headed to Canterlot because of that crazy stuff I figured I would get everypony and come along! After all we're your friends and we want to see how it goes, maybe we can even help!" said Pinkie.
"Everypony? Who else is here?" asked Eclipse
"Oh, you know. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy. Just the few of us." she responded.
"I don't see them." said Eclipse.
"They still have to get tickets. They're inside right now." she said.
Then, as if on cue, the four of them came out of the station office.
"Hey Twilight, do we already have tickets?" asked Eclipse.
"Yep, got them yesterday." said Twilight as she used her magic to lift the two tickets from her saddlebags to show Eclipse.
"Awesome." he responded.
There came a piercing note of a train whistle followed by the hiss of steam as a train pulled into the station.
"Looks like our train is here." said Twilight.
She walked onto the train, followed by Eclipse. Then came Pinkie, talking about how much she loved train rides. Then came the rest of them.
They had all happened to get tickets in the same train cart. The cart was big enough for eight, but nopony else had gotten a ticket to the cart. They set their stuff down and proceeded to check out their cart. There were eight bunk beds positioned on the sides of the cart and each bed had a window that looked out to the horizon.
Eclipse picked his bunk and hopped onto it. He put his arms behind his head on his pillow and crossed his legs to relax. He was planning to relax and maybe fall asleep. He wanted to sleep so that he could stay up for the night to make sure he didn’t look out of the window at the stars while he was asleep. 
There was a long steam whistle that went off and the train started to lug forwards. The train started off slow but eventually managed to get up to a good speed.
Eclipse sat silently and listened to the sounds around him. There was the sound of the other ponies chatting accompanied by the sound of the train’s metal wheels moving along the track. Then there was warm sunlight flowing in through the window by Eclipse’s bed. The train swayed back and forth whenever it turned adding to the relaxation Eclipse was feeling. Before long Eclipse had fallen asleep relaxing to the sounds and motion of the train. 
Eclipse slept through nearly the entire day, despite being well rested before he went to sleep. By the time he woke up the view on the horizon was beginning to fade from orange to the darker blue of night. The stars would be coming out soon, so Eclipse was glad he had woken up. It was going to be a long, lonely night.
He wanted to look out of the window, but he knew that he would risk glancing at the stars. It was now completely dark and the only light in the train came from the moon and the occasional town they passed.
Eclipse heard something stir behind him and he turned to see Twilight getting up in her bed.
“Eclipse, are you just going to stay up all night?” asked Twilight.
“Ya, I don’t think I have much choice. Besides I slept throughout the entire day so I’m more than well rested.” He whispered back.
“Oh yea, there was something I was going to give you. I forgot to give it to you at the house. Can you get my saddlebags? They’re just by the door.” she said.
“Alright.” whispered Eclipse. 
He moved towards the door and retrieved Twilight’s saddlebags. He set them down by her bed and took a step back.
“Let’s see. I know I put it in here somewhere.” mumbled Twilight as she used magic to rummage through her bags. The magic was casting a soft glow around the room and giving everything a tint of purple. “Here it is!” said Twilight. A small pendant with a blue stone in it levitated out of the bag.
“What is it?” asked Eclipse.
“It’s a good luck charm. I was going to give it to you earlier but I forgot, so I’m giving it to you now.” smiled Twilight.
“I suppose if there’s anypony who needs luck it’s me.” said Eclipse.
Twilight put the pendant around Eclipse’s neck and took a good look at it. The pendant had a thin silver chain and there was a spiral of metal holding the stone in place.
“Thanks,” said Eclipse, “Where did you get this?”
“It was a gift from my parents before I went to magic school. Now I’m giving it to you.” said Twilight.
“I’ll make sure to always wear it.” said Eclipse. “Now you should probably go back to bed, you didn’t sleep all day like me.”
“Alright, goodnight.” said Twilight.
“Night.” said Eclipse.
He went back and sat on his bed, with the curtains closed of course. He sat back and relaxed, but not enough to let him get tired and fall asleep.
Across from Eclipse’s bed Twilight had turned so that she could watch Eclipse.
He was sitting is his bed looking up at the ceiling. Twilight could see that the red crescent in Eclipse’s left eye was almost going completely around the eye. It gave off an eerie red glow. Previously she hadn’t been sure if the red was glowing or if it just looked like it glowed, but now that it was almost completely dark she could see that there was in fact a red light coming from his left eye. The train had just gone through a town and was now in the darkness of the countryside again, so Twilight’s eyes had not adjusted to the dark yet. When she looked at Eclipse all she could see was the thin, red, moon shaped crescent giving off its glow. She watched Eclipse for a few more minutes and then drifted off to sleep.
The night was long and there wasn’t much to keep Eclipse entertained. He couldn’t talk to any of the others because they were all asleep, and he couldn’t open his curtains to watch the scenery because he would undoubtedly end up looking at the stars.
After what seemed like an eternity the room started to lighten up, which meant that the sun was finally coming up. Eclipse assumed it was safe to open the curtain and look outside now. He opened the curtain and luckily he was right. The stars were no longer visible. 
The other ponies were waking up now too. Soon the train pulled into the Canterlot station and everypony got their stuff and exited. Now they were finally there, Canterlot. All the ponies walking around wore tuxedos and fancy stuff, which made Eclipse feel out of place with his broken horn, discolored eye, and scars over his eye. He would undoubtedly get some strange looks on the way to Celestia’s castle.