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// Point of Contention 
// Story: Revisions of Past Mistakes 
// by SC_Orion 
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	Celestia finally overcame her shock, "Eclipse? You're not supposed to be here, please explain yourself immediately." Both Celestia and Luna still had their horns charged and aimed at Eclipse, she was in a tight spot. She could undoubtedly teleport away, but that would merely postpone this, and cause more problems for her later.


Eclipse took a deep breath, "I-"


Luna cut her off, "I don't believe you need to explain anything, Eclipse. I did not trust you before, and it seems I had chosen well by not trusting you. You were the one who broke in. How many ponies do you that know have the same lavender aura that your magic does?" Luna stamped a hoof down onto the floor, in a finalizing matter.


Much to Celestia's surprise, Luna's next move was to immediately attack Eclipse. Eclipse barely had time to respond with a barrier. The dark blue bolt of magic was designed to incapacitate her, fortunately it struck her barrier and was dissipated. Eclipse stood back in surprise at Luna's sudden assault. Luna narrowed her eyes in determination. "Luna, I-" Celestia recovered from the shock of Luna's sudden outburst and followed suit, sending a spell towards Eclipse.


Eclipse was fortunate she still had her barrier active. When the spell hit, the barrier showed signs of stress, and cracks became visible. 'Why are they attacking me! Why would Luna think I was the... Oh no...' Eclipse teleported a few feet away to dodge another spell, the spell hit the bookshelf behind her, setting fire to countless books and tomes. She felt a pang of sadness in her stomach at the sight. "If you two would just let me explain!" Eclipse shouted in frustration.


Both Celestia and Luna turned towards her, horns still prepared to attack. 'Think... How to get them to listen to me...' Eclipse's barrier was hit by another spell, followed by another. Luna's work. She sighed, lowered the barrier and stepped forwards. "I am not fighting you. Please, hear me-" A spell struck Eclipse, stunning her. Her body fell limply to the floor.


Luna took a step forwards, and Celestia reached out a hoof to block her. "I will speak with her when she wakes up. While I trust you, I do not believe she is responsible for this. She is hiding something, however."





Eclipse groggily opened her eyes, and looked around the room. Celestia's chambers. Speaking of Celestia...


Celestia stood up and looked sternly at Eclipse. "Luna says you were the one who she saw teleport away from her in the archive. Though she does admit she did not actually see you, she did see the flash of magic, lavender. The same color aura as your magic."


Eclipse rubbed her head with a hoof, taking note of the metal ring around her horn. "Funny story actually. I have a theory about that..." Eclipse paused to think about it, remembering what the spell had said.


After a few seconds Celestia spoke up, "Care to enlighten me?"


"I believe there's another me wandering around." Eclipse stated nonchalantly.


Celestia pursed her lips and spoke skeptically, "And this 'other' you just happens to somehow be in the same city the same night you were here?"


"You don't believe me." Eclipse stated.


"One of you running around, I can believe. But two of you?" Celestia shook her head.


"She. Is not me. The spell I used... It said it had the effect of bringing another, an opposite force, back with me." Eclipse shuddered at the thought of where that could lead. "Where I came back to fix everything... She... Would have come back to ruin everything."


"So she's evil then?" Celestia asked in such a way that made it seem like a evil alicorn was just another day at work.


"It could explain some things, yes. The corruption at the Castle of the Two sisters..." A thought occurred to her, and her heart sank, "The missing... Filly..." Eclipse winced and Celestia frowned.


"Do you have any proof that it wasn't you?" Celestia asked.


"Ask my friends and Discord. I was at the Gala the whole night. Well, until..." She grimaced.


"And why did you go there?"


"I told you before, I needed access to it." Eclipse stated.


"You never specified what." Celestia pointed out. Eclipse pursed her lips.


Eclipse spoke slowly, "It doesn't matter now."


"So you did acquire what you needed then." Celestia frowned, then sighed. "I suppose if it really matters as much as you say it does, I'm willing to trust you enough to not worry about it."


Eclipse was shocked for a moment, but then smiled, "Thank you... That means a lot to me."


Celestia nodded. "I actually already had asked your friends about where you were last night. They did confirm you were with them at the gala up until after I left to discuss the break in with Luna." Celestia stood to her hooves and removed the metal ring from around Eclipse's horn, then teleporting it away. "Perhaps now would be a good time to tell me exactly what happened in your past to cause you to return?"


Eclipse sighed and slowly sat up on her haunches, "I'm going to be honest, Celestia. If I told you everything, you probably would not trust me. But I need you to trust me. I will tell you of certain events... Pertaining to you and me, but I'm not going into details."


Celestia nodded.


"As you already knew, I had a falling out with Luna... That was after... Your death..." Eclipse paused and searched Celestia's face for any sign of surprise, she found none, and continued. "When you died... Well, we weren't on the best of terms... It was... When I finally realized that my alicorn status extended my lifespan, I realized I would outlive... My friends." She swallowed before continuing, "After a couple of decades of looking for a solution, the only one I had found would be to encase them in stone. Effectively placing them in suspended animation. They wouldn't die... But they wouldn't really be alive either."


"I eventually realized another method, too. I tried to convince you to help me with it, I even begged you to help me... You refused... I tried to figure it out on my own, and failed. Then my brother died... Cadance... Did not take it well. I was... I refused to help you two battle her. You two won, of course. Cadance was no match for both of you... In the end, because I had refused to help you, you couldn't use the Elements of Harmony to restore her from the insanity which had taken hold. She did not survive the battle." She finished grimly. Celestia looked pained from the revelation.


"When we heard about what you had done... It affected us all to varying degrees. Me? I had expected that outcome. I didn't actually care at that point..." Eclipse paused to take a deep breath. "A few years later, Fluttershy died. Discord went mad with grief... And I knew it would only be a few years before they all died. I asked you again to help me, again you refused."


Eclipse swallowed, her voice was weak and full of sadness, "I watched them... Die... One... By one..." Eclipse sat in silence for a few minutes before speaking again, "I tried to not hate you for it... I really did... It didn't work, and eventually I grew to resent you for it... Eventually a new great threat... Arose... You faced it on your own, and died. You could have beaten it, yet..." Eclipse shook her head, "I didn't try to... Save you... Eventually Luna managed to gather the Elements of Harmony, the gems themselves, and use them to banish the evil..."


"One thousand years later, Luna, having used all of the Elements at once could no longer use them again, so she faced the threat when it returned from it's banishment. She intended to fight it to the death, but that was not necessary. The threat did not attack, so they did not end up fighting. However, she never grew to trust the threat, due to not being purified by the Elements." Eclipse paused, "Years later... I didn't keep track of time... I found DIscord. I kept him in check, and we became close. Eventually I convinced him to help me fix everything..."


Eclipse took a breath, "And that's basically what happened."


Celestia nodded and thought about what Eclipse had said. "What... Was the world like, before you left?"


"Without you? A mere shadow of what it once was..." Eclipse stated.


"I see..." Celestia stated grimly.


"I did leave out a lot of details and some events, of course." Eclipse stated calmly. "My biggest regret is what happened between us..." Eclipse sighed, "I'm not going to let that happen again."


"It sounds unavoidable." Celestia stated sadly.


"It's not, I know how to fix it..." Eclipse smiled, then frowned, "I just hope it makes a difference... I'm not doing this to try to regain what I lost, rather I'm doing this to ensure it doesn't happen to me again..." Celestia nodded.


Celestia spoke after a brief pause, "This threat... What is it?"


"I'm going to stop it." Eclipse spoke confidently. "I promise."


"In the mean time this... Other... You... What should we do about her?"


"Stay alert, make sure you're both well protected, I'll do my best to protect my friends and Twilight. Eventually she will make a mistake and we'll get her."


"How do you know she will make a mistake?" Celestia asked.


"Because she already has."


Celestia nodded her head. The two sat in silence for several minutes, Celestia going through her thoughts, and Eclipse just enjoying the company. "Perhaps we should go to breakfast. Your friends should be joining us this morning." Celestia said as she starred off at the morning sun.


"I would like that." Eclipse cheerfully smiled.





Eclipse found herself thankful that Luna had chosen not to join them this morning. She and her friends were leisurely strolling through the streets of Canterlot, she found herself enjoying it despite Luna trusting her even less than she did before. Despite the morning bustle of the city, and their status as heroes several times over, the group of friends weren't mobbed by ponies, thanks in part to the fact that nopony seemed to care, pay attention to them, or even take note of not one, but two alicorns walking with them.


Soon, the friends found themselves discussing the events of the gala, "It was simply marvelous! Sweetie Belle an I met so many of the nobles..." Rarity trailed off with a giddy laugh.


"I got to hang out with Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts!" Scootaloo exclaimed happily.


"Hehe, it was pretty awesome, wasn't it?" Rainbow patted Scootaloo on the head.


"I have to say, this certainly went better than the first time we went to the Gala... That was a real mess."


"It really was..." Fluttershy sighed, "And to think, I just wanted to see all the animals..."


"Oh, Fluttershy, it wasn't all your fault..." Rarity comforted the timid pegasus, pausing and placing a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, eliciting a small smile from her.


"How did you manage to keep Discord in line last night, Eclipse?" Twilight asked.


Eclipse perked up at the sound of her name, bringing her back from her thoughts, "He's not all that bad."


Rainbow flew over to Eclipse, she waved her hooves about as she spoke, "Oh come on, Eclipse! Did you forget what he did to Ponyville? What he did to us?"


Eclipse shook her head, "He's changed. He's not the same as he was before, he may still be a little chaotic, but that's just who he is."


"What about when he betrayed us to help Tirek?" Rainbow Dash, being the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, took betray rather seriously. It was not surprising that she still had issues with Discord.


"Yes he betrayed you... Us... Yes, he will continue to cause some chaos. But you're supposed to be his friend. Not treating him like an enemy." Eclipse shook her head, "Besides, we have bigger things to worry about."


"You're talking about the... Evil version of me running around?" Twilight's voice and demeanor conveyed a certain soberness, one which Eclipse was rather familiar with.


Eclipse looked Twilight in the eye, and spoke firmly, "She is not you, nor is she me."


Pinkie bounced over, "I can't imagine Twilight going all evil on us! She'd never do anything like that!"


Eclipse softly spoke to herself under her breath, "You'd be surprised..." She shook her head.


"What was that darling?" Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow.


Eclipse looked at her, "What?" 'Feign ignorance.'


"Oh, I just thought you said something. Never mind then."


The group started walking again, the conversation droned on, and Eclipse blocked it out for the most part, choosing instead to focus on her thoughts. 'Having her running around complicates things... I'm going to have to keep an eye out for anything amiss." She nodded to herself, and subtly scanned the crowds on the streets every so often.


Shortly before they reached Pony Joe's, Eclipse sighted a unicorn she recognized. One she could never forget. Her eyes immediately narrowed, she instinctually lit her horn. 'I need an excuse to go pay her a vist...' "I'll be back shortly..." The others turned to her, "I forgot something." She teleported a block back, and out of sight. After her friends started walking again, she teleported once more, this time behind the unicorn. The unicorn didn't have time to react before Eclipse grabbed her and ripped through reality, taking them both to a pocket dimension.


The fabric of reality shifted, they were suspended in a ethereal plane, much like the one where Celestia had completed her ascension process. "What is this?" the unicorn asked, unaware that she wasn't alone.


"Hello, Starlight Glimmer." Eclipse stated. The unicorn turned on a hoof, her horn ready for combat. She was greeted with an unexpected sight and her horn lost it's glow.


Where Starlight had been expecting an alicorn about as tall as she was, she instead was met by an alicorn halfway between Princess Cadance and Princess Luna's height. "What? Who are you?" She shouted.


Eclipse raised a hoof to her chest in feigned ignorance, "Who, me?" Eclipse chuckled, "Surely you recognize me, Starlight. My voice... My mane... My eyes... Well, maybe not them. I've seen more than she has... Done more than she has..." Eclipse shook her head. "Take a guess." She firmly commanded.


She spoke begrudgingly, "Twilight?"


Eclipse clapped her hooves together, "Good job, Starlight!" She ended her clapping a few seconds later, "Yet not entirely correct. I'm a future version of the Twilight you know. They call me Eclipse. You? You can just call me Your End." She lit her horn.


Starlight took a step back, and lowered her head, preparing her horn to strike. "This will be quicker if you don't resist." Eclipse stated, "You know, I believed you had changed." Eclipse frowned, "Then you back stabbed us..."


Eclipse raised a barrier to block a beam of magic from Starlight's horn, "As if! I would never side with you and your... Friends!" She attacked again, once more being intercepted by Eclipse's barrier.


Eclipse retaliated, her magic easily shattered the flimsy barrier that Starlight had used in her defense. The beam of magic impacted her, sending her flying. She let out a groan of pain as she hit the ground. She found herself unable to move as Eclipse approached her, the alicorn's expression changing from one of distaste to one of pity as she neared her. 'This isn't right... She hasn't betrayed them yet... Everypony deserves a second chance...' She shook her head, and lowered her horn. 'Why am I doing this... No. I've already changed events so much...'


"I... I will give you a second chance. But mark my words, if you try anything, and I mean anything to get revenge..." Eclipse let the silence in the aftermath of her statement hang in the air.


"Letting me go is a mistake." Starlight glared at the alicorn standing above her.


Eclipse smiled solemnly, and raised a hoof to Starlight's chin, and slowly lifted it upwards, "I would be a hypocrite if I were to... Make you disappear... For something so trivial as stealing ponies' cutie marks." Eclipse removed her hoof from Starlight's chin, and turned around, "I've done worse than you have..." Eclipse took a more solemn tone, "I've killed before. It's not something I want to repeat..."


Starlight didn't know how to respond to that revelation, she did realize she was on thin ice, and chose not to say anything at all.


"I know about Sunburst... I found him for you the first time. I can tell you where he is, if you'd like. I can't answer what happens, or how, or even if it would work out for you two this time..."


"Why?" Starlight finally asked.


Eclipse turned her head to Starlight and smiled, "Because friendship is magic, Starlight."


Starlight steeled her resolve, "Is something wrong with you? Because just a minute ago you were trying to kill me, and then threatening to kill me. And now you're telling me that friendship is magic." her voice was drenched in distaste.


Eclipse turned around and furrowed her brow in contemplation, "Your delivery would be much more efficient if you weren't immobilized right now." She lit her horn, and in a flash of light the duo reappeared in a dark alleyway in Canterlot. Eclipse then cast a spell reversing the effects of the paralysis on Starlight. She spoke as she walked away, "My offer to find Sunburst is still on the table. If you want me to do so, you'll be able to find me."


Starlight slowly rose to her hooves, she frowned as she thought over the information that Eclipse had given her without realizing. She smirked, 'From the future? Yes, I could use that.' She thought, completely disregarding Eclipse's warning.





Eclipse immediately teleported to the Starswirl the Bearded section of the Royal Archive upon turning the corner. There was a certain spell she needed to remove. After all, she knew Starlight wouldn't heed her warning. Without the spell, however, she would be unable to cause any major damage. Probably, anyway. It wasn't like Starlight was going to attack the princesses.


It took Eclipse less than a minute to locate the scroll, and seal it away in a pocket dimension with a quick spell. 'Now that that is taken care of, I can focus on more pressing matters...'